Law and Disorder

Okay, I’ll admit it. When some hypster guru or wannabe writes a letter or splash page full of in-your-face claims about how they made zillions of dollars doing this technique and using so-and-so software application, I want to say “What the hell” and buy whatever it is just in case it isn’t BS.

These slicksters bring out the lottery mentality in most of us.

The allure of a quick-buck artist has cost me (and you?) many dollars I (we?) couldn’t afford to invest or lose.

The good (or evilly-good) copywriters are well aware of how to reel in a fish.

They are also aware of how to play on your guilt, on your curiosity, and on your fear of loss.

Mind you, many of these gurus, wannabes and charlatans know they are selling you air. In the pre-virtual era we rightfully called these slight-of-hand machinations pyramids or Ponzi schemes.

They know you want to know what they are doing in detail. They also know you want a glimpse of economic paradise for a mere guilder or half-pence. Hence, they offer every ebook under the galaxy as a “free” bonus enticement to get you to loosen your purse strings. Hello, plastic money!

They know you want to know why they are achieving success on a massive scale while you seem to mired in marketing quicksand.

They know you want to buy their upgrade gold or platinum package, even though the price is mucho steeper than the introductory offer.

They know that with each passing day of inertia on our part, they can bombard us with auto-responded drum-beaten messages reminding us that they are only offering a limited number of memberships or applications or licenses to their exclusive, “no-holds-barred” secret elite group until Monday evening at midnight.

They try to make you hear the tick-tock of the clock winding down.

Let’s evaluate this logically. Can you provide individualized follow up support to thousands of people whom you sell software, ideas or a coaching program under an exclusivity banner? Methinks that to be scientifically an impossibility.

Information is only as useful as the person who uses it. I do believe that many people selling information give each of us some valuable tidbits and strategies of the Internet marketing game. That keeps them from being legally prosecuted by the consumer or their government.

But anyone can write anything, and many people do. One of the greatest psychological traps is when someone tells you that all or many of the others in cyberspace are lying or exaggerating. They, they claim to the contrary, are totally above board. Hmm???

But then you read on and on, scrolling to Dante’s Seventh Circa of hell. And wayyyyyyyyyyy down the page comes the drum roll, the bonuses, the income claims, the takeaway offers, ad nauseum.

The payoffs by Google or Clickbank or eBay are always circled to show you just how successful they have been in implementing a certain, secret strategy which they are generously willing to part with to you for a mere $499 or whatever.

They also remind you, if they use audio in making their case, that they are not bragging.

Hey folks, that should be when the warning lights begin to flash with urgency. Of course they are boasting! If they didn’t boast and flash their income payouts, they believe (rightfully) that their credibility would be in question.

Okay. You may think me to be a cynic looking at things like a hungry, homeless person might look at stale bread in the bakery window. You may think I am jealous of mega-successful online marketers.

No, to both charges. I want to have a happy and prosperous life. I am no different than you, I believe. But we needn’t make a Faustian compromise in order to make our financial killing.

Trash the fast-buck artists, and build your small or large financial empire with integrity. I’m not saying that you mustn’t market questionable products or services, but I am saying you must offer education and marketing insights to the people who are willing to put trust in your judgment.

It is time to see the big picture. The Internet is a potential tool to bring about a prosperous, literate world. It is a tool which must be passed on from generation to generation. If we abuse this tool, governments will eventually clamp down on free exchange of ideas and we will all be the worse for it.

I love the English language. The Frenchman loves the French language. The Russian loves his mother tongue. The power of the word can move mountains. Let us use that power to insure a more prosperous world with fewer reasons to fight wars or discriminate against people we disagree with for whatever reason.

Dishonesty never leads to honesty and trust. If you can make a quick million by selling snow to the Eskimos, that doesn’t make it right.

Speak and write from your heart.

Few of us who are reading a message such as mine are literally starving. Take your time and build your fortune in a way which allows you to sleep well.

Serve your readership with all you’ve got, and that viral energy will carry you to your goals and dreams. Let’s reach for the stars in an ethical win-win way, without having to lean on circled incomes and specious claims.

It is not what you know or how much you have accumulated during life that matters the most.  It is in the how of accumulation and prosperity that we can determine whether we have left a trail of blood and sorrow or a legacy for the ages.

Everything counts and is counted.  No, there isn’t some eunuch hiding in the bushes with an abacus adding up your naughtiness and good deeds and reporting back to Santa.  There is only you, the genuine or the phony.  There is only you, the honest or the shameless.  There is only you, the server or the perpetual taker.

Where do you stand on these scales?

“Some persons do first, think afterward, and then repent forever.”
~Thomas Secker (former Archbishop of Canterbury)~

Who and what counts?

The people you chose to scorn or scowl at count.

The people you ignore because they are below you count.

The candy wrapper or beer can tossed aimlessly counts.

The children who you were too busy to listen to count.

The projects you put off for hours, days or years count.

The “just one bite of cheesecake” philosophy counts.

Looking the other way counts.

Just getting by counts.

Endless criticizing and its fraternal twin, ridicule, count.

White or bold-faced lies count…equally.

Sugar-coating your language to persuade people counts.

Bad hygiene counts.

Driving the car two blocks to the supermarket counts.

A messy work environment counts.

Keeping no record or diary of life events and finances count.

Crumpling money and throwing it at your unappreciative teen counts.

Neglecting to return correspondences and phone calls count.

Wasting time nitpicking counts.

Having no written goals and strategies count.

Screaming at other drivers from the sealed, air-conditioned comfort of a car counts.

