Questions Anyone?


In all my years as a chef and restaurateur I was little concerned about issues of motivation and reward. I cooked food, I sold food or I consumed it... and nothing was disguised about anyone's motivation OR reward - because the truth is always in the tasting, isn't it?

Such was my grounded thinking before my explorations into the netherworld of internet publishing and marketing.

The world I once thrived in... automatically assumed everyone is an expert... and I would never deign it within my power to think just because I might be rather more expert preparing your food... that I was really more or less of an expert than other folks - who certainly were experts about foods they liked or didn't like!

Thus framing the way I approached everyone was simple. Always in the spirit of utmost hospitality... like that of an enthusiastic host... I was sensitive about ensuring everyone had a good time. I wanted that no one ever be hurt or insulted... so nothing was left to chance. For me to sense that one single someone... might somehow not feel included in the merriment... of just feeling the sheer pleasure of the moment... I had worked (played) so hard to make happen... was anathema to all that mattered to me.

I find I enjoy amusing myself sometimes when asked to respond to questionnaires from marketers, writers and copywriters - most anyone I come across, and respect, online. Along the way I've learned to not expect any real feedback, as my questions relate less and less to any serious intent on my part to engage as a real customer. Since more and more of the messages I receive are merely about selling me more of the same old recycled information... or more of the same new-and-improved whiz-bang gadgets or insider tips... or another exclusive membership to a club, a mastermind group or one more inner circle... I wonder if I'm not being set up for a practical joke... and I shouldn't just have my chuckle and move on to the next one... so as to not feel I'm being rude by simply ignoring them.

Words which really turn me off include...

I will show you or I will teach you - even if I'm convinced the vendor truly is capable, if not extraordinarily well-qualified.

Must said vendor be so damn convinced of his first-person self worth? Why is so much information I need to make an informed decision simply not stated - whether accidentally or intentionally omitted... or not?

I have the secrets is another. I've often been inspired to ask if they might want to barter with me, as I've got a lot of secrets too I'd like to trade.

Next time you wanna sell me $197 worth of secrets how 'bout I sell you $497 worth of my very own proprietary trade secrets in exchange?

Deal?

I DO like to over-deliver, ya know!

I'm rich and successful so, by its own implication, this means you must not be if you're reading this sales letter right now.

Take a look at my toys if you don't believe me!

This is always from some twenty-or-thirty-something young hot shot who just hasn't realized yet a million dollars or two ain't what it used to be - given that s/he's probably only a year or two removed from some hell-hole of a cheap suburban box and a ten-year-old car... which only yesterday repaired this person back and forth from his dead end ivory tower job downtown.

Here's a screen shot - it's proof of my earnings, AND of how smart I am!

Boy, it's like hitting the jackpot, ain't it? Hey, what you do in Vegas stays in Vegas, okay?

... Then I've got the ideal training course - or coaching program - just for you!

Man I hate these words program, coach, or course because they sound so, you know, canned. Sounding a little bit fishy for me, it's like imagining the fates of a few dozen sardines in a crowded tin - each one programmed or coached, of course - for a fantastic career as a success merchant or widget dealer. In a tried-and-true mogul-in-training, climb-the-corporate-ladder language I can only describe as corporate-speak... delivered in a streamlined fish factory sorta way, I hate knowing how easy it is that our own fates can be sealed by someone else's idea of an afternoon snack.

So it's good to remind yourself: To be spoon-fed someone else's idea of a good time is to invite them to chew you up and spit out your bones!

It calls up that achingly sad scene with our old friend Willy Loman... near the ending of Death of a Salesman... when for one brief heart-wrenching moment... he's brought to the sudden realization... he'd been living a lie all along... and his world crashes down upon him... hurting all those he'd held dearest.

Remember him? Had it all figured out, didn't he? All Willy needed in life was the right kind of program to fit you into... plus a shoe shine and a smile!

This is the fear I personally fear the most, the fear that living my life will have been predicated on one big fat lie, one on top of another, and I ultimately hurt all those around me - myself included.

No wonder it calls to mind this startling truth: "Man is one of the few species left on Earth who still preys on its own."

Then I'm presented the terms guru, as in I am your guru, and newbie, put to me like You are my newbie, which are meant to be taken, I'm given to understand, in all sorts of new and interesting ways.

How they are perceived - and acted upon - by either party, though, is how big lies often get started.

As I've come to understand their meanings I've compiled a few synonyms for each of these insider terms.

The Guru is... a spiritual advisor; the seller; the teacher; an expert; your instructor, maven or guide; the rich one; smarter-than-thou; holier-than-thou; the better one; a smart-ass; the controller; the lister; the targeter.

And the Newbie is... a babe-in-the woods; the customer; a neophyte; a pigeon; the client; a noob, a mark, a victim or the prey; a sycophant; a sucker; the lesser one; a dumb-ass; the broke one; the controlled; listless; the target.

Now don't get me wrong. I enjoy a good laugh like most folks. And, yes, I've bought a lot of this stuff too. Perhaps I felt like I must tip these jokesters from time to time so they'd continue to entertain me!

It seemed the ethical thing to do at the time, I guess. And after all, they were just trying to earn a living, weren't they?

Besides, I learn a lot from these folks, so it's the least I can do - to throw 'em a bone when they're deserving. And I might want to actually engage them seriously one day in a more genuine dialogue or something, so why wouldn't I want to develop a relationship with them - as one-sided and preposterous as it often is now?

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Perry Marshall Asks...

What is your most pressing Business Challenge?

... And Lark replies...

My most pressing business challenge is to reconcile my idealism with the demands of an online entrepreneur.

In such a competitive environment I'm convinced our approach - the ways we frame our messages - must be without any hype whatsoever; not to mention, it must be above reproach if we are to expect the mutual respect we hope to engender among our clients and customers.

Fortunately, the things which interest me most go to the heart of persuasion techniques I'm studying - along with concepts of motivation and reward.

Less inclination towards business and more towards busy-ness is at the heart of our message... because there really need be no separation, ideally, between our personal and our professional lives... if work is allowed to feel more like play.

I believe these are some very basic universal principles ordinary people might better relate to with less apparent effort and little or no skepticism - about our motivations... and the rewards to be expected by all of us.

Insights can be found in our brand blueprint - called a Legend Platform - on our blog, which you can access from our first information product...

... at Mark and Lark.com

Thanks for reading... and "thank you" for the audio!

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And I'm a sucker for contests too! Here the questions asked are...

Why do you need to learn copywriting?

... and...

What will you do with the lessons you learn about copywriting?

... in 250 words or less...

... though I must tell you I was really thinking about the scene in Scarface when Tony Montana is being asked at the fancy car dealership, "Are you chure you actually ARE a Porcha customer?"

Or words to the same effect anyway.


Laurence Says:
February 10th, 2007 at 12:50 am

Thanks, Ray, for giving voice to the teachings of Ray Edwards via your videos. I enjoy listening to folks... as much as I like seeing their words and pictures on a web page.

It heightens the overall look and feel of the relationship-building process; and it enhances the feelings and perceptions the words and images do not always supply... sufficient enough to make a virtual connection, that is.

A human voice such as yours, once heard, is as magical as the siren song of the Muse in literature... and the impetus for me heeding your call to action today!

*************************************************************************************

We form relationships in life because one is a lonely number - and it often takes two to tango.

It’s why we form personal and business relationships in the first place - our species demands its propagation and alliances lend themselves to our better social adjustment and survivability skills.

For economy of scale and a surfeit of abundance to coexist in nature requires an artful collaboration, doesn’t it?

All’s well... when the music stops, the dance is adjourned, and we’re invigorated by the experience... that ends so well.

Thus begins... our common emotional journey... for nourishment of the soul... and the hunting and gathering of sustenance... anew.

A copywriter’s study ought to begin in grade school and continue over a lifetime.

In today’s increasingly interconnected world all human beings should be learning to eliminate barriers... by overcoming obstacles... and building a happier society... for a healthier sustainable future... simply by applying its lessons.

One lesson learned from the biblical Tower of Babel story is that our once common human language was supplanted by a confusion of tongues...

The confusion many of us have with everyday language is at the heart of all our other difficulties. Irregardless of which language is spoken though, language arts - by way of spoken and written words - are critical of mastery if we are to enjoy any measure of true success in life.

... and in the Information Age it is still but one emergent lesson from this ancient story we would be foolish to set aside and forget.

*************************************************************************************

Mark and Lark, the serial comic adventures of two suburbanites learning to master the intricacies of internet marketing and the skills of the copywriter, was borne from our desire to combine Mark’s love of technology and my love for words.

