Monday, [4:16] PM

Dear Friend,

It’s almost cliché.

Everywhere you turn you hear about how easy it is to start an online business that runs on “auto pilot”.

That’s right… you hardly have to do ANYTHING. Just sit back and watch the money roll in 24 hours a day.

You can live anywhere you want and travel for months on end… and when you come home your business is still humming along making big fungolas 24 hours a day.

You only have to put in a couple hours a month overseeing a few things. All the systems and 3rd party companies do all the work while you’re goofing off for months at a time.

Yes, that’s right… it’s easy as pie!

You hardly have to do anything… just sit back and watch the “Benjamins” stack up miles high in your bank account.

My only response is…

BULLSHIT!

Pardon my French… but I really think that’s the most appropriate word to describe that kind of chicanery promoted so much on the Net.

Let me be one of the few people to tell you the truth about financial independence with an online direct response business.

First of all, it ain’t easy… and that’s a GOOD thing.

If it were easy, every Tom, Dick and Harry would do it. (Probably a lot more Dicks than Toms and Harrys.)

And the simple fact that it takes a little effort, planning, self education, initiative and self discipline automatically precludes about 98% of the population. That means there’s way less competition for people like us who actually DO something and follow through.

It’s true I’ve started and built several businesses that could be described as “auto pilot”. They allowed me to live anywhere I wanted (I even lived outside the US for a while) and didn’t tie me down to things like packing and shipping products, answering the phones, etc. I hired other people to do those things for me.

And it’s true back in 2006 I took two years off, goofed around, played music and did pretty much whatever I wanted while my business and income actually grew.

So it IS possible.

Here’s what the people promoting these “auto pilot” business opportunities DON’T tell you…

A couple years before my “goof off for 2 years and watch my business grow” period, my business was NOT on auto pilot. I pretty much did everything myself along with some help from my wife.

And I worked a lot. Evenings, weekends, weekdays… it didn’t matter. I worked whatever hours were needed to get things done. (The complete OPPOSITE of the employee mentality.)

Here’s the most important part:

About a year prior to my 2 years on complete auto pilot, I completely focused on the business and…

I Worked My BUTT Off!

By that time, I farmed out product fulfillment and customer service so that freed up more time to focus on marketing.

I was also extremely motivated by possible starvation and homelessness… so I did whatever it took to grow my business.

I actually WAS homeless and staying in fleabag motels during this period. I had lost EVERYTHING. It’s a story for another time.

(The “Reader’s Digest” version can be summed up by the words of a Jimmy Buffett song… “Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame…”)

Anyhoo, my back was against the wall. (That’s usually when I do my best work.)

When I was finally able to stop living out of my car and shady motels, I rented a small apartment. The only furniture I had was two big cardboard boxes filled with #10 envelopes from a failed direct mailing. I set my laptop on top of those and spent 12 to 14 hours a day there writing copy and coming up with new marketing ideas.

That went on for months.

For almost that entire year I worked like a man possessed, gave up all social opportunities, lost sleep, and invested every spare penny in my business. I literally had NOTHING but those cardboard boxes I used as a desk and a small swivel chair I bought at Staples.

So an “auto pilot” business sounds really sexy, doesn’t it?

It IS sexy… and it IS possible.

The real question is, are you willing to pay the price for it?

Because there’s a price to be paid… and THAT is the hard part.

All the best,

P.S. I haven’t actually confirmed this… but I may be the very first guy on the Internet to finally reveal the TRUTH about what it takes to have an auto-pilot business.

Here’s something else nobody ever talks about…

Your business can be on complete auto pilot and you can take years off like I did… but it’s always for a limited time.

My business continued growing because it had so much momentum from the two years of intense work I invested.

But nothing in this world is maintaining. It’s either growing or dying. After a while, you gotta work hard just to MAINTAIN. Even harder if you want it to grow.

That’s not only true for your business… it’s true about your health, your relationships, your spiritual life. Actually EVERYTHING.

You’re never just maintaining. You’re either growing or dying based on the decisions you make every day.

And trust your old pal, DD. You’ll be wayyyyyy happier if you choose to grow.

Rock on.