The following is an email that John Barker (the original “Mr X.”) sent out last week.
I thought it was so full of good info and advice that I asked him if I could publish it.

In the email he gives you an example of a profitable affiliate site he has!

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I’m reading the new edition of the 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris and I want to share a few thoughts with you.

First, is the new edition worth buying if you already own the first?

If you’re a big fan, sure. Why not. I’d have to compare the books side by side – and I haven’t read the complete second edition so it’s hard to say exactly what the new info adds.

Instead it’s a reminder of principles that have influenced my work.

If you want to believe 4 hours per week isn’t enough to make six-figures or more, go ahead. I could tell you otherwise but you probably wouldn’t believe me otherwise.

Here are some quick notes you might find useful.

DEAL – Define, Eliminate, Automate and Liberate. That’s the outline of the book.

Define – what do you want? Almost cliche we’ve heard it so much but when you take the perspective that you work as much as you do because you’ve been too lazy to come with enough reasons to NOT want to spend most of your time working . . . well that’s a paradigm changer for me. I could probably work 1/4 the hours I do and my income wouldn’t change (it might even grow).

AND I could have a really kick-ass life, all made possible by my Internet marketing lifestyle.

Eliminate – what if the goal is to reduce and simplify your life instead of acquiring more information, more responsibilities, more crap?

People usually look at me like I’m crazy when I tell that that after the initial shock of losing everything in a house fire passed, I felt the weight of the world off my shoulders. Plus, the really cool thing is that instead of living with a couch Tara hated – but I was attached to because I paid a ridiculous amount of money for it 15 years ago – we got to go buy a new one we both liked.

Man, life is so much easier than we make it when we’re just willing to let go and eliminate the things which hold us back.

“The stuff you own ends up owning you.” – Fight Club

Automate – The end goal of your online business should be to automate it. Need an example? Go see http://abundancecourse.net

It’s simple.

1. Find quality product with affiliate program.
2. Setup up site with 6 pages. Page one is squeeze page, page 2-6 are information that leads into a sales pitch (recognize the similarity with how Nanoblogger was sold?)
3. Create autoresponder follow-up series that highlights points from your 5-lessons.
4. To capitalize on competition, it’s great if the affiliate program is 2-tiered (this means even if you decided to try to copy and swipe my campaign you can assume all the cost of running ads and I’ll still make a 10% commission for your efforts – thanks man!)
5. Setup Adwords campaign and drive traffic.

This particular site was created FIVE YEARS AGO. Except for moving the site from a static HTML site to WordPress 2 years ago for Google Slap reasons, I have virtually not touched this system otherwise.

December check = $2400 from one affiliate program. Oh, and then there’s the list. 🙂

Sure, I’ve left out plenty of key details here but this isn’t rocket science.

Plus I have ZERO customer support and all that other good stuff that comes with being an affiliate.

Finally, Liberate – This is all about creating the conditions in your life that mean you’re not tied down.

The crazy thing is discipline means freedom.

You must have systems and you must have standard operating procedures so you can hire someone else to do it all for you.

I’m getting better and better at this.

Final Thoughts –

The place to start here is defining the life you want.

Me? This year I want to get into better shape than I’ve been in since I was 20. I don’t want to sit on my ass all-day anymore.

I also want to have the freedom to spend more time at home with my family. I want to be a part of educating my kids and enjoying them fully while their still little.

And I want them to have adventures they’re going to remember for the rest of their life.

Next –

Evaluate what makes you money NOW. Not dreaming, hoping, etc, but what do you KNOW works?

That should be your focus – do more of that and waste none of your time doing stuff you hope might work for you.

If you’re trying to free yourself from a J-O-B then you may need to find someone who has a system you can put some faith in.

(I know someone who has one 😉

Thing is, if you’re going to put your faith into that system then put ALL of your faith into that system and work it until you succeed with it.

Don’t give up when it comes to work.

Don’t give up when something high gloss grabs your attention.

DECIDE to make it work. Cut yourself off from any other possibility other than making it work.

NOW –

Don’t just close this message and move on.

You deserve to have what you want as much as any other human on this planet.

Take 5 or 10 minutes and think about it.

Define what you want and evaluate what you know to work.

There is no magic pill to swallow here – doesn’t exist.

All the best to you – X

PS – Thanks to all those who wrote to congratulate on Noel Patrick’s birth. I just haven’t had time to write everyone back yet. The little man is doing great and I’m happy to have this time with my family. When our first was born I had a J-O-B and was called back to work when she was 3 days old. That SUCKED. I’m grateful to be free of that.

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If you’re not already on John’s mailing list, go here right now and subscribe:
http://blackbooksblog.com
He’ll mail you like once a month (IF that much), and when he does, it’s pure gold!