Yanik's Hot Sheet April 07 April 11, 2007 Welcome to the next every once-in-awhile "Hot Sheet"... Phew! I'm semi-recovered from the sold-out Underground(tm) III seminar 3 weeks ago! Over 400 top-notch attendees packed in for content from all-new Underground speakers and the networking was truly unbelievable. I lost count of how many 7 and 8-figure earners were in the audience. (Most of them names nobody would recognize!) I truly think this was the best Undergrounds yet and the speakers and attendees just keep getting better and better! This year I was honored to have one of my heroes, Ted Nicholas, agree to speak. Ted and I did a 'pre-day' on copywriting with him covering 6 hours of copywriting fundamentals…plus sharing some of his newest ads and letters that no other audience has seen! On the first night we had our VIP networking dinner and everyone was treated to a roaring stand-up performance by Bob Marley. Bob has appeared on Leno, Letterman, Comedy Central, etc etc and now he can add a true feather in his cap...the Underground Seminar! ;) It only got better on Saturday. I was fortunate to be able to finally twist the arms of a few presenters who have never, EVER shared with an audience about their business. There was Amanda Raab who built a $2M+ business selling pearls with zero experience, there was "Mr. X", a member of my 7-figure Underground MasterMind group, who revealed his secrets of exporting from China (the runner-up for Underground marketer of the year), Josh Bezoni who hadn't presented in front of a group since college. But on top of all that - I was lucky to be able to finally convince my friends, Carlos and Lupe Garcia, to come talk about their business. Now the funny thing is there are two guys named "Carlos Garcia" who are involved in the Internet world. If you've heard of one of them - this is the other one! The one who never breathes a word about his business and just keeps raking in millions hand-over-fist. In fact, he's flat out refused to speak anywhere…until now. Check this out - over 29 million visitors in less than 1 month! Needless to say the audience was stoked when they shared their traffic secrets and their personal story of doing it all after a bankruptcy. Sunday's 8:00 AM start came around a little too soon for most attendees but Andrew Lock did not disappoint. Andrew showcased his renegade techniques for using eBay® to drive leads and business for your main sites. Killer stuff especially when he pointed out eBay(r) is a bigger search engine than the mighty Google. And our final speaker, Jermaine Griggs, was watching everyone else's presentations and realized he had to tweak his speech to give even more! The guy was a ball of fire and completely wowed the audience. I really thought "Mr. X" or Carlos & Lupe would take the title for '2007 Underground Internet Marketer of the Year" - but Jermaine came from behind and snatched the title out from under them. His presentation was incredible from how he built his community of 60,000 like-minded members in just a few months to his automation techniques that most people had no idea could be done with their shopping carts. Finally, after all the event was over I took out all the speakers and my buddies to an undisclosed location for dinner on me. Not surprisingly, dinner got out of hand when we had shots all around. (I was impressed Ted Nicholas took one!) And then that lead to closing down the bar at the hotel and then the party moved upstairs to my suite. Only the hard- core survived until 6:30 in the morning when the beer finally ran out and our Quarters game ended. It probably should have ended long before my brother (only a few years out of college) decided his rule would be that we all wear our socks on our hands. I've put some 'behind the scenes stuff' on my personal blog at http://www.InternetRoadTrip.com so you can see my designer socks in full color! Now if you missed the event - you really did miss out! We've got dozens and dozens of testimonials from attendees raving about it the biggest and best Underground yet! However, all is not lost. You can still get the benefit of the information presented (less the candid partying footage) on the limited edition CDs & DVDs we'll release. Most likely I'll release 500 sets and if you want the first jump on it sign up here for the Priority Notification list - http://www.undergroundonlineseminar.com * * * Alright, let's get down to business with our April Hot Sheet... What's Yanik's Hot Sheet, you ask? Good question. You see, I spend tons of money buying new information (about $50,000.00 last year), checking out new products, attending seminars, reviewing material people send, reading a bunch of books and newsletters, etc. etc. So I've decided to share with you what's new, what's hot and what's going on inside this periodic newsletter. You'll find this filled with resources, tips, and stuff I recommend. You'll only hear from me when I've got some cool stuff to share (unless you tell me to bug off by clicking the link at the bottom). :) * * * One very important note today - I just