It is rant time here at Props Blog. A lot of people think that being successful and “trying” just means showing up. Part of being successful is just showing up, but that’s only a tiny percent of it. If you don’t show up to play, why bother?
Sending A Lousy E-mail Is Not Trying
After reading the responses to John Chow’s e-mail of the week, I can’t believe how lazy and scandalous people are. If you think for 1 second that Dan actually tried to be successful, you are out of your damn mind. Stop trying to be so nice and give people sympathy (especially when they don’t deserve it).
As I mentioned in my comments on John’s page, this guy didn’t actually put any effort into getting his book promoted. He was begging, not trying.
Trying is: Frequently visiting the site, reading and learning how to promote, building a relationship with both John and the readers via commenting (at a minimum, and probably sending an introduction e-mail to John before even considering a request), writing a guest post, blogging longer than 6 months (or being wildly successful in your first few months), Reading John’s ebook, Reading ANY ebook about how to get a guest post, ebook recommendation, etc..
This request is like a slap in the face to John and every other hard working blogger out there. Dan showed no understanding or respect of community, and he asked to put John’s good reputation on the line at no benefit to himself (and no benefit to John). If that books sucks (which is probably does, given his lack of experience), John would lose all credibility promoting it.
False Endorsements of Lousy Products Caused the FTC Laws On Bloggers
As readers of John’s blog, they should be outraged that some schmuck thinks he should get his overpriced (not free) ebook about something he has almost no experience doing a free recommendation (not honest review) on John’s page. I would be pissed if John recommended (not honestly reviewed) a lousy ebook that I had to pay for.
Guys like this are scammers. They are the people who put out Acai weight loss programs. They are the ones that steal hard working people’s money. They are the reason the FTC had to create the endorsement laws and require “typical results.”
And instead of defending quality endorsements, many people said “at least he tried” or “you should have taught him how he should have done it” or “you could teach him ……” Please gag me. This is garbage.
Help People Who Actually Try
It isn’t John’s place to tutor the guy on how to do things right. There are hundreds of free resources available. The fact this guy has the audacity to ask for money for an ebook about things he knows NOTHING about is absurd (I know he knows nothing about internet marketing based on how he approached John in the first place). People pay thousands for consulting from successful marketers like John Chow, Brian Clark, and Chris Brogan. Why should John waste his time helping a scam artist?
This all goes back to the fact that the guy isn’t a part of the community, he doesn’t have any relationship with John, and he obviously didn’t do any research. If he had show that he had tried, maybe John would have reacted differently.
Finally, some people said “Its better than The Arbitrager – Sex, Drugs and Lazy Internet Millionaires crap.” Is the person who wrote this capable of linking two related things together? I wouldn’t trust the person who wrote that with my money, my kids, or even my time. The information in The Arbitrager reports is exposing scam artist.
I would say sorry to rant, but I’m not. RAWR!!!! ;-)
p.s. I love all of you who read this to end. I’m glad you agree.
Related posts:
John Samuel Says:
November 10th, 2009 at 1:22 PM
Before making such requests, one should think first, “Will it be really helpful to the readers”. Only if you are completely confident, that you should proceed with such requests
Dave Doolin | Website In A Weekend Says:
November 10th, 2009 at 1:40 PM
I like John Chow because he just says what he thinks.
He did that review of a product a couple of weeks ago and just trashed it. Of course, he had his affilate link… I’m sure some people bought it anyway. Brilliant.
Justin Says:
November 10th, 2009 at 6:01 PM
Gotta agree with Dave, John Chow is a very good blogger. The inclusion of the affiliate link is a perfect addition.
Blake Waddill Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 11:04 AM
If people are going to go against his recommendation and spend their money on garbage, he might as well get paid for being honest and warning them :)
jan geronimo Says:
November 10th, 2009 at 8:04 PM
Great title. Can’t help but be drawn in to investigate what’s the big to-do. Well, you’ve mapped out the saner and much effective tactics he should have used. Well done. :)
Blake Waddill Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 11:03 AM
I’m glad you liked the title.
