Online and Offline Business Success is About One Thing

The Client!

Zig Ziglar was one of the first real sales trainers and motivational speakers I heard speak live…and it transformed my thinking and my life!

Zig Ziglar said something all those years ago that has stayed with me throughout my business life and has been the basis of every entrepreneurial endeavor:

“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”

I’ve always thought of it as pushing others up. I’ve heard other describe it as pushing people forward.

Regardless of how you phrase it, one thing is certain, if you push enough other people up, you can’t help but ascend the ladder along with them. In fact, if you help others succeed, they will generally bend over backwards to make sure you do too.

Some of the skeptics out there may disagree with that last statement…but I have found it to be true over and over again.

People are wonderful!

And, like you and I, all most people want is a better life for themselves and their loved ones.

If someone owns a business, they want to make sure their family, friends, and employees are taken care of and that they have built up a successful enough business to either sell it when the time is right, thus providing for themselves and their loved ones; or, they want to pass it along to the kids, other relatives, and/or loyal employees when the time comes.

The Life Lesson My Grandfather Taught Me

My grandfather was an incredible force in my life, an example of the type of person I have just described and have always aspired to become!

In the early 1980s, Chevrolet decided they were no longer going to have what they call a point, that means a dealership presence in a given area, in downtown Detroit. Detroit had weathered the riots a few years before and GM was moving most of its dealerships to the suburbs.

So, after almost 50 years in business my grandfather was closing his doors. Trumbull Chevrolet was the first dealership in downtown Detroit and an institution for decades. They were a casualty of the times; and, of urban blight and suburban flight.

The thing that amazed me, and has stayed with me for the last 28 years, not unlike the Zig Ziglar quote above, was that prior to closing his doors, my grandfather made sure every person working for him had a job.

That’s right!

In the midst of the worst economy since The Great Depression, my grandfather got 73 of his 74 employees jobs before he closed his doors once and for all.

The 74th person was the real lesson!

The 74th person was a man I knew only as “Little Joe.”

Little Joe had started with my grandfather many years before. By the 1980s, Little Joe was too old and too well-paid for him to be placed anywhere. Consequently, Little Joe was the one person my grandfather couldn’t find adequate employment for. In corporate America, Little Joe would have been out of luck!

Not so with my grandfather!

My grandfather, having no other option that would sit well with who he was as a man who loved and cared for his employees, hired Little Joe to help my grandmother around the house, drive her to the store, basically help her with whatever she needed help with.

Joe was probably the highest paid helper/companion in Detroit at the time. My grandmother was showing the first signs of Alzheimer’s disease and needed a companion more than anything. Little Joe needed a job.

It was a marriage (or a job) made in heaven!

Little Joe could barely help himself most days, but that didn’t matter, my grandfather was faithful to Little Joe and Little Joe loved my grandfather and my grandmother.

A Business and a Life Lesson Learned from the Detroit Riots

In fact, during the 1968 Detroit riots, my grandfather’s dealership, a block away from Tiger (Briggs) Stadium in downtown Detroit, was not touched. During that entire summer of upheaval and rioting? Not a window was broken not a single car was vandalized.

While National Guard tanks rolled up and down the city streets and into the suburbs, Little Joe sat with my grandfather, so he would be safe…and they protected “the store,” together.

My grandfather came to find out later that many of his employees, people who lived in the neighborhood, had more or less let it be known that Trumbull Chevrolet was not to be touched. My grandfather had made it a point to hire his neighbors, and his employees became his second family.

When he needed them, his second family took care of him…and their business.

So, while Detroit burned, my grandfather and Little Joe sat and watched from the dealership’s showroom windows. And his employees, who also loved him, made sure he was OK and that the dealership, and the office building that had held the Detroit Lions offices, also owned by my grandfather, were not touched.

He had made it his mission to help the people of Detroit and they returned the favor…and then some.

Like I said, people are wonderful!

People deserve to be treated with integrity and honesty. If you treat people according to the way you want to be treated and help them get what they want…you will succeed beyond your wildest dreams.

And, you’ll be able to sleep at night!

In sales and marketing, and particularly in Internet marketing, I see things that, even after all these years in sales and marketing, I do not understand. Seth Godin says much of it has to do with Little Lies…or at least that’s how it begins.

I agree!

But I also believe it speaks to who we are as individuals!

It is so easy to succeed in business, any business, if you help enough other people get what they want. Forget about the shortcuts, forget about the “fast and easy,” and forget about the secrets to success.

There is only one secret to success:

The Golden Rule!

Who among us wouldn’t help someone who has helped us get to where we want to be in life? Who wouldn’t treat us as we wish to be treated…if we’ve treated them well?

It’s about pushing people up!

The “secret to success”? Push enough people up or forward and treat them as you would like to be treated.

It really is that simple!

John Zajaros
The Ultimate Internet Image
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
216-712-7004

We have heard a great deal about CPA lately with some of the biggest names in CPA, such as Mike Hill of CPA Tsunami, coming out of the closet and telling us all how great it can be. The fact is, CPA has been around for quite some time and is in fact one of the best kept secrets in affiliate marketing…at least until recently.

For those who are not sure what CPA or the Cost-per-Action Model of advertising and affiliate marketing is all about:

The Cost-per-Action or CPA model is based on marketers being paid only for specific actions made by clients and/or prospective clients, such as clicks leading to a specific offer, registrations or leads, and sales. The basis of the entire model is that an advertiser pays a marketer only for a specific action defined in advanced and usually brokered through an affiliate network, sometimes known as a CPA network.

