Sounds like the rantings of someone trying cleanse his own conscience to me.

Why do some seem to think that before they can bring out something good they have to insult Warriors, and the Warrior forum. I haven't even even read the info from the link yet, but, hey, why insult people here. If it's so bad... why even bother....

George Wright

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Hmm, this is something different out there. =)

I just learned something new today. I never knew the real identity of "The Rich Jerk" ~ aka Kelly Felix (not to be confused w/TheRichJerksNet, although I'm sure there's a confusing backstory in there somewhere :confused.

The whole "abusive marketing" thing turned me off from day 1; I remember thinking that the guy's website looked just like a cartoon version of Don Lapre... NOT a good thing, in my book. So Mr. Felix never got any of my money.

But that blog post is really interesting. There's a LOT of value in that rant. Nevermind second-guessing possible ulterior motives. When was the last time you heard a (recovering) Big-shot IM Guru speak so nakedly about the naked greed and duplicity that corrupts this industry?!?

"Words of Wisdom" indeed... now if only the newbies would take heed.

Notice that this post doesn't name names. Just as Ryan Healys (sp?) blog post attacking the 'industry' doesn't.

The formula seems to be attack the 'industry' - but don't say who. Look like your are saying something big - whilst being vague enough not to achieve much.

The blog post was interesting - but the timing seems a bit odd - considering all the outings of 'insider info' that have been going along recently. As a customer of some of Felix's lower end products - I have to say, I have been happy with them.

However, I've never seen his infomercials or purchased a high end product.

Talking about greed and corruption in Information market seems to be the new shtick. Or to put it another way, white has become the new black for a while.

In other words, I think this new mode of confessing is just as much marketing as the old model. Just a case of changing the game to keeps things fresh.

I don't consider myself cynical at all, but when I hear the next person in line telling me 'what is wrong with the industry' with vague specifics or childish insults, I can't help but think that this is just the next angle.

Sounds a lot like a Mass Control pre-launch confessional to me, a-la "I was a _______, but I'm just like you".

I'm one of those who bought RJ (the ebook) back in the day, I'm also one who had the "boiler room" sales call. The RJ ebook was my tipping point... it did, in fact, spur me on to actually DO something. Thankfully, I was at that stage in my understanding that it was all on me, and that the magical Internet would not just throw money at me without my input.

I didn't bother reading the whole blog post, so I'm sure the lesson (to which Paul refers) is lost on me, but I've got my own business plan, ethics and lessons to follow.

The lesson was lost on me too I'm afraid I was more interested in the fact the Felix no longer owns Rich Jerk.

Interesting blog Paul - thanks for the link. I'll look forward to some more musings from you!

i can't find the wisdom in attacking someone,But i know a person who has the authentic wisdom, he is an asian, yes an asian, he knows a lot of ancient wisdom. He started small in the affiliate marketing program now he is in the league of millionaires club. He formulated an organanization internationaly it is called Teamvinh.

IF that post was genuine (hey, it said to be SUSPICIOUS! ), then
I hear echoes of a blog post I made two years back at Money.Power.Wisdom:

All success
Dr.Mani

P.S. - Be suspicious. Better, be analytical.

I found the post interesting. But I don't know that reading it will convert anyone using questionable marketing practices (lies, lies and more lies) to mend their ways.

What I'd really hope is that highly-successful marketers with pangs of conscience would provide information or making money online without selling your soul (or some portion of it) -- assuming of course that they now how to do so.

To me, it just looks like a way to get attention for "Bring the Fresh." Rich Jerk has run it's course, he's found something new and it's probably getting a lot of views now with this post. Whether he's really sorry for past scammy actions or not-only he knows that. 1 in 25 people do not have a conscious.

This gets my vote.

If he's so concerned about righting his wrongs, why doesn't he give a free copy of Bring the Fresh to all his Rich Jerk customers? According to his post, they've already paid... literally and figuratively.

I think he copy/pasted that from a post on Michael Fortin's blog

[DELETED]

Awesome marketer! He was in touch with the pulse of IM when he started rich jerk and he's reinventing himself now that the pulse has shifted.

Great example of personality in marketing, how to stand out and separate yourself from the pack. In both forms, RJ and this new "avatar" he's created.

Thanks for sharing this Roger.

Although it's obviously not anything new and if you've been around a while you can probably name a few current well-known marketers still using this model.

It's one of the reasons I avoid talking at some of the events that go on - I would avoid them as an attendee because I know what's going on behind the scenes.

