The World’s Most Interesting Man in Internet Marketing
Today you’ll meet the World’s Most Interesting Man in Internet Marketing.
You’ll also discover how to set goals using my trademarked system.
And then soon, just to confuse you, I’ll have an article from the World’s Most Interesting Man on why you should NOT set goals. Stay tuned!
Now let’s begin with a question…
Question: “Craig, both you and Simon Black have mentioned Matt Smith as being highly successful. He’s been touted as earning upwards of $10,000 per day while traveling the globe to study philosophy and spend time with his family, as well as flying as far below the radar as possible. In fact, he’s impossible to pin down. How did you first meet him?” – Rob
Answer:
Rob, first, Matt will be very happy to read your question (although I left out the part where you called him ‘enigmatic’). Second, I met him when he and I were both in Yanik Silver’s Mastermind Group in 2008. We got along pretty well from day one, and spent the next two years trying to figure out how to do business with one another.
In 2009 I joined the Atlas 400, a private networking group (initiation fee of $25,000) because Matt was a part of it. That gave us more time to hang out in unique locations, like at the Superbowl (Colts-Saints), as well as in New York City at the annual Atlas meeting.
We also hung out at a Casey Investments Research Summit in Vegas, where he first introduced me to the equally enigmatic Simon Black. Simon and I also got along very well from day one.
A year later Matt, Simon, our friend Jeff Schneider (an integral team member of EarlytoRise.com) traveled to Lithuania for our yearly Young Entrepreneurs camp (which we plan on doing again this summer…more details soon) => http://sovereignacademy.org/blacksmithcamp/
But back in October of 2010, Matt and I attended one of Yanik’s Maverick Business Adventure trips in Tucson, Arizona. Along with Tim Ferriss and over a dozen other interesting entrepreneurs, we learned how to do stunt driving and evasive driving, and we shot over a dozen types of handguns from around the world and different wartime eras.
While in the Tucson airport on the way home, Matt and I discussed the goals for my business. I repeated what I said to my first business coach, Tom Venuto, back in 2006, saying, “I want to have a business like www.EarlytoRise.com.”
Two months later, Matt and I had several phone calls right before Christmas ’10, where we decided I would invest in one of his businesses and we’d partner on this site, InternetIndependence.com.
We planned to deliver amazing free content for six months in order to generate goodwill with you, our reader, before we ever considered selling anything. And that’s exactly what happened, and then one day…
…June 7th, 2011 to be exact…
…I received this odd email from Matt that said,
“If u could own part and run ETR. Would you?”
(Technically it was a text that got sent to my email, so please excuse his grammar.)
Through his extensive network, Matt had stumbled across the opportunity of MY lifetime. Simply knowing Matt gave me the chance to do what I had dreamed of since I first read Early to Rise in 2001. Not only was I getting a chance to run a business “like” the one I always admired, but I was given the EXACT business.
(That’s a crazy vision/goal setting discussion for another day…or at least another part of this email.)
That’s how we went from members of the same Mastermind in 2008 to being business partners today.
All told, I’ve probably invested over $65,000 just to hang around Matt. From the Mastermind to Atlas to flying to Europe, Denver (multiple times), Miami, Vegas, Nicaragua, and Washington, I basically chase Matt around the world in order to get his advice…because it’s been worth 1000 times what I’ve paid.
He and I are working on some massive projects right now that we hope a lot of Internet Independence readers choose to become a part of…possibly even as business partners one day. All will be revealed soon.
Great question…I had a lot of fun writing this and remembering some pretty interesting adventures Matt and I have had along the way.
PS – No, Matt is not the Dos Equis guy…but give him a couple of years and he’ll be ranking in the top 10 for “Most Interesting Man in the World” (if he isn’t already).
PPS – If you want to “meet” Matt, read this interview here. http://www.earlytorise.com/5-forgotten-truths-about-building-a-business/
And now for the goal setting info…
Question: “I’ve heard a lot about creating e-books for Amazon. Are you putting any products in the Kindle marketplace?” – Kate
Answer:
Kate, yes, we’ve put some DVD’s and ebooks on Amazon, such as my goal-setting book. It includes the Vision exercise that will help you achieve your dreams like I have mine.
If you have $1, grab it here:
How to Set Goals – http://www.amazon.com/How-To-Set-Goals-Ultimate-ebook/dp/B007JCNNGK
(NOTE: It might be $3 if you live outside of the US.)
EVERYONE reading this email needs this book.
Why?
Because if you want to dramatically improve your life, you must start setting goals using my exact blueprint.
This is the most powerful action you can take towards success.
Goal setting is ESSENTIAL for your success in all areas of your life. In this book you’ll discover:
– The four areas of your life you MUST set goals for
– Two types of goals, and why it’s important you do both
– How to visualize your goals
– How to use S.M.A.R.T. goals in your goal setting
– How to create your own vision and mission
– How to review your progress to know you’re on the right track
And you can get all of this life-changing information for just a fraction of what most people spend in Starbucks on a Saturday morning.
You can have my complete guide on How to Set Goals for only 99 cents.
Grab my new goal setting book from Amazon here
This will be the best 99 cents you spend all week.
Get interested,
Craig Ballantyne
“Stay thirsty my friends.” – Current World’s Most Interesting Man