PickyDomains is an interesting service in that it’s “crowd-sourced”. I put my money in ($50 as of this writing) and tell them what I’m looking for in a domain (for the record, I’m pretty picky—I only use .com names, don’t do hypens or numbers, and want my keyword in the name… and I want it to be catchy!). Then their “Contributors” read the details and suggest names.

I like the model because I get lots of smart people thinking on my behalf, but it doesn’t cost me a fortune. They also guarantee the service: if I don’t get a name suggestion I like well enough to buy, I get my money back. That makes it just about as risk-free as it gets… worst case, I’m stuck with the mediocre names I’ve already come up with on my own, but not out any cash. Best case, I get a great domain name!

I’ll let you know how it goes once I start getting my suggestions. Hopefully they’ll pick a winner for me!

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I’m evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they’re letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it’s still free.

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Now that I’ve read it, I’m glad that I did. It was unusually specific and covered a lot of ground very efficiently. It seems like many times these free reports are just drawn-out ads for an expensive product, but like the Jay Abraham call, I was pleased to discover several ideas that hadn’t occurred to me before and got me thinking.

There is a product associated with this free report (not released yet as of this writing), but I think that Russell is using the free report more to develop his list and do a little market testing than to really push the product.

Some of the ideas that stood out to me were Russell’s method of qualifying buyers (which he effectively differentiates from browsers), his use of offline tactics to promote online offerings, and his photo-rich demonstrations of offline sales offers that get read.

Who should read the IM-Myth Report?

Like anything else, the IM-Myth Report isn’t for everyone. It’s clearly targeted at internet marketers (that’s what the “IM” stands for, not “instant messaging,” which is what it makes me think of ) and will be most useful to folks who have a product to sell and are already using a mailing list or autoresponder. If you have these things and want to increase your leads and sales efficiency, I’d recommend reading the IM-Myth Report right away; it will only take you a half hour or so, and unless you’re already a total expert, I expect you’ll get at least three actionable ideas.

If you’re like me, sort of thinking of venturing into info products and internet marketing, it’s not a bad idea to read the report. It’s not as good a use of time as, say, actually creating a product, but it reveals some tips that are worth tucking away for future use. Similarly, if you’re in an online business other than info products, it will probably be useful for you just because it will get you thinking about creative marketing. There are a lot of ways that the concepts could be applied in different industries.

If you don’t fit into any of the above categories, I’d say you’re probably better off focusing on your core business than taking the the time to read the report. You’d likely find it interesting, but it could be difficult to turn the interest into action. Now by all means, if you really want to read it, don’t let me keep you away! It just may not be as helpful to you as it will be to some other readers (and as something more suited to your industry might be).

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The implementation has been very smart so far.  They started out asking for pledges of £35 (about $70), to be paid when they had a 50,000 pledges.  I’m assuming they’re figuring some ratio of non-participation, but the numbers make it reasonable to do a buy-out of an existing team.

They reached their pledge target recently, and asked for the cash.  I actually couldn’t pay right away because I’m “foreign” (it’s UK-based, if that’s not obvious yet), but today they got their overseas payments working so I’ve put my money in the pool.

The site representatives are current talking to four teams, and I’m guessing as this gets more press and more paying members, that number will go up.  Members can vote on which team should be purchased, though obviously that will depend on availability of both funds and the team.  Given that I know nothing about the teams in question, I chose “I don’t mind” (the phrasing of which makes me laugh a bit).

Once a team is purchased, the idea is that the site members will vote on all major decisions, like player trading and whatnot.  One of the significant upsides to this setup is that there won’t be personality clashes between owner and players.  All money made by the team is reinvested, so there’s much less likelihood than normal of making rash decisions for short-term profits.

No real point to my involvement except that it sounds interesting and I’m curious… but wouldn’t it be funny if a crowd-managed team did better than teams managed by “experts”?

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The biggest surprise to me was actually the type of passive income that Jay is talking about. I realize now that I never even considered what kind of suggestions he would be making; I just assumed it was more of the same… affiliate programs… info-products… that kind of thing. It wasn’t.

Jay’s focus is on something I’d never really considered: brokering deal between businesses. This basically involves finding a business with a need, finding another business who can supply that need, and putting them together…. for an ongoing percentage.

At first I was skeptical. How could I set something like that up that the companies wouldn’t just do themselves? And if they could just do it themselves, why would they pay me on an ongoing basis?

