Ben Settle

The other day I did a special coaching training.

It was for a friend of my brother’s who’s new to Internet marketing, wanted some guidance, and so I figured it’d be fun to record the call and let other people hear the advice I gave him.

I don’t have the MP3 up yet.

But there’s one thing from the call I can share now.

And that is about ye olde goo-roos.

Specifically, he wanted to know WHO to believe?

Which ones are full of you-know-what?

And did I have any advice on the matter?

My answer:

They’re ALL full of crap until proven otherwise.

And lest you think I’m “goo-roo bashing” or whatever, let me add that while I am NOT a goo-roo (or a guru) and never will be one (I reject the dorky label altogether), I include holding me and anyone else who sells “how to” info to the same standard.

Watch ALL of us like hawks.

And this is especially true of anyone making crazy income claims.

Fact is there’s a lot of lying going on.

Lots of exaggerations, too.

Recently, one IM goo-roo who claims to make millions of smackeroos per year wanted to hire me to write an ad, but then said they could not afford my copywriting fee.

Interesting, isn’t it?

So anyway, trust nobody until they’ve EARNED it.

And assume we’re all guilty until proven innocent.

Hey, it pays to be a little paranoid.

In fact, as Daniel Levis once told me…

“Only the paranoid survive…”

And, I’ll add, thrive, too.

Ben Settle

P.S. Alrighty, I am sending the October Crypto Marketing Newsletter issue to the printer tomorrow. So if you want it (it’s all about how to get clients) there’s no time to lose.

Here’s where to get your Crypto Marketing on:

Below is a sort of unusual testimonial.

Why?

Well, it’s for my Street-Smart Email course but in addition to being a testimonial, it also has a neat tip about getting clients (the subject of the next Crypto Marketing Newsletter issue that goes to the printer in a couple days).

Anyway, here it is:

Greetings Mr. Settle,

I purchased your Street Smart E-mail course a coupla months back.

Ran into a craftsman of high-end surf boards and his business mgr.Said they absolutely “HATED” marketers as they are getting inundated with all kinds of proposals.

They figured they would go the Social Media route and pay no one anything to market their very fine surf-boards. What they had not counted on was the amount of time needed to set-up and implement such a campaign with the various Twitter/Facebook/My Space/Linked In blah-blah-blah sites.

Plus, the maker of the surf-boards really “HATES” people.

Just wants to make his boards and surf in a Caribbean country. I did NOT tell them I was a surfer and had buddies and contacts that might be interested in his high priced boards.

My offer was this.

“How would ya like me to send out a few emails for you for $300.00 or I could sell a board or two on comission at no email fee?”

Fully knowing they would take the path of least resistance they told me to sell a surf-board or two and just make sure they got $3000.00 per board.

Long story short I sent out one and I mean just ONE email with photos to 9 guys [surfers] who have $$$$.

Received an immdiate order for one board at $3850.00.

And one on order for Christmas.

Nice profit for under one hour of work…

Now they want to do more business.

Still haven’t told them I’m a surfer.

Sometimes, it’s what you don’t say to potential clients.

Your Street Smart E-mail Course is FANTASTICO!

I find myself in NYC for the next three months and have lined up 4 more clients to just send out auto-responder emails.

Best Regards,

Mitchell A. Dominguez
New York

Pretty interesting way to get clients, yeah?

For more info on Street-Smart Email surf on over to…

Ben Settle

I was reminded about a cool “B” movie last weekend.

It’s called “They Live.”

Ever see that one?

It’s about a drifter who finds a pair of sunglasses that allow him to see alien beings hiding in plain site amongst humans. In other words, when he puts on the glasses, he sees alien space ships, propaganda messages written on billboards and the aliens’ grotesque faces clear as day (while everyone else sees just normal human beings, normal air craft, typical advertising slogans, etc).

Anyway, there’s lots of interesting symbolism in it.

Especially for entrepreneurs.

It’s like we got our own pair of super glasses.

And we see all KINDS of stuff we never noticed before.

For example…

Suddenly, politicians’ lies are more obvious.

Obscure laws hidden on page 3,094 of a bill start to matter.

And you FEEL it when the tax man cometh.

Sometimes putting those glasses on is scary.

