An Internet Marketing and Business Post by Big Chris

Hey there, hope you’re doing great

All’s good here, spent the day riding my Harley, doing deadlifts, getting a 2 hour deep tissue massage, eating ( it’s a high carb day… I’ve been carb cycling and lovin’ it, losing fat and strength is actually up) and taking my two daughters to the park ( they’re 3 and 4 years old… and a huge part of my purpose for doing what I do… they LOVE going to the park with their daddy)

A few days ago I headed down the La Jolla to film some footage of the internet marketing rock star / slacker / genius Frank Kern… he’s got a cool little pad right on the water that he works in… looking at the place you’d have no idea that someone works there, looks more like a place just to chill, but some of the best marketing around is produced right there in that little beach pad.

Lemme back up a bit…

I’m not sure if you know, but I’ve been making a documentary with my friend Bedros Keuilian… there’s a huge buzz around it in the internet marketing world, but most of the fitness industry isn’t aware of it yet…. except for about the 1% that cross over into both worlds… and funny thing is, that’s the most successful 1% of the fitness industry by far.

It’s a documentary about the crazy world of internet marketing.

A world of renegades, super-productive slackers working at home in their bare feet or flip flops, helping thousands of people in an area their passionate about, working their own hours, on their own terms, being themselves and having one helluva good time in the process.

It’s a world of people who refuse to accept society’s norms and the BIG FAT LIE that long hours, commutes, days jobs, promotions and job security is the way to get ahead.

Along with independent fitness trainers, boot camp instructors and studio owners, internet marketers are some of my favorite people in the world.

I’m not talking about the biz-op sector of ‘IM’.. no, not the ones who are looking for the next get-rich-quick-scheme and we’re pushing Amway and Monavie last month, and this month are pushing their own line of internet marketing stuff, even though they know hardly anything about it… nothing against them… but they’re not the ones I’m talking about

I’m talking about the ones who are SUPER passionate about something in life, LOVE helping other people in the area of their passion, have chosen the internet to be their main marketing platform and know in their gut that they will succeed no matter what.

Whether it’s fitness like Craig Ballantyne and Vince Delmonte, dating stuff like Eb… I mean David DeAngelo or Neil Strauss, or make-money stuff like Frank Kern or Ryan Deiss.

With that group, the kinship is deep.

It’s like the bond I share with others I see paying their dues picking up heavy weight and putting it down ( doing heavy deadlifts ) – we’re part of small group of an elite subculture who feels like we’ve stumbled onto some secret hardly anyone else knows about.

Now the reasons my and ‘B’ are making this film are many…

Internet marketing has been real good to me… it allows me to spend my days on my Harley, working out and hanging with friends and family instead of sitting in traffic to go punch some evil clock somewhere and live my some big corporations values instead of my own

It’s a story must be told… while most of the people are worried about the economy, here’s these unlikely success stories of entrepreneurs who are pretty much unemployable and riddled with A.D.D, yet their living on their own terms, helping a ton of people and attaining complete financial freedom in the process… or getting the body of their dreams… or the relationship or ships of their dreams… you name it.

In the film when we asked each of them about their take on the economy… the most common answer was “I make my own economy” … people of my own heart.

We saw the film as a way to raise A LOT of money for charity – I contribute to a few charities every month but have always wanted to raise a substantial amount of money that can make the world a better place, this film is the vehicle for that, a large percent of all the proceeds are going to charity

Build my roledex – Over the past few years it’s become apparent to me that who you know is extremely important, there’s HUGE power in having the phone numbers, emails and good graces of multiple people who can answer just about any question you have, and if you want to reach out to someone who’s extremely hard to get a hold of, like a celebrity or something, there’s nothing like a personal “in”, a good word and introduction from a mutual friend to get the job done.

But in the info-marketing internet-marketing guru world these guys have a wall up and unless you’re a friend, it’s not just like you can find their emails easily or call them up, trust me, I know what’s it’s like, in the fitness world I have 100 times as many trainers trying to reach me as I have time for… if I addressed every trainer who wanted to talk to me or email me I’d have time for NOTHING else, and my family and business would suffer BIG TIME. So the wall is a practice I know all to well… I don’t always wish it has to be this way, but it does.