Affiliates are paid once the sale or lead is generated for a specific campaign the advertiser is running.

In the CPA world, an affiliate is also known as a publisher, someone who can promote an advertisement on a website, in a newsletter, via search engine marketing, etc. In other words, the affiliate (publisher) promotes an advertiser’s (merchant’s) service or product (merchandise) on their website or blog, via email marketing, and by PPC (pay-per-click) advertising.

The parameters of the advertising and marketing campaign are clearly defined in advance by the advertiser, often restricting the kind of advertising allowed.

Interestingly, CPA networks often have a double qualifying system where the affiliate or publisher must first apply and be accepted into the specific network, like Clickbooth for instance, and then in some cases must then go through another selection and approval process to be approved by the individual advertisers or merchants. The process is often very selective for both affiliates and advertisers, ensuring a profitable experience for those interested in this sort of marketing.

While selective, the CPA opportunity is by no means restrictive and, should you be accepted, the sky is the limit, as this is one of the most lucrative arenas marketers can play and compete in.

This may be, at least in part, why up until recently you may not have heard much about it. The recent appearance of products emphasizing CPA and the incredible opportunities available to those who wish to explore this income opportunity have it catching on quite rapidly.

Make no mistake, this is where many of the “big boys” play! Most, if not all of the names will be unfamiliar to you, as their emphasis is on making money in this incredible income making arena and not educating others who will ultimately compete with them.

The first two steps I took and the ones I recommend for anyone starting out is to educate yourself by going to Clickbooth and signing up for their affiliate/publisher program. Then, once approved, spend some time on their blog educating yourself. It is an amazing world and there is a lot to learn, so make sure you take a day or two and get comfortable with it. You will have to revisit it often…but it will be well worth it.

Then, go to Affiliate Theme! It is remarkable and will do everything for you, including set up multiple themes for you, professionally tailored and directed to the offers you are interested in promoting.

So, once you are approved at and search through the offers you find that match well with your goals and interests, then go to Affiliate Theme and start making money!

The process, while at first intimidating, can be amazingly simple once you understand what you are doing. And, for the technical stuff, Affiliate Theme makes it so easy! The nicest feature Affiliate Theme has to offer is its versatility. You can use it for CPA offers, for blogs, for review sites, for landing/squeeze pages, and for portals.

Some of the highest earning bloggers on the Internet use Affiliate Theme and it’s versatile functionality to serve all their needs, it really can’t be beat. The combination of CPA via Clickbooth and Affiliate Theme is a powerful one-two punch for anyone wishing to take their Internet marketing efforts to the next level.

Should you want additional information, just contact me via the numbers or email address below!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
866-835-2913 (toll free)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

How to Succeed at Internet Marketing: The Learning Curve!

“If it sounds too good to be true…”

Spend any amount of time looking for ways to make money on the Internet, and you will come across many people happy to help you out – out of your money, that is!

Maybe you weren’t even actively looking for an online business opportunity…but a savvy Internet marketing guru with a clever email subject line popped into your inbox!

So, you decided, “What the heck, I’ll check it out!”

Usually it begins with a promise. Yes, in just a few short hours per week you are going to make loads of money, millions even! And they have already done most of the work for you!

While they worked on rebuilding, and selling, the Brooklyn Bridge!

Easy, right?

Plugin and play! Set it and forget it!

Just like those chicken roasters they sell on TV infomercials! [Now, just off to the side let's have an idiot card telling everyone to say "Ooooh-aaaah!" and then clap!]

Yup! They know precisely what buttons to push and when; and, it’s all scripted to one end, to gain access to your wallet.

They are very good at it, too!

Hopefully, somewhere in the back of your mind, you hear your parent’s or grandparent’s voice echoing off in the distance:

“If it sounds too good to be true…it probably is.”

Folks, I don’t mean to sound cynical, mocking or facetious here. Well, maybe a little!?

The fact of the matter is…there are no “get rich quick” formulas in Internet marketing!

The whole notion of getting rich in a matter of days, weeks, or even months in Internet marketing is one of the late great snake oil sales campaigns!

BTW, I also have swamp land on the North Face of the South Slope of the Grand Canyon…and you too can own this beach front property just a few paces from the Caribbean…or was it the Pacific! Yeah, that’s the ticket! Next to the British Army gun emplacements next to the Belize National Airport!

Sure, there are instances in which a person has accomplished a great deal and done quite well in a matter of a few months. That individual usually has a history in sales, marketing, management, and/or entrepreneurial endeavors…but it certainly did not happen overnight!

In fact, most overnight success, and Hollywood and the music industries are great for building up this mythology, takes years. Years to gain overnight stardom, overnight riches, overnight success.

Years!

I have been a student of marketing for over 30 years. A student! I have built businesses and worked in sales, marketing, and management for some amazing companies, including my own, and for some amazingly successful entrepreneurs.

I have been blessed to see some of the best sales, marketing (in Internet marketing and also traditional brick and mortar marketers), self-improvement, and personal development gurus in the world speak, in person.

While we hear of the tremendous financial success many of these “gurus” have now, each and every one of them went through a learning curve…and it was hard work.

Eben Pagan of Altitude speaks of living in a tiny trailer, writing his first ebook in his “next-to-nothings.” Close your eyes you can see him sitting in front of his computer monitor in his skivvies writing all night.

Eben picturing what he was going to become.

