Whoa..

Looking at the last post it’s been awhile. Sorry. I wanted to catch you up on some business stuff and adventures.

#1: Let’s start with our last Maverick Business Adventures Ultimate Baja experience…

This was our 2nd time (and my 3rd) going off-road Baja racing. It still seems somewhat crazy that they get you take these Porsche-powered dune buggies 80mph+ through nearly any type of terrain.

It probably wasn’t more than 30 minutes into leaving the ranch when my co-driver and buddy, Joe Polish, ran into a tree. I mean totally and completely ran smack dab into the tree. He said he thought he could make the turn. At least we weren’t flying so the damage wasn’t too bad – but it was still pretty funny because Joe got us stuck in the tree. The entire front grill of the car was entangled in this poor tree and when we got pushed out – we took 1/3 of the tree with us. I shot some quick video of the aftermath here:

Then here is the removal of said tree:

The next day, motorcycle mogul, Jesse James, came-in for a private business session and to hang out with all the members. Jesse never really does anything like this and it was a real treat to have him with us giving some big lessons on branding and how to be authentic. That was probably my biggest take-away…saying ‘no’ to the stuff that just makes money and that doesn’t passionately resonate with you in a genuine way.

Jesse James took several members on a ride with him and the best one had to be Millionaire MasterMind and Maverick member, Barry Dunlop. Jesse and Barry were trailing our leader, Nick, but he didn’t quite make it through a soft spot of mud. He got completely stuck but not before Nick totally ‘roostered’ Jesse and Barry. The Baja racers don’t have windshields so their each of them and their car was totally covered in mud. I couldn’t help but laugh. Here is a pic with Jesse and his mud-covered helmet (it’s actually semi-clean at this point).

Here’s part of the aftermath -

The last day of driving we had to traverse some of the most hair-raising, switchbacks in Baja. It was probably a 800-1000 foot sheer drop in some spots with about 1 foot on either side of the cars. I was real excited to get the radio call back from our leader informing us (car #5) that we had no reverse in our car. Essentially I had to bump our car a bit into the rock and push the clutch down to put into neutral. Then it would roll backwards and I’d hope first gear would engage before we spilled over the edge of the cliff wall. (Fun!) Here’s a quick pic that doesn’t even do this area justice:

I think my final “Maverick Moments” has to take the cake. I have to lay blame with my buddy, Brad Fallon. Because the night before in Guadalupe Canyon, Brad was telling one of the team leaders, James, that he really wanted to get back onto the test track again at the Ranch.

Brad “I think I can really clean up on that loop!”

James “What? Are you kidding? I’ve only had one other client want to do the test track again after all the crazy terrain we traveled.”

So we left it at that until we rolled into Horse Power Ranch.

James (on the radio) “Ok – who wanted to do the test track again?”

Yanik “Um….that would be Brad.”

James “Ok, a victory lap is in order”

James proceeded to lead us to the test track on the Ranch and I flipped it into second gear and started peeling around the turns. I got caught in a huge Baja dust cloud and at the last-second when it cleared car #4 was directly in front of me. It was too late to stop and I plowed right into them. Ugh! I dented my grill and broke my front headlight. And the guys in car #4 (Kim from our team and Tim Storm got a nice shake-up thanks to me.) I went the entire trip without a major mishap and ended up smashing my car on the “victory lap”. Well played sir.

And just to make sure I don’t live it down Maverick member, James Shramko, captured some of the aftermath on tape:

After drinking a few beers and showering up it was time to head out to our Super Bowl party with Super Bowl MVP and Heisman trophy winner, Desmond Howard. Here’s me doing my best (worst) Heisman pose with our football piñata:

Truly Disconnecting While Away

I want to point out something I did that might seem a bit over-the-top. I completely ‘black holed’ all my emails during my week in Baja. Meaning – I had them all deleted with a note directing people emailing me who to contact for help or support while I was gone and then asking them to email me again after my return if they needed. Most people would be scared to death to do this in case something incredibly urgent comes through and is missed. Oh well.

How many times do you come back from adventures a little bit more stressed out because you’ve got 2,313 emails sitting in your inbox? Or worse, you try to knock them out each day while on vacation. I believe in truly disconnecting and recharging your batteries. I came back feeling relaxed and invigorated. It was interesting because the members with iPhones got connections in a lot of places and you could see them getting on their phones, checking stuff, connecting online, etc. My little low-tech Razr phone didn’t have a connection and I couldn’t be happier. Except for my SAT phone to call and check in on Missy and the kids – I loved being without email, my laptop and cell phone. (I fully recommend it.)

#2: Underground 5

A few weeks after returning from Baja -- we put our 5th totally sold-out Underground Online Marketing Seminar. (Note: a limited set of recordings will be available soon.)

This was our biggest event yet and I truly think the best one. The caliber of attendees and speakers there were pretty amazing. To give you a small idea – I’d be talking to one person and they told me they took their business from $5M -- $38M (damn!). I’d turn around and another guy was telling me how he bought all the intellectual property of a well-known video game producer and was using them for PC-games (cool!). I mean seriously there was more than enough brainpower in the audience to supply a month’s worth of non-stop sessions.

