About Me
This blog is an experiment. It’s my own personal Post Secret site with a shelf life of about nine weeks.
I’m going to share everything I know about having an online business in internet marketing from the years I’ve been in this business, what I learned, and what it’s like to earn an income that comes from the internet.
I’ve projected that I’ll have earned enough money from these and my other blogs to leave internet marketing forever at about that time. I’m in no way sure of this, it’s just a pretty good guess. If I miss that mark, I am royally screwed.
It’s not a bad business, at the end of the day, and it’s much better than the whole nine to five thing. I wouldn’t trade my experience for the world.
But my shop is too small to afford to expand, and too big to manage without working twenty hours a day. So I just can’t keep doing it and expect to enjoy a long life.
There’s a lot of things you don’t find out until you’re in the business. In this business like no other, your regular customers are your best friends, EVER. If you really get in good with them, and get permission to keep talking to even a small core of dedicated clients, you’ll never starve.
The biggest downside is that people posing as your customers may try and cheat you - digital fraud is the biggest crime there is and most people don’t even consider it stealing. It could be karma. When Kazaa first came out, I downloaded my fair share of records I would never have bought. The difference was that it led to a lot of purchases I never would have made as well.
You also learn that subscribers who will never buy a thing from you are still great because, given the chance and a few genuine words, they’ll make you famous. Your peers (though not your friends) may steal your ideas, or misquote you to sell their own ideas.
And the people who have made it in this business are the nicest people in the whole game, by far, and will bend over backwards to help you if they can. You almost can’t make it in this system and be an asshole - not if you intend to have any longevity.
There’s a lot of stuff I wish someone had told me, and there’s a bunch of stuff I didn’t want to hear that I knew but didn’t heed. So in order to restore karma to my universe, I’m telling you. Not just about internet marketing, but about me.
There’s a problem though.
If I tell you everything, no holds barred, frank and no bullshit, there are some bridges I’ll be burning. And since this gig depends heavily on credibility and reputation, how much can you believe from an anonymous person? On the other hand, how do you get the really juicy, inside tidbits or secrets unless the person spilling the beans can protect their anonymity?
So I’ve decided not to hide my identity, but not to tell anyone who I am either. I’ll be anonymous as far as this blog is concerned. But an attentive person will figure out my alter ego. Most people won’t care either way and I accept that.
And nine weeks from today, it won’t matter who I am.
I’m getting some… let’s say, venture capital … that will allow me to leave the business for good within a year. I expect the last of it to be safely in my hands by April 14, 2007. I’m going to stick around to wrap up pending projects and refer my clients safely to the blokes taking over.
As such, my motives for spilling the beans are kind of a parting gift to the internet marketing society, particularly to newbies or someone trying to break in to making a living online. In some ways, as you’ll see, it’s also my smirking revenge. Sadly, I’m not above that type of thing as yet.
For the next nine weeks, you can call me Tatman. That’s not even close to my real name. It’s short for something corny that I’ll spare you. I’m sure people will call me names when this is over - hopefully good ones.
Enough about me though. Click any link on the home page, or under “My Recent Posts” to get today’s ugly truth.