Frank Kern of Mass Control 2.0 speaks of going to door to door in a black suit, in the middle of a Macon, Georgia summer, selling credit card vending machines…and that’s after burying a dog collar containment business he ran out of the back of a used car office!

Yet, Frank had this belief he could be something more, he knew it!

Tellman Knudson of The List Building Club, a man currently running across the country barefoot for homeless children, had already overcome significant medical issues as a child, tried a few other business ventures, including hypnosis, and failed. Tellman found himself at the end of his rope without enough money to buy lunch one day. Humiliated, he wrote an IOU to the diner for the cost of his lunch while the eyes of the people he saw every day were upon him. The dreaded double beep, he called it…rejection and humiliation!

In spite of the terrible humiliation…or because of it…he made it! Tellman envisioned something better, something great!

Jeff Herring, The Article Guy, was once homeless on Christmas Eve. Living in a hotel lobby, Jeff had nowhere to go and, seemingly, nowhere to turn.

Even while homeless, Jeff had a belief he could and would be something more, something greater!

Mike Geary, of The Truth About Abs, was “not in a good place financially,” working a regular 9-5 job as a scientist in the environmental field, trained people every evening and then went home to work on the computer until 4 in the morning…day after day, month after month, for several years before he made it…”overnight!”

True to his nature as an athlete, and as a scientist, Mike Geary knew he could achieve something great, he had the formula, it just took a concerted effort and belief!

Tony Robbins was a 20 year old kid with a beat up car, some stories have him living in it for a time, barely a penny to his name, going from appointment to appointment, speaking to business people with more experience and more money.

Yet instead of saying I can’t, it’s too hard or I don’t have the experience, Tony Robbins made it work!

I can go on…but you get the idea…I hope!

Every one of the above mentioned individuals had one quality. Every one of them believed above all else in their ability and that all things are indeed possible to those who believe!

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve!” Napoleon Hill

The greatest service I can do for you is dispel the myth of overnight riches! The 4-Hour Workweek is probably the most misunderstood and misinterpreted work of the past few decades. Misunderstood, because the title has morphed into the entire message! The 80/20 Principle has also caused the same sort of issues, being widely misquoted and misunderstood!

Significantly, both of these books are one writer’s OPINION!

Interestingly, people often read a work and, because it is in print, has been published, and has achieved a certain amount of notoriety, it is considered fact. It has always amazed me how the written word can on one hand be relegated to the back burner by an entire generation, the video generation, and yet still hold immense power and authority.

Truly a paradox…a conundrum!

To have true and lasting success as an internet marketer, you have to become a student of the craft. To succeed online you must become comfortable with the sales process, marketing (both offline and Internet marketing), and with business building. After all, that’s what we are doing…right? We are building a business as entrepreneurs…as Internet marketing entrepreneurs.

Who do you believe and believe in? Are there reputable programs available for someone interested in making money online?

Yes, there are reputable programs out there, a few by the individuals noted above. Interestingly, the better programs available aren’t going to do all the work for you. And, the best Internet marketing programs aren’t going to do much of anything at all for you!

Why?

Well, there’s something to be said and much to be gained by taking the time to do it yourself! If you are serious about making money online, whether in the Internet marketing niche itself or in any one of the myriad of other niche marketing possibilities available to you, willing to take all the necessary steps, and don’t try to take shortcuts around the learning curve…you will prosper!

Take time to learn the real behind the scenes stories of how some of the successful internet marketers got to where they are today. They will inspire you!

Then, once you understand some of what it takes, it is time for implementation!

We will cover implementation in the next article! It is in combining education and implemetation that will lead you to prosperity in Internet marketing!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
866-835-2913 (toll free)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

PS, For more on the subject of success online and in life, just click this link and go to The John Zajaros Blog!

Many years ago I read a book titled How to Sell Anything to Anybody, it was by a car salesman who was noted in The Guiness Book of World Records as being the greatest salesman in the world.

Joe Girard’s accomplishment is really something, particularly in light of the fact that to his day people are reading his book and citing his ideas on relationship building an referral marketing.

However, all that aside, it was Joe Girard’s Law of 250 that has really stayed with me all theses years. It is the Law of 250 that is a lesson every marketer, in fact anyone who sells “anything to anybody” need to understand and realize the power of. It is the Law of 250 that will make or break you as a business person…and it is in this area most businesses, particularly today, fail miserably.

The Law of 250 states, and I am paraphrasing Joe Girard:

Everyone knows 250 people, on average, some more and some less. When you do business with just one person and you don’t treat them right they will tell all 250 people about the experience. If you alienate just one person a day and they tell 250 people? Inside of a year you will have enough people to fill a stadium, Joe used Tiger Stadium, all yelling “Don’t buy from so-and-so!”

Do the math!

That’s 91,250 people a year…and that’s if everyone who hears about it is quiet and doesn’t tell all the people they know! It could end up like that hair commercial! With 250 people telling the 250 people they know, and those 250 telling their 250…and so on…and so on…and so on!

Kind of like the hair commerical a while back!

Many businesses have gone out of business because of Joe Girard’s Law of 250, whether they realized it or not!

In this world, mediocrity has become the rule rather than the exception. Service and support is often outsourced and is almost an afterthought for many companies. In essence, many of these companies are putting out their own “Out of Business” sign…they are actively engaged in their own extinction….all due to the Law of 250!

It is up to you what kind of business you want to run and how long you want to be around. However, if you want to make it in the real world and not have tens of thousands of people all yelling “Don’t do business with [insert your name here]!” Be careful! Be diligent! And realize that support and service, like quality, need to be “Job #1!” Or you won’t be around long enough to see Job #2!

