Just yesterday, I noticed one of the members in a popular Webmaster forum, Digital Point, selling one PLR pack which looked exactly like the one I am selling here: Forex PLR Product Review Articles.

The title of the thread caught my attention as it was exactly the same to mine. Upon further investigation, the individual articles in the pack again bearing very close titles. What was even more amusing was the number of words for each article was a few words different!

What a coincidence!

I thought he was one of my affiliates. But the payment page told me otherwise. The payment goes directly to his Paypal account.

As I stated clearly in my Terms of Use that no one can sell any pack they bought from ReliablePLR.com as it is. In short, they can’t sell the PLR articles with the same private label rights to third party – regardless of whether they have or have not rewritten the articles. ReliablePLR.com is the ONLY place where I offer all my PLR articles. If you get it from anywhere else, you have been cheated and you are having a pirated copy.

(Note: Having said that, if you got any pack from somewhere else, you can report to me stating where you got the pack from and I will reward you with another PLR pack of your choice for free.)

What I did to handle this tricky situation

Sensing something was amiss, my first reaction was to post to the thread to warn the member of the infringement of Terms of Use of his purchase. And I further warned prospective buyers to be more alert and they might end up buying a pirated copy of the product.

To take it one step further, I notified the Admin of DP of this “scammy” thread and I hoped that they would take action to maintain the integrity of the Forum.

And when I did that, I didn’t know how effective it would be and what kind of action they would take. I just did what I needed to do.

A few hours later, the member replied in the thread:

“These are rewritted articles. Thanks for your concern.”

These were the exact wordings from him.

I retaliated by saying that the package looked very much the exact copy to mine. Even had he rewritten the articles, and as stated in my Terms of Use, he had no rights whatsoever to resell the articles. I further strongly urged him not to sell this package until the case is cleared and I challenged him, in order to prove his innocence, he should send me his articles for verification.

Surprisingly, he replied and sent a two-paragraph of one article to my Private Message inbox. Do you think I am convinced? Of course not! Two paragraphs out of 10 articles don’t mean a thing!

The cost of an unscrupulous act

While I was trying to cool off and think of ways on how to handle this situation, I checked back again the thread and the PM sent by the member.

But to my surprise, I was greeted with an error message:

Invalid Thread specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator

I further looked for the member’s member page and again I was greeted with the same message. Only then it dawned on me that the Admin could have deleted the username and all his posts from DP.

Fortunately for me as some form of action is taken by DP to maintain the integrity of the forum as it doesn’t take long for one to notice that there are many hanky-panky activities going on there. Things look different after DP has implemented its new forum rules recently and I am happy for them.

Now why am I telling you this unhappy incident?

The objectives are two folds.

The first one is to tell you that taking a shortcut is not a smart thing to do. You might let off the hook for some time but eventually you will be caught and the price is too much to pay when you are caught. Also, the reputation you have been building so far goes down the drain in split seconds. This is what exactly happened to this member. Ironically he has actually accumulated more reputation points than I have on DP (don’t ask me how he did that!).

When you build your business without integrity, you are always on the run… trying to avoid being caught and change your name to hide your real identity. After a while, you get tired of doing all this running and hiding… which is to me a total waste of time and a silly thing to do.

Here’s what you can do if this happens to you

Secondly, if you are a product owner, there are certain things you can do to stop piracy.

Monitoring what people do and say is one of them. Now you may ask this: How on earth do I come to find out this “scammy” forum thread out of millions of new web pages created everyday?

There’s one little free tool that I use to track what’s going on on the web and it sends me email alerts whenever someone mentions certain words. Google Alerts is what I am talking about. It’s a simple but powerful tool. A real time saver I must say. I received a Google Alert for this post with keywords “Forex PLR.” You may want to try Google Alerts out if you have not done so.

Then, informing the person of authority (in this case Forum Admin) is the next step to keep piracy at bay.

I am not sure why someone would do this. Maybe I should take it as a compliment as that also shows that my PLR pack is excellent and above par… if I want to look at it from that angle.

I understand that we can’t prevent this 100% but some effort must be carried out to stop this nonsense from spreading as I feel that it’s our responsibility to safeguard our intellectual property and business assets.

