I’ll explain why my wife’s hurtful words made me thankful… Before that, there’s another reason to be thankful this Thanksgiving…

…And that’s a heartfelt thank you for sticking around for my now infrequent emails.

I just want to say I’m sorry.

It’s just that life has been pretty crazy. The business has just grown like crazy, and we’ve been trying to keep up.

Over the course of the last year… We added 6 people to the team… Became the SEO superstars to the biggest property portal in Asia… Spoke around the world… Made a killing from Adsense…

I’m not saying that to boast. Nor is it an excuse for my lack of communication.

But all I’m saying is that the internet marketing dream is possible – where you make money while you sleep, earn more in one week than you do the whole year, work from anywhere in the world.

However… the internet marketing dream is not easy. If it was–then there wouldn’t only be a dozen or so peers who are making a full time living online in my country with a population of 27,467,837.

In fact…

Here’s the no.1 reason why most people fail to make money on the Internet…

They don’t treat it like a business.

Here’s the harsh truth…

5 years ago, hobby efforts got you hobby income. You wrote a few EzineArticles, slapped on your affiliate link, and voila… You got some grocery money for the month.

Today, 5 years down the line, hobby efforts get you ZERO income. The prior hobbyist who had a little more success than average has developed million dollar businesses with an army of outsourcers and a near unlimited advertising budget.

And unless you rise above the ranks of hobbyist to become a business person, you’re never going to succeed in this space.

Sorry if I sound a little brutal.

But you know the only reason why I can say that?

I was one of these hobbyists just a few months ago.

And the only reason I’m not one anymore is because of the verbal lashing my usually demure wife gave me.

Even though it stings to admit it, for this whole year I treated Puppet String Marketing like a hobby, when I was supposed to treat it like business.

Don’t get me wrong, we make a decent living from Puppet String Marketing. The thing is… We could have been a lot bigger than we already are.

In the space of 2 years of doing business… I have passed up countless opportunities (even strategic alliances with the biggest guns on the planet), left money on the table due to a lack of implementation, and left my wife holding the bag.

And then… Came the obvious question…

Why was I acting in such a baffling way?

The answer is twofold.

1. I don’t have a “do whatever it takes” mindset
2. Action requires overcoming inertia

You see… I have always mistaken my superior marketing and copywriting skills for the actual running of the business. I ignored the “boring” aspects of cash flow in favor of cool ideas and persuasion. Even though marketing is really important, a biz owner’s role expands far more than that.

The bulk of online marketers are just technicians. Good at the theory of marketing, but unable to create a business out of it.

Now… you start to find an explanation for the local marketing boom of 2010. This industry has bred a ton of marketers with just an inkling of direct response knowledge –but no actual business acumen.

No wonder they’re doomed to failure.

And I was going down that forlorn route until my wife saved me.

And that’s my first point, that the hallmark of a successful entrepreneur is in the willingness to suffer until the business venture reaches breakthrough.

I guess I was seduced by the promise of instant riches.

Well… I did make a ton of money with my launches. But I wasn’t willing to do more of them, since it takes work.

And I wasn’t certainly investing in systems and outsourcing processes. Too much tedium. Thank you very much.

No business is going to sustain with that kind of chronic laziness.

Here’s the surprising thing…

Most of the internet millionaires you know work really, really hard.

They work when they’re on holiday. They work even crazier hours than those who are employed.

This brings me to my second point. You may not be achieving your fullest potential because its darn hard to get out of a state of stagnation.

After all… A body at rest tends to stay the rest…

That is…

Until external force is used.

In my case, it was my wife being uncharacteristically sharp. Reminding me we’re not in the business just for our own survival… But so that we can positively impact the nations with our ideas and our finances.

What’s your external force?

God? Not becoming homeless? Paying off debts?

Until you get one… Nothing is going to change. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Well… This is my thanksgiving lesson to you. To succeed in the internet marketing realm. You need these 2 things – a “whatever it takes” mindset, and a willingness to overcome inertia and take action.

