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A lot has been talked about the current global economic crisis. Your only ever hearing about the doom and gloom and the media has done it’s best to scare the hell out of us. It’s our fault really. We are the ones who tune in to hear about which company has just collapsed, who’s going next and who might just make it through. We are the ones watching their global economic crises specials and expressing our feelings in news forums. If you want to blame the media for hyping it up then you should also blame yourself for talking about it. We are giving them ammunition because they know that deep inside your loving it. If you haven’t already read it, I have written a whole post about this a little while back which I recommend you read, just to get your head around why I’m saying this. Click here to read that post.

History tells us that times like these are usually superseded by times of great opportunity and prosperity. I’m specifically referring to the emergence from the great depression in the 30’s. Don’t worry I’m not going to do another history lesson here but rather a little bit of explaining.

The Great Depression was the major depression in the 20th century and occurred in the 20’s – early 30’s. Its a time of hyperinflation and soup kitchens.   It cannot be compared to what we are experiencing now because back then, the level of globalization was no where near where it is today. Of course at the time the US economy downturn did effect other countries around the world but it was more distinguishable in isolation.

However the similarities we can take out of it is the fact that the level of opportunity that exists in now in abundance. It introduced the world to new concepts and new thoeries on wealth generation as well as allowed those with great value added ideas to make them a reality and in turn become super successful.

Today the world is a place of uncertainty and personally I think its an extremely exciting time to be alive. This is amazing. This is a time where all the corporate giants offering terrible value buckle up to either improve their offering, or die. i can’t be the only one noticing the great deals going around today. This is a time where business opportunities are in abundance because not only are new niches being created but infiltrated niches are being abandoned creating many gaps just waiting to be filled. This is an era where people will have time to think and ponder about how to create even greater value. This is a time where we will see the emergence of the new world order of business, where people who have been cooped up in an office will finally be removed (by force) from their comfort zone and told to think. Its these thoughts in times of crisis which will no doubt become the most valuable.

I have asked this question before but I will ask again: how will you deal and emerge from this? Have you lost your job or suddenly have a lot more free time through the general decrease in world demand? Will you go back to your comfort zone or will you take advantage of this time to create value and be part of this new world order?

I like failure and I get excited about big flops. I love set backs and obstacles that present themselves and really enjoy losing a lot of money.

Well the previous sentence may not be entirely true but there is an element of truth to it. Every entrepreneur tackles a certain business or project with the aim of succeeding and inevitably if you don’t succeed you may get a bit bummed out. However what you also must (try to) remember is that to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction (Newton’s law). Even better, when applied to the business world it should read “for every action there is an equal or greater reaction”. If you take one step backwards it will usually be superseded by 1, possibly 2 or 3 steps forward. The key is to embrace this powerful concept. When something goes wrong sit back and think about what this failure is trying to tell you. Remember that with your failure there will come a greater benefit in the future.

This brings me to my next question: why would you want small failures? What’s the point of thinking small and losing small? The key is to think BIG. Put yourself out there and if your going to fail, make sure it is BIG. With BIG (preferably Public!) failures will come even BIGGER rewards. The best businessmen understand how to think big and many along the way have also lost big. During these tough times they have been able to bounce back, not just breaking even but launching themselves into their next level of business success.

The problem with small successes and small failures is that they keep you complacent. Limiting yourself to making small gains is the catalyst to settling with what you have. You have not lost much so who cares? Big failures force you to learn, understand and analyse to ensuring your next move is wiser, better and more effective. If your stuck with insignificant small gains and small losses then that will define your business life and it will be just that, insignificant. No one will really notice your losses and no one is going to notice your gains. I know your not this type of person, why else would you be reading this?

The aim here is not to get you to go out and try to fail or lose a lot of money but rather to help you understand that failing is something that should be embraced rather than frowned upon. It makes you stronger and wiser. Take sport as a great example. If you play a sport the only way you’ll improve is to play people better than you and who will beat you. Your failures and losses will point out the areas where you need to improve so you can come back better and stronger until you eventually can win. The you go up another level and start the process again. Playing people far lesser skilled than you does nothing for your skills and you will miss out on the chance to improve your abilities. This is no different in your business life. Set yourself up to play with the big boys and play tough but fair. You will lose and fail along the way, but it will make you stronger and the rewards will be greater.

Looking back at my own experiences I am always been able to find a positive to come out of every negative. Each of these positives have far outweighed any losses initially incurred. In my mobile business I initially paid upwards of $10,000 per mobile application and this left me and my company financially debilitated. Now I manage to get it done for under $1000 which is a massive saving. It enables me to create 10 applications for the cost it used to cost me to make just 1. This was mainly due to being forced back and challenged to find opportunities which provided greater value. This was done without me even acknowledging it and it was only in hindsight that I realised that I overcome that obstacle, ten-fold. I learnt from my negative experiences in outsourcing which cost me many thousands of dollars in programming as well as cost in time. What I learned from these failures has enabled me to increase efficiency far beyond any monetary loss that I once thought was wasted.

What to take note in these examples is that if I didn’t lose I’d still be in the same situation.If I had won a little then why would I change? What would tell me there was a much better way to do things? Nothing. Use your failures to your advantage and remind yourself that big failures manifest into even bigger returns, you only just need to embrace it.

And we love it! We lap it up wanting more and more and guess what? We get it. We get it in spades and bucket loads. There is more information about the global economic crisis than any person could possibly sift through in a life time. The funniest thing about it is, no one actually knows anything about it. What’s going to happen is all speculation. All the media, governments, individuals, companies and the like know is that the GEC sells. It makes governments look great when they come in to save a nation of distressed damsels. It drives traffic to websites and viewers to your show… and that’s a good thing.

Its probable to say that if doomsday talk was stopped and people were allowed to think rationally based on an objective element of understanding, then we would most likely still suffer from a downturn but maybe not to the degree that it may just occur. Telling people that the world will cave in will only make them cut spending, cut jobs and hunker down which is a really good way to prolong any economic downturn. Why stop something so newsworthy, something that gets bums on seats and increases that all important readership circulation?

People love to talk to friends and feel good about comforting someone who has lost a job or is concerned about their current one. It can be sad, upsetting and emotional. But we love it. Just like we love a good sob story, TV drama or a John Grisham. Drama ads passion and without passion you get boredom. We love the drama, we love shaking our heads in disgust, complaining about the executive pay increases and booing the corporate nemesis. It’s sport and you support your team, one day you lose and one day your a winner and that’s why we do it. Where is the fun if it all goes our way? Its the thrill, the excitement, the highs and lows that makes it incredibly addictive.

What I’m trying to say here is not that there is no such thing as the GEC and it’s a figment of our incredible imagination, however the extent at which the world’s media jumped on the GEC bandwagon can only be described as self-serving and opportunistic. Such expansive information has led to many entrepreneurs struggling to bring out something great and innovative because funding has become so scarce. Company pipelines have been mutilated by prospective clients running scared and cutting budgets. In my experience alone the GEC has cost my companies many potential clients, all of which would have greatly benefited from the relationship and I know I’m not the only person who can say that.

I’ll admit I’m a bit of a hypocrite but I’m comfortable in admitting it. The GEC makes great conversation, whether it be debunking government initiatives or having a go at people just like me.

Yes times will be tough but frightening the population into believing apocalypse will hit sometime this year is by no means helping the matter. To see special documentaries, extended news coverage and dedicated newspaper lift-outs litter our surroundings doesn’t instill us with a great deal of confidence. Sure we cut down, people don’t eat out as much, hold back on that new pair of shoes and forgo this year’s holiday. The sad bi-product of doing this is that those cost savings are also costing other people money and are detrimental to the economy, further extending and prolonging the downturn. I wrote a blog post about this a little while ago that brushed upon this idea.

So what will you be doing this year? Where have your personal or business costs been cropped? What will you do with your spare time as your no longer working on that new project or upgrade? Seth Godin has a great theory on how to use this ’slack’. I recommend you take this on board and think of what you can do. Hopefully this time will see the development of new skills, thoughts and ideas. It may bring upon a new Google or Facebook or make the world friendlier and smaller in some way or another.