I just came back from a 10-day trip to Melbourne.

And it was my first time there. Boy it was a love-at-first-sight affair with Melbourne.

In that trip, I completed more than 1000km of road trip by going around in Melbourne city itself, and its surrounding areas like Dandenong Ranges, Mornington Peninsular, Philip Island, and the Great Ocean Road.

The biggest challenge is I didn’t know the roads in Melbourne and I did not have GPS with me (For some reason I don’t like it as I find GPS too rigid). What I had was only a few maps. I love the challenge of getting to an unfamiliar destination on my own. We went through the whole trip successfully and we reached our final destination Melbourne Airport safely on the last day.

Getting around in Melbourne has taught me some useful lessons in life and business.

Here are some of them:

1.    Know clearly where you want to go.

This is very important. Without destination, you have no way to move ahead. Every day, we knew clearly where we wanted to go and where we wanted to go first. And we roughly planned out the trip using a map. It’s the same with your life, your goals are your guide. If you don’t know where you want to go, chances are you end up nowhere.

2.    Ask from reliable sources.

Almost every time when we reached a town, we went straight to the Visitor Information Center.

Why? Because that’s the best place to get advice on what to do and see. These people know about the town. Plus that’s the place to get detailed local maps which you hardly find elsewhere. In life and business, if you want to achieve something fast, ask from someone who has been there. Ask from someone who is reliable. It can be in any form: coaching, ebooks, membership sites, audio tapes, seminars, etc. But make sure you learn from those who walk the talk.

3.    Get some tools and resources.

When you travel in a foreign country, the most important tool is your map and language. Of course, not to mention you need money and transport to move around. These are the basics and must-have. For online business, you need capital to start one. You need a computer, a website, an autoresponder, webhosting, and some tools that help you kickstart your business. Some technical knowledge is essential too.

4.    Look for checkpoints.

When I wanted to go to Warrnambool – the capital of Great Ocean Road near  Melbourne – I look for milestones along the way to help me stay on the right track. I passed by Torquay, Lorne, Apollo Bay and the 12 Apostles before I reached Warrnambool. How do I know which towns I should pass? The map. If you want to make $10000 a month, what are the milestones you need to go through? To begin with you have to make you first sale. And you can multiply from there. Milestones are like lighthouses to ships. They are there to help us to head into the right direction.

5.    Have enough rest.

Don’t stress out. While we traveled, we made sure we had enough sleep to prepare for the trip the following day. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy our trip. Likewise, you don’t put too much pressure on yourself while building your business. Aim for achievable targets. Have enough rest. Learn to relax. This will definitely make sure you travel longer and healthier in life.

6.    Enjoy the journey as well as the destination.

Long drive can be tiring at times. But I have learned to relax while driving by appreciating the spectacular scenery outside: the sea, trees, the sky, the birds, and even people. And the destination has become the goal and driving force for me to keep pressing. The reward when we reach our destination is we can rest and enjoy the food at a nice restaurant. Likewise in life, you have to enjoy every moment of your life, not just the destination.

I totally enjoyed my trip to Melbourne and as you can see it’s more than just a trip

It’s very obvious. There’s a common trend emerging.

From my experience in coaching and talking to others, I can see very clearly why people fail online. To sum it up, there are not more than three core reasons.

You take charge of everything within your control and make sure that you are on track to achieving your goals. You know that you have to give yourself enough time to try out something and you don’t give up prematurely. If you have found something that works for you, duplicate what you have done and double your success.

2) Action. Many people dream of being their own boss and just that… they dream. They don’t take concrete action to make their dream come true. They fail to follow through a plan that brings them from where they are now to where they want to be. They give themselves excuses that are longer than shopping list – for not doing anything. They wait for the “best” time to create a website, develop a product, or write a marketing campaign. However, it seems that the day never comes. They say they don’t have time for their business because they have a job to do, a wife to take care of, children to play with, and a dog to feed.

They fail to realize that achieving a dream requires action. Only actions bring results. Find and allocate a time slot everyday to work on your online business. Move toward to your goal of being your own boss by taking action, right now right here. This is a phrase I like: When something gets done, even if it’s not successful, is more valuable than something that is not done.