This year’s spy theme was 007 and it was fun hanging out with our Bond Girls. Here are we are greeting guests for the VIP dinner and Casino Royale night. Not sure if you can tell or note but in my hands are a Martini and a Walther PPK. As some of my buddies found out it was loaded! (Yes, it had those air pellets – and they definitely sting)

Once again the event was totally sold-out! Here’s a pic of the group including one very short attendee in the front with me. (Zak!)

We truly had an incredible line-up of speakers including our 2 keynote presenters, Tony Hsieh from Zappos.com and Bob Parsons from GoDaddy.com. To let you guys in on some of the great content I cornered both of these gentlemen during the event. Take a look:

And finally here’s one of my favorite shots -- George Lazenby, who played James Bond in ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ and yours truly duking it out in front of my Aston.

The kudos from the event were overwhelming. Do a search for #UG5 on Twitter and you can see a candid stream of thoughts and interaction from attendees. I was considering making #5 our last Underground but so many people told me I needed to do another one that I’ve decided to go ahead and host #6. It’s going to be March 12-14, 2010 in Washington, DC so mark your calendars early. And if you want another view point on the event here’s a video one of our attendees made in DC:

Okay and finally a little rest in the sun…

#3: Family Vacation in Florida with Missy, Zak and Zoe

It’s the final day of the Elite MasterMind group meeting down here at the Hard Rock in Hollywood, FL. I’m up at 7:33 AM writing this post partially because of the reason I stated in the post. Let me explain and back up a little bit…

I’ve had both the Millionaire MasterMind group and then the Elite MasterMind group down here for their final meetings.  And sandwiched in between was a day of Power Boating. We took these 1400hp offshore rockets out on the water and got to drive. Pretty cool. Here are a few quick videos that pretty much sum it up (including Perry Belcher on water safety)

(Note: there may be a few spots remaining for the MasterMind group and more details are here)

Okay back to the point at hand…

We are t-minus 37 minutes away from an 8 AM must-hit deadline yesterday’s Elite MasterMind group threw done at 3 members, Justin Tupper, Paul Evans and Chuck Batson.

What started out as bit of a joke has become a pretty powerful catalyst to create action. I was listening to Justin Tupper present on his new golf info product created by a top PGA instructor along with his son his one of the best professional golfers in the world (taught by his Dad). Justin was showing everyone his 98% completed site and I blurted out a very subtle, “Get this son-of-a-bitch out!”

He nodded his head but I didn’t stop there.

I told him he had an 8 AM deadline to change the headline to what we decided on, change the pricing and get it out there to Beta test. (Side note: If you’re a golfer this looks like an amazing golf instructional program to help your game and give you bragging rights over your buddies.) Justin came back with an excuse about the programming on this shopping cart not quite done and little bit of backpedaling.

Must-Hit Deadline

I told him if he really and truly set the 8 AM deadline he’d figure it out. We’ve had forms that got sent to us which contained customer info and we processed them manually. There is a way around everything is you got your back against the wall. And that’s just one of the things a must-hit deadlines forces you to do – it shatters your excuses. You get creative and get things done!

Group Pressure
Now the other big aspect of what happened was a public commitment to the group. In this case it was the MasterMind group who he was accountable to.  There’s a big difference on commitment levels ranging from low to high based on how public something is. For instance a deadline inside your head usually won’t work at all (we think it does). A deadline written down for your own eyes only may or may not work. But a public deadline made to either an individuals or group that will have positive pressure on you – that’s almost a sure-lock to get it done!

And there’s one more component I gleefully added…

The embarrassing punishment

I told Justin that if he didn’t have his site ready by 8 AM and taking orders I got to go into the Hard Rock store and pick-up any outfit I wanted to make him wear. I was eyeing some really short hot pants and a skimpy girls tank top for him.  This is where it gets good. There’s something about a truly embarrassing punishment that now takes the deadline, group pressure and really mixes it to a whole new level. The MasterMind group got a big laugh out of imagining Justin down at the Black Jack tables wearing his little girlie outfit!

Everyone enjoyed doling out the deadline and punishment so much so that we gave it to two of the next MasterMind presenters too that had been procrastinating on a few things. Chuck Batson on his Raw Food Diets site and Paul Evans from Nichelogy on his 2009 ‘Raw Results’ training. I’m really proud of Chuck acting on the group’s suggestion for a much better hook for his raw food diet site right away -- the hook he had sitting under his nose was the story of how his Mom lost 36 lbs on the diet. We told him to make that the squeeze page and I’m happy to report it’s up this AM. (If you’re interested in losing weight and feeling more energetic you might want to try it. I’m thinking about it. Don’t worry you don’t have to eat veggies 24/7 -- it can be as simple as one meal to make a difference.)

Based on the feedback and advice we gave both them they also had to get things out there by 8 AM or else face the wrath of the group and the enjoyment of wearing a cute ensemble from the Hard Rock.

Does this stuff work?

