by Frederick Mann
(Excerpt from WealthBooster Magazine -- Issue #291 - 300 -- July 29 - August 2, 2005)
Yesterday, I sent the following email to some downline members, with the subject: "Why_Swing_Your_Bat?":
"Some people don't make money on the Internet because they don't follow through.Not following through may be a behavior pattern that habitually holds them back.
Imagine Babe Ruth stepping up to the plate. But he never lifts his bat... makes no attempt to swing the bat and hit the ball.
When the pitcher pitches the ball, Ruth just stands there motionless, watching the ball go by...
If that's how you "play ball," can you ever win?
Joining RC, and then not following through with the next steps, is like a baseball player stepping up to the plate but -- as if paralyzed -- never making any attempt to hit the ball.
Has this kind of "paralysis" effectively prevented you from making money on the 'Net?"
One correspondent (who has been receiving my emails for years) responded with the following (edited and with my responses interspersed):
Correspondent:
"I do get your regular messages on Internet business. Thanks for that, even if I seem to miss the good opportunities!"
"The simple reason I joined some of your recommended programs is to make money. Yes, I have spent a fortune in MLMs and HYIPs and I have now to recover about $30,000 of losses, before I start to make a profit again!"
It may be worth asking yourself why you have done so badly, while I have done so well. Also, how come you missed the "good opportunities."
Also, thinking in terms of having "to recover about $30,000 of losses before I start to make a profit again!" seems like a very negative orientation to me. Forget about the 30K. It's gone! There is no "30K to recover" except in your mind.
It may be much more empowering to think in terms of starting at zero and making profits immediately and from now on.
What we have in common: Brains, computers (with screens, keyboards, mice, and Internet connections), and the availability of money.
There may be huge differences between the ways you and I utilize our resources. In the rest of this series, as I respond to the rest of your email, I'll attempt to explore some of these differences.
For starters, you may want to have a look at #TL10E: The Power of Doing Things Right. In particular, I draw your attention to: Think Right Now!
Previously I quoted my "first correspondent":
"...I seem to miss the good opportunities!"
While sending out the first article of this series, I received this email (edited) from my "second correspondent":
"Big deal. I put 5 dollars to try this exchange deal. So what happened? ETX took my e-gold and put into my INTGold. Hell, I can do this myself. I am trying to make money not shift between accounts."
I've earned over $3,150 with ETX in 15 days.
ETX may or may not become a "good opportunity." Time will tell. The important point is that some people miss great opportunities for silly reasons. They run into a minor difficulty. They form a false conclusion. They fail to study the program to find out how it works and how to work it to maximize your earnings.
Continuing with the email (edited) from my "first correspondent":
"I don't like MLMs and I see a passive program like ETX as very interesting for me. Would you believe me if I told you that I don't have any extra money left after investing in HYIPs and that I am waiting for THE program that will make me recover?"
Imagine Babe Ruth standing at the plate, saying to himself: "I'll wait for the pitcher to give me THE perfect ball I can hit out the park (so I become a star)."
New programs are launched every day. Most of them, in my estimation, are garbage. A few are candidates for "good opportunities." The earlier you get into a "good candidate," the better.
You can often make money with a program that seemed a "good candidate," but fails after a few months. You win with such programs by getting in early, risking an appropriate amount in relation to your available capital, recovering your capital risked as soon as you can, and sponsoring others to earn referral fees.
If you have no money, you can build up capital with a free program like StudioTraffic by sponsoring people and earning referral fees.
But I have a "big caveat": You may first have to learn to operate above the "success threshold," -- see Success Technique #11: Pay the Price to Rise above Your Success Threshold!
Furthermore, you may suffer from "psychological reversal" -- using your mind more for self-sabotage than to further your success. See the "First Big Inversion".
Also see the Millionaire Report Series
Sometimes people fail (or don't succeed) because of silly mistakes. This may apply to my "second correspondent" quoted at the beginning of this article.
Sometimes people fail because of more serious factors such as "psychological reversal."
Just after completing the second article of this series, I received this email (edited) from my "third correspondent":
"Can you show me some 100% passive ways to make money online? I don't have a downline or contacts and I cannot figure out those complicted promotional advertising affiliate things. They frustrate me. Any hope for me?"
The last question of your email is most important. Your email suggests to me that there may not be any hope for you, unless you get some personal training or coaching from a qualified person sitting next to you at your computer. See #TL10E: The Power of Doing Things Right.
Continuing with the email (edited) from my "first correspondent":
"I don't want to blame you that you made referral money from people like me who have put $50 or up to several thousands of dollars in a program that pretends you earn money even if you don't want or know how to recruit. That is my scenario. Every time I tried this it failed. I don't blame you I am taking the decision to get in on my own and no one but me is held responsible."
