In a hole in the ground there lived a goo-roo fanboy.
Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat:
It was his mom’s basement, and that meant… comfort.
(Since he didn’t have to pay rent and ate for free each day.)
It also meant, he was shielded from real life.
So instead of going forth on adventures writing his own emails and ads and making mistakes and learning how to be a marketer the hard way (because, let’s face it, adventures make one late for dinner, and mom is making Lasagna tonight) he decided to copy and swipe and blindly follow the advice of his goo-roo heroes who told him he’d make a million dollars if he would just buy their dorky little eBook for $19 on ClickBank.
The result?
He never left his hole.
He never even left his chair.
(Except to get a refill on his big gulp and grab a new bag of Cheetos from 7/11 down the street).
Instead, he went and did what most other goo-roo fanboys do:
He decided he knew enough to make his own money-making eBook.
(Even though he hadn’t made any money.)
And then proceeded on his quest to the Lonely Mountain of marketing —
Battling people (and even other trolls like himself!) on forums who called him out on his BS and blatant spamming… struggling to keep people from leaving his list because he sounded like a wannabe of the goo-roo he was following… and never learning anything about real selling or how to build and maintain a relationship with his list.
Within a year, he was broke.
In two years he was hopelessly in debt.
And in three years…
He decided to tell anyone who would listen what a scam the entire direct marketing industry is.
The end.
Listen, amigo:
Don’t be like the goo-roo fanboy in the story above.
Don’t fall for lies and nonsense.
If it sounds too good to be true, it is.
If it smells like BS, it is.
And if it feels like scum to the touch, it is.
If you’re gonna sell online, do it smart. Educate thyself. Learn how to discern the good from the bad. And master the fundamentals.
For example:
My hard teasing vs hard teaching philosophy.
I’ve never taught it before.
But, that changes in the August “Email Players” issue.
Subscription info here:
Ben Settle
