I get it, y’all. I really friggin’ get it.
Not all of us have much (if any) money to invest in our online success.
The times, they are a’changin’.
Unfortunately, that just means you’ve gotta work a little harder. But success can still be had, my friend.
I was just telling a student some of my story…
When I first started online, I was beeee-roke.
Couldn’t even afford to pay my rent or buy food for my family.
We did food bank and welfare type stuff.
Had to pawn my computer because online success wasn’t happening quickly enough.
No car. No job (nobody was hiring in my town). No income.
Shit was bleak.
So here’s what I did…
- I got my dad (halfway across the country) to send $100 to my Paypal account.
- I bought a USB flash drive… and some food. 😉
- Each day, I brought that flash drive to the public library.
- Using the library’s computers, I wrote articles for bloggers at about $5 apiece.
- I simultaneously wrote an e-book.
- I gave the e-book away for free, via a squeeze page.
- I built my list with FREE forum marketing.
- I sent a promotional email each day, making about $20-30 daily.
- I got my computer out of hawk.
- I continued writing articles from home.
- Because we had no internet, I brought my computer to the library each day.
- I kept writing articles, posting in forums for traffic, and sending emails.
- Eventually, when I could afford it, I started buying solo ads.
- I deepened my funnel.
- I launched my first WarriorPlus product and won my first DOTD award.
- I started coaching.
- I moved into a nice place and bought a nice Lincoln Town Car.
- I kept launching products, building my email list, and promoting to it.
- I never stopped.
It Wasn’t Easy. It’s Still Not Easy.
But It’s Not Supposed to Be Easy.
Now, I have more money to invest.
Now, I have an email list of 7,000 buyers.
And now I have food. 😀
It all started with a $100 loan from my pops, plus a whole lot of hard work and determination.
I’m like a low-scale Donald Trump. Maybe someday I’ll become president… of my own fan club. 😀
I Hope That Helps. Now, a Product Review!
I promised you a review of the new James Renouf and Jeremy Kennedy product, Lead Vakuum.
So let’s make it snappy…
Do I Recommend It?
No.
Sadly, I don’t. (By the way, stick around, and I’ll tell you what I do recommend.)
I like both of these gentlemen. Seemingly both nice gents who have their heads screwed on straight. But I’ve noticed a pattern with them, and I just can’t personally get behind it.
They seem to engage in something that I call “Revelation Marketing.” (Where’s my trademark symbol, damn it?)
What I mean by this is that their products generally do little more than reveal a resource. The content is minimal. They basically do less than what the tutorials of the products they’re promoting do for you.
Brass tacks: They promote an affiliate program within their product. Hell, the promotion of the affiliate program is their product! They sell a product that does nothing more than sell another product.
In Lead Vakuum, the duo is simply revealing a service called GetEmails.
And what, pray tell, is GetEmails?
It’s basically a service that captures leads who don’t opt in to your list.
Let’s say that you send 100 people to your squeeze page. 40 of them opt in. 60 of them don’t.
Well, as long as you have the GetEmails script installed on that squeeze page, you’re still getting a portion of those 60 disinterested people added to your autoresponder ANYWAY.
Yeah, as long as they live in the U.S. (because our laws haven’t YET prohibited this), then they will be added to your autoresponder as your new lead, even though they didn’t opt in.
I dunno. Seems kinda shady to me.
And it’s not just about squeeze pages that you’re sending traffic to. If you have a blog that’s getting TONS of organic traffic, all of that traffic (provided it’s from the U.S.) will end up on your list and start receiving emails from you. There’s no way this can remain legal… right?
I mean, if it’s capturing blog visitors into your autoresponder, and you’re getting 100,000 visitors per month, your list will be MASSIVE, and yet nobody ever opted in. I smell an angry mob.
Or am I just trippin’?
Is this not quite as blackhat and questionable as I’m making it out to be? GetEmails does brag that their open rates are high, and that their complaints are extremely low. That may be true. Even so, it still just feels wrong. Again, am I just trippin’?
Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below. I’d appreciate getting your perspective.
Anyway, that’s where this review ends.
As I’ve said before, I have no aspirations of being a consumer watchdog. I don’t go around blasting other marketers and their products because:
A) I’ve got better things to do with my time.
B) I’m not trying to take food off of another person’s table.
C) Hey, even if their product sucks, at least they took initiative.
D) Snitches get stitches. 😀
E) Do unto others, etc.
But I promised you this review.
And I was optimistic. As I said, I like these guys. I had drinks with Jeremy in San Diego.
Really nice dude.
Again, I’m not looking to cause him (or James) any damage.
Also, I judge on the merits of the product… not the marketer.
Unless somebody is a serial launcher who is 100% hype and provides zero value with EACH AND EVERY LAUNCH THEY RUN, over an extended period of time, I’ll give the benefit of the doubt.
So I may recommend James’ or Jeremy’s next product(s) whole-heartedly.
Good shit is good shit, no matter who created it.
But for this one, I’m advising you to steer clear.
Fair?
So What Do I Recommend?
I recommend Mark Barrett’s and James Fawcett’s new product, The Breakout Code.
Why?