It’s 7:57 AM as I wrap up this post and the meeting starts at 9:30 AM so I’ll know my answer soon – but if I had to place a bet – I’d bet they all did it! Last night leaving the tables Justin’s site was not working right – but I got an email from Justin sent me an email at 4:54 AM this morning with the finished link to his site for a “Twitter” release.

Speaking of deadlines the stuff works on me too because I wanted to get this post out before my meeting started. I could have slept a few more hours (would have helped after playing Black Jack until 2 AM last night) but I had my own deadline. (And no, there was no outfit involved for not getting this blog post done)

Actually I’ve got one more deadline-related item and that’s a marketing tip it’s somewhat transparent.

A simple, but very often overlooked, tip t is set a deadline for your offers and you’ll be surprised at the response. Easy formula to remember is no deadline and no offer = no sale. So taking my own advice (and letting in behind the curtain a bit) there is a looming must-hit deadline for you…and that’s January 15, 2009.

That’s the Early-Bird deadline for the Underground® Online Seminar 5 going on next month, Feb 20-22, 2009 in Washington, DC.

This is huge because you’ll save a full $1000.00 before the price increase but more importantly the biggest bonus of all will vanish if you miss this deadline. When you sign up before the early-bird deadline you’ll receive a special red VIP ticket and confidential password. You must have both in order to gain admittance into a private, closed-door dinner and Casino Royal night I’m holding on the first night of the Underground® 5 seminar.

It’s THE ideal time and place to cut JV deals, build relationships, and do high-level networking most people never have access to.

As you might remember this event is not bringing in the same usual “suspects”. I’ve managed to uncover a secretive group of real-people making real money online *NOT* selling “how to make money online” info. And because of the unique concept – it sells out every year!

But you don’t have to believe me it’s so good -- listen to why some of my MasterMind members (who are 6 & 7 figure earners) continue attending each year:

And I also posted some videos from 2 of the featured “Rogue Agent” speakers giving you a little taste of what’s in store for you in DC.

Trust me -- you need to be here at the Underground!

Okay there you have it -- I think there are some real gems in here to get whatever you’ve been procrastinating on DONE! Stop analyzing and just set a deadline, get some positive pressure and maybe, just maybe, buy yourself a skimpy outfit from the Hard Rock!

I’ll leave with one more video -here’s me in the 3rd row of the Billy Joel concert at the Hard Rock Sunday night. My cousin, Sophia, works here and got us down there -- pretty cool:

Here’s an important question for you – are you a “Future-Based” person or a “Past-Based” one?

In the past few days this distinction has really hit home with me on Facebook.

I’ve had several people from my elementary school dig up school pics of our class in 5th grade and now 3rd grade. It’s painful to admit but I’m on the bottom row all the way to the left. (Missy says if the kids are geeky it’s because of me.)

Now I certainly can understand (and enjoy) the occasional looking back, laughing, reminiscing of the past – but some people are truly just stuck there

It’s like the Bruce Springsteen song “Glory Days”.

“Now I think I’m going down to the well tonight
and I’m going to drink till I get my fill
And I hope when I get old I don’t sit around thinking about it
but I probably will
Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture
a little of the glory of, well time slips away
and leaves you with nothing mister but
boring stories of glory days”

Facebook really shows me how many people want to re-live their ‘Glory Days’. That’s all they talk about.  They only connect with old friends and are obsessed with what’s already happened.  There’s no forward progress. Or in a sadder way, some people hold some deep hurt or wrong that’s been done to them. This past-based person will not and cannot get over it even though it’s history. They’ve let it become their permanent identity.

Now with all that said I actually believe there’s one important aspect of past-based living that’s important to your success and I’ll share it in a moment.

The second type of person is the “Future-Based” one…

This is the kind of person who believes the best is yet to come and nearly anything is possible. Every year is going to be even better than the last one. A lot of entrepreneurs fall into this camp. Personally, I’m optimistic 2009 is going to be even better than ever. And I bet I’ll say the same thing for 2010, 2011, etc.

It’s also someone who doesn’t let their past circumstances, situations, bank account dictate their future. I love looking forward and seeing possibilities and what can happen. What kind of ideas I can take and make real.  (To me that’s my biggest thrill!)

The Trap of the Future-Based Person

Now there’s a caveat and a real trap you can fall into if you are a future-based person and that’s always looking forward that you discount today. I know first-hand about this. One of my 34 Rules for Maverick Entrepreneurs is “Celebrate Your Victories”. For Future-based people that’s not so easy. We’re hard wired to move on and look to our next project, idea, etc.

I have to truly force myself to stop and celebrate the wins. Or stop myself and attempt to “be” just in the moment. I work hard on this when I’m with Zak and Zoe. I’m not always successful but it’s something I strive for. My favorite moments are comforting Zoe in the middle of the night while she cuddles up on my chest in the glider in her room. I stop and think she’ll never be this small again and take a freeze frame image/vision/feeling of that moment.

And that’s one of the benefits future-based people can take from past-based people (what I hinted at earlier).