And yes… Me and the wife are still very much in love.

Hope this helps you. Would love to know your thoughts in the comments section. So write away!

Obama has served 100 days in the White House.

A 100 days. "Success or failure?", the 2 camps are still debating.

A policy here. A ruling there. Intervention all around. Some people call the President’s moves brilliant. Others call it plain dumb.

Yes, the voices are crystal clear. The first 100 days are always forgivable ones. You need to get your feet wet, to clean up the mess of the previous administration, just to learn to juggle the various egos of the others in power.

The first 100 days are about research, and policy discussions, and rounds and rounds of meetings to fix what’s wrong about the country.

Yet, the same media voices claim the next 100 days are THE MOST CRUCIAL ONES to determine whether Obama succeeds as president  or is a flash in the pan.

You see, the next 100 days are about IMPLEMENTATION. To stop talking and take action. And the anticipated results will determine his destiny.

How have you spent the last 100 days?

Did you set your goals? New Years Resolution? A fierce determination to succeed and prevail through this difficult recession period?

Now, whether you see results or not, it’s crunch time.

Just like Obama, it’s your next 100 days that determine whether you sink or swim in this moment of crisis. Whether you make a comfortable living or become yet-another-statistic.

It depends on you.

And right now you want to take the street fighter route and use any weapon to not just survive, but thrive.

This is when Twitter comes in. A marketing channel that doesn’t cost money, yet has unprecedented opportunity. Oprah, Ashton, CNN… Twitter’s now mainstream baby, and it’s time to learn how to harness Twitter for maximum ROI.

Internet wealth specialist Stephen Pierce says that its far easier to dominate a marketing channel that it is a niche. In other words, you reap more profits from focusing on one channel than trying to challenge the existing Goliath’s in their niche.

They’re probably going to clobber you.

You still have first-mover advantage on Twitter. In fact, I guarantee you that if you focus on Twitter marketing for the next 100 days, your business will accelerate in a way you never thought possible.

Picture this… Once you master Twitter… Your prospects suddenly transforming into evangelists… A steady flow of leads without spending a red cent… Your personal brand spreading like wildfire across the Internet.

It is possible. In fact, in less than 100 days after coming on Twitter as an unknown, I established a 5 figure business from scratch–with no name, no list and no website. And a 100 days later, I’m among the elite marketers in this world.

I’m handing you the keys to the kingdom. This is the age of acceleration. The whole old-fashioned, white-knucked slave-till-dawn was the old rule of successes. Now, it’s to springboard off the opportunities and devices that make leapfrogging your predecessors so much easier.

So come on! Your next 100 days is do or die. Seize the moment and take that step of faith to succeed today.

—–> Carpe Diem!

P.S. 100 days may seem short. But miracles can happen in that time. A 100 days ago I was still unmarried. A 100 days before that I was still an unknown copywriter trying to make a living. Take the 100 days challenge and rise up now.

Twitter Salvation System. Doors Now Open.

Swine Flu is the latest epidemic that’s hitting the news and causing worldwide panic, following the likes of Ebola, Bird Flu and J.E.

Already, it has already caused much chaos.

In a few short days, Swine Flu caused as many as 103 deaths in Mexico, and an additional 1,614 reported cases have been reported in Mexico.

In the US and across the world, emergency measures had been used to contain the virile spread of the virus. In fact, you see people wearing flu masks at a lot of the State airports, uncannily akin to a scene out of some killer disease apocalyptic future.

Now picture this, if you give it a positive spin, don’t you wish that your marketing messages had that kind of viral power?

Imagine sending out a promo link or blog post and getting 2,000 impressions in less than 5 minutes—without spending a red cent on PPC?

Or generating highly targeted traffic at will with all of a minute’s work? Or getting your name or brand spread across the far-flung corners of the web and hauling a treasure chest of profits?

You probably know the answer—Twitter. There’s a reason why is everyone and their grandmother is hyping Twitter as the ultimate viral tool. At least far better than those forced “tell-a-friend” scripts that fell flat on its face a little while back.