John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., PhD
216-712-6526
866-835-2913 (toll free)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

PS, My sincere thanks to Joe Girard for answering my email and reminding me of some things I had forgotten, aside from his Law of 250. The Law of 250 which has stayed with me for 35 years! I met Joe 35 years ago and he is still as amazing and charismatic now as he was 35 years ago…he also knows how to make an impact. He also took the time to answer an email! How rare is that today? One of the true masters of his craft!

Frank Kern Says A Lot of Smart Things!

I was walking late last night with TuffGuy, actually it was early this morning…about 4am, as a matter of fact! I was in one of those philosophical moods I get in every once and a while but this time I happened to look up.

There was a gorgeous full moon encircled by a ring of cirrus clouds. Just gorgeous and full, or as close to full as you can get without it being completely, just a sliver beyond but still amazing.

Frank Kern’s conversation with Tony Robbins during an interview for The New Money Masters came back in a flash!

You see, Frank was talking about his success in the Internet marketing world and his sense of positive expectancy. The sense of all things possible is something he, I, and probably many of you reading this got from Tony’s Personal Power II program…if you were fortunate enough to buy a copy and put it into action.

During the conversation Frank said something that has been playing over and over in my mind for the last 2 months:

“Anything is possible! If that hasn’t been proven repeatedly throughout history then you are not paying attention. We’ve got people going to the moon, for gosh sakes, so surely I could make a couple more ebooks!”

Or as close to that as I can remember off the top of my head.

It’s brilliant!

On so many levels, this seemingly simplistic observations hits the nail on the head. He are not only capable of great things, history bears it out. And the fact that we are only constrained by our imaginations means our future is infinite, limitless in its possibilities!

Certainly we can create a few more ebooks turned into an awesome business for Frank Kern and his model for doing business has been copied successfully by hundreds, probably thousands of marketers inspired by the laid back but thoroughly competent entrepreneur and marketing genius behind the Surfer Dud persona.

Ebooks and certainly more! But it doesn’t stop there…we are capable of great things!

That was the crux of the message, all wrapped up in a very clear and concise interview of one of The New Money Masters, Frank Kern.

On to business!

Frank is opening up his Mass Control for a limited time and he has shared the early bird link with me via email. I am NOT an affiliate, I just think Frank Kern is one of the people online you need to pay attention to…one of The New Money Masters! So, I am posting the link here for anyone who wishes to learn from one of the best. It is my understanding that their are only 140 Mass Control courses available, so don’t wait because Frank really does shut his down once he has sold out.

Frank Kern’s Mass Control 2.0

Enjoy it and let me know what you think as you write your ebook…and plan your very own trip to the moon!

John

216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ythequestrevealed.com

I just thought I would share a moment with you. The sun was setting, it is mid-October and the clouds were beautiful, purple and billowing. I live not too far from the spot where the video I shot (below) was taken and I love walking there.

After overcoming a life-threatening and life-altering illness, one that put me in the hospital for months from December of 2004 until April/May of 2008, it is as if my eyes are seeing things for the first time, that I am once again experiencing life.

I am beginning to see the possibilities in life again, the things that make my heart beat a bit faster, and the things that don’t necessarily mean success as much as they simply make life a bit more fun. I have experienced all the trappings of success, have been known as a “success” for much of my life. To have had it all vanish, all the trappings, while fighting for my life was disconcerting but I always knew, if I could just get through to the other side, I would have it all again.

Interestingly, having made it through catastrophic illness, having beat back the most dreaded of diseases and lived to start again, my perspective has been forever altered. The “things” I once thought important are no longer so and the “trappings” of success are now viewed for what they are, impermanent and easily replaceable. The things of value, the things that really matter, friends, family, my faith in people, my faith in Something Greater have all been restored, renewed, or significantly strengthened.

Success no longer has the same meaning…but success still has the same definition!

Figure that one out for yourself….

By definition, success is a progression, an improvement in your overall quality of life on daily basis. Tony Robbins talks about CANI! CANI! is “consistent and never ending improvement.” Tony Robbins talks about the improvement in the quality of your life on a daily basis, incrementally, continually, and consistently. Early Nightingale and Napoleon Hill talk about progression toward a worthwhile goal or ideal. Interestingly, every great thinker has equated success with progress, a progression, a journey that includes never ending improvement.

If that is the definition of success…I am a success!

Every day of my life has become a success, a mural of sorts, and I thought I would share just a moment of it…me and my little dog, TuffGuy…my Higher Power is the painter, my life the canvas!

The video below will be up around the web, on my personal blog, The John Zajaros Blog, and elsewhere. It’s just a moment, a glimpse, and Martin Scorsese has nothing to worry about.

I challenge you to find your own personal place or places, your space if you will, that spot or those spots you can retreat to, that inspire you, not only your entrepreneurial spirit, if you have that sort of wish for your life, but personally and spiritually. Because those personal places are the best places to take a step back and renew, recharge, and refresh the Spirit before facing the ups and the downs life invariably throws at us daily…on our journey, our progression, our never ending quest!

This has just been a moment of personal reflection:

The Quest Revealed!

As stated, the most significant and meaningful trappings of success are no longer the same for me. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t get excited about a new Hunter sailboat, almost purchased a while back, or a comfortable houseboat for Connie and I to retire on. TuffGuy, Bart, kids, and whomever else wants to come along with us, as well! Well, maybe? But the landscape has changed, the Master Gardener has done a real job on me, I no longer yield the same produce and life on the other side of H#ll is indeed Heaven!