Let the music – and the dancing – of the acolytes begin!

Lark

Tags: Internet Marketing, Copywriting, Questionnaires, Ask Campaigns, Perry Marshall, Ray Edwards, Mark and Lark

A Recipe for Piracy

Buffalo Pot Roast, Old Creole Style

Daube de Bison a la Creole Vieux

INGREDIENTS
_______________________________________________________________________________

• American Natural Bison (from the Round, Loin or other suitable cut from the butcher) – or substitute Natural Beef (Daube de Boeuf a la Creole Vieux)
• Fruity Olive Oil
• Garlic
• Sweet Onions
• Ripe Tomatoes
• Orange Peel (reserve fruit for later use)
• Tomato Paste, canned (for color)
• Fresh Thyme
• Fresh Bay Leaf
• Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley Stems (reserve leaves for garnish)
• Fresh Chives (strictly for garnish)
• Saffron Pinch
• Natural Sea or Kosher Salt
• Cracked White & Black Peppercorns
• Cayenne or Creole Seasoning (recommended, but optional, to taste)

PREPARATION
_________________________________________________________________________________

• Remove silverskin and superfluous fat from Bison
• Rough Chop Onions & Tomatos (use plenty – the amount is determined by the amount of gravy you want)
• Smash a few cloves of Garlic
• Remove the Orange Peel from its fruit (think about the amount of orange flavor a la Basquaise you want)
• Season the Bison & brown in brazier with Olive Oil
• Combine all other ingredients in brazier until sautéed lightly
• Season to taste
• Braise in 350 degree oven until done – about 1 hour
• Remove Bison from brazier to rest on the carving board
• Remove Bay Leaf, Thyme, Parsley Stems and Orange Peel
• Puree vegetables and juices to light, airy gravy consistency (wavy gravy?)
• Adjust seasonings and color to taste
• Serve it up with Garlic Riced Potatos, and Mom’s Creole Succotash seasoned with Ham Bone Marrow & Secret Spice Mixture (or substitute commercial ham paste/base)

SERVICE
______________________________________________

Select big ol’ low slung but wide-mouthed salad or soup bowls. Spoon the spuds and smear all around the bottom of the bowls, higher in the very center. Slice 3 fat slices of Pot Roast & arrange in center on top. Slap ¾ cup of gravy over the meat. Arrange the Succotash in a ring between the edge of the bowls and the meat and gravy in the center. Garnish with fresh Thyme, Parsley, Chive, Bay Leaf and reserved Orange fruit sections. Serve with a gravy boat of hot gravy, a starched white linen napkin, and a trencherman’s dinner fork.

Heat up a crusty ol' peasant loaf, and bring it forth with soft butter or gussied-up olive oil in little ramekins set in front of the bowls. A butter lettuce salad with bell peppers, tomatos and green onions a la vinaigrette should do nicely – afterwards of the Pot Roast.

Now whip it on ‘em with a few glasses of cold Beer or Pinot Noir. Play some saloon music from Old New Orleans or have an old Jean Lafitte pirate movie showing on the big screen… like The Buccaneer... and finish ‘em off with some Lady Finger cookies and Blancmange puddin’ with shots of Absinthe for dessert.

Card-playing would seem to be in order – gamble if you must – you know Lafitte sure as hell did!

Bring on some dancin’ girls for a little more flavor, unless you’re with the little lady. If this be the case, consider headin’ on in to town, and drop her off at home.

Better still; don’t bring her along in the first place – unless she likes to get a little silly, that is!

Lafitte himself was the product of a Spanish mother and a French father, and as such, was not really that bad a guy.

The Louisiana Territory was claimed by the Spaniards, the French and the Americans at different times in its history; but Lafitte himself leveraged so-called Letters of Marque on the high seas to legitimate his activities as a privateer – not a lowly pirate!

He is said to have aided the Americans in their War of 1812 against the British. As a citizen of the world he merely acted in his own interest, by leveraging a little paperwork received from nations’ governments – all with similar interests to his own.

While some viewed him as a pirate, others viewed him as a private citizen authorized to do some necessary dirty work. And if conflicts of interest arose, or if he ever stepped on anybody’s toes... well, let’s just say he was never available to receive a court summons anyway!

He actually founded two of his own nation-states during his lifetime – unencumbered and beholden only to himself.

My recipe was created in honor of this colorful character, and you’ll delight in fixin’ this easy-to-prepare sup for your own family or guests.

For our special occasion, why not read up on the guy – and now you can be Lafitte for the day – okay?

Best served in the late summer-early fall... when it’s cold, muggy or rainy outside. Change up the veggies for somethin’ more in season... and it works in the dead of winter too.

Lark

Tags: Bison, Pot Roast, Jean Lafitte, Buffalo, Old New Orleans, Pirate, Privateer

Good morning... hold on to your coffee cup. Someone's got something really important to say!

Mark and I have only known each other for less than 8 months now... and we have a new internet marketing business together.

So... think back... to that boss, significant other, or partner-from-hell you so fondly remember... just for a moment.

Now consider this person-from-hell is in a full court press trying to persuade, inform, or convince you of something or another... and you're not able to politely interrupt, interject, or get one word in edgewise... as there's just no stopping this person - once they're in full stride... on a roll.

The following chat discussion between Mark and me one morning - a few months back - started out as a humorous attempt by me to demonstrate to Mark that I was up-and-at-'em before he was... and was ready to seize the day!

Previously, we'd had some pretty funny discussions about the one-sidedness of a typical sales letter online... in which our only choice was to buy into a marketer's or a copywriter's message or not - with no other option available to us.

Mark, especially, found all this particularly hysterical... and some of our best belly laughs together have been at the expense of some sales letter writer's all-out effort to get us to whip out a credit card... in effect, to steamroll us into making a buying decision where incomplete information was being provided... and there didn't seem to be any room for negotiation either.

Here we are being sold a horse - and no horse-tradin's being allowed!

My friends... in Texas, this type of behavior, is really frowned upon... let me tell ya.

Anyway, just pity poor Mark, because, you must know, he really does have the partner from hell!

He's often mystified by poor Lark. And he'll wonder why I ever saved this chat in the first place.

Maybe he'll laugh just remembering it!

So, with this being said... please do... enjoy our little chat... :)

Laurence says:

Ohayou gozaimasu... is formal Japanese for Good Morning... and millions of people on our planet know this language well enough to understand its meaning. However...

Laurence says:

... in the U.S. and in Europe, in Africa and Central and South America, many millions more do not fathom the meaning for good morning in the Japanese brain... except to, perhaps, grunt... smile... or nod an acknowledgment of a Japanese person's presence in the A.M. hours...

Laurence says:

... much in the way we imagine members of different human tribes once did millions of years ago. We are here together in a virtual community where we cannot assume ANY of us even... speak the same language... much less fully comprehend and fully connect to common symbols (words, sentences, phrases, etc.) used in the language we call "English".

Laurence says:

Therefore, even as you may be able to read this collection of organized symbols, it would be presumptuous for any of us to automatically assume actual communication is really occurring...

Laurence says:

... because much is implied and inferred, though little - so far - has been written or read which we can identify as being substantative or even a propos to this occasion.

Laurence says:

To think about what has just been communicated, comprehend, if we are allowed or are able, this tiny bit of information.

Laurence says:

Before this sentence, count up the number of letter, word and punctuation symbols used to create the words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs.

Laurence says:

To quantify these is to invite a closer examination into the minds reflecting on these pieces of, presumably, a larger symbolic picture.

Laurence says:

For what purpose, to what end, might this exercise serve us? Are we to assume something - or anything - of value might be gained in this moment of our time together?

Laurence says:

How might the language - the instrument of our communication - be miscommunicated, or misconstrued, even now, while it is we have read this much so far?

Laurence says:

How many of us have been prompted to move away from this exercise in communication already?

Laurence says:

Can any inferences or assumptions, any claims of beneficence, be implied or stated thus far in our narration? Do these words illustrate for us anything which might enjoin us in a commonality of meaning and purpose?

Laurence says:

How might each of us still here proceed with this incomplete narrative in ways which will unite us and empower us - individually, and as a group?

Laurence says:

Shall we write and read more - at this very moment in time we have together? Engaged, as we are, in an exercise of disjointed communication with each other?

Laurence says:

Let's consider more. Notice how each of us is being drawn deeper into our narrative? So long as these symbols are being created these same symbols are bringing us closer. We cannot say we are being united, nor can we imply we are being divided, though it might be fair to say we might never be brought closer than we are right now.

