Maria is one of the best technical writers i have worked with. She is one of my mentor students, 23 years old, blonde hair, blue eyes, rock chic from Liverpool and god only knows how she gets time to do anything.

How we met has a story, it goes like this.

A few years ago Maria saw me on a speaking DVD.

Maria decided to write a list of things that she wanted to do in her life.

On that list was this…

'Work with Alan Forrest Smith'

When she wrote those words she was pretty broke but she had set her intention on working with me.

How?

Let me tell you a little about Maria's week right now.

She works a massive EIGHTY HOURS every week on a night shift (it's a crazy job).

She also is at University studying full-time.

Then she has to study with me!

A mad schedule right?

So I received an email that simply replied to my VIP MENTOR page. It was very simple, 'I want to work with you, can I have an interview?'

So I arranged an interview for her at my office, she arrived with her dad and talked about what she wanted and what I could do. To be honest I simply look for commitment in the interview and that's what she had until … She told me about her job and studies. Here's a girl doing full-time university and an eighty hour week job, how would she fit it in?

Not only that – How would she afford my 12 Month VIP Mentor fee?

All three of us spoke, they left my office at my home and got back to me in a free days.

Maria was upset she thought she could but couldn't get the funding for the training. I told her not to worry and get back to me when she could.

After a few days I got another email from Maria, we spoke over the phone and then out of the blue – She had the funding in place.

Now this is a huge commitment from anyone never mind someone that is working eighty hours a week, studies full-time and finds time a scarce commodity.

So to bring you right up-to-date.

Since January 2012 Maria Claude Bennet has been a VIP Mentor student of mine.

She can write anything beautifully well.

Her stories are wonderful, her articles are clear and crisp, her mindset is focused despite the distractions.

Now we are just about to put her website live.

It's our aim that she recovers her VIP Mentor fee ASAP. I really don't think that is a problem.

Here's why.

My Mentor students are taught to stop thinking about money as the goal.

My mentor students get control of the way they think.

My mentor students are shown how to create almost any kind of success.

My mentor students are taught patience.

My mentor students are taught to be skilful. 

And most of all … They are taught to love what they do, share what they do and then the financial rewards follow – they always do!

It's not always about the money yet the money always comes when focus is shifted.

Over the next few weeks Maria will be going live. I know you'll love her writing style so I'm excited about sharing more about what she is up to. This week her site goes live. Maria's excited, I'm excited for Maria.

I can share this with you through my 27 years experience in business.

Maria might be working more hours than 3 regular people right now and for a wage that will enslave her for life. Yet when she looks back in 12 months time and is in full flow I guarantee she will be earning more than anyone she knows is earning – EASILY!

I'll share more with you soon.

Would you like to join my VIP MENTOR training? Maybe your hopes of 2012 being the best new year ever just haven't happened? Maybe you want skills that will make you real money, good money, great rewards for life? Maybe you are simply looking for life changes and need a MENTOR that can deliver effective change with you?

Here's the page from January 2012. Some details and dates have changed yet the basics haven't.

Go read over it and fi I can help you, I'd love to.

http://orangebeetle.info/afsmentor.htm

Troy lives in Vancouver, Canada, he has two young teenage kids and a supportive, beautiful wife. His life has been full-on to say the least. A specialist in the Real Estate industry for years working 10-12 hour shifts almost daily. He is a gentle, soft hearted, great thinking, gentle guy that needs more from his life.

Troy is a VIP Mentor student, based in Canada and will probably be a little embarrassed when he sees this.

Troy is also doing brilliant! Let me share a little first.

But the first time we met wasn't face-to-face, Troy knew me before I knew him via a DVD series I had released on copywriting and marketing many years before. He ordered it, watched it, enjoyed it (according to Troy) and eventually a year or so down the line this took Troy into being Mentored by myself.

What I really want to share with you though here is a story of sheer determination.

• Troy works, long, long hours.
• Troy also has a job that demands more than a lot from him and his time.
• Troy is aware that he can't carry on working like that, now is the time in his life when he has to break out and make more choices for himself rather than being told what to do from an employer.

TIME for Troy is probably the most valuable thing that he has to think hard about before making any kind of commitment.