We are tested throughout our lives but one thing I know with absolute certainty…Tony Robbins is right! CANI! is the real “secret” to success. Only through constant, consistent, and never ending improvement, never quitting no matter what the odds, will you prevail.

Not only will you prevail, life will be amazing!

But you must demonstrate:

Faith– in yourself, your loved ones, your friends, your Higher Power (in what ever form you see it) and, most importantly, your Self!
Hope– above all, hope! Without hope, when things are their blackest, you will falter! You must have HOPE!
Determination– there were times when the only thing that kept me going was determination, that refusal to quit regardless of what everyone and everything was saying!
Persistence– just a bit different from determination, a one-two punch of sorts. Determination is the mindset, persistence is the implementation!
Goals– It is not enough to want something, you must have concrete goals and a plan of action. Without goals you are truly a ship without a rudder, blowing this way and that!
Burning Desire– this may also be called “The One Thing!” It is not enough to have goals, it isn’t even enough to have a plan of action, you must want it, whatever “it” is, with all your heart! You must want it in the pit of your stomach, it must burn within you like nothing else…it must make your soul ache!

IF you are able to define, clearly and concisely, what your “One Thing” is, write it out, burn it into the very fabric of your being, and then have complete faith in the reality that it will be yours, put the plan into action and improve upon it in some way each and every day, constantly and consistently, you will prevail!

In the words of one of the greatest statesmen to ever walk the Earth, “Never, Never, Never, Never Quit!” And you will prevail!

John Zajaros
216-712-6526 (home/business)
866-835-2913 (toll free)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@johnzajaros.com

The recent acquisition of FriendFeed by facebook, and yes all you English teachers out there, the proper name is left uncapitalized, announced to the world in early August 2009, still has much of the Internet wondering…”What next!?”

The consensus seems to be facebook coveted not only the FriendFeed staff of twelve, eleven of whom are engineers, but some of the FriendFeed tools and technology, applications the David-like FriendFeed had developed that left facebook’s Goliath in a rather covetous state.

To paraphrase several observations made in TechCrunch:

As of the publication of the TechCrunch article, since updated (somewhat) and written by Jason Kincaid on August 10, 2009, the details and the full implication(s) of the purchase are, as of yet, unclear…but Kincaid calls it a “good match.”

Clearly, the acquisition is a good match for facebook as it continues to ramp up its onslaught on twitter (yes, also uncapitalized–didn’t these guys go to grammar school?). The motivation behind the acquisition seems to be as much about facebook acquiring FriendFeed’s tools and technology, along with the small but very creative staff.

In the last year, facebook has “borrowed” several of the FriendFeed tools, such as the ‘Like’ feature and also the “emphasis on real-time news updates.”

Clearly, FriendFeed’s overall functionality outperformed facebook in a number of ways and in several key areas, so facebook did the logical thing…they stepped in and bought out their competition!

The consensus among the majority of the tech and social media writers I surveyed, the people who follow this kind of stuff daily (and my thinking, as well), is that the real win here for facebook is the acquisition of the FriendFeed team. The team is made up of several heavy-hitters from Google, including Paul Buchheit, responsible for the creation of Gmail and the original AdSense model. The ex-Googler team is clearly the the driving force behind the tools facebook covets and the ultimate reason for the facebook-FriendFeed deal.

Is this the next step in facebook’s onslaught on twitter? It would certainly seem to be the case!

In the meantime, FriendFeed remains a very interesting Web 2.0 platform and one worth getting comfortable with.

If you are very active on even a handful of social media sites, you know how difficult and time consuming it can be to keep them all updated with current material. A post on one may not been seen by someone who is a friend or follower on another site, and so on. So is there a solution for this? Some say FriendFeed is the answer.

While the long-term future of FriendFeed is still up in the air, whether it will remain a separate entity or will become part of facebook, the applications and tools continue to make this an attractive and very useful social media site. Yes, there are other sites offering various components of the FriendFeed toolbox…but the mix of tools and applications under one roof, so to speak, makes FriendFeed hard to beat.

FriendFeed is a live streaming web service that takes all of your activity on various social media and social bookmarking sites and consolidates it into one place. Members can subscribe to each other’s streams, and carry on a conversation right from one place instead of signing in and out of numerous sites. If you want to keep track of someone who is not a FriendFeed member but who does use social sites, FriendFeed gives you the option of having their various RSS feeds compiled into one place.

The number and variety of sites friendfeed supports is increasing all the time. Some of the more popular ones already on board are twitter, facebook, YouTube, Flickr, StumbleUpon, Digg, Seesmic, last.fm, and Furl, as well as RSS and Atom feeds.

FriendFeed is a great way to stay in touch with friends, family members and colleagues, but there are numerous other ways you can use its functionality:

1) Start or Join a Room: Have a hobby or cause you are passionate about? A Room is a place where you and others can have conversations about only that subject matter. This is also a great way to engage current and perspective customers, and provide information about your product or brand.
2) Grow your Social Network: When scrolling through streams, if you see someone with great posts or comments, hover over their name and hit subscribe.
3) Broaden your Interests: Everything a person you are following likes, is shared with you. Conversely, what you like – from pictures, to music, to articles, to videos, is shared with them as well.
4) Poll the People: FriendFeed has an easy way for you to ask for the opinions of others.
5) Conduct Searches: FriendFeed will not only provide you with links to related material, but you will also see user’s comments about them.
6) Segment your subscribers/friends into various categories to include: Home feed; Personal; Professional; and, Favorites.