learned yesterday that Gary Halbert passed away. It's shocking and quite sad. Gary was (and always will be) a legend in the marketing world. I had the chance to have dinner with him in San Francisco a few years back (along with Reese and a handful of others) and the man was definitely a genius...in between his crazy stories. He'd lived several lifetimes and truly experienced everything. His "3 C's" he told everyone about at dinner will not be forgotten (and one of the C's is not copywriting). When his game was 'on' he was one of the most amazing copywriters/marketers of our time. He truly poured his heart out into his newsletters and they are well worth studying (especially the older ones which had nothing - but everything - to do with online marketing). I know a lot of guys got their start and inspiration reading those original ones! Go over there and read them and profit it from his wisdom: http://www.theGaryHalbertLetter.com * * * If you're ready -- let's start... ================================================ * * Yanik's Hot Sheet * * April 11, 2007 Resources, tips, hints and recommendations for you to make a lot more dough and enjoy a happier and healthier life. ================================================ Check it out - here's what you'll hear about inside: - 2 spots left - "High Priced" workshop - My craziest idea yet! (It may or may not happen) - Feature Article: Creating Online "Lifestyle Businesses" - "Sell your book online" Student Spotlight - Coming soon! 2 New Products (BETA testers wanted!) - Internet marketer of Year - Steve Pavlina Interview - Secret Society - Books and Resources you should check out All this and more inside this double-sized issue of Yanik's Hot Sheet. Ready? Let's go... ------------------------------------- Hot Sheeter #1: 2 Spots Left... "How to Sell Super High-Priced Premium Products & Services" http://www.surefiremarketing.com/premium/ --------------------------------------- There are just 2 spots left (might be none when you get this) for a very small workshop I'm doing in May called "How to Sell Super High Priced Premium Products & Services". Actually two speakers from Underground III both signed (and yes - they both paid full price - no free passes for this one). All the details are here - http://www.surefiremarketing.com/premium/ It's going to be a true workshop with everyone coming in to actually work for 3 intense days brainstorming, creating and roadmapping their own high-priced (BIG profit) product or service. this is NOT a Seminar - but a TRUE Workshop! And due to the personal nature of the workshop - I'm only accepting 16 individuals. During these 3 intense days together we will be "Workshopping" your business, your offering and marketing plan. I will not be teaching most of the time. Most likely I'll be teaching about 1/3rd the time with the rest you guys actually "doing it"! In smaller groups and then as one group of 16 we'll be brainstorming and working on each aspect of a high-priced offering. From the actual idea creation, brainstorming, offer creation to pieces to deliverables to launch plan, copy, execution and more! I expect you to walk out the door on Sunday with a ready- to-go roadmap for your own high-priced offering. And to make this work - there will also be some pre-event preparation required from you. Probably around 5-6 hours worth so we can all walk in on Friday and hit the ground running! Plus, there will be a 6-month follow-up direct with me including email, phone and second opinion critiques. This is NOT a Seminar - but a TRUE Workshop! And due to the personal nature of the workshop - I'm only accepting 16 individuals. During these 3 intense days together we will be "Workshopping" your business, your offering and marketing plan. I will not be teaching most of the time. Most likely I'll be teaching about 1/3rd the time with the rest you guys actually "doing it"! In smaller groups and then as one group of 16 we'll be brainstorming and working on each aspect of a high-priced offering. From the actual idea creation, brainstorming, offer creation to pieces to deliverables to launch plan, copy, execution and more! I expect you to walk out the door on Sunday with a ready- to-go roadmap for your own high-priced offering. And to make this work - there will also be some pre-event preparation required from you. Probably around 5-6 hours worth so we can all walk in on Friday and hit the ground running! Plus, there will be a 6-month follow-up direct with me including email, phone and second opinion critiques. http://www.surefiremarketing.com/premium/ -------------------------------------- Hot Sheeter #2: My Craziest Idea Yet! (It may or may not happen) http://www.undergroundonlineseminar.com/24/ --------------------------------------- I'm not sure it's going to happen but I need to make a 'go' or 'no go' decision shortly. It's event for 24-hours straight! I think some of attendees at Underground III thought I was kidding when I introduced it - but I'm totally serious. This is going to be a totally unique 'experience' with time split in the room