When Comments Get Out of Hand
25 Comments January 11, 2010 / Posted in Internet Marketing, Law of Attraction by Steve.haha, gotcha… no one here is angry at all.
I started out writing a response comment to a comment on Sarah Prout’s kind blog post about our Millionaire Affair for Herrin Larkin’s blog… but instead, I got going and decided to allow this to grow into a LOOONG history post on our own blog. And if Herrin Larkin decides to include this on his own blog, then everybody wins. Traffic matters but NOT more than integrity. If he decides to get to know us, I’m POSITIVE he’ll enjoy us, even if only to silently wait for the opportunity to say “I told you so.” We welcome the scrutiny. We are completely transparent. We simply expect an abundance of prosperity because of our belief in the Law of Attraction.
Sue and I are very real people, we’re not hiding behind any cloak of anonymity whatsoever. We answer every email, blog Facebook, Youtube & Twitter comment we possibly can. We don’t know for how long we’ll be able to keep that up but we’re doing the best we can. I imagine at some point we’ll need to let go of personally answering everything. But for today, you get me and I’m going to tell you what I think, as of this moment in time. Sue is the brains behind us and she’s currently busting her butt with our helpers tightening all the nuts and bolts of our upcoming Millionaire Affair. I am the passionate, outspoken and caring coach, who is willing to say or do pretty much anything to help someone find their power. ..(click Read More below)..
We started our online presence as a kind of “fuck it, let’s do it & see what happens” to each other, but it was also a beautiful challenge that makes couples stronger. We decided to put our dreams out there for the world to see and judge.
I’d been hoping to start a “save the music business campaign” because I was watching the steady decline of CD sales, and of course all the downloading of music. I’ve been a piano player all my life, and made a decent living with music, but I always wanted to leave some kind of legacy. I really thought that was my life’s calling… to do something about helping artists sell music and become famous for it. And when this Millionaire Affair is completed, I’m getting to work on that straight away.
I had seen a few Frank Kern marketing videos because I’d been scouting around for how to create traffic. Frank has a style that really translates well to making videos. I was convinced I could make videos about helping artists sell more music. So Sue bought me a webcam. But I didn’t get going… maybe I chickened out, maybe it just wasn’t time yet… whatever.
A few months later Sue and I were talking in the kitchen and I was still procrastinating about getting started so she said, “let’s just make a video tonight.” Because of my research with making videos and internet marketing, we knew that we wanted to make a million dollars, and that the best place for us to do it was probably the internet. We announced a decision to document our progress every step of the way with short videos and our blog, then later we incorporated Facebook and Twitter as well. And that decision has become a central theme for us. We’re teaching everything we learn, as fast and as efficiently as we can. Some people think we’re trying to be overnight successes… or that we believe it should be easy for us. The truth is that we believe your success can be overnight, or it could take you decades. It’s up to you. We’re enjoying the heck out of our ride.
I have a philosophy about what is helping Sue and I become popular. We have a lot of people we are learning from and they all seem to have the same basic premise going. Learn from mentors and connect their knowledge, and their information to your own audience. Everybody wins.
Our first video is here (from November 15, 2008),
As you can tell, we didn’t really have much of a clue HOW we could make a million dollars online. Many people probably thought we were air heads when we got started, because they may think… “well who doesn’t want to be a millionaire?” In fact a lot of people probably still do, but is that something we should pay a lot of attention to? I’m writing all this out, so I can keep it around. I won’t need to write all this out again, if I can just copy and paste it eh!
As soon as Sue and I started doing videos, people started commenting on our on-camera relationship very favourably. That was cool. Then Sue started her Twitter thing and met thousands more cool people 140 charters at a time. I’d already been very active on music forums for a few years, so I also had a decent and outspoken presence going. Sue linked us up with some very cool cats from Chicago who wanted to start a weekly mastermind group call. We got Skype going with 8 or so people, and we started trading lots of stories and information. They also led us to believe that we had some special kind of charisma as well. So we kept making more videos, meeting wider circles and learning phenomenal amounts of internet marketing knowledge. Then we won a spot in a great internet marketing coaching run by a gal from here in Vancouver, who later moved to LA, Maria Andros. We kept making new friends and learning more stuff. One of the best peices of advice we got from Maria Andros was to focus on sharing the Law of Attraction.
Now even before we embraced our internet learning curve, Sue and I were studying lots of woowoo esoteric Law of Attraction stuff. We’ve both been devouring tons of authors, movies & videos and integrating those philosophies into our family life and careers. We have 3 kids who know lots about the Law of Attraction, and they’re all doing fabulously in school, sports and their social lives. I think the most important part of what Sue and I are bringing to the world is this Law of Attraction stuff, but most people tend to notice the word millionaire and have a reaction to it pretty quickly. Who can blame them? Everybody wants to be a millionaire right?
So our kids know about ALL of this, our extended families know about it, all our laundry is pretty much public. We are very much walking a line between making it easy to laugh at us, and daring you to follow us. If you follow long enough, you won’t be able to remain cynical. Or you’ll get bored and that’s Ok too.
It’s been a year now, and what started out as a very uninformed adventure has become a fabulous journey of awakening and hope for us. We’ve actually made about 240 videos and had over 100,000 views.
As time progressed, I learned that one of the most basic things I needed to be able to answer is, why should we be allowed to become millionaires? At first, I could only answer with… well someone’s gotta do it, or why not, type answers. But as we got deeper into combining our social media studies with our Law of Attraction beliefs, it has become easier to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s not a truck coming at us.