You can also check out the most popular entries of the day, week, and month…all at the click of a mouse! Not only can you check out the most popular entries overall but you can also see how your comments fared and which comments attracted the most attention, from you and from others.

FriendFeed offers tools so you can pick how much content you want to see from each user, and a way to block those whose posts are less than desirable.

When you’re on the road, keep in touch via iPhone’s mobile application, FriendFeedToGo.

Until now, friendfeed’s user base has been relatively small, especially when compared to the likes of twitter, however, all indications are this will be changing rapidly over the next several months.

A recent press release states that FriendFeed will continue to operate normally, for now. However, it seems that the founders of both sites, facebook and FriendFeed, have admired each other’s work for quite some time and will work well together. Perhaps? It will be interesting to see if the long term plan will be to fuse the best of both services together to create the largest interface for users to aggregate all of their social networking updates and news items in one place or they will remain separate and distinct entities. Time will tell!

John
Join me on FriendFeed!
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Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., PhD
216-712-6526
866-835-2913
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@johnzajaros.com

PS, I am presently taking on mentoring and coaching clients, so contact me any time and leave a message 24/7. I am also recommending anyone interested in growing their business check out StomperNet and TrafficGeyser, the two tools no online business, of any kind, should be without.

PPS, Check out my personal site, The John Zajaros Blog anytime!

Dan Hollings was brilliant tonight, talking about the Twitter marketing portion of StomperNet’s new Internet marketing platform.

As has been the case with every member of the StomperNet faculty over the past month, Dan was fantastic! The ladies and gentlemen of the StomperNet faculty have defined Internet marketing and online business success; and, they have also demonstrated the professional way to launch an Internet marketing product, with first-class information and a quality platform!

If you follow me anywhere on social media, you know that I am a big advocate of implementation. In other words, taking action using the proper tools, and to do so in the most efficient and effective way possible. I am talking about an Internet marketing business system, combining the necessary tools to make money online, along with those necessary to run a business effectively, not just in the sort run…but for years to come, should that be your desire.

I am always skeptical when I read some of the sales letters written by people calling themselves “gurus.” In some instances, these tomes are written by people barely able to keep their businesses afloat, offering this program or that, many of the words bandied about are:

Guru, and you may already know how I feel about that term as a descriptive adjective for most marketers!

Mentor, always at a prices that would make a Vegas Madam blush!

Coach, I wonder what John Wooden or Joe Paterno would say?

“Life” Coach, as opposed to what?

And many more!

Many of the people using these appellations have never built a lasting business of their own, in good times or bad, and fewer still have any real idea what it takes to be successful in the long-term. Yet we are bombarded daily with parroted advice from those among us…

“Faking it, until making it!”

Don’t get me wrong!

I am 100% behind people making a go of it online, in Internet marketing proper or in affiliate or niche marketing, because it’s all really the same thing (or is it?), they have my respect and admiration!

The problem I have is with people attempting to run before they have a good understanding of what it takes to walk…and attempting to lead others over the same cliff you may be heading for. The drop is steep and unforgiving.

So, my question is this:

If you aren’t sure of what you are doing, how in the world are you going to teach others?

The answer:

You can’t, at least not without pulling the both of you down together!

You see, sales and marketing is a lot more complex than most people maintain in their books with the catchy phrases. While many throw around names like Hill, Nightingale, Ziglar, Hopkins, Girard, and now Robbins and Tracy, they have little understanding of what drives people to act on a consistent and continuous basis, on both sides of the equation; sales/marketing; and, the purchasing-target audience/market.

Unfortunately, certain Internet marketing “gurus” have created an air of positive expectancy that doesn’t always match up with reality.

Some marketing “gurus” claim the “chosen few” will make from $10,000 to $100,000 per month in a matter of a few weeks, implying that all you have to do is:

1) Spend $X dollars for an application fee…that one kills me!

2) Spend $Y dollars an ebook…usually written in vague generalities in order to sell more, you guessed it, stuff!

AND

3) Spend $Z dollars for a monthly membership…and we get what for that? More stuff!

FINALLY

4) The heavens will open and all will be made clear from one high!

After all, their sales letter maintains…just look what Gee Willacres did in just 6 months after:

1) Having a leg removed…the wrong one!

2) Being trampled by a horse…a pony from the traveling carnival really!

AND

3) Having open-heart surgery…when he was supposed to have a kidney transplant!

If Gee can do it…well, gosh…so can you!

Pile on top of this line of whooey, whooey being a technical term I learned at the George Carlin School of Internet Marketing and Online Shenanigans Annual Conference, in suburban Tehran, the idea that a web presence (nice word for mass produced website) set up as some sort of a cookie-cutter, big scheme Internet marketing (Read: MLM) template is going to do draw the thousands to tens of thousands of victims, I mean visitors, per month necessary, based on even the best conversion numbers online, to generate that sort of income is flat out tom-foolery!

Another Carlin school term! Being a graduate, I am allowed to thrown them around!

And I am being very kind with the descriptive adjectives…sans the four letter ones!

Reality?

The reality of an individual with no clear idea of what to do and how to do it, just laid off from his or her job at Bob’s Burger Palace and Horseshoeing Emporium, a gig they’ve had for the last 20 years, and turning to the Internet in desperation is very different from the reality of an individual who has a marketing background, a stable home life, time to build a proper foundation before going full time, which includes the time educate one’s self, the moxie to network properly, and plenty of resources to spend on education and to fall back on if he or she takes a header off of one of those Internet marketing, online business cliffs!