Laurence says:

Language - or other symbols of communication - does not always accomplish our aims, does it?

"The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple." - Oscar Wilde

Laurence says:

"First get your facts; then you can distort them at your leisure." - Mark Twain

Laurence says:

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics." - Benjamin Disraeli

Laurence says:

"Then there was the man who drowned crossing a stream with an average depth of six inches." - W.I.E. Gates

Laurence says:

As a shared experience let's suppose we extract some value from this exercise... understanding, of course, from the outset, that each of us will ascribe a different value, or a nuance of value, to the symbols - or words - presented here.

Laurence says:

Let's examine the central idea expressed in this equation:

Creation of Order = Initiation of Chaos

Laurence says:

"A life not examined is not worth living." - Socrates

Laurence says:

"Let's put that which we might call our busy-ness aside for awhile. Instead, let's make some history today!" - Lark

Laurence says:

Good morning, Mark!

Mark says:

morning

[End of chat]

Phone's ringing

The wife's speaking.

The dog's barking.

I forgot what I was saying...

... or thinking.

And Mark never even saw this conversation piece... until I pointed it out to him that afternoon... as it had been much too tall a tale to fit all at once onto his chat screen... for him to ever really notice! :)

Tags: online chat, disjointed communication, copywriters, internet marketing, Mark and Lark

What is value?

Now here's a loaded question! Another one of which begets as many questions as answers...

...and I pose this particular question because the use of this word is included in the American Marketing Association's response to this question:

What is marketing?

And its latest definition is...

Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.

So, disregarding for a moment the myriad questions which might arise from the first question demanding of a rational answer, let's presuppose we understand value to simply mean something worthwhile.

As students of internet marketing, Mark and I are very interested in exercising sound judgment - to the best of our abilities - as we chart our course in this new business.

We like to believe our principal reason for beginning this new business is so we can gain more freedom to live our lives in a purpose-driven, more playful and joyful manner.

In previous posts I briefly discussed plausible definitions for the words freedom and reason as they were also component parts of questions preceded by the words What is ______ - similarly to the question we have before us now.

It's true that these rhetorical questions examined here can lead only to even more questions - if we are to expect logical answers. Not the least of which, of course, are:

What is rhetoric...or rhetorical?...

...and...

What is logic...or logical?

Right?

But let's not go there right now, okay?

Forgive me if I interrupt this discussion with a little story...

When I was a boy my younger brother, sister and I were coerced, then forced, to eat liver...when my mother prepared it for the family sit-down - and, boy, we hated the taste of it!

It started out harmlessly enough...because chickens then, as now, typically come with the paper-wrapped heart, kidneys, gizzard, and liver inside the cavities of said birds...meant to cook separately from the chicken itself.

And we ate a lot of chicken at our house - prepared in all the usual ways home cooks dealt with this popular food staple.

In my parents' salad days - during the time before WWII...as the Great Depression was drawing to a close - there was a slogan, "A chicken in every pot, and a Ford in every garage."

This was one of the prevailing mantras for all those aspiring to a comfortable middle-class lifestyle in those days; and the measure of a family's having attained these only-average material needs was the mean common denominator for what was understood to be the basis for achieving The American Dream.

Their own parents raised them with the experience of scarcity informing their families' value system - so much so, that wanton disregard and waste of important necessities of everyday living was considered a real sacrilege.

Thus, to turn one's nose up at food - any food - was, for Mom and Dad, not only repugnant, but downright immoral too!

And loving their spoiled, unreasonable children meant imposing some discipline on them - even if it meant corporal punishment was their response to our supposed transgressions of their authority.

Because another dictum of the times was, Spare the rod, and spoil the child, and, like their parents before them, they wanted to do right by their kids, didn't they?

Well...my siblings and me got a helluva lot of whuppins growing up, let me tell ya. But those beatings we endured for detesting the taste of liver - for over several of our tenderest years - are the ones which still stick in my mind to this day.

Under threat of more of the same, we tried faking it...secretly spitting it out... holding our noses while swallowing the vile stuff...chasing it with the strongest beverage within our immediate grasp...before throwing it up...even direct insubordination - all manner of protestations were met with the same expectation of one more traumatic and hurtful family drama lesson....

...to which Mom or Dad would often remind us, "This is gonna hurt me - more than it's gonna hurt you!"

Dad had an old-fashioned GI belt, and the rule was, if you moved your target butt away from where he was aiming, your beating was just gonna be worse.

And this action wasn't based on any fair rule at all!

A lot depended on our tolerance for pain...and Dad's presumed responsibility not to permanently disfigure us...or leave any noticeable welts the neighbors or our teachers at school might see...not to forget, Dad's mood...or predisposition to sadistic violence...if he'd had a bad day at work...or if he was really angry at Mom, etcetera.

After a very long while we got used to choking chicken liver down - even if none of us dared to sample the giblets. By then Mom was taken with the idea of cooking calves' liver, always with a bunch of oily browned onions and brown pan gravy...

No wonder the French and the Italians - most of the world - considered that American dining pleasures were just beyond barbaric...in the years before and after WWII.

I know I seriously considered I might really be a closet vegetarian growing up - and actually was...off-and-on...after I left home.

Here's one moral of this story which might be inferred...

One person's idea of what is something worthwhile is not necessarily and easily transferable to another. In our capitalist society money is only assigned a value as it is merely a convenient representation of its perceived value in an exchange of some sort.

We neglect to scrutinize it...beyond what it represents...at our own risk - or reward, for that matter...as it's but a medium for the exchange of equivalent values which drives all capitalist enterprise.

Because money - like value - is always seen, kinda like beauty, in the eye of the beholder, isn't it?

One man's junk is another man's treasure...and so on and so forth.

But here's the rub...

As internet marketers, when our businesses are dependent upon closing the deal, in the face of tremendous competitive forces swirling all around us, we must also dance the dance of the high wire artist - at least in our minds - teetering between the back-and-forth use of ethical persuasion tactics and our purported aims and desires.

So...it's not so much that we don't want to deliver - even over deliver - on our promises...and deliberately take advantage of, or mistreat, those with which we exchange values...goods or services, in exchange for money, for instance. It's that we're also dealing with issues of qualitative value measurement as well.

In other words, we naturally lean toward pathways of least resistance at all times - so focused are we on gaining that qualitative edge as measured by our quantitative desire to come out of any deal with the continuous wherewithal to grow and prosper in our businesses.

Don't we?

Therefore, in this socio-economic climate, we make bad deals, so-so deals, and good deals for ourselves all the time - even outside the context of our businesses - even exclusive of situations involving money.

With exchanges of value - or trade-offs - our charts are examined, and our ships of state are set on course - often to uncharted waters far from shore.

So it is with our lives - we must sink or swim...often with sharks...or remain afloat...onto our merry ways.

Mom or Dad would've advised...Be a good boy now...and...Eat up, son - or go stand in the corner! as the rules by which to govern our actions in the world.

To this day, like you maybe, I wanna value you precisely as much as you value me, if not more so. In a perfect world, I want to do good by you; and you want to do good by me.

Right?

I know I value the memories of my childhood - even forgive all those trespasses on my freedom. And all the mistakes I've made allowing myself to get ripped-off...or ripping myself off...all of my own volition...on my own accord.

I retain a healthy respect for authoritarian power structures as they exist - even if, to me, they often seem unreasonable for me to wanna buy into from the get-go.

Being naturally skeptical, I never forget a betrayal of trust - by anyone, including myself!

But then skepticism is really not enough, is it?

The answers for what might seem valuable to us are sometimes elusive, if always, at least, illusory - even with the clearest of thinking and the best of outcomes for all exchanges we want to see happen.

And knowledge of good and evil, alas, reveals only more of the same, wouldn't you say?

Thus it is, we tend to value what we esteem to be good - somewhat or more than worthwhile upon first glance - when it can be, in fact, like for our three storybook children who despised the taste of liver, really very bad.

Or so it seems...and it usually goes.

Tags: The American Dream, American Marketing Association, good and evil, internet marketers, value

Follow Up Correspondence from Stu

Laurence,

Thanks for your email.

I appreciate you sharing the details of your idea. I can sense your passion behind it.

One thing you must consider is the management of everything. If it’s not managed properly then it will drive people away but if it’s managed well then over time it will attract the right kind of people you want participating.

Good luck!

Take care.

