A few weeks ago, during my “Pro Niche Site” promotion, I sent out an email relentlessly mocking a free-loadin’ mooch who had sent me hate during my spring enrollment session. Yours Troubly hoarded on to that email like a sexy-Gollum just to make more sales, because I’m an evil, evil person…
Anyways, reader “Didact” had the best response to that email:
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“Interesting response from some of your readers there. I have to say, while I see where they are coming from… I don’t have any sympathy for them.
I’ll be the first to admit that the hard-sell can be irritating and frustrating if you are on the receiving end of someone constantly trying to give you a sales pitch – IF you were not told that it was coming.
But, one thing that I like and respect about you, personally, is that you are always totally honest and above-board about whether or not you want to sell something. You have always made it clear that you intend to sell a product. You have always stated quite plainly that you are in the business of making money. You deal with your readers honestly and you tell it like it is.
And one thing that I have learned from you is that constant reminders of an honest sale, along with clear demonstrations of the value that can be obtained from the product that you are selling, is a highly effective tactic. Yes, not everyone likes it or responds well to it. The sad fact is that most people just want GIBSMEDATS and can be safely discounted as being members of the ever-present Free Shit Army. But those are not your customers.
Not like you need me, or anyone else, to tell you this, but don’t be discouraged by your haters. Let their hatred feed you – because they envy your success.
You will lose subscribers from hard-selling tactics, sure. But I promise you that you would lose far, far more if you ever betrayed your own principles and thereby destroyed your reputation for integrity and straight-talk – and I would be one of the first to leave if I ever saw that happen.
I have long believed that honesty, integrity, and straight shooting are the best ways to build and maintain lasting business relationships. I have had that belief sorely tested in the past year, when my own employer destroyed my career and nuked my right to stay in the USA. But I remain convinced that the best way to separate out good customers from bad ones is always to be up front about your intentions – and then give them the freedom to make their own decisions. That is what you do, and in my personal opinion that is how it should be.”
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To add on to this:
This whole “charging for a product thing” is really only an issue in the online space. It’s funny, because with Selo Oils, I don’t think anyone would dare say that we should just give product away for free. It’s just the online space this is an “issue” — and it’s really not an issue, you just have to drive the leeches away.
So, let’s talk about Selo Oils today, and then yes, I’m going to sell you a bottle at the end of it, naturally.
Here’s the thing:
This whole email list has always just been “me”. I’ve stayed away from ever calling myself just a “dating person” or just an “online business guru”. Fact o’ the matter is, I’m just Kyle, and yes, that is my real name — obviously I would have picked something WAY cooler if I was going to write under a full-fledged pen name.
Anyways, back on topic:
I’ve always just written and podcasted about whatever I’m going through, and how I work through stuff. For a while it was dating. Then it was breaking out of the corporate world. Then it was traveling in Europe and building my business. Then it became dating foreign girls because I realized how much different (read: better) it was than in the States. Then I started to have what most would consider to be a high level of business success, so I pivoted back to that.
You see…
The smart people who want to learn about business have been reading and absorbing what we’ve been doing with “Selo Oils” since I first announced it in July:
Introducing my biggest venture yet (plus summer state of the union)
Fact is, we brought a physical, perishable food product from an international destination and we’re shipping worldwide. That is not AN easy business to accomplish on any level.
So, if you have any dreams of “making” a product one day, you would have seen the entire journey and the process behind it.
No, it’s certainly not a 100% foolproof roadmap, but you’ve seen the mistakes we’ve made, how we’ve fixed them, and how we’re marketed and positioned ourself within the high-end-luxury-foods industry.
All of this is valuable.
You just have to interpret it the right way.
Make sense?
Good.
Now, here’s the shameless guilt-inducing pitch
If you liked learning and seeing the process — and would like to continue to see the process, what you can do to support this free information is simply to support the new company.
For the hundreds of you who already have, thank you.
Next up is 1,000, and then as soon as this batch is gone, we’ll start moving some operations to Croatia (and providing jobs there).
Here’s the link of goodness: