Business Lyceum
e-Letter
Practical
Instruction in the Arts and Sciences of Making Money
OCTOBER 1999
Greetings & Salutations:
Welcome to the "Premier Issue" of the Business
Lyceum e-Letter.
It is my intention to make this e-Letter the absolute bestest
in the business community. Not just fluff but real
practical instruction in the arts and sciences of making money
... as promised.
To begin with, the "Business Lyceum" was officially
on-line, for the very first time, on Friday; September 24, 1999.
But, of course, nobody knew about it except me and a few friends
who assisted me in testing the pages -- so -- I decided to date
the first issue of this e-Letter for October ... that way, I
would have something to send to new members right away.
With that out of the way, let's get into some practical stuff
about doing business.
Internet Marketing is NOT Mailorder Marketing
Over the past 30 years, I have sold over $250 Million worth
of products and services by mailorder ... everything from Beauty
Supplies to Heavy Equipment ... Burglar Alarms to Sleeping Bags
... Fishing Lures to Women's Wigs ... Automobiles to Wheelchairs
... Investment Opportunities to Seafood ... Consulting Services
to "How To" Courses ... all by mailorder.
Some 5 or 6 months ago, I read an article about "Opportunity
Marketing" in which the author claimed that "over 65%
of Opportunity Seekers are now buying on the Internet."
The article, of course, was promoting the use of Internet
Marketing (instead of direct mail) to sell your products or services
- but - other than the claim that over 65% of Opportunity Seekers
are now buying on the Internet, there was nothing earthshaking,
or even new, mentioned. -- As a matter of fact, the article,
by-and-large, repeated the same old b.s. I've been reading for
5 years (or longer).
As in every other article about Internet Marketing, the article
emphasized the fact that e-mailing was cheaper than post office
mailing. -- I think the writer said you could e-mail 10,000 messages
for less than the cost of 10 postage stamps (I suppose he meant
the 33ยข variety) using a 'Listserver.' -- Then, as always,
the article included some on-line places where you could rent
(or was it 'buy') non-spam e-mail mailing lists.
The idea espoused in the article was to e-mail your mailorder
sales piece to the non-spam e-mail mailing lists ... just like
you would using a post office mailing.
Another mailorder marketing method espoused by the writer
was to place "E-Classified Ads" all over the Internet
... just like you place "Classified Ads" for your mailorder
business in magazines, newsletters and newspapers, only you place
your ads in different web sites that have a "classified
ads" section. And, to show you just how knowledgeable
the writer was, the article listed a ho'bunch of places on the
Internet where you could place FREE E-Classified Ads. -- Whoop-dee-doo!
The writer also recommended that you setup a web page for
the purpose of gathering and collecting e-mail addresses. --
If I remember, the writer suggested that your web page only offer
something FREE, so you could lure the visitors into sending you
their e-mail addresses ... something like a BIG E-Classified
Ad.
All in all, throughout the article, the writer contended that
Internet Marketing is nothing more than Electronic Mailorder.
Being nothing more than Electronic Mailorder, according to
him, all you have to do is use E-Classified Ads; or a web page,
to collect the e-mail addresses of the over 65% of "opportunity
seekers" who are already buying on the Internet ... or rent
the non-spam e-mail mailing lists available ... and e-mail your
sales letters, flyers, brochures or postcards to them.
Just like any other mailorder operation except it's cheaper ...
because it's done electronically. But ... Internet Marketing
IS NOT Mailorder!
That's why there are really very, very few mailorder marketers
making any real money on the Internet ... unless they're selling
pornography, computer equipment or supplies, Internet Marketing
services, or Web Sites. And, even the most successful Internet
Marketer, Amazon.com, is losing over $60 Million per year.
So ...
Return with me now to the days of yesteryear ... almost 4
years ago ... when I first became interested in the possibilities
of marketing my products and services electronically.