So early this year Troy decided to call me, speak to me and ask me if he could become one of my students (and now friends) and then became my very first VIP Mentor student. And the reason I am sharing this is to share with you a little more about his progress.

In just a few months into his Mentorship with me, Troy hasn't made leaps, he has climbed mountains. I don't think I have met anyone that has so much inside waiting to get out. Can you imagine what is must be like when a volcano finally erupts?

A mountain full of raw power, energy blowing out and spilling everywhere? That is what Troy is like right now. Every week he comes to me with ideas, solutions, strategies, tactics, service packages and a whole lot more.

I'm simply refining him, fine-tuning him and guiding him using my 27 years business experience. I'm slowly uncovering, revealing and allowing Troy's real self to come to the surface. Nothing forced, nothing squeezed, nothing fake, just Troy the real Troy and the reality Troy has committed to activing this year.

• I believe 2012 will be the year Troy's life will change forever.
• I believe by July 2012 Troy's new business will be live and ready to help change his life experience.
• I believe anyone can achieve what Troy and my other Mentor guys are doing right now 

When I set him free, open the gate and finally allow him to run wild into the wilderness of this World I will of course let you know more about what he is up to first but right now he is doing incredible things.

I wanted to share that with you in a time when as I read this morning over 70 businesses go to the wall every DAY and thats a double edged sword. Why?

If it's your business, you lose everything.

If you are an employee, you lose your wage that supports you and your family or lifestyle.

In other words – an uncertain future knowing that one of the 26,000 businesses that fail this year will affect the bigger economy, affect family life and affect the way we plan things for the future.

Maybe I was lucky, mum always made it clear that we control our future and the second we place it in the hands of others our future then becomes uncertain.

I remember the recession in the 80s, that was when I was advised against buying a home, changing career, setting up my own business. I did all three successfully.

I remember the recession of the 90s when I went from a small 250 square foot salon to a 2000 foot salon. Everyone thought I was insane as there was too much unemployment and too many people with no cash. So I did it anyway with great success.

I remember the recession of the late 2000s, yes I lost everything during a crazy, crazy, hazy divorce. I was advised to get a job, stop being in business, get a tiny house and settle down. Of course I got a big house, got the things I needed in life and went against the mainstream advice. 

The things I learnt were this.

• Just because everyone is saying it, doesn't mean it applies to reality, my reality.
• Just because everyone is advising it doesn't mean its absolutely true, correct and a must follow route, clearly it wasn't.
• Just because the media says a certain thing and do things a certain way doesn't mean it has to be so for me. If I had listened to everything in the media I would have no room in my mind to focus on what I really need in life. I ignored the media and do my own thing.

So just because thou read, you hear, they say, you're advised, you're told to do certain things, rarely means its right for you.

How many times have you taken certain advice and quite simply it hasn't worked?

Troy woke up and good for him. He is in control and his results are proving themselves. I'm excited for him and I can't wait to send you an update on what he is up to.

How about you?

Would you like to join my VIP Mentor program and be like Troy?

Of course everyone will tell you know but then again, who controls what you decide?

If you are interested in being Mentored by myself … hit reply or go to my main Mentor page at …

I can take on one more student right now, will that be you?

One final word for today.

Unplug from the mainstream, get to grips with your own needs, question everything and start to think about what is best for you.

Alan Forrest Smith

Author of Escape from Zoomanity

Empty Shops Hit Record Level!

14.6% of local shops are now empty. That number is expected to rise!

More brand names like GAME are vanishing.

This leaves a trail of unemployment.

Now figures released are telling us nearly 3 million adults in the UK are now unemployed.

The same report from the BBC also revealed that finding a job has now become a full-time occupation taking up to 8 hours a day if successful.

Isn't it about time you snatched back your life, took control of your life? I’ll give you a few tips in a second, read this first!

More and more people enquire daily about my MENTOR programs, are you one of them?

Here's some reasons why you should give it a read over.

·      NEVER be unemployed again.

·      Create a life you want.

·      Never fill out a CV again.

·      Get paid more than your bank manager.

·      Get paid more than anyone you know.

·      You'll get EVERYTHING from me, all I know from 27 years in business and more!

