I've cracked! I'm now going over to the dark side.

After recent discussions offline on in this forum about relating what people want to what they need and how to communicate the difference effectively, I've kicked myself in the ass (arse for the brits) and decided to pick a side and stick to it.

The Dark Side won.

The Dark Side = using the many years of psychology and sales copy learning I've done as the focus of my business efforts, "sell the sizzle and supply the steak".

I love metaphors and stories and I know they connect with people (I read around 5 books a week on average and many of them have their messages encapsulated in metaphor and story).

The simple things that have changed my life over the years include:

The Richest Man In Babylon - a great story that just happens to have timeless success information contained.

NLP - Success leaves evidence and can be modeled and shared.

Gary Halbert - Unfortunately not around anymore but he shared some gems I'll never forget.

The first story people hear becomes their reference from then on (IMers getting fed the wrong information can take a LOT of convincing that rethinking might be wise).

You get the idea - it's all really simple. The big thing for me is that the times that simple ideas have actually stuck with me have been when they're wrapped in story and metaphor.

Therefore, I'm going to stop getting in my own way and refocus on meeting people in their world and effectively laying out new options in front of them in a way that THEY create the value they need from it.

I've been around in IM a relatively long time now and I've seen most of the current Gurus taking their journeys. I've made money with every strategy I've seen that makes sense, and I've been in that unfortunate starting position of divorced, broke, massive debts, and turned my life around using the lessons I've learned and business success strategies from others and of my own. I KNOW how people struggling are feeling. I KNOW how it feels to desire just one sale - of anything, so that you know you're not mad and struggling with something you believe in but can't seem to make work. I also KNOW what it feels like to actually make that sale, and then next one, and the next one. I've gone from not being able to see how my financial worries would ever end to feeling like life is all about helping others and money isn't a problem.

I KNOW I can help people.

But to have things end up the best they can be, jumping around answering random questions that I happen to see from people asking for help doesn't seem to be the best way.

So this post is 2 things:

1 - A brain dump of my new thinking to see if I've lost the plot or it makes sense to others. (a sanity check - are these the ramblings of a mad person?)

2 - A request for people that you've encountered that have changed your life for the better. This applies to IM, business or life in general. I want to track these people down and see how they're doing it so that I can be the best possible at doing it for others.


I'm just a normal guy who has found ways to find success, but I can't help others as much as I'd like to without a new strategy.

In a way I'm talking about being the hero in your own journey. You start out, encounter problems, learn lessons, overcome the problems, face the big bad guy and then live happily with the love of your life.

What do you suggest?

Thanks in advance.

Andy