I urge you to learn something new and use it to grow so that at least you can really say you learnt from this experience.

Reading the opening paragraph you may be forgiven to believe that I am fully supportive of the rate cuts. I am supportive in a purely objective way but personally it has me frustrated to no end and I’m sure many people have the same sentiment. I was the poor sap who decided to fix the their mortgage when the interest rate was at its highest, concerned about the rate continuing to grow. Now after rate cut followed by more rate cuts the interest rates are the lowest since the 60’s! Since the 60’s!

Well before you all jump for joy remember those misguided and unfortunate souls, like me, who locked in one of the highest rates in history during a time when they are at the lowest in almost half a century. Then jump a little more… I would!

This describes the current sentiment when you witness company after company slashing jobs and restructuring their businesses in order to ensure survival in these turbulent times. After all business is bad and who has the nerve to question any organisation making any harsh moves? Who questions a company when profits and valuations sink to new lows? Not many. It’s to be expected. Times are tough.

So who’s bluffing? Who is playing their hand knowing that no one is going to call them on it? This week saw the announcement of 1850 jobs slashed from Pacific Brands, one of Australia’s iconic companies. These jobs were slashed with the hopes of improving profits by outsourcing manufacturing to Asia. Acceptable. Understandable. Tolerable. What happens when, just after announcing job cuts, the board are also found to have given themselves considerable pay raises?

This really gets the thinking juices flowing. Is the laying off of staff something that they have wanted to do for a while yet it would have been so socially wrong it could have brought their iconic brands into disrepute? Is the timing of such a move really only that, good timing. Picking a time where ditching almost 2000 Australian jobs is actually considered acceptable. Everyone knows at least one person who has been made redundant, so for the 1850 its simply joining the long growing queue which is now not such a big shock. Was this another good reason for Pacific Brands execs to let go as the timing also minimises chances of an internal backlash?

Pacific Brands have certainly been called on their bluff. Now lets see if the public will stop accepting things on face value and learn to question motives as corporations try to sneak under the “GEC” radar.

According to www.pm.gov.au the spending was broken down as follows:

• $4.8 billion for an immediate down payment on long term pension reform.
• $3.9 billion in support payments for low and middle income families.
• $1.5 billion investment to help first home buyers purchase a home.
• $187 million to create 56,000 new training places in 2008-09.

The overall chief aim was to strengthen the national economy and support Australian households.

I agree with the latter portion of this statement referring to the supporting of Australian households. Considering that the funding was distributed to groups most needy, notably pensioners, lower and middle income families as well as first home buyers.

However it’s the ’strengthen the national economy’ bit that I largely disagree with. If the Rudd Government had intended on boosting consumer spending by pumping 10.4 billion into this market then I’d like to know the logic behind it. In the aftermath of the distribution many retailers were left stumped as to how little effect this had on sales. Most vocal was that of Gerry Harvey, chairman and founder of the Harvey Norman franchise who claimed that this stimulus did very little to boost sales.

I’m not surprised this stimulus didn’t have the desired effect, albeit only a minimal one. Such a stimulus, directed to the debt riddled population would do very little to get these guys spending to give the economy it’s much needed boost. Instead of the funds being spent on a new TV or a wardrobe upgrade, the cash was undoubtedly used to relieve some debilitating debt, paying off bills, the mortgage or the credit card.

It’s an unfortunate case of catch 22 where the people who need the money are the one’s who will spend it in ways which will not benefit the economy. Yet those that are privileged and deemed not needy by the government, are the exact people who would spend any stimulus back into the economy.

It’s easy to see why this path wasn’t taken… give to the rich? That won’t look good, it might work, but definitely won’t look good!

In light of the current $42b package, another thought that’s circulating through my brain is whether the stimulus packages are a result of the governments ‘knee-jerk-response’, something that has cost the country heavily in the past. The need “to do something” seems the main reason for the actions rather than a planned and structured spending process to achieve maximum effect. After all how can anyone ascertain the best way to spend 42 billion in the space of a month? Kevin Rudd himself stated “The most irresponsible thing to do today, with the worst global economic recession since the 1930s staring us in the face, would be to do nothing,”. Is it possibly a sign to show the Australian people that the government is quick to act and really cares in times of crisis. Im not the only one in doubt, with various publications showing little support for the package. For a brief editorial rundown visit OpenPolitik

I’m sceptical but I sincerly hope the next round of stimulus funding addresses the issues at hand, or at least takes note that cashing up the needy may not be the way to go if economic stimulation is the resounding aim.