I think if the guy wasn’t bogus, he would have taken the more sane/effective route. :)
Dana @ Online Knowledge Says:
November 11th, 2009 at 12:16 AM
why are you so serious?
Phaoloo Says:
November 11th, 2009 at 1:13 AM
I find all points here useful. I see some great bloggers out there they are just themselves, don’t try to be successful to teach anyone.
vitamin c Says:
November 11th, 2009 at 4:29 AM
Wonderful article! Keep posting such nice interesting article so I can keep visiting this blog very often. Thanks for this great post here.
Gabe | freebloghelp.com Says:
November 11th, 2009 at 10:05 AM
I don’t people have a problem with John using the email as a perfect example of what NOT to do as much as John using the guy’s real name (let’s call him “Don”). I don’t think Don is on the right track and you’re right, he probably didn’t do his homework.
Personally, I believe if John wanted to rip Don a new one, he could’ve done it privately and just posted the email anonymously.
I think being embarrassed publicly should be saved for the truly evil people with bad intentions, not the clueless Don’s.
Blake Waddill Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 10:58 AM
I agree that being embarrassed should be saved for people with bad intentions.
That’s why I believe John Chow ripped him a new one. I think the guy did have/does have bad intentions, and John saw right through it. I think John wanted to protect his readers from this guy.
If he sent a message to John, there is a good chance he contacted many other bloggers in the MMO community. A few of them might have ended up endorsing the product (maybe without fully investigating).
So when John’s unsuspecting readers read an endorsement on another site, they might go buy it. When it turns out to be a very poor value for the asking price, they ended up getting scammed by someone who has bad intentions.
If all the people who got scammed from the Acia Gimmicks could have been warned that they didn’t work, wouldn’t they have been appreciative?
The main point I was trying to get across in my post isn’t that John Chow was right in ripping him (although I do think he was), but more to point out that not everyone’s intentions are as innocent everyone thinks.
He got ripped in public and everyone comes to his defense (possibly without even checking into it). I’m sure John gets other requests for links, reviews, etc, but he doesn’t publicly rip them.
John ripped this person for a reason (and it wasn’t to feed his ego, I don’t think that’s John’s style).
Can you see where I’m coming from?
Gabe | freebloghelp.com Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 11:21 AM
I definitely see your point. I guess where we disagree is how bad Don is. I think he’s just misguided and ignorant when it comes to making money online and blog etiquette. Just an outright bad salesman. Whereas you believe he’s a scam artist who has nothing of value to offer.
Maybe I’m giving him too much of a benefit of a doubt. I guess we’ll never know until somebody forks over $19.95 to read his ebook!
DS R4 Says:
November 13th, 2009 at 4:18 AM
I think communication is such best way to build better relationship. You have shown really some greatest way, I will apply that in my life.
Ms. Freeman Says:
November 13th, 2009 at 2:59 PM
I am glad John didn’t endorse the guy, but like I said in the comments on John’s blog it was un-cool to post the guys email and to use his name. Rude is rude and that is exactly what. John is rude some times; no scratch that, most of the time when it comes to interacting with other bloggers.
None of us are perfect bloggers we are all out here trying our best, we don’t know it all and for someone to rudely pick at a person or their blog is uncalled for. Oh I still hang out on John’s blog and comment, but I really don’t take him seriously. The only good thing about his blog really is when Kwan does the Reviews, because they are well written and grammatical easy to read.
Blake Waddill Reply:
November 13th, 2009 at 3:16 PM
Kwan does write awesome reviews. No doubt about it.
I totally agree that being rude is uncalled for. I think John could have more gracefully handled it, although I also think John wanted to warn his readers of a potential scam.
I’m sure John gets requests for stuff like that all the time. There had to be a reason he picked this guy. John is too calculated to randomly trash someone imo.
Penny Stocks Says:
December 7th, 2009 at 1:09 PM
Good point and i liked reading the comments section more … lol
i very sometimes visit John Chow blog as to be updated with wats going on with him and new things by him on the blog