·      Jason went from street punk to six figure copywriter working with some of the webs best know entrepreneurs

·      Stephen flew all the way from Sydney to join me in England and went home to generate over one hundred thousands dollars in under 12 weeks!

·      Kevin turned his business around from facing bankruptcy to well over $2,4 million dollars in 11 months

·      Caroline went from pressure from the taxman, no cash flow, almost broke to a turnover increase of 53.4% in just 4 weeks!

·      David created a massive windfall of $300,000 in just 16 hours!

·      Alison earned $4,000 in a single week, that’s double what she earns in a month!

·      Sian gained the ability to replace her wage and replace it allowing her to walk away for a job of 20 years.

DON'T be another cast-off from a society that wants to eat you up and spit you out. You do have choices in life, MENTOR could be one one them.

I can help you make changes in your life.

After one call Phil sent me an email saying 'The call, mind-blowing, my brain is bursting with new ideas'

In fact Phil vanished for a few days and then sent me an email. He wrote that he had to leave his house and sit on a beach for a whole day as what we spoke about made such a massive shift in his thinking! Phil is one of my incredible MENTOR students.

So here are your marketing tips.

Yes they need action.

Yes they need a little thought.

Yes they need a little creativity.

TIP 1. How many marketing tools do you use each day? I hear the same old answer and it’s this … we use Facebook and Facebook groups. We use a trade magazine. We use a classified advert.

Hang on though isn’t that just ONE TOOL?

Write a list of 12 ways to market your business. Now write down the best three. Now write down the one you will do in the next 30 minutes.

It’s all about action.

TIP 2.  Get advice from someone that can give you the answers. Why? This is your shortcut to results. So many businesses fail to ask for consulting or advice or mentoring. Why? They rarely see the value of spending a couple of grand for someone to speak because that is what they see. Actually the reality is that you are not paying someone to speak. When mentoring is done properly you will save heaps and increase turnover. You will also be able to do this in 2 months rather than two years.

Why did you ask your father how to do something? To save time right? Why ask a mentor? To save time and money.

Do you think business right now has two years to play around and try things? Not a chance. Now is a time for huge action, short-term investment for massive results. Of course the results are based on what action is taken.

TIP 3. Make time to take action. If you don’t have the time because you need to keep propping up your sinking ship you are using your time badly. Take time because if you don’t, what will happen in your business?

You need tome to make things happen. You need time to create marketing. You need time to write the list but if you think you really cant make the time right now you are as good as dead so go get a job.

This is about growth, survival and thriving in a poor economy. YES lots out there are getting results to die for. That can also be you but YOU and only you have to take action.

I hope these three tips have made you think a little?

Hopefully see you on MENTOR one day soon.

Like I say you do have options.

I'd encourage you to make up your own mind.

http://www.orangebeetle.com/alan-forrest-smith-mentor/

Brand New Copywriting Course from

Alan Forrest Smith for

Copywriters that are looking to grow and

expand their business into the super-league!

For the first time ever I have created a all-new module based course in 12 parts that will give you the exact same strategies and tactics I personally used to go from newbie to high-demand copywriter in months.

This course shatters MOST of the so-called copywriting strategies, advice, tips out there, it gives you a full, a realistic insight into how to get recognised as a seasoned pro even if you have limited experience.

The depth on these calls will expand your business in multiple directions. 

NOT for the hyped up or get-rich-quick seekers, more for those that want to build and grow a high paying, high-selling business.

How to write copy, create stories, what works in copy and what to avoid in copy from master copywriter, Alan Forrest Smith.

It’s incredible the changes you can make in your life in such a short period!

Let me share a very quick story with you on how to become a copywriter.

As far back as 1998 (maybe before) I got my very first paid job as a copy writer/Ad-Man.

By 2003 I was getting paid ridiculous amounts of cash to write adverts, letters, webpages and more for clients. In life terms, I was pretty rich!

By 2006 the skills I had been building had taken me around the planet on several occasions teaching others how to use these very same skills.

I can share with you, I was creating huge amounts of wealth doing my own thing and getting rich doing it.

By January 2010 I was broke, homeless, divorced and a train wreck of humanity!