The fact that you bring up the blame issue suggest that at a certain level you may blame others or factors outside yourself. If my suspicion has any validity, you'll do much better if you eradicate any remaining traces of blaming others or factors outside yourself.
Correspondent:
"For example, some previous programs you recommended have not performed as promised, or paid nothing. I also lost a lot of money with a financial club you promoted earlier."
The nature of the game is that some programs perform not at all, some perform poorly for a while and then fail, some perform reasonably well for several months and then fail, and some perform spectacularly well for extended periods of time.
Babe Ruth struck out many times. Did he blame the pitchers when he struck out?
Now, the fact that some programs perform well isn't enough for all players to win. YOU AS A PLAYER NEED TO PERFORM ABOVE THE "SUCCESS THRESHOLD" IN ORDER TO SUCCEED. You need to play the programs as well as you can. You can make money with some programs that fail within a few months.
You and I have been "playing on the same field." You've lost 30K. I've probably made several hundred thousand. Maybe you could acquire the skills to dramatically improve your performance? See: Basic Money Skills and Advanced Money Skills.
By the way, you may want to check out the testimonials at: BigBooster, Example:
"I am a single mother, widowed a year ago. During the past few years I've been working at building a better future for myself and my daughter, beyond the normal avenues of savings in the traditional way, which I am also doing. I have been a subscriber of your Financial Independence List since 1999. Since then I've joined several programs you recommended. I was very fortunate because the money I made allowed me to buy a car, computer, put down a security deposit on a house to rent, buy furniture and generally allowed me to start life again when I moved back to Australia from the US." -- KB (7/20/2001)
(July 30, 2005)
Continuing with the email (edited) from my "first correspondent":
"I am not a recruiter, but in none of the programs where you don't recruit have I seen people put in my downline?"
Consider the possibility that the statement "I am not a recruiter" might be a vicious, downgrading, and debilitating "curse" you have inflicted on yourself...
Could be indicative of "psychological reversal" -- using your brain more for self-sabotage than to help you succeed.
You are a human being with a functioning brain, functioning hands and fingers, and a functioning computer. To recruit people, you use your keyboard and mouse... and your brain. One way to increase your ability to succeed at making money online is to recruit people.
Realize that it's much easier to recruit people for passive programs that don't require sponsoring, than for the typical MLM.
Regarding people being "placed in your downline," you need to distinguish between your "sponsoring downline" and your "earning downline." With Reality Cycler (RC), everyone who joins after you is for earning purposes in your "earning downline." To get people in your sponsoring downline and earn referral bonuses, you need to sponsor them.
Continuing with the email (edited) from my "first correspondent":
"I think there are a lot of people like me who having lost so much, but are still interested to know what new programs are launched, hoping to see an interesting and honest opportunity arise. But either have no more extra, non-living money to jump in or prefer to wait for a few months to see if it stays around paying before getting in."
Given that most programs have a limited life, the "waiting strategy" is of doubtful value. If you're going to get into a program, the sooner you do so, the better your chances of making money with it. The longer you wait to join it, the greater the chances that it will fail before you even recover your capital.
What's most telling about your email is that you never say anything like: "I've lost 30K during the past 5 years. Can you tell me how to improve my performance so I can make some money?"
Furthermore, why did you wait for such a long time, and until you'd lost 30K before you emailed me? During this period of losing, did you ever think of asking anybody to help you become more successful?
Earlier today, I received another email (not edited, except for account details) from my "second correspondent" (mentioned in Can You Become a Winner? #2):
"I have had it with the Easy Chair Club. As a member of the old Easy Chair Club I find my self a luttle uneasy When you mention buying shares the Reality Recycler program since I lost : $95.00 on position I.D. xxx acct yyyyyyy on 3/7/05 and $370 on position I.D.xxx acct yyyyyyy and acct yyyyyyy on 3/09/05. And since these were also advertising shares in I am very reluctant toget caught again. If there is any poability of using these lost funds to by shares in Reality Cycler I might be willing to do soAnd now here we go agAin.I enroled in Reality progam with $20. Were that went I have no idea.Sow yesterday I went on line and was told I could start investing with $5 so I took achance and invested $5. So what happened? They took my $5 and transferred it to myIntragold and charged me $1,80 so I lost 1.80 .Some investment. What a joke."
People tend to operate at certain levels of competence in all areas of their lives. In my experience, most people trying to make money on the Internet operate below the "success threshold".
That my first correspondent lost 30K over a period of several years, apparently with no attempt to change course or improve his performance, strongly suggests that he's been operating well below the "success threshold."
Considering the email above from my second correspondent, he may typically operate at an even lower level of competence.
