I recently had someone publicly attack my character for the changes I’ve been forced to make at FIMP, in order to keep it alive.
This was my response, after he’d accused me of being arrogant and aggressive in my replies to his accusations.
This should provide some insight into how hard it’s been to keep this project alive & free for almost 415,000 unique visitors since starting it over a year ago:
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Imagine giving every spare moment and spare ounce of energy you have to a project for 14 months.
Imagine trying, and trying, and TRYING to avoid the traditional forms of monetization, but nothing actually moves the needle and gets your project remotely close to paying for itself.
The project continues to drain you mentally, emotionally, and financially. Despite you giving away your life’s work for free and only asking one small thing in return, only 1 in every 1,111 people actually say “thank you” by keeping the project alive.
But no matter what you try, the numbers don’t move. The project continues to drain you and take you away from your startup in the optical/optometry space, with no ability to hire help without continuing to dip into your own personal finances (for a massive community of people whose majority aren’t doing anything to reciprocate your hard work and financial investment).
You have two choices:
Do what you never wanted to do (premium training add-on) so you can hire more team members and get back to your startup, but keeping the original, core training 100% free….
-OR-
Shut the project down so that it’s no longer draining, but know that it’s going to become a spammy, out-of-date wreck if you abandon it and let your team members go.
What would you do?
This may look “overnight” to you, but this has been a 14+ month struggle for me to try and figure out how to keep this alive because I’m passionate about helping people in this industry.
Now imagine you make the difficult decision to fund the project through an optional premium add-on (the stuff you wanted to add to FIMP for free when you started out, but never could because it would just add to your already-unsustainable support burden)…
And after over a year of struggle to keep your passion project alive, someone on Reddit who’s never met you comes along:
They “know” your character.
They “know” your ”true” intentions.
They “know” you’re a greedy, money-hungry fiend that represents everything you’ve always hated about this industry, and that this was a “long con” after all.
And there’s nothing you can say to convince them otherwise.
No matter how much of your Saturday you waste going back and forth with them, their mind is made up.
How would you respond?
Calmly, because some stranger on Reddit who’s never met you in your life decides they know your true core and motivations?
Someone who has the liberty to think this hasn’t been the longest, most arduous struggle of your life…
After you’ve stuck with FIMP this long JUST because you want to help people the way you’ve never been helped?
No.
I’m not going to be calm.
I’m not going to act like this isn’t the exact thing that’s made me consider shutting down FIMP time and time again since it was started Q3 2017.
So think what you want of me. By all means, go find other training to study (even though there’s still a MASSIVE library of free training available to you that will now stay up-to-date and effective thanks to the new optional, premium add-on that makes you feel “betrayed” in the first place).
But please don’t act like you know me.
Don’t act like you know “why I really did this” because you have NO idea what it’s like to put something so valuable into the world, something others are charging thousands of dollars for, and have 99.91% of your audience do nothing to help keep the project alive.
I know where my heart is, and I will continue to help as many people as I possibly can (in the free product as well as the new add-on).
And genuinely, regardless of how much you’ve attacked my character here and in other posts, I wish you and your online business the best of luck.
I know you’re tired of this industry, and I know you don’t believe it, but so am I.
And that’s why I’ll continue to keep fighting, even in the face of such harsh, personal, and unsubstantiated criticism.
Ian, I just now bought your book (“From Nothing”) in paperback. I’m looking forward to reading it when it arrives on Saturday. In the meantime, I can vouch for the fact that $297 is PEANUTS compared to what other internet marketing gurus are hoping to extract from me. I paid this one guy $247 but he didn’t even know how to conduct a webinar. I disputed the charge with PayPal and thankfully got my money back after he REFUSED to admit how inept he is and wouldn’t agree to refund my money. Then there’s another IM guru who advertised his webinar as a “masterclass” when, in fact, it was nothing but an hour-long sales pitch for his so-called consulting service. There wasn’t a single small tidbit of actionable information in his presentation.
The practical reality is that almost no one places value on that which they get for free. Here’s some commentary on this well-known psychological phenomenon.
keywords psychology stack exchange do people undervalue free stuff
Anyway, I’ll probably buy your course but first I want to get to know you better through your book. Take care…
I’m a 70-year-old retired marketing consultant. I’ve been retired for over 12 years. I ran into your website while looking to get re-engaged and stay relevant. I learned marketing from Jay Abraham and become pretty good at it. I did mostly contingency based work. So I’ve seen it all. The good guys and the bad guys.
You tried this program with the best of intentions. That model didn’t work. You dust yourself off and move ahead. If you nurture a relationship of trust with your customers they will follow you wherever you lead. I know nothing about online marketing and I trust you already. I haven’t even done the free course yet and I’m going to send you whatever you are asking for the paid course. If you keep over-delivering and stay honest with your customers you will be just fine. Good Luck.
Hey, William! Thank you for taking the time to introduce yourself and thank you so much for your kind words. Kindly check your email. I have granted you access to the rest of the training as well as the FIMP Hotseat Session Replays and Day-After Analyses. I hope you enjoy it all. Thank you so much for supporting FIMP. Best of luck, William!
Ian,
You are doing some real good with the Free Internet Marketing Project. I love everything you have taught me thus far. It has been very helpful to me. You make it easy to understand and easy to follow.
I’ve gone through other trainings that required money. I payed what I could, but in the end to get more knowledge, I needed to pay more. Everything that you are teaching is free, and you emphasize that a lot. I love your program. I’m getting ready to purchase my first domain and start my website, not trying to scrounge up more money to continue learning. Thank you so much for what you have done and what you are currently doing.
Keep your head up, don’t let this set you back, and keep helping those of us who want to break into this industry.
You’re awesome at what you do, continue the work that you do, and I will support you every step of the way.
Brandon Bath
Thank you so much for your kind words, Brandon. And thank you so much for showing your support, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.
Ian I love your decision to keep calm, the truth is humans for one are mysterious and it takes someone who has really been in the system for quite a while to understand what you have been through, and am not saying this because I can afford the premium stuff cos frankly I can’t but sooner or later am sure I would be able to, but I really understand your motive and it’s very reasonable, Thanks a lot. Best regards.
Thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement and support, Prosper! I can’t tell you how much they mean to me in a time when some really nasty things are popping up.
Well Ian, I for one am with you all the way!
After paying several thousands of dollars for outdated teaching and promises of leadership and help all the way , just to see them disappear and feeling angry and betrayed , then stumbling upon you, was not only a light at the end of the tunnel, it was a guiding light , and your generosity is beyond measure.
Too many people will just take , take, take and then take some more without any sense of feeling that they should reciprocate in any way ,shape or form.
I have a few choice words for people like that but, I can’t print them in public………
I just wonder what level of success the critics have achieved, most likely none what so ever.
There is no such thing as free lunch, if you want to study to be a nurse a doctor , dentist , lawyer , etc etc etc , you end up with a huge debt before you have even earned the first dollar.
Those same people would most likely not understand that either, in their minds of entitlement and ignorance.
Those same people would most likely claim that the government should support us all and take the money from the “rich bastards”
Ah well, you had to do this ,there was no choice and you’ve done the right thing.
Flemming Jensen Hobart.