Stu McLaren
MyIdeaGuy
"Taking Ideas From Concept to Cash"
www.MyIdeaGuy.com
www.IdeaSeminar.com


***********************************************************************************

Stu,

Thanks for validating my initial perception of the kind of person you might be - and how you might respond to my message.

I will continue to speak to issues of transparency in the marketing process, especially how it relates to workplace issues of motivation and reward, affiliate programs and JV partnerships, etcetera - not to mention, our relationships with our clients and customers.

How people relate to others is co-dependent on transparent communication being made self-evident to all parties as the relationship is developed and strengthened over time. And you're absolutely right - how this is managed is key to its workability.

Given that 90%-98% of most marketers' persuasion tactics are not acted upon, and only 10%-20% of most affiliate sign-ups actually make a real financial impact for affiliate managers who strive to motivate them is at the heart of what I wish to address.

By turning a blind eye to these issues marketing becomes nothing more than a numbers game...somehow dehumanizing the entire process.

And those with mature businesses - those who have accumulated large customer lists and other marketers to their sales process - are in the best position to invest intellectual capital addressing the essence of this continuing problem...in an honest effort to improve the process...so that its effectiveness can be markedly improved and sustained.

The "right" kind of people we might attract to this overhauled process - if correctly initiated and managed properly - will no longer remain an issue, as it is rendered moot...much in the same way ongoing natural selection...works biologically in nature.

Upon closer examination we understand that these core values of belief inherent within human nature are not so separated from the natural world itself...because, as observed with viruses or butterfly effects, we know certain these characteristics must exist.

The net results can be revolutionary...if we choose to diligently concern ourselves with this underlying core value of belief - and believability - as seen from all sides.

Good luck to you too, Stu!

I'm very grateful to you for reading this at all...

Laurence
Mainspring Mindshares
Http://msms2.blogspot.com

[P.S. - I know you must be very caught up in your busy-ness, so please do not feel the need to respond again. :) Laurence]

Tags: Stu McLaren, My Idea Guy, persuasion tactics, marketing process, affiliate managers

Hands Reaching Across the Cyberwaves...

Last night we had the opportunity to listen in on an exclusive teleseminar with Tellman Knudsen and Ben Mack.

And this morning Stu McLaren asked for some feedback from his mailing list subscribers about his newsletter.

With these marketers words dancing in my head, herewith, is my reply to Stu...


Dear Stu,

This April...I will have been studying internet marketing for one year! So you can see I approach this subject as a relative neophyte.

However, I must tell you, I find myself much more discriminating the further on down the road I travel.

I am not a fan of becoming a geek so that I can be a slave to a machine. I have spent over $10K to date for mostly worthless junk. And I firmly believe ideas are like a**holes - everybody has one!

So...no offense intended here...but...it seems to me what experienced marketers should be considering is this:

===>Form marketing co-ops of 100 to 500 partners, each involved in decision-making for the group at-large.

===>Allow fluid interaction via chat and a forum hosted by moderators chosen by the group through periodic voting.

===>Provide state-of-the-art marketing tools to the members - including metrics tracking and other software so that individual actions of each member can be definitely tracked in real-time online observation by everyone involved.

===>Lay out a step-by-step action plan for the group members to cooperatively follow - changeable according to day-to-day conditions - while staying open to actionable ideas of all other members.

===>Provide a running P&L statement in the private membership area showing the day-by-day account of how all money is to be divided according to individual participatory efforts...as agreed upon by each member in advance of joining the group.

This proposal, in a nutshell, is the type of program I myself would want to put together if I had the proven skills to form such a group and pull it off...

...because, like myself, I believe others will see that trust and confidence in the process itself is paramount - and a few helping hands never hurts either!

One day I will do precisely this...

It is an interesting way to win over battle-tested allies to a cause - a cause which can only succeed because its members become loyal to the group as their accumulation of revenue shares increases over time.

Experienced marketers will see this as a no-brainer...and a way to make quick & easy bucks...assuming they do not have to sacrifice their alpha male or guru image of themselves...because they are not called upon to subvert their brand positioning strategies in any demeaning way...and they can get behind the product(s) and/or service(s) being promoted to their followers in the first place.

Seen from this perspective...even newbies can contribute to the viral marketing promotional efforts of some highly-scrutinized, very useful information products... made better because of the mastermind group brainstorming and directly promoting them.

People want to learn to succeed online, but without real-time interaction, in an environment in which their success is practically guaranteed...simply with measurable guided participation...they will mostly flounder and eventually fail.

Who can trust the sales process when the possibility of getting ripped-off is so high? When real transparency is our guiding principle more participation can be assured. Safeguards and guidelines can be constructed...and procedures can be implemented...to prevent commission theft or counter-productive efforts from having a negative impact.

If you believe learning is so key to success online, why not consider that confidence and trust must be earned - and actions always speak louder than words?

Make it a two-way street for the participants...by bringing together under (y)our umbrella...the mavens, salespeople and connectors (as described by Gladwell in The Tipping Point)...necessary to the task of reaching that vaunted tipping point...and thereby bring about a true win-win situation for everyone concerned.

The continuum of learning, actively participating and growing - in a cooperative group effort - is not socialism, Stu. It is a sure-fire way to develop a cadre of affiliates, network marketers, and JV partners - all rolled into one dynamic system of interactive growth.

Selling online doesn't have to be such a dastardly enterprise - with so few winners compared with many more losers.

In bringing together - by open invitation - divergent thinkers (ideators) to identify problems and solutions in a process of elimination or trial-and-error (clarifiers) so that products can finally be created and put together (developers) ALL active participants (implementers) will finally feel a true sense of co-ownership, and so will more enthusiastically promote more profitable products brought to market.

Individuals will freely participate according to "how the spoils of war" are to be divided...and various leaders will rise like cream to the top...allowing for standouts within the group to be recognized and separately rewarded by the others... if the group so chooses.

Each participant must be able to perceive and appreciate from the get-go that their fifteen minutes of fame within the group will be a given once they realize actionable results are accurately measured and structured participation all-but-guarantees a successful collaboration.

I want to learn from heroes who understand that my efforts are equally as heroic - and prove it by their actions, not their words.

Smoke-and-mirrors, secrets, insights, hucksterism and magic are separate from the real opportunities real people deserve and want to respect.

Let's get behind a cooperative work effort in an atmosphere of work-as-entertainment - which brings in real dollars to our wallets!

At the end of the day...I want to believe in a concept of motivation and reward which seeks my enthusiastic and undying support...because it is open-ended and transparent for all concerned...and because I don't want to participate in or promote...suffering or struggle...for anyone.

Best regards,

Laurence

Mainspring Mindshares

[P.S. - Here is another sometime marketer worth checking out. Kinda like you have also earned earned our respect and admiration! His name is Blair Warren. And he was introduced to us by a fellow named Ben Mack]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

----Original Message----

From: Stu McLaren [MyIdeaGuy]
Date: 02/02/07 02:55:43
To: Laurence
Subject: Laurence...from Stu McLaren

Hey Laurence,

I noticed that you signed up for my "Insider Ideas"
newsletter a couple days ago - thanks a lot for signing up :)

Did you read the first issue?

I'd love to know what you thought.

Drop me a line when you get a chance. Just reply to this
email.

Thanks again!!

Take care,

Stu McLaren
Your Idea Guy

Tags: Stu McLaren, My Idea Guy, Tellman Knudsen, Viral Marketing Chemistry Set, Ben Mack, Think Two Products Ahead

Read the serial comic adventures of Mark and Lark - two internet marketing noobs with no products for sale and no customer lists...yet!

This is a free downloadable comic strip series which tells the story of two new business owners just starting out... trying to make their first $1M online.

Will they succeed? Against some pretty strong odds?

Maybe they will - maybe they won't! Maybe...just maybe...they have an arsenal of secret weapons you may want to know about! ~lol~

Mark is a wannabe graphics artist; and Lark is a wannabe book author. We hate sales, and, in fact, we really don't like business, either!

We're never gonna be your coach, your mentor, your teacher or your savior. And we ain't know-it-alls - or experts about nuthin'!

Instead, we might become valuable allies for you - as you may well be for us.

Like you, maybe, we just wanna work from home, escape the traffic jams in the big city, and earn a great living online - without compromising one damn thing!

And we don't ever want to do anything we view as shady, sleazy, or even downright uncomfortable!

"What's that, you say?"

"You hate sales...and you hate business too!"

"How're you guys ever gonna make any money?"

Okay...we hear ya...loud and clear!

But there's a method to our madness...you won't wanna miss.