I spoke to a well-known marketer recently who reminded me about an incident of another IMer running off with peoples money (this time he literally left the country with it) - these things seem to be a mere reflection of 'people'. Some people sell drugs and guns, so why wouldn't we expect some unethical marketers in the crowd? Anything that can be easy money attracts all sorts.

The real issue I think people should take from this is not what these people are actually doing - any half-wit can be a faker, but WHY they're doing it.

Someone already said - if one guy didn't take their money they'd go and find one that did.

One of the big problems I believe the IM niche has is that because people generally come into it with no knowledge of what it's about - they very quickly and easily start buying in to all the hype.

You know the old saying 'you can't fool an honest man' - well this is very much the same. These people are relying on human greed and laziness.

If you were offered a house at a 'dodgy' price - you'd be very wary and do a lot of checking. When it comes to a few hundred (or even a few thousand) dollars - it's a lot like the reason for the current 'credit crunch' - people WANT to believe the lies - even when they know them to be lies.

Many people came up with 'creative' ways to borrow money that they knew they couldn't afford to pay back (there was a good reason that banks didn't used to let you borrow more than 3 times your annual income), and entered into agreements that meant they borrowed as much as 7 times their income (or more).

Now, you 'could' say that the money lenders were the evil ones (and I'm SURE that some of them intentionally mis-sold things, I'll leave that aside for now) - but there's no way I would've borrowed 7 times my income whether I could afford it or not - it's just stupid.

So - back to the original point - Yeah this guy has his reasons for 'coming out' and seeing the light and I'm not going to knock him for that, but there really are no people out to get 'us' - there are just people out to make money and do whatever they think they need to do get you to part with it.

If a newspaper headline read "sunny day tomorrow" - you might not take a second look. If it reads "hurricane coming" you probably will. The sad truth is that there are some things which 'most' people like to read, and anyone trying to part them with their money is likely to anchor their own messages to this mentality.

If 'we' stopped looking for easy answers and trying to buy a dream for $7 - these guys wouldn't have a leg to stand on. If we ask for 'proof' or to check testimonials they'd be stuffed. If we just used our common-sense and our brain the way we do for things which are important to us and sanity checked our responses - they'd simply go away.

I've been on the receiving end of some of the current really crap marketing funnels trying to sell coaching using badly trained foreign staff to cold-call prospects and read them the script they've been given - I even got several follow-up calls when I said I already pay someone for coaching (they wanted me to tell them who my coach was and were clueless as to why I wouldn't reveal someones details to them).

I find that stuff offensive - but not surprising.

The question people should be asking is - WHO does this? have they actually looked at the people they think of as Gurus and 'sanity' checked that appraisal?

Some of the people that I've seen called Gurus were people I wouldn't trust my golf clubs with let alone my money or my future.

There are some valuable lessons in you starting this thread. People should stop blindly listening to what others tell them to do and start using their brain and their common-sense to make decisions.

Andy

Very interesting article. It's pretty rare that you see a big guru have a genuine change of heart like this. Kinda makes you wonder what's going on behind closed doors with all these well-known gurus...

Hi Andy,

There's a lot of rats around here currently, but credit where it's due - it wasn't me who started this one, it was discrat.

Admire him!!

In that case I used to be a drug dealing, murdering, thieving, lying, womanizing, pig. Only killed 47 people though, only stole half a million dollars, only broke up 57 marriages (I was the Heinz of womanizers), lied under a thousand times (that I recall) and burnt the brains out of countless drug buyers...BUT:rolleyes:

"I have reformed your honor. And it didn't take me 30 years like your honor said it would, but, only five!"

Nice to know what it takes to be admired. Now I wish I had been a little more brutal since it apparently DOES pay off in the end!

Believe me, I am no saint,but really now...:confused:

If he wasn't selling "Bring the Fresh" he would not have made that post. It's a sales letter designed as a confession.

Wow, I didn't expect that late night blog post to raise so many eyebrows. It wasn't intended to be my magnum opus, or a one-off, quickie soul-cleansing. I don't think a blog post is really capable of that.

Oddly enough, it feels somewhat comfortable to be out there, open, vulnerable, and under scrutiny - as myself. It makes me want to deliver upon my promises all the more - knowing that I've been heard. And I really do appreciate the suspicion. After all, I asked you to be suspicious!

Unfortunately, those who believe it was calculated, I think you give me too much credit. I've always said that I wish I were as smart as people think I am.

Rather than address the concerns of whether or not I've truly "seen the light", I prefer to let my actions do the talking, and only time will help determine that. I'm looking forward to it.