After reading everything I could get my grubby little paws
on about Internet Marketing ... spending thousands of dollars
buying all the gurus' courses and subscribing to every magazine
and newsletter on the subject ... I went whole-hog into the Internet
Marketing game.
I bought the most powerful modem on the market, signed-up
for seven ... that's right, seven ... on-line services, and began
saturating the Internet with my E-Classified Ads. -- I even bought
the necessary software and placed my E-Classified Ads on every
Bulletin Board I found listed in the magazines and newsletters
to which I had subscribed.
For the first 3 or 4 weeks, I would open my e-mail boxes daily
to find 1 or 2 e-mail messages waiting in each, only to discover
that those messages weren't inquiries but, rather, MLM or pornography
solicitations (same difference to me). So, being a diligent
Mailorder Marketer, I placed more and more E-Classified Ads and
even started getting an occasional inquiry ... along with the
MLM and pornography solicitations.
Diligently responding to every inquiry I got ... and adding
the inquirers' e-mail addresses to my e-mailing list ... I even
started to receive a few (very few) orders (some months, I even
covered my on-line costs). But, finding the occasional
inquiry among the deluge of MLM and pornography solicitations
was like finding a needle in a haystack. -- I remember one Tuesday
morning ... after a long 4-day weekend ... opening my e-mail
boxes to find over 100 e-mail messages in each of my seven e-mail
boxes. that's right, over 700 e-mails - but - only two
(just 2) inquiries in the whole bunch.
That went on for almost a year, with most days requiring me
to go through 300 to 500 e-mail messages ... to glean (maybe)
1 or 2 inquiries and very few orders. -- I finally gave up, closed
all but one on-line account, and decided to try some different
approaches.
Over the next two years, I tried every trick in the Mailorder
Marketer's book ... reverse e-mailings to everyone who had an
E-Classified Ad on-line ... e-mailing solicitations to the e-mail
addresses I found on the letterheads from my post office mail
("snail mail" in Internet-speak) ... posting FREE articles
and reports on the various business web sites ... joining various
on-line business groups ... and even renting some non-spam e-mail
mailing lists to e-mail my solicitations to. -- Eventually, I
was making enough sales to cover my on-line costs ... almost
every month.
All the while, I was reading, Reading and READING some more
about 'how' to make money on the Internet. -- That's why I high-lighted
the article where it said ...
Over 65% of Opportunity Seekers Are Now Buying on the Internet
That one statistical claim stuck in my sometimer's diseased
brain (sometimes I remember, sometimes I don't). It haunted
me, day and night. -- That prompted the question ...
Why and where are the on-line opportunity seekers buying?
As can be expected, some of them are buying directly from
e-mail mailorder solicitations. Enough of them that the
ever-present nickel-and-dime Internet Marketing gurus can continue
to hook the suckers - but - most of the real on-line opportunity
buyers are buying from web sites that offer the 'how-to' stuff
they need. Which confirmed my hard-won contention that
... Internet Marketing IS NOT Mailorder! -- So...
What is Internet Marketing?
Since the most successful Internet Marketer, Amazon.com, is
an on-line bookstore, it would logically appear that ...
Internet Marketing IS Point-of-Purchase Retail!
Not unlike opening a 'store' down town; in a well-traveled
area, selling 'shoes' (or whatever), making sales to those who
pass-by and come into your store to shop, and running advertising
to get the people to come to your store to see the shoes you
are selling.
Once I figured that out ... a few months ago ... I started
rummaging back through my sometimer's diseased little grey cells,
trying to remember all the techniques I used to get customers
into my retail Women's Wig Shops.
At first, I figured, since Web Sites are in reality nothing
more than point-of-purchase retail stores on the Internet, I
would put together a 'wholesale' marketing program ... selling
my products to the 'retailers' who were already doing business
on the Internet. Letting them re-sell my products and earn
a hefty mark-up.