However, you might be wondering if this is—as expected by marketing press—sheer hype. You might be thinking, “why aren’t I getting the kind of ReTweets and Digg-effect traffic that the Big Guns like Mashable and Guy Kawasaki seem to enjoy?”

Of course, the fact they have hundreds-of-thousands of followers does help, but what about the rest of us? Some of the most viral-friendly Twitterers are in the achievable 5-6k range. Of course, I get an unbelievable a mount of traffic to my sites as well, 2-3k in a week or so. Free.

(Incidentally, I have mastered the art of getting as much as a thousand followers a day. But more of that in a bit.)

Here’s why.

The mantra of both my course, the Twitter Salvation System and my marketing is this, “psychology, not technology.” You may have the latest nifty Twitter tools that can enable you to spread your message spread far and wide, but if you can’t grasp the Twitter user’s mindset, you’ll never be able to sell a dime.

Here’s a radical theory… The more your viral marketing imitates the traits of an actual viral outbreak, the more widespread your messages can get. You find out more in a minute.

I got at least a dozen secrets to why I’m called “The Master Fisherman”, that I’m able to get the elevated clicks, response rates and ReTweets I do. Here’s just 3 of them—based traits off the “Swine Fever” virus explosion.

1) Mutation

Why the Swine Fever virus is so scarily contagious is because it is a mutation. Startlingly enough, the virus contains genetic code from bird, swine and human.

As a result, what originated as a bird flu strain mutated in pigs and is now able to spread into human form—with deadly effect.

The key factor to its spread is because of the virus’ ability to take new form. In the same way, your generic marketing message will get more potent when you combine it with new ideas to create something irresistible to the human attention.

Here’s a simple formula for you. Take a generic benefit and combine something TOTALLY unrelated to it. The mind is attracted to incongruence, as a result you click through something you perceive is weird, bizarre or curious.

So why not exploit this neurological quirk?

All you need to do is this:

Take a benefit like Twitter marketing, and you can write a Tweet that reads like “The Secret to Marketing on Twitter.” Solid, although unspectacular.

Now, let’s think of something that’s TOTALLY different from Twitter. Well, I just watched Charlie the Unicorn (which incidentally is a huge viral hit on Youtube). So now your Tweet can read like this:

The Miserable Unicorn Secret to Marketing on Twitter link Plz RT

Doesn’t that sound more intriguing? Something that makes it something somebody wants to pass on. Mutation is the shortcut to Twitter success.

2) Carriers

The Swine Flu would have lived and died with the pigs. Unfortunately, farm-hands handle them, and it spread to them. Internationally, it spreads to the handlers in various countries.

And then the morbid gifts go on, and the virus now spreads across the world.

So what makes the virus spread? Carriers. People who are susceptible to disease at that point in time and pass it to others.

In the same way, some of your followers are more predisposed to ReTweeting and forwarding your stuff. In fact, 80% of my Tweets are RTed by 20% of the same people over and over again.

So how do you infect them? Easy. Find out what they want and give it to them over and over again. It may seem strange, but the more your feed them their diet of interests, the more zealous they would be for your Tweets.

Crazy but true.

The Twitter Salvation System has several ways how you can read your prospect’s mind and make them fall in love with you—you are now their Tweet Knight in Shining Armor.

3) Sneakiness

One advantage that the Swine Flu virus and other epidemics have over us humans is the element of surprise. It’s because they take the form of everyday flu. Often when they realize it’s already too late.

Often, there are some human fatalities before people discover that a brand new disease is on the rise. By then, it has the potential to already be a worldwide scourge.

In the same manner, Twitterers often have a knee-jerk reflex to things, before they realize the actual content of the Tweet.

You read that right. Tons of Twitterers forward Tweets without actually looking at them. They make a snap decision in their mind’s eye and before you know it, your message is RTed by hundreds, even thousands of folks.

So how d0 you replicate that?

Easy. You write your Tweet to match the dominant emotion of your followers.