About 2 months ago, I discovered just the answer I’d been looking for. Even though we’d been doing the work I hadn’t articulated why making a million dollars was an ethical goal for us. We’ve been able to feel it, but we hadn’t ever talked about it online or in videos. Then I found this cool passage in a book a friends recommended that we read called Conversations with Millionaire, which of course is very much the same concept as what Sue and I are doing with the Millionaire Affair.
Quote from page 20 of Conversations with Millionaires, by Mike Litman and Jason Omar
In this interview Jim Rohn quotes his mentor, Earl Shoaff
Set a goal to become a millionaire for what it makes of you to achieve it.
He said, “Do it for the skills you have to learn and the person you have to become. Do it for what you end up knowing about the marketplace, what you’ll learn about the management of time and working with people. Do it for the ability of discovering how to keep your ego in check. For what you have to learn about being benevolent. Being kind as well as being strong. What you have to learn about society and business and government and taxes and becoming an accomplished person to reach the status of millionaire.
All that you have learned and all that you’ve become to reach the status of millionaire is what’s valuable. Not the million dollars.
If you can do it that way, then once you become a millionaire, you can give all the money away. Because it’s not the money that’s really important. What’s important is the person you have become.
That was one of the best pieces of philosophy I have ever heard in my life.
Nobody ever shared it with me like that before.
Another thing he said was. “beware of what you become in pursuit of what you want. Don’t sell out. Don’t sell out your principles. Don’t compromise your values. Because you might acquire something by doing so, but it won’t taste good”
I most certainly included that on our Sue and Steve Show blog when I wrote about “Why I Want to be a Millionaire.” Because the light bulb lit up like a 10O0 watt stage light. We’re already entertaining & helping people learn new stuff and now we also get to imagine & decide what kind of philanthropy we’re going to get involved with.
Then Sue got me a book for Christmas called the One Minute Millionaire, co-written by Mark Victor Hansen (one of the millionaire authors we’ll be interviewing) & Robert G Allen. In the foreword there is a great set of thoughts about why earning a million dollars is a “worthy” goal. The answers just keep coming!
.. one can be wealthy without being rich. Still a lot of “good” people dismiss the concept of financial success as an “unworthy” goal – perhaps even morally suspect. And with a title like the One Minute Millionaire, we’re certain to raise a few eyebrows.
Money, by itself, is neither good nor bad – it’s neutral. Money us an energy tool. Like a hammer, money can be used to build or destroy. We believe that understanding money – how to ethically make it, keep it, and share it – adds a positive dimension to wealth. Our lives, our relationships, and our happiness improve when we have enough money. That’s why we wrote this book. Money properly earned and combined with enlightened intentions makes the world a better place.”
You see, we’re completely focused on assimilating everything we learn from every social media, internet marketing, and personal growth gurus. To think we’re not going to be able to sell something valuable is ludicrous now. To think we’re snake oil salesmen is to jump to a very uninformed conclusion.
We constantly help people create their own online presence, find & practice new personal growth techniques and we make the world a better place by sharing POSITIVITY. Even if there are millions of people who don’t want to hear our message, there is a huge growing audience who does want to hear us, and watch us succeed.
JUST WATCH US, because we can do this, and YOU CAN TOO.
I LOVE MY LIFE
Steve
Steve, thank you for your comments and for inviting me to reply.
Firstly you are both clearly nice people and I don’t believe I ever called that into question.
Nor is my issue your desire to become millionaires. In fact I wish you all the success.
My issue is the minimizing of the process that it takes to create success or even happiness.
A lot of marketers do it to make their product sound like it will be the answer to all your money worries. Just take this one product they say and you will succeed.
And in the short term sometimes it does work.
The Secrets main crime is that it is a mixture of truth and illusion.
1. Ask 2. Believe 3. Receive
What? – The Secret succeeded 1. because they had a great marketing campaign (ironically enough) and 2. because there are a lot of people that want to believe that belief is enough. If that were so the world would be full of millionaires.
Now to be fair to you, you’re taking loads of action. I commend you for that.
Success, happiness, love, a great song. All these things require us to engage a process in which we can find ourselves.
Along the way our preconceptions and illusions will be tested.
Interviewing successful people you will discover the elements of financial success and be exposed to their processes as well. This will be valuable for sure.
And I am sure you will be able to compile all that into something valuable to other people.
My point is that engaging the process is more important than the goal, at least to me.
At any rate, thank you for taking the time to write and share of yourself.
Health and Happiness!
ATTA BOY Steve! Mr. Larken, …well spoken Sir!
What a great start to this blog posting!
Steve, thank you for sharing such a genuine and heart felt blog. It’s good that we don’t all share the same beliefs, what a boring and robotic world that would be if we did. Our universe is both yin and yang, light and dark, give and take – it’s naturally what us humans are all about.
Herrin, well compiled retort and yes the law of attraction takes a little more effort than the Secret led a lot of people to believe but conversly it also led a lot of people to scratch the law of attraction surface, get interested and find out more.
I too have deflected criticism for following the law of attraction etc but my groundedness keeps me firmly rooted in my belief that through my positive attitude and dedication to helping others I too am indeed centred, aligned and right on track to becoming a millionaire.
Thanks Steve and Sue, I eagerly await the harvest of your hard work from my home in Ibiza, Spain.
Belinda from http://www.ChasingHappiness.net
Steve – the first time I viewed The Sue&Steