Hi, it’s Clay and I have some good news and some bad news (that I need to apologize for).

Here’s The Bad News

The bad news is that the no-strings-attached free product (i.e. my holiday present to you) that I announced a few days ago won’t be ready TODAY (as planned):

http://www.clay-collins.com/blog/collective-consciousness-of-internet-marketing-access-to-offer-flow/

Instead . . . this free product (which is designed to put an extra $1k in your pocket in the next 30 days) . . .

. . . will be ready THIS Wednesday (the 22^nd) at Noon Pacific.

And I’ll shoot you an email the SECOND it goes live.

I had no idea how big the demand would be for this (see the comments section of this post to see what I mean).

So I’m working extra hard to pack it with as much value as possible.

Anyway, all of this brings me to . . .

The Good News

The good news is that the product is going to be much more extensive than either of us had anticipated.

My goal is to make this free product a holiday present to you, and to create something that most people in this business would charge $300 for.

And then give it away for free.

You see, the products that I DO charge for aren’t cheap (they’re usually in excess of $1k).

So every once in a while, someone says to me “I wish you had a few products in the $100 to $200 price range.”

And my answer to them is always the same . . .

“I DO have Products For Less Than $1k.  They’re Just Free.”

So stay tuned until Wednesday at Noon Pacific.

And I’ll see you then.

–Clay

P.S. To make sure you get the free thing, make sure to sign up here.  Keep in mind that this is going to be 100% shenanigans free (there will be no upsells, or downsells, or $1 trails, or forced continuity, or anything else like that).

So in this post (which I published about a week ago), I announced a contest to give away an iPad or $500 (whichever the winner preferred).

The contest rules were simple.

All you had to do was share the most important lesson that YOU learned last year (it didn’t have to be about marketing . . . a general life lesson, or just something that made you really happy was just fine).

The entries ended up being AMAZING in terms of (1) depth (some entries were over one-thousand words long); (2) quantity (there were about 150 entries), and (3) quality (some of the entries were essay quality and a few of them moved me to tears).

But before I announce the winner, I want to sinscerely thank everyone who entered the contest.

Thank you for sharing your wisdom with me and this community.

Through your entries, a lot of us ended up learning a LOT from each other . . . and about each others (if you want to see all the amazing entries, then click here and check out all the comments on this post).

Anyway, thank you.

Announcing The Winner

I had a difficult time picking the winner . . . but in the end I’m really happy with my choice.

Anyway, here’s the winning entry from Andy Drish:

I learned one thing in 2010 that will stick w/ me forever…

In 2009 I was still struggling to focus. I had a membership site that was generating a good amount of revenue, but my heart wasn’t in it. I knew that in five or ten years, I wouldn’t care if the site was around or not.

So in 2010 I ditched the membership site, quit (half) of my job and started from scratch by cold calling people day in and day out.

After 5 weeks of cold calling I had made $50. It sucked, big time.

But then someone I cold called gave me a killer idea. It’s a product that I’ve absolutely fallen in love with and something I’ll focus on for a long time.

When I found a product I could stick with for the long haul, something switched for me mentally. I stopped thinking about ‘internet marketing’ and focused on building a business. Period.

So now we’re about six months deep and it’s generating a few grand per month in revenue. The only source of new clients comes from (believe it or not) telemarketing.

I do nothing with blogging, facebook, or twitter or other social media. And I spend most of my time building marketing systems that will continually run without my presence… using mostly email and direct mail autoresponders.

Looking back, the biggest thing I learned in 2010 was to stop focusing on all the shiny objects. I stopped dreaming about finding the perfect niche where I could build a simple membership site or sell a crappy ebook. I finally understand what it means to create substantial value for a niche.

Now that I’ve got a product I believe in, I’ve also learned to focus on getting this product in the hands of as many people as possible… regardless of how to do that, even if its something as old school as direct mail or telemarketing.

–Andy Drish

In case you’re wondering . . . EVERY SINGLE CONTEST I’ve run has been a blind one (i.e. when I read the entries, I have no idea who wrote them).

So, while Andy’s win has EVERYTHING to do with that fact that he continually pushes himself and implements like a madman . . . it IS a coincidence that Andy was the very first founding member of Project Mojave and that I’ve met him before.

Anyway, congrats Andy!

Warm regards,
Clay

P.S. If you have a second, it would mean a lot to me if you’d go to the comment section and congratulate Andy.

One More Thing

My mailbox, comments section, and email lists have been flooded with people interested in getting the free video I mentioned in this blog post:

So . . . it looks like I will be making this no-strings-attached free product for you.

And I’ll be releasing it TOMORROW (Sunday).

(The free product, by the way, is intended to put an additional $1k in your pocket before the end of January; so click here to make sure you get your copy).

Anyway, I’ll shoot you and email tomorrow when that free product is released and goes live.