Anytime I am working on a real big, challenging project I go back into my head and think about the feelings I had when I “won”. You know, that all powerful “I can do anything” feeling that comes from a success. I use that as my stepping-stone and anchor for the next project my future-based self is always working on. (Side note: After any victory or time you really feel on top of the world – file that away in your head so you can call it up again and again.)

I also heard an interesting concept by Dan Sullivan of Strategic Coach that plays into part of this discussion. He has a theory of people being disappointed because they cannot reach their “ideal”. I think this is especially important for future-based people who don’t stop and consider their wins enough. It’s part of his “Pure Genius” Audio program (which if you can find it is well worth grabbing if you can find it anywhere still).

Why The ‘Ideal’ is Impossible to Reach

Dan gives the example of the horizon. We all know it’s silly to think we can ever reach the horizon because it keeps moving as we move closer to it. Same with an “ideal”. We feel despondent and maybe even depressed in our greatest victories if we attempt to measure them up to our ultimate ideals. But the people who are happiest are the ones of take stock of where they are today (Point B) than when they started (Point A). And we can all look back and gain that confidence and awe of how far we’ve come.

I just made a list last night of what I’ve done and accomplished in 2008. Before making that list I didn’t think I had such a great year. Our overall business revenue and profits were down because I’ve been heavily investing in Maverick Business Adventures® (time-wise and capital-wise). But when I actually made the list I was shocked at how incredible the year had been.

Everything from meeting my business hero, Sir Richard Branson on Necker Island, to having 3 sold-out Maverick Business Adventures experiences and launching the Maverick Business Insider newsletter with 5000+ charter subscribers. Or simple accomplishments like having Zak potty-trained & sleeping in a big-boy bed and Zoe taking her first steps.

It really made me appreciate the accomplishments and celebrate them (which isn’t my nature as a future-based person).  So as 2008 winds down take stock of your accomplishments and maybe you’ll be further along than you imagine.

Here’s to an incredible 2009 and beyond!

Side note: Speaking of 2009 – if you want your future to be bigger than your past you should consider attending the Underground® 5 seminar (Feb 20-22, 2009). Not only do you get the real inside from an incredible line-up of speakers bringing in over $200,000,000.00 each year.  But more importantly it’s about the connections and networking that happens there. (And for people that sign-up before January 15th you get access to a private VIP dinner and Casino Royale night where big deals will happen.)

I got documented testimonial after testimonial about people meeting there, hearing one idea or simply finding that one spark they needed.

In fact, here’s what one of my MasterMind members and Underground® 5 presenter, Carrie Wilkerson, reported back to me about her connection at Underground® 4 last year…

“At UG4 last year (at the blackjack table to be exact, before UG even STARTED), Vic [MaserMind member] and I discussed this model for the women’s audience and he gave me contact info for his programmers. I branded it out as PowerLinesforWomen and started list-building

Our list is 8,000+ and we’re going to monetize it with our first affiliate promotion this week!! (I should mention that I’ve not promoted this AT ALL to ANY of my lists yet – I wanted to get the kinks worked out first…so I think it’s going to be big) I know you’ve heard me say that UG4 was a huge catalyst for me…I’m not just saying that – I have example after example after example…”

Sign-up now before the price goes up and VIP networking bonuses go away

(Plus you get to write off the ticket on this year’s taxes!)

I was lying here yesterday, pretty medicated, with some random thoughts going through my head on success, wealth and an occasional pink bunny.

Just a quick background on the meds. I had a new type of procedure yesterday on my right knee. The doctor sucked stem cells out of my back, added some secret sauce, and then injected them into my knee cartilage. Kinda cool. The doctor who supervised had both his knees done and he told me he jogs again. I blew out both my ACLs playing beach volleyball and Ice Hockey. I still play but it really bothers me. So hopefully this will re-grow the cartilage and I’ll be like the bionic man. (As a side note – the nurse filmed part of the procedure and I might even post it up online. I was kidding around we should auction off some of the bloody rags on eBay. Okay maybe not a great idea – remember I’m on meds)

Okay back to the point I wanted to throw out there and it’s around this question…

Do you have to want (and obtain) material things first to then turn your attention to more meaningful endeavors?

I found an interesting picture of me from 5th grade on Facebook today and it sorta started this chain of thoughts. Take a look – I’m the 2nd from the left on the bottom row.

My family is from Russia and immigrated to the U.S. in 1976. My Dad came over with $256 in his pocket for me, my Mom and my Grandmother. Just a year and half later, my Dad started his own company repairing (and then later selling) medical equipment. Even 8 years later times were still pretty lean as you can see from the knee patches and goofy shoes. Actually, I don’t think I had a pair of normal sneakers until 7th grade. (And yes, I definitely got made fun of constantly for that!)

It wasn’t until years later that my Dad’s company really started growing and blossomed into a multi-million dollar enterprise that things changed. I grew up working in the business starting with telemarketing latex gloves at age 14 and then even selling medical equipment to docs in person at age 16 when I got my license. It’s interesting how things come full circle because a doctor client of mine, Dr. Wei, gave me a Jay Abraham tape that turned on “the lights” about direct response marketing. And it was Dr. Wei who performed my knee surgery yesterday.

