I had a great comment on my blog that will answer so many people’s questions:

A great way to show appreciation is to come meet your team.

(Boracay is a top 10 world beach)

On March 19, 20, 21, in Boracay Philippines I’m putting on an outsourcing retreat seminar.

This seminar is NOT FOR FILIPINOS!

It’s for Americans, Australians, Brits, Canadians…
Basically, for people who want to understand why the outsourcing they’re doing to the Philippines is working SOOO darn well.

And…if you’re not currently doing it, you can come and find out exactly why it will work so well for you.

At the event I’m going to teach some stuff about how I do outsourcing that I’ve never talked about before. Stuff that will literally double the productivity of your GUYS.

There are a couple reasons I’m doing this:

1. because when we did it in Costa Rica 2 years ago it was sooooo fun for everyone who was there
2. because it gives me a chance to meet other people (you) who are succeeding in their businesses
3. because it’s a tax deductible vacation
4. because I’m already going to be in the Philippines on vacation with my family for the whole month…
5. because (this is a big one) it will give lots of people an excuse to come and meet their GUYS and make their outsourcing efforts WAY more effective.

It’s going to be 3 days of networking, learning, fun, and face-to-face question answering.

We’re also going to go on an excursion together which I will announce later.

The hotel where we are doing it can accommodate 70 people for the event. I already have at least 6 of those spots taken (me, Dan, speakers). This will sell out.

I’m finalizing all the plans for it right now, and will make it available next Tuesday.

The Outsource Retreat is available here

The following is an email that John Barker (the original “Mr X.”) sent out last week.
I thought it was so full of good info and advice that I asked him if I could publish it.

In the email he gives you an example of a profitable affiliate site he has!

I’m reading the new edition of the
4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris and
I want to share a few thoughts with
you.

First, is the new edition worth buying
if you already own the first?

If you’re a big fan, sure. Why not.
I’d have to compare the books side by
side – and I haven’t read the complete
second edition so it’s hard to say
exactly what the new info adds.

Instead it’s a reminder of principles
that have influenced my work.

If you want to believe 4 hours per
week isn’t enough to make six-figures
or more, go ahead. I could tell you
otherwise but you probably wouldn’t
believe me otherwise.

Here are some quick notes you might
find useful.

DEAL – Define, Eliminate, Automate and
Liberate. That’s the outline of the
book.

Define – what do you want? Almost
cliche we’ve heard it so much but when
you take the perspective that you work
as much as you do because you’ve been
too lazy to come with enough reasons to
NOT want to spend most of your time
working . . . well that’s a paradigm
changer for me. I could probably work
1/4 the hours I do and my income wouldn’t
change (it might even grow).

AND I could have a really kick-ass life,
all made possible by my Internet marketing
lifestyle.

Eliminate – what if the goal is to reduce
and simplify your life instead of acquiring
more information, more responsibilities,
more crap?

People usually look at me like I’m crazy
when I tell that that after the initial shock
of losing everything in a house fire passed,
I felt the weight of the world off my
shoulders. Plus, the really cool thing is
that instead of living with a couch Tara
hated – but I was attached to because I paid
a ridiculous amount of money for it 15 years
ago – we got to go buy a new one we both liked.

Man, life is so much easier than we make it
when we’re just willing to let go and eliminate
the things which hold us back.

“The stuff you own ends up owning you.”
- Fight Club

Automate – The end goal of your online business
should be to automate it. Need an example?
Go see http://abundancecourse.net

It’s simple.

1. Find quality product with affiliate program.

2. Setup up site with 6 pages. Page one is
squeeze page, page 2-6 are information that
leads into a sales pitch (recognize the
similarity with how Nanoblogger was sold?)

3. Create autoresponder follow-up series that
highlights points from your 5-lessons.

4. To capitalize on competition, it’s great if
the affiliate program is 2-tiered (this means
even if you decided to try to copy and swipe my
campaign you can assume all the cost of running
ads and I’ll still make a 10% commission for
your efforts – thanks man!)

5. Setup Adwords campaign and drive traffic.

This particular site was created FIVE YEARS AGO.
Except for moving the site from a static HTML
site to Wordpress 2 years ago for Google Slap
reasons, I have virtually not touched this
system otherwise.

December check = $2400 from one affiliate
program. Oh, and then there’s the list.

Sure, I’ve left out plenty of key details here
but this isn’t rocket science.

Plus I have ZERO customer support and all that
other good stuff that comes with being an
affiliate.

Finally, Liberate – This is all about creating
the conditions in your life that mean you’re not
tied down.

The crazy thing is discipline means freedom.

You must have systems and you must have standard
operating procedures so you can hire someone
else to do it all for you.

I’m getting better and better at this.

Final Thoughts -

The place to start here is defining the life you
want.

Me? This year I want to get into better shape
than I’ve been in since I was 20. I don’t want
to sit on my ass all-day anymore.

I also want to have the freedom to spend more
time at home with my family. I want to be a part
of educating my kids and enjoying them fully
while their still little.

And I want them to have adventures they’re going
to remember for the rest of their life.

Next -

Evaluate what makes you money NOW. Not dreaming,
hoping, etc, but what do you KNOW works?

That should be your focus – do more of that and
waste none of your time doing stuff you *hope*
might work for you.

If you’re trying to free yourself from a J-O-B
then you may need to find someone who has a
system you can put some faith in.

(I know someone who has one

Thing is, if you’re going to put your faith into
that system then put ALL of your faith into that
system and work it until you succeed with it.

Don’t give up when it comes to work.

Don’t give up when something high gloss grabs
your attention.

DECIDE to make it work. Cut yourself off from
any other possibility other than making it work.

NOW -

Don’t just close this message and move on.

You deserve to have what you want as much as any
other human on this planet.

