Who here tells the truth about the income they make? :P

You have to lie to get where you want to get.

If you have 2 eBooks sitting in front of you and one says:

"You will make $1,000 a week with my program"

And the other says:

"Okay, I'm not going to lie, you are only going to make $50 a week with my program"

Which one are you going to pick up?

People don't get all emotional and sensitive when buying stuff..

They won't say, "Aww well at least he is telling the truth!"

Most of the programs that make these exaggerated claims do work, but they usually require plenty of work and/or investment. It just depends if the money is worthwhile for the work involved. Usually they don't tell you the whole story. They may be relying on other secret techniques to be successful. To find a really good program, you need to find other people who have had success with it. Even then you wouldn't know if those are real customers or the people marketing the program. This is whyI just avoid any of these get-rich-quick schemes. Almost all of them are too good to be true.

I tell the truth....because I don't tell

I think Jeremy is right! Don't spill the beans, show people your sites and ventures and let them guess how much you're making (shrowd your offers in mystery and excitement... make them buy based on emotional impulse...)

Some marketers undoubtedly make as much money as they claim, but they typically don't go around shouting from the rooftops what their income is. Most people who give you a specific dollar amount are exaggerating or just doing it to get your attention...

Looks like it worked.

You don't need to lie to sell online. Only lazy marketers lie. Maybe you won't rise as fast as someone who lies or exaggerates, but you will create trust.

I'd rather create a steady increase of comfortable earnings and earn trust, than earn tons of money straight away, but have thousands of people think I'm dishonest.

Most people aren't stupid. They can usually tell the BS from the truth. And some IMers have short memories and end up catching themselves out, by claiming one thing to their subscribers, then a few weeks later on a forum saying something completely contradictory.

If you're after longevity and respect from ethical markers, be respectful and ethical yourself.

As for products telling you the truth about what you will earn; there's no way this can be done because your earnings always depend on lots of variables:

• How much time you put in
• How much productive work you put in
• What you know
• Who you know
• How presentable you are
• How good your copy is
• How much you pay attention to detail
• How you do your market research, etc.

The list could go on and on...

Which is why internet marketers always have earnings disclaimers.

i agree with bionictortoise... you don't have to lie to succeed online. people can usually tell whether something is bogus or not.

every time you put an offer out there is an opportunity to build a relationship of trust with potential customers. it is that relationship that will pay off in the end. all you have to do is provide something of value in exchange for their $$. as long as you focus on that, you won't have to worry about the $$.

I think they hit it right on the read when they said

"You don't need to lie to sell online. Only lazy marketers lie. Maybe you won't rise as fast as someone who lies or exaggerates, but you will create trust."

Thats soooo true. You have to create trust. Simply put, these people I see flashing money around saying they made it in a week I DON'T BELIEVE

People have to BELIEVE YOU...if they don't believe you they wont purchase from you..

A lot of people make money in this industry but keep it on the down low...and don't flaunt it everywhere...

I've earned my living online for over 10 years, and have never lied about my income. It isn't necessary to lie, and it isn't necessary to tell.

I don't believe income claims anyone makes anyway because it's too easy to fake. One line of javascript and you can edit the tables at Clickbank and Paypal to take a screenshot showing anything you want. If you don't know how to do that, you can fake it with a graphics program.

Even if the program owner took in 80k in one month, for example, he may have spent 79k to get that, or even lost money. Those income statements, even when their are real, don't account for expenditures. I skip right past any income claims, they are meaningless.

Let me break down what I said into a much clearer statement so you guys can understand what I mean.

I'm not saying you have to lie to get where you want, as in; "I MAKE 1 MILLION A MONTH, FOLLOW MY LEAD". Cause that's flat out over the top.

I mean you have to lie to a certain extent. We all lie. Your lie might be so small you don't even realize it. You might even convince yourself you are just 'exaggerating a bit' or trying to 'excite your crowd', but your still lying.

I guess the way I said it in the first post did sound a little bad, so I'm sorry for that.

If you look at the top products in the world, they all lie.

For example, a weight loss plan. I'm not 100% sure what the top weight loss programs are but they lie in their advertisement.

One program might say, "Join us and you will lose 20 pounds a month". That is a lie.

It is possible to lose 20 pounds a month, but that doesn't mean you will. If a lady joins this program and loses 14 pounds her first month, do you think she is going to care about that other 6 pounds? Hell no.

Just like earlier in this post, it IS possible to make $1million a month. So if a money making ebook says it wills how you how to generate $1million a month from IM, you can count that as lying if you don't start making $1million a month. But technically, you could use everything he taught you to generate that income.