3) Focus. This is very common in Internet business. One day you follow this fail-proof strategy by Guru A. The next day, you dump what guru A teaches and listen to Guru B with his latest discovery. One good thing about the Internet is its flexibility. It’s not as rigid as brick and mortar business. With online business, you can switch business model as often as you like. You can start a new website in just a few minutes. But there’s a flip side to it. Flexibility is a double-edged sword. If you don’t use it to your advantage, you’ll find yourself end up with too many websites that don’t generate income.

If you want to succeed online, pick one model or better still choose one profitable market and reach out to them in many different ways. Stick to it until you succeed. Create add-on products to sell to the same market until you dominate the market. Don’t swing from one model to another without really trying. If you do this, be prepared to face more failure. Focus on one thing until you make it. Stop blindly following the latest product launches because they do more harm than good to you. They distract you from your original plan.

As you read this, did you realize that I do not include “how-to” as one of the reasons of failure? Because technical knowledge is aplenty and it has nothing to do with why people can’t make it. If you need help in choosing a market or any other topic, just do a search in Google and you are good to go. Or go to an Internet marketing forum and post your question. I believe many are willing to help you there. Better still, in order to save time, you can grab a copy of the book from Clickbank Marketplace if your budget allows and that’s all you need.

But all the information you have will not do you any good if you don’t put it to use. Why? See Reason #2 above. Everything that prevents you from succeeding online can be boiled down to three main core reasons. If you can overcome these hurdles, the odds are in your favor.

Many gurus have been selling the idea of creating your own membership sites. The idea is excellent because it gives you recurring income.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not against membership sites. But creating a membership site brings some problems, especially to lazy marketers:

1. It involves a lot of work. Many of you can’t even create a single web page (not to undermine your capabilities but it’s a fact), let alone a comprehensive membership site. We have not even talked about the content yet.
2. You can’t set it and forget it. Membership site is not a model that brings in passive income. It requires constant content creation and promotion. Literally, you work till you die or you sell the site.

If you insist on creating a membership site, I urge you to create a membership site with a twist – without the problems above.

This idea comes from a trusted guru: Jimmy D. Brown. He’s simply a genius!

With his membership idea, aptly called Fixed-Term Membership (FTM), all you need is one page of content to begin with and you can take orders within 48 hours.

I must say this is the lazyman’s way of earning recurring income from membership site.

In contrast to traditional membership sites, this takes minimal time to set it up. Once you set it up, you can let it go on autopilot.

You can get quite a bit about the FTM concept from the sales letter on Membernaire. You don’t need to join the membership to find out how he did it. He even shares with you some of the ideas for a fixed-term membership site.

If you choose to join, the length of the course is 52 weeks. That means you’ll receive 52 lessons delivered weekly to you on how to setup and promote a FTM site, and also how to keep your members active – in PDF format.

The membership fee is $27 per month. You can stop the subscription if you find it not up to your expectations within 8 weeks.

I have had a look at the content and oh boy my head is spinning with ideas now.

Want to know what Membernaire covers in the first 10 lessons?

Here you go…

1. How To Setup Your Own Membership Site In 48 Hours Or Less
2. FTM Quick Start 1: Preparation
3. FTM Quick Start 2: Presentation – 4 parts
4. FTM Quick Start 3: Production – 2 parts
5. FTM Quick Start 4: Promotion
6. The Magic Sentence That Keeps Members Paying
7. How To Double Your Profit In One Easy Step
8. Getting New Subscribers Automatically
9. The Backdoor To Keeping Members Active
10. Turning On Your Built-In Profit Streams

Remember these are only 10 out of the 52 lessons you’ll be getting (I hope Jimmy won’t come after me for revealing this!)

Jimmy has helped eliminate the barrier of entry of a traditional membership site. With the FTM strategy, he makes it easy for “normal” people to start and build a profitable membership site.

Seriously, forget about traditional membership sites. It’s just too much work. FTM is the way to go if you want to have recurring income.

I understand that Membernaire had closed its door a while ago when it reached 1000 members. But Jimmy has reopened the door again now. So take a look before he closes his door for the second time.

Visit the site: http://www.abelcheng.com/FTM.html

If you are aware, most of my sites are driven by Google Adwords.