Yet Internet marketing “gurus” seem to focus on the target market en mass…without realizing that Joe Palooka’s Internet marketing needs are very different from Betsey Homecki’s online business aspirations! Very few people (read: gurus with a small “g”) actually take the time to build any version of “Bob” (watch The New Money Masters with Frank Kern and Tony Robbins, brilliant!), and if they are, they must be way off the mark, because most of the people I talk to are frustrated, angry, disenchanted, and even bitter…tracking back to their experiences with the “gurus!” They want to make it, many want it with a white hot desire! The problem is with the delivery of information at a reasonable cost and in a way that is truly user friendly.

I don’t believe many of the “gurus” have a clue how people learn, much less what it takes to teach them! The end result is a support nightmare, a lot of people referring to “gurus” as scam artists, and a stadium full of people (Read: Joe Girard) screaming don’t buy from so-and-so! More to come on this topic!

So, getting back to Internet marketing, online business success, coaching, mentoring, and implementation!

The problem most people have starting out is not a lack of information, there is plenty of good information available if you know how to research and know what you are looking for; it’s not that there isn’t a proven template for success, there are several successful online business models available; and, it’s not that there is a lack of quality software to implement even the most ambitious strategies, there are some great Internet marketing implementation platforms available. The challenge is in knowing who to listen to, understanding what they are saying, which means cutting through all the hype; and finally, which program to invest in…in order to pull it all together…or at least start on the right path.

Who: Who to listen to and, more importantly, who to believe!

What: Understanding what they are saying. This means understanding the basics of marketing in general and Internet marketing specifically!

Which: Which way to go! There is no shortage of voices in the wilderness, some as soothing and convincing as any Siren’s call! Knowing which program to invest in has with it its own set of qualifiers and traps to avoid!

Beware!

Or better yet: Buyer Beware!

The reality…ah, back to reality…is that you can go any which way and get to where you are going. Or, as the old one-liner goes:

“You can’t get there from here!”

Ultimately, you have to put your faith, if trust is too big a word right now, in someone and something…both of them!

You must deal with the 3 Ws:

Who
What
Which

Back to Stompernet!

I have recommended a handful of programs over the last year, the ones I have wholeheartedly endorsed, and still use, I can count on one hand!

Enter StomperNet!

At $10,000 per year, it was just not in my make-up to invest that kind of money, even at $800 per month, in a marketing program, particularly at the stage of development I was in when StomperNet appeared on my radar. I have followed Brad Fallon, and he back, almost from day one of my involvement on Twitter, so I knew of Brad and StomperNet…and had heard nothing but good about both the man and the Internet marketing opportunity, because StomperNet is much more than a program, it is a complete system!

Ah, finally! The final piece of the puzzle:

System!

Like TrafficGeyser, a much more specialized system, one I endorse wholeheartedly, StomperNet is not only an Internet marketing system, it is a community, a university of sorts…in a very real way, a bit of academia on the Internet.

StomperNet is perhaps the only true Internet marketing university!

For that reason, and because I am so impressed with the StomperNet system and it’s community, including its amazing faculty, I am going to make the following offer:

If you purchase StomperNet using my affiliate link, you may contact me at any time, day or night 24/7 for the next 365 days, no kidding, for the next year, and we will work through the implementation together! I will always get back to you in short order, always!

PLEASE!

Do not take this as some sort of a “I am the greatest, I will lead you” ego trip!

I will be starting with StomperNet just like you, from the beginning! However, I do have experience with some of the components as individual products, so we will not be flying blind. What I am offering is a mastermind of at least two, open almost at your beck and call, and all you have to do is make your purchase through my link.

We will do the rest together.

In fact , I will make this even better:

For the next 90 days, we will meet online, via Skype, 3 evenings a week…for at least an hour a session…perhaps longer!

After the first 90 days we will see how things go. You never know, we may find we enjoy the mastermind sessions and simply expand upon it.

That’s my offer! I am so impressed with StomperNet, I think this is something that can serve to push a bunch of new “stompers” up all at once!

Once you get your email confirmation, and I get mine, we will set up our first session!

I am looking forward to having you as a fellow Stomper, as a colleague, and as a member of a mastermind focused solely on our collective success in Internet marekting!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., PhD
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com
excellencepaidforward@gmail.com (my very personal email address)

PS, In case you missed it, the links toward the top of the article above are for the webinar series, the ones down the page are going straight to the StomperNet main page! Either way, see you soon!

The August Internet Marketing Quest Revealed Newsletter was a huge success!

September’s newsletter promises to be even better and will be out the week of September 14, 2009. It is my hope you will join me as we build our subscriber base. It is my intention to continue offering the newsletter as a free service, with an eye towards building a big subscriber case and creating a free and open forum for the exchange of ideas among subscribers.

Please join us and subscribe to the newsletter! The video will describe the upcoming edition more completely, I hope you enjoy it…and and it useful!

If you would like to see any issues covered in an upcoming newsletter, just leave a comment below and I will work to make it happen!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com

I was in the shower and it hit me! One of those eureka moments when everything becomes crystal clear, at least until you get out of the bathroom and it leaves your brain forever. You know what I mean, kind of like what a dream does, you struggle to remember, but it’s gone forever. First of all, I guess I should explain what the heck I am talking about! You see, I seem to get some of my best ideas in the shower. I did some research with a physiologist during my stint in academia and he said it had to do with the fact that as we put our head under the nozzle and allow the water to pulsate and massage our head, the brain is being stimulated by the repetitive pulses of the shower massage. The stimulation leads to increased brain activity, the result being creative thoughts and ideas. I was impressed and thought about it for a minute or two.

