Living in the Automist

Good morning, loyal readers. I'm easing into my day with a
quick email to my friends to share some early morning
thoughts. As I was pulling on my winter coat to brace
myself against the cold morning wind, I heard Mr. Happy --
my 9 1/2 year old son -- singing "Puff the Magic Dragon" in
the kitchen as he was prepping for school.

I had to laugh because that was my favorite song when I was
his age. My Mom still chides me when she tells friends and
family how I used to get very serious when I sang it in my
"good voice".

I always seemed to blow the words though. Instead of
"autumn mist" I said "automist". Don't ask me what it
meant. Sounds like a place where monsters hide.

So I snuck up on my son and hid behind the door and
listened to him singing happily. And smiled.

Then it was off to school and time to crack open emails.

I always read and respond to emails in the morning. It's
part of the process of waking up and easing into my work
day. I read, I surf, I reread yesterday's work and edit. I
look over new web designs developed overnight by my team
abroad. And I spend some time pondering how I will plan my
day, set priorities, and achieve my goals.

It's important, especially when you are self-employed, to
have a daily goal. I use a legal pad with numbered items,
and I check things off as I accomplish them. Then at the
end of the day I add new action items to the list. This
process keeps me grounded and on track.

I meet a lot of people who want to get online to replace
lost income or to supplement existing income. That's not
really a goal. That's too broad. You need to get more
specific. How much income do you need and what's the best
way to generate it in the shortest amount of time? That's a
more specific goal.

Certainly, there are many ways to achieve this goal.
Lately, I've been getting emails asking me about a variety
of MLM programs. MLM means multi-layered marketing. The
goal of any MLM program is to get you hyped about a service
to the point where you buy it and then promote it to your
friends and family, encouraging them to buy it, too. Then
you help keep them motivated to keep promoting it to their
friends and family, effectively marketing the service or
product to multiple layers of people.

The problem with these programs are deep:

1. Most MLM products or services revolve around worthless
products. These could include offshore manufactured diet
and health supplements, Acai berry juice, pre-paid legal
services, online mentoring services, etc.

2. MLM leaders build cultish and hostile broods. If the
person who signed you up to participate in their MLM
program gets wind of you not producing new leads or
thinking about leaving the program, they get downright
indignant. They get personal and they hound you into trying
harder, selling more, etc. because this is how they make
money, by developing a deep and wide pool of people hanging
on a dream of wealth. And the only people who make a lot of
money in MLM are the people at the top. Average Joe's in
the middle or bottom rarely have enough time or talent to
produce anything more than marginal income.

3. MLMs burn out over time as competition grows and
interest wanes. They are like a bottle rocket: it looks
real nice when it shoots up but everyone one runs like the
dickens to escape from getting hurt when it comes crashing
down. I believe one such catastrophe was Quorum back in the
early 1990s. They made it very big as an MLM built around
personal safety products, but once the financials started
smelling bad, everyone bailed and many people lost a ton of
money. As a rule, MLMs do not have a great deal of longevity
and frequently reinvent themselves under a new name after
failing.

4. You can ruin relationships with friends and family
(F&F). You can only reach out to F&F so often to buy into
these things. If you get them into a bad deal, they are
left with money ill spent, a closet full of useful
products, and burned bridges. You only have so many people
you can sell to off the bat, and it is only normal to tell
F&F. My advice is don't play it so close to home and try
selling to strangers. Most people can't sell to strangers
and soon give up.

I'm not going to tell you that people do not make a lot of
money through MLM. I am acquainted with someone who has
done very well, hopping from MLM to MLM with a legion of
thousands of people in his downline. He's made millions of
dollars over the years.

But you need to be careful. I've learned about selling and
marketing in the world of MLM from the inside, writing
email series and sales letters for MLM companies selling a
variety of products and services. Let's just say, on the
inside they all sound a lot like, and smell just as bad,
too.

So if you venture out into the MLM world ... just be
careful of the "automist". There may be monsters there who
will eat you alive.

I want you to succeed and achieve your goals. If you want to
either replace or supplement income, then you should be thinking
about what you have expertise and experience in, and then
develop either a consulting service or knowledge product
around it.

The knowledge product could be an ebook, software, audio,
CD, video, DVD, or a combination of all of these things to
make the product bigger and deeper.

But before you start writing something, research the market
to see what else is already available to service that niche,
then make the decision to create it or walk away.

If you create it, you can build your own affiliate program
and have hundreds or even thousands of people promote it in
exchange for a referral fee. It's kind of like having your
own MLM, except you make the bulk of the money, and if you
have enough affiliates, the majority of your income may be
generated in a passive fashion, with your affiliates doing
the bulk of the promotion and marketing.

When I first launched EbookoMatic.com, I implemented my own
affiliate program through Clickbank and quickly built a list
of over 300 affiliate worldwide. Do a search on EbookoMatic
today and count how many sites are still promoting the service
I launched almost 9 years ago. At one point, 23% of my income
from EbookoMatic came in passively through affiliate promotions.
It works.

I realize many of you may have a good idea for a product and
need to bounce the idea off someone more experienced. Feel
free to send me an email with your idea and I'll give you my
two cents.

All my best,

Steven