So just like these guys, when you get to certain level of success I know how important it is to have the wall up… it’s not an arrogance thing, but more of a values, priorities, time management and even basic survival thing

Now, I already did know a few internet marketers real well, like Andy Jenkins of Stompernet and Video Boss fame is a good friend of mine, and Bedros is pretty tight with Joe Polish and Yanik Silver, but we wanted to get to know them ALL.

So getting to know all these guys as friends and equals was a huge part of the reason for us to make this film.

And finally, both my and ‘B’ love documentaries, like my friend Chris Bell’s “Bigger Stronger Faster” – Chris actually has been helping up with our film BTW, and his help has been paramount to the success of the project.

Ok… now before I get into the big lesson, here’s an early sneak peak trailer of the film… it’s like 2 or 3 minutes long, check it out real quick…

Now as we’re making the film, while 99% of it just flowed like it was all meant to happen, we had one problem

There’s one dude we really wanted to have in the film... he’s a legend in the internet marketing world, has broken just about every rule you can think of, and is probably the most well-known and well-liked guy in the ENTIRE industry.

His name is Frank Kern

We had just about everyone else we wanted, and keep in mind, most of these “IM” guru’s are very hard to reach and turn down over 99.9% of people and offers that come their way.

But as momentum and buzz grew for the film, and they saw the power of what we were doing, we pretty much got “Yes’s” across the board.

Our film has giant buzz in the industry, and everyone wants to be in it.

But we just couldn’t get Frank.

You see… Frank has been busted by the FTC so he’s a little paranoid, and he’s so well liked he actually has some fans who are near stalkers… and he doesn’t like being noticed, he just like to hang out, do his internet marketing thing, surf, kill a few brain cells and enjoy his life at the beach down in La Jolla California while he makes a ton of money.

To give you a better grip on who Frank Kern is, recently I did a post where I featured some die-hard renegade entrepreneurs, and here’s a little piece I did about Frank in that post…

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Frank Kern

Frank Kern became a hugely successful internet marketer by studying and applying strategies that WORK.

He doesn’t really give a sh*t about finding some new way of doing things that’s never been done before, he just does what works and does it better than anybody else.

He’ll be the first to admit “Basically I just steal from Dan Kennedy and insert profanity”

Franks’s created this cool image of himself as a surfer who does next to NOTHING and makes a ton of money... he’s pretty much transformed himself into ‘The Dude’ from the classic dark comedy The Big Lebowski…

He’s the rock-star ideal-version of who is audience wants to be… to the 40 year old over-worked underpaid man, he’s the ultimate representation of freedom and escaping the rat race.

Frank walks the line between being completely transparent and using under-the-radar persuasion tactics such as NLP… he walks this line probably better than any other marketer out there.

One of Frank’s biggest strong points is getting in touch with his market and understanding EXACTLY what they want so that he can tailor his marketing perfectly. He is master at persuasion and is probably the most liked internet marketer alive today… at least when it comes to info-gurus.

Frank’s been busted by the FTC, has helped Tony Robbins with his marketing, has made a ton of money in such niches as dog training and internet marketing.. and likes to spend his days surfing by his home in La Jolla, Ca

And trust me, Frank lives the life he presents to the world…

I’ve been at his HQ on the beach in La Jolla at noon on a Wed. when he just got back from surfing, then he sat down for about 20 minutes and talked to a little old lady who was his neighbor, while most entrepreneurs are stressed and rushing around like a maniac, Frank’s living on his own terms, and enjoying the view as he goes.

When Frank gives presentations to crowds of hundreds at business and marketing events, he’s known to dress in bare feet, old jeans and old t-shirts and cuss like a sailor… he’s also able to get the audience to laugh almost the entire time he talks with his laid back sense of humor and off-the-wall drug references… while the typical presenter is up tight and wearing a suit and tie… Frank’s taking it easy up there having the time of his life.

I’ve used Franks methods in much of my marketing and they work, period.

—–

So as you can see, the film just didn’t feel complete with having Frank in it

But every time I’d run into Frank, whether at his Birthday party at his HQ house by the beach in La Jolla, or at John Assaraf’s party at his friggin mansion ( the same house he talks about visualizing into being in the movie ‘The Secret’) … or wherever, I just couldn’t get Frank on board.