Once Jay began to drill down, though, and make it more concrete, I started getting it. The idea is to analyze a business and figure out what activities they are currently doing. Once you do that, you can find ways to maximize the current activities (by improving effectiveness of things like referral systems), add new revenue streams, and repurpose existing resources.

There are a number of different ways I could use this concept, with different levels of daily involvement, but the way that most appeals to me is as sort of a consultant. In that role, I could go into a business, do the assessment, pinpoint areas that could be improved, expanded, or repurposed, and give them an action plan, along with an agreement to get x% of increased revenues/new customers/whatever.

There’s a lot more to it than that, though. If you can get in a position where you gain control over some aspect of a business’s assets, opportunities, resources, transactions, etc., you can develop it into a stream of passive income.

The call had many specific examples of how this works. For instance, home improvement is one of those areas where people often get started with one specific project but go on to do more projects shortly after the first is complete. If you have access to the list of clients with recently completed projects from, say, a kitchen remodeler, you can leverage that list to provide referrals for a bathroom remodeler or a landscaper. The other home improvement businesses would only have to pay when it brought in a job, and that’s far more appealing than throwing money into advertising and hoping someone will call, so it wouldn’t be hard to sell them on it.

There were tons more examples of real deals and variations on the central idea.

One that interested me was the idea that just about any business that really excels in its industry is doing at least one thing much, much better than their competitors. It might be marketing or a referral system or a specific technique needed for their day-to-day tasks. When you figure out what that thing is, you can systemize it, quantify the value, and then license it to other, non-competing businesses. One example talked about how a dry cleaner developed excellent marketing materials and went on to license them to dry cleaners in other cities.

I’m going to have to think over the implications of some of the ideas a little more and figure out how to apply them to my business, and also how to use them to improve other businesses for a commission.

When it came time for the sales pitch, Jay made it pretty compelling. The first month of his mentoring program is free ($250 after that). He said, “It will either work in the first 30 days or it won’t.” I think that’s true, but mostly because a lot of people will prove their ability (or inability) to follow through within a month. If they don’t follow through enough within the first month, are they likely to send in the written request to cancel promptly?

One very interesting point is that once you pass that first 30 days, you’re in for the next year. You are committed to the $250/month for the next 12 months, with no option to cancel after the free month. I’m not sure if that’s really a good long-term move or not. On the one hand, it might really make some people angry down the road. On the other hand, it adds a certain level of built-in motivation to take it seriously.

On the upside, it sounds like they’ve put significant effort into making the mentorship a good program. Jay claims that he’s offering it this cheaply in order to get a batch of very successful students quickly so that he can sell it for significantly more the next time around. Not sure if I go for that or if it’s just a sales technique, but frankly, if he actually delivers on the promises in the sales letter, I don’t really care.

On the basis of the phone call and the quality of information that was there, I’m inclined to sign up for his mentorship. My one concern is whether I’ll be able to put enough time into it to get good results. So I’m making a bargain with myself. If I can actually check of every item on my daily to do list (something I haven’t manage even once in the month I’ve been using the current system), I will reward myself with the first month. If I am able to put the necessary time in during that month, I will continue. If not, I will cancel.

If you’re interested in attending one of the calls, there are several lined up for the next couple of weeks.

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Aside from having possibly the most annoying sales letter I’ve ever seen (it’s all in the first person from what is supposedly my perspective, and I really don’t like having words put in my mouth), it caught my eye because of the promises of “actual ways” and practical advice for passive income methods. Since it’s from a conference people paid to attend, I’m guessing it has to have at least a little substance beyond being a sales pitch, right?

That said, my guess is that it will end with a sales pitch for Jay’s Master of Passive Income Mentoring Program (which, at $250/month, isn’t as expensive as some programs, but it’s not exactly cheap, either). I expect he’ll say something along the lines of: “You’ve heard all about these great systems and methods, but if you really want to put them into action, you need support and encouragement. Pay here.” Fair enough, though.

The sales letter also really emphasized the serious commitment I am making to show up for the call “come hell or high water.” I’m not sure if they’ve had really poor attendance in the past or if this is some NLP-perceived value thing, but there are no less than six “confirmations of commitment”:

That’s why I respect your very reasonable request that I only sign up — if I’m totally committed to showing up, and staying on the call until the very end. Otherwise, I would be stealing an opportunity from someone who would prize it.

