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So simple! I use to do this all the time,  but admittedly, I have integrated most of it, automated most of it … and I haven’t thought about this method in years.

Now, with the arrival of “the box”, I have attacked the first task… the four day cash machine method.  I am very familiar with it…

So, I got the Mass Control 2.0 impressive box in (but I’m beyond being impressed by fancy boxes). That being said … I was impressed. It was a nice box!  Organized, clean, and easy to understand. I started with the four day cash method, to see what my results would be. Granted, this isn’t an important test for me (I am truly interested in the COURSE and what it teaches), but there’s so much hype around this, I had to see what would happen…

Specifically, what would happen if I followed HIS instructions to the letter. I would not change anything! I would simply follow the instructions perfectly…

I have now put in a total of 5 hours of work. I have made the landing page, setup the list, ARs, thank you ARs, bonuses, etc … I suppose it might take others a little longer, but I had most of my things in place already. I believe the instructions focus a bit too much on the email (getting the click) versus the landing page (getting the sale), but I will implement SOLELY based on what I’ve been given.

I am turning my brain off (for this exercise only)

I have sent out the email to the coldest list I have, of about 11,000 people. I mean, this list is quite cold, and we rarely contact it beyond the follow up system we initially integrated into it.  I have setup the method, exactly as told, and now … people are arriving at the landing page.

What’s going to happen? Stay tuned … this is just day 1. We’ll update the results tomorrow!

What else? I just purchased the MicroContinuity program (Russell Brunson) … Love the sales procces.

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What have I done in 2008 (not 2009), that really impacted my business - either at a core profit level, or a core efficiency level. Here’s my Top three things I’ve done that have had a huge effect on my business. If you’re starting a business, or growing your business, these might make a big difference!

1) Apple, Gmail, and the Ultimate Shift in my tools and resources…

Ever seen those Apple commercials? Ever wonder if maybe they were right? 2008 was the year of the Apple, and while I still use my PC for certain things, my switch to Apple, and Apple products, proved hugely beneficial to my business!

I can get into specifics about why Apple versus PC, and why, and what tools I use on each, but I’ll save that for a longer, specific post. Suffice it to say, this was a huge time saver, and my business works better on Apple. now have 3 Imacs, 2 Powerbooks … and no headache.

2) Gmail and Google’s paid suite of business tools.

I may live to regret this, but since I was on PC, I used Outlook. Outlook is a horrible program, but I was so stuck in it. So many years wasted… so many emails lost…

Outlook is… quite possibly, the devil.

With my switch to Mac, I made the switch to Gmail, which was very difficult, laborious, and to my way of thinking, a waste of time. Yet, no single thing has catapulted me in productivity than switching to Gmail, and Google Docs, spreadsheets, etc…

Yes, I may live to regret this, putting so much faith into one company, but the paid version (pay the paltry $50 per person), is amazing beneficial to me, my employees, my company, and our productivity.

They simply work, and they work anywhere.  I can travel, and be completely connected to my business. Does anyone still actually use Outlook? I feel like I was a late adopter of Gmail, but it has catapulted me to a better Internet Lifestyle (work and play together).

3) Focus on fewer sites…

We have hundreds of websites. Yes, hundreds. Sometimes it feels like even more!

In 2008, we trimmed it down. Fewer, larger sites were the word of the day, and guess what? It’s working! Follow our lead … this is the wave of the future.

Ever notice how hard it’s getting to rank in Google? Yep - big sites win. Focussed sites win. I’m not saying the ocassional sales letter site can’t garner an easy 20-100k, but if you’re around for the long run - think big, and think, single or small group of sites.

What about link farms? Blog Farms? Etc…  Been there, done that!

Save those for the people whom want to work harder than you do!  You simple won’t need them if you work on creating a big site, with big content, and big community. That’s a fact!

What’s your top 3-5 business changers? What have you done in your business to blow up your productivity or bottom line? We’re getting our 2009 list ready, but would love to get your thoughts and insights first.

What are your game changers?

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Here I sit, at my favorite hotel (one of them at least), the Moana Surfrider, in Waikiki. They have large, wooden rocking chairs, where I can relax, have a cup of coffee, and write a great blog post (ok, so maybe it won’t be great, perhaps just good … It’s early). Internet Marketing Time!

Hold on, forget that, Just saw the most amazing sunrise! Absolutely fantastic. Last night, I was out late, dancing the night away at a local club. I’m always amazed at the insane ratio of men to women on some of the islands. Coming from San Francisco, where I’ve heard the ratio for the entire area might be 1.5 men to each woman, it’s rereshing to go to areas where the tables are turned.