To find out what we're up to...just stay tuned. Enter your email address in the Feedblitz box to your right...comment as often as you wish to our blog posts...and we'll see to it you find out - as it happens in real-time! :)

How easy is it to download (y)our first comic episode - with the source code - to freely place on your own website? It's as easy as clicking on this link...at Mark and Lark.com!

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Think Two Products Ahead, by Ben Mack, besides being a great new book you really need to read, is a state-of-the-art book marketing campaign worth watching too! And today is launch day - with participation by many of the internet's top-drawer online marketers - so get ready to learn!

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Today is the coming out party for our brand doctor friend, Ben Mack!

Last October, in Atlanta, Mark and I attended his Think Two Sales Ahead workshop to initiate ourselves into the nebulous world of branding and brand development.

And, yes, we were one of those who spent $197 for his eBook before that.

The 3-day workshop cost over $4000, including travel and lodging...which we gladly paid...even after having paid the price for the high-dollar eBook!

Why, might you ask, will we each buy a copy of his just-released new book on Amazon - Think Two Products Ahead - too?

It's pretty simple really - the reason why, I mean. To develop a brand today in a very competitive marketplace - especially when you're dealing in the marketplace of ideas - requires an honest review of the niches you want to trade in and a well-developed understanding of the subject of branding...

...and the new hardback book may reveal a new twist or take the editors over at Wylie could've helped Ben unveil!

The little guy can compete with the big guys, my friend...and Ben, believe you me, is the one who can actually make it happen for you!

Having personally met and come to know the guy in such an intimate setting - in a small conference room with some 40 pretty cool people - was the best introduction to the world of branding, publishing and internet marketing we could ever have hoped for...much less experienced.

In the short life of our new company we didn't feel then, nor do we feel now, that we could compete - much less survive - in this brave new world without it!

To this day Ben's emails are the most interesting - as compared to over 200 different marketers' email messages we receive - and most educational of these we religiously still read...

We're gonna succeed in this business against some pretty strong odds, mark my words.

And so will you!

Mark and I will give you a ringside seat as we develop a relationship with our new colleagues and customers.

We're brand new in this business - absolute neophytes - but we can help make something happen for all of us!

After you buy Ben's book - at under $16...one helluva bargain - why not check out our own Legend Platform...we learned to put together by studying Ben's teachings. Read all you can - and know you're gettin' some incredible insights from a master brand strategist - that'll prove to be of exponential value to you, I promise!

As a token of our appreciation for you - the little guy - we invite you to share in our misadventures...lament - or laugh - at our trials and tribulations...at all the mayhem we'll certainly create for ourselves...just starting out.

Mark and Lark are internet marketing greenhorns - real live noobs - with no products for sale and no customer list yet...and we live as suburbanites wanting a way out of the same mess we've all gotten ourselves into...

...so why not follow along with us as we begin this journey together?

To date we've gotten a little traction with this web log and we've spent considerable time and money just getting our feet wet.

With much to learn still!

But you can subscribe to the Mainspring Mindshares blog free of charge and we can get to know one another - even have a bit of fun...

...at our expense! You can even copy-and-paste - anytime you want - the content of this site. Hell, change a few words around - scramble 'em up - and combine 'em with your own words!

We're always gonna say, "Hey, have at it! It's within the public domain, if we say it is, right?"

And, as they're put together, we also want you to download our free comic strips, which will carry a Creative Commons license (no restrictions, with attribution), but are yours to freely pass around - any way you see fit!

Soon we will have a lot of stuff going on...as will you, no doubt...but we wanna definitely keep in touch...so scroll down, check out the site, and...above all else, learn all you can to Think Two Products Ahead from a remarkable fellow indeed...our friend and yours - Ben Mack!


Put this strip on your site! Just click here to get the code...

Tags: Ben Mack Brand Development Tellman Think Two Products Ahead Mark and Lark comic strip internet marketing brand strategies

What is reason?

Tat for tit
Tit for tat
What is this?
What is that?
What is rhyme?
What is reason?
Would you say
It's time
For Love to have its day...
Or am I just a-teasin'?

Many of us confuse this word reason with other words, like logic, cognizance, mind, sense, consciousness, truth, rationality or cause - as in cause and effect - because it is by applying concepts of language (words, symbols, feelings, and/or perceptions by which we have learned to communicate), consciousness (mindful self-awareness of one's own thoughts, identity, and environment), and logic (that part of reasoning which forms the basis for inquiry into questions of cause and effect) that we have come to understand human reasoning and its effects on our actions within the realms of knowledge, free will, and moral and ethical responsibility.

Knowledge can generally be described as being rational, a priori, independent of our experience, or, empirical, a posteriori, dependent on our experience - central core meanings within epistemology, the study of knowledge.

Free will, on the one hand, is a laughable social and political oxymoron; while, on the other, it is an individual human conundrum debated ad infinitum since before the time of Socrates. Whether we are dispossessed of this causality agent by virtue of having given in to societal dictates, even before our birth - or not - is a question often left unanswered by most of us...given that most of us assume we are naturally possessed with this ability to freely choose our actions...bound within the laws of nature...if often quite apart from our cultural inheritance.

Of this debate, the crux of the dilemma, nevertheless, calls upon rational human societies and individuals to resolve age-old conflict in new ways consistent with Man's natural bent toward survival and environmental sustainability. If free will be but illusory - even transcendental - does not escape the argument of whether or not it is of the determinist or compatibilist school of philosophy, for instance.

Our power to reason is often cited as the difference between us and the lower animals. It is what causes us to act upon our free will by logically processing derivative answers to questions...or stated premises to conclusions...by subtracting - or deducting - seemingly illogical abstractions - in order to bring about inferences, answers, or conclusions...by way of stimulation, influence or persuasion. The commonly-held belief here is that Man is somehow superior in Nature, and hence, must assume stewardship - or dominion - over much of Creation.

And it is through our supposed ability to reason we consciously form our motives... which inspire or call us to action.

Thus it is the force of our arguments by which we are often falsely led down the primrose path leading to nowhere in particular...

Do you think this is often so?

Could it be we are but fallible beings who easily and often are misled by our own false assumptions?

Are our arguments and conclusions - our less than completely logical or honest answers to life's many riddles - leading us away from our most-honorable purposes more often than not?

Reason does not rule out unconscious influence on our thoughts and behavioral activities; nor does it explain away very well all lingering questions about...

Intention and Desire
Observation and Experience
Evaluation and Discussion
Self-Imposed Limitations
Denial of Facts
Lies and Distortions
Myth and Reality

...and the like.

Instead, it reinforces my belief that our thoughts and actions are ultimately rooted...and persist...not so much in reason, but in our built-in biological propensities toward a primordial game of survival - seeking pleasure at every turn.

Therefore, if this be true - on its surface, at least - then reason itself becomes suspect as nothing more than manufactured thought borne from an illusory premise; and our reliance upon evolutionary trends in communication to see us through our days only exposes us for the _[fill in the blank]_ we have become - our own worst enemies!

We know this from history and we know this from our own experience - if we but simply examine the evidence.

If we are to evolve as a species we must challenge our assumptions and beliefs about a lot of things. If we are to hold on to our perception of ourselves as even rational reasoning creatures, that is.

In suspending our hard-held beliefs...those voices of obvious or apparent reason...by constantly challenging their underlying assumptions; by trusting in our own physiologically-rooted emotional interactions...both inside and outside our spheres of influence...we will be less-guided by words and imagery...which tend only to lead us away from our better, more-highly-evolved instincts.

Instead, we will merely allow our natural instincts for survival and our natural seeking of pleasure to inform and supersede all other honest appraisals of this question.

All rational discourse must naturally devolve from these elemental understandings innate to our individual and collective concepts of being - well before silly words obfuscate the picture - lest we delude ourselves again with still more of the same... less-than-honest, illogical questions and answers using them.

Seeing the world in this way is not to discount reason; it is simply a means to an end - a way to use reason to serve us in the more beneficent manner we deserve.

I dare say, without real emotional love - of ourselves and all life (though reasonable persons may agree to disagree) - and without conclusive proof of love's existence in objective reality, then does subjective reason even really matter?

Can we deny the existence of our emotions - even of love?

Furthermore, is reason alone a sound enough basis for coordinating our myriad thought communiques or for organizing our intentional actions in this world?

I think not.

Only the truth of this...will finally set us free...toward the path of our own salvation...and the lessening of our suffering, don't ya think?

So what...do you think...is reason?

Would you trust in the truth of your answer?