Sometimes it’s exciting.

But it’s NEVER boring, is it?

Anyway, as an entrepreneur, you’re a special kind of person the majority of people sleep-walking through life will never truly understand.

Some will be in awe of you.

Many will DESPISE you. (Even if secretly.)

And many will be extremely jealous of you.

So it ain’t always peaches and cream.

And it CAN have its scary moments.

But no matter how tough the going gets, just take the attitude from the main character in “They Live” and tell the world:

Ben Settle

P.S. The October Crypto Marketing Newsletter issue about getting clients goes to the printer in a few days. If you want in on this training, go here before it’s too late:

Gotta quick “public service announcement.”

I sent the following out to my Crypto Marketing Newsletter subscribers and I suspect a LOT of my email subscribers could be affected by it, too.

It’s about taxes (yeah!)

And I hope you find it helpful…

. . .

Here’s a quick public service announcement for anyone who uses a Texas-based web host (most Internet marketers probably do). Apparently, just by merely having your server in the great state of Texas, you will now have to collect and pay sales tax on sales (even on digital products) made to your customers in that state.

Maybe it’s possible something will change.

(After the backlash this is sure to generate, who knows?)

But to keep up to date on this (it is called “nexus” and many states are starting to play these games, so you have to be careful now) I highly suggest reading Diane Kennedy’s site, and following her every move on Twitter.

She posts about this issue a LOT.

Here’s her Twitter address:

Ben Settle

P.S. What really sucks about this is if Texas does it and gets away with it, then probably lots of other states will, too. This sounds like a book keeping and accounting nightmare in the making.

Yeah, I know…

The extra taxes are for “the children”, right?

If you believe that, I got some used eBooks to sell you…

Yap, yap, yap.

That seems like all most so-called “sales” people do.

Case in point:

A couple months ago I decided to join the 21st century and actually (gasp!) purchase HD cable. I don’t watch a lot of TV (except NetFlix, of course) but now I can see why everyone is so sold on it — it looks awesome!

But what’s not so awesome was the sales guy.

All he did was yap away.

He caked on the lame sales “techniques.”

And, in fact, almost talked himself out of the sale!

To make matters worse… amongst all this yapping and closing and trying to get me into a sales choke hold (more like a sleeper hold), he hardly asked ANY questions.

Which is kind of funny.

Because I was already sold and only had one question.

Had he asked me about it, and answered it, I would have been sold in about 15 seconds, instead of getting thrown into the octagon for a 25 minute sales battle to the death.

Anyway, the point?

Throw away the sales techniques.

Put away the script.

And just ask questions when selling.

The rest will take care of itself.

If you want some guidance, then the October Crypto Marketing Newsletter issue (which goes to print soon) contains a bonus insert with 7 specific questions you can ask someone when selling something to them.

It works for both products and services, too.

And it’s a free bonus with the next issue.

You still have time to subscribe at…

Ben Settle

Some things just don’t make no sense.

Especially in the business world.

In fact, the longer I’m in business, and deal with other business people (and hear from other business people) the more “don’t make no sense” things I see and hear.

Take the following, for example:

1. People who claim they can show me how to make $10k per month, but don’t make $10 per hour

2. Goo-roos selling traffic courses with nothing but JV’s

3. Testing small dinky changes and never big changes

4. People who excessively swipe other ads and then complain when someone swipes them

5. Building a twitter following instead of an email list

6. Social media experts who whine when people don’t follow or friend them back

7. Newbies paying to learn from other newbies

8. Entrepreneurs thinking politicians can save their business

9. Procrastinating on doing a task because the task will take a long time to accomplish

10. Only sending out emails when you have something to promote (talk about leaving money on the table…)

There are probably 100 other things to tack onto this list.

But then, I’d just belabor the point and waste time.

And that wouldn’t make no sense either.

Ben Settle

P.S. The October Crypto Marketing Newsletter issue goes to print soon. It’s about finding clients (for any business) and contains all kinds of proven sales tips you can apply to any kind of selling (offline, online, products, services, etc).

Plus, you also get 12 valuable bonuses, too.

Details over yonder at:

The following may sound a bit “out there.”

But, there’s a powerful marketing technique involved.

Something ANY business can do.