Finally just to really kick me in the teeth I was forced into a humiliating bankruptcy that left me with less-than-nothing.

I have to say – it was a low point in my life.

The only question I had; ‘how the hell do I get out of this mess?’

After taking time out to THINK I remembered that I had the ability to earn $5,000 a day. I also had the ability to create $10,000 a week.  I also had gathered skills that had seen clients handing over checks for $50,000 on more than one occasion.

I had clients who lives had been transformed working with me. Some had made millions from the skills I had shared with them. Others were making well over six figures from the consulting and works I had done for them. Others had seen increases of 116%, 73%, 54% in 4 weeks and more.

I’d even raised $71,000 on a stage over 3 days and handed that cash over to a rainforest foundation.

HOW?

I created a brand-new life by simply using the skills I had collected over 27 years in business. I had also discovered how to become a copywriter.

Sometimes the answers are so simple they are just impossible to see right?

Of course now I have cash, I have a 5 bedroomed farmhouse in the country, I have a new car on my driveway and I have a stunningly beautiful woman that loves and adores me each morning, each afternoon and each night. Life has come back to life again.

Here’s how …

Most of the skills that have brought my life back into order and re-building my life at an incredible rate are here for you on this series of DVDs.

I look different (heavier), I have no beard and am wearing glasses however … some of the information you will discover can very easily turn your life, inside out, upside down or help you create a life that most of your peers will only ever dream about.

It’s all here

Before I go let me say this…

All that attended these classes paid £5,000 per head. You are getting not one £5,000 but two for the price of one. That’s TWO courses worth £10,000

Of course it isn’t all about the money, life never is yet – money in the bank always helps …

It’s a short page, right to the point because I think this email pretty much covers the real benefits for you.

So heres how to become a copywriter …

The very best of life to you.

Alan Forrest Smith

Why I Flew Alan To Switzerland For Direct Marketing Consulting!

I couldn't get to England to Alan's office so I asked Alan if I could fly him to Zürich?

I put him and his partner on to a Swiss Air flight, flew them direct into Zürich, met them both at the Airport and then drove them to a stunning hotel overlooking the Swiss Alps and Lake Zürich.

I want to say now – Of course it cost me money. The whole 4 days was paid by myself, it cost Alan not a single penny.

I paid for flights, hotel, time and other expenses. Some will say that is crazy but I can tell you it was worth every single penny, here's why!

It was truly a great Weekend-Business-Breakthrough-Session for me. 

I am in multiple businesses, my main business being in the hair and beauty business. Also we have training academy's, new hair products we have developed, books I have written and even more.

I was feeling stuck, looking for new direction but more important I needed to fast-track certain areas of my business.

I knew about Alan, had read a lot about him on his websites and had a strong feeling he could help my business grow fast!

At the moment I decided to fly Alan over to Switzerland I was confident to work out some big points for my salon marketing and success 2012. 

I did not get disappointed,  Alan was very direct, straight to the point, brutally frank, with huge business experience and important for me, over 20 years of salon experience.

All I needed from the weekend to pay for itself was just one magical moment that would change things for me.

I had many small moments, tips, advice and directions but two big Aha-effects for sure. 

Alan taught me and opened my eyes to how much PERCEPTION changes the game for my business. This is a very big moment for me.

Also not just how to create new marketing campaigns but also why it is so important to take yourself the TIME to work out marketing campaigns on a daily basis. 

The weekend cost me what some would call a lot of money. Frankly I know the return on investment will be huge for me. I have had changes right away that have more than paid for Alan's advice.

Thank you Alan.

My advice for you is this; If you are stuck, need motivating or really need to know how to get a new business up fast or an older business flying in a new direction fast, you really cannot do any better than meeting Alan for a weekend for what is a truly in-depth direct marketing expert advice.

I did think carefully about this investment but next time I would happily pay ten times more.

Thanks you for an inspiring get together. I'm confident in 2012 we will stay no.1 in Town and make it even better.

If you'd like Alan to work on your business get in touch right now through our contact page.

Alan has consultant with well over 70 types of business, from salons to concrete suppliers to private schools to internet entrepreneurs. 

Here's a little direct marketing project we have been creating and still working on for a client.

Click on the graphics to see the changes.

