Tomorrow, Thanksgiving is celebrated all over the United States. And just like stuffing your face with Turkey, cranberries and mashed potatoes has become a tradition – so is my “Give Yourself a Plug Day”.

It’s my way of thanking YOU for your support.

Here’s how it works.. simply plug your website/company below. Tell us how we can help you and/or how you can help others. That’s it.

Hundreds of thousands of people will see this post, so don’t be shy. Plus, you can link right to your site. And it’s totally cool to brag!

I am 100% committed to abundance and it’s awesome to see so many different companies, products and innovative entrepreneurs.

Just one connection can literally change your life.

DON’t BE SHY
PLUG YOUR PRODUCTS, WEB SITES OR RESOURCES BELOW

P.S. Did you know there’s an area of FounderFly where you can promote your products and look for affiliates? Oh yeah, it rocks hard.

P.P.S. If you can take 5 seconds to like, tweet and +1 it – that would be awesome. Pretty please?

This might be somewhat of a selfish post – but I really need your help.

One of my BIG life goals is to write a N.Y. Times Bestselling Book. I’ve already written 2 and contributed to a handful of others, but the NY Times list remains elusive.

Not sure why I want it so badly – but I do. And when I have a goal, I will do whatever necessary to achieve it (legally and ethically, of course).

So, I’ve been speaking with a major book agent who knows I can write one a NY Times Bestseller (and sell enough books to make it on the list). And he knows some major publishers who would be interested – but this is where YOU come in.

I can write on so many different topics in the world of business.

So I’d love your feedback, my dear subscriber.

Please tell me what TOPIC you’d like to see me write about for my next book.

Be as general (or specific) as you’d like. All ideas are welcome.

That’s it, just write your ideas below for my next book and let’s get this done together. I owe everything to you and truly value your feedback.

I can’t wait to see your book ideas…

There used to be a popular commercial for deodorant that said, “Never Let Them See You Sweat”.

In the “new” world on marketing and selling – it’s not only OK to let them see you sweat, they SHOULD see you sweat! You can be a sweaty mess – and it’s perfectly fine.

THE SHIFT

I’m not sure exactly when it started, but things are different.

I admit, when I started, I tried to appear perfect. I was always “real”, but I wasn’t always 100% transparent. Then, I become comfortable in my own skin and just started to open up.

People are tired of the lies. The slickness. The hype.

I don’t know about you – but when I see someone who is a little too slick (you know what I mean), my radar comes on. And I”m on guard.

Your customers and subscribers just want you to be REAL. That’s it.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

They don’t need to read through 20+ pages of sales copy. Sometimes, you looking straight into a camera for a few minutes is not only good enough – it might actually convert better than trying to right copy that isn’t you.

If your last product didn’t meet expectations. Or your customer service dropped the ball. Or there was a technical issue – it’s OK.

They would rather see you stand up, explain the TRUTH, take responsibility and do whatever you can to right the wrong.

DOTCOMXPO… THE TRUTH

If you were at DCX – you saw me personally greeting everyone. Walking around during lunch to meet as many people as I could. And you saw me running around a few times like a maniac as well.

Whether I was making sure the videos guys were set or the speakers were mic’d up – to say I was “sweating” is an understatement.

We had some A/V issues – and people knew that. Heck, one of the doors was locked and the attendees couldn’t get out for a few minutes (thanks to Dean Hunt for the polite text alerting me about it!).

Not only didn’t I hide this, we had fun with it.

And you know what? I can’t tell you how many people came up to me and said how they appreciate how “real” I was. I wasn’t hiding on some secret room. I was on the floor, hustling and it was on display for all to see.

Other event producers think I’m insane.

I remember speaking at one event – and you won’t believe this…

The event started on Thursday and the producer (who was the STAR of the event.. his face was on all the banners), didn’t show up until Friday??? I’m dead serious.

He’s a very well known marketer (and actually paid me to coach him for a few months.. although he didn’t listen to me at all), and when I asked why he wasn’t there – he said he was speaking at another event on Thursday. He said it didn’t really matter he wasn’t there.