I always wondered who was behind the Rich Jerk. Now I know! Wondered why all the emails suddenly stopped from him (sorry, you) in the last few weeks (I was on your email list). All makes sense now...

Fair play for coming out and being honest. Everyone deserves a second chance I say. We've all made mistakes haven't we...?

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[DELETED]

I guess, it's a sad indication of how geeky I've become that I was paying more attention to the skillfull WordPress customisation than his blog post.

The best part of his blog post - LISTEN UP:

"Be suspicious of push-button solutions. Be suspicious of products with names like "Underground grim reaper autopilot gold bar instant millionaire wealth generator." Be suspicious of anything that says "earn up to 8 billion dollars per second." I know it all seems like a no-brainer but people are actually still buying this stuff. Be suspicious of product launches. Be suspicious of cut and paste emails you receive from 42 different people. Be suspicious of anything that "everyone is talking about". Be suspicious of anything with a bonus or "downsell". Be suspicious of ME."

I read this and I swear I want to scream. Yeah it's great that he's saying all this now. How much money has been LOST from hard working people because of HIM and those like him? I love the last line. I love it. And I am, Kelly - I am. I'm even suspicious of why you wrote this blog post. I smell a product coming on.

And look at one of the comments "John" posted on this blog post:

"While it is better than marketing with fear, this whole post is a cleaver marketing tactic in its own. Bad guy gone good who can now help you with his new product. This whole post is geared towards getting people to trust YOU and not others because you are calling then out on their marketing tactics."

EXACTLY JOHN!!

Unless they've been honest with you from day one, fear them and don't believe them. Period.

There's so much slime out there you need to take a shower after working online for five minutes.

Tiff

So this is what goes on here nowadays?

Make money, not drama.

Except in Kelly's case where drama equals money.

Good luck with your new product,

Zach

Totally different tone used posting here than on your blog. If this tone had been on your blog, perhaps fewer would have been slow to understand?
Lord knows I am no saint, I just found it odd that in the post there was not even an apology. Here you apologize and offer recompose. Best of luck to you. Hope that you follow through.
(It is ironic that many continue to choose 'the dark side', even after they learn enough to know it is the dark side. Now you know. If you don't choose the dark side now, you're head and shoulders above a few people.)
PS-The quote was Al Pacino in Carlito's Way

I wonder if Mr Felix will be giving some of the income back to the people he "borrowed" it from?

I see Mr Felix has thanked a few of the comments that seem to suit him or offer forgiveness.

I wonder if he will thank this post for "Showing him the light" and helping him to repay ($$$$) his misdeeds?


Sam

Easy discrat, you seem as someone more than just a mere fan of RJ. Looks like you have a real investment here, you getting all emotional. How much were you paid to post this for all the traffic to the blog and new product it would bring? Probably even got a few sales for Bring the Fresh.

And when Tiffany "popped out of the womb" Al Gore had not invented the internet yet. And she is one of those straight up marketers.

But crap, I, like ExRat wanted to know what brought on this change. Was he really born again? Or perhaps one of those 12 step programs where one of the steps is apologizing/righting your wrongs. Although there was no apology on the blog. Oh well guess it will remain a mystery. :p And Tiffany, there is already a new product.

ExRat: Awesome commentary, Roger.

I think Kelly makes some good points. I liked 'em enough to paraphrase them, in order to help me follow through his argument.

Fear and greed are eternal parts of human nature. Excessively fearful people can be manipulated with deceit. Excessively greedy people can provide that deceit, if it feeds their greed. After a certain point the greed isn't about money or what it can buy. It's about bragging rights with the other greedy SOB's.

Lots of average Joes and Janes had fear of poverty, of "lives of quiet desperation." And they had greed for the lifestyle and "f* 'em all" attitude portrayed by Kelly's image. The image was false, but the scornful attitude to the "little guy" wasn't. Meanwhile, Kelly and his business peers had their own issues with greed and fear: fear of losing face by not greedily grabbing as much as the next guy, from greedy fearful little Joe and Jane. The reality ain't a pretty picture on any side.

What you promote is what you ultimately get back. Even if the scarcity is a lie you tell others, you wind up getting tangled in the snare you set. And then the greedy people harvest some of the fear they helped plant. They hoped to sow only their greed and none of the fear. But in another memorable saying of that Jewish carpenter, you can't drop off one type of seed and expect to pick up a different kind of plant.

If you act behind a mask, face to face contact is damned hard without ending the whole show.

