It’s not often that I read something that makes me smile anymore. At least not when it comes to Internet marketing. But the other day, I read a PDF created by Brad Gosse, who just may be one of the smartest Internet marketers on the planet, that had me grinning from ear to ear. In this article, I’m going to give you the five cent tour of what he wrote. I’m still grinning.
Okay, the name of the report is called Bubble Manifesto. Yeah, me too. I saw the title and thought to myself, “huh?” What does this mean? It certainly DID get my attention. But what REALLY got my attention was how the PDF was formatted. It wasn’t the usual drab mountains of text that make up most PDFs. There were some really neat illustrations in it. Actually, they were more like the kind of things you’d see in a comic strip.
I thought this was real cool and was expecting some light reading.
Boy was I wrong.
Brad goes into a tirade that would have made mamma proud. He starts off with a couple of facts, one of them about IM losing popularity, that really blew my mind while not really surprising me. See, I couldn’t help wonder how long it would be before we just ran out of people to sell this “how to make money” crap to. I use the word crap because it so aptly applies to most of what I see out there.
But what I really loved was how Brad mentioned that most people selling this garbage haven’t made more than $20 online themselves. Man, how many times have you heard me say that you have NO business selling products teaching people to make money if you haven’t done it yourself? But do you listen? NO.
Brad then goes on to tell about himself and what he’s accomplished online. I was absolutely unaware of most of this. So at least he’s speaking from experience and from having actually “done it.” That’s something that I can’t say about a lot of people who go running off at the mouth about their “success.” It’s one of the reasons I went into self imposed semi retirement the last two years. The industry, quite honestly, was making me sick… literally.
He then goes into five points of what he calls “bad” news. I’ll let you read them for yourself. But the bottom line to all of it is this. There is less opportunity today to sell “how to make money” products than back in the good old days. It’s harder… MUCH harder. Anybody who says it’s not is either lying to you or kidding themselves.
His truth about six figure launches really had me chuckle. Let me put it to you this way. The next time you read about somebody’s six figure launch, don’t be surprised if they’re not sitting on a beach somewhere soaking up the sun and instead living on a park bench with dark glasses, a tin can, and a monkey named Peppi.
But after all the doom and gloom (and there was certainly plenty of it, even with the cartoons) Brad tells you how to get around it all. This part, I won’t reveal here in detail but I will tell you this much. It is NOT by selling “how to make money” products. You are fighting a new win battle if you are first entering that arena, not to mention the stigma attached to it.
News flash, and I knew this long before Brad made the rest of the world aware of it, the people who sell making money products or Internet marketing products, for the most part, are looked upon as snake oil salesmen. It doesn’t matter if they’re actually providing information that is relevant and helpful. The overall view of these people is not good. And we have all the slime balls to thank for that. I won’t go into detail as to who they are and what they do because I don’t want to give any of you any ideas. There is just a lot of bad out there and it gives us ALL a bad name.
Essentially, and this I will talk about, Brad says to blaze your own trail. Let me ask you a question. How many people in this world have become TRULY successful by copying somebody else’s formula for success? Look at the innovators like Google and Apple or even Microsoft. These are the companies that go on to make millions. Look at Amazon. Look at Wiki. Heck, look up Richard Garfield one day. He’s the guy who created Magic the Gathering, a game I’ve been playing since 1994.
If you’re just going to be another “me too” company, you’re only going to get so far. I’m not saying you can’t have some success or even moderate success. But if you TRULY want to reach heights, the likes of which you can only imagine, you’re not going to get there by putting up a squeeze page and collecting emails to sell some $9.95 e-book that isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.
Personally, after reading what Brad had to say, I have more respect for him than just about any Internet marketer on this planet. And that is saying a lot because I know quite a few people. Don’t get me wrong. Brad has made mistakes, that he freely admits. But he talks about holding yourself accountable and he’s determined to do just that, as am I. It’s one of the reasons I came out of retirement. I felt it was time go really give back something after 9 years of success.
So do yourself a favor. Go check out Bubble Manifesto. Just go to Google and do a search for it and you’ll find it easy enough. Read the whole thing. Take it to heart. Like I said, there is very little that I read these days that even gets me to blink. But this thing was well written, entertaining, and dead on the money.
Speaking of dead. If you don’t heed his advice, your Internet marketing business could be dead very soon.
To YOUR Success,
Steven Wagenheim