I rely mainly on Adwords to drive traffic to my sites.

But recently, I was slapped by Google. Yes, the little man is ME.

When this situation happens, people in Internet marketing circle call it Google Slap.

Your cost per click will be increased by Goolge to a price that is so stupid that if you pay, and rendered your ads inactive.

If you are not in Adwords, you will not understand what I am saying. But, it’s not important. What is more important is!

Why did it happen? Simple, the reason was I relied only on one single source of traffic.

As for everything else in life, it’s the riskiest thing to do if you rely only on one thing. Eg: one source on income.

I did it because I was lazy to create additional sources of traffic. And now I suffer because of this.

Diversification is the key. But at the same time you must focus on one thing that you want to do.

Am I making you more confused?

Let me try to explain.

Stick to one thing that you want to do, focus on it until you’re satisfied with the results it brings. Then only you move on to the next.

In essence, the point is focus first, diversification later.

I didn’t do well in diversification in generating leads, that’s why I flopped.

Now it’s time for me to bring in more traffic with other methods to reduce the risk of overdependence on Adwords.

I admit it’s not easy and it takes time. But that’s the way it is if you want to build a business, and not making quick bucks.

I urge you, if you are in the same position as I was before, learn from my experience and NEVER EVER rely on only one source of traffic. As you’ll never know when Google is going to slap again!

Have fun,

Abel Cheng

P.S. I share everything including the bad like what I did in this article. The value is in education and awareness. But sadly, almost everything you read nowadays is about success stories, they don’t tell you if they fail. But the fact is failure is a better teacher than success.

When opportunity knocks on your door, what do you do?

You do everything you can to grab it?

WRONG!

The opportunities I am referring to can be in the forms of real estate investment, stocks investment and options trading, starting your own business (both online and offline), network marketing, etc.

I used to do this.

I’d attend every seminar, workshop, meeting, discussion group or buy books that had got to do with all these areas – in the hope that I’d make lots of money.

You know what did I get at the end of the day?

I bet you wouldn’t believe me if I tell you that the answer is failure.

Okay, to be fair, I won’t call it failure. Let’s call it learning experiences. I end up where I began or worse…

I bet you’d have experienced the same situation. You chase after every opportunity. You work very hard. After a while, the results that these people promised seem to be nowhere near.

You feel very tired and you begin to doubt whether you are doing the right thing.

When there’s an opportunity for you to be rich, does it mean that you have to go after it?

No, you don’t need to and you must not. You have to decide whether it’s suitable for you.

I don’t call it “learning experiences” for no reason.

After blindly chasing every opportunity that crossed my path, I have set some guidelines to determine if I should go after a certain opportunity.

Here they are:

1) You must have your own product. Having your own product gives you a lot of flexibility and control over quality, price, marketing, and it’s an asset that carries value.

2) You must have control over the company. You can partner with someone provided you still hold the power to make decisions.

3) If you choose to, the business that you’re in can be sold for cash or go public. Why? So that you can have enough money to retire and do what you love to do!

I am speaking from my experience. I came up with the checklist after I went through a series of “learning experiences”.

Warning: Don’t be deceived by its simplicity. The checklist is so powerful that many opportunities fail the test.

Here’s how it works: Opportunities that do not fulfill the simple 3 criteria will not be considered by me at all.

Not a chance.

For example, insurance, unit trust, franchise, Adsense, etc. will fail the test. (Sorry, if you’re in this business. I used to be in some too.)

The list helps me gain clarity. It cuts through a lot of “noise” so that I can focus only on important opportunities. Because you don’t want to waste your time and effort to build something that you don’t have control over.

Try it yourself, you’ll be amazed that the list empowers you and reduce the “I want to chase after every opportunity” syndrome.

One caveat: Having said this, I don’t mean that you can’t make money if the opportunity doesn’t fulfill the criteria. It’s just that it’s not the type of business that I want to build – the type that won’t last and I don’t have control.

Have fun,

Abel Cheng

PS – Okay, here’s an idea:

Would you like to start a day care centre?

If so, you may want to check out this complete business package to help you easily and quickly start your own profitable home-based day care business!

Day Care Center Guide