Should you reveal your success, or hide it...?

The biblical answer is that you should be rich,
but appear poor. The world's answer is to be
broke and appear wealthy. Take your pick. Okay,
I'm being a little facetious. But the point is
that the reality is we live in the age of envy.
Anything you have, you can be sued for by anyone
who has a dollar less than you and sees this as
being unfair. The government can freeze your assets in less than 10 minutes. And it is a
sinking, sick feeling when it happens. But whose
going to pay attention to a fat, balding, old guy
wearing jeans, t shirt and sneakers? Live very
low profile.

While I was writing this, I remembered what happened to Gary Halbert. He went around bragging
how many 1000's he was making a day and ended up
being put in a canvas bag while 2 thieves rummaged
thru his home.

My vote? Fly low and collect the dough!

> Should you reveal your success? It's a
> dilemma....

> I know several people online who are quite
> successful.... Yet they prefer to "fly
> low and collect the dough"....

> It may sound unbelievable, but I can even
> think of those I know (who are successful)
> who shun free publicity. They're doing very
> well without it, and they're afraid that
> extra publicity will just generate
> competition.

> So, you might be surprised at who's REALLY
> making money online. The real
> "superstars" of online profits
> don't always like to reveal themselves!

> However, one successful model (which, from
> what I know is quite profitable) is the
> online software tool subscription model.
> That's where people subscribe to use a piece
> of software.

> It can be profitable, especially if you
> provide a good and useful service. Some of
> the better known services of this type are
> WordTracker , BidNapper , AuctionWorks -
> and so on!

> Another profitable model is the
> single-product sales model. I think this
> model works best if you have an affiliate
> program to go along with it. (Use the power
> of leverage.) There are plenty of these out
> there.... Study those web sites, and see how
> they work.

> The subscription web site model is also a
> profitable model, but it should be niche
> focused, from what I've seen. If you can
> offer information which a niche market would
> love to have, but which is hard to find
> elsewhere, then you could have an idea for a
> successful subscription web site. Some
> successful subscription web sites are Bill
> Myers Online (for independent product
> developers), Stratfor (strategic
> forecasting of world events), and Crikey
> (Australian political critique and satire) .

> Plenty of people make money from affiliate
> programs. Probably the best place to go to
> find out more about making money this way is
> Allan Gardyne's Associate Programs web
> site.

> Ezines are a successful model too.... Such
> as our own The Entrepreneur's Hotsheet and
> the SeedZine (first issue comes out
> tomorrow!). Subscribe now! :)

> So there's plenty of things you can do....
> :)

> The most important thing is to get started
> doing something.... You can't help but
> improve as you go along. As the saying goes,
> a journey of a thousand miles begins with a
> single step....

> - Dien Rice