Let us know if you care so much about these words, huh?

For me, my own words read here are meant to inspire playfulness and joyfulness - hardly amounting much to anything else at all!

Tags: Mindshare Truth Reality Motivation Force Reason

What does freedom mean to me?

====================================================================================

Following up on the What is freedom? question I put forth the other day...

I said I would let you in on what freedom means to me - in other words, how is it that I define the word freedom itself, first...then, how is that I will answer the question, second, for myself.

But before I do, here's the dictionary definition of freedom...

free dom - the state of being free

Okay, so now we logically have to check out the definition of free first...

free - without obligation; unobstructed; unconstrained; obtainable without payment; without limitation; being absent; unbound; without blockage; unattached; unencumbered; to be released; not imprisoned

Wow...this is getting a little overwhelming, isn't it? You would think a simple question requires a simple answer, wouldn't you?

But it gets even more complicated as we dig deeper...

Remember, a dictionary, and maybe an encyclopedia, are only the first references we can consult. After all, these traditional sources are but compedia (abstract summaries) - or compilations - of the English-speaking world's collective overview of these words' most-commonly-understood meanings. But then, I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I?

Now that we have just some dictionary definitions of free let's get back to the other words used to define freedom - the state of being - before we begin to check out the encyclopedias for more, shall we?

After all, if a suitable definition has been found already - by others who've come before us...or who might be more learned than us - then I'm all over what's easiest!

Aren't you?

And I just want to provide myself the simple answer to a simple question - without just guessing, or worse - getting the answer all wrong...

...because I really don't have a desire to be that smart; nor do I necessarily believe I can be forthcoming with a definitive personal answer - despite sounding so positive in my earlier pronouncement!

Notwithstanding the fact that an acceptable definition of the single word freedom may not be sufficient to succinctly answer the original question...

...we'll keep digging...and continue with the definitions of state and being next.

[By the way, do you think you have the perfect answer already? Without all this gobbledy-gook?]

state - a condition...of being, of being in a stage, as of structure, growth, or development, of depression or agitation; of a physical system, of excitement or distress; a social position or rank; a supreme public power within a sovereign political entity; within the purview of a supreme civil power within a given polity; a body politic, especially one constituting a nation; the territory occupied by one of the constituent administrative districts of a nation; the organization or group of people comprising that which is the government; the group owned or operated by a state (adjective); declare, or set forth in words (verb); ceremony or pomp; the politically organized body of people under a single government; the way it is relative to its principal attributes; the federal government; as of matter, like of a solid, liquid or gas; to express in words (verb); put before (verb); denote; refer; vote, or express a choice; a mental or emotional condition

Whew! Hang in here with me now...'cause it only gets better! To define being, first we need to define the word be...

be - an action word (or verb form) of the words is, am, are, was, were; the root word of being (present participle) or been (past perfect tense); used with the present participle of a verb to express a continuing action; used with the infinitive of a verb to express intention,obligation, or future action; used with the past participle of certain intransitive verbs of motion to form the perfect tense; used to identify the predicate of a sentence with the subject, or as a verb serving as a link between the subject and the predicate of a proposition; to exist in actuality, or to have life or reality; to symbolize or signify; to equal in meaning; to go (past perfect tense); to have or exhibit a quality or characteristic; have the quality of being; have an existence; happen, occur or take place; identical or equivalent to; form or compose; spend or use time; represent; have life; remain uninterrupted, unmolested or undisturbed; priced at; occupy a certain position or area; belong to or befall (archaic) <Where be my poor thinking right about now?>

And to soldier onward...

be ing - derived from the word be; quality of having existence; an object, idea, or symbol that exists; basic or essential nature; in philosophy - that which can be conceived as existing, or absolute existence in its perfect or unqualified condition, or the essence of existence; a person; a living thing which has the propensity, or already possesses, an ability to function or act independently; existing; existence

...let's not neglect the words the and of...'cause we might just miss somethin'...so here goes...

the - pronounced thuh before a consonant; and thee before a vowel; a definite article or an adverb; an article or absolute adjective used before a noun or nouns in a sentence, clause or phrase; used before an adjective extending it to signify a class and giving it the function of a noun; used before a present participle; used before a noun with the force of per; used before a singular noun indicating the noun is generic; used before a noun specifying a particular human endeavor; used before the plural form of a numeral denoting a specific decade or period in one's life; used before a present participle, signifying the action in the abstract; used before a proper name, as of a monument or ship; used before nouns that designate natural phenomena or points of a compass; used before a noun, and generally stressed, emphasizing one of a group or type as the most outstanding or prominent; used before a title, a rank or office designating its holder; beyond any other; to that extent:by that much; and finally, from the Old English and the Middle English periods, an alteration of the word se, a masculine nominative singular demonstrative adjective

...some more of our comprehensive understanding of these damn words...with the definition of...(you guessed it!)

of - derived or coming from; caused by; at a distance from; from the total or group comprising; so as to be separated or relieved from; from the total or group comprising; composed or made from; associated with or adhering to; belonging or connected to; possessing:having; on the part of; containing or carrying; centering on:directed toward; specified as; produced by:issuing from; characterized or identified by; with reference to:about; in respect to; before:until; during or on a specified time; by; used to indicate an appositive <that idiot of a wordsmith>; on (archaic) <A plague of all cowards, I say> - Shakespeare

Now, you just might be fed up reading this balderdash by now, huh? Well, I've got some good news for you...

I'm fed up assembling all these tedious words!

So, do I have an answer for you...for what freedom means to me?

You're damn right I do!

Freedom is unthinkingness and unknowingness - not wanting for nuthin'...including the stupid words to define it!

And you can forget about going into the encyclopedia definitions too...because...

Freedom is whatever the hell I want it to mean! You got that?

Tags: Freedom, Free, How to get Free, Unthinkingness, Unknowingness, Words on free thought

Wes Unruh (see his Online Prosperity Education link to your right on this page) is truly a gifted communicator who sees his role similarly to how Mark and I see our own roles in the media.

The following comment was in recent response to Wes' post regarding guerrilla tactics shown, by example, to counterbalance what employees see as their employers' unethical practices in the workplace.

Mark and I have been employees and employers; we've been contractors and we've been consultants - so we see the issues clearly from both sides of the bargaining table.

As real people engaged in commerce - or employed by a commercial interest - understand all-too-well, communication must be a two-way street if our time spent together in a useful exchange is to bear the most fruit...on a basis of fair play
...over time.

Fair play is that part of the social contract which underlies our assumptions about how and why our collaborations are to be defined, explicitly or implicitly understood, and acted upon accordingly.

Without effective communication we assume the risk that fair play will not sustain itself because misunderstanding and conflict naturally arises...in any event or circumstance.

Notwithstanding all other evidence to the contrary...factors, quotients and variables do exist...in any relationship where cognitive dissonance is, many times, at play...and buyer's remorse remains a possibility.

So, whether it be in our business or our personal relationships, this truism holds because it always exists.

It is up to each one of us to know this potential for tension and dispute is a naturally-occurring phenomenon found universally in Nature; and thus, it is within our human natures too...to become empowered by this knowledge...and successfully adapt to it or change directions.

As Dad always said, "Life gives us lemons - so we make lemonade. It's up to you what you do with it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wu,

You never cease to impress me with your thoughts, my friend!

Authoritarian constructs are often innocently or enthusiastically created when two or more parties wish to begin an exchange - for whatever reason or purpose.

Thus, your example perfectly illustrates what often goes awry in just such an authoritarian construct which assumes an equitable exchange of time and effort for money and stock options - the mediums of the exchange, in this case.

Here we have an often-used, real-life example of a classic employer-employee construct, coupled with a carrot-and-stick performance/results clause, commonly employed in many industries - not just the gaming industry.

This example is widely-used because skilled workers want a piece of the action in exchange for their creative efforts; and their employers want motivated efforts from them.

And it is from here that all-too-human machinations begin to unravel both parties' assumptions - leading to the grass roots campaign begun by our "significant other" protagonist, and its eventual outcome, as evidenced in your case study.

Utilizing leverage this way comprises a finely-tuned balancing act which both sides actively engaged in the aforementioned construct must stay attuned to perfecting as performance and results are actualized - lest we lose our way...or our health.

Without respectful communication we cannot expect good outcomes or positive results. So if an authoritarian construct - of any kind - is entered into, it is useful to remind ourselves that the devil is in the details very often, and a social or business contract must equally benefit both parties if this entanglement is to bear fruit for us over time.

