Be an entrepreneurs ? why not ?

Title and Author: The E Code by Joe Vitale and Jo Han Mok

Synopsis of Content:

These two internet entrepreneurs wrote a book by only writing a bit of it. They solicited articles from various other internet marketers and then assembled them all together in a single book. The book contains 44 chapters, some only two or three pages in length, others longer. Of these Vitale and Mok only wrote or co-wrote 10. The other 34 were submitted by others.

The book focuses on various internet marketing strategies. For the person new to internet marketing the book is a great introduction to many ideas that for the most part have been around for awhile. A couple articles are actually a bit dated. A few things are really fresh.

The authors in part use the very book they are writing as a big lesson on how to collaborate with others to quickly create a useful information product to sell. They therefore "wrote" the book in a few hours. In reality they are more editors and compilers than authors and this is not a new concept in the publishing world.

The book ends with a self styled "bonus" set of chapters by marketer Terry Dean. These may be the most valuable part of the book.

Unless you are a highly experienced internet marketer you will learn a lot reading through these articles even though you may find some of the materials on newspaper advertising of little use.

Readability/Writing Quality:

Over all the book is well done. It is easy to read. Most of the chapters are short and to the point. They use lots of lists and sub-headings to keep you organized.

Notes on Author:

Joe Vitale has been around for a long time as a copy writer and marketer. He was a featured "teacher" in the movie and book called The Secret. Mok is a student of Vitale and now a business partner.

Related Website:

Vitale's primary website is http://www.mrfire.com/
Jo Han Mok's primary website is http://www.internetmillionairecode.com/

Note: I have not yet investigated either of these marketers. I make no representations about the products they sell or the services they offer. You should carefully research and evaluate any offers made to you on the internet. This review is limited to representations in the book reviewed and not the website content referenced.

Three Great Ideas You Can Use:

1. You can work with others on an internet project, thereby reducing the workload of each participant and pooling talent and information to provide a better and more marketable product. This is the chief lesson from this book - the value of collaboration and joint ventures.

2. Terry Dean's articles on affiliate marketing at the end of this book are great. You can learn a lot of basic affiliate marketing information from these chapters.

3. Buried on page 28 is a truth that I tell people all the time about books - "never, ever just read a book. Use it!" This is so true. If people followed this one instruction from this book they would reap more than the book cost them.
There is a lot in this book. Most of it is useful, some of it is great. It is really difficult to reduce it to just one list of 3.

Publication Information: ©2005 by Joe Vitale and Jo Han Mok. Published by John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

General Rating: Fair, Good, Very Good, Excellent

Today I just wanted to quickly comment about Butterfly Marketing 2.0. A scam? This is Mike Filsaime's "relaunch" of his popular selling product that he released about two years ago. It originally sold for, and has until now, $1997. Many people, included many of the "gurus" have purchased this product for the two grand. Mike, recently put this entire product on disc and paper and offered it for for $29.95, "the cost of shipping". The only criteria being that you had to try his newsletter for a month. If you don't cancel his newsletter before 30 days passes, you will be billed $39.95 per month recurring for it.

Now on the surface this looks to be pretty straight forward, but I have a couple of problems with the ethics behind what he did. First of all, I have personally had a VERY difficult time in the past trying to cancel another product of his, before it went to recurring payments (also for his newsletter).

I did order Butterfly Marketing this time and while he does a better job of spelling out how to cancel, I find it funny and frustrating that on the cancelme.com page my subscription doesn't show up after entering my info, even though it shows my name and knows I have an account. It just won't show my subscription, thus allowing me to cancel. So, I'm going to have to find a toll number to call to cancel in the next week or so. This may not seem like a big thing but it's part of the profile that he has created by making it difficult for people to cancel his products, thus ensuring a few more payments are made to him, which he of course won't refund, because you read the disclosure.

So, back to Butterfly Marketing 2.0..... I have just recently received it and although I did not order the original version, I have found that I have an identical digital version on my computer. From where, I do not know. I compared what I have to what I received in the mail and they are identical, except Mike has updated his picture that goes above his signature. I have read through about a quarter of the 124 pages and can verify that it is the same as what I already had. In addition to this, I received 10 discs. They are mostly interviews that Mike has done with people pertaining to the 'Butterfly Effect' of this type of marketing.

So I won't pretend to give you anymore of a review of the product other than to reiterate that it seems to just be an identical relaunch of his previous product, but used in a way to get people to sign up for his $40 per month newsletter.

As to my other issue with the ethics behind this. I have seen and heard Mike praise and moan and pat himself on the back for the "gamble" that he is taking by "giving away" this information. He had video of himself just talking about what a sacrifice he is making and that he is spending $17 per package for a total of 10,000 packages. Then he talks about the almost $200,000 of his own money that he is willing to sacrifice for this and all that he asks for is us to pay the $29.95 cost of shipping.

C'mon! Does he seriously think that everyone will believe this sob story? The facts are that he may very well have spent $17 per product to get ready and package. That, I believe includes the cost of putting them into the flat rate USPS box that they get shipped in. This flat rate box doesn't cost anymore than $12.95 to ship, if that much. So there is already a profit of, 29.95-12.95=hmmmm, that's funny, it equals $17 which is his stated cost to produce it and get it ready for shipping!!

So, this whole sob story really is a break-even story at worst, not a loss for him. In the end he WILL get more subscribers for his newsletter and he WILL get some people to pay him that had wanted to cancel but forgot or couldn't figure out how. This is a profit center for him and a way to create future payments, build his list and create continuity programs.

Now, I think really it's a good plan by him for his business, but I don't like, as mentioned, some of his tactics used in implementing it. Making it hard to cancel, bemoaning his potential financial losses and completely misrepresenting his shipping costs are ethical issues that I do not condone.

I have reason to believe that Butterfly Marketing is a fine product, but I hope people weren't convinced to order it because of the above issues.

I'd like to hear your thoughts!