Dominant Emotion is the overall mindset and hot topic of the day that are top-of-mind for your prospects. The closer you are to them, the quicker they spread because its of relevance to them.

As a result, they spread Tweets on a subconscious level because it’s a topic that’s on their mind.

For example, one of my most successful Tweets ever contained the word “Oprah” in it. Because Oprah on Twitter was the biggest news, I have gotten a whopping 119 RTs and nearly 2000 click-throughs in a space of 5 days.

Not bad for a no-namer.

As you can tell, that’s why I used the term “Swine Flu” in my blog post title. It’s because I want to make sure each and every piece of marketing material I send out becomes a viral hit.

… Wait, did I just say marketing material?

Yes, I must admit I am selling something. And what I’m doing now is to whet your appetite. Twitter Salvation System 2.0 is launching tomorrow, and I’m working day and night to have all the components in place.

However, instead of doing tired “Buy or Die” tactics, I decided to give you some sound advice to demonstrate the full potential that my little labor of love can do for your business.

Indeed, I used the very same principles to launch a 5 figure biz from scratch nearly exclusively using Twitter—and that was even before I discovered any of the Twitter tools. Purely by using the web interface we’d made $10k in 3 weeks—with no list, no name and very little money. And now by replicating these same techniques over and over again, I have got a sizable income rise, speaking engagements and more JV projects that I have to turn down.

Here’s a sneak peek of the 3 BRAND NEW MODULES that I included with the package:

• How to get 1000 followers in a day, and transform them into evangelist—with just 1 Tweet? Yes, it’s possible. A sprinkle of persuasion magic is all it takes!
• How to unleash the power of social influence marketing. Often, it’s not the what but the who that matters in marketing. If you’re respected, everything you say holds more weight. A simple way to accomplish mavenhood in as little as a month.
• A step-by-step Twitter for newbie’s module. Look, I know some of you came in from the nudging of Ashton  and Oprah. It’s nothing to be ashamed about. Here’s a quick and easy blueprint to get you up to speed. You’ll be tapping into Twitter as a lucrative marketing channel in no time.

Here’s the thing. There are strictly limited copies available.  We’re limiting it to 500 copies because me and my wife Laura do all the customer support ourselves –we believe in personalized support for each and every client we handle.

There’s been a bit of buzz about the Salvation System so I want to make sure you get first dibs on one of the hottest Twitter products around.

You’re in? Great!

Your Twitter Salvation is Here

This is the (literally) million dollar question everyone has been asking since Twitter started.

And man, have we seen all nature of attempts to profit from this hot micro-blogging platform.

Tweeter Getter and its dozen variants. Magpie. TweetAds. Spam accounts either with fake gurus or fake women tweeting links to Robert Allen’s latest shindig.

Now… We can buy “Featured User” spots on certain popular Twitter tool websites so that we can have our mug pasted for hundreds, even thousands of potential follows.

You know something?  I smile and shake my head whenever I get one of those “Getting 16k followers in a month DM’s”, and when I click on their profile, they have around 40-50 people.

Poor souls who’ve been conned into buying the dream of massive Twitter viral success.

Yet, marketers are a persistent lot. They may be thinking, “Surely we can squeeze money from something that’s such a wild media phenomenon.” Must be something to do with Oprah.

It could be the demographics look promising enough. Predominantly in the 25-40 and 45-60 “deeper pockets” age range, more and more businesses are jumping on board the Twitter bandwagon in an attempt to tap those pockets.
In fact, Twitter is fast becoming the top B2B social media network in the world.

Maybe you’re on Twitter to do just that… To make some decent coin and sustain your business during this recession period.

But what’s the secret to making money on Twitter when hyperbole and chest-beating exist everywhere?

Is it to tweet your self-promo links as much as you can? Is it to network like a whirlwind? What’s the best way to make legitimate money on Twitter?
Well, let me propose an answer.

As a disclaimer, I’m not trying to proclaim I’m an expert or something. I’m just someone who stumbled on to Twitter in a moment of desperation, and managed to directly monetize it by launching a 5 figure business in under a month.