I couldn’t make this up if I tried. And he wondered why his business was falling apart.

Which event would YOU rather go to? His or mine?

People keep asking why my business continues to grow while other people in the “Internet marketing” space are disappearing. That, right there, is the answer.

I ain’t perfect. Not close. And you know what, neither are you. And it’s cool. Embrace your imperfections and turn them into a strength.

I’m notoriously frugal. Why spend $5 on handouts with a full-color front page, when the front page that was black & white cost just $1? It’s those small savings that allow me to keep my events lower for attendees. And again, I make fun of this fact – and my clients know it too!

What’s the bottom line?

Be transparent. Be there for your customers.

And, oh yeah, let them see you sweat. If you get too sweaty, just grab a towel and get back in the game.

Your coach has spoken.

P.S. Want access to ALL the DCX Videos? Over 30+ hours of ALL the DotComXpo training is now FREE for FounderFly members.

P.P.S. If this resonates with you, please like, tweet or +1 it below. I truly appreciate your support.

Ahhh.. information marketing.

Pure and simple, the best business in the world.

You can build a business around your passions, hobbies and expertise.

You can work from anywhere (I’m writing this post from Starbucks!).

You can live anywhere (my wife and family lived in Florida for 2 years for a change of scenery).

Oh yeah – the margins are insane.

I have re-created the information marketing funnel – and here’s the graphic (I originally posted this last month).

Today, I’d like to focus on “Big Ticket” products.

THE BIG TICKET PRODUCT MYTH

I LOVE creating (and, of course selling) big ticket products.

There is always a percentage of your customers who WANT the big full-blown training system. And they are willing to pay a premium for it.

It took me about 3 years until I fully understood this. And when I released a $200 training program over 10 years ago- I was shocked with a $20,000 payday.

But when some of my fellow “Internet marketers” talk about creating big ticket products, they usually say you can charge $2,000 (or more) without a problem in ANY niche.

And the moment someone says that, I know instantly they have ZERO CLUE what they are talking about. I’ve created a lot of products in the fitness niches – and it’s a big challenge to sell a $1k information product to consumers. And that’s the fitness/weight loss market!

I believe they are living in a fantasy world. They’re used to selling only “how to make money online” products – not softer topics. And by softer topics, I mean hobbies, personal development, etc.

A ceiling price “pure” information product (one that doesn’t include a live experience) varies wildly on the market.

Do you REALLY think you can sell a “how to knit better” DVD set for $2,000? I’m a pretty optimistic person – but even I know it would be almost impossible to pull that off.

The reality is many of the “hobby” markets will consider $200 a big ticket price. Very big.

But here’s the good news – you can still impact a lot of people AND bring in a very nice income with a $200 product as well.

Let’s look at the math.

You create a one-day workshop on a topic that resonates with your market in the gardening niche. ***That’s important – you must create something that people really, really want.***

Let’s call the workshop “How to Start Your Own Home Gardening Business”. You sell the recordings for $200.

You follow my traffic advice (and use this program).

You hustle and things start to happen.

Before you know it, you are selling ONE a day.

But, even at just selling ONE a day – you are bringing in $6,000 PER MONTH. That’s $72,000 PER YEAR. Most people would be happy with that income, and that’s just at one a day.

What if you average 2 sales a day? Or 3? Well, you can see the potential.

So whether it’s a $200 product or a $2,000 home-study course, you should start to generate ideas on how to create products for people who WANT premium.

If you want to build a true online empire, follow the chart above and create products in EACH category. And never forget BIG TICKET!

P.S. For the first time, I am revealing EXACTLY how I have created Big, Fat Paydays on this free live webinar, Register here.

Last month, hundreds of people came from all over the world to experience DotComXpo. The FIRST true step-by-step Internet marketing conference – with ZERO pitching.

And based on the feedback (the average attendee score was 9.34 out of 10), we knocked it out of the park. Check out the video below:

But I was wrong.

