The Maverick Marketer Blog

I got a flood of emails after my last minute email last week for the Warrior Weekend I spoke at… so let me follow up on that.

It was everthing I’d hoped and more… Eric Louviere and his team put on a great event and raised good money for the Austism charity.

Very cool.

I took some heat from folks who couldn’t be there and I do apologize for the short notice.

The good news is that I got to meet everyone who could get there and I autographed copies of my new book Inspired Marketing until I ran out… so I’ll have to bring more next time

I could take a whole blog post to tell you about the great people I connected with and the amazing breakthrough I had on a project I’m working on… but I’ll have to save that for another post or this will get too long (that’s how cool the people were that I got to connect with).

One of the takeaways from the event came from Willie Crawford’s talk about joint ventures.

His number one recommendation for establishing solid joint venture relationship is to, well, build a real relationship, especially with the ‘bigger names’ in your industry.

I couldn’t agree more!

I continually get emails from folks that are clearly form templates touting how much money I’ll make if I just pimp their product to my list.

Problem is, I don’t know who they are and it’s clear they don’t know me very well either.

I never promote anything I haven’t personally had success with and while I want to help the well meaning candidates who approach me, there simply isn’t enough time for me to investigate every opportunity so these kind of emails just get deleted.

Unfortunately a lot of the advice in ‘how to joint venture’ products out there seems to encourage this blind shot gun approach.

Internet marketing is a very isolated niche and it’s easy to get lost going down the wrong path like that.

What does work?

Meeting people in person and connecting in the ‘real world’.

Here’s a synchronistic example.

I met Eric Louviere as an attendee a year ago at an event I spoke at.

I was with a couple of the other speakers in the hotel bar on the Friday night of the event (don’t ask me why I remember that) and he was literally the ONLY attendee there.

Begin mini-rant…

Why more attendees don’t make an effort to hang out after hours with speakers and other attendees at the hotel I’ll never understand!

That’s where connections are made!!!

When you are at an event with fellow Internet marketers who have joint venture potential, not to mention hard won knowledge that can seriously speed up your path to profits online… why not make the most of every minute?

You don’t have to have a drink or stay up till all hours… but do stop by and visit next time you are at an event, ok?

I had to get that off my chest…

Anyway, back to Eric’s cool success story.

In the bar that night he was listening in to our conversation and decided to join in… and he had the good sense to buy me a scotch when mine ran out inexplicably

I remember talking with Eric and he said at his event this weekend that it made a big impact on what happened in the months that followed.

Funny thing is, I don’t recall saying anything particurally brilliant… but I do remember part of our conversation was about what I just ranted about.

And I remember telling Eric that he really stood out and impressed me by putting in the time and effort to network and pick the brains of the speakers in the bar.

Turns out… Eric was as impressive as he appeared.

After the event he took action, started a business that is well into the six figures now and had the further sense to leave his cushy carreer to become a full time entrepreneur.

So in February of this year he contacted me and asked me to speak at his event… because I remembered him favorably it was a no brainer to take the time to consider it… after a few minutes I realized it was a good fit.

I know he has relationships with the other speakers at his event… including Marlon Sanders, Dr. Mike Woo Ming and many that weren’t there, like Mike Filsaime.

If you’ve been involved in Internet marketing for more than a month or so you probably recognize all those names… and if you don’t, let me just say they are highly successful great guys, and hard to get a hold of… but within a year from getting started Eric pulled these folks and other greats like Willie Crawford into one place and hit it out of the park with his first event.

Not bad.

If you missed the Warrior Event, I apologize as I did not give you much notice… if the DVD’s come out I’ll be sure to tell you about it.

Now, I’ve been around this industry since 2003 or so actively and in that time I’ve met just about anyone you can name and have built a fun and profitable circle of friends.

Want to know where I met 90% of them?

Big Seminar… which is Armand Morin’s premier event that is now being held for the ELEVENTH time next weekend.

I’m not speaking there but I did a few years ago… in fact, I’ve been to every one except the first one.

Why?

Here’s my top three reasons…

1) If you want to know what is working NOW online (instead of being behind the curve all the time) you’ll hear about it first from the A List speakers Armand attracts.

2) It’s the one place I can count on reconnecting with my friends in this industry because they all go time after time…

3) Each time I have gone, I met a NEW friend and or business partner that has been invaluable. I’ve watched many go from being in the audience to being on stage, like Joel Comm and way to many to list here.

See, I follow my own advice and seek new joint ventures by meeting people in person.

If you’ve been to a Big Seminar already you know all this and no doubt have received emails from Armand about this one.

