Ever right to "bend the truth"?

No, you should not.

That view strongly discourages long term success. It never allows you to build a positive reputation, and in fact assists in demolishing any value that you do bring to the table. A

"Always over deliver".

And the only way to do that is to promise some, and deliver ALOT.

90% of an established IM'ers income is from repeat customers who have developed trust in your word, and your ability to deliver on your promises.

I agree with both the posts above. Flat out lying is not simply
'bending the truth'... it's LYING... and that's never a very cool
way to live your life.

I think some people get 'marketing' confused with 'lying'.

I had a guy just last week accuse me of encouraging somebody
else on the forum to lie. What's laughable about that is it's obvious
the guy has never met me because lying is not, and never has been,
a part of my nature. I abhor liars and will cut people dead... friends,
family and anybody else I encounter lying... to me or anyone else
for that matter.

'Marketing' is as old as the hills and has been around since the
beginning of time. Dictionary.com describes it as...

... which is a pretty broad definition. But when it comes to the kind
of marketing I, and many others round here participate in, I would class
it as, "Presenting an item or service in the most attractive light so as
to make it more attractive to the potential recipient of said item or
service' - sounds pretty grand right?

Now each individual 'marketer' has to abide by their own set of
morals and ethics. Sadly there are as many people in the IM world
as in any other aspect of life that have no idea what 'morals and
ethics' mean... let alone have a list of them that they try to live
by.

The example I used to the guy last week was the many TV ads that you
and I see every day. Nobody with any amount of intelligence expects that
the actors and models have actually used the product they're selling.

Some may have of course, which is great, but not really relevant.

What's more important is that they are answering a few basic questions
that the viewer will be asking...

"What is it?", "What does it do?" and "How can I benefit from it?"

That's Marketing 101 and you see it every day.

This post is going on a bit longer than I had intended so I'll close it
down now by just saying this...

If a person chooses to live their life with no morals, standards or ethics,
and routinely lies, cheats and steals... then it's only a matter of
time till they get what's SURELY coming...

KARMA IS A BITCH!!!

Take care

Steve

Of course not. Keep doing what you are doing and be reputable... and ignore the idiots claiming to help you make millions dollars this year.

You really shouldn't make any false income claims.

I've become friends with a person who used to post frequently on this forum and this person made some slightly outlandish income claims. It came up in conversation once or twice that they got caught and that "it wasn't a big deal" - I wasn't sure if there was FTC involvement or if they were getting sued by someone personally for their income claims - details from this person were omitted because I think this person was a bit ashamed but still believed they could beat the system or something.

I haven't talked to this person in over a year, but I know someone else who knows this person, and the rumor is that they lost a lot by making false income claims. True or not, the scheme isn't worth it to me.

When I first started importing products I was doing so without an agent and I wasn't 100% sure if I was even paying the correct fees, such as U.S. import fees. I was new to the entire thing and at first assumed the entire thing was just automated or I wasn't bringing in enough goods to have to pay customs. All I knew was that I was getting my items and selling them and was starting a good business. I started to get nervous. I bought 2 income properties with first years' pay just 6 months after I really got started. At some point, I told myself I had nothing to worry about but then I got even more nervous. I decided to hire someone to look into how much I owed... and then I paid it. I no longer had to worry about suddenly losing my business, or how my family was going to go from a lifestyle of nearly $200,000 a year to $0 because I was going to get screwed by penalties and fines. I lost sleep over it until I decided to do the right thing. I'm really not sure if it even was "the right thing" or more so that I was just in fear of not paying the things I was supposed to. Either way, I sleep at night.

Thanks guys - I think all of you are right. It's just not the done thing to make exaggerate your income figures. We are running a marathon - not a race.

I don't make fake income claims or fake claims of other types. And I don't fall for fake income claims/other claims.

If it sounds too good to be true, it isn't true, in my book. Buy a product based on its merits ... whether or not it will help you in your business. Don't buy or sell products based on lies.

PLEASE tell me you are joking.

You may not have been around long enough to remember this - but Frank Kern made a mint and lost everything when he got hammered for making statements about earnings and lost everything.

He's back on top now, but many people learned a valuable lesson at the expense of people like Frank.

Maybe you think that lying about your income is "just what you have to do" and you think it won't matter or you won't get caught - I urge you to reconsider.

In the UK there is a guy called Grant Shapps who has an online persona of Michael Green.

Grant is now a successful politician and a senior member of the leading political party currently in power.

Luckily he never made false claims and is a successful business person - but even he gets constantly called on his career in the "helping people make money online" area.

Can you imagine what it would do to that career if he had adopted the tactics you are talking about?

Don't be short-sighted about these things - it may take a bit longer to make it by being ethical and honest, but it will ensure your success lasts longer when it happens and you won't need to look over your shoulder for someone to find out you lied to get there.

I think earning is not that easy, and people know about it, so when you claim that you are offering million $$$ while you are selling the system for $20 or so, how can people trust you?

Like when a domain can earn $5 each month, you will be able to sell that domain with that price more tha $5, so a system that can ensure million $$ surely demand something big. But most of the time I see that million dollar secrets are selling under $20 here. And obviously I do not believe them. So tell the truth, and you will gain trust.

I don't agree with this guy, i would prefer to say the truth no matter how. I thinks this will help in the long run, try to say something you are not worth or capable of will really hurt you along the line as time goes on. it is far better to build list with small amount of subscribers but responsive than large list base with next to nothing responsive.