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Ok, I had to share this! Hot on the heels of my post, Yanik Silver sends out an email blowing the lid off of what’s really going on at many supposed internet marketing conferences. Ok, so maybe not blowing the lid, as almost everyone knows this … but MAYBE you didn’t.

He says it better than me, so I’m going to reprint his email here (and put in my affiliate links to go to the seminar), but I really hope you listen. It’s so disheartening to see so many people go to seminars where the sold goal (aptly executed) is to get you to have an emotional buying response (over-riding your common sense), spend a lot of money at each speaker’s “presentation”, and leave (often) in more dire circumstances than when you came.

Here’s the scoop, direct from my email, to your ears and eyes (care of Yanik Silver’s hand):

Good morning Agent Evan:

I’m about to reveal confidential and privileged information that you probably won’t hear from anyone else (and I know some people definitely won’t like the fact I’m breathing a single word about this).

You see, I’ve been on the inside of a lot of seminars as a guest speaker and know
exactly how the ‘game’ works.

Here’s the deal: The host will invite a bunch of people to speak at their conference with two considerations in mind. #1 - How large their list is to promote the event and #2 - How well they can sell product at the back of the room.

For the most part (with very few exceptions) it’s true and here’s the other dirty secret…

Most speakers are not paid one thin dime to show up at these events. They have to pay their own pay for travel, hotel and meals. So before they even step foot on stage they are hundreds if not thousands in the hole. That means the only way for them to get compensated for showing up is to sell, sell, sell! Usually this translates to the fact they *have* to spend lots of time pitching their products and services. Really hammering the audience getting them to buy. Essentially their presentation is a thinly veiled commercial.

Why am I telling you all of this?

To show you yet another reason the Underground® seminar is different. I’m paying for the speakers to be there. I’m picking up the tab on their airfare, hotel and taking them out to some awesome dinners. They’re not there to sell you their products or services. (In fact, many of them have nothing to sell.)

Plus, I didn’t pick my speakers for their ability to fill the room. Many of them couldn’t
sell one ticket because their lists could give a flying fig about Internet marketing. I chose them strictly for the content they’d deliver to you for their real-world ventures.

—

http://www.UGOSeminar.com

—

Actually I’m so serious about delivering immediately useful content here - that I’m even putting up $10k of my own money. You get to vote for the speaker who gave you the most directly impactful information you can take straight to the bank. The winner is going to be awarded ‘Top Underground Marketer’ and they get a huge plaque. Plus they get a $10,000.00 check that goes to their favorite charity. (THEY sure don’t need the money!)

Now I can tell you one thing for sure - most of these guys and gals are super competitive. That means, they are going to go all out trying to outdo one another vying for “the crown” while you sit back and soak it all in.

Remember this event is not bringing in the same usual ”suspects”. I’ve managed to
uncover a secretive group of real-people making real money online *NOT* selling “how to make money online” info.

These ‘under-the-radar’ successes don’t advertise their accomplishments because they don’t need to nor want to. They are quite content to make their money “in the dark”  (while keeping their mouths shut and their secrets very close to the vest).

Look, it only takes one good idea to make this worth it for you. Don’t you think from a group of people selling $30 million online, all the incredible attendees and VIP guests you might pick up one or two new ideas?

My Internet buddies attending are coming here to learn NOT to socialize in the back-of-the-room like at typical seminars. And you can bet I’ll be taking tons of notes too.

http://www.UGOSeminar.com

February 3, 2010:

This is huge because you’ll save a full $1000.00 before the price increase but more
importantly the biggest bonus of all will vanish if you miss this deadline… When you sign http://www.UGOSeminar.com

Hopefully - I’ll see you there!

And that’s what he wrote me, and like he, I hope I see ya’ there….

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.

If you still haven’t signed up for the Underground Online Seminar® 4 - this is your last chance. I just found out there are only 29 seats left! (There might even be less by now.)

What’s even more important is this Friday, February 29th - you’ll have to pay full boat and the extra bonuses go away!

The Underground 4 is just about to SELL-OUT again (like it hasbeen every year). And if you want in - you need to go here right away:

INTERNET MARKETING SEMINAR!

The actual event is March 28-30, 2008 in Los Angeles, CA and there’s no time to waste..

Hope to see ya’ll there, and let me know if you’re going.

That being said, I just purchased yet another high profile course (doh), this time from Mark Joyner. Nope, not about Internet Marketing at all, but about becoming an author and selling books. Not sure how the course will be, but I’ve learned one thing - always get help from smart people.  Simple as that.

This person knows the industry, does SHORT courses that have no fluff, and doesn’t beat around the bush (too much). We’ll see if I can stand it.  Nope, no link, just check out simpleology.com to learn more.

Now, back to book writing for me, but not before I briefly mention my return of the John Reese course! Since i’ll likely buy everything he ever comes out with, people might be interested in why I returned his 3 day teleseminar course in February. First off, he’s a class act, and a real business, and there was no problem in the return. Second, it was actually good information, and I may have gotten something out of the full 3 days, however, after one day…I hadn’t. Nope, not a single thing. This is likely because a) I’m a know it all (that’s a joke people), b) I am terribly advanced at this stuff, having been successful online for many years, c) the large # of people in the course were not at my level, d) John was trying to cover ground to make up for C. 

No harm done, but I simply can’t afford three days, even at 3-4 hours a day. It’s too difficult.  The older I get, the more i make, the less time I can afford. Strange how that works, eh?

What can you afford?

Honestly, what can you afford? When I ran a video game company, my then boss (name withheld) explained to me his time was worth $5000 an hour. His reasoning, if he spent 5k an hour from now, for the rest of his life, he’d still have too much money. Fair enough, he was quite, quite rich (don’t do the math, you’ll figure out my boss). However, I’ve always remember that line. His argument being, if he could "afford" to be here, then we all should be able to as well. ;)  I was bored as hell at that meeting.

Anyway, I recently asked myself about the worth of my time, and apart from the impressively simple (doh!) algorhythm above, which will only apply to a handful of people (and is not useful), I used opportunity cost, lifespan, and averaged in, intelligence and things I like to do. I came to the realization, as likely you will, that your time is invaluable. Should you spend it watching TV or reading this blog, with family or friends or simply working on your business, it’s a limited asset. It’s also an asset that you should put a numeric value on, however you decide to reach it. My time is worth $500 an hour. 

This is what I charge for it. How about you? What do you charge. Remember to prove it to yourself, meaning, would you pay $499, to get that hour of yours back (i.e. whatever you think your hour is worth working, - $1).  I do SO many tasks that I should outsource, especially given how I value my time.

Why ask? Because, if you value your time above, say, even $10 an hour, you should be outsourcing a lot of stuff to free up your time. When you buy a course, the cost of the course is NOT the true cost. The cost of your time will likely outweight it many times (at least for some of you). For those of you where time feels unlimited, congratulations. I guarantee you this. Once the MarketingCrazy books come out, and you start realizing the true value of your time (because you’ll have experience real work, and the real freedom that true residual income provides), you’ll likely value it far more.

Anyway, this post cost someone $200, so back to work on this end.