The Rich Jerk And Other Stories

Every e-mail from him starts with "dear loser." He goes on and on telling you how pathetic you are by not making any attempt to destroy the poverty that he assumes is your inseparable companion, and improve the present condition you are in. He repeatedly claims that he is obnoxious and rich. The Jerk!

I started off online by learning how to do a Google search. It really was a great voyage of discovery for me. Surf programs came my way next, another great past time for an online newbie. Viewing web page after web page. Bordering on opportunities of making money ... without leaving home ... Wow! How interesting it was ... and it still is!

Here is a little bit about my story from Google searches ... up to SEO ...

I got my first glimpse of e-commerce when I joined an online work at home program which required an investment. The task assigned to each member was to view 12 web sites every twenty four hours. When a member logs in to the program, he is shown twelve web sites, forwarded automatically, one by one, and each of them remaining in his view for twelve seconds. That was all the member was required to do.

When he does that, his remuneration for that particular day would be exactly 12% of his total investment, for this bit of "work" that he has done. If the member makes sure he views 12 pages every single day for 12 consecutive days, he makes 144% of his investment. The investment accepted by the program was a minimum of $6.00, and going up to a maximum of $6000.00. Anything in between has to be a multiple of 6.

Having viewed 12 pages and completing your assignment for the day, does not mean that you need to log off. The member can continue to view as many pages as he wants to, but he is paid to view just 12.

I was new to online browsing and so it was fun looking at advertisements. I used to view as many pages as time permitted. This is where I got my first view of the Rich Jerk's website.

I had learned how to bookmark pages, and when a website aroused my interest, I used to bookmark it and view it later. Since pages containing graphics took longer to load I had just about three seconds to save a page that I thought was worthy of rechecking. At that time there were some websites that were delightful to view, as they contained brilliant graphics, awesome headers and really mind blowing text.

I also used to click on links on all the e-mails I received and soon discovered that some programs were repeatedly advertised. Although I did not have the inclination to actually ponder over each ad trying to figure out the pros and cons of whatever they were advertising, I found clicking on links an extremely interesting thing to do.

One of the web pages that really grabbed my attention in a big way was that of the Rich Jerk! Although there were, to my memory no graphics as such, the text which addresses the viewer of the page starts with "Dear Loser!"

The owner of the website was a rich guy who very simply conveyed the message that he did not care whether you viewed his web page or not! He went on talking about something or the other, and the style of presenting whatever he was presenting was rather unusual. Instead of trying to tug at your heart strings and dragging your wallet along with it, he was simply insisting that you leave his web site at your very earliest, suggesting that you were contaminating it with your presense! Well, not exactly, but that was the very theme of his presentation.

Being new to the internet, I really got the eerie impression that he did not want me viewing his web page either!

However, I was brave and I used to read on. He would certainly not know that I had spent some time on his web page. Even if he knew, how could he possibly get even with me? Surely he would not brave the waters of the Pacific Ocean in order to get to where I am. He probably is a lousy swimmer. A shark would get him before he gets me, I thought to myself! Serves him right if it does!

But, just to play safe, I clear cookies and go to his page once more ... "dear loser," it starts ... chuckle!

There came the occasion when I clicked on all the links on his web page. Most of them pointed to testimonials from people who had purchased whatever he was selling. So! ... He was selling something after all!

I realised then that he was selling an e-book which he claimed would give the reader step by step instructions on how to destroy poverty and come out of the pathetic state that he assumed you are in, and get on the road to fortune!

I was not interested in making a fortune because my fortune was slowly being built on a parallel track. This was the auto surf investment program that I spoke of previously.

I was on it for two whole months and I was earning every single day. I had started with a small investment and then, kept on adding every 12 days, in addition to re-cycling all my profits.

A quick flash forward is needed here without which I cannot proceed to the main topic.

Well, this money making auto surf program went belly up just three months after I joined. I never did withdraw any of my earnings as I always re-invested them in the same program. How foolish of me. And that was the end of my pursuit.

This event triggered off a greater interest in most of the programs which promised good returns. One very common phrase used to attract customers was "Fire Your Boss."

There were not many occasions when I overlooked any mail. The powerful headers always caught my attention and I used to open many e-mails and view the pages that they were promoting.

Many online entrepreneurs were promoting home based business opportunities and quite a few of them were promoting the Rich Jerk's program. Therefore I got the opportunity of having the pleasure of frequently viewing the Rich Jerk's website.

Another program which had caught my interest was called "Data Entry Pro." Their splash page was out of this world, attractive, incredible and so was the powerful headers and sub headings. The sales message was packed with dynamite coated overtones that nobody would escape unaffected from.

I got to know that one has to view a sales page seven times in order for the interest to build up strong enough to induce a sale. However, I would have viewed this page more than a dozen times and what prevented me from purchasing it was the fear that I would not understand the methods contained within, well enough to work the program.