It didn't work! -- Unfortunately, most of the Webmasters (that's
Internet-speak for a person who owns a web site) don't have the
foggiest idea about what they are doing, or even why they are
doing it. By and large, the vast majority of them are still
thinking 'mailorder,' because that's what everybody told them
Internet Marketing was about.
Granted, some of the gurus who are selling Internet Marketing
services are now promoting 'store fronts' on their own web sites
... another gimmick to clean the suckers ... but, they're still
preaching 'mailorder' (as they see it) with little, if any, understanding
of the craft.
So, I decided I would have to build my own Retail Store on
the Internet ... a Web Site (in Internet-speak).
At first, I tried to learn 'how to' make a Web Site from information
I down-loaded from on-line sources. -- After two weeks, I gave
up.
I'm a member of Mensa (the High IQ Society )... with a tested
IQ in the 99th percentile ... but even I couldn't understand
the gobbledygook, double-talk, Internet-speak I encountered.
-- It's no wonder the vast majority of Webmasters haven't the
foggiest idea what they're really doing.
Failing that, I got in the car and made a mad dash to the
local bookstore ... as I have for over 40 years; when I really
wanted to learn something. -- Right there on the book shelves
I found copies of "Creating Web Pages for Kids" and
"Webmastering for Dummies."
After I finished reading those basic texts, I set myself to
the task of creating my own web site. -- I worked 18 hours a
day for the next 5 weeks.
I had already determined that Internet Marketing was NOT Mailorder
and concluded that it was Point-of-Purchase Retail - but - that
wasn't altogether true either.
Although Internet Marketing of 'hard goods' (tangible products)
more nearly resembles "point-of-purchase retail" than
"mailorder," the same is not necessarily true for "intangible
products" and/or "services."
Right now, today, if I were selling a line of "tangible
products" ... like furniture, clothing, cosmetics, or whatever
... I would most assuredly 'build' a Retail Store on the Internet.
And, just like any other "retail" establishment, I
would stock my shelves (web pages) with a wide variety of related
products...provide the "shoppers" with a "shopping
cart" into which they could put the items they want to purchase
.. .and give them ready access to a "check-out" counter
where they could pay for their purchases.
To advertise my "on-line retail store," I would
use the same advertising methods utilized by other retail stores
offering the same kind of tangible goods. -- I would run newspaper,
radio and TeeVee ads offering "specials," or "sales
items" ... sponsor events ... offer door prizes ... give
away premium items ... and all the other tried and proven methods
of bringing customers through my doors. -- I would also use "mailorder"
to advertise those promotions ... as I did for many years in
my Retail Women's Wig Shops.
Unfortunately, all too many of the "on-line retail stores"
limit their "store" advertising to the Internet itself
... failing to reach the 'internet shoppers' who may 'shop' on-line
but may not be looking at the on-line advertising media. -- They
should be advertising their "store" in the same places
... newspapers, radio, TeeVee ... where their brick and mortar
competition is advertising.
Of course, one of the best examples of such a "retail"
operation is the omnipresent "Amazon.com."
"Amazon.com," whatever else it may be, is, in reality,
nothing more than a "retail book store." -- Because
that is what it is, Amazon.com advertises itself everywhere as
"the world's biggest book store." -- Beyond that, it
never misses a chance to use (Free) "publicity" to
generate book-buyer interest.
When I first discovered that Internet Marketing was NOT Mailorder,
my intention was to 'build' a Retail Store on the Internet for
my products - but - since my products take the form of books,
booklets, reports and newsletters, that would have made me "the
world's smallest book store" ... so, I had to re-think my
"retail store" premise.
To that end, I began visiting all of the "money-making"
web sites I could find ... and subscribing to every money-making
e-zine I came across.
After reviewing everything I had found on my Internet surfing-safaris,
I decided to take a different approach.
Instead of a Retail Store I Decided to 'build' a School!
Thinking along those lines, I began searching for a "name"
for my web site.
I really couldn't justify calling it a "university,"
a "college," an "academy," or even just a
"school," since those names implied a formal institution
of higher education ... with on-going class work. And,
I wanted to stay clear of gimmicky names of the type used by
the b.s.-artists and multi-level marketers.