However, instead of me blabbing on about it and trying to act like I know what I’m talking about, I’ll give you an example of a ministry run by Crypto Marketing Newsletter subscriber Guy Malone who caters to a specific kind of person:

People who have had UFO experiences.

Now, most churches totally ignore this phenomenon.

Or, worse, send people packing to a shrink.

But Guy and his partners actually help people who have had these experiences deal with the spiritual aspect of what’s going on and help free them from it.

Anyway, I find what they do fascinating.

And I’m extremely impressed with their work.

But, you may be wondering… what’s any of this got to do with you?

Simply this:

Guy and his partners SPECIALIZE.

Now, I don’t want to speak for them, but from what I can tell they have picked a very specific “niche” to focus on, that they all have experience with (in different ways).

So they don’t convert the natives of hard-to-find countries.

They don’t preach in hostile war zones.

And they don’t feed millions of people in 3rd world countries, etc.

There’s nothing wrong with ANY of those things.

But it’s not their speciality.

Helping UFO experiencers is.

And, as a result, they’re able to help a LOT of people with a very specific problem far better than if they tried to be a “Wal-Mart” ministry catering to every single problem that afflicts every single person.

It’s like a brain surgeon vs a GP.

If you have a brain tumor, who you gonna call?

And it’s the same with any business.

If you help a very specific kind of person, with a very specific kind of problem, chances are you’ll never lack for customers or clients.

Frankly, they’ll come TO you.

And, they won’t be satisfied with anyone else.

Because you’re the “specialist.”

In other words…

“If you want to monetize, start to specialize.”

Ben Settle

P.S. To learn more about Guy Malone’s ministry, check out:

A couple years ago I wrote an ad I think will do well.

I say “think” because it hasn’t run yet.

Yes, even though everyone who’s read it thinks it’s the best thing since sliced watermelon, the original client I wrote it for never used it. And so, a couple marketing buddies and I decided to run our own traffic to it and see what happens.

Now, here’s the thing:

If this project takes off, that means I’ll write upsell emails.

And, unlike my other ads these will be in a woman’s voice.

(The ad is in a woman’s voice, too.)

This is a strange phenomenon as almost all my clients have been in male dominated markets (golf, self defense, etc) and so I’ve always gotten away with basically writing to a market I’m a part of.

Anyway, here’s the point:

All this got me to thinking about the freelance business.

Being a good “writer” is not enough.

You really have to be a student of people.

You have to know the differences between how the sexes think (and yes, men and women ARE different).

How different countries respond to direct response.

And how people make decisions.

It’s not rocket science, by any means.

But is something to think about.

If you want to learn the secrets to getting freelance clients (for any kind of service business), check out the next issue of The Crypto Marketing Newsletter:

It goes to print in 2 weeks.

And it comes with a PILE of valuable bonuses, too.

Ben Settle

Yesterday’s email caused a bit of a ruckus.

Remember that one?

It was about how I think a lot of copywriters’ websites are making a big mistake by trying to create demand for their copywriting services… instead of simply talking to those who are ALREADY looking for a copywriter.

Well, guess what?

That mindset applies to ANY kind of selling.

Yes, even info products.

Example?

OK, once upon a time I was privy to someone giving a young copywriter an ad critique. The ad was selling a product on how to buy large businesses. The guy who gave the critique said it was a great ad, written well, very good “copywriting.”

But, he then said this:

“The problem is, you have a solution looking for a problem.”

And it was true.

This ad spent a lot of time trying to convince people why they should want to make a lot of dough, why they should want time freedom, why they should want to travel and own cars and boats and houses, etc.

In other words, it tried to “create” demand.

A big no-no.

And had it ran it would have FLOPPED.

But because of the advice, it kicked gluteus assimus for years.

And the copywriter?

He learned a very valuable lesson about selling.

(I know ‘cuz I wrote the original flawed ad – doh!)

Anyway, the point?

Far too many ads are in “convincing” mode… when they should be in “persuasion” mode.

This info has been worth a LOT to my business.

I hope you put it to good use…

Ben Settle

P.S. For more PERSUASION (not convincing) tips, secrets and ideas, check out the valuable free bonuses you get (by instant download) when you subscribe to “The Crypto Marketing Newsletter”: