A recent blog post has stirred quite a lot of controversy. It specifically made some stark accusations about a certain number of marketers who appear to be colluding.

Some call it unethical. Others call it smart business. And a few go as far as calling it an illegal cartel that should be charged with breaking racketeering and anti-​​trust laws.

I don’t know if it’s true or not, so I won’t comment on it directly. And I’m not a lawyer by any stretch.

But I can comment on what we observe. And we can certainly observe a few things that are rather obvious. For example, if you’re subscribed to several of these marketers’ lists, even if only a handful, then I’m confident you’ve noticed some recurring trends.

(Let’s call them “musical-​​chair product launches.” Oh, and let’s not forget the once pricey product you paid a marketer just a few weeks ago now being given away for free as a bonus to buying from their affiliate link during someone else’s product launch.)

Personally, I don’t think it’s wrong for competitors to partner up as to time their product releases separately. (I’ll come back to the term “competition” later, as it is important.) To a certain degree, this is definitely smart business.

The question is, at which point can this specific situation be deemed illegal or not? The answer is arguable — and by arguable, I mean in a court of law. But blogger Antone Roundy said it best, when he shared the following insight, which I agree with… More »

No is a very powerful word.

It’s one too easily spoken, as any parent of a small four-​​year-​​old will tell you. It’s also detrimental to effective copywriting and sales, because it’s an absolute brick wall of resistance.

The minute a potential customer says no, you’ve either lost the sale, or you have to pull out some pretty convincing arguments to sway them back to a yes. Chances are you’re not going to make it.

It’s much harder to change a person’s mind when it’s already made up.

Here are practical tips on how to turn a potential customer’s no into yes, where you’ll learn specific resistance you’ll face and how to magically turn it into sales. More »

After 30 years, yesterday, which was Independence Day, I declared my own independence… from cigarette smoke.

If you’re a non-​​smoker, this may not be a big issue. But for me, it’s huge. And it’s all because of one ingenious little tool I would have never thought I’d like. Until now.

You see, during those 30 years, I’ve tried everything. From patches to pills. From chewing gums to chewing tobacco. From cold turkey to computer gadgets. From self-​​hypnosis to acupuncture. Nothing worked. At least, not permanently.

But finally, I found a solution. The reason it works is because it’s not a cessation tool but an alternative to smoking tobacco. And a lot healthier, too. No carcinogens, no carbon monoxide, no tar, no additives. Why? Because it’s not smoke. It’s “green smoke.” More »

Have you ever wondered why people buy dozens of info-​​products… and yet never seem to get around to consuming them, much less using them?

I have.

And for a long time I just blamed it on people being lazy. In my own case, I blamed it on being too busy with client work to get around to some of those extracurricular learning pursuits not necessary to my daily work.

But there is now new research that discounts “The Laziness Theory” and “The I’m-Too-Busy Theory.”

Turns out, it’s not that people are lazy or unwilling to take “massive action” — it’s simply that living an always-​​on wired life causes people to become addicted to new information. More »

One of the things I do is spend about 30 minutes a day reading my RSS feed reader — which is Google Reader. And I have it set so that, when I share a feed I like, FriendFeed picks it up and reshares it on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and many others.

I also click “like” if I like them, or “star” if I want to keep them bookmarked for myself. I do this with articles and posts I come across that I find interesting and helpful, and that I think my readers or followers would find interesting, too.

But while doing this, I keep forgetting that my blog readers miss these.

So here are some of these articles…

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Recently, Terry Dean wrote an awesome article, entitled “Copy is King and Other Common Lies.” The article boils down to the fact that the market and the offer come first.

Copy is still important. Design plays an important role, too.

But copy is not king. The market is. And I wholeheartedly agree. In fact, after reading the article it made me think of something I’ve been meaning to share with you for a while.

And I’m warning you, this might ruffle a few feathers.

Three years ago, I wrote a white paper called “The Death of The Salesletter.” It was controversial because a lot of it was contrary to popular belief, particularly since it was coming from someone whose career revolved around writing salesletters.

Long-​​scrolling salesletters, that is.

Long-​​form web salesletters are dead. Or better said, they are evolving. But the changes we are seeing are more than what you think. And I’m not talking about video…

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Wow! After several weeks of delivering high-​​impact webinars, we just finished our first live business build.

It was amazing! Our first business is now live and making money for our students. The interaction was phenomenal, and our students are raving about this new training model.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, let me explain.

Earlier this year, we have changed our training model from teaching to building real businesses with our students.

Best of all, we do it live in real time!

Our students can watch as we do it live, and they can even participate and share in the simple tasks. (Participating students share in any resulting profits, too.)

The reason for this blog post? We are about to start our second business, and we’re opening our doors to allow new members to take part in the upcoming second series.

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