Subject: Where were you seven years ago?
It was 2002, the dotcom bubble had burst and
Silicon Valley was a smoldering economic wreck.
Friends that had great businesses (one employing
over 100 people and doing eight figures a year)
were out of business.
The media declared Internet marketing "dead."
So what did I do?
I started the System Seminar to show people
that not only was the Internet far from dead, it was
the best opportunity for real people to make
real money on earth.
The results?
Dozens of our grads have created six and
even seven figure businesses online from
scratch, including at least two in the eight
figure realm.
There's a lesson here, which I'll share at the
end of this e-mail.
==== Where were you fourteen years ago?
The year was 1994.
Businesses were slowly and painfully crawling
out from the recession of 1990-1991.
The economy was drifting aimlessly without focus.
Experts announced the rapid growth kicked off by
the personal computer had reached a "plateau"
and future prospect for high tech were flat.
So what did I do?
I organized and sponsored the first conference
ever held on the commercial potential of a little
known network called the World Wide Web.
The high tech "gurus" of the time laughed and told
me I was in dreamland to think that people would
ever do business on the Internet.
You know how that one turned out.
There's a lesson here, which I'll share at the
end of this e-mail.
==== Where were you twenty-one years ago?
The year was 1987.
I was making a comfortable living with a very
low pressure business that made very modest
demands on my time.
I wasn't rich, but I was living in Manhattan
doing everything I wanted to do working about
10 hours a week (usually less.)
So what did I do?
I took a high stress, high pressure, 12 to 18 hour
a day job so that I could learn interface design
and online data systems.
The team I was on designed trading stations for
foreign exchange traders and through that experience
I got real world, first hand experience in how to convert
online data to screens that people could interact
with "point and click."
There's a lesson here, which I'll share at the
end of this e-mail.
==== Where were you twenty-eight years ago?
The year was 1980.
I was in college (yes, I'm really that old.)
My roommate was a guitar player named
Stanley Jordan. He wasn't getting many
gigs and the ones he did paid a pittance.
I thought he was pretty talented and promoted
him and put him in front of audiences of hundreds
of people.
In return, Stanley shared something with me.
He showed me the computer network he used
to pipe data from our school to Columbia University
so it could be processed on their mainframe.
The network was called "The Internet."
I filed that little piece of information away for future
use.
Stanley went on to have the best selling jazz album in
the world and was nominated for a Grammy twice.
There's a lesson here, which I'll share at the
end of this e-mail.
==== Where were you thirty-five years ago?
The year was 1974.
I was fourteen and caddying at the local country
club for rich people.
Two bags - carried - for 18 holes. $7 per bag.
We used to have to show up at 7 AM to get in line
so we could wait all day to get a post-lunch "loop."
That's right $14 (plus tip) for a ten hour day. And
there were grown men fighting for these jobs.
I noticed that some of the high rollers - the ones who
EARNED their money as opposed to inheriting it -
were nice guys. I listened carefully whenever any
of them shared how they made their money - and
many of them did.
There's a lesson here, which I'll share at the
end of this e-mail.
==== Where were you forty-two years ago?
The year was 1967.
I was just seven years old. I wasn't doing much.
Now here's the lesson..actually there are a bunch
of them.
Lesson #1: Making big money is not a mystery.
Normal people do it every day. If you learn how they do it
and do what they do, you will too.
Lesson #2: It doesn't matter what other people think.
Do your homework. If, after you've done your homework,
you think a path makes sense, take it.
Lesson #3: Hard work never killed anyone, but it has
made many people rich.
Getting out of your comfort zone is hard work which is
why most people struggle financially.
Lesson #4: Knowledge is the smartest, surest, cheapest
investment there is. It pays and pays and pays.
I listened when Stanley talked about the Internet. I got
out of my comfort zone to learn about interface design.
I've never passed on a chance to learn something new,
especially when it applies to business.
Lesson #5: Be positive in the face of adversity.
I wish everyone could hear the advice of Martin Atkins.
He's the former punk rock drummer (Public Image Ltd,
Nine Inch Nails) turned entrepreneur.