[Note #1: This is the most important thing I’ve written in 2010.  Hands down.  If you don’t read anything else from me this year (he he) . . . then read this.]

[Note #2: Every year I try and give away at least one free product.  In this article, I’ll tell you about one I’ll probably give away this week (to a limited number of people).  The product I’m giving away is intended to put an additional $1k in your pocket before the end of January; details on how to get it are below.]

What I’m about to tell you is something that I wish I’d been told years ago.  And frankly, I wish I’d published this a lot sooner . . . because this is, by far, my most important blog post of 2010.

That said, I want you to know that . . .

What I’m About To Share (In This Post) is Not a F*cking Magic Bullet

What I’m about to share with you IS NOT a magic bullet.

If you truly want an online business, or if you want to take your online business to the next level, then I know we can make this work for you.

But the truth is that a LOT of people don’t want a business . . . they want a push-button and done-for-them simple income stream that’s not as much of a pain in the ass as their current job.

Anyway, if you’re looking for a zero-risk situation that comes with a guaranteed paycheck and almost no responsibility . . .

. . . then what you’re really truly looking for is an entry-level job.

And there’s nothing, NOTHING wrong with that.

But if that’s what you want then this isn’t for you.  In fact, NONE of my courses, programs, advice, or blog posts are for you.

So, to be blunt . . . I know, KNOW that if you want to make this whole online business work then YOU. CAN. MAKE. THIS. WORK.

I’ve done this for myself and others countless times.

But please know that this is not a magic bullet (marketing “secrets” do exist, and there are paths to rapid amounts of wealth in a short period of time . . . but magic bullets simply do not exist).

So, enough about that.  If you’re still here . . .

I’ll Start Off With My #1 Marketing Lesson of 2010 With a Story About A Dude Who Changed My Life

Back in the day, I took a huge leap of faith and spent like $3k to attend a live internet marketing event (at the time, that was not cheap for me, and I remember trying to hide the fact that I was NOT staying at the fancy conference hotel, but instead at a cheap hotel in the bad part of town about 1.5 miles away).

The event started at 9AM on a Friday.  And being completely incapable of getting up before 10AM, I walked through the seminar doors a few hours late.

Anyway, when I walked through the doors, the first thing I did was approach some guy sitting at the very end of the very last row of seats to ask him if I’d missed anything important.  (By the way, the guy I approached was a friggin’ huge dude with a shaved head  . . . and I couldn’t quite figure out if he was a Buddhist monk, an ex-green special forces/black-ops military guy, or both.)

That guy was Chris McCombs.

When I Met Chris, He Was THINKING About Launching a Product For Personal Trainers

When I met Chris, he was thinking about doing this product for personal trainers (for the record, he ended up launching that product, but I’m getting ahead of myself).

Long story short . . . Chris and I began a friendship at that event.  (Chris, by the way, is one of the most generous people I know).

And since we were both passionate about marketing, we spent a lot of time talking about that (I told him what I knew about blogging, and he told me what he knew about direct response marketing).

Anyway . . .

About A Month After That Event, Chris Launched That Program He’d Been Thinking About Creating (And He Totally Crushed It)

After the seminar where I met Chris, he did end up launching that product we’d talked about (at the seminar where I met him).

And he launched it in a big way.

But the magnitude of Chris’ success isn’t all that I remember.

Not by a long shot.

I remember seeing Chris’ sales copy the day before he went live.

I remember him telling me (before he put everything into motion) how he lined up his affiliates, how he decided what to work on and what NOT to work on.

I remember Chris showing me draft copies of the logo before everything went down.

And I remember him mulling over his plan of attack.

I Remember The Experience of Being Behind The Scenes As I Watched Chris’ Big Info-Marketing Victory Unfold Right Before My Eyes

As a consumer, I’ve seen literally hundreds of winning and losing marketing campaigns over the course of my life.

I’ve watched them on television.

Listened to them on the radio.

And participated in them on the internet.

But for me, Chris’ launch was different.

Chris’ Launch Marked the First Time that I’d Personally Gone Behind The Scenes of a High-Grossing Campaign . . . Of A One-Person Launch That *I* Was Capable of Running

Somehow . . . hearing Chris’ personal account, and seeing specific examples and numbers behind his launch (plus hearing the story of how it came to be) . . . made everything believable in a way it hadn’t before.

Sitting there on the phone, listening to Chris recount to me the play-by-play on how his launch took shape did something for me and my education that hadn’t happened previously.

It opened me up to a new reality and made everything real.

Getting all the nitty-gritty step-by-step plans and details behind a real live campaign that I had seen with my own eyes made something click.

It made me think “I can do this too.”

But most importantly . . .