With the current economic downturn people have lost a lot of money. This gives some online wantrepreneurs (wannabe entrepreneurs) the opportunity to take advantage, offering get rich quick schemes promising fortune and wealth almost immediately by doing hardly any work. The idea is appealing and although an inner part of those who take up the offer knows that this is not going to work, it’s that sense of hope that maybe this is the one. The guy told them so. Its guaranteed. Its only $47.

As we know, for anyone who has decided to use the ‘corkscrew filter system’ or ‘reverse aztec cash funnel’ it simply does not work. It is never sustainable because at the end of the day you are never adding any value or creating something extraordinary. Thinking of creating an information hub about credit card debt and consolidation, then make thousands a day from people clicking your adsense ads? If getting traffic is that easy and cheap then wouldn’t you think the companies advertising would do it themselves?

What I thought I’d do is put together a short list that will help you identify the online scams. When I say scam, I don’t mean that they will take your money and run. It would be much better if they just did that! Instead I’m talking about the ones where you will receive your ‘valued’ item, use up your time getting it running, raise your hopes that your onto something big, then realise a few wasted months later than it simply doesn’t work the way you thought it would. You may like to go through this list the next time you consider taking up one of these fantastic online money making offers.

1. Layout - A lot of these guys will have a very similar layout. It’s usually always a single page that continues for about 30 web page kilometers full of great testimonials, dialogue boxes, large font, big brash heading and bad (usually yellow) text highlighting. For some reason the font will always be roughly the same, usually Verdana or Times. You can spot these horrors from a mile a away.
2. Contact - There is always a fundamental lack of contact details on these get rich quick scheme sites. You probably wouldn’t expect contact information for a blog, especially a personal one however when someone is trying to sell you a money making course, or any other online product, shouldn’t they be contactable other than through a web form? Yes, there are a number of online businesses operated from home and not having these details public is perfectly understandable but these guys simply won’t put details on their site as it results in them being accountable and answerable by phone, remember, out of site out of mind.
3. Tone - Get rich quick schemes can often have a very unique and distinctive tone. The pitch can be seen as arrogant and confronting. Phrases such as ‘why would I care? I’m filthy rich’ pepper such scam sites. The held belief behind this tone is that indifference and arrogance are signs of someone who is successful and does not care whether you purchase from them or not. They don’t need the money, they are rich already. Why would they care if you don’t lose weight, they are in great shape. Its a gimmick and a strategy quite deliberately included by the seller.  The best and most successful companies in the world care and are obsessed with what their customers think, not the other way.
4. Guarantee - A 100% guarantee is usually, if not always, offered. This is to develop a  ‘I have nothing to lose’ mind-frame  for potential buyers. These are genuine guarantee’s and I’m convinced that if you were to ask for your money back they would be more than happy to return it to you. What these guys also know is that only an absolute fraction of the people who buy their product will actually bother to ask for a full refund. This unfortunately is a proven fact which these marketers take full advantage of. They know that if your after a get rich quick scheme and have purchased their product you are most probably someone who wants a quick fix, something for nothing. Asking for a refund takes effort meaning the very people buying the product would be less likely to pursue a refund for it. So don’t think that just because they guarantee success it really means they believe it will work!
5. Spelling and Grammar – Bad grammer is alot. There is no such word as ‘teached’.  Although rare it a sure sign to stay away immediately.
6. Hurt and Rescue – The classic salesmen theory. First they will try to hurt you, tell you how bad life is going to be when your broke and your partner leaves you like when it happened to them. They try to hit you where it hurts. But don’t worry, be part of the scheme and you won’t have to worry about this because you will have so much money… like they do.
7. Quick! – The key theme among the majority of these sites is that they promise a proven method to making money now. If you don’t act now the price of the service will go from $67 back to $297 so you need to be quick. This is exactly what you want, you want to make money now and they claim they will deliver, plus your getting it at an absolute bargain. See that little counter saying you have 23hrs 59minutes and 56 seconds until the price goes back up. Click refresh and see what happens… oops. The promises of quick riches is a deadly trap as it is extremely inviting and the thought of having an extra $20,000 by the end of the month is an opportunity that you just simply can’t ignore. Well ignore it.
8. Visual Examples – Online money making opportunities are filled with visual examples such as proof of income or some guy standing next to an exotic sportscar. These are his earnings and this is the car he drives and it could be yours too! All you need to do is… you get the picture. Just in case you don’t believe that you can make that much money, proof of income (usually Paypal or Clickbank snapshots) are a great way for these guys to get their message across and actually SHOW you how much money they make. I’ll show you how much I am earning as well. Have a look at my latest Clickbank earnings:
   

