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My Search for Money-Making Bling

Two or three years ago, I bought a hot, new online marketing
product. It was going to make me a big pile of money and put
me on easy street.

Yeehaw. Happy days are here again!

So what happened? Did I get wealthy … retire to a hammock
in Maui … and live the sweet life from that day forward?

Well, not exactly. I would have, of course, but then I got
busy … barely glanced at the product … and never went
through it. But I knew I’d get to it eventually.

Then, a few months later, I bought another hot, new online
marketing product. It too was going to make me a big pile of
money and put me on easy street.

Yeehaw. Maui here I come.

But my glee quickly turned to embarrassment as I realized,
it was the exact same product I had purchased a few months
before.

So now I owned it twice. And what’s more embarrassing, I
never looked at it the second time I bought it, either.

I still haven’t. (And frankly, I don’t even remember what
the product was!)

It’s the story of my life. I’ve long been in hot pursuit of
money-making bling — that magic bullet that will let me
make millions, working just a few hours a day while lying on
the beach.

It’s a condition called “Bright Shiny Object Syndrome.” I’m
tooling along, writing copy for clients, making a good
living, improving my skills … and wham, I spot something
bright and shiny for sale in my inbox.

And I discover that a few bucks are all that stands between
me and the kind of riches that would have turned King Midas
green with envy.

So I eagerly buy it, but like a child with a new toy, I
quickly lose interest and jump to the next bright, shiny
object … and then the next one … and the next one.

I’ve become a collector of this stuff — never, ever using
it — like a guy who buys a multi-million dollar piece of
art and then stashes it in his basement.

Email king Ben Settle has neatly diagnosed my ailment, which
is surprisingly common. As Ben puts it, “A lot of them are
literally addicts — enslaved to the dopamine drip they get
when they buy something new.”

Buying stuff actually makes me — and you — feel good by
stimulating the production of the “happy” chemical dopamine
in our brains.

According to Psychology Today, the same thing happens every
time you check your email … open up Facebook … or read a
text message. And it’s why so many of us behave like addicts
with all that stuff.

So what’s a guy (or gal) to do? Especially when the offer is
closing in two hours … it will never be offered at a price
this low again … and there are so many juicy bonuses that
you can’t bear to pass up.

Unfortunately, as far as I know, there’s no bright shiny
object for solving this particular problem.

However, you’ll find that just knowing what is happening to
you … and labeling it a “dopamine drip” (or perhaps more
appropriately, a “dopamine attack”) makes a big difference
— and can help cool your ardor.

Secondly, somewhere close by keep a list of every
money-making, business-building, marketing and copywriting
product, course or book you’ve purchased (and don’t forget
all the bonuses). Even better, stack them all up on a nearby
bookshelf (print them out if you have to), so you can see
just how absurd your collection has become.

(I did this recently with some of my client-attraction and
copywriting resources. And I quickly realized that I have
enough books, courses, articles and videos on hand to keep
me busy for a couple of hours a day for at least the next
year or two. And that’s just reading and watching —
implementing will take ever more time.)

Third, begin a strict policy taught by internet marketer
Jimmy Brown: Never, ever buy a product — no matter how good
the deal and no matter how great the bonuses — unless you
know for a fact that you can and will use it within the next
two weeks.

And when the temptation to buy something new strikes, make a
firm decision to begin perusing and implementing the last
thing you bought instead.

Will you miss out on a few good deals? Sure, but so what?
These deals always come around again (no matter what the
countdown timer says). In the meantime, you’ve already got
plenty of stuff to work on!

Do this and you’ll begin to reduce the urge to clutter your
hard drive or book shelves with thousands of dollars worth
of money making courses, copywriting manuals and marketing
stuff that you rarely implement and sometimes never even
look at.

The Horrors of Selling

Here’s a news flash for you. The internet is overrun with
trolls, snowflakes and freebie seekers who expect you to
provide value, value and more value in return for … well,
NOTHING.

You’re apparently just supposed to give them everything they
want out of the goodness of your heart. Never mind that you
have a family to feed … a payroll to meet … and a retirement
account badly in need of a cash infusion.

Send out an email selling something, or close a blog post
with a product recommendation … and they’ll react with
horror, as if you’ve just violated some moral law that
forbids such crassness.

