From: "Adrian Elman " <int.res@tmedia.it>

Hello Bogdan,

I won't tell you it has been easy because that would be the
kind of story that the hype merchants use. Quite the opposite
is true in fact...

I started working online in April '98 by attempting to create
a marketing infrastructure for all members of my Life Plus
downline. I worked myself to the bone and created a powerful
CD ROM which trained people in sales and marketing techniques
but few wanted to buy it and my upline was dead against it as
it conflicted with the techniques they wanted to teach.

13 months after I had started, I still hadn't made a dime. To
tell it like it was, I had invested at least $5000 in my site
and my wife was not the slightest bit impressed with the
results. She urged me to give it all up on numerous occasions.

In March '99, I bumped into the Cookie Cutter through a guy
called Frederick Lewis. I bought it through fascination rather
than the desire to make money. I just couldn't understand how
anyone could let me buy a product and then resell it keeping
100% of the profits. I put my $20 into it in search of the
catch and there wasn't one after all. Cookie Cutter's founder
had made a grave miscalculation and by giving away 100% of the
profit had effectively lost control of his own product. He has
made a lot of money from it but I doubt he will repeat that
error again.

His program helped me to see where I had gone wrong and what I
needed to do in order to turn things in my favor. I had been
devoted to the Life Plus members but they were not devoted to
me so I learned to open my support system to Joe Public and
kiss Life Plus goodbye. Using Cookie Cutter as a front end
product, I bolted my support system to the back of it and
created a 2-tier affiliate program. Experience had shown me
that Cookie Cutter marketers were mercenaries out to make a
few bucks and they had no regard for the people they were
bringing into the program. A healthy 2-tier compensation plan
paying 25% on both first and second tiers meant that people
would be well remunerated if they gave support to their team.
Quite simply, their people would only go out and make plenty
of sales provided they had the knowledge and tools to do it
with. Thus began the International Resources family.

Today, they can be seen on our members message board helping
each other with all kinds of sales techniques. They solve each
others problems so well that people have said they would never
want to go anywhere else. Feel free to stop by and get advice:
http://www.int-resources.com/board/wwwboard.html

Cookie Cutter also taught me the importance of developing my
own products and services so that's exactly what I did. Today,
I have 7 top class affiliate programs and 3 companies. I am not
a rich man but I am financially independent.

The secrets to my success can be boiled down to the following:

1. I was never interested in the money.

This is absolutely true! I could survive quite happily on $2000
a month and it didn't take me long to reach that level. What
drove me was the challenge...the sheer excitement of doing what
people all around me kept saying couldn't be done. My mission
was to build something of value that would stand the test of
time. My mission has not changed today as can be seen in my
monthly ezine "FireTalk".

I often wondered what makes a man like Bill Gates want to
keep working? He already has more money than he could possibly
spend if he tried. I think I am finally getting to grips with
the way rich people think. It isn't the money that motivates
them. We think it is because when we haven't got any it is
easy to believe that that's what life is all about. No, I am
convinced they do what they do for the challenge and personal
growth it gives them. Bill is already the richest man on the
planet. He has already made his place in history, and yet he
carries on pushing the frontiers of technology to new limits.

2. I came right out of my comfort zone.

I'm still wearing clothes I bought 6 or 7 years ago. I get no
time to watch TV, no time for exercise, friends, family. It's
a story of work, work, work till you drop. Not nice I know, and
I hate it but it's what is necessary when you're in the building
phase.

I allow myself no luxuries whatsoever. Every cent of profit I
have made has been reinvested in the business to provide our
affiliates with quality marketing tools so that they can make
plenty of sales. I will only make money if they make money so
they are my priority and they all know it.

I saved up all my profits from the last 4 months and ploughed
them into a new advanced autoresponder script for our QuickTell
program. To boost our members sales I hired a full-time Flash
programmer to redevelop our site and build cutting edge tools
for marketing the service with. Then I purchased my 5th server
just to host the new script. The cost of this dedicated server
is horrendous but reliability is paramount when people depend
on it for their businesses.

3. Give first class service or go bust!

The internet is flooded with competitors and it is going to
get worse so if I was to survive I had to provide a service
that people could rely on. My key is to answer my mail once
every 30 minutes and reply as fast as possible. It makes it
very hard to develop the time I need on new product research
and development, and writing my ezine has become a mammoth
task that often suffers in delays. But customers don't care
about my problems, it's theirs that matter and if I don't
satsify their needs they will go elsewhere.

4. Lead by innovation.

It doesn't matter how good you think you are, someone else
is going to be messing around in your back yard if you don't
set the pace. Whatever I do today will be improved upon
tomorrow. There is no other way! This is a very fast paced
industry which does not tolerate laziness in any shape or
form. If you want to stand up and be counted you MUST stay
ahead of the pack. That's why we are always coming out with
new products.

QuickTell is something that everyone needs and wants. It is
streets ahead of all our competitors and that's why it is
going through constant growth. No autoresponder company
has yet matched us on value for money or comp plan but now
we just moved the goal posts again. Now the service itself
has just set a new standard within the industry and people
are amazed at what we have done. Don't take my word for it,
if you want to see the future of autoresponders send a
blank mailto:QTdemo@quicktell.net and feast your eyes on
the technology!

5. Controversial marketing techniques.

With tabloids saying that 95% of people working online are
losing money, I don't want to become another statistic. I've
watched all the amateurs copying each others tactics and I
have warned my own affiliates over and over again "If 95%
are failing why be in a rush to copy their formula?"

Often accused of using aggressive marketing techniques, I
stand by the old adage "You can't make an omelette without
breaking a few eggs." That's what competition is all about
and if you can't stand the heat...better get out of the
kitchen! I am not afraid of shaking the trees to make the
fruit fall. 99% of my affiliates appreciate that. They love
the thrill of doing it differently to the rest and the
results that come from it.

6. Focus on one thing only.

Look at peoples signature files. So many stack opportunities
one on top of another. They look more like a restaurant menu
than a serious business proposition! They believe in the
theory of not putting all your eggs in one basket while I
believe that you can't drive more than one vehicle at the
same time.

I teach my affiliates to focus on just one of our products
and become specialized in it. Learn how to market it. Fall
in love with the process and let the results take care of
themselves. Less than 10% can do it. Most are always on the
lookout for greener pastures and when they find them they
discover that the grass is just as hard to mow. Those that
are disciplined, teachable, and have desire, are showing
the others that there is plenty of money to be made on the
net provided you have focus!

There you have it Bogdan. It may not be music to everyones
ears but that's how the International Resources Group made
its mark.

Best regards,
Adrian Elman

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International Resources
Support systems and marketing tools
http://www.int-resources.com/main.htm
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