   Don't believe me? Good.

   And no I didn’t use photoshop. Seriously, this is really how much I make selling plant pruning ebooks online. How could you doubt me?! The scary thing is you can do this to ANY website using ANY numbers without getting a designer to do it and it takes about 30 seconds. Both Clickbank and Paypal are reputable companies but its so easy for these guys to manipulate and use goodwill of these big online brands. I’m not saying they are all fake examples but you need to view these visuals with a grain of salt.

9. Domain Names - www.makemoneynowonlinewithoutworking.com. Most of these domains are long and almost always look rediculous. Many webmasters try to incorporate every single keyword such as ‘money’, ‘online’, ‘rich’ and whatever else they can jam into their domain. Take a quick look and if the name looks a little laboured then i’d probably give it a miss.
10. Too good to be true – The obvious one. As the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. You have all these bonus items, a free website, free audio tutorials and several bonus packs valued at over $297 and they are offering it to you for $47! And your guaranteed to make money, lose weight, bench more, sleep better, run faster and love longer.. right now! Its sounds great and yes is probably too good to be true.
11. (The +1) The number 7 - My favourite, I love this one. The majority of online scams and get rich quick schemes love to incorporate the number 7 into their marketing and pricing structure. This sounds crazy but I would strongly recommend against buying anything where the price ends in the number 7. Get rich quick schemes seems to have a 7 pattern when referring to pricing. $97, $37, $27 and $47. I think its both a cause of follow the leader (blind leading the blind) and also because they need to add value in their marketing. According to these marketers, nice whole numbers is a sign of a lack of value. Throwing a ‘7′ in the equation makes the price appear more believable and it’s not close to a rounded figure such as a ‘5′ or a ‘0′ at the same time not making the item look too expensive by sticking an 8 or 9 at the end. Companies do it to their pricing all the time but the ‘7-collusion’ effect among online rip off artists is something of a giveaway to the quality of the item they are selling. As silly as this may sound it shows the desperation, lack of knowledge and understanding by these webmasters and wantrepreneurs. Ever heard of $19.95?

There are probably a whole host of other small factors and indicators which I have missed but I believe this is a solid list of the key features that you should be aware of. The truth is that making money and sustainable success is a reward for plenty of hard work, sticking through the tough times and usually a little bit of luck. Overnight success happens to a very select few, who eventually go on to make waste of it.

I believe this is a good thing. I am happy that the majority of success does not come overnight. This allows the natural and organic success path to weed out the posers looking for a quick buck and reward those with drive, determination and passion.

Lets talk marketing. The average person (as well as the very average marketer) may think the best thing to do during times of crisis is to simply cut advertising budget and channel remaining funds into known and tested forms of media. Well lets dissect that thinking just a little.

• Times are tough and business is struggling
• Ok we’ll need to cut budget
• The budget’s have been cut so we need to be careful where we spend our money
• Lets spend it on what we did before (you mean the same stuff that got you in this position in the first place right?)
• That’s a great looking ad! (it goes well with your competitors on page 3,7,9,11,17,22 and 33. Well done.)
• Im not sure how the ad performed but it looked good didn’t it? The others keep doing it so it must be working.

