That makes sense. Thanks for the comment Mark, and enjoy the treadmill.

The same goes for getting advice on how it is possible to attain some level of financial freedom.

Now, back to the treadmill

I agree with that totally. People who haven’t made any money online yet shouldn’t be teaching other people how to make money – it’s that whole vicious cycle that landed internet marketing with a bed rep in the first place. If you know it, share it. If you don’t know it, learn it first before you tell people you know it.

Hey Scott;

Thanks for your comments.

Regarding the Foundation — I do agree that Dane is really popular right now, and that popularity like Dane is experiencing will influence people’s decisions. So you are right to suggest that evaluation of The Foundation (and Pat) should be based on data and facts — not on crazy popularity.

While I do see a “cult like following” forming around Pat and Dane — this following is something that Seth Godin would call a Tribe. Dane is definitely selling hope — the hope that if you pay money to belong to the foundation, you will become financially free. It’s exactly the same hope I had when I went to college. I personally think hope is great as long as there is something to justify the hope. So the question for me is “does Dane actually deliver”? I don’t know. All of his business suggestions seem sound to me. I am just not sure how often they work, and how many people will quit before they are successful.

As for Pat, I really do think he is just telling his story. Yes, he tells it with affiliate links. And yes, his audience is comprised of people that want a better life. Unlike Dane, Pat is not promising a particular result. He is just telling his story.

I agree that Pat’s story is a shocking 1-in-a-million story. But it would be hard to repeat exactly what Pat has done — but Pat is not teaching that. Pat is teaching marketing fundamentals. Pat’s most popular posts are about link building and facebook landing pages. Not how to get rich with them, but how to DO link building and how to BUILD facebook landing pages.

I see that as a major difference between Pat and other who are actually (as you suggest) selling hope.

What’s the alternative?

1. Pat stays silent and no one benefits from his journy
2. Pat goes completely non-profit and can’t afford to invest time in telling his story?

I kind of like the status quo personally.

Thanks again for your comment. I really do appreciate the point of view.

The foundation sounds like a cult, or even a pyramid scam…too good to be true and in today world, it’s obvious that there are herds of listener ready to join these groups or buy something through Pat’s links that is really only selling hope – these people have just as much chance at winning the lotto, or should put their money into the slots at the casino. Chances are the odds are about the same.

Even casinos have winners such as Pat, the rest just get hooked on buying hope. You also mentioned your podcast friend (don’t recall his name) that donated sales, I wonder if he would have done this without getting the publicity or name recognition?

They all make a living selling hope, even Pat, he just the nicest and most genuine which makes him more dangerous). Just giving you my opinion – beware people, you work too hard for your money!

Scott

Excellent Tim. Keep us posted on your progress.
Mark

Thanks for the comments.

I especially agree with you about the product. I was amazed when he put that on hold — amazed an impressed. The product that he is working on will be an amazing success — and will easily sell hundreds of copies (probably thousands). So we are talking about tens or more likely hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But what Pat seems to care about is the people buying the product — not just the money. Go figure. Hell of a way to run a business.

Thanks again, Jason

I’m finally making a little bit of money online, and I’m certainly planning on teaching others how I did it.

I really enjoyed the podcast. I regret not getting around to leaving my voice feedback on the subject of Pat.

I think we had this discussion via comments last year (I think it was here). I had raised the issue that I view the term Internet Marketer as negative. Therefore, I don’t view Pat as an IMer (though he truly is). As some of the feedback expressed, I see no issue in putting out a video showing how to set up a blog and then saying, ready to get started, try BlueHost. Most people take the approach of, “let me show you how awesome BlueHost is, now go get it.” Pat does do this sometimes, but I feel he’s genuinely vetted the product and believes in it. Others seem to be posting a video/tutorial for the sake of getting affiliate money. With Pat, I feel he wants to help people.

But that’s not what I was going to leave feedback regarding. The #1 reason I hold Pat in high regard is that he stated he had been working on his own product for several months and was close to releasing. Then Penguin hit. He stopped work on the product because he was not comfortable not knowing how effective it would be in this new environment. Pat is one of the few who makes a ton online without pushing his own product (over and over). I’ve recently unsubscribed from a few lists that I used to view highly and look forward to seeing in my inbox. Once people started bailing on the Marketers build a niche business products after Panda/Penguin, they started pimping Authority Sites, Kindle Books, Forget Google – Build Up Your Facebook Traffic, and the slimiest of all – Check out this awesome WSO!. No Thanks! (OK, enough with the Pat man crush)

Finally, awesome approach using the voice feedback. The questions/comments practically write the outline for your show. Just add your opinions/answers and the shows almost ready. Should make it easier to achieve your goal of one per week. Keep it up!