Anyway, here’s how you make money on Twitter…

You Tame the Animal Spirits!

Huh, what do I mean?

Let me explain.

A little known Keynesian economic principle that is gaining popularity this year—thanks to renowned economists Robert J. Shiller and George Akerlof— is something called the Animal Spirits theory. He basically says that the economy is directly influenced by “primitive animal instincts” like fear, hope and greed. In other words, the economy is driven by psychology.

That’s the reason why as fear increases, the economy gets worse and worse. Government policies are rendered ineffectual if the dominant emotions continue to escalate in paranoia and distrust.

What this means for you—and this obviously extends far beyond the realm of Twitter Marketing—if the problem is a psychological one… The solution is also a psychological one!

And in my opinion, Twitter is the single BIGGEST fear removal device on the planet. If you strategize correctly, every Tweet you send out can chip away at your prospect’s mental barriers and convert them into buyers in record time.

You see, what’s the opposite of fear? Trust. And how do you make people trust you? You demonstrate that you can be trusted!

A tweet to your blog post that displays your expertise. A ready answer in their time of need. A quote to motivate their day. Even just plain ol’ friendly banter…

All of a sudden, something magical happens. You actually see RESPONSE in your response rate. You get flooded with word-of-mouth recommendations. You achieve “Digg effect” traffic with your blog posts even though you’re not a power user.

And here’s the cool part…

Once you send out your promo links, you start getting mad sales. Your followers are actually not mad that you have a link to a sales page!

Heck, even your promo links get RTed over and over again.

Too good to be true? It’s happened to me many, many times.

Congratulations, you’ve just successfully tamed the animal spirits. Granted, it is pre-selling. But pre-selling has never been this potent nor this accelerated.

Every tweet has the ability to move your prospect through the buying process. And how many Tweets can you send a day? 50? 100? Carefully plan your Tweets and you could get hungry buyers from previously cold prospects in as little as a day.

In a few days, I’m going to reveal to you my Twitter-centric business model to generate an insane amount of leads and sales. They are the exact same strategies I used to fund my wedding and honeymoon –in under a month.

They are the exact same techniques that made me a recognized authority in my copywriting niche.

Here’s why.

The mantra of both my course, the Twitter Salvation System and my marketing is this, “psychology, not technology.” You may have the latest nifty Twitter tools that can enable you to spread your message spread far and wide, but if you can’t grasp the Twitter user’s mindset, you’ll never be able to sell a dime.

Instead of doing tired “Buy or Die” tactics, I’ll give you some sound advice to demonstrate the full potential that my little labor of love can do for your business.

Indeed, I’ve used the very same principles to launch a 5 figure biz from scratch nearly exclusively using Twitter—and that was even before I discovered any of the Twitter tools. Purely by using the web interface we’d made $10k in 3 weeks—with no list, no name and very little money. And now by replicating these same techniques over and over again, I have got a sizable income rise, speaking engagements and more JV projects that I have to turn down.

Here’s a sneak peek of the 3 BRAND NEW MODULES that I included with the package:

• How to get 1000 followers in a day, and transform them into evangelist—with just 1 Tweet? Yes, it’s possible. A sprinkle of persuasion magic is all it takes!
• How to unleash the power of social influence marketing. Often, it’s not the what but the who that matters in marketing. If you’re respected, everything you say holds more weight. A simple way to accomplish mavenhood in as little as a month.
• A step-by-step Twitter for newbie’s module. Look, I know some of you came in from the nudging of Ashton  and Oprah. It’s nothing to be ashamed about. Here’s a quick and easy blueprint to get you up to speed. You’ll be tapping into Twitter as a lucrative marketing channel in no time.

Here’s the thing. There are strictly limited copies available.  We’re limiting it to 500 copies because me and my wife Laura do all the customer support ourselves –we believe in personalized support for each and every client we handle.

There’s been a bit of buzz about the Salvation System so I want to make sure you get first dibs on one of the hottest Twitter products around.

Claim your Salvation here