Like a lot of kids, I grew up fantasying about exotic cars with posters of Porsches and Ferraris on my wall. I remember for my Bar Mitzvah calling my parents up to light my final candle and I said something like, “I’d like to call up my parents who have given me everything I’ve ever wanted…except a Porsche.”

Back in 1998 I was just starting to get my entrepreneurial juices going and I attended a Brian Tracy 1-day seminar. He told everyone there to write down the 10 most important goals in our lives at the time.  Mine centered mostly around things or dollar amounts. I couldn’t find the notebook but it was something like:

•    Make $20,000/month in my own business
•    Drive a Mercedes SLK
•    Own a townhouse
•    Rolex watch, etc

One-by-one I knocked those all out without looking at the list everyday or taping it to my forehead or whatever “secret” I was supposed to use. (Actually I missed one goal – the Mercedes SLK. I actually got a much better SL55 AMG model). It was mostly the things that kept increasing on my goal list. A bigger house, a nicer car, nice trips, nicer watch, etc. until there really wasn’t much left that I really wanted.

Yes, I still love my Aston Martin but I quickly realized it was ‘just’ a car.

Quick side story: Actually, that really hit home to me spending time with my friend, Corey Rudl, before his untimely death. He had a new Lamborghini and we went off to the local smoothie place in La Jolla. Corey forgot he left his smoothie on the armrest and as he accelerated out of the parking out it spilled all over the interior of his car. He just sorta laughed and didn’t freak out like I might have. Previously, I never let anyone eat in my AMG or drink anything but water – but now I really don’t mind. In fact, I’m pretty lax with the car and have let a bunch of my friends drive it. (And I’ll let you drive it too if you want too if you’re the winner of a pretty cool contest for Underground® 5 attendees with the ultimate 007 day.)

So at some point you pretty much got all the toys you really need and then what’s left? To me, it boils down to experiences and relationships.  (Yes, there are still some ‘things’ I want like a beach house and maybe a private jet share – but not too much else.)

Maybe that’s why during the past few years that I’ve really gotten clear on the ‘Maverick Philosophy’ of Making more money, having more fun and giving more back! (Somebody the other day told me this is called a Venn diagram – nifty.) In fact, one of my big goal for 2020 involves getting 1,000,000 entrepreneurs to join this ‘movement’ that’s part of  Maverick Business Insider.

But I’ve been thinking lately – do you need to get the material things first before you can appreciate the other parts?

I’ll admit it. I really, really wanted my Mercedes AMG roadster. It drove me to create products and services to pay for it – but after the initial thrill wore off – there wasn’t much substance. The anticipation and journey was the best part.

Do you need the Rolex on your wrist before you realize it doesn’t really tell time very well? I used to wear my Rolex as a symbol of my success and new found wealth but I haven’t touched it in years. Today I have a nicer watch but it’s not a name most people would recognize. But maybe getting the ‘reward’ proved to myself I had arrived and could move on to bigger challenges and opportunities.

Some of the material wants really drove me in the beginning – however I still understood the underlying natural laws (like delivering 10x – 100x in value) would help me get the ‘thing’ I wanted. Now I’m much more focused on the bigger picture described in the diagram above. Personally I felt like I had to go through that phase to come out the other end (but maybe not everyone has to).

The unusual way to ‘stumble’ onto success…

There’s a profound theory I heard from R. Buckminster Fuller that says your true success is found perpendicular along the path to your original perceived goal.  For example, when I first started InstantSalesLetters.com back in 2000 – my end goal was to sell it for $500k to Stamps.com or someone like that. But on my way to building up that site – I had so many people ask me how I started making money so quickly that I began teaching. And that teaching became part of my success course for the last 8 years opening up one door after another. I would never have got on that track unless I was moving towards the original goal.  Same thing today, my next course is with my Maverick Business Adventures® and Maverick Business Insider companies – which wouldn’t have been formed without the contacts and connections made with my Internet business.

I’ve love to hear from people who have ‘made it’ (so to speak) and those who are still striving. Can you create a ‘rich’ life without getting the material things first that many of us (me included) initially wanted? I know some people are not motivated by material things and that’s great too. But I find an issue with some of those same people that believe making money is wrong or immoral. Somehow by being poor is more honorable. Umm…Bullshit.

I bet I’ll also get responses saying the happiest and ‘richest’ people are actually the poorest dollar-wise. Or money doesn’t buy you happiness.

Whatever.

I’ve said it before, I think money only amplifies who you are and what resources you have available to you.  If you’re a jackass before you had money – you’ll be an even bigger jackass. However, if you’re a generous and giving person – you now have more to give, etc.

I believe you can have it all…the complete package of profits, passion and purpose – but which road gets you there?

I probably should have posted this a lot sooner…but a few weeks ago I was in Delray Beach speaking at the ETR Internet workshop and I walked down the road to my friend, Frank McKinney’s treehouse. (Seriously, he’s got a pretty sweet treehouse as an office!)