Watching Chris Got Me To Do What No Other Course, Program, Or Coach Could Do . . . IMPLEMENT

Seeing behind the scenes of Chris’ campaign got me to take action for the very first time.

I’d read “all the books,” gone through “all the courses,” and spent plenty of money and time doing what consultants, and gurus, and teachers TOLD me would work.

But with all the courses, there was always this little voice in the back of my head saying “this is internet marketing, this is probably bullshit, you can’t REALLY do this, this isn’t REALLY possible” . . .

. . . and that voice had scared me action-less for too long.

That voice is why I never gave it my all.

That voice is why I never really fully committed.

That voice is why it took me so long to finally follow through.

Yes, I had gone through all the courses.  I had studied everything.  But, strangely, seeing Chris’ specific example got me to actually believe that this whole online business thing was real (and not just a pipe-dream created by marketing teachers to sell me expensive shit).

And it was when I truly, deep-down, believed it was possible that my dreams became a reality . . .

And then I started executing like a madman because I finally had recaptured the enthusiasm and “I can do anything” outlook of excitement that I had when I first got started.

Watching Chris not only gave me confidence, but it also gave me an airtight PLAN (that I had 100% faith in) and a simplified, workable structure for moving forward.

And within three months of watching Chris do his thing, my income skyrocketed.

In fact, I pretty much learned from Chris’ plan of attack . . . and adapted his approach to my market.

And within three months of seeing what he did, I’d tripled my income.

And Then It Happened Again. And Again. And Again.

At the very next conference I attended, I ran into Chris again.

And he SHOWED me behind the scenes of another promotion he’d run (he told me what he did, showed me his copy and conversion stats).

I implemented.  And I made money. AGAIN.

In fact, I made about $12k within the next three weeks.

And Then I Went (Bat Sh*t Crazy) Crazy Finding More People Like Chris

I started fighting tooth-and-nail to find people who were ACTIVELY and regularly making highly profitable offers to their lists and markets.

And I ended up getting behind-the-scenes, no B.S., from the horse’s mouth step-by-step directions (with specific examples and swipe copy) on how to . . .

• Promote live events
• Do upsells
• Sell continuity programs
• Offer down-sells and cross-sells
• Create booked-solid coaching programs
• Offer membership sites
• Promote physical products
• And on and on and on

And I meticulously started building an underground swipe file, taking copious notes of what worked and what didn’t, conversion rates, etc.

In the end, I had compiled a “library of offers” (an informal repository of knowledge) . . .

. . . and next thing you know, people were calling me to get the latest details on what offers were working and what offers weren’t.

Anyway . . . it turns out that . . .

What I’d Been Doing is What Most Multi-Million Dollar Marketers Consistently Do

­­

Yup . . . back then I was pretty naive, I thought what I was doing was groundbreaking.

Years later it’s unquestionably clear that the one practice that top marketers are consistently engaged in is the non-stop, ongoing dense exchange of almost real-time nitty-gritty details about what kinds of offers have been working (in their market AND in other markets).

Indeed, among top marketers, there is a beating-pulse, word-of-mouth, and accidental network of data swapping about what worked YESTERDAY.

I Call This Accidental Network “The Collective Consciousness Of Internet Marketing.”

And it’s an unintentional and underground information economy with its common and widely understood repository of word of mouth knowledge.

And most people don’t even know exists (even the people participating in it).

But it turns out that (across markets) one of the major factors consistently separating top online entrepreneurs from people whose businesses never quite take off . . .

. . . is the good ol’ fashioned practice of getting on the phone (with other movers and shakers) and consistently swapping information – on an ongoing basis – about what recent offers failed and succeeded.  And why.

(Remember when I said I’d tell you what my friends and I do to double our incomes each year?  Well, the secret is that we connect WEEKLY to swap information about what offers have worked and not worked in our respective markets and businesses.  And then we implement like madmen).

Anyway . . .

The #1 Thing You Can Do To Make Your Business Work is Get Access to “Real-Time ‘Offer Flow’ In Your Market”

If you’re like most people (i.e. if you’re like me) . . . you can’t have major online success before seeing numerous plain-as-day, detailed and specific examples of successful online offers.

And if you feel you’ve haven’t “made it” yet, or you’re still struggling in your market . . .

. . . then there’s a very good chance that you don’t have consistent access to “offer flow” (i.e. consistent access to behind the scenes information about how different offers are doing in your market).

Today’s Lesson: Do Everything You Can To Get Constant, No-Holds-Barred, Behind-The-Scenes Detailed Access to Online Offers

You want me to give you a step-by-step blueprint for doing this, but I don’t have one for you.

But I can give you a few pointers to get you headed in the right direction.

You’ll need to go to conferences OTHER THAN SXSW and BlogWorld (try Yanik’s Underground Online Seminar, Affiliate Summit, Product Launch Formula Live, etc.) and talk to people pushing the envelope.