But if you have never been, let me encourage you in no uncertain terms to attend on the 25th through 27th of April.

(Full details are at: www.maverickmarketer.com/big)

There is a training call tonight if you can attend, go check it out.. and if you can’t make it live on the call, by getting on the list you’ll be notified of the replay times.

Again, if this is your first time attending Big Seminar, go to this link and check out what Armand’s got in store for you this time.

Get your ticket right away and then email me at craig -at- maverickmarketer.com because I’ll arrange to sit down with you there and help you get the most out of the event and some other goodies, too.

I’ll help you determine who of my contacts would be good for you to meet and open any doors I can.

Even if you don’t have a clue what you want to do online I’d suggest you attend if you can because you’ll get a quick 72 hour orientation on what’s working now.

In my experience, over 60% of the audience is new to Internet marketing… and what’s really cool is that many in the audience are as or more successful than the heavy hitters on stage.

I connected with a guy last time who just did a product launch in a niche for over 2 million dollars (which reminds me I need to follow up with him ).

If you are a long time reader of mine you’ll know how strongly I endorse Armand Morin and his products and seminars… and if you are new to all this, just go check out the site because what you will see says it all.

At the Big Seminar 11 website you’ll see the first video salesletter of it’s kind… proof enough that Armand is on the cutting edge of what’s working online today.

After you’ve checked out the page and if you are serious about going for the first time, email me at craig at maverickmarketer.com with any questions you have.

If this is a good fit for you right now I’d like to see you there!

Oh, and if you go there and get on the list, you’ll get notified about tonight’s call details for Armand’s final free training call before the seminar next weekend.

See you there!

- Craig

It’s a cliche on launch days to comment on how ‘crazy’ it gets.

So I’ll skip all that and tell you that it was worth the wait to get your copy today because the contributions we got for the bonus package are impressive… and targeted.

There’s a brand new interview Joe did yesterday that no one’s heard before, for but ONE example of the cool stuff you get.

But here’s what I want to make sure you know about…

And in addition to product quality goodies I’m also throwing in a 30 day trial to InspiredMarketing.com when it launches in the next week.

So, while you’re helping us to make Inspired Marketing a best seller on day 1, just know I’m more than happy to give you resources, content, and inspiration in large doses.

I said I was going to give you the inside scoop because I’m literally the only one who knows what is inside InspiredMarketing.com… and I also know that as cool as the bonuses are that you’ll see at…

http://www.inspiredmarketing.com/invitation

…what you’ll get when my new membership site goes live is going to make you very happy.

Much of it I’ve never released before… all in one place.

That’s all I can say right now.

I’m not really trying to be secretive, it’s just I’m so over the top tired and can’t do justice to what this could mean to you.

Yeah, that’s the day, when Craig runs out of words.

But today it’s true…

Rest assured that I’m going to focusing on both the ‘inspired’ and the ‘marketing’ and why the two combined are so powerful and profitable.

Let’s put it this way… lots of folks watch The Secret and then want to start a business or take action… but don’t know anything about marketing.

With this site, you’ll get marketing training guided by inspiration.

More next time…

As for the launch, here’s the scoop.

We’re up to #186 out of all books on Amazon right now (and #3 in Marketing) so if you haven’t got your copy yet, I’d love it if you did now.

The number 1 best seller on Amazon now is Eckhard Tolle’s book that Oprah has been talking about so much… so we’ve got some pretty big hill to climb.

Every book counts

Get all the whole story at…

http://www.inspiredmarketing.com/invitation

Thanks for your support!

Craig

So after my last post I got a ton of folks congratulating me on my new book Joe Vitale and I co-authored that’s coming out next Tuesday.

Thank you… one and all, it is a good feeling… and I’m going to make a suggestion that helps me and you:

Wait to get a copy on TUESDAY when we launch the book because I am doing something special (and no, it’s not a typical ‘book launch’ - though we are shooting for best seller).

So if you wait until Tuesday the 25th, the volume of buying that occurs on that day will help me and you’ll get something else I’ll tell you about soon.

What’s amazing to me is when Joe and I were in Austin Wednesday, Joe saw Inspired Marketing in Barnes and Noble — even though it wasn’t supposed to be even available until today.

Here’s the pic Joe took.

Inspired Marketing at Barnes And Noble in Austin, Texas

Now, that is a moment, I have to admit that just is awesome.

I’m a book nut, as you may know, and to see a book I co-authored on the bookshelves is a mind bender… and a first for me.