It's all about lying to an extent. You all do it, I do it.

I don't mean lie and say, "I make X,XXX,XXX every month!" when you really make $1,000.

Point out a product and I'll point out where they lie.

I probably didn't word this post as clear as I would have liked too, hopefully I got my point across. I'm just tired and got home from school!

P.S. I realize this post was about lying about your income, sorry I took it the other direction

i speak the truth, only because i dont want to get sued.

A little known secret is that you can sell a product without actually telling people how much you make. You can say things like...

"This system has given me life-long success!"
"You can make a fortune, just like I do, with this incredibly simple program!"
"I now live the life of my dreams, and so can you!"

Some people like to show proof of checks received, which helps add interest to the product or service you are selling.

Each product is different. What's super easy for you to make money with, might be difficult for someone else to follow.

I think it's all about perception and the amount of effort and focused attention you put into things.

But, if you're happy making $50 a month, then great. You can choose to tell everyone or you can choose to keep it to yourself. For me, I choose to keep my salary to myself.

Obviously people don't agree, but all the millionaires lie.

So people can cry and talk about loyalty all you want, it is how it is.

Just as I was reading the OP, another earthquake hit us in S. CA. Anyone else near here? It was our second one tonight.

Anyway, I am of the school that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And, when a site that's selling a marketing product talks about all the money I'll make, it's a red flag.

Use your common sense and you should be safe from scammers.

First of all I would like to congratulate silent for this thread. I totally agree with you. most of them claim that they have been making 6/7 figure a month even if they didn't, simply to get attention of people like us. I do agree that to run a successful business it is necessary to lie sometimes especially in sales letters. I purchased around 86 ebooks from net when I started my online career. To be frank, 80 of them were worthless, far away from the truth. I forced to buy it because their sales letters were simply superb. But the point is, whenever people get cheated like this they will neither buy anything from them nor listen to them. My simple advise to them is don't loose your ethics for some pennies.

When I tell you I make a 7 figure income monthly, it's because there is a 7 in that 73.24 dollar check lol. j/k but yeh you're onto something

There are a lot of BSers out there...

There are some big names that are for real, and there are some people on this and other forums that 'fudge' a bit.

Takes a while to figure out who's real and who's not.

Seems to me everyone in this thread is lost on what it takes to be a millionaire.

Oh what's that? You don't want to be rich? You want to make friends and be an internet favorite?

Oh well you are in the wrong business.

P.S. Dennis, the ones who don't lie aren't rich. And again, I don't mean lie to a maximum where it is ridiculous. Just misleading and little lies is what you need.

Ah, well that makes sense.

I do find it a little greedy though, which most 'rich people' are, but as long as there are people that continue to fall for such stuff, the business will be alive, and the rich will still lie. Honestly though, I'm guessing in upwards of 50 years, the internet business will change dramatically and these lies won't exist anymore. I just think that people are going to start catching on if no one is making the promised amount of money, and no one will buy them anymore. But then again, that may not happen.

You guys keep referring to people lying about money. I know that is why you made the thread, but I'm referring to businesses 'niche wide'. Not just those 'make money online' ebooks.

Edit: Like when people say - "Only 27 copies left!!" You going to hate them forever?

Oh, I see, thanks for clearing that up.
Yeah, I guess it's not so bad as long as you're not saying 'YOU WILL EARN A SIX FIGURE INCOME IN A MONTH."

I believe that a lot of those are infact
true, but how many times did you buy
a program and followed up on it 100%?

REaly? how many times you actually did
what the book told you to do?

~Igor

Most IM products that make income claims like that will work if you apply them. Obviously some are total BS, but a lot of them do work. It's that people need to apply them and take action that mean that they don't work.

As for lying about income claims, why would you? You'll only get caught and if you lose your reputation then it'll be basically impossible to continue doing business.

"Who here tells the truth about the income they make?"

An interesting question by a user name 'silent'

-Ray Edwards

I don't lie about how much I earn online.. which wasn't much. But yesterday I bought a product that has sent my adsense earnings through the roof. Might be too early to guess what my monthly income will be now but it's looking pretty good so far.

I disagree with the premise that lying will destroy your business. Some "big name" marketers have lied, have been caught and they're making more money than ever. Obviously I don't recommend you do it...

Tyrus

Well it's pretty obvious that not everyone is telling the truth. Even if they don't see the obvious. By lying on simple things, they lose credibility. I personally will never buy anything from a person I don't trust or at least doubt in my trust in that person.