To paraphrase with a G-rated version:
" If you think you're not ****ed, then you are."
"If you know you're ****ed, you have a chance."
Which translated means that adversity, which no one
ever wants, is very often the thing that provokes you
into becoming someone greater than you every imagined
you could be.
===== Now what?
Anyone who thinks the next few years are going to be
easy is either blowing smoke or smoking something illegal.
The only question is...what are you going to do about it?
A lot of people are going to fade. Never having known
a difficult day in their lives, they're going to crumble.
Instead of learning, they're going to mope.
Instead of stretching their minds, they're going to engage in
self-pity.
Instead of being intelligently bold, they're going to wimp out.
I'll tell you right now, I can't do a thing to help people
like this.
But I can help and have helped hundreds of people who want
to learn how to use the Internet to create wealth.
...Like the executive laid off after 9/11. He was passed the
not-so-golden age of 50 and found that no one wanted him.
It turned out not to matter, because now he has a thriving
Internet business based around doing the thing he loves most
in the world, teaching.
....Like the world champion athlete who found that being
world famous (outside of football, baseball or basketball)
was worth exactly zero dollars a year.
Now, using what he learned at the System Seminar, he's
bringing in millions of dollars a year in sales with three major
businesses and a bunch of little sideline ones.
....Like the perpetual Internet student who could not seem to catch
a break.
Then he took the System training and with that as his foundation
realized that, in his case, riches were literally right around
the corner. In three years, his combined business revenue is
now over 8 million British Pounds ($12 million US dollars.)
===== It's seven years again
2009 marks my seventh year running the System Seminar
and my 15th year teaching online marketing.
Here's what I'm doing to kick things up a notch for this
year's System Seminar.
* Google....they're sending one of their experts to speak...
again. This time a marketing expert who has worked with
hundreds of small online businesses.
* Google-certified trainers...three of them.
Google hasn't put its stamp of approval on many trainers.
You could probably fit them all on a bus. Three of them
will be teaching at System 2009.
* Published authors...and we're not talking about eBooks.
Two of our speakers this year are System grads who got their
first taste of real marketing at the System.
Now just a few years later, they're so well respected in their
respective fields - AdWords and Mobile Marketing - that they've
published real books that have received massive praise from real
world industry insiders
* Speakers from around the world...I sought out, and got, the
best - the world's best - for System 2009.
In addition to speakers from America, we've got speakers
from the UK, Canada, and New Zealand. Literally, the
very best Internet marketing pros and trainers I've met
in 15 years of endless searching.
(And I'm happy to say that everyone I asked said "Yes!"
This is 100% A-Team. The best teaching faculty of real
world Internet marketers on earth.
I'll be revealing them names in a future e-mail.
But now I have a question for you.
It's 2009. It's survival of the fittest time.
What are you going to do?
If educating yourself in Internet marketing is on
your agenda, take a look at this year's System Seminar.
It's March 27 to 29 in Chicago.
Maybe you've been following us for years, telling yourself
that one of these years, you're going to make it to one.
May I suggest that this is the year to make it happen.
Every year before each System, we give away a wheel barrow
full of gems from past events.
I don't expect you to buy a pig in a poke.
Take advantage of our Pre-System training.
It's free. It's comprehensive. And some says
it's better than trainings you'd pay hundreds,
even thousands of dollars for.
This is a brand new Pre-System training completely
updated for 2009, so if you've taken previous trainings
make sure you get this year's material.
You can register for the Pre-System training here:
http://www.TheSystemSeminar.com/pre
Ken
P.S. If you know you want to do this,
you can take care of it now below.
There is a big incentive to act before
January 31.
http://www.TheSystemSeminar.com for the details
Ken McCarthy
The System Seminar
---------------------------------------------------------
* The System Seminar March 27 - 29, 2009
The annual gathering of *serious* Internet entrepreneurs
http://www.TheSystemSeminar.com
* Home study solutions for Internet entrepreneurs
http://www.KensCatalog.com
* Serious marketing books for serious marketers
http://www.RealMarketingBooks.com
The System
Education for Internet Entrepreneurs
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