He’d say stuff like “I love what you guys are doing, but sorry man, I wanna lay low… I’m already getting people recognizing me and it freaks me out a little… more people recognizing me is the last thing I want”

And when I was at Andy Jenkins wedding last December, at Franks pad ( Frank performed the wedding ceremony BTW) I had all but given up, so when we were hanging out we just partied and I didn’t bring up the film at all.

I could understand where he was coming from, and you never know when someone might Michael Moore your ass, so I laid off.

We’ll recently it all changed, our video editor Torry sent us a clip she put together to send to Frank… and.. well, I’ll let Frank tell the story… Here’s an excerpt from Franks Blog he recently sent to his email list…

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Let me tell you a story.

About two years ago (give or take) a couple of guys contacted me asking me to be in a documentary movie they were making about Internet Marketing.

They were cool enough guys and all, but I said no.

The reason I refused is because I just don’t want that much recognition. I don’t want to be rich and famous. Just rich. Besides, you can end up looking pretty stupid in a documentary that you don’t have editorial control over. And I do a good enough job of looking stupid on my own, thank you very much. Don’t need any help there.

…So I passed on the offer.

A few months go by and I discover that these guys have gotten just about everyone in the Internet Marketing Scene to be in the movie. …Queue the peer pressure.

So now they enlist my friends to put the pressure on me. They used all kinds of persuasive techniques ranging from, “Dude, you gotta be in this movie.”

…To, “Frank – quit being a hermit and get in the damn movie.” ”

And finally, “What the hell is wrong with you?? Get in the damn movie already!!”

But still I held my ground. Peer pressure be damned!

Don’t wanna be in a movie. Not my thing. Too weirded out. Thanks anyway.

So time goes by and I get to be friends with the guys making the movie. They quit asking me about it and I sort of forget all about it.

They came to my birthday party and brought home made beer. Strong home made beer. Well played. Then I see one of them again at Andy Jenkins’ wedding. (I was the guy who performed the wedding ceremony, by the way. Awesome.) We shoot the shit about random stuff and a good time is had by all.

But no mention of the movie. It looked like I had gotten away scott free!

But Then They Used The Most Devastating
Persuasion Technique Known To Man!

About a week ago, I’m checking my email and I see this:

So I download the file to see what they send, and here’s what it was (you gotta press “play” to start it):

Now I pretty much HAVE to do the movie. If I didn’t, I’d be a real asshole, you know?

I mean …who can say no after such an exhibit of total coolness? Not only have these guys been super-cool to me for the past two years or so, now they’ve taken the time to create this montage video above.

Never once nagging me or hassling me …just being super nice until I “cracked”. Now I’m happy to help them and I’m proud to be in their movie. In fact, I feel kinda like a tool for refusing in the first place.

The fact is, they got me. They “killed me with kindness”, so to speak.

—–

Frank goes on to turn the whole thing into a lesson for his readers ( which is a few hundred thousand people by the way)

He’s smart, he knew he could use the video we sent him to further reinforce his ultra-cool miracle maker positioning, while wrapping it all up in a lesson for his readers.

Ya know, Frank has so many people trying to get a hold of him, trying to get him to promote their products, trying to get marketing help from him, and he HAS TO turn almost everyone down… otherwise HE’D HAVE NO LIFE

So me and ‘B’ had to come at him from a different angle, and it worked, and we knew we couldn’t just send him a fruit basket or a surfboard, he get’s that stuff all the time.

Maybe a bag a party favors woulda worked, but it woulda had to be one huge friggin sack, and haven’t messed with the herbal delivery scene for the better part of 15 years.

So we pulled the “here’s an awesome video of a shitload of respected people talking about how your the coolest and smartest dude on the planet” card, and it worked ( And props to our editor Torry, cuz it was actually her idea)

Now there’s a huge lesson here.

It’s funny, is I have countless people trying to get me to promote their products to my following of fitness trainers – but ya know what?

Hardly any of them do ANYTHING for me first… typically they come at me with an email like this: “Hey, love your blog, I have something I think you’re list will love, I’ll give you an affiliate commission, it’ll be in your best interest to promote it”

Even after reading on my contact form on my blog that it says: “*** Please note… I’m slammed with people asking me to promote their products as an affiliate and right now I’m not taking on any new affiliate products to promote”

Crazy.