Find the critique here.

http://www.orangebeetle.info/jontaylor.htm 

Facebook marketing for business?

Have you noticed how almost all adverts on TV now direct their buyers, targets into Facebook?

Facebook it seems has the World in the grip. The large ad agencies are pushing Facebook as the best way to get new customers for their clients. I think they have it wrong.

The NEW gurus that have done or bought Facebook course are selling Facebook as the only way to get business (despite the fact most know nothing about business).

You can sit behind anyone playing with their phone and see them checking in or checking out something, someone, some where on Facebook.

Recently on the Metro line in Paris with my daughter, the conversation in front of us was clearly in French but with one word dominating the conversation… Facebook.

Then of course there was getting back to my Parisienne apartment in the evening the first call to action for my daughter was to get the Mac book out and log into Facebook until every last moment of her awakeness had vanished.

FACEBOOK 'BUSINESS' ADDICTION

So although Facebook appears to have a huge chunk of mankind gripped and almost 'addicted' … the real question for anyone in business is… what effect does it have on your business … OR SALES?

So I thought I would share with you my own experiences so far with Facebook and relate to you what I have and am seeing in my world of direct marketing.

First the new Facebook (fakebook) gurus and REAL web marketing gurus.

My big question is what do these facebook guys know about business? After all most have seen, bought, read or just copied a new fad that has gripped them as well as others. Most have zilch experience with business?

When the web really started to grow in the late 90s early 2000, this was when I first got into the web after 15 years with town centre businesses.

The affiliate game was the BIG talk. Everything and everyone revolved around how easy it would be to get rich, having nothing apart from the link to someone else product.

It took a few years but eventually we all discovered that the reality was far bigger than the story. The reality was that to be a great affiliate, make money doing affiliate links, you first had to be a specialist in web traffic NOT websites! Then it went beyond web traffic, it went into targeted web traffic after all some of us were getting great numbers with NO sales. Some were getting huge numbers and no sales.

Along came the likes of the brilliant Declan Dunn, genius Ken Evoy, science like Patrick Anderson and revealed to us the real secret of traffic and traffic strategies so we could make money as affiliates.

Then eccentric geniuses like Marlon Sanders set the map for success with his incredible, Amazing Formula, the blueprint for making sales after all Marlon had been involved in real business, he got it, he understood what worked and the system for buying.

Then the next problem we faced was conversions, how do we convert, how do we make sales happen from the traffic. Even I had grown a list in the early days from nothing to almost 10,000 selling to those looking for haircuts from my hair tips and secrets website. I had big numbers on the list but couldn't sell a thing.

The gap was quickly filled by the likes of Yanik Silver and his Sales Letter software. Now you could create a letter that would convert the visitors into buyers by simply clicking a mouse and finally copy and pasting into our webpages.

Of course the bottom line was simple. Not many people could make money as affiliates as they could not give the time, effort and energy to making the changes, learning he new things needed to get the sales.

Most of the early affiliates simply left, got a job and re-joined society as a regular human.

That was the early wave of making money online. Later came other smaller waves yet bigger. Smaller as in the substance was low, bigger as in they had the energetic push of the seminar. The early seminars I recall were great.

Filled with real people in business, real people wanting to be successful in business, real people with real intentions to do great things.

Some did, some successes were recorded, it was cool. Then I would say almost 100% of audiences though went, listened, left with big intentions, were hard-sold 'how to' products like crazy, but within 3 months were back to their regular way of creating a living.

Now today we have Facebook.

This time is different, very different.

Before we all used to try and divert traffic into our websites from search engines, now we are trying to tap into existing traffic on Facebook for sales.

Here's what I feel. This doesn't mean I'm right but it's how I feel about what I am seeing.

LIKES on a page doesn't mean sales. It means two things. The owners of the page has a better feeling for himself or herself or ego, that they have a lot of likes.

Lets face it, how often to you go back to a page you like, Ever?

Likes are a measure of approval from the audience and NOT a measure of sales or the success of a business.

Recently I had a skype call with a good online partner of mine. He had just added 42,000 LIKES to one page. I was interested so I called him on skype and asked him for the juice.