with new content from Underground rogue agents and in the "field". One highlight will be a covert video surveillance operation (video scavenger hunt) where you'll compete with other teams. No joke, it takes place Friday 8pm to Saturday 8pm! (Oct 4, 2007 in L.A.) There's no way you are sitting on your butt for 24hrs. I am asking you for a $100 deposit to 'reserve' your spot and then I can make a decision. http://www.undergroundonlineseminar.com/24/ There's no long sales letter or anything like that. Just a quick intro video and the order form. You only need to commit $100 to let me know if you'll come. And If we do this - I'll also bring in a celebrity from the hit FOX TV show "24" ;) -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- Feature Article Hot Sheeter #3: Creating Online Lifestyle Businesses By Yanik Silver --------------------------------------- I want to share with you some research I've been doing and something that has intrigued me. I've named it a Lifestyle business because it takes into account your passion and lifestyle first and money second. Everybody's has heard the advice "Do what you love and the money will follow". Well I'm not 100% sure that's the case. I've yet to find someone who will pay me to eat sushi and pizza and play video games. That wouldn't work because there is no value derived from watching me eat and play video games. Now with that said, you can do what you love AND provide value to others who love the same thing to profit from it. Otherwise there is no exchange of money. Let me start with an example from one of my last vacations and then you'll get a better idea... For two years now I've gone away to Turks & Caicos in the Caribbean to go play beach volleyball for an entire week. In fact, 50 other people from all over the world came to join me. Actually one of my highlights from my trip last year was to play doubles with an AVP Pro, Adam Jewel, against Olympic gold medal winner, Eric Fonoi. We won! It's something called "Volleyball Vacations" (VolleyballVacations.com) put on by an AVP pro Albert Hannemann. AL-B's been doing this for the last 8 years. He gets a couple buddies to come down for the week, play volleyball and party (sometimes not necessarily in that order). While the rest of us pay for the privilege. AL-B partnered up with a travel agency to handle all the nitty gritty details and he just gets paid a certain percentage on every package sold. I don't know the exact economics but I do know its some nice extra money for doing something you love and getting paid to vacation. A lifestyle business usually centers around something you love and would do regardless. Here's another 'experience' one… Have you heard of the Baja 1000? It's an all-out endurance race of a thousand-mile (mostly) off-road race through Mexico, from one end of the Baja Peninsula to the other. A guy named Todd Clement started an adventure outfit called Wide Open Baja (wideopenbaja.com) after winning the grueling Baja 1000 in 1997. He recruited some other winners and seasoned guides to open a Baja racing adventure experience. Corey Rudl first told me about them and convinced me to go last July. I'm glad he did. It was pretty crazy. You get to drive these incredible Baja race cars on some of the same trails as the famous Baja 500 and Baja 1000 races. This is trip is not for meek of heart or wallet. I believe it cost about $7000 (not including airfare) for 2 people for our 4-day trip. I've spoken to the guys at Wide Open because I'm always curious about business models and they run 2-3 trips a week from each location (they have 2 main ones of Ensenada and Cabo San Lucas for 4-day trips.) And each trip is usually sold-out months and months in advance. We had 10 cars in our group - sometimes there are more. But 10 cars x $7000 = $70,000/trip. Now of course, that's not all profit and the cars are very expensive, there's maintenance, food, employees, etc. But it can add up to some good money - once again for doing something you love. Racing is good one because lots of guys (and some gals) are very passionate about the sport. Of course, there are tons of racing schools around the country that cater to this and once again it isn't cheap. There's even a racing school that lets you drive F-1 race cars (basically jets on wheels) in Europe. If you notice there's something else that really drives these lifestyle businesses is passion. The more passionate the niche the great likelihood they'll spend money for an experience. Plus, there's also a social network around it. i.e. beach volleyball nuts get to hang out and party with other beach volleyball nuts. Now that I've shown some "experience" lifestyle businesses let me give you another point of view and highlight some information product examples that I've discovered. Many of you should be familiar with information products ranging from ebooks to newslettes to DVDs, etc. The first example is Robert Parker at www.eRobertParker.com If you're familiar with wine you'd immediately know who Robert Parker is. His 100 point rating scale for wines can either