Ya know what happens to these emails? I don’t even see them, my support staff just deletes em… first of all I really care about my brand integrity, so I have to be very choosy what I send my list to… but secondly, they almost ALL come at me with the “taking hand” out instead of the giving hand.

I don’t think ONE has offered to promote my stuff first before hitting me up to promote their stuff.

Back when I released my first info-product Market Annihilator, I had almost every big guru in my niche promote it, which is the first time it’s EVER happened in my industry.

And how did I make that happen?

I went to most of the guys who I wanted to promoted it months in advance and went out of my way to do something helpful for them… and usually it was 2 or 3 things… and I did this MONTHS before ever asking them to promote my thing.

I started off the relationship with the giving hand and it WORKED.

In fact, that launch did just over $300,000.00 in billable sales in 7 days… and that was my first info-product, and three months prior hardly ANYONE had even heard of me in the fitness training world.

I also did this with my training business… for the first few months I trained around 30 human billboards for FREE, and they paid me with referrals, TONS of referrals, to the point where I was making six-figures in a matter of months. All cuz I started that business with the giving hand.

And when I started my whole guru info-business here, where I help trainers take their business to the six and seven-figure levels, I started it with a blog, where I spent months giving away TONS of free highly-valuable content without asking anything in return.

And still to this day, while I do pitch my list a lot, I also deliver lot’s of high-quality free content right here on this blog, earning me to the right to sell to people ( cuz if all I did was sell, no one would ever open my emails)

You can do it with a free Saturday Boot Camp, where all people need to do is bring in some canned goods to train, the canned goods go to a local children’s shelter or homeless shelter, and the boot camps are to help lower your towns obesity rate ( a double whammy and pretty easy to get featured in the local media)

You can then convert many of the campers into your paid programs over time.

Or when trying to get local businesses to promote you, PROMOTE THEM FIRST. If YOU start by promoting them, it’ll be MUCH easier to get them to promote YOU.

Or when you’re trying to contact hard to reach people, find out something they’re into to, like a hobby or something, and send them a gift that has to do with that topic, if that doesn’t work the first time, keep trying.

You could even send along a little DVD player as part of the gift with a little sticky on it that says “Play Me” – and when they push play it’s a video of you introducing yourself and telling them what an impact they’ve had on your life… and this gift is your way of saying “Thank You” ( BTW, you can get little DVD players for pretty cheap these days)

If you wanna build a helluva business, reach just about anyone, and get others to help promote you, go out of YOUR way to help them first, having NO EXPECTATIONS of reciprocity, start out relationships with the giving hand… and if you do this on a large enough scale, life will reciprocate your efforts ten-fold and your success will be inevitable.

Oh, and before you go…

One of the best ways I know to start off relationships with the giving hand is through a blog… and if you’re serious about blogging then I strongly suggest…

Fitness Blogging Profits

There simply is nothing out there that can give you the credibility, authority, and ability to get and keep clients and customers like a blog can… IF it’s done properly.

It is the ultimate way to start and build long term win/win relationships with your market.

The problem is, most people have no idea how to do it… but don’t worry, it’s super easy and I’m more than happy to help you out with it.

And if you don’t like writing, you can always make your blog video based ( Video blogs are super fun btw, and hardly take any time at all)

Nothing can help build your brand, your business and your bank account like a high-authority fitness blog… and in Fitness Blogging Profits I help you every step of the way

You see, because of all the hype and scams out there… people are naturally distrustful and highly suspicious of anyone trying to sell them on just about anything… ESPECIALLY on the Internet.

There IS one way to thrive however in this world of
skeptics and suspicion… and it’s Blogging

A blog actually allows you to ethically sneak in under their radar, and become a trusted and well-liked friend… a friend who they’ll look to for ALL their fitness needs.

And it is by FAR one of the best ways I know to start off your relationship with your marketplace with the giving hand.

With a blog, you develop win/win relationships with your customers… you start by helping them get what they REALLY want in life, THEN THEY give you some money, you then help them get MORE of what they really want in life, and then they give you MORE money.

You keep helping them get what they want.

They keep giving you money.

It’s the perfect win/win relationship.

It’s really that simple.

Click Here To Learn More About Fitness Blogging Profits