Recently I happened to be in Barnes and Noble buying some very cool new books and I asked if they had Inspired Marketing in yet… and there was this moment where the pretty young lady behind the counter said, "no, it’s coming out on March 21st. Would you like me to order it…" and I said, "That’s ok, it’s my book I was just wondering if you had it in stock yet…" and she squealed and excitedly said she’d never met a "real live author in person before" and she reached out and shook my hand.

That was a heck of a fun moment, let me tell you.

Anyway, so reason I’m writing today is that I also got a ton of questions about ‘What is Inspired Marketing about’, too.

Now, you may know that I’ve been an entrepreneur (or at least was trying to be) since the mid to late eighties when I was still a teenager/college student.

So let me say that I have had good times and before that, I had a lot of not ‘bad times’, but, uh, bumpy and scary times along the way.

In fact, back in 1986 when I first got the idea to start a business, if you told me I’d have a book with my name on it in stores I would have chuckled pretty hard.

And from the comments and emails I get from folks who read my emails and blog and all the folks I’ve met speaking at seminars… it’s clear that what Henry Thoreau said about people in general is even more true of entrepreneurs..

He wrote…

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. By a seeming fate, commonly called necessity, they are employed, as it says in an old book, laying up treasures which moth and rust will corrupt and thieves break through and steal. It is a fool’s life, as they will find when they get to the end of it, if not before."

Translated into today’s American english, here’s my 21st century version:

"Most people’s lives suck because they spend all their time chasing things that don’t matter and their heart isn’t in the game."

I’ve met so many entrepreneurs (and those who are trying to start businesses) who wake up every day wondering…

* Where the next dollar is coming in to cover the ever growing pile of expenses…

* How to come up with products that people really want to buy…

* How to stand out from all the competition chasing after the same customers…

* Where and how to advertise to get traffic to their store or website…

* What they can do to finally achieve the level of success they really dreamed of when they started.

And if you’ve ever worked for yourself, you know that the ‘Boss’ can be pretty unforgiving. So you work long, long hours, often staring at the glow of your computer monitor deep into the night (and sometimes never sleeping at all).

After a while, you begin to rebel against the boss (you).

So then you find that you don’t want to…

* Do everything you know need to be doing… so you procrastinate

* Figure out how to do all the things that you are told you need to learn

* Trade every waking hour of your life for the business while your personal and family life goes to Hell in a hand basket

If you see yourself somewhere in all that… the good news is that there is a better way.

Joe and I call it Inspired Marketing.

It’s about living your life so that what you are working on in your business IS something that makes you feel alive, grateful, excited, and confident knowing you are following a higher path.

You’ll draw your product and business ideas from inspiration instead of desperation.

In fact, the best antidote I know of for a ‘life of quiet desperation’ is a life guided by INSPIRATION!

Most people think business has to be a struggle, hard, ugly even, and boring, ‘no pain no gain’ drudgery interrupted by fits of panic and mild terror.

And most people struggle with selling, marketing, and finding a way to actually get customers because they feel uncomfortable with the typical hype, sleaze, and icky feeling that seems to surround us in a zillion marketing messages a day.

Especially in Internet marketing, there seems to be a near requirement that you forget your ‘list’ consists of human beings with real needs instead of a group of wallets to yank money out of.

Inspired marketing connects with people because it is authentic, real, and based on passion and comes from your heart (don’t worry guys, it’s still effective marketing… just not hypey and pushy).

So Inspired Marketing really talks about the kind of approach you hear called ‘Web 2.0′ where you truly connect with your market instead of shovel shinola at them hoping they’ll be blinded by the tap dance long enough to buy.

Inspired Marketing is an easy read, too…

We decided the best way to convey what Inspired Marketing was to actually talk with successful entrepreneurs who lived it.

We interviewed men and women, folks who had just started following the path and those who have already achieved massive success, for profit and even a non-profit case study, too.

I’ll be telling you more about Inspired Marketing the book, and what inspired marketing IS and why it is so different from the way most entrepreneurs struggle with desperation.

Now I know many people who’ve told me they pre-ordered the book already.

But like I said, we’re launching the book on Tuesday with something very special for those who get a copy that day from Amazon.com.

So here’s what I suggest you do.

Go to InspiredMarketing.com and get on the notification list there.

Also, after the launch I will be blogging over there more about both inspiration, marketing, and more.

This will continue to be where I talk about Internet marketing stuff… but you’ll want to get on my new list over at InspiredMarketing.com, too.

Stay tuned… I’ll keep you posted. Keep those comments and emails coming…

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this new direction I’m taking and also, I’m looking for Inspired Marketing case studies, so let me know your story.

Here’s to a life and business guided by inspiration…

Craig Perrine