Although there was a money back guarantee covering a 60 day period, the price was $99.97. The newbie that I was, I thought that this was too good to be true. The program promised that if you follow the instructions, you could easily make up to $600.00 each day.

I had a gut feeling that if I purchase the book and did not comprehend the instructions, they would not honor the refund, as they would have found some method of circumventing the refunding part of the contract.

It was years later that I discovered that Clickbank, the merchant that represented this program called "Data Entry Pro," does honor all requests for refunds. The accent on their main sales phrase that this was ideal for newbies and there was no need to have any programming knowledge or any knowledge of HTML, all you need to know was how to switch on your computer, connect to the Internet, and to save files. I certainly did not believe that.

However, the powerful text on the main page convinced me that I should take a risk. Even if I lose $99.97, it would not be the end of the world for me. With that attitude, I logged into Stormpay and made my payment. Actually, I enabled them to debit my account for $100.00, with the intention of attracting the attention of the merchant with that extra $0.03, hoping that this would enhance the quality of the after sales service that I thought I definitely would need. I hoped my "attitude" would trigger off a response like, "hey! you are a great guy to deal with ... "

This "one time fee" of $99.97 was my road to riches. I thought to myself, even if this was 10% true, I would make $60.00 off the Internet each day. In two days I would have covered the cost of this instructions book.

What I got was just a password to their membership area where they had laid out the instructions. It was all about Clickbank. A general introduction to Clickbank and how they function. They explained briefly how you could enroll, select a program to promote, and how to promote it and how commissions are paid. That's all.

They even went on to explain how pay per click works, and spoke about adwords too. They went on to list a dozen and more classified advertising programs.

When I wrote to them for some clarification on something which I failed to understand. I got a response within a few hours. However, the response was in some jargon totally unclear, especially to me, the newbie. So I wrote back, and got another similar response ... and on and on. All of a sudden I noticed that responses to different questions were identical in all respects ... word for word!

Now, and only now did I learn what an auto-responder is! Previously having heard much of it, this was my official introduction to auto responders. The program installed in their servers reply by identifying key words in the questions asked, and matching them with an appropriate pre-written answer.

I did not ask for a refund because from this program I had learnt something that I did not know. Something that would have taken months to discover all by myself, and that too by experimenting online.

Thanks to this program I had learnt what clickbank is, and how they function. I also learnt how to create a hop link and so on. Now from there onwards I started experimenting with various forms of online advertising. I did not make $600.00 each and every single day. I did not make $60.00 either, but I learnt that it could be done. It could be done only if ... I got cracking on the "if" and my journey began there.

Experimenting online is exactly what is needed. I felt that exposure to this program is what triggered this off.

Occasionally I used to make a sale. Making this regular was MY task. My own efforts were needed, which required continuous experimenting.

My interest in the Rich Jerk's program was still on. It was about a year later that I purchased the Rich Jerk's e-book. It was an e-book all right.

The opening phrase was "So you have a brain after all." That was praise. A complementary remark meant for the reader for having purchased the book. It was written seriously about some money making schemes online. Most of the terms that were familiar to me was associated with ebay and google. At that time I did not understand much and did not bother to go through it carefully other than offer a cursory glance.

I put it away and forgot about it. However, I continued to get e-mails from him as I had subscribed to his mailing list along with the purchase. His e-mails were full of insulting remarks, of course with no malice attached to them. Really amusing they were! He ends all his messages with another phrase, typical of his online personality, "later, losers!" LOL!

As time went on, with my online browsing and experimenting, I got to know more about how the Internet and how e-commerce works. Then, and only then I started referring to the Rich Jerk's e-book. There, I found a lot of stuff about affiliate networks, affiliate marketing, pay per click, seo, how to make your own product, affiliate tools, google, adwords, adsense, ebay, a section for beginners, and a whole lot of other stuff about online marketing.

All this information either confirmed my assumptions or shed some new light on a topic.

However, of late, the Rich Jerk has changed the face of his sales page, and the text too. It no longer starts with "dear loser."

I intend requesting for updates on this book very soon and I guess I really would have something to look forward to. The time I purchased it, the e-book was priced below $10.00. Clickbank is the merchant that re-sells the Rich Jerk's e-book. Naturally they offer a guarantee period within which time if you are not satisfied with it, you can request for a refund and they will pay you back your investment without any questions asked.

In spite of that, the Rich Jerk has still kept his price very low. Dumb Rich Jerk!

... concluded.

FOOTNOTE

The program "Data Entry Pro" is no longer available for sale. It has probably been banned. However if you do a google search for data entry pro, you will find 16,500,000 results. Many other programs with the identical name or referring to itself by this name have sprung up.