“Build Your List. Change the World. Repeat.”

I wish I had come up with that headline.  I really, really do.

But it doesn’t belong to me. It is from my friends Sam and Steve at Thought Lead, an evolutionary marketing consultancy.

“What is Evolutionary Marketing?” you might ask. Well, for the comprehensive answer you should go to their website, download their free ebook and read it carefully. It is more than an ebook, really. It is a manifesto about the way conscious entrepreneurs do business, and it is exactly the kind of tonic I’ve been looking for.

You see, I’ve been developing a bad taste in my mouth for quite a while now. I visited the doctor but he said I am fine. I stopped eating anchovy pizza, but that didn’t help either (kidding – I’m actually a vegetarian). But I finally figured out the source of the distaste.

It’s Internet Marketing.

You might be thinking, “Ooph. That’s gotta hurt.” Because Free Marketing Made Easy is all about Internet Marketing, right? Well, yes…and no.

Yes, we teach entrepreneurs and small business owners about Internet Marketing. Our model is simple. We figure you need to know:

• What to do.
• Why to do it.
• How to do it.

So we explain ‘what’ you should be doing, and ‘why’ you should be doing it through our free resources including our podcast series, ebooks and articles. Then, if things go right, you’ll decide that you want to learn ‘how’ to do it, and you’ll invest in a relationship with us so we can teach you this stuff, and support you through our kit and mentorship classes.  And we guarantee it – if our program doesn’t work for you then you get a full refund, no questions asked. Simple, right?

Then where does the “No” come in? Well, here’s our secret: Free Marketing Made Easy isn’t about Internet Marketing at all. And it’s definitely not about “Making Money on the Internet.” It’s about freedom, and quality of life. We want you to be able to be home for your kids in the afternoon. Or send them to college. Or love what you do every day. Or contribute more to your community than you could if you were working an 8am-5pm job. In short, we want you to be a success story – to launch a business and succeed at it so you can do whatever it really is that you really want to do with your life.

Yes, I am being all mushy and emotional. But it’s true. Friend me and check out my Facebook profile if you actually want to know the personal story. In the meantime, please let me explain where the bad taste comes from.

I heard a news report this week explaining that Congressional approval ratings are in the single digits. Our loathing for our elected officials is second only to our dislike of lawyers (coincidence that many times they are one in the same?). But I’m pretty sure they left two categories off of the poll: used car salesmen (you know who I’m talking about – the guys in the checkered suits and handle bar mustaches) and – yep, Internet Marketers.

The ‘guru’s’ of Internet Marketing are masters of manipulation. Their scripts are everywhere. Their long-form sales letters are invading ad copy on nearly every product oriented web site, it seems. They promise to make you rich, and love to show you pictures of all of the big checks they’ve been earning (and real estate they’ve been buying) lately. Frankly, I can’t stand it any more. It’s making me sick.

The last time I looked around, small business and solo entrepreneurship was about hard work. Is it rewarding? Hell yes, in many ways. But unless I’m hanging out with the wrong crowd, these “I got rich on the Internet” people don’t exist in real life. It’s a sham. The founders that I know are passionate and principled. They are determined and they are often boot strapping in the beginning (ie: trying to get things off the ground with little more than a great idea, tons of dedication and lots of sweat equity).

But the “Spammy” kind of Internet Marketer sees a different world, vows to take you to the Promised Land, and capitalizes on even your tiniest moment of weakness (or despair, as in “how can I get my business to work?”).

Here’s a typical example: last night I attended a webinar for a new Internet Marketing system. It’s fairly cool actually – part of the system creates video ’splash’ pages that you can use as lead-generation forms on top of any other web page. My beef wasn’t with the technology, so much as the sales pitch. The pricing list looked something like this:

You get all this…

Movie trailer…valued at $10,000

iPhone application…valued at $12,000

Text messaging system…valued at $75,000

800# system…valued at $1,044,900 (and your first-born child)

Something else….valued at $172 gazillion dollars

And finally…

The Big Ticket Item….valued at $9 quadrillion pesos (oops, I mean dollars)

All for only

$10,000

$5,000

$2,500

$1,000

$500

$50

$1.

With the BIG FINISH

But this offer won’t last! There are only 200 100 10 2 remaining, so get yours RIGHT THIS SECOND.

Does this sound familiar?

Here are the burns, as I feel them:

First, how in the world are these people determining their “Valued At…” price? I mean, would anybody in their right mind actually pay $7,500, 4 dwarves and 3 live goats for this thing?

Second, am I really supposed to believe that quantities are limited? Aren’t you in business to MAKE MONEY? Don’t you do that by selling MORE PRODUCT? And ultimately, do you really think that people are stupid enough to believe in this false scarcity?

As for that last question, hey – what do I know? The folks that hawk their wares this way seem to drive nicer cars than I do and probably live in ‘better’ houses. But I’ll tell you this: at the end of the day, the measure of how successful Free Marketing Made Easy is will be determined by people like you, who come back to us and say “thanks, this really helped.” If or when that happens, I’ll feel like the richest guy in the world.

Here’s to you!