Another scammer in the slammer — let me help you find actual experts!

Another “Internet Marketing” scammer was revealed for what he was…

I’ll get to that in a moment — first, the three parts of this essay:

— First, the story of the scammer on his way to years in the slammer…

— Then, the value of “curation” and having someone in your corner…

— Finally, a new copywriting podcast launching today…

Without any further ado…

I have a love/hate relationship with stories like this one.  Here’s the headline and deck bullets from the UK’s Daily Mail…

Self-styled ‘millionaire’ who boasted of a jet-set lifestyle and promised riches to people who followed his tips was a conman who lived in a terraced house in Middlesbrough

— Conman made ‘advice’ videos telling followers how they could get rich

— The films were made on a viewing of one mansion and another was rented

— When investigated, it emerged that his ventures were a pyramid scheme

— He has been jailed for two years but his victims will get no compensation

Literally the first ever essay I wrote for Breakthrough Marketing Secrets was about “Darth Vader with an ecommerce shopping cart.”

It talked about how you can use the principles, strategies, techniques, and tactics of direct marketing to manipulate people and basically steal their money.

Or you can use them for good, to enrich the lives of your customers.

It’s not a soap box I get on often, but I really despise people like Lee McKenna — the guy who just got jailed for his “internet millionaire” lies…

He did the same thing lame rap artists do, where they rent jewelry, cars, houses, and airplanes to shoot music videos.  Except he was basically telling you that you could make enough money by following him to buy those things — even though he couldn’t buy them himself.

And that just scratched the surface on his fraud — it sounds like he actually got locked up for more than just those lame videos.  He admitted to five fraud-related charges, and was found guilty on three more.

The court couldn’t even compensate his victims, because he didn’t have the money for it.

He basically promised the world — and when you didn’t get what he promised he blamed it on you, and asked for more money so you could actually get the result.

You can make a lot of money quickly doing that.  But it’s a very short-term strategy.  In the long run, it comes back to bite you, and you end up in jail.

Like I said, I have a love/hate relationship with stories like this.

I hate them because the press can’t tell the difference between this guy and any other internet marketing “guru.”

The journalist who wrote the article I read would probably be happy to see ME locked up with McKenna.  After all, they basically described the use of an online funnel as the foundation of fraud — with little distinction made between the ethically-neutral marketing techniques and the fraudulent promises of a false guru.

If this is what my prospects are reading, it introduces skepticism that I have to counter in what I do.

I love them though because I love seeing liars and cheats get found out, and busted.  If you’re lying to someone, taking advantage of them using direct marketing strategies, you deserve to get caught, have your ill-gotten gains taken from you, and placed in a locked room with Bubba.

Hopefully this deters another guy like him from making some of the same decisions…

The good news: There are TRUE experts out there, with a lot to teach you about the ethical use of really powerful persuasion strategies…

When I write these essays today, I have one big goal.  To share proven ideas to grow your business.

While I do come up with an original idea from time to time, I also see myself as a curator of these ideas.  I use my decade-plus experience in business, direct response marketing, selling, and copywriting to analyze what really works, and what’s crap.

I’m in your corner, helping you separate the Lee McKennas of the world from the true experts.

Each idea I share and recommend to you falls under one of three categories:

  1. Ideas I have used, implemented, and has success with, that I can share based on my personal experience…
  2. Ideas that I haven’t used yet, but that align so strongly with principles I have used and that I know work, that I can confidently recommend them (usually because I’m on the cusp of testing them myself)…
  3. Or, ideas that I’m recommending based on knowing the person behind them to have both the expertise and integrity that I have no qualms or questions in recommending them…

In short, I only ever write about or recommend things that align 100% with the kind of advice I’d go run and apply right now.

I’m constantly researching, learning, and applying for my own benefit.  And using that as a curation tool to bring you the best proven ideas to grow your business, too.

The copywriting coach I’m about to recommend you go learn from — 100% free and without obligation — falls under category #3…

He’s someone with both expertise and integrity that I can be 100% confident recommending.  And, he’s launching a new podcast TODAY that you can learn from.

This is a guy who I know some of the top A-list copywriters in the world turn to for coaching.

He’s on retainer with one of the top financial publishers in the world, to help their copywriters write better copy.

And he’s consistently helping lesser-known copywriters write better copy, and build better businesses (either copywriting as a service, or improving copy used to sell other products and services).

Once upon a time, I offered copywriting coaching services.  When I decided to stop doing that, I felt an obligation to come up with solid alternative, for the folks who were still coming to me, looking for coaching.

I didn’t have an answer for a while.

Then, I was introduced to this guy.  And for the last few years, he’s been the ONLY coach I’ve referred copywriters to.

He’s way more expensive than I used to be (you have to be, to make it your primary business model — or so I found out).  But he’s more than worth it.  Because he knows what works in copy, and in just about any business related to copywriting.

His name is David Garfinkel — and now you can get copywriting “coaching” from him free…

Two hours from when I hit send on this, he’s publishing the first few episodes of his podcast.

But you can get in ahead of the rush by going to his site now and subscribing to email updates of when new podcasts are released.

As soon as you confirm your email, you’ll get instant access to the introductory episode zero, PLUS a checklist for analyzing your copy to make sure you beat the control.

And I’ve gotten a chance to listen to episode one, as well…

And I can tell you David is going to run a different kind of podcast, just like he’s a different kind of copywriting coach.

He’s doing every podcast at a level equivalent to a paid webinar, where he goes deep on one little skill, such as writing a very specific kind of headline and lead.  And he teaches that in-depth, from his experience.

This will help you write better copy…

Again, I can recommend David without hesitation.  He’s no Lee McKenna.  He doesn’t make a big deal of his skills.  He’s modest, though honest about his success.  He won’t rent a mansion to film a video.  But he will teach you copywriting skills that work.

Click here to sign up for David’s podcast announcements…

(Oh yeah, and David is a friend, but I get no compensation from recommending his podcast.)

Yours for bigger breakthroughs,

Roy Furr