I got a bit blinded by the “buzz” and realizing I could turn the videos into a massive payday – I forgot my golden rule.

To OVERDELIVER.

And when I launched FounderFly a few months ago – I promised it would change the face of marketing. It would be transparent and simply blow everything out of the water.

I had considered offering ALL of the DCX videos for free to FounderFly members – but my greed got the better of me. I knew my FounderFlyers are my best customers and if I simply gave them the videos, I’d leave around $150,000 in pure profit on the table (maybe more).

I even had a new site setup with really strong sales copy. And I’d sell the videos for up to $500. In fact, it was set to go live this Saturday.

BUT – I did some soul searching last night as I was getting ready to notify my affiliates. And I asked myself question that I always tell you to ask yourself.

“What Would I Want if I Was the Customer?”

And the answer became 100% clear.

Yes, I am losing A LOT of short-term income. And yes, my fellow marketers will think I’m insane.

But I’m OK with my decision.

It wasn’t easy. I almost didn’t do it. But if I am to truly practice what I preach, it must be done. It had to be done to prove I was 100% committed to the cause of raising the bar of “Internet marketing”.

So here’s the scoop…

DOTCOMXPO VIDEOS ARE FREE FOR FOUNDERFLY MEMBERS

In addition to the 30+ products ALREADY in there – I will be adding approximately 30 NEW videos from DCX. That’s right, it will literally double the database.

One or two new training videos from DCX will be added every week or so to the database.

If you missed it – here are just a handful of the 30+ sessions from DCX FounderFlyers will have access to:

• How to do launch a full media-buying campaign – from scratch (and bring in hundreds of thousands of visitors)
• How Chris Farrell went from zero to 7-figures in 24 months with his membership site
• A step-by-step to outsourcing your entire business (so you can have MORE freedom)
• Stu McLaren delivering over 15 killer membership retention tactics
• Why AppSumo has become so successful – and you can model their success
• How to create your sales hook in just 60 seconds (with real-world examples to model)
• Real-time dissection of a viral youtube video by two world-class youtube experts
• The step-by-step blueprint to $588,000 per year within 12 months
• How to setup a PPC campaign with this “secret” search engine
• How to create your own paid membership site – in just 60 minutes
• How to make your blog SELL MORE
• And over 30+ more hours of pure content

Again, there was NO PITCHING – so it’s all content and training.

Here’s the next step.

If you are a FounderFly member, click here to login and access the first video already up.

If you are not a FounderFly member – get started for just $1.

If you are not a FounderFly member and you still don’t  join – then you don’t know a deal-of-a-lifetime if it came up and bit you on your butt. I probably can’t help you and we can part as friends.

AM I MAKING A BIG MISTAKE?
FOUNDERFLYERS – THIS IS HOW WE ROLL!

P.S.  If you want to access the DotComXpo videos – try FounderFly for just one measly buck.

P.P.S. If you like this offer, please help spread the work by liking, tweeting and +1ing it below.

In the United States – it’s election day. And by tomorrow, and either Barak Obama or Mitt Romney will win.

Pretty simple. Pretty cut and dry.

And while I will be casting my vote in a few hours (which I will NOT make public), I can assure you of the following.

Whether the person I vote for wins OR loses, my life will go on. In fact, it won’t skip a beat.

No matter who my president. Or state senator. Or governor. Or town mayor. It won’t change what I do. Not in the least.

In other words, YOU are responsible for your destiny.

If the taxes go up, then I’ll just work harder, smarter and more strategic to bring in even MORE income to offset the higher taxes. Focusing on the negative won’t help me move towards my goals – so I just focus on abundance.

And if you have a job and have a set salary (I also worked for a salary for 8 years), then it’s up to YOU to get off your ass and start taking control of your destiny. Create your OWN sideline income.

Wake up an hour earlier.

Go to sleep an hour later.

Work on the weekends.

Stop watching TV.

Make phone calls with potential partners, customers or vendors during your commute to work.