I think that captures the gist of it, am I on track?

This is all a lot more deep thought than many people ever get to in their lives. Especially if their lives are consumed by either greed or fear.
Great topics to discuss here.

And I don't see the Warrior Forum comment as any kind of slam on this place overall, or on the people who use it thoughtfully with eyes open.

Proof that the persuasive power is still there, even if not backed by the mansion, fast car and faster ladies.

Kelly, I admire your introspection with the whole new leaf thing. So the rich jerk site currently just uses a backlog of stock footage of you?

There is a wide-open black hole of an unanswered question. Several posters here have commented, and I don't see the answer. And you asked us to be suspicious.So I'll ask this straight up:

You were paid well to let your name & likeness be used to promote products & services, without any idea whether or not the offers were junk. This didn't just happen as an accident. It was the way you routinely ran part of your business, because it was expedient to feed your own greed and pride.

Based on the image you portrayed, ordinary people sunk a lot of money - perhaps, their life savings; perhaps, enough so that it was their last hope at a brighter future. The money went into something that might have bamboozled them. Offers that promised a hand up to the moon and delivered a push down into the mud.

Isn't it appropriate for people to want to see, not just an apology, but some active restitution to the "suckers" of the old venture, before offering their faith in your new venture?

Your new venture may be entirely free-range, organic, healthy and tasty. But your last buffet included some moldy dishes that other cooks slipped in there while you ignored quality control. Shouldn't those who were hurt get reimbursed for their food poisoning, before your new restaurant opens its doors?

I'm not sinless... but I have never once added my name to an offer of unknown quality by someone else. I've never accepted money to portray myself as a character designed to appeal to fantasies labeled as nonfiction. I've never hired a boiler room phone bank in Vegas, Utah, or anywhere else. I've never abdicated quality control for what I told people would be good for them to spend their money on. I've never built a business around greed and fear.

In two instances, the rigors of caring for a cancer patient left me without enough time to complete work that clients paid me for. I expect to complete 100% restitution of every penny they paid me this year, with me eating ramen rather than steak until it's all paid off. And I'm also going to ask if they'd like to have me do some replacement consulting at no charge and no commission to try to make it up to them.

So I think I am reasonably well qualified, not to throw stones, but to ask where there's the amends part of your apology. Without any indication of how you plan to make things right for people who were wronged, something is missing here. Until that's added, what we have here are words of warning, but not words of wisdom.

Chris

Ladies,

With all due respect, take it outside.

Or, better yet, drop it.

I wouldn't be surprised, should this continue, if Uncle Paul were to put both of you in "Time Out".

You are both above such petty nonsense.

Respectfully,

Elmer

There are predators and then there are true givers. Which are you? "Humans are the only creatures on earth that will attack, harm or kill their own specie to benefit themselves financially".

Happy Trails!

Remember they are 'just thoughts' and he is 'winging it'. Don't read into it too deeply, but I like what he's saying.

As a side note, George "The Sniper" Brown got started with Rich Jerk...

Also, I really admire the people like Mark Ling (affilorama.com) and Sean Morrisy (sixdayweekend.com) that are all about the content. They'll never make as much money as the other over-hyped gurus, but they'll always over deliver.

Sad but true. At least they won't need to blog about their regrets and the way they treated customers further down the track

He is stating what is known or surprising. I am kinda of tired of learning from people who are only selling how to make money online, but have not made real money online.

I see an opportunity. This is GREAT news, time to shine. I did this already to build online 6 figure sites and may do it again with teaching Internet Marketing (which is new to me). In a industry where people dont trust anyone becuase of all the shady stuff happening, step in and give the people someone who is reliable, honestly and trustworthy with real information. Why not give people real value and give people what really works. If you do that you may make less money YES, but you will have life long customers. They will pay you for it, if its real.

I got a WSO today which the person told me after the fact that it will only work if you use BlueFart & he would not responding to emails, customer service for a $10 thing is not included, you have to pay extra. I LOVE these competitors, they help us build stronger customers who will pay.

Thanks for the opportunity here, I hope this stuff leaves the industry soon.

Cheers,
Mukul

Hey have you heard that Coke is looking to bring out a new brand of water?

It's not like all that other crap, and it it's good for your teeth...which should be important to you after all that sugar that Coke rotted your teeth with.

Wait, the adverts gave the impression that drinking coke made you sexy and cool? Oops, guess they didn't tell you about the dentures you'd need to hold that look.

I actually respect Felix in many ways, because his marketing was absolutely genius, and innovative...something which is not often seen in this seedy IM community.