Quick background on Frank. At age 22, Mr. McKinney founded his first real estate investment company and bought his first $50,000 fixer-upper, selling it a few months later for a $7,000 profit. Now, 22 years later, McKinney continues to create real estate markets where others dare to tread. He has built spec homes (homes built without a buyer) valued in the tens of millions of dollars, including the creation of the world’s first $100+ million spec home. But where I’m really inspired by Frank is his giving side. He’s created an incredible charity that builds homes for the poorest of the poor in Haiti with his Caring House Project Foundation.

Now Frank is a true Maverick and I wanted to get his take on the 3 pillars of Make More, Have More Fun and Give More Back! (That’s what I cover in the brand new Maverick Business Insider newsletter.)

Let me know what you think.

Also, a quick update -- Underground® 5 is now open. We’ve got a stellar line-up of under-the-radar marketers doing over $200,000,000.00 online including Bob Parsons from GoDaddy.com as our keynote speaker. The best discounts, bonuses and goodies are available right now!

Here’s a picture of my neighbor, Spencer, from a few weeks ago. I think he’s about 10, a cute kid and a good marketing case study for us.

If you notice in the picture – we live in a court. Translation = pretty much no car or foot traffic! While it’s great for letting kids play outside – it’s not so good for a budding lemonade tycoon. After buying 2 cups of lemonade from Spencer, I had to give the kid some ideas. I told him he needs to move the stand where he would get a lot more traffic. He should go on the corner of our street or at least put signs directing people to the court.

Did he do it? Nope. He just went on yelling, “Lemonade for sale!” on deaf ears into the court.

The sad part is so many people do the exact same thing with their sites. They’ve got one of the loneliest lemonade stands on the Internet. Why? Because they aren’t putting themselves in front of a stream of traffic.

It really is that simple.

Find where the traffic already is and plant yourself along the way offering up something these people want. Let’s compare Spencer’s lemonade stand to one I remember a few years back. It wasn’t in front of anyone’s house – but rather it was in front of a steady stream of joggers, walkers and strollers on the Capital Crescent Trail in Bethesda. The budding entrepreneur went out of his comfort zone (beyond their front yard) and went to where the marketplace was already – and simply got in front of them.

Did it matter his lemonade was from concentrate and not made from real lemons? Nope – not one bit.

The late, Gary Halbert, had a famous bit of instruction he did in a seminar talking about going into the food business. He told the audience, “I’ll let you have any advantage you want. Name it.” People would mention “I want the only McDonalds” or “I want the best food”, etc. etc. After everyone had their turn, he’d say, “Okay, the only advantage I want is a hungry crowd.”

Hmmm….

Quite frankly, when you stand in front of a hungry crowd even the ‘roach coach’ gets business during lunch time. Same with your site. What are you doing to get out of your comfort zone (front yard) and place yourself in front of a stream of ‘hungry’ traffic? Here are just a few ideas:

•    Adding your offer to partners Thank You pages and Opt-in pages.
•    Buying ads on highly-trafficked sites.
•    Doing deals with other sites who show up high in search engine rankings for your keywords & phrases.
•    Piggybacking on hot trends? (How many iPod accessories are out there now?)
•    Putting package inserts into outgoing packages.
•    Finding out how to work with big sites in exchange for content and affiliate rev-share deals. Etc…

If you’re not selling enough products (or lemonade) – maybe it’s time to get in front of the right crowd!

* Update: I saw this comic from Jimmy D. Brown and asked him if I could reprint it here. Seems only fitting:

There’s an old story about a boy who wants a pony really badly for his birthday. When he wakes up to find a huge pile of crap at his house. He jumps around clapping and excited! Someone asks him, “Why are you so happy? You’ve got a mess of manure here?”

And to that the boy responds, “With that much shit – there’s got to be a pony in there somewhere!”

*
Well, that’s how I felt on Thursday with the supposed release of Maverick Business Insider.

It’s a *very* long story – but the short version is really buggy code to start with and one tech problem grew into another, etc. etc. Of course, after the initial frustration of the moment was gone – I took a step backwards and remained (mostly) calm. (Maybe surprisingly calm to a lot of people more directly involved.) I realized in the grand scheme of things a launch screwing up wasn’t that big a deal. I also used some of the principles my friend, John Harricharan, teaches in his PowerPause to create what I really wanted. (Plus at the same time feel grateful for what I already had in my life.)

Anyway – what I do want to point out is the good news. It’s an interesting notion that there’s good news somewhere in the pile of bad news. I’ve always believed things happen for a reason. And if the site wasn’t so screwed on Thursday I wouldn’t have shut it down and wouldn’t have searched for a new solution. I got a recommendation from Matt Bacak for an amazing guy named Mike Cline. If you ever need some serious tech work – not minor stuff – but serious stuff contact Mike. (Don’t even know if he’s taking new clients or wants more work since he doesn’t know I’m mentioning him here.)

Anyway in 24 hours we (he) rebuilt everything and we went live at 3pm yesterday. It’s hard to describe how impressive this is – I don’t know if I even grasp it. The bottom line is things are 5x better than what I originally intended and it’s a direct result of the first screw-up. If that didn’t happen we wouldn’t have used Mike or re-built the entire system.