Ignoring the chest pains because you are just too busy counts.

Developing a lifestyle which allows you to avoid exercise and keeps you from eating healthy food counts.

Pigging out at every opportunity counts.

Never apologizing counts.

Consistent and persistent negative self-talk counts.

Failure to prioritize counts.

Lack of appreciation to those whom you live, work and party with counts.

Always living in the past and wrapped in regret counts.

Exaggerating and idly boasting counts.

Constantly glancing at a timepiece while someone is spilling their heart to you counts.

Choosing to hang out with losers, turkeys and lifetime wannabes counts.

You count!!!

Pay attention to your words and your actions.  If they don’t register well, change your strategies.  Learn to become steady, accepting and solution-oriented.  Success will soon follow.

In your marketing business, always – not just when it is convenient – take the high (not higher) road.  Treat people like you would hope to be treated.  Avoid flogging products or services just because they sound good or they are endorsed by a famous person or institution.  Sell quality, service and after service.  Go the extra mile consistently.

If everything counts – which it truly does – then don’t sell snake oil products to dumb suckers.  Only sell products or services which deliver the benefits and features to the customer you intend to attract.  Avoid platitudes in the selling process.  Dissuade people who cannot now benefit from owning your widget or info-product with disclaimers and frank honesty.  The lifetime value of a customer is exponentially greater when you act with integrity, compassion and empathy.

Count your blessings when you meet someone like me.  Success and lots of money are often poignant symbols of service and integrity.  I have no aversion to you or me becoming fabulously wealthy and capable of permanent financial freedom.  The trick is to build an ethical empire that doesn’t stink up the planet and leave trails of bad karma.

It can be done.  Keep tuned to this station.

We all make mistakes and have an  array of flaws in our characters.  But by far the greatest mistake is to feel good by denying your troubles are your own. By doing so we are setting up our life for failure and suicidal inclination. It is your fault that you are fat, unemployed or in a malfunctioning marriage. Get a grip and get your life back…

People in advanced cultures often can live to be 80 or more these days.  That is a long, wasteful time if one falls out from the “think and do” column as soon as a plum job is secured or the wedding vows are exchanged.

Are you living according to others’ rules?  Are you walking through life like it’s a dress rehearsal?  Have you utterly discarded your dreams of youth in order to conform and get societal approval?

Constant, never-ending improvement is the only means we have to define ourselves.  We are uncut stones until we begin to sculpt ourselves through discovery of our hidden and latent talents.

Don’t think you have any distinguishing talents?  Then think again.  No two people have the identical chemistry.

Do you make people laugh?  Do you cook a tasty stew?  Do you speak with passion?  Are you always curious and willing to learn?  Then you have talent!

Are you good at golf? household matters? or winning debates?  Are you a person of integrity?  Are you good with machines?  Then you do have talent(s) that many other people don’t have.  Give yourself credit.

I am sure you get the point.  Stretching ones mind and effort to the limit always – yes always – bears good fruit. The mental and physical holding cells WE have locked ourselves into since youth are not who we are. We can shape our destiny by refusing to be victimized by external circumstances.

Survival mode is not for you and it never should be.  Each and every creature on this planet fulfills its evolutionary destiny to the maximum.  The flower grows when watered and given proper sunlight and soil.  The river and the salmon work the spawning act to perfection, unless man interferes.

You, too, are destined for greatness.  Keep your spirits elevated with the soil of effort.  Spawn your skills’ inventory by rigorous trial and error. Increase the sunshine on your self-confidence with small yet measurable successes.

Never, ever give up!  Adjust?  Yes.  Reorganize?  Most certainly.  Take a break?  We all need one from time to time.  But keep moving in the direction of your dreams.  Write a million, tangible goals and eventually you will be a millionaire; that is, unless you surrender to your circumstances and retreat to your comfort zone.

You are the master.  Your mind is your slave.  Remind it everyday, from time to time, who is in charge.  Never again impulsively give into your emotions.  Know what you want through careful and serious reflection, and then live your life wholeheartedly with honesty, fortitude and vigor in the present moment.

There is light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.  Turn on your mental lights for guidance and keep going.  You deserve only the best and the best is within sight.

Successful propagandists and copywriters of our times tend to embrace a stealthy, holier-than-Thou, airtight philosophy of life. They strut their stuff.

They tend to embrace specious ideas or systems, which may have at least worked for them, and then, spin these concepts into sugary bibles (systems) of gospel truth for sale.

They tend to dangle the mysterious, the unknown, and the unknowable before the truth seekers’ eyes.

They promise to reveal the secrets which are not theirs to give.

They then reel you in with the “What ifs…” of fear and ignorance.

They prey on spineless, wishy-washy seekers of the quick fix or the fast buck.

They claim sovereignty over the minds of the disenfranchised, the undernourished, the impoverished, the underdeveloped of mind and character, the underachiever, the maverick, the shunned, and the unnoticed ant colonies of mediocrity scattered across this planet.

They speak with an air of divine authority, which makes those weak of mind and body unable to resist.

Never believe another man’s justice or cause is your own.

You are you, a different set of DNA and life choices.

Nobody – no authority or law – can decide what you should stand for or hold you in chains.

Your destiny is in your hands, believe it or not.

Claim it or reclaim it.

Success IS knocking on your door. Are you at home?

The judge always weighs the facts and then slams the gavel with a pronouncement of guilt or innocence.  Richard Posner is not about to go wishy-washy on you just so I can be politically correct and well liked.  Listen to this poignant message… http://www.successinjapan.com/goodvibration.mp3