The problem is, a brand isn't that easy to shake. And further more, the whole "they are lying to you" thing, followed by a forthcoming pitch of a product which seems to give generic advice on things that will NOT make you rich...well, need i say more?

The RJ ebook was funny, and a good marketing lesson...but not for its' content.

The real lesson is to see how people sell into this market, not what they sell. Everything you need to know has been taught for free a million times, often in this small corner of the IM community known as the Warrior Forum.

The real missing ingredient is your contacts, your interpretation of information and your current financial situation. Not to mention your ability and mindset to actually get results.

Ultimately, I feel anyone deserves a second chance (within reason), but there has to come a point when you have to question the integrity of certain people.

For someone who openly admits that he was essentially the "Rich Jerk" in real life, I think it warrants a certain amount of precaution before parting with your trust, time and money when this IM industry is packed full of "on the street" honest marketers who can teach you a heck of a lot more, for a hell of a lot less...

Not sure what the fuss is really.

Rich Jerk stuff was pretty good, cheap as chips as well, IIRC the e-book was about $30, had a damm site more of value in it at the time than 99% of everything else. The forum was pretty good as well. Yeah it's been superceeded now by a country mile, but at the time , it really wasn't bad, had it been a $30 WSO , people would have raved about the degree of content. Trust me there's stuff sold on this forum every single day that didn't come close.

Who cares about his "style", big deal, you either got on with it or you didn't. Either way it was a damm clever approach, the alter ego was huge at one point and will probably live on permanently in the minds of marketers around at the time, few others had such a successful branding operation.

Whooa, suprise, marketers sit around working out ways to generate more dollars per visitor, call CNN. You really think this horde of sub 20 year old millionares all cross promoting each others stuff arn't sat on SKYPE laughing to each other as they refresh their Clickbank accounts?

As for people "smelling a new product", you don't need much a sense of smell. It's plastered all over his site for all to see, barely hidden.

So he outsourced some training via an affiliate deal. Big Woot. Happens all the time. Marketer "A" trusts Marketer "B" to deliver and Marketer "B"'s product ain't quite what it should have been.

He promoted **** , call the police.

For anybody who thinks this is an appaling crime, stop doing business with all your CPA companies in protest - right now, call them all up and tell them you refuse to do business due their ethics.

Because if you don't think all the big boys had their own **** promotions and internal projects on rebills you're living in a dream world.

Not picking up the phone yet? No, quel suprise, moral outrage on the back burner now?

He's created a negative backlash and not really benefited at all.

Made much ado about next to nothing - shows not every step even seasoned pros make is a good one.

Would have been better keeping his mouth wide shut.

The "I'm sorry, now I'm a good guy" angle , never pans out .

Did you get inspired by Tiger ?

Actions speak louder than words, even in IM.

His post is quite blatantly designed to draw a new audience and new attention to his new product.

Meh.

wow,nice article,I like it.

Well now, thut thar feller Kelly Felix shore hit the nail right on the head with this hear comment...
Here in the holler, we dun went ad did one a them thar sci-en-tific spearments jest to test thut thar theory.

We put up one a them thar tinkle rooms an we had folks line up in front of it. Wellsir, jest like Kelly said, other folk come an lined up with them an them folk never asked one dadburn question bout why they wus in line!

Here is the eeriest part of all... ever dadgum single one a them thar folks whut gots in line needed to go pee real bad! Don't thut thar jest send cold shivers right down yer backbone?

HEllo

I will say most of affiliate networks are having crap in their foundation.

They are rich after promoting

make money while giving discounts... for $195. you know who did it...
Google Money
Ebay Money
Social networking money
****
Colon Cleanse
Grant money ( need less to say... they are stealing $200 from some jobless )
Work from home offers.
Email/Zip Submit leading to above stuff.

I respect CJ and Linkshare that they never jumped into this mud for money..And they are still big.

All network guys are spending money at
Parties with naked pole dancers
parties with naked girls getting their body painted infront of them

Its true if you attend their parties...

Is it not something a Gang of crooks .. Legitimate and tricky enough.

Networks/ Merchant talk about quality ( scam done in proper manner) and no Fraud.

Who will ask them to " Stop frauding all America" ... Probably Obama.

Dont know who will bell the cat.

And yes.. i make/made/ and will make a lot of money from aff marketing only.

Thanks
AB

When u admit a fault and tell the truth u can earn peoples trust. I am seeing a lot more "truthful" marketers lately, probably a new trend.