What I wanted was a "name" that offered an educational
opportunity ... without the implied formality of matriculation,
classroom studies, homework, or tests ... with an element of
entertainment.
Thinking back to my own school days, some of the most delightful
educational experiences I remember were the "lyceums"
we attended. -- I recalled the wide variety of subject matter,
presented in short programs, imparting specific information in
an entertaining format. So ...
I decided to 'build' a Business Lyceum on the Internet.
Where my dictionary defined "lyceum" as "An
association for popular instruction by lectures, a library, debates,
etc.," I created the Business Lyceum web site as a Learning
Place where the attendees could receive ...
"Practical instruction in the arts and sciences
of making money."
After I had selected the name, I was advised by some of my
friends that "no one will know what a lyceum is," "lyceum
will be too hard for people to remember, or spell," and
"you'll never attract the opportunity seekers with a sophisticated
name like that."
But, although the name Business Lyceum will, no doubt, put-off
the lower echelons of the 'opportunity seeker' genre (those who
are looking to "get-rich-quick"), it will be readily
understood at the higher echelons by those people who are already
(really) doing business and want to know how to do real business
better.
Beyond that, I am focusing on making this FREE e-Letter a
real educational newsletter ... giving the readers
real practical instruction in the arts and sciences of doing
business. (That shouldn't be too hard, since, unlike other
webmasters, I have over 300 books, booklets, reports and articles
I've written over the past 30 years to edit, up-date and deliver
to them FREE, electronically.)
Of course, my ulterior motive in delivering all this FREE
educational material is to ultimately "sell" the attendees
my other products and services. That will happen naturally
... without b.s. or hype ... as the attendees seek more expanded
information about the arts and sciences of doing business they
have learned about in the FREE materials.
Right now, you might be wondering "why" I am telling
you all of this.
Well ... by relating the research and thought processes that
went into the creation and development of my web site, you can
better see and understand the kind of reasoning you need to apply
when you develop a new product or service and its underlying
marketing plan.
Think about it!
Now you know some of the reasoning and considerations that
go into the creation and development of a new product. -- If
you use the same approach in the creation and development of
your products or services, your chances of success will be greatly
enhanced.
In time, you will come to realize that the information you
get in this FREE e-Letter will be a better business education
than you'll ever get in any "institution of higher learning"
- and - you won't have to be institutionalized to get it.
Until next time, keep well ...
J.F. (Jim) STRAW
Resident Genius
Can you stump the old master? -- Betcha can't!
Over the past 40 years (man and boy), I have made bundles
of money in direct selling, service contracting, wholesale merchandising,
entertainment (I was a professional Trumpet player, vocalist
& Radio Announcer), freight forwarding, import/export, retail
merchandising, warehousing, real estate, electronics manufacturing,
finder's fees, closeout merchandising, financial brokerage, business
consulting, steel fabrication, gold and coal mining, offshore
banking, mailorder, writing, and publishing. -- That being the
case ...
No matter what business you're in ... whether you're just
starting, well on your way, or at the top of the heap ... I've
probably been where you are, done what you are doing. -- So ...
Anytime you have a question about 'how' to do something in
your business ... or - if you have any comments about anything
I've said in issues of this e-Letter; or if you want to add your
2 cents worth ... just "ask" me or "tell"
me.
Send your Questions, Comments or 2 Cents Worth to ...
with "Question" - "Comment" -
or, "2 Cents Worth" in the SUBJECT.
If I, personally, don't have an answer to any question you
may ask, I will contact some of the professionals in your field
of endeavor (I will probably know one or more personally) to
get the real 'skinny' for you.
Note: If you want to ask a question anonymously
just tell me so when you send in the question. -- Nobody but
you and I will know who asked the question.
Return to the Archives
Copyright - 1999, J.F. (Jim) Straw. All rights reserved.