If you don’t drive, then work on your laptop on the bus or train.

When I worked in a full-time job, I spent EVERY free minute working on my part-time business.

IT’S ABOUT RESPONSIBILITY

No one owes me anything. And they don’t owe you anything.

When I was working in a children’s hospital, I could have just stayed on the easy path. Stable income with a modest “cost of living” raise each year. 6 weeks vacation. Full benefits. It was easy.

But I chose a different path. I chose to build my own business. I chose to sacrifice all my free time to WORK on building freedom. Lunch breaks? What’s that! I worked during my “lunch” breaks for over 8 years.

I started my first business selling baseball cards back in 1985 when I was just 13. Ronald Reagan was president.

I started my first online business in 1994 when Bill Clinton was president. And I grew it through George Bush’s administration and recently, Barak Obama’s administration.

What’s my point?

Don’t make excuses.

Whether Obama wins. Or Romney wins. You MUST soldier on.

You must take 100% responsibility for your life. For your freedom.

No one owes you anything. Just get out there. Deliver tons of value. Build relationships and live the life of your dreams.

There’s no magic button. It’s all within your reach – it’s just a question of how badly you want it.

P.S. If this resonates with you, please like, share or tweet this below.

P.P.S. If you want to join THE community for freedom-focused entrepreneurs and for people who do NOT make excuses… click here.

As marketers, we’ve been told people will buy what they WANT – but I’m here to tell you, “continuity income” is something you NEED.

This week, the northeast got hammered by Hurricane Sandy. And my town of New Canaan, CT was no exception.

We are already on the 3rd day with no power – and we expect to be “in the dark” for another week or so. But my family is safe (and we have a generator), so I’m not complaining. We are in a much better position that so many others and I’m thankful.

Since I couldn’t get online for a couple of days, it made me take a long hard look at my business.

I did an inventory of my products and programs and realized that a majority have some type of “recurring revenue” built-in (membership sites, software, etc.)

It gave me a sense of calmness knowing that I didn’t have to “sell” anything during the past couple of days (or even over the next coming weeks) to stay afloat.

Of course, there will always be drop-off in a continuity program (yes, no matter how good your program is, people WILL cancel), so you can never take your eye off bringing new people to your business. But the business won’t collapse without a new sale during the few weeks.

GOT CONTINUITY INCOME?

Just about any business can find some way to fit recurring revenue into their model. Here are 3 simple ideas…

$5 NANO CONTINUITY
Selling in a softer “hobby” topic like gardening or knitting? Try offering a $5/month “Nano Continuity” program that features weekly video tutorials. Heck, you can use your mobile phone to record short 3-10 minute videos, upload them, use clickbank or paypal, put them on a password-protected blog page and you’re done!

PREMIUM COACHING
Are you a life coach? Or do you have specialized knowledge? Create your own premium priced online coaching program. Run live coaching groups through a webinar service like gottowebinar, use a wordpress plugin like Wishlist, and charge anywhere from $20 – $200+ per month depending on the market and positioning. Just 50 clients at $50/month is $2,500 per month!

MEMBERSHIP SITE
Perhaps your market always has new information coming out (stocks, social media, etc.). Or, maybe it would make for a sticky community (golf, fan clubs, weight loss, etc.). You can build a membership site. If you want a full-featured membership site, go with something like Wishlist or MemberGate.

But always remember, don’t just throw together crappy content because YOU need a continuity program. Be smart and strategic about it.

Instead of thinking, “what’s the least amount I can do to charge $20/month”.. INSTEAD think, “how can I deliver $500 of value for just $20/month”.

It’s why FounderFly is kicking butt and it’s why the people who take my advice are building rock-solid businesses.

Are you ready for the challenge?

P.S. If you want the most complete membership site training program to date for just $1, check this out.

Last week, hundreds of the most caring “online” entrepreneurs from all over the world gathered together for a few days in Stamford, CT for DotComXpo.