make or break a wine. I'm going back a bit - but this example is powerful. According to his bio, Robert fell in love with wine during a trip to France in 1967. Then in 1975 he thought about creating an "independent consumers" guide to wine. And finally in 1978 he plan became his wine newsletter called "The Wine Advocate". He started off with 600 charter subscribers in August of that year. Now today - his subscription base has exploded to over 40,000 subscribers at $60/year. (hmmm...adds up to $2.4M to me.) But that's not all - his wine empire has spawned some spin- offs. i.e. his membership website at $99 (renewing annually), "Parker in your Palm" which is a listing of certain wine ratings that can be downloaded into your Palm Pilot, books, back-issues, wine events, etc. My bet is there are lots of little niches out there where people would pay you for experiences. Sometimes there are even combinations like a wine tour with a bicycle tour. Or for instance golf with travel www.adventures-in-golf.com, etc. I've been tossing around the idea of doing something in the extreme adventure travel business and maybe combining it with my passion for Entrepreneurship and business. I'd love to hear from you if you decide to launch a "Lifestyle business". So keep me posted. Copyright Yanik Silver -- Note: If you'd like to reprint this article you have permission to do so as long as the copyright information and the resource box below remains with the article -- Resource box: ====================================================== Just 33-years old, Yanik Silver leads the "Ultimate Internet Lifestyle" of fun, freedom and financial independence funded by the Internet. He has shown thousands of others how to do the same thing…even though he's a complete "computer dunce" and still doesn't know how to put up his own website. More information can be found at www.InternetLifestyle.com ====================================================== ------------------------------------------------- Hot Sheeter #4: "Sell your book online" Student Spotlight ------------------------------------------------- I've just completed another sold-out program called "Selling Your Book Online Success System" specifically for authors. These authors had taken their "real" books and I've showed them how to create automatic streams of income from the Internet while they slept. Way better than the traditional publishing model. ;) BTW - I'm not planning on holding anymore of these anytime soon - but you can get the core of the information here - http://wwwInstantInternetProfits.com Here's a couple author spotlights... - There's Joel Heyn from http://www.NaturalDiet911.com He's got 21 most effective habits to get fit once and for all in an easy step-by-step process - Dr. Debby Schwarz Hirschhorn, Ph.D hits on the subject dear to my heart on April 19th at 9pm, ET. Along with 4 Nationally- known experts will on special free teleseminar "Being A Better Dad!" Check it out at - http://www.beingabetterdad.com Also she has a whole host of resources for bettering your relationships here - http://www.abuse-recovery-and-marriage-counseling.com/ * Now the reason I say this is near and dear to my heart is because Missy is pregnant again. I announced it at the Underground III seminar. She's due July 14th and this time we've got a girl on the way. ;) - If you want help writing your first book - check out Jess Kennedy Williams new resource at http://www.HowToWriteYourFirstBook.com She's got a great shortcut to the book writing with her system and includes simple templates to get you going. I think everyone one of us has a book inside of them. Check it out! - Leslie Householder is a mother of 7 - who wanted a way to spend more time with your kids but the frustration of not bringing in enough income was crushing her and her family. She discovered a timeless secret that tripled her income and gave her the peace of mind to be at home. It comes endorsed by Hyrum Smith and Bob Proctor: http://www.prosperyourfamily.com/ -------------------------------------- Hot Sheeter #5 Two New Products Coming Soon! --------------------------------------- There are big things in the works here… 1. eBookVendingMachines.com - BETA testers wanted! Switch On Your Own Internet Money Machine That Puts Cash in Your Pocket 7 Totally Different Ways Finally - this might be the perfect 'sideline' Internet business for almost anyone. And before it's released to the world (and I spend thousands of dollars marketing it) I need a small, select group of "Beta Testers" to put eBook Vending Machines through its paces and provide me your candid opinions and comments. It's taken several years and 3 different programming teams but it's nearly ready. http://www.eBookVendingMachines.com -- 2. Public Domain Goldmine(tm) Niches Many of you know my partner, Michael Holland, and I have released 9 different Public Domain Goldmine(tm) volumes. And each one has sold out in just a few weeks. Unfortunately many of you missed out because the price tag was too high or because they sold-out too quickly. Plus, some people didn't