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Brain Washed by Internet Marketers

by admin on August 29th, 2006

Once upon a time I started a website with the purpose of earning revenue from Google Adsense. I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into, how much I would learn and more importantly, how much I would be earning. I was 20 years old at the time, out of school and in the middle of an IT diploma. It never occurred to me that one could earn money online, I mean without ever having a product to sell.

I got stuck straight into it and through research, I learnt techniques, the language and knowledge needed to create multiple revenue streams.

Never for a second did I give up and never for a second did I let my new found hobby interfere with friends, family and studies.

Below are some quotes I found on the Super Affiliate Cloning Blog from people who seem to be brainwashed by the idea of making money online. It’s damaging their lives and I hate to see it.

My wife left me because I am broke. I got into more debts because of all those internet marketing stuff that I bought, hoping to turn my life around. I had banks chasing me for payments every SINGLE day for minimum payments. All my friends disappeared overnight when my business failed. Your BEST friend tells you he cannot lend you any money for religious reasons!!!

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My friends always told me to get a real job. They always ridiculed me when I talked about affiliate marketing. I think this program will help me to prove them wrong.

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I am in school right now..I want to prove to my closest relatives that making it online is possible.. Especially my aunt who has always told me to be realistic…I will feel very very elated.

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I tried several different programs online without much success;
some programs I made a little money while other programs where I didn’t make a penny; my parents have gotten to the point where they just roll their eyes; my parents always tell me to go back to school quit trying to chase pipe dreams and start your own business. Get a stable job and settle down.

POSTED IN: Affiliate Marketing, Personal Thoughts

11 opinions for Brain Washed by Internet Marketers

  • Darren
    Aug 30, 2006 at 6:39 am

    it is very sad when you hear these sorts of stories. I’ve had a number of people tell me that they quite good jobs to go fulltime in online businesses - inspiring stuff until you find out that they didn’t have part time online businesses to start with and that they were going from a steady wage to $0 income with the assumption that they’d hit the big time. Add to that that they were spending thousands on ebooks, scripts and other junk that claimed to make them rich quick…. very sad.

  • Greg Kiernan
    Aug 30, 2006 at 8:28 am

    Its sad to read stories like this that people can delude themselves into thinking that the quick buck is going to be forthcoming rather than realising that it takes time, work and persistance. I’ve always believed friends and family must be the first priority and the rest follow somewhere well behind !

  • Adnan
    Aug 30, 2006 at 8:37 am

    Yeah you’re right Darren and Greg it is sad. But sometimes I can’t help but wonder that it’s the people that release these ebooks that add fuel to the fire.

    Take most of the headlines of the sales pages of each product. They’re so convincing that people seem to think that it’ll be easy making a few million dollars in a few days. But if the internet mogul’s tone down their sales pages then they would be losing sales!

    Personally, I have only ever bought one ebook for a very small amount of money. But after seeing that it was completely useless, I vowed never to buy such a product again. I understand that there are some fantastic ones out there (Adsense Videos, your Six Figure Blogging Darren) - but still I’d rather use the money I save on more practical solutions.

    Darren and Greg, do either of you buy many of these products? Do you think that they actually make a difference to your online businesses in the long run - and are they worth their money?

  • Martin
    Aug 31, 2006 at 11:38 am

    Sadly, that’s what you get when the barriers to entry are so low (and I don’t just mean in a financial).

    At the end of the day, business is still business whether offline, online or based around blogging - you have to find and fill a certain need/want for a target audience. It has to make a revenue and profit.

    As with any business venture, there’s nothing like doing the hard yards of research to see whether your idea is feasible before going for it. Research the market, the competition etc.,

    Take blogging for example: thorough research would be going to Darren’s ProBlogger and reading evertying he has written for the past 18 months. If you can’t even give that much time up for your business then you sholdn’t really be doing it.