There was a mix of attendees. People who were just starting out and working on their first product on one end of the spectrum – and mega-successful on the other side.

But one thing they all had in common.. they all have a strong desire to change the world (and yes, make money while doing it to).

THE CHALLENGE

During one of my sessions (where I laid out the exact blueprint on how to go from zero to over $500,000), I talked for a bit about blogging… and one way to come up with a powerful traffic magnet is creating an infographic.

After teaching other people how to copy my success and build a lifestyle (and profitable) business, I KNOW that a tiny percentage of people take action.

And it’s NOT the Pareto Principle of 80/20 (where 20% of the people will take action). In the game of entrepreneurship, I call it Lee’s Law of 98/2 (only 2% of people will take action and do what’s necessary to build a rockstar business).

I don’t know why it is just 2%. Granted, my programs tend to get a higher percentage of action takers, but in general, it’s around 2%.

I wish I had the answer – but I just have to live with those numbers and do my part to move that needle over a few percentage points.

So knowing this, I laid down a challenge to everyone in the room.

I told them about the power of an Infographic and gave them exactly 7 days to create one for their site. I said only a couple will actually do it and for those that did, I will even mention it on my site.

Yes, some of the attendees didn’t have a blog to feature an infographic on – so I will give them a “free pass” on this assignment. But let’s see how the rest of the hundreds of attendees did on the challenge.

Oh yeah, we even had superstar marketer, Melanie Duncan (yes, out attendees are all high-calibre too!) come on stage and share a very cool free resource to help you build an inforgraphic called Infogr.am

It’s now a week later and drumroll please…

There were 3 people who created an infographic and published it on their website within the week.

ACTION-TAKING ATTENDEE #1: Nicole Munoz
She is heavy-duty in the world of SEO and she took action. Here’s her infographic (you can see her entire post here)

ACTION-TAKING ATTENDEE #2: Zach Swinehart
Zach is a self-described “geek” who focuses on helping people get over their fear of all things “tech”. Here’s his infographic (you can see his post here)

ACTION-TAKING ATTENDEE #3: Gene Hammett
Gene is a business coach and wanted to create a graphic that went into detail about running a web design business. Here’s a link to his post and his infographic is below:

CONGRATULATIONS

I wanted to personally congratulate and highlight Nicole, Zach and Gene for not only attending DCX – but for accepting my challenge.

And no, creating one infographic will not make you rich overnight – BUT it’s a step in the right direction. It’s these small steps you take every day that add up to MASSIVE results.

Thanks for taking action and I look forward to seeing YOUR successes (and possibly featuring you here too!)

P.S. If you want to see this session (and 30+ hours of pure online business training), then click here.

P.P.S. If this resonates with you, please like, tweet or +1 it below.

This past week, I wanted to do something different and take a risk. A calculated risk, but a risk nonetheless.

The goal: To see if it’s possible to run an “Internet marketing” event (called DotComXpo) with no speakers pitching from the stage while still making it affordable for attendees (and profitable for the producer.. which is me!).

There were some challenges…

1. Would high-calibre speakers be willing to come and deliver content without selling from the stage?

2. Could I attract sponsors to offset my production costs?

3. Could I make “the numbers” work?

4. Would this type of event resonate with people enough to have them attend, travel, take time away from their families and pay up to $1,000?

THE RESULTS

There were two ways to measure the success of DCX… The feedback forms and the bank balance.

First, the feedback forms. I’ve been doing live events for over 15 years (starting when I used to work at Blythedale Children’s Hospital) and I have never had feedback be so strong. Not even close.

When asked how you would rate DCX, almost every single person said a 9 or a 10. In fact, there average score was 9.36! There were a four 8s (and one was because there were too many great sessions to choose from during the “tactical labes” and the other was because the hotel wifi was slow), but that was it. Virtually each form had phrases like JoEllen Marks saying “this event was truly LIFE CHANGING” to Ross Bowring saying “these strategies will add tens, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to my client’s bottom lines”.