want or need 35 different works… So I've got good news for you... We're introducing Public Domain Goldmine(tm) Health Niche Volume I and Self-Improvement Niche Volume I. Now instead of 35 'how to' works in 35 different niches - you're going to get 10 health-related works or self- improvement works. That way you can create front-end, back- end, bonus products, etc all related to one-another. Plus, you'll still get just about everything you need for each niche including keyword analysis and market research. Once again the quantity will be strictly limited to 250 sets sold to keep competition low. You can be the first to be notified by going here: http://www.publicdomaingoldmine.com ------------------------------------------------- Hot Sheeter #6: Internet Marketer of the Year contest ------------------------------------------------- Russell Brunson convinced a bunch of top Internet guys to compete for the title. I'm going to be up against 49 other marketers and I need your support so I can win. Each participant will conduct a "webinar" where they'll give eveything they've got to convince you to cast your vote. I'll be covering copywriting for the Web. Worth checking out for sure! http://www.onlinemarketeroftheyear.com/yanik.html ------------------------------------------------- Hot Sheeter #7: Steve Pavlina Interview ------------------------------------------------- This is one of my favorite interviews I've conducted for my Underground(tm) Secret Society newsletter - http://www.UndergroundSecretSociety.com Each month on top of the huge printed newsletter delivered to members - there is also a transcript and audio interview of a new 'Underground' success story. This month's issue features Steve Pavlina (www.StevePavlina.com) He's doing over $40k/mo with his blog and he's not selling one thing. Truly very cool. ;) That part is fascinating but his whole philosophy and take on being entrepreneur is what got me so excited. You could spend days on his site and really walk away with some powerful insights. This interview was so good that I'm going to excerpt a tiny bit here (something I've never done before for Secret Society interviews). * * * Yanik: You write about that being this vehicle for personal growth. You want to talk about that for a moment or two? Steve: Sure. I often tell people that blogging or running an Internet business, things along those lines, are a great vehicle for your own personal development. Part of the reason is that when you are an employee and you work for somebody else you can disguise and hide from your bad habits. But you can't do that when you are on your own, when you are flying under your own power because problems like self- discipline, or a lack of motivation, or kind of a lack of focus, a lack of purpose, a lack of interest in what you are doing, lack of inspiration. When you are on your own and you are running your own business, those things are going to haunt you and they are going to hurt you and they are going to hurt your profits. They are going to hold you back. They are going to hold back the service you are able to provide and they are going to hold back how much income you are able to generate from it. However, when you are a salaried employee it is much more indirect how those problems manifest. They may hold you back from getting a promotion. They may hold you back from getting a raise, but you can also reach a point where you are just comfortable and you are just coasting. But I think when you are an entrepreneur, especially in a competitive market, if you try to coast you are probably going to go down. These problems will come up and haunt you. If you slack off your business is going to suffer for it. And there is no hiding from that. You eventually have to come face-to-face with that and you realize that. This is something I encountered when I was writing articles for other software developers in the Association of Shareware Professionals. I started noticing people really liked when I wrote about things like time management or organizing or motivation because it wasn't the lack of technical skills that were holding people back from getting more sales. It was things like limiting beliefs, or not really having a clear focus to what they wanted to accomplish, or creating a product line that turned out to be a mess because it was disorganized, or their own lack of personal organization in how they ran the business: Being able to stay on top of things, being able to balance their accounts for example. Those kinds of things held people back. The thing is that when you become an entrepreneur and you start thinking about, "How am I going to build a successful business," you realize that the key to building a successful business is building a successful life yourself; that the business reflects you. That it is like your child, your baby. You are raising it. If you are undisciplined, your business will be undisciplined. If you are unfocused, your business will be unfocused. And so the business actually becomes a vehicle for your own personal growth in that the business