The $Money's$ In the List!

                       ...Or Is It?

                                            - Charles Brown
 

As you're probably well aware of by now, the "money's in the list," as they say.
 
Since that's what "they" say, it must be true!

Or is it?

The guy that got me jump-started in internet marketing is a neighbor (actually lives
about 3 miles from here) who's been steadily making around $60K a month (gross)
without getting one red cent from emailing offers to his pitifully small list.  I'm not
mentioning any names, but Matt Campbell has never complained about not having
a list.

Actually, he does have a list.  About 600 people---all of them scattered on about a
dozen sub-lists that he neglects.  Because he has over 150 websites---mostly
"minisites" that cover every subject imaginable. 

I've just fibbed to you again: "Every subject imaginable" is, of course, not true. You
and I are fortunate enough to live in a time of literally thousands of niches that are
waiting to be exploited.  And the list of potential niches as well as the list of your
potential customers is growing exponentially...

So, Matt hasn't even begun to tap into the potential that lies for you and I to "fish".

In March of '06 he grossed over $109,000.  I know because I was working for him
and with him at the time. He's never had a year since 2001 that he didn't average
at least $50K/mo.

I've been studying internet marketing since 1999, but until I hooked up with him
in 2003, I was mostly standing on the sidelines. 

So, there's no real need to have a list to make good money on the internet.

BUT,  and this is a BIG butt (ha), having a fairly large list of loyal customers is
the best insurance an internet marketer can have against a changing economy---
but more importantly---a changing Google and all the other search engines.

It has other advantages, like "money on demand", but I digress...

Check out what happened to Matt a couple years back:

By the way, the "major event" I'm about to tell you about is part of the reason that
he sees a therapist.  I'm not joking.  (The other part is both his own and his wife's
dysfunctional family---oh yea, trust me on this one too!)

Matt gets up one morning and cranks up one of his computers to check his stats.
He expects to be pleasantly greeted, as usual, with numbers showing how he had
somehow---'magically'---made hundreds of dollars while sleeping. 

Fiddlesticks!  Apparently his server is down.  Or something....

Uh-oh.  No, his server is not "down."  Hmmm.  Don't panic yet....what the...?....

Panic, OMG, PANIC!!  He realizes---after he regains self-control---that he's just
gone from making $60K/mo. to making about twelve hundred dollars per month.

After a few frantic phone calls and emails, he realizes it's for real.  What happened?

Google changed not only its algorithm but also some rules.

But if Matt would've cultivated and grown his list during those years, things would
have not been so bad.  Not near so bad.

Epilogue:  
A tribute to Matt's resiliency, he was able to turn things back around within only
3 weeks.  It took him longer to reach his former level of income,  but he eventually
got there. 

There's a few lessons to be learned here.  Not the least of which is that the internet
and internet marketing is a far more stable and reliable source of income than one
might think...if Matt was able to achieve the level that he did, get shut down, and
return to his former level of success---all without a high school education---what
does that say for your own potential?

As long as you don't give up and don't try to reinvent the wheel.

One final word on "the List."  Matt still doesn't have one.  Or one any larger than
he's always had (around 600 like we talked about before.)  His attitude is that it's
"way too time consuming to keep people happy; all I'd be doing is answering
emails and phone calls."  If you could see the inside of his messy house, you'd
also understand his other reason for not cultivating a list:  "I'm way too lazy."