Successful collaborations within an authoritarian construct begin and end when all parties engaged therein realize the truth as it stares them in the face. And honest assumptions require a compact of structured arbitration be built in the contract for harmonious results to be expected.

Alas...simply an employer-employee relationship in a capitalist construct - heavily weighted from its patriarchal underpinnings - often doesn't call for this understanding to be put in place at all...as the authoritarian master-slave, parent-child, and/or even the outmoded man-woman construct is entered into, unthinkingly...like bees to honey...to the full flower of its poisonous bloom; in other words, with no recourse but to churn-and-burn its participants in a never-ending cycle of wanton abuse.

I think, therefore I am but a product of my own imagination. So if I imagine I must consider participating in any authoritarian construct, I can imagine this entanglement for what its logical experience and outcome might mean for me - from its beginning to its end - so I can leverage this experience to satisfy my own design.

Hence, all less-than-equal social or business constructs can be intelligently and compassionately seen in the light in which they are originally engaged, allowing us to see our way clear as to how best it can suit our highest, most-noble purposes.

Seen from this vantage point, knowing few things in life are co-equal, or even fair, we carry on...

Fair play is best understood when the parties so enjoined realize how successful collaborations are made harmonious within our natures as human beings.

When less-than-fair-play is tolerated...tension - or stress - can be expected to be the result.

And change - whether for good or ill - will be the only outcome of such a shared experience.

After all, a house of cards will most certainly fall, right?

In observations such as yours, a playing field can be leveled - with a little initiative and a bold approach - utilizing the power of leverage.

Bravissimo, wu!

Show us the way to the revolution!

Laurence

Mainspring Mindshares

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Go see Wes' original post in MySpace by...

Clicking Here...then heading over to his blog post which is entitled "Target Inc Overworking Diabetics, Refusing Breaks" to view more.

What is freedom?

You know how it is with simple questions like this, everyone has a different take on it's definition. Therefore, there can be as many answers as questions, if you get my drift.

If freedom is something you might find desirous it helps to understand what it means first.

So for fun...here's some definitions supplied by some other folks.

But remember...only your definition of freedom will ring true for you. If you can't put it to memory - as a constant reminder - you might as well be sabotaging your freedom.

If this be unimportant...maybe you're into doggie submission...or second-class subservience...to someone else's definition of freedom...ya think?

More on this topic later...if not sooner. I'll let you in on what freedom REALLY means - albeit, only to me!

In the meantime, why not let us in on your thoughts?

At the end of the day...what could possibly be more important?

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"I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom." - Albert Einstein

"Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose. Nothin', don't mean nothin' honey if it ain't free." - Janis Joplin

"Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes." - Mahatma Ghandi

"Man is free at the moment he wishes to be." - Voltaire

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion." - Albert Camus

"We are driven by five genetic needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun." - William Glasser

"While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions." - Stephen R. Covey

"Freedom in general may be defined as the absence of obstacles to the realization of desires." - Bertrand Russell

"There are only two kinds of freedom in the world; the freedom of the rich and powerful, and the freedom of the artist and the monk who renounces possessions." - Anais Nin

"Man is a being with free will; therefore, each man is potentially good or evil, and it's up to him and only him (through his reasoning mind) to decide which he wants to be." - Ayn Rand

"Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one." - Benjamin Franklin

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Freedom lies in being bold." - Robert Frost

"No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky." - Bob Dylan

"Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." - George Orwell

"I want to have fun. I want to shine like the sun. I want to be the one that you want to see. I want to knit you a sweater. I want to write you a love letter. I want to make you feel better. I want to make you feel free." - Joni Mitchell

"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." - Soren Kierkegaard

"The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission." - John F. Kennedy

"Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire." - Epictetus

"You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once." - Robert A. Heinlein

More freedom quotes here

Lark - "Okay...oh yea, did you see that video I told you to check out? The night fishermen?"

Mark - "You mean the one with all the fish hittin' the Mexican guys in the face?"

Lark - "Tell ya what's so cool about it, Mark. It beats the hell out of kanoodlin' - even shootin' fish in a barrel. Wanna know why?"

Mark - "You mean noodlin'? Like Okies catchin' Cats by hand?"

Lark - "Yea, yea, you're from Oklahoma. Never went noodlin', Mark?"

Mark - "No...and I never shot fish in a barrel, either. So what?"

Lark - "Sheeeiish, man...this damn video explains all we need to know about internet marketing!"

Mark - "Don't go weird on me dude! Go ahead. Tell me somethin' I need to hear, alright?"

Lark - "We just need to shorten the learning curve, Mark! Why don't we see if we can throw down with somebody already doin' this crap?

Mark - "Yea, right! Like I need to become a wage slave again, huh? What about you? You think you can handle being a suck-up again, Lark?"

Lark - "Mark, I ain't interested in no fussin' and fightin' now, no strugglin' neither! We just need to seriously think about makin' some deals..."

Mark - "Heh, heh! Gimme a break! Noone wants to deal with noobs - with no products and no list! We're nobodies, Lark!"

Lark - "Would you trade a dollar to make two, Mark?"

Mark - "Hell yea, any day of the week! You can pull a deal like THAT off? Sign me up...I'm game!"

Fishing without bait at night. Amazing!!!

Mark - "I thought YOU had the plan..."

Lark - "Yea, and I thought YOU did!"

Mark - "Remember you said," 'We just need mass eyeballs to the sales page', so you could then put the hoodoo on 'em, right?"

Lark - "Alright, Mark, let's lay out the step-by-step - one more time, okay?

Mark - "Whatever! Give me somethin' to sell and I'll slap it up!"

Lark - "You know, Mark, this is the simple part. The whole world's pitchin' and catchin' and we're just the ones providing the message board - get it?"

Mark - "Of course, dude, you mean like at the Rangers game, right?"

Lark - "That'll work! We just need to sign up the players and put some asses in seats."



Put this strip on your site! Just click here to get the code...

Tags: Mark and Lark, First Adventures in Internet Marketing, Internet Marketing, Step By Step, Plan

Reflections on everything old becomes new again - things between and beyond...

This past week Mark and I worked together - according to our pre-arranged schedule - on the creation of our first real information product.

Though we followed a rather circuitous route to begin its implementation the project at least has the look and feel of something which adheres to our brand essence...as evidenced in our Legend Platform.

And as it was fun, it remains so - a worthwhile thing - a proverbial work-in-progress!

This Saturday morning it's threatening to sleet outside and I'm happily allowing myself the latitude to have the feeling of no direction - destination unknown take me over whilst the words and the melody of an 80s tune with similar lyrics...
rhapsodizes...rhythmically in my head.

So it's a lovely beginning to a well-deserved lazy day which guides my destiny...and I have no regrets...

...for such days always fuel my energies and inform my passions.

As I meander about my way - like you, sometimes, might expect - I often learn more as an accidental tourist than if I had followed along the beaten path of the tour guide within me.

I read some emails, reread others, listened to a few audio and video tutorials, and generally selfishly pleasured myself...as only me, myself, and I knows how to do best. (Don't sink to the level of the guttersnipe now...:)

Just consider me the penultimate expert about some things, okay?

Anyway, I glanced through Kevin Hogan's Covert Persuasion a little again, ignored a couple of bill collector calls, reminded Laura - and myself - about the Top Ten important people in our lives, then stopped...

...myself...to consider just how insular our lives had become...of our separateness from human events - unimportant...out of sight...out of mind - not of our own creation or directly related to our present circumstance.

It's not a happy state of affairs, is it?

Upstairs, I went to check on Laura giving Rocky (our little Pom-Bomber) his weekly (bi-weekly?) bath, and in a box in an anteroom I discovered one of my late Mom's books, Orgone, Reich & Eros: Wilhelm Reich's Theory of Life Energy, by W. Edward Mann.

Now since I had only a few days ago been reading about radionics, ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) scores and orgone therapy it's only natural I'd be drawn to this book, don't ya think?

Hell, while routinely throwing out direct mail pieces from A.A.R.P. - presumably since some bot discovered I was now past 50 - I was delighted to discover the social networking site, cRANKy; but upon learning "sex" is the #1 search term for my fellow boomers today, and "Eons" has an "Obits" section, I wasn't so delighted after all!

So, perusing the innards I come upon the first page of the first chapter, and lo and behold, highlighted in yellow (energy) is "...his death in prison in 1957...", no doubt, manually applied by my dear Mom's own hand...sometime about 1973, the time of its first printing.