• He shared with me that there were no sales or spikes in sales from the 42,000 likes. 
• He shared with me that despite promoting to the 42,000 they were certainly not buyers.
• He shared with me the reason he had done it was very simple… it looked good to those that came, arrived and saw the high number… PERCEPTION!

ARE YOU BORING?

Other things I have seen on Facebook is friends, LIKES get bored easy. They want to be entertained. I have seen more comments on an uploaded photo of a plate of food than I have on the generic copy and paste quotes, pasted daily. I have seen comments and interactions on a photo or video of a skateboard jump than I have on any business link.

Facebook seem to drop in, they search, look for moments to capture their eyes, read comments, reply to comments, post comments and then vanish back into their jobs or whatever they are doing.

Yet the Ad agencies are sending their clients customers into Facebook based on the fact that 750 million people are subscribed and over 70% return daily. Most send them to Facebook for what? Because there is a big crowd hanging out there?

That raises another question of course. It's this. If you sell course on 'Easy to learn English' would you go to a place where it is 100% English to sell. You go there based on one thing, it's busy, it's packed and SOME out of the 100,000 daily footfall will buy?

or

Do you go to the French quarter where the French community is waiting to come to England to work? There might just be 300 people there but is there a chance of more sales if the offer is irresistible?

Just because Facebook gets 750,000,000 members and has a daily return rate (apparently) of 70% does not equate to sales.

FAKEBOOK GURUS

Then of course the Facebook gurus that are selling anything and anything to get your money. They offer 25 facebook accounts, they offer tricks, opt in pages, plugins, apps and more just to try and steal some of facebooks traffic.

They will happily show you how to get more fans, more friends, more exposure but the reality is this… Facebook isn't stupid, they won't allow anyone to abuse their website for long before the block, ban and unfriend you.

These guys make their money selling you how to make money on facebook, MOSTLY NOT by making money on Facebook.

That raises a question if you are in business, how much time and effort should a business plough into Facebook as a marketing medium?

• Do you see Donald Trump posting on Facebook photos of his sandwich daily?
• Do you see Richard Branson getting heavily involved on Facebook chatter?
• Can you imagine Sir Alan Sugar sitting for hour going through Facebook and posting things like "I've just signed a 6 figure deal, This year is going great I have got 3 new clients all worth a million or I am so grateful that I have me and my cat in my life, thank you for allowing me to be Alan Sugar"

Sounds ridiculous in black and white of course.

Lets face it, business is about relationships, building a relationship with or prospect, creating trust that if they deal with us we will look after them.

Creating and build and crafting irresistible offers using the art, the science of mindset marketing that is service based, that is relationship focused, that has the buyers best interests at heart.

Creating a list, building that list, sharing with that list a trusting voice that they want to be part of.

Yes Facebook is there and won't vanish, it should be used but if we as businesses fall into the trap of thinking its a magic bullet we are going to be in trouble.

Those that are building their businesses around facebook marketing are building marketing on sand.

Those that claim and make claims of the almost shamanic business powers of Facebook will vanish at some point like some of the early marketeers in the late 90s.

It'll take time to balance out and for the tiny, tiny few it'll be a good sounding board to write and voice from.

I'd advise you to ask yourselves some questions.

1. Facebook is free but is your time free? How do you value your time per hour, how much time do you invest into facebook? It's never free

2. How much real business have you had via facebook? Can you measure it? If it can't be measured, should you be guessing in business?

3. How many marketing strategies do you use daily? Is Facebook part of the big picture? Do you use any of the 225 ways to take your business to market that I can list? 

4. Do you now send all of your traffic to a facebook forward slash domain rather than to your own domain? If you replied yes, why? Because you were told to or because you are getting a huge benefit from facebook marketing?

5. Look at your own user habits on facebook. Do you spend ages on certain pages? Do you go back to likes? Do you contact products or business through facebook?

Review your own habits and as one of the 750 million on facebook you'll see the habits of most through your own.

Bottom line is this.

Marketing a business is about profit, it's really that simple. Is Facebook making you a profit or is it creating losses for you due to time lost, traffic lost, investment lost and an addictive distraction?

I hope this helps you.

If you need advice, direction from a marketing man with over 26 years in direct marketing… contact me from this site.