    I think with these sales pitches for ebooks and other e-products people have to be realistic and think straight:

    Hypothetically, if I can say: “My Product xyz will make you $1,234,000 in 60 Days” then why would I want to give that information out - wouldn’t you want to keep it secret and do it yourself.

    Sadly, there are lots of gullible people out there and it has always been that way - even before the internet. It’s just that too many simply want to believe the dream.

  • George
    Aug 31, 2006 at 9:42 pm

    It is sad to see some of those comments. I think that it is unfortunate that so many people get duped by products that don’t really give them what they need.

    On the other hand, I have bought many products that I feel like have really taught me a lot of valuable information about particular Internet Marketing topics that I was interested in.

    The problem is that so many products are sold as “the oppurtunity of a lifetime”, instead of being sold as a piece of educational material to help you in a particular area of business.

    Another problem is that people don’t make a budget for their learning. Don’t spend all your money on these products. Maybe spend 10 percent of your profits on learning new stuff, not 110 percent.

    This kind of reminds me of the show American Inventor and what some people had sacrificed for their inventions. It was pretty sad to see how much people had given up to pursue their dreams on that show.

  • Whistleblower
    Sep 1, 2006 at 10:40 am

    I’ve been around one of the biggest internet marketing trainers in my country, and what I’m about to say has to stay annoymous, but I feel it has to be said :)

    When he first got into IM, I was there. A few months later, he launched his own IM training. A few of us were going…’what? how much is *he* making from IM to do IM training?’.

    Nearly a year later, he’s claiming to be making huge amounts from IM…but it’s not clear whether it’s from IM only or from doing several IM trainings.

    I’m saying this to ask people out there to get a perspective: things aren’t always as they seem/are marketed.

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  • Michael tripp
    Apr 6, 2007 at 5:32 pm

    have you been hunting around for those ebooks with great titles. I have found quit a few places that fit the bill. But my question to you is , are they worth the money that they ask for. Do people really use the content? I just have found that i use about 1/10 of what i get. But i have found a really good source with http://www.realdigitalebooks.com.Im using them more and more every month.

  • brain
    Apr 14, 2007 at 4:20 am

    Internet marketing does NOT damage people lives. It’s the HYPE. A couple of years I’ve thought that I could make thousands by selling stupid ebooks to other wannabe businessmen. That’s a faulty business model. If you know nothing about internet marketing, your bound to fall by the hype surrounding you.

  • Mark
    Apr 14, 2007 at 5:41 am

    I’m one of those who was earning a lot from IM, gave up my day job, and then found that my sources of income dried up rather suddenly.

    It wasn’t as bad as it sounds, and my wife and I are working hard to get that income back, partly through IM and partly through ecommerce sites.

    These are very different beasts, I believe, and the IM arena is overloaded with products.

    As you all say, the problem is that so much is promised, but most sales pages fail to point out that you have to work to get the money. It may be “set and forget” to a degree, but there’s no magic button that you can press.

    A lot of the ebooks we’ve bought have been good, a lot have been average, and a lot have been bad (to the point we’ve asked for a refund because of the poor quality).

    The biggest obstacle, in my opinion, that stops IMers making money is lack of focus - they spend more time buying ebooks and software than reading the stuff and, more importantly, putting it into action. (And I’ve been guilty of that too!)

    You could pick any one of a number of book, such as Day Job Killer or Duvet Dollars, to name but two, and make money, but the secret is not to get distracted by the latest products, that seem to be launched almost on a daily basis.

    Well, off my soap box (for now)!

  • paul
    May 2, 2008 at 1:54 am

    I have to admit. I was one of these people who bought into the hype. When I first saw found out about Internet Marketing when I was about 17 I thought I would be a millionaire by the time I was 21. I bought plenty of ebooks and read most of them, but never really put much effort into implementing the ideas. I think it’s because I don’t really have a passion for IM like some people do, writing articles, ebooks, blogs, and sales pages don’t really facinate me, just the idea of making millions online from home. I still have an interest in making money online, but now I know it takes alot of hard work and you have to have some interest in what you are doing.

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