This made me think of one of Mom's constant admonitions to me as I was growing up..."Be careful what you say, Larry. They'll put you in prison."

To which I usually scoffed or laughed - one or the other - because I didn't want to believe that the thought police would ever come knocking at MY door; nor did I accept the possibility that such an occurrence ever would exist, though it may have existed as a reality for some...back in the dark ages...before MY time.

But there it was - a concrete reinforcement that this kind of stuff "has happened" in my lifetime - here in the good ole USA! And Mom knew something about it...

Wilhelm Reich was a contemporary of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, and his crazy ideas were experiencing a revival, of sorts, about the time I was in junior college - a time of intense introspection and revelation in my life, so I was not wholly unfamiliar with his theses.

What has captured my fascination this morning is the fact that this particular book jumped out at me at all...just when it did.

It catalyzes some of the causality notions I've held for some time, in that random chance is simply not an acceptable reality if we but choose to open our energy pathways and allow ourselves to just be like the open-ended conduits of energy we really are.

Assumptions of what is real and what is not are at the heart of self-imposed limitations we too-often place on our existence, preventing us from living the life of fulfillment we deserve.

Like Royal Rife, of Rife Frequency Generator fame, Reich too was hounded by the FDA for his "claims that orgone energy therapy might one day become a demonstrated treatment to assist in the cure of cancer." After being considered one of Freud's most promising new contemporaries - in the relatively new field of psychoanalysis - over time he had difficulty keeping friends and winning converts and money to his "overwrought and complicated" causes, which were just too far out for their time. In fact, many, including his peers, and, of course, the federales thought of him as schizophrenic - a dangerous, must-be-subverted quack.

So Freud, and Albert Einstein, eventually shunned him, and Reich died in prison. The same kind of travesty which befell Galileo before him.

[Which only goes to show you: Use your insight to support the powers-that-be, or risk being ostracized. Prepare for the worst in advance - or just shut the ***k up!]

As Professor Mann so correctly states in his introduction, Reich's ideas about energy, social behavior, politics, even the human libido and its relationship to the cosmos itself, have consistently curried new favor and won over new fans for his theories to this present day.
More Info

It's up to us to carry the torch...

And I couldn't help but note my interest, too, in Reikian therapy, or, as some would have it called - even derisively - the laying of healing hands on the human body, because the Japanese word reiki reminds me of the German word reich, or empire.
More Info

Creation of Order = Initiation of Chaos

You might enjoy Armed Madhouse, by Greg Palast, for a contemporary read on the current situation in Washington, that'll make you bust a gut laughing (to keep from cryin'?). Then read Reich's books like Character Analysis (about how our entire personalities are self-serving, self-defeating - pure fakery with little connection to reality), Cosmic Superimposition: Man's Orgonotic Roots in Nature (and its relation to elan vital), Mass Psychology of Fascism (discover the parallels between the Nazi regime of the Third Reich and present-day America's mass psychosis, exploitation of the many by the few, self-delusion and betrayal of our own self-interests), The Sexual Revolution (no wonder we got wound up in the 60s, and freaked out, turned on or turned out by the 80s), and especially, Listen, Little Man (a chilling expose of a people, a society, gone blind, and the impetus for going after him in the first place), and you tell me this man's prescience doesn't deserve his rising star, after all.

Robert Anton Wilson (just passed away) once wrote a play, Wilhelm Reich in Hell, based on his life; and William Steig, Norman Mailer, William S. Burroughs, and Orson Bean had all undergone Reich's orgone therapy before.

More at Wikipedia.org

Beyond the grave, he remains in good company, my friends. But on terra firma we must know that our ability to live as free men is always under assault...by those same few who would have us under the yoke...pulling their plows - these same sadists who tyrannized our forebears. They're like unfeeling, unthinking "do-gooders" - insisting on their worldview as superior to yours. Did you make all these rules which constrain you, or do you just want to go along with the program laid out for you, without a plan to escape?

Do you still have free will?

Which reminds me, I have to finish reading this book in a hurry so I can revisit Viktor Schauberger's writings on water-based power generation (via vortex action in a closed cycle) - concepts not too far apart from Reich's concepts of perpetual motion, force multiplier FX (my words), and orgasms. :)

Pseudo-sciences, from pseudo-intellectuals all, we're told still to this day!

Is this why the U.S. Government had his writings burned while they had him safely behind bars?

But, by "cracky", I'll be danged and determined, even if I can't find the tie-in, and crack the proverbial code myself one day, I will!

(How's that, for cranky, huh?)

Are we so empty-headed and self-centered that we deny ourselves the freedom to passionately and excitedly just be truly alive?

Who is it that told you that your life is not your own? To be lived on YOUR terms and yours alone?

How much insanity have you bought into - without ever realizing it?

When we definitively describe our purpose - our mission - in life, are we too-hurriedly short-changing ourselves?

I think so.

I think, therefore, I am but a product of my own imagination. Thus, can I be the victim of setting my own limitations in quick-drying cement - like you, maybe?

But more on this story later...as it's still being lived...

...a work still in progress...and its telling must wait!

Oh yea, like this work-in-progress from last week...

...by a couple of suburban internet marketing noobs (neophytes) named...

"Mark and Lark"

Tags: Wilhelm Reich Sigmund Freud energy social behavior politics chaos mass psychosis internet marketing Mark and Lark

It's no secret I appreciate readers and writers , psych-docs and story-tellers, truth-seekers and myth busters - especially...

artists and composers or organizers.

Which is not to say I don't also appreciate those wishing to eliminate malicious intent from their lives or those only wishing to make me laugh or smile...

like clowns and rabble-rousers or town criers.

And there's only so much artifice I can stomach from anyone - including myself!

My heros are those who lack obvious self-consciousness or those who, like me, are all-too-human...

Like these guys...


The Dullards

A dullard sat atop a flagpole
Wondering
Whether or not
The weather might change.
And would it not be too strange
For a flop to flip
Or his friend to sit
Waiting
While both start
Rearranging
Their brains?

Or this guy...


Why? It Matters How To(o)!

No matter the problem

No matter the solution

No matter the question

No matter the answer

For everything

And everyone

That matters

For

Whatever

Whomever

Whenever

Always ask, “Why?”

A big enough reason

Makes the how to(o)

Simple

So the secret's out - you're just my kind - a healer, a help-mate and a time-traveler too.

And now left I'm wondering...

From where it is YOU sit, just exactly where DO you fit?

Do it on a lark...

We have 52 purchased domain names; and hosting of a few of them has been set up. Mark has established and/or perfected our accounts in Clickbank, PayPal, eBay, Amazon, Google...MSN and Yahoo are next.

Has anything been left out - or forgotten? No doubt...

...but at least we're moving forward together with the new business.

Advancing previous discussions, we took digital photos of each other so we can introduce ourselves more properly to the online community.

Mark edited the images in PhotoShop and we discussed framing issues related to our marketing strategies.

Monday through Friday - from 9:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. - we will meet at my home office to bring Mainspring Mindshares to life. This week, we didn't get started until Wednesday, but we'll stay on this schedule beginning Monday.

What had been a storage area - the adjacent sunroom between the office and a small rose garden outside - has slowly begun to take shape as a separate office for Mark, and now we can work from our own computers at our own desks, while still being able to have normal conversations.

We feel that there are just too many words and too much media in most of our lives today.

And chewing up life in our little corners of suburbia is an all-consuming experience.

We talked about persuasion - and crowded marketplaces. Competition from worthy competitors. I alluded to what I now famously refer to as that real estate between our ears which is so relentlessly assaulted because we allow it.

Mark still objects to my use of big words...especially if I am to keep him engaged. He reminds me of another Mark I once knew in high school, who, upon interrupting my blather with someone else - after not seeing each other for a week or so - was startled to hear me say pardon me to him, as if I had assumed some alien nicety or affectation unbecoming of a "regular dude" we might deem worthy of his association!

In both instances both Marks just kinda chuckled...since proper dudes just don't use such words from outside their own circles, do they?

Which also reminds me of another friend of mine, Dan, from Marquette, Michigan, I also knew in high school earlier in Bossier City, Louisiana, who commented one day about some asinine blowhard pulling off a typical high school prank by saying, "Such a crude individual...", while the rest of us laughed and laughed at his uncommon choice of words...whereas, in this vulgar scene, most high school dudes (esteemed by the appellation) usually might just say, "Cool!"

All in all...it's been a healthy start. Communication happens best when our time can be spent being playful and joyful...and laughter works too...

...since LIFE is what we live on our way to bigger and better things.