After a couple of minutes back on the task we were working on, surveying 3100 skeletons in the Hamann-Todd Collection at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, a question came to mind. Interestingly, my question then is just what you are thinking right now if you are with me on this. What about before shower massages? What happened then? He laughed and told me not to be so old-fashioned. Me? Old fashioned? Well, we both laughed and then he continued. My research partner noted that the topic had been researched thoroughly, the evidence conclusive. Who was I to argue with him, it sounded reasonable to me. He went on to talk about impulses and axons and dendrites and after about 5 minutes I knew two things: one, I was glad I was a bone guy and not a physiologist; and two, I knew he knew a whole lot more about it than I did!

Anyway, back to my revelation. I was actually thinking about a Clickbank marketing campaign I started a couple of days back, considering the target market and how to reach them. It was then that it hit me like a ton of bricks, my eureka moment! I know, but I really do a lot of my best thinking in the shower and lately all I can think about is marketing, it’s a sickness! So, all at once, the two came together in a moment of total clarity. It’s about perceptions and assumptions!

That’s right that was the moment, the revelation, and the epiphany! The thought was so intense and so amazingly clear, I got out and wrote it down else it disappear much as the dreams mentioned above vanish in a moment. Let me explain. As marketers we see the world a certain way, we make certain assumptions based on our perceptions, our observations and, if we are really good at what we do, our testing. We study, quantify, test, optimize, study, and then test again. Once we assume that we have everything pretty well knocked, a clear understanding of whatever it is we are attempting to monetize, we launch our product, service, campaign or whatever. Interestingly, we cannot test the one variable that makes everything that preceded the launch so much window dressing, the testing just this side of pseudo-science. We cannot test how people will react given their individual perceptions and assumptions.

Interestingly, the perception or perceptions, and the assumption or assumptions based on those perceptions, is precisely where the challenge rests. We base our marketing, in fact every decision we make in our lives, on the schema we bring with us through life, our own life-mind-map, if you will. The conundrum, the puzzle, the real and difficult challenge is to shed our pre-conceived notions, our perceptions and assumptions, in order to make an educated guess about what a prospective customer will do or won’t do based on their perceptions and assumptions.

So what does this mean for Internet marketers, in fact for all marketers? Well, let’s take the Clickbank example for a moment. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard Internet marketers, regardless of the niche, advice people to stay away from Clickbank. The Reasoning? I’ve been told, and heard others complain, that you will market your product and when people find out it’s a Clickbank product, they will go and sign up for their own account, if they don’t have one already, and take the sale and the commission for themselves. You do the marketing, someone else gets the sale! All I can say to that is that the person making that assumption, based on a certain perception, is not thinking like a prospective customer, they are thinking like an Internet marketer. Perceptions and assumptions!

Significantly, most people do not view the world as we do; and, they don’t have any desire to. The fact is most people have no idea who or what Clickbank is until they see a form with it written across the top as they are making the decision to purchase an item. Think about your first experiences online. Did you have any idea what you were doing, much less what Clickbank or Clickbooth or Commission Junction does or is? Much less know how they work? The average consumer types in a few words, ones they think might get them a bit closer to solving a problem or answering a question, and they wait for a page to crystallize in front of their eyes. They don’t know anything about sponsored links or PPC or SEO or anything else, all they know is there’s a page with some possible answers and those answers may help them solve their problem. That’s it! However, we as Internet marketers assign to our prospective clients and customers all of our own, very personal, skewed, slanted, and even biased perceptions and assumptions. Significantly, most customers just want the quickest, easiest fix for their particular issue, question or problem; and, hopefully at the lowest price possible.

So that was it, the eureka moment, the moment of clarity, the ah-ha moment. I knew then, at that precise moment, that there was nothing to worry about because I am not marketing to Internet marketers, at least not for the campaigns I am currently invested in. I am marketing to John Doe or Jane Smith and all they want is for the pain to go away or their dog to behave or to lose 15 pounds or for their little Janie or Johnny to make the soccer team or any one of a hundred or a thousand different things to happen or get fixed or have answered that have absolutely nothing to do with Internet marketing or Clickbank…they just want their problem fixed!

That was it, that was the moment and it was an amazing one for me personally. You see, I’ve become so immersed in the culture of marketing, and particularly Internet marketing, I forgot what it is like to sit in front of a monitor, not having a clue how to turn the darn thing on, much less try to get the answer I needed. Going back to that mindset was an amazing moment, because it helped me to reshape my thinking and to understand once again what it is like to be on the other side of the transaction; and, on the other side of the learning curve. Our perceptions, based on certain assumptions, must be shed if we are to be effective marketers. It is about more than empathy, it is about being able to step outside yourself and view a situation from both perspectives, without making any assumptions! It is something like what we call an emic and etic perspective in anthropology, the ability to view a situation from different perspectives in order to achieve a clearer understanding of the individual, the society in which he or she resides, and the culture they are a part of, and how that all comes together to shape an individual’s schema or life-mind-map. If you can read that map, you are going to be successful beyond belief. If you are a lousy navigator, I suggest you learn how to read a map. Or? Take up glass blowing, it may be more profitable!

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-539-7412
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@thequestrevealed.com
Join me on Twitter!