In the past, I’d always have up to 10% of the people who didn’t love the event, it’s just the nature of the business. You will never please everyone… but this year was different. 100% positive feedback for a crowd in the hundreds is unheard of and I even got teary reading through the forms.

Attendees overwhelmingly praised the speakers, the value of their sessions, the positive energy of the crowd and the no-pitch environment.

Next, I looked the numbers… because numbers never lie. When taking into account the sponsors, registration fees and bookstore sales, it was a 6-figure weekend after expenses.

Now, to be honest, DCX brought in about 30% less up-front income than my other events when I allowed speakers to “pitch”. While the registration was higher for DCX (the other events would be either free or up to $199 to attend), some of the speakers could bring in $100K or more in just one hour from the stage. So the tradeoff was more registration revenue but less total sales volume.

BUT, I know the goodwill achieved will pay off in the long run. Attendees will tell their friends about the event, about the speakers, and about my companies. And the buzz generated should result in selling thousands of copies of the videos (which will likely make up for less revenue made from the actual event).

In fact, here is a FB thread my Seth Larrabee about DCX and he even plugged FounderFly (I didn’t post the entire thread but other people said things like “I’m in!” – so it is making sales).

Would Seth have plugged FounderFly so hard if the event didn’t blow him away? Maybe, but probably not. And he’s just one of hundreds of people who were there… so multiply this by a larger number and you can begin got see the bigger picture. It’s about building a business with legs.

BOTTOM LINE

Since I’ve been putting on events for so long, I have it down to a science. Everything from hotel negotiations to speakers to filling the room at zero cost.

And even though the amount of dollars generated in the SHORT-TERM were about 20-30% lower at DCX because there was no-pitching, I have zero doubts that LONG-TERM it will pay off.

I sincerely hope there are other brave producers who follow my lead. And if we can all raise the bar and work our asses off to truly overdeliver on events – well, things will be just that much better.

Thank you again to my team (Shirley, Adam, Catherine and PAV Video), the speakers and to the attendees for taking a chance with this event. You all stepped-up in so many ways and I am forever grateful.

Hugs.

P.S. I will make sure the DCX recordings are affordable. Get on the early-bird list for the videos and save even more right here.

P.P.S. My next “big” training program I am going to blow you away. I’ll show you EXACTLY how to run your own 5, 6 and even 7-figure live events and workshops. Prepare for the madness, my friend. I’ll show you every trick I’ve learned from putting on high-value and very profitable events for big, fat paydays. Stay tuned…

For years, we’ve been told that you MUST create an information product “funnel”. A funnel that always started with a free or low-cost product and gradually sell them into more expensive, premium products.

Well over the past 12+ years… I’ve tried it all. Literally. I have created hundreds of products (in everything from fitness to business) and I’ve coached thousands from behind the scenes. Free products. DVDs. Ebooks. Membership sites. Certifications. Workshops. Bootcamps. Software. Home study kits. Been there, done that.

But there is a challenge for my fellow information marketers and publishers. Where do you begin? Which products should you create? Should I have a continuity program? Do I really need a big-ticket product?

So I’ve done some soul-searching. And here’s the new model I created that should SIMPLIFY information product creation. I call it Marketing Funnel 2.0. After all, the easier it is for your to grasp – the better chance of success you will have.

WHAT TO DO NEXT?

Look at the 3 categories above and aim to have at least one product in EACH category. That’s it.

Of course, you can create more than one product in each category. Perhaps 1 in the “Under $99”, 1 big-ticket product and 2 continuity programs. It depends on your niche and your goals.

And don’t feel as if you must start with the “under $99” category first. I’ve had customers come in at $1K workshops and membership sites for their first purchase.

I hope this helps simplify your marketing. But always remember, no matter what type of product you create, it MUST deliver oustanding, mind-blowing value.. otherwise, your business will not be around for very long.

Now get out there and change the world!

P.S. Here are 30+ programs covering all aspects of the marketing funnel.

P.P.S. If you like this, please “like” “tweet” or “+1” below.