Because, while it’s nothing new, per se (nor SHOULD it be… I only want you doing stuff that’s proven time and time again to work), it is different.
It’s all about aggressive list building, coupled with aggressive marketing, and performing value-exploding autoresponder tweaks, that have earned James… get this…
$150,000 in just his first 3-4 months!
And so far as I can tell, this was from a standing start. I may be wrong about that. Don’t quote me. But given his traffic source, I’m making that assumption on my own.
Bottom line, I believe that you can replicate his results.
You’ll need to put your big boy or big girl or big gender-neutral pants on…
But I bet you can do it!
It’s similar to how I got started online, but to MASSIVE SCALE!
Anyway, check it out here.
Let me know what you think.
I hope this article has been helpful.
All the best,
Lee
Lee, Nice personal getting started story. I enjoyed reading it.
Hey, thanks Paul! 🙂
Out of all the years I have known of you online I think this is the first post I have read. My bad, I really missed out this was a really good post glad I took action and read it.
I’m glad too, Steve. And welcome! Thanks for being here. 🙂
Hi Lee!
I’m nervous of single opt-in. Double opt-ins are higher quality leads and safer legally. Sure, if someone buys your product, they are automatically added to your list; no further opt-in is required.
However, I see real problems with just adding someone to any sort of list without their consent. What about CanSpam or EU GDPR?
Recently I subscribed to ONE investment newsletter. Suddenly, I am inundated with several investment newsletters which I didn’t (intentionally) subscribe to. I was annoyed and unsubscribed from all of them but they just keep coming. I just delete them but I can tell you that I am not a happy camper.
Stephen 🙂
Thanks for your comment Stephen!
Yes, adding folks to your list without their consent seems a MAJOR problem. GDPR is irrelevant because these are only U.S. based people. But as far as CAN-SPAM…
The creators of GetEmails have explained away a lot of objections. But to me, it just seems like technicalities and loopholes.
I prefer solid, ethical, permission-based marketing.
I’m generally in disagreement about single opt-in vs. double for a few reasons. I actually feel like double opt-in might have the psychological effect of scaring folks away. As if the underlying message is “Hey, lots of spammers out there. I may be one of them. Are you REALLY sure you wanna do this?”
Of course, I’m a lunatic as well. So maybe that explains it. 😀
I’ve had too many lists where too few people confirmed, and I ended up losing business. Without a doubt, many of those who didn’t confirm would have made GREAT subscribers and customers. So that’s where I sit on that issue.
But I appreciate your thoughts, and know that a great many people share your perspective.
For me, double opt-in and ZERO opt-in both seem a bit extreme.
You opt into my list, you’re on my list.
If that presents any problems in the future, I’ll change my tune. 😉
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, Stephen.
Stephen,
I’ve been on the fence about this program too, but here’s how GetEmails explains it.
You don’t get EVERY person who lands on your website. They cross-reference with a list of individuals who have opted into some other make money online program. That’s the loophole.
If they’re on that list, they get added to your list and you get charged.
This is one of those cases where you really should do some due diligence and confer with a lawyer if you want to ensure you won’t run afoul of CAN-SPAM, but if your visitor is from Europe, they simply won’t trigger the program.
Best Wishes,
Steven Bell
Hi Lee, great post – I cannot agree more about the “Lead Vakuum” of Jeremy and James, and to tell you the truth – I tried some of their products, some were not bad, others had exactly the problems you showed here.
I do have a question about the finding a course about the specific topics you mentioned here:
I am looking for a good, detailed course that can help me learn how to build effective sales funnels, how to drive high quality traffic to them and how to build a list, make sales, etc. So many products out there make promises but don’t deliver – I’ve been looking for a course that really teaches the fundamentals, and haven’t found one yet. Even the more expensive ones tend to show you half the picture or focus on one element, and have lots of fluff too. Do you know any course that meets these requirements?
Sadly, Michal, I don’t.
Most everyone these days is selling biz-in-a-box type stuff. Myself included. 🙂
Or they’re selling some variation of a junk autoblog software.
I don’t remember where I learned to build effective sales funnels. I think probably just from picking up bits and pieces here and there.
It’s also important to consider your niche. Money niches generally tend to include different strategies (especially where traffic is concerned) than non-money niches, I find.
I believe that John Thornhill is pretty good about teaching these things. I can’t speak on that from experience, but I know it’s his niche, and he sells high-ticket coaching around putting together funnels, running big launches, etc. He even promotes his students’ launches to his massive buyers list…
And also has a network of other affiliates who he gets to promote your launch as well.
This is after he helps you put it altogether.
Again, I can’t speak from experience. I just know his niche, and his overall pitch.
Hope this helps, Michal.
Thanks for the comment,
Lee
Let me quickly add to this.
A really good way to learn is to simply watch other marketers.
Find out what products are selling like crazy (search WarriorPlus, Clickbank, etc.) and buy the front end offer. Examine their sales page. Not as a potential customer, but as a curious marketer.
After you purchase the product, scrutinize each sales page in the funnel. What types of headlines are they using? What are their claims? How does the upsell support the front end?
Things of that nature will be invaluable.
Then, go through the product itself to see if they reveal their traffic strategies. 🙂
Boom!