Now there’s more good news (and it’s actually for you!)…

Because of the snafus and since we’re opening the doors on the weekend – I’ve decided to extend all the FAST-ACTION bonuses *way* beyond what we originally intended. (Fact is, they would have got snapped up in a few minutes during the intended Thursday release but now we’re going to open the doors wide to make sure you get it!)

You’re getting a special, $15k closed-door presentation entitled “Instant Leverage Points in Your Business That Bring You Surges of Cash”. It’s a presentation I did last January to 26 top-gun entrepreneurs and business leaders, who paid about $15k in membership fees and trip fees to come together in Baja, Mexico.

Plus, I’ve bundled up this DVD, the MindMap I handed out, my newest book called “34 Rules for Maverick Entrepreneurs”, a 2 CD-Audio program and more – the only thing you pay for is s/h.

Truly a sweet deal for you to say “maybe” to trying the new ‘Maverick Business Insider’ newsletter. Get the whole scoop and find out about the special Fast-Mover Bonuses waiting for you.

* Come Say ‘Hi’ to me! *

As you know, I don’t speak that often so this is an unusual week. Monday, I’ll be at the ETR Bootcamp in Florida and then speaking on Thursday in Chevy Chase, MD at a local networking and business group for entrepreneurs called “The Entrepreneurs Group”.

* Forbes Adventurer Interview *

Also, something cool I didn’t post it up yet was an interview I did with Jim Clash from Forbes Adventurer. Jim talks to people who ‘push their lives to the limit’ so was excited to be interviewed. We talked about me being passenger #144 on Virgin Galactic.

Jim’s got a pretty interesting list of adventures to his own credit including driving an Indy car 200mph+ around the oval (it’s a lot harder than a straight line). He has a book called “To the Limits” on adventure and business that’s a little harder to find – but it still on Amazon.

Well today was *supposed* to be unvieling of the ‘Maverick Business Insider‘ newsletter and intro package. I guess someone forgot to clear it with the Internets. I’m not a techie but it had to do with our database and integration with fulfillment and operations. So instead of getting a whole bunch of annoyed customers in and not being able to fulfill in a timely manner – we pulled the site & put it on ‘hold’.

I figured we’d have it up earlier – but we made a decision to wait until tomorrow to open it back up.

I put up a video on the main site explaining it a bit more and giving some good news. Hopefully a silver lining in this for you. (Hint: It has to do with the ‘First-Mover’ Bonuses!)

* Contest Winners *

From our video comments contest – you guys made it really hard to pick the best ones. Some incredible, insightful comments. So I bumped it up to 8 winners instead of 5…
Drum roll…please….

Here’s who will be getting their own copy of the new Maverick Business Insider package with everyone else who grabs it (when we get the doors open). It looks like this -

Here are the lucky 8. Congratulations To:

·  Bob Beckman:
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:12 pm

·  Suzanne:
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:56 pm

·  Jini Patel Thompson:
November 4th, 2008 at 4:25 pm

·  Jeremy Reeves:
November 5th, 2008 at 10:19 am

·  Matthew Detrick:
November 5th, 2008 at 10:49 pm

· Rob:
November 3rd, 2008 at 1:15 pm

· Robertas Says:
November 4th, 2008 at 2:04 pm

· Chris Brisson Says:
November 5th, 2008 at 10:54 pm

We’ll have customer support contact you to get your address to send you the entire Maverick Business Insider package.

What started off as a quick 15-minute Saturday project turned into a 1 hr+ of new material on how to make more, have more fun and give more back! I asked you guys a few days ago for questions and some of the answers were quite eye-opening in each of the 3 areas.

With the elections going on in the U.S. tomorrow – the big idea behind the Maverick Manifesto is FREEDOM!

Freedom to write your own ticket regardless of what’s going on with the crazy economy, the next person in the White House or any external factor!

Here are a few things I covered:

• How to truly really create a Work/Life balance that actually works!
• Figuring out the right questions to ask so you get back the answers you need.
• What you really need to know in order to work once and get paid over and over and over again.
• Why you’ll never say “I can’t afford this” ever again…write your own rules for paying for what you want.
• How to make sure you turn up the ‘FUN quotient’ in your life and not get burnt out! (Plus: Exactly how to shatter the biggest excuse to waiting for more money to have fun!)
• Easy ways to bring fun into other people’s lives who you care about – and create real meaningful experiences.
• The painless rule to “automatically” giving back now instead of waiting & lots more!

Check it out and I would love to hear your comments.

I’m looking for some thoughtful insights and you don’t even need to agree with me – but I’m interested in the conversation that arises here. 

After the ‘King Krawl’ to celebrate my 35th the next big outing was the weekend of Sept 27 and 28 up in Chicago. Eben Pagan brought together 100 top marketers for a special closed-door networking event (and party). And at the same time WIRED Next Fest was going on in Chicago. Since WIRED is a media partner of Maverick Business Adventures®, our members had special access to a VIP opening party and a semi-private breakfast with their editor, Chris Anderson, as he introduced concepts from his newest upcoming book “FREE”.