And instead of doing the sane thing, and clicking
“unsubscribe,” they sometimes send you an email telling you
what a miserable human being you are.

It seems they never stop to think about where their paycheck
comes from. The troll may not be in sales himself, but
somebody, somewhere is selling whatever good or service
their employer offers.

And the revenue generated by those sales is what puts the
moolah in his bank account.

Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs pay far too much attention
to these complainers — and suddenly become bashful about
selling. So, to avoid upsetting a few whiners — most of
whom will never buy anything anyway — they sabotage their
business.

Meanwhile, the online marketers who sell in every email —
despite the wails of a few offended snowflakes on their list
— make out like bandits.

Don’t get me wrong. Your emails still need to be somewhat
entertaining. And they still need to have some value. But,
with rare exceptions, they also need to sell something. The
fact is, if you have something of value to offer —
something that will improve the lives of those on your list
— then you are doing them a favor by offering it to them.

And that’s why I’m going to offer you something right now
that will help you write emails that help you build a better
relationship with your list — and make more sales.

It’s an email course by Michael Cheney, a British bloke who
has made a small fortune on the internet. His secret weapon:
daily emails (he actually sends three every single day!).
He’s one of the true masters.

His emails are fun, informative and in your face. And they
are always selling something. No exceptions.  As a result,
he lives a lifestyle most business owners can only dream of.

If you want to improve the selling power of every email you
send out — whether daily, weekly or monthly — you can’t go
wrong with Michael’s course, Email Black Ops.

You can get all the details by clicking here.

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Affiliate disclaimer: I sometimes recommend products and
services that I find valuable and believe you will, as well.
It’s safe to assume that I’m getting paid a commission
whenever you buy a product or service I recommend. I may
also get paid a commission if and when you buy other
products and services from the same vendor.

Years ago, I inherited a client from copywriting legend Gary
Halbert. The client — an accomplished powerlifter — sold
specialized supplements to bodybuilders and powerlifters.

One of the client’s most successful promos was a
catalog-style mailer that he sent out a couple of times a
year offering big discounts on his products.

His customers responded in droves and he made a killing
every time he sent it.

The client asked Gary how he could make more money with the
mailer. And while he expected to hear some blockbuster new
headlines or a breakthrough new marketing strategy, Gary
simply told him: Wait a week or two and mail it again.

The client thought this was the most absurd thing he had
ever heard. After all, his customers had already received
the mailer. They knew about the sale. It would be pointless
to spend thousands of dollars printing and mailing it again.

But Gary insisted … the client finally agreed … and, to
the client’s amazement, the second mailing did as well or
better than the first.

The lesson is pretty simple: No matter how often you’re
contacting your customers and prospects, it’s likely NOT
enough.

Because the sad fact is, no matter how awesome you are, when
the day comes for a prospect or customer to buy what you’re
selling, unless they’ve heard from you recently, odds are
you’re going to lose the sale.

And the longer you go without contacting them, the more
distant their memory of you becomes.

This is why I advise emailing your list a bare minimum of
once a week — though the ideal, believe it or not, is
actually to email them daily.

Yes, daily.

Why daily?

For starters, your prospects and customers won’t see all
your emails. If you only email monthly — or even weekly —
they can easily miss it.

Secondly, as I mentioned, your customers will forget about
you at the speed of light. We are so bombarded with info
these days that’s it’s not unusual for someone to forget
they signed up for your mailing list before you’ve even sent
them anything. It happens all the time.

Lastly, if you make your emails useful and entertaining,
your prospects and customers might even look forward to
receiving them — and that means you’ll stand out above
everything else in their cluttered inbox.

And one last thing: The point of your emails is to sell. So
I advise making an offer in every single one of your emails.
Point them to your online sales letter … invite them to
your store … ask them to call you for a quote.

Not sure how to write daily emails? Click here for details
about Michael Cheney’s remarkable course, Email Black Ops.
It’s a powerful resource that will have you off and running
in no time.

********************************************

Affiliate disclaimer: I sometimes recommend products and
services that I find valuable and believe you will, as well.
It’s safe to assume that I’m getting paid a commission
whenever you buy a product or service I recommend. I may
also get paid a commission if and when you buy other
products and services from the same vendor.