A horrible trap is that the less competent people are, the more they tend to overestimate their level of competence -- see #TL10E: The Power of Doing Things Right.
I also suspect that some people "dyslearn" from their negative experiences and become less capable of success over time -- see WBM#281: Learning and Dyslearning.
Continuing with the email (edited) from my "first correspondent":
"One thing I want to ask you is what do you think about the business you counduct on The Internet. Does it benefit the economy? Does it help create jobs? Don't you feel it is a marginal and non-productive activity?"
I'm in the "human-upgrade" business. I think it's just about the most worthwhile business one could be involved with.
To the extent that people I get in contact with upgrade themselves so they can operate above the "success threshold" -- I enjoy success with my human-upgrade business.
(But I also attempt to operate in ways such that if nobody or very few upgrade themselves, I'll still make enough money for a comfortable life!)
Regarding "the economy," it may be worth enquiring which part or sector of the economy you want to benefit.
Do you want to benefit the "military-industrial complex" that's involved in killing so many in Iraq? What about all the other millions of people involved in this "complex" (part of the economy) have slaughtered?
What about the "government" sector of the economy? See "Democide (Death by Government)" and #TL07B: The Nature of Government
What about the "health-establishment" sector of the economy? Google "FDA holocaust" and "medical establishment death".
So... what part of "the economy" do you want to benefit?
Regarding so-called "jobs" ("just over broke?"), see "The Strange "Job" Concept".
What I do is "marginal" indeed; the more "marginal," the better!
(July 31, 2005)
What is the single most important factor that makes the difference between a loser and a winner?
What if it is SKILL?
Could it be that the winner has mastered skills the loser hasn't.
What made Michael Jordan a great basketball player? Was it his skills?
But what about determination, persistence, devotion to your goals, etc? Are these not all skills?
What about Tiger Woods? Does anything other than his skills make him the best golfer in the world?
Do business tycoons rise to the top because of anything other than their skills? (Is "getting to know the right people" basically a skill?)
Can we legitimately think in terms of business, political, and other leaders rising to the top mainly because of their skills? (Even, if in some cases, the main skill is to recruit a team of skilled people with skills in areas where the leader is unskilled?)
So, what skills do you need to make money online?
You may find some answers in the following:
In order to succeed, you need to rise above the "success threshold." This REQUIRES the LEARNING of SKILLS. See also: #TL03C: How to Wake Up Your Desire to Learn, Grow & Succeed
Yesterday I received an email that alerted me to the "skill-blindness" phenomenon. From this email I concluded that the author most likely had studied Ayn Rand's writings and most definitely had studied Neo-Tech.
In much of Neo-Tech, particularly the early writings, there's a great deal of emphasis on acquiring and improving skills.
Yet the email from the "Neo-Techer" seemed largely devoid of skill. Had he asked himself, "How can I make my email as arrogant, stupid, and insulting as possible (and as least likely as possible to produce a positive result)?", he could hardly have done a "better" job.
Nevertheless, his email did produce a very positive result! First, I concluded that the author suffered from "blindness to skills."
Later, I also came to the realization that the 98-99% of people who fail to make money on the Internet mostly also suffer from skill blindness.
It's as if the "skill dimension" doesn't exist for many people. They have no idea of, or no appreciation for, the principle that people like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, etc. become successful and rise to the top BECAUSE OF THEIR SKILLS... and that if you want to succeed, you need to ACQUIRE SKILLS and IMPROVE THEM.
I also concluded that my Neo-Techer correspondent may have learned little more from Ayn Rand and Neo-Tech than "putting different labels on things." His email strongly suggests that he suffers from "label-think" as described in "How to Overcome Economic Correctness".
There are some strong clues in the Neo-Techer's email pointing to skill blindness. The author seems to think that I'm telling people to "rise above the success threshold" by adopting some "success paradigm."
When I point people to a number of articles that mainly deal with skills they need for success, the Neo-Techer labels this as "success-type psycho-babble."
This Neo-Techer uses labels like "success paradigm" and "success-type psycho-babble" so he doesn't have to take the trouble to study what would make him more successful. He USES LABELS AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR THOUGHT.
Don't fall into the same trap! To succeed, YOU NEED TO ACQUIRE SKILLS AND IMPROVE THEM. This may include thinking skills.
I must emphasize that many Neo-Techers learn a great deal from Neo-Tech and become much more successful in life generally as a result.
Finally, the answer to the question, "Can you become a winner?" is, "Yes... IF YOU ACQUIRE AND IMPROVE THE NECESSARY SKILLS!"
(August 1, 2005)
A friend (whose feedback to the first drafts of this issue and the next helped me improve them considerably) has indicated to me that some people get to the top by what might be called "evil" skills. This is a great point. Hitler got to the top because of the skills he and his team acquired, improved, and refined.