You’ll need to hang out at the bar, late into the night (which is usually when the best connections are formed).

And if you’re new to the game, you’ll need to have massive value to bring to the table as well (what got me “in” initially was that, when I started selling stuff online, I’d done social media promotion for companies like Fox Television Studios and had extensive connections to top social media influencers . . . and people were really interested in that).

There’s no easy answer here, because you’re the only one who’s going to figure out how you’re going to do this for you.

But I will tell you this . . . it will require you to have creativity, persistence, and confidence.

Rest Assured, You NEED to Figure This Out

Because theory can only take you so far.

And because, until you get behind the scenes of real marketing campaigns that have made serious money, and see with your very own eyes how this stuff works . . .

. . . then that little voice in your head (that’s saying all of this is bullshit) will likely continue to scare you action-less for the rest of your life, or keep you from rapid growth in your current business.

How to See Behind The Scenes Of One Low-Effort, High-Return Campaign

In order to show you exactly of the kind of information I’m talking about . . . I’m willing to make a free video showing you behind the scenes of one of my favorite offers.

(I promise you – this is an offer that you, yes YOU, can have up and running in a day; and it’s an offer that works because I’m doing the exact opposite of what everyone else is doing.)

Anyway, if you implement this offer exactly like I show you, there’s a good chance it will make you an additional $1k (at the very minimum) within the next 30 days.

I’m going to tell you how the offer works.  And why it works.  And give you as many stats as I can (and as much perspective and story as I can fit into the video).

I’m also going to share information about my business that I’ve never shared before.

But This Is Going To Take Some Time To Put Together

This free video is going to take some significant time to put together.  So if I’m going to bust my ass to make this happen over the weekend, then I want to make sure you actually want it (so I don’t feel like an idiot).

So if you want access to the video, please (1) enter your email address below, AND (2) leave a comment below telling me you want the free video. (Note: you MUST do both of these things if you want the free video).

Important note: There’s a good chance that I’ll only give away between 150 and 200 of these free videos (to protect my business).  And in the case that I do limit the release of this material . . . the videos will be given away on a first come, first served basis.

So if you know that you want a copy, you’ll probably want to take action sooner rather than later.

Anyway, I hope all of this has been helpful!  And of course, I’ll do my very best to answer questions in the comments (so ask away).

Warm regards,

Clay

UPDATE: We’ve maxed out on the number of videos we were giving away, but if you’d like to be one of the first to hear about future free videos, join our list (you can sign up at the top of this page) and we’ll let you know as soon as they come out.

[Note #1: This is LONG blog post, but one that I think is worth reading.  If you do nothing else, please make sure you read the last fourth of this article.]

[Note #2: Somewhere buried in this post is a contest to win an iPad or $500 cash (whichever you prefer).  Contest entries will be accepted up until Wednesday at noon Eastern.]

Ok, I’ll get to the main article in a second, but first I want to ask . . .

What The Hell Happened On Monday?!

OK. So, until last Monday, I hadn’t written a real blog article for over half a year.

And then, last Monday, I publish a revised “About Me” page. It was shared on Facebook over 270 times and “liked” 113 times.

After realizing that the post was shared nearly has many times as a comparable post on Mashable, I actually had my programmer assess whether or not the share counter numbers were way off (turns out they weren’t).

At any rate, I have no freaking clue what happened that recent “about me” article took off like it did.  But if you read it, liked it, or shared it, then “thank you.”  It means a lot to me.

Anyway, I’m like a hundred miles off track. Because the real reason I wrote this post is because I miss this community of ours, and I want to reach out and reconnect.

So, without further ado, here’s . . .

What I’ve Been Up To For the Past 7 Months (While I Wasn’t Blogging)

The last 7 months of my life have brought me epic amounts of enjoyment . . .

. . . but I’m becoming increasingly poor at remembering the places and events that fill my time.

In fact, with each passing year, my “inner journey” gets much more memorable, colorful, and compelling than my “outer journey.”

And the fancy vacations, major purchases, and so-called “watershed events” seem less and less relevant . . .

Which Is Why The Length of My Bucket List Is Getting Closer and Closer To Zero

My grandfather was a pretty simple man . . . he liked raising citrus trees and being with his family.

And with each year, I find myself turning into him just a little bit more.

I’m perfectly content just (1) building this company with Tracy, and (2) spending time with friends and loved ones.

In fact, at the end of the day, that’s all I want.

The “wheres,” “whats,” and “hows” really don’t matter that much to me anymore.

I have a bucket list with nothing on it. And I couldn’t be happier about it.

Some people authentically love (and derive joy from) collecting experiences.

I’m not one of those people.

That said . . .

Here’s A Random Sampling Of Things I’ve REALLY Enjoyed Doing Over the Last Year

(more…)