Does it seems a little clearer as to why the cut budget and spend safely simply does not work? You may well need to cut your marketing budget but it doesn’t mean you should stick to your usual, often fundamentally flawed ways. Remember those usual ways are exactly what got you (you being the advertiser, not specifically as in you) stuck in the first place! The only way out is to really set yourself apart from the bunch. Be different, act different and think different. Not being different is the exact reason why people stop buying or trying your offering.

Another major problem here is that everyone is trying to target the masses with the key defining feature that bonds this group is that they are simply indifferent however at the same time represent the majority of the purchasing population. They don’t care whether your ad looks great, or how your new football boot is worn by some bloke they could never be. You need to remember that times are tough for the masses, economic and financial crisis hits the masses hard, the same masses you are targeting.

So now tell me the reasoning behind this marketing approach. You are targeting people who don’t really care and don’t have the money to get out and purchase your product. How much money do you want to waste? How many ads do you need to print and display before you realise it’s just not working?

When things are tough those products that are a cut above the rest, those that are amazing and extraordinary will prevail. Why? Because these don’t interest and are unwanted by the masses. The property market in UK, US, and Australia is struggling but what type of property are we talking about here? We are talking about the property for the masses. We are not talking about water front mansions worth several million dollars. For example take Donald Trump, who in mid 2008 during a time when the housing market was in the pits, sold his Florida home for 100 million dollars! The housing crisis we are really talking about are the typical housing prices going down and bringing a large number of people down with them. The whole economic and financial downturn could possibly be attributed to sub-prime mortgages crashing heavily accompanied with the devalued nature of the properties (all be it a slightly abbreviated explanation!). Who were these sub-prime mortgages sold to? The same people who are not buying your products now, the masses.

I don’t believe I’m extraordinarily bright but you don’t have to be. Just think about it. The old ways of marketing and advertising are useless now because the people your advertising to simply don’t care. They don’t buy FHM to look at your ads and use TV commercial breaks to fill up their drink. TV advertising and Magazine advertising once worked because they were different and the alternatives were few and far between. Traditional media requires the diverting of a user’s attention in order to absorb the message you are trying to portray. This doesn’t work anymore! People are immune to ads and subconsciously and consciously tune-out or flick to the next page whenever they are subject to an advertisement. They have seen hundreds and thousands of these before, possibly even millions over their lifetime so why would they pay attention to yours? Do you read all your spam?

So the sad truth is:

1. People don’t care
2. People don’t have the money
3. People don’t even notice.

Yet I look through a popular men’s magazine and I see hundreds of crappy examples selling the same stuff and marketing to these exact people! Amazing.

How do you get around it? Create. Create something that genuinely ads value and will appeal to a dedicated minority, NOT to the masses. Hang on you say, that is where all the people and the money is! If you have just asked this question then please go back to the beginning of this post and read again. Going straight to the masses just puts you in the ‘me too’ category and you will inevitably fail. Even in times of crises, the minority, namely those who like to try new things (innovators and early adopters) will try new things if they believe it ads value to them. Go for the niches and source the ‘’sounding boards’ and target them directly. They are the ones who will be interested in purchasing and if they like it, they will talk about it, hence why I call them ’sounding boards’.

Being different and adding value is the backbone of forming a sound business model. Watching someone acting different, doing well and then joining the group as a ‘me too’ is the recipe for mediocrity and inevitable failure. A perfect example would be Coca Cola moving into the energy drinks market and taking on Red Bull. Red Bull found a niche, offered something different and with value. It was unique in the market and didn’t even taste good but it added value to those who adopted it who then spread the word and the masses eventually came on board (once again an abbreviated story but you get the picture). In comes Coke, brings in Lift plus and Mother, says me too, makes it taste like garbage juice and says gimme my market share. What happens? It fails and it will continue to fail no matter what they try to do. Why? They tried to target the masses who are indifferent and don’t really care to change. “I’ll stick to Red Bull, thanks anyway” say the masses.

The key is to source out a niche, target the early adopters and offer them excellent value. This is how, now only in current economic conditions but from now on, you will be able to create a solid and profitable business model. Become a ‘me too’ and you will become another ‘me too’ scratching your head, waiting in line for your fortnightly government cheque thinking, what went wrong?