Anyway, I’ve been traveling now for another month. Just returned from a Mexican Riviera salsa cruise, and headed straight to Hawaii (to recover from the excessive eating…).  From here? It’s back to San Francisco, for a little real work.

And yes, I do real work.  I think it’s so easy to concentrate on the dollars we make, versus the work we put in, but it’s naive to believe that people at my level (or really any level of success) are not working at all. Especially internet marketers. They love to sell the dream! They love to speak of their millions, and not of the hard work used to create it.

Yes, I have worked hard. I really loved what I did, but I worked very hard at it. I now reap the rewards, and have for many years, but it’s only because I put in the real time early on.  Are there shortcuts? Oh yes. Yes there are. But to long term wealth - and not flash in the pan “good months” - you have to lay a foundation. I laid that foundation, and now … well, now, I indeed work less than any other internet marketer I can think of.

Then again, I’m not a guru (self styled). My aim is to teach people, yes, but not to be in the spotlight (unless required). I’ve never been much of a spotlight person (although… I do shine regularly). :)  I’m going to teach people how to build an online business, and how to profit from it in the long term.  I’ll teach the shortcuts, yes, but I’ll mainly teach the foundation.

We’ll save the self-created recession speeches for another day. Rest assured, the bankers and wall street exces have squandered your taxpayer money, and those that didn’t, are merely hoarding it to weather the storm that is brewing. There is no one using the supposed “bailout” money to help anyone else. It’s the biggest scam, money grab, I’ve ever seen (and perhaps, will likely ever see). Go Paulson - the guy is a genius, and sold the package to Congress much like the Iraq war.

There is so much we can learn from this, it’s astounding. However, for now, I’ll just rant. The articles about how we can use all this to our benefit will appear on Basement Empires.

I know, a bit negative for a guy sitting in a rocking chair on a beach in Hawaii, but you probably already knew all that. The point is … help is not necessarily coming. It’s up to you to take action! I always preach action, but now, I really believe it’s necessary. Weathering this storm will not be easy for those simply starting out, but acting on (our) good advice, there are real businesses to be created out there, and hopefully, you’ll be starting one.

In the past, I’ve preached this lifestyle of running an automated internet business from one’s passions to everyone. Lately, I’ve had a change of heart. I’ve come up with three pre-requisites. Each of which is suitably vague, but required at some level -

1) You must be an entrepeneur at heart.

I struggled with this one, but in the final account, you must want to run your own business.  You may never have pictured yourself as a business owner, but that’s exactly what Basement Empires are all about. Taking your passions, and turning them into an automated business empire.

2) You must like your computer…

You’ll be spending a lot of time with it. If you are a complete newbie. Hate technology. Don’t want to sit in front of your computer, at all - this isn’t for you. I came across this issue with some coaching students, and now, I see that I need to state that this is part of the lifestlyle. You must like computers, and at least be interested in becoming very literate about them.

Some internet business models don’t require this at all. I’m leaning towards Basement Empires having this as a pre-requisite.

3) You must be an action taker…

The “winners”, time and time again, are self motivated “do-ers”. You give them one task, they come back with five, and two dozen questions. They want it, and will work tirelessly to achieve it (whatever “it” is).  We make the process of taking action easy - by laying out a game plan, and a set of detailed steps.

However, in the final account, if you don’t actullay act on them, nothing will get accomplished.

Now, the good news? It takes only a minimum amount of action to put you head and shoulders above the multitudes. Most people will not take any action at all. They’ll visit a website like http://www.BasementEmpires.com, and they’ll move on.  Perhaps shockingly, only 1 in 10 will even join! Crazy eh?

This is true across the board. To be in the top ten percent of businesses in your niche, likely, is very easy. To be in the top one percent is harder, but likely far simpler than say … holding a day job. To be in the top of that one percent - well, that’s really tough. Really, really, tough. Because no one gets to that level without being a daily action taker … and those guys, they’re hard to beat!

So, what am I? I am a daily action taker (of course). I do one thing, everyday. I do, literally, one thing to move my business forward, every day. Most days, it’s only one thing that gets done.  On rare days, it’s more (no, email is not what I’m talking about - but actual real work). My entire process of taking action boils down to doing at least one thing, every day, to move the business forward.

This puts me in the top one percent.

Can you do one thing?

Signing off from the beaches of Hawaii, with a rambling rant of a blog post! Anything I didn’t cover in there? Global warming perhaps?

Keep it Crazy!

MC