I worry that though there is more and more information available on the net, I have less and less understanding...

Why People Choose an Internet Marketing Business

I have been asked on many occasions why I chose to work as an internet marketer, rather than a
“real job.” At first, I thought the question strange, until I realised that I had seen very few articles that articulated the many reasons. Oh, I know that everyone who is recruiting talks about the “huge income” and the “freedom from wage slavery” or the “work from home”; I am not arguing against those very valid reasons, but there usually are other not so obvious reasons why we choose online businesses.

Anthony Robbins of Awaken the Giant fame, talks about the reasons we do what we do – he says
we do things to gain pleasure, and to avoid pain. - that's it...

I believe what Tony means is that we work not for money, but for the pleasure that money brings
when we do things with that money. He means that we work long hours on PPC campaigns etc.
because we are avoiding the pain that we were feeling driving for 3 hours a day to our previous jobs

And there is much more...

I gain immense pleasure from the knowledge that I work in the company of industry giants like Jay Kubasek, Mike Dillard, Aaron Parkinson and others.

I enjoy learning from the best marketing minds in the online marketing business; from selling
products that are wanted and worthwhile, and that customers love...

But the main reason I work as an online businessman?

Simply, I gain a huge amount of energy, pleasure and satisfaction from teaching those who are willing and more importantly keen to learn how to work this business.

Gympie is a misunderstood town - salt of the earth territory...

I asked if she'd hate me if I thought bad things about her; she said "No" but when I said I think you're a loser she slapped me - go figure.

If you don't have a dream, you are not really alive... http://ping.fm/gtJ3s

Just topping off my new site http://ping.fm/VnhN7

I just love my job, so I guess it isn't one...

In a bureaucracy, ignorance and stupidity are expected and prized by the mandarins

Just joined ping.fm - links it all!

Why People Join My Business.

When I first started internet marketing, I struggled with the concept of "down lines." My sponsor was, and still is, a multiple five figure monthly income earner, and I was a little intimidated by his success.

My issue was, why would anyone buy a product from me, much less join my business. After all, I was a "newbie" with little experience in marketing on the internet, even though I considered myself to have experience marketing to clients in my financial advice business. I was unsure how that experience would translate to marketing new products and concepts., where often, sales occur accidentally, almost in spite of the marketing that takes place.

My concerns turned out to be ill founded. The founders of CarbonCopyPro really got their act together when they designed the sales funnels. Products are incidental to the process, and while team members are encouraged to use the pre-optimised products lines from the CCPro partners, it is a fact that the sales funnels can be used for any product. The REAL advantage that CCPro gives their members is the process, and even more importantly, the training in marketing that forms the basis of the CarbonCopyPro system.

Fast forward to today: The sales funnels are working, and under the GPT (Get Paid Today) concept, a down line is all but obsolete. Why obsolete you ask- Because your primary income is generated by your own effort, and not by your down-line.

But peop[le are still joining my business. Why?

If I was just interested in making money, that is what I would focus on, to the exclusion of all else; but I am not - I found that the best part of working with CCPro was the community of like-minded entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs who are prepared, even committed to sharing knowledge techniques, and tips to those under them, above them and beside them.

This sharing culture, combined with the GPT concept means that those who want to, build a team. Because they love the sharing of successes, the camaraderie and the support of the team ethos.

Now, that does not mean that everyone in my business is a team player, far from it. It means that team players who join my business find a team where our triumphs and our failures are shared - the triumphs to encourage and motivate, the failures so we can all learn...

And I like that, just fine. As do the team, and I gather the others...

See you on the Team...

People versus Paper: The Dilemma of Organisations World Wide

If you know me, you are aware I am active in the local Surf Lifesaving Club. I qualified as a Bronze Medallion holder last century (Doesn't that sound old!!!) in the late sixties, but drifted away from the movement, distracted by education, employment,  and travel, among other things. It wasn't until my oldest boy was 7 years old, that I re-joined, and re-qualified as a lifesaving volunteer, so that the family could participate in the "Nippers" the Junior Section of the Club

What I liked about Surf Clubs, was that it is a healthy environment for kids - everyone in Queensland who is a current lifesaver has to hold a "Blue Card" which is aimed at keeping pedophiles and criminals from associating with the younger and junior members. It is also a wonderful medium for meeting people, and for staying fit. The gymnasium is the cheapest I know - the annual subscription is the membership fee for the Club, which is under $50.00. Of course, I have to patrol the beach for 40 hours a year, but that is a small price to pay, given that it is a real pleasure to do the patrols.

I learned that the best way to keep current with the latest changes to rescucitation and first aid for Lifesavers, was to teach it - I have an interest in teaching, and I discovered I love to see kids and young adults (oldies too) discover they were among the elite 3% of Australians who qualify for a Bronze Medallion.

