Frank Kern's "Instant Internet Empires" Copy

[The Copy Nazi]

Frank will probably not be happy that I'm sharing this. Bad luck. I think it interesting. This looks to be the original copy for "Instant Internet Empires" - the program that got him into deep sh*t with the FTC a few years back. (Wasn't his fault - he'd sold the rights to some shonks that were telemarketing the product and misrepresenting and ripping people off. Frank talks about it on his Mass Control Site

When someone bought Instant Internet Empires, I foolishly gave them the rights to re-print, use, and re-sell the very sales letter I’d written for it. The same sales letter that had my name in it, as well as my bank statement photo and my earnings information.
And this led to all kinds of bad stuff happening, such as:
Bad Stuff Part One: Within a few months, there were a gazillion websites doing business as “Frank Kern” …but only one of them was mine. (There are still a bunch of Instant Internet Empires websites out there with my name on them …NONE of them are mine. Dammit!)
Bad Stuff Part Two: Some people started sending SPAM using my name …and promoting their Instant Internet Empires website that also had (you guessed it) my name on it.
Yay!
But Here’s Where It Gets REALLY Awesome!

One of these companies proceeded to call their customers and tell them they either were me, worked for me, or were my partners. (None of those statements were true.)
….And then they’d kindly sell them $4,000 “coaching” packages (with “mentors” and everything!)

But what's interesting is the style of this. How Frank has gone from this rather cheesy salepage to his slick video sales presentations.

Instant Internet Empires - Instant Internet Business

Anyway...I thought it fascinating. Check the funny little graphics. Like this one -

[JamesHughes]

Looks Intersting Nazi - The sales page looks a little dated?

[The Copy Nazi]

Originally Posted by JamesHughes

Looks Intersting Nazi - The sales page looks a little dated?

From August 2001 - so nearly ten years ago.

[Rezbi]

Hi! My name is Frank Kern. I'd like for you to know up front that I'm not an Internet Guru...Not A Computer Wiz...And Not A Marketing Genius.

But a shore weel bee soowwn.

[Marvin Johnston]

Fascinating, and thanks for posting!

His style of writing doesn't look like it has changed much. He is still using the "I am not ...", "don't listen to me ...", "lame", etc.

I also noticed his use of weasel ... wonder if that was gotten from Gary Halbert and his use of sh*tweasel?

Marvin

[The Copy Nazi]

Originally Posted by Marvin Johnston

Fascinating, and thanks for posting!

His style of writing doesn't look like it has changed much. He is still using the "I am not ...", "don't listen to me ...", "lame", etc.

I also noticed his use of weasel ... wonder if that was gotten from Gary Halbert and his use of sh*tweasel?

Marvin

More than probable. Frank is a big fan of Halbert. BTW have you noticed how every man and his dog have picked up on at least two of Frank's - Kernerisms (™) - "shenanigans" and "weird".

[Rezbi]

Originally Posted by The Copy Nazi

More than probable. Frank is a big fan of Halbert. BTW have you noticed how every man and his dog have picked up on at least two of Frank's - Kernerisms (™) - "shenanigans" and "weird".

The reason those were there and still are is because that's his personality.

Just because someone's writing/knowledge improves doesn't mean their personality has to change with it.

[Marvin Johnston]

Originally Posted by The Copy Nazi

BTW have you noticed how every man and his dog have picked up on at least two of Frank's - Kernerisms (™) - "shenanigans" and "weird".

I think he has branded himself quite well .

Another thing I noticed from your OP was his use of problem/AWESOME. That is a cool way to say one thing meaning (I think) something totally different.

Marvin

[Daniel Scott]

I have heard another reason Frank got into hot water for this was false income claims.

I'm not sure whether that's true or not. Could be complete hearsay.

Having said that... my source is usually pretty spot-on... and Frank wouldn't be the first guy to lie about his earnings in order to sell stuff to the IM crowd.

-Daniel

[The Copy Nazi]

Originally Posted by Daniel Scott

I have heard another reason Frank got into hot water for this was false income claims.

I'm not sure whether that's true or not. Could be complete hearsay.

Having said that... my source is usually pretty spot-on... and Frank wouldn't be the first guy to lie about his earnings in order to sell stuff to the IM crowd.

-Daniel

"Your source". LOL. Dude it's all over the internet. I wrote about it years ago. Easy to find. Google "Frank Kern FTC" and you'll find the complete legal documents. This statement from the FTC is also out there -

Instant Internet Empires

"Instant Internet Empires" touted the money-making potential of five pre-packaged Internet businesses, promising that buyers could make more than $115,000 a year using the product. According to the FTC, for their $47.77 investment, consumers received the right to reproduce the defendants' Web site and the right to try to resell its contents to other consumers. The FTC alleged that to achieve the promised $115,000 in earnings, consumers each would have to sell the product to 2,400 additional consumers, who would each need to sell to 2,400 additional consumers to achieve the same earnings, and so on. According to the FTC, by the third generation of the scheme, participants would need to make a total of 13,829,760,000 sales, more than twice the earth's population, for each of them to achieve the advertised earnings.
The stipulated final judgment and order with Instant Internet Empires and Irwin F. Kern, IV, also known as Frank Kern, bars them from making false or misleading income claims, from participating in chain marketing schemes, and from providing others with the means and instrumentalities to violate federal laws. Based on financial statements provided by the defendants, $247,000 will be provided for consumer redress. Should the financial representations be found to be inaccurate, the total of their ill-gotten gains, $634,222, will become due.

If you followed the link to Frank's site you'll see where he admits his sales copy for this one was "hypey as hell". He also talks about how he ran the page for "Instant Internet Turkey" past his lawyer before publishing it and the guy said "Looks fine to me Frank". But as Frank points out - the guy was a tax lawyer and knew squat about internet marketing and FTC rules and regs. All this lead to the earnings disclaimers that a lot of us now put on our salespages.

[Daniel Scott]

I was talking about falsifying proof. Are we talking about the same thing here?

-Daniel

[David Maschke]

I see no proof Kern actually wrote that letter.

If the word "cool" was in it, then I would believe it

[vikramd]

LOL - an amusing read. The sales didn't seem that hypey - most ClickBank products are making bolder claims than that.

I actually feel bad for the guy having the FTC crack down on him after reading the copy.

Surely there were bigger fish to fry.

[davehilary]

I believe the legal issue was that he not the hype in the sales page - rather it was that he was offering the whole package for resale.