There are "good" skills and "evil" skills.
Unfortunately, many people tend to be even more blind to the "dimension of evil skills" than they are to the "dimension of good skills."
Recognising "evil skills" is in itself a skill. There are "obvious evil skills" and "hidden evil skills." One of the great contributions to the understanding of "underhanded human behavior" -- particularly "hidden evil skills" -- came from Neo-Tech in the form of the identification of the phenomenon called "neocheating."
Neocheating includes advanced forms of cheating that are invisible to most people. Many business, political, and religious leaders do indeed get to the top by practicing neocheating.
I've previously cited the MegaBooster article "How Programs Work & Why People Lie" [missing file]. I invite you to read this article and to relate it to the "dimension of evil skills."
Where do you draw the line between a "good" skill and an "evil" skill?
It may be important to make a distinction between a skill and an action. Obviously, some actions can be regarded as "good" and some as "evil."
Where do you draw the line between a "good" action and an "evil" action?
It may be worthwhile to Google: +maybury +"fundamental laws"
I must emphasize that when I urge you to acquire and improve your skills, I'm not suggesting that you use these skills to perform "evil" actions.
If you learn martial-art skills, I'm not suggesting that you use these skills to harm or kill innocent victims.
Some people may think along these lines: "Hitler was evil. Hitler used skills to get to the top. Therefore skills are evil. I should not study the skills Hitler used to get to the top. In fact, because some skills are evil, I shouldn't acquire, develop, or improve any skills at all..."
Others may think: It's fine to learn "good" skills, but under no circumstances will I waste my time on learning "evil" skills.
Well, I've got news for you. The world you live in may be permeated with some "evil" skills not even one in a thousand humans have the ability to recognize.
Many years ago I attended some "est" workshops. They had a policy that once you had paid for a workshop you could repeat it for free. So I attended every "est" workshop I could twice: the first time to gain as much as I could from it; the second time to learn all about the techniques (skills) the trainers were using to influence their audience.
A major reason for learning about certain skills is that if you remain ignorant of and oblivious to them, they WILL BE USED TO VICTIMIZE YOU AND MAKE YOU A LOSER... in at least some areas of your life.
As an extreme example, a religious or political fundamentalist neocheater may persuade you to "sacrifice your life for a great cause..."
A vital area in which you may want to sharpen your skills is in identifying people's motives. A very important phenomenon is that many people tend to reveal their "good" aspects while hiding their "bad" or "evil" -- see #TL15A: The Good and the Bad.
People may present themselves as helpers -- even deceiving themselves that they are legitimate and honest helpers -- when their group, organization, and/or system is such that their actions will do more harm than good. Such people may have "good" motives, but may engage in actions that inevitably yield "bad" results.
In their own minds, do the Hitlers of the world ever have "bad" motives or intentions?
TO BECOME A WINNER, THERE MAY BE NO LIMITS TO THE AREAS IN WHICH IT MAY BE NECESSARY TO ACQUIRE, DEVELOP, AND REFINE YOUR SKILLS. (Again, I'm not suggesting that you use any of these skills to perform "evil" actions.)
(August 2, 2005)
Similar to the stock market, among the programs we get involved with, there are "good" and "bad."
The reality as I see it is that some programs are scams from the outset. Sometimes the best of us get seduced by them.
Some programs start out honest, but the owners have an "honesty threshold." When the money gets "big enough," their greed trumps their honesty. These programs then become scams.
Some programs start out honest, but fail because of hidden design flaws, incompetence of the owners and/or personnel, etc.
Some programs start out honest, improve over time, and become long-term winners. (I've personally been fortunate enough to benefit from several programs in this category.)
Arguing that you shouldn't get into "these kinds of programs" because some of them are "bad," is similar to arguing that you shouldn't get into the stock market because of the Enrons and Worldcoms.
Some may argue that you shouldn't get into "these kinds of programs" because some of them produce and deliver no products and/or create no value. Well, where applicable, you can compare getting into such programs as being similar to PROFESSIONAL gambling in Las Vegas. You acquire the knowledge and skills to get a "statistical edge over the house" so YOU CAN WIN CONSISTENTLY.
It's a "field of probability and uncertainty." The more you acquire, develop, and refine your necessary skills, the more competently you navigate the field -- even if it is a minefield!
An important skill -- as far as possible -- is to improve your ability to avoid the "bad" programs and select the "good" ones.
A whole range of skills is involved with minimizing your losses and maximizing your winnings -- with programs "good" and "bad."
BECOME SKILLED ENOUGH, AND YOU'LL BE A WINNER (with programs "good" and "bad")!
Continued in WBM#645: Can You Become a Winner?
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