I also learned that bureaucracy  is alive and thriving in the Lifesaving movement. The almighty "paperwork" that has to "be right" before anything can happen. I am sure you all know the ablution block joke about "the jobs not done till the paperwork is finished."

Now, I do understand that there must be procedures to follow, so that the outcomes are the same for every training , but I question that rigid adherence to procedures is the only way to interact with lifesaving personnel, in particular those volunteers who give up their time in order to pass on their knowledge and expertise.

A case in point. The Australian Lifesaving Academy states that it accepts other recognized qualifications. But the process involved in having those "other" qualifications is so long and involved that applicants may as well re-sit the assessment and complete all the (usually irrelevant or redundant) paperwork for a new award. A fellow trainer is a high school teacher in his day job, and has tried for several months to have Recognition of Previous Learning applied to his teaching qualifications - to date, he is not considered to be a fully qualified trainer by the Academy - I guess a Bachelor of Education doesn't mean much nowadays.

Another case: If anyone wants to drive the All-Terrain-Vehicles, the ATV's, the paperwork required by the Club is intimidating. Photocopies of licences, completed 15 page assessment paper, and a signed off-certificate of competency in which the signatories pledge body and soul to god and every authority that they are competent to drive an ATV, including wearing approved safety footwear (What rot!) on the beach. What a let out for an insurer!.

But the worst excesses are held in reserve, for when the (hopefully) completed paperwork is sent to the "head office" for Awards to be issued. If there are any errors at all, the offending paper is sent back to the unpaid trainer, or assessor for correction.

If you are unfortunate enough to be outside rigid time-frames for completion of the relevant paperwork, the paperwork is deemed to be invalid and the entire process will need to be repeated - not the training, but the PAPERWORK

Apparently the person who has done the training and signed off to say yes, I am competent, is not competent because the paperwork is not "right".

In my opinion, the issue is simplicity - or rather the lack of it.

For instance, the Bronze Medallion Award, which is called a Certificate II in Aquatic Rescue by the Australian Lifesaving Academy, contains of a number of "Awards" which are made up from "competencies" which are groups of procedures of which lifesaving activities consist. Sound complex? Well it is - and it isn't...

Any activity can be broken down into individual actions, which can be documented. This document is thus a record of the safe actions that make up the activity, and can be demonstrated and learned very simply in classrooms, or "on the job." Simple...

Next Step: Activities make up tasks which form part of work which "must" be performed by trained and "qualified" people. Getting less simple...

Finally: Work tasks, grouped together make up Jobs, performed by people who hold "Awards." Persons who do not hold the relevant "Award" are considered incompetent, often despite abundant evidence to the contrary, and because their qualifications have been superseded, which is bureaucrat speak for "changed so we can justify our positions." Complex? Yup...

Which brings me back to my question in the title of this post. If a person is able to perform "work" without the award, competently safely and efficiently, does the fact that he doesn't have the PAPERWORK preclude him from working?

Goldman Sachs banksters

I have an interest in the finance sector because of my former career as a financial adviser, so when I found the link to the Goldman Sachs senatorial hearing yesterday, I just had to look. I am or I should say, was apolitical, and I am not much for ethical debates, but there was a rather interesting viewpoint that emerged.
At no point in the theatrics did I get the impression that the Banksters were in the slightest concerned never mind sorry about a documented systematic fraud that occurred in the Goldman Sachs merchant bank. And I am certain it was repeated in countless other banks around the globe.
Now, the Goldman Sachs people are clearly intelligent and resourceful; Lloyd Blankfein for that matter, is very bright. The verbal & mental agility he used to dodge the committee was nothing short of outstanding. The products at the centre of the issue are complex and not easily understood by laypeople which of course is a large part of the problem, but there seems to be no arguing the fact that Goldman Sachs knowingly sold product that were designed to fail. With that understood, it is clear to me that the appropriate reaction should be shame, and embarrassment.
I did not see any evidence of that and I am sure that no one did.
What I did see, was a corporate culture that has a frightening similarity to that of the Crime Families, the Mafia or the Triads. A culture that is bent on protection of their own, rapaciously indifferent to the consequences of their actions, focused only on money that can be made by any means.
If you sell something that is faulty, or badly made, you should refund the money spent, or replace the product with one that is not faulty. Goldman Sachs and the other banksters run rather with “caveat emptor” and are prepared no doubt to protect their profits by legal maneuvering that is prohibitively costly for individuals to combat.
We cannot expect governments to legislate against the banksters – their lobby groups are so strong that key individuals in the major parties here and overseas are in their pocket-books so to speak. It will be a brave government that will do more than grandstand and use the publicity from exposure of the worst of the excesses to get them re-elected.
The best we can do as individuals is to act with integrity in our dealings with our customers and with our colleagues, whilst striving at all times to be an example to our peers.
A form of community banking may be a partial solution. We will need to consider what needs to be done to reform the financial system.