I wanted to get up there for that but I had a family function I couldn’t miss. But I did manage to hop on the last flight on Saturday night at 10pm and got to the Hard Rock in Chicago near midnight.

I hit the tail-end of a party and then a big group of us went out to an after-hours club and kept the party going to 4 AM. Ryan Lee, Underground® II’s “Mr. X”, decided it was his job to keep feeding me ‘blueberry muffin’ shots.

Then on Sunday night, we had a small get together at the Hard Rock to celebrate my 35th birthday with 35 minutes of open bar. Dan Schorr, our head of partnerships from Maverick, thought we should start the celebration off with shots of “small White Russians”. I guess he and everybody else found it amusing.

Here I am with the menu:

You probably can’t make out what it says – so here’s part of what’s on there:

Short White Russian
‘Nuff Said

The “Original Maverick”
Johnny Walker Black, espresso and Amaretto

Black & Blue
Sambucca Black, Stoli Blueberry and a splash of red bull

*

As we wrapped up happy hour, one of the local guys, “Dr. Paul”, suggested a Karaoke place that has a live band backing you up. That sounded like a plan. We went out with 10 people and hit this hole-in-the-wall bar. Dr. Paul was a regular here and he got me on the list since it was my birthday. I wasn’t sure that was such a great idea because a) I wasn’t drunk and b) My wife, Missy, told me in no uncertain terms I should never, ever do Karaoke again. (It all stemmed from a night when she heard me doing ‘Coming to America’ by Neil Diamond. She was the only sober one at the table because she was pregnant. She was more vicious than Simon Cowell that night about my performance.)

I put those pesky memories in the back of mind and decided to go with the Violent Femmes “Blister in the Sun”. Not exactly sure how I did but I did go around shoving the mic into random bar patrons faces to get them to sing with me. I even got a few high-fives from those guys so I think it turned out okay.

Here’s video footage expertly taken by Mike Filsaime. I think the audio is kinda screwed up on here so now there’s no way to know if I really suck or it’s just poor audio.

Now the real crown jewel in the evening (and a very real marketing lesson) is a place called “The Wiener Circle” around Lincoln Park.

This is a hot dog stand that’s normal during the day but at night it becomes chaos. You have these gals behind the counter who are into harassing and cracking jokes at your expense. You can give it them and they’ll give it right back 5x as hard. I couldn’t stop laughing. You got to be ready for it or else you’ll be shocked at the anecdotes and 4-letter words there.  (Look them up on Yelp.com or YouTube.com for the scoop here.)

Creating the Conversation…

The BIG marketing lesson is truly creating a unique experience. I heard from several people that we had to check out this place. There are hundreds of hot dog stands in Chicago (I believe the most in any city) but the reason we had to check it out is for the experience. Yes, the hot dogs were good – but they really weren’t that much better than others I’ve had. But the craziness – now that’s worth a trip.

So tied into all these shenanigans are a very real and important marketing lesson. It’s about creating the ‘conversation’. If you look at my previous blog post about the Modern restaurant – the conversation was created by an exceptional experience. Even better is something like Wiener Circle that has a compelling conversation as part of their day-to-day, regular activity.

What are you doing to try and create remarkable conversations that your customers HAVE to talk about you?

For Maverick Business Adventures® we work on this all the time and very consciously think about it. I believe a good deal of the conversation is dictated by extraordinary experience and surprise. Give it some thought.

Speaking of ongoing conversations…I can’t believe how a bunch of my friends and Missy’s friends cannot stop talking about my 80’s birthday party from the other weekend. This was the final celebration that Missy planned for me. We booked The Spazmatics band from New York City to come down and play our party. They are a totally cool 80’s cover band that dresses like ‘Revenge of the Nerds’.

Now the Spazmatics did something really smart. They realized they had a great hook and licensed their gig to others in different cities. Not sure how many of them there are – but I’ve now seen the Austin, NYC and LA ones.

The party was like a weird convergence of all worlds. We had my neighbors, some of my Internet buddies like Ryan Deiss and Jeff Johnson, some of my hockey buddies, some of my old college/high school friends and then a bunch of Missy’s friends. My 80′s character was taken from some characters we had at my High School. I had the full-on mullet, John Deere hat, cut-off jean jacket (complete with heavy metal band patches) and acid-washed jeans with holes in them (and SKOAL in the back pocket).

Here are a couple pics –

This is me and my cousin, Sophia.

I’m not really sure what I’m doing to Missy here but it’s enough to make her drop her jaw (and get a good peek at her gum)

Here’s Yanik up with the band performing “Mickey”(while clutching my jack & coke in my cut-off gloves)

Ryan Deiss and my neighbor, Stephen, both Univ of Texas alum doing the ‘hook ‘em horns’ sign. (Too bad you can’t see Ryan’s super colorful socks he borrowed from me.)

You can see more pics of me in my mullet and other really bad 80’s fashion sense on my Facebook profile.