results reflect back to you your own personal qualities. So you start getting frustrated with your business and you say, "Oh, my, this business is not doing well. It's a mess." And it is because you are a mess. Or the business is too disorganized or it's not healthy. Yanik: It's a pretty accurate mirror. Steve: I'm sure you figured this out, too, is that your business will create wealth if you have a wealthy mindset. If you have a scarcity mindset you are going to create a lot of hard work for yourself but you aren't going to get anywhere financially. That was a big thing for me in my business is that even when I started blogging I wasn't making that much money initially. I realized that to get into the higher income range to start getting from four figures a month into five figures a month and try to head towards six figures a month even, I had to work on myself most of all. I had to work on my thinking about income, my thinking about money. I had to kind of adopt this wealth mindset. Yanik: What would you tell people, what was the best thing that you did to really work on that? Steve: The best thing for me was really activating what I call the law of attraction. Getting myself to be really clear in thinking about what I wanted, not what I didn't want, and especially not what I was already getting. A lot of people spend more time on observation than they spend on creation. * * * This was just a tiny portion of our interview. If you want the entire thing - you need to get a trial subscription to the Underground(tm) Secret Society newsletter - http://www.UndergroundSecretSociety.com In order to protect the uniqueness of these ideas and resources the membership is strictly limited to just 925 (or less). And we won't be releasing any back issues or interviews. There will be NO archives set up. So if you decide to come in at a later date (if there are any spots available) you'll miss out on previous issues and interviews - including this one with Steve. http://www.UndergroundSecretSociety.com ------------------------------------------------- Hot Sheeter #8: Books, Tools & Resources You Need to Check Out ------------------------------------------------- Here are the latest books I've read that are worth mentioning... Everyone I've been working with lately I've bought them a copy of StrengthsFinder 2.0 by by Tom Rath. It's a concept of focusing on your strengths and honing them instead of trying to build up your weakness. There's an insightful online test that comes as part of the book. -- Also along the same lines but even more thought provoking is the book called "Unique Ability" by Catherine Nomura and Julia Waller based on Dan Sullivan's techniques. Really excellent stuff in there about not only your strengths but what gives you more energy. They say "Unique ability is the essence of what you love to do, and do best". Highly recommended. -- I've been toying a bit with using cartoons on my site to help sell. You might check out Vince Palko's work on this subject: http://www.adtoons.com/products/art_of-selling.html -- Also for young dads (like me) you might want to check out Neal Pollack's "Alternadad". It's a witty look at trying to be cool and a parent at the same time. ;) ** Two of my good friends Jason Potash and Jeff Johnson have new releases… Now to be fair both of these deal in subjects where I don't tread - and that's search engine stuff. But I trust the two of them completely and I know lots of people on our list are big into SEO and contest so I'd be re-miss if I didn't mention them. Jason just released his new "Content Composer" software: http://www.contentcomposer.com/go/underground He told me it's an extremely powerful tool that will not be "slaughtered" by Google in just a few months like most of the other 'churn 'em an burn 'em' options. It's totally legitimate search engine tool. And Jeff Johnson's "Traffic King Pro" - http://www.salesautomator.com/app/?Clk=1820522 Jeff says Traffic King Pro IS NOT: Black hat, cloaking, redirect pages, link pages, doorway pages, directory sites builder, link scraper, article scraping or press release scraping. (Whatever the hell all that means!) ;) ** Well that does it for this issue of Yanik's Hot Sheet. Thanks for reading this long issue! All the best, Yanik Silver P.S. Have you seen all our newest happenings? http://www.InternetRoadTrip.com My fun and antics! http://www.SurefireMarketing.com/premium/ 2 seats left to this one-of-a-kind workshop http://www.UltimateCopywritingWorkshop.com Why is this the world's most expensive copywriting course? http://www.PublicDomainRiches.com/leap/ (new 8-week program) http:///www.InstantInternetProfits.com (6-week program) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ** Feel free to forward this to a friend. And if you had this email forwarded to you and would like to subscribe to Yanik's Hot Sheet Just send a blank email here: hotsheet@aweber.com ** =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -- Copyright - All rights reserved Surefire Marketing, Inc
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