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[Ankesh]

Thanks Joe.

I wouldn't call Pete mean. In fact - he is the only person who has been extremely direct with you - and is trying to help you.

Who would you like:
a. An accountant who tells you in a soothing voice that everything is all right when its not
or
b. An accountant who shouts at you when something goes wrong and tells you to fix it?

I would have thanked Pete instead of calling him mean.

--

Joe - I'm going to be "mean" too. Hopefully - this time - you'll see the post as helpful instead.

1. You name drop a lot. There hasn't been a single post where you haven't talked about some one successful.

That in itself is ok. But you use the names to justify your actions. Which is not ok.

For eg: you say Paul Hartunian doesn't believe in free either. Which is absolutely wrong. Paul runs a free newsletter since years! Just "today", I received an email from him - about a free teleseminar!

Paul is great at converting free users to paid clients.

2. You "claim" you are a marketing expert. And then you "say" you can't sell. These are your words. Not Pete's or mine. Don't you find it weird that a marketing expert can't sell?

Should a person be called a marketing expert if he can't market effectively?

Does reading good marketing books and writing a thesis paper make some one a marketing expert?

Rule of thumb: Never call yourself an expert on a topic - until some one else calls you so.

3. Have you ever bought from a sales letter that has 20 errors in it? I have not - even though English isn't my first language.

From the 30 second audio you had (have?) on your website - your English didn't seem that bad. But when you write - it comes out horrible. You need to hire some one who proof reads your work. Or ghost writes for you.

4. Even besides English, your sales messages aren't as good as it can be. I'll give you just one example. I'd gone to your website some time back. And on the page where you were selling an Elmer Wheeler book - you wrote that it cost you $15 to get the book converted into pdf format. And then you asked for $20 for one pdf copy.

Why let people know that you'll be making more than 100% per sale?

Would you buy a shirt from a store that had a board up that said "They get their shirts manufactured in China and it just costs them $1.50" - when you see that the shirts are for sale for $20?

5. You have read so many marketing books. So you might have read this: you should focus on your clients!

Yet - your posts and website is all about me-me-me.

"I did this. I learnt that. This happened to me."

6. You do have a tendency to plagiarize words.

You call yourself "renegade" - which is straight from Dan Kennedy.

Just recently, you used words that John Carlton had written on a post about Gary Halbert - on another forum. "Gary Halbert has left the building" - or something to that effect.

There have been a few other instances too - but I don't remember the details now.

Action Summary:

1. Focus on one topic - as Pete suggested.
2. Find or create products that are in demand.
3. Write well or find some one else to write for you.
4. Have systems in place to sell. Writing posts on forums that are focused on you and has grammar errors - is not a good way to sell.
5. Don't try to be boastful and name drop. Be You.