So I fully agree not only to show up and stay — but to allow you to call me at my office or home if I fail to do so— and take me to task for letting you and myself down — Since I’ve always said I’d give anything to learn how to earn a king’s ransom doing almost nothing and you’re offering to finally tell me how it’s actually possible from anywhere in the free world I want to operate from.

So, on that totally committed, full integrity basis — sign me up for the teleconference rebroadcast session date I’ve chosen below.

I signed up for the August 8 call and I’ll report back after that and let you know what kind of quality it was, and more importantly, share any gems I gather.

Edit: Read my assessment of the “Master of Passive Income” call.

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You’re going to find out exactly what the new Attention Age is… and how it affects everything you do in your online business. The good, the bad and the ugly.

You’ll learn what you have to address to not only survive in this new Attention-Deficit age, but to prosper and take your business to new heights.

This information is so important I just had to get the first part out to you now.

I’m working on the follow-up that will provide the solutions you must apply in your business to take advantage of this situation, but it will be after my seminar, where I will be laying out the exact methods to really prosper in the attention age, to the audience.

You’ll get more details about what you can do to not be a victim of the Attention Age, and how to use some key factors of my system in your business to blow away your competition.

Here’s what I expect: there will be a few good nuggets, but mostly it will be a heavy-handed pitch for his seminar. I’m particularly anticipating that since he even mentions the seminar and its “exact methods to really prosper” in the marketing. We’ll see if that’s really the case (I’m a sucker but I’m also a cynic!). In the meantime, if you have time to kill, The Attention Age Doctrine is free, so if you don’t want to wait for my review, have at it.

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I’ve detailed the program on my business blog, but here’s a quick rundown. The Blog Mastermind system is a step-by-step guide to blogging, appropriate for just about anyone, and by following this guide, you can expect to make $1000-5000/month by putting 1-2 hours a day into it. The program will teach you everything you need to know.

The effort

1-2 hours a day of regular effort is required. I’m not entirely sure yet what this actually entails, but I believe it will be writing posts, connecting with other bloggers, and leveraging social networks.

First impressions

Yaro makes no bones about what’s required: diligent, regular effort. My expectation is that the results he advertises are achievable (in time, though not right away) for those who are interested and committed. Definitely not a get-rich-quick scheme, despite the sales letter.

My one concern is whether or not this program will provide sufficient motivation for the average would-be blogger.  After all, if someone is interested in blogging but hasn’t done the research and gotten started yet, there may be a motivation issue. Time will tell whether or not this is sufficiently addressed.

Yaro’s free info has been top-notch, so I fully expect his paid info to be good quality stuff.  I’m starting it out today and will report back as I get more experience with it.

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This product is an ebook that promises to reveal a secret method to receive free Google Adwords ads (I’m intentionally not linking to it to avoid boosting their search engine rankings).  It is a pretty steep $67, but not that steep if it really did what it says. I was tempted to buy it, but I’m always tempted to buy these things (which is why I started this blog!), but thought I should do a little more research first.

Another quick search made it pretty clear that searching was a good idea!

I found one review that was initially ambivalent, favoring the “buy” recommendation, but later updated to recommend avoiding (this one’s a good one to read if you want to know what the secret actually is, in vague terms).  I found another that is pretty straightforward about the risks and recommends other products that would be better suited for those who want to learn about Internet marketing.  The Digital Point forum inhabitants also gave this ebook a thorough thrashing.

It sounds like the concept might be alright (though quite a bit different than what’s advertised in the sales letter, since you aren’t actually getting ads free but simply recouping some of the ad costs… if you’re lucky).  It’s basically a take on ad arbitrage, which I’ve heard of but haven’t explored (haven’t found the time).  However, I really dislike the shady business practices this product is using, so I’m staying far, far away.

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Most people, when encountering this post, will ask themselves: what on earth does this site have to do with me? Well, it may not have anything to do with you, or it may be exactly what you need (even if you didn’t know it before this very minute!). Let me help you sort out which conclusion applies to you.

Do you…

• find yourself riveted when you come across those long, hype-filled sales letters for products and services that are “guaranteed” to make you rich?
• fantasize about having “multiple streams of passive income”?
• actually buy those products and services?
• sometimes regret buying those products and services?

If so, I’m glad to meet you. You are a kindred spirit! You can find out more in the About section, and you really should consider subscribing (look in the sidebar).

However, if you read the questions above and are now (virtually) looking at me like I’m a complete kook, you are probably blissfully free of the love-hate relationship that is “Internet marketing.” Escape while you still can (or subscribe anyway and risk the madness).

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