Take 5 or 10 minutes and think about it.

Define what you want and evaluate what you know
to work.

There is no magic pill to swallow here – doesn’t
exist.

All the best to you – X

PS – Thanks to all those who wrote to congratulate
on Noel Patrick’s birth. I just haven’t had time
to write everyone back yet. The little man is
doing great and I’m happy to have this time with
my family. When our first was born I had a J-O-B
and was called back to work when she was 3 days
old. That SUCKED. I’m grateful to be free of
that.

If you’re not already on John’s mailing list, go here right now and subscribe:
http://blackbooksblog.com
He’ll mail you like once a month (IF that much), and when he does, it’s pure gold!

When it comes to outsourcing your business (or yourself!) to the Philippines, there’s definitely a learning curve.
Here are 7 ways you can guarantee failure for yourself :
(Hint: Don’t do these things!)

1. Try To Hire Someone To Do Everything

Here’s an actual email I got this week

So wait…you want a programmer, graphic designer, webmaster, who is fluent in english and likes to write, who can write sales copy, autoresponders, forum posts, ebooks, and reports.
Oh yeah, sure, let me help you find that person!
Oh wait, that person doesn’t exist.
Hire someone to do a specific task! Then train them to be able to do everything.

2. Hire A Project Manager

Filipinos don’t know how to run your business for you.
Don’t try to hire a project manager first along with 6 others, and expect that “project manager” to manage those other 6 and get things done. They don’t know how.
YES! They’re very capable of being project managers, but very rarely will you find someone who has been involved in enough internet business that you can just turn a project over to them and have them manage other people for you.
Eventually…yes! After you’ve trained them and they’ve seen how the business is supposed to work.

3. Hire Someone And Ignore Them

You have to train the person you hire. They don’t know how to run your super-niche internet marketing business. Don’t expect to hire someone and just let them go do everything themselves. Expect to spend some time working with them.

4. Ask Someone To Do Work Before You Offer Them A Job

This is my favorite.
I get an email that says

Can you please tell me why I can’t successfully hire someone, they all keep disappearing.
Here’s the email I send them:
I want you to start by doing a trial task.
Write 20 articles, submit them to article directories, do a bunch of directory submissions for me, build me a website and write all the content for it.
Then, I’ll evaluate your work and see if it’s going to work out.

hahahahaha.
Yeah right!
They’re not going to do work until AFTER they know they have a full-time job working for you.
Don’t give them a test task. Give them a job. Tell them the first month is a probationary period.

5. Expect Immediate Results

This is a long-term proposal here. I’ve been doing it for 4 years. You’re not going to see the same results in 4 days.
Don’t expect it.

6. Search and Search and Search For The Right Person, Then Email Them

Hey John,
I searched for 3 days and I found the perfect candidate. They can do everything you said wasn’t possible back up in #1 on this blog post. Why won’t they respond to me?

Why?
Because they already have a job and they’re loyal to their current employer.
Instead of trying to find the perfect person up front, try contacting 20 potential fits, see who responds, then sort through them.

7. Set The Wrong Expectations

When you hire them, don’t tell them you expect them to be totally self-directed and to work without supervision and to be able to figure everything out on their own.
If you do, you’ll never hear from them again.
Try telling them

I expect you to try to figure things out, but I understand that I’m going to give you tasks that you won’t know how to do, and sometimes there won’t be any way to figure it out. In these cases, please know that I’m here to answer your questions. I’m here to help you. Please don’t hesitate to ask me when you get stuck.

Otherwise, when they don’t know how to do something they get embarrassed and will never talk to you again.
If you set the right expectation with them about asking for help, they’ll ask, you’ll help, and all will be happy and good.

These aren’t hard things to avoid…you just have to know about them to avoid them.
There’s more good stuff like this as a member of ReplaceMyself.com.

First of all, there’s a LOT of misinformation about the new FTC guidelines about bloggers, affiliates, and testimonials.

I’m going to outline the main points (from the link above) and give a couple example disclaimers.

1. Clearly Disclose Typical Results

From the FTC page:

Notice that you CAN use testimonials with results that aren’t typical. If you do, you just have to also disclose somewhere what the average user might expect.

2. Disclose Affiliate Relationships

From the FTC page:

If you get paid or get free “stuff” from advertisers, disclose it.

3. Don’t Lie

From the FTC page:

Don’t make false statements (fake testimonials, fake checks, fake results, …), don’t lie, and disclose your affiliate relationships.

Example

Here are a couple example disclaimers. Another great way to find your own disclaimers is to look at blogs or websites that are of the same nature as yours, and look at their disclaimer.

I would put this in the footer of every page on your site.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. I suggest you consult your own attorney.

Simple:

Blog Disclaimer:

Money Making Disclaimer:

Marketing Story Disclaimer:

If you have more insight on this, please post in the comments.
If you have more disclaimer info, please post it also.

If this was helpful please Digg it –>

I haven’t been this excited about a product coming out in a long time.

This is a special interview I did with Peter, the creator of a product to be released tomorrow.

What Peter is teaching is EXACTLY what I do on my websites in terms of the layout and design. It’s exactly what I have my GUYS do for me to make me money each month.

Where it’s different is in his promotion strategy, which is BETTER than what I’ve been doing.

Just listen to this:

Download the mp3
My post about making sales

Get NanoBloggers Here

(when you do, notice the sales process…it’s part of nanoblogging)
(here’s my guarantee)
After buying, listen to the bonus audio (it’s friggin’ amazing!)

I’ve spent a lot of time figuring out how to do good videos on my blog.

If you look at some of my earlier videos you’ll see they’re not that good, and they took me 10x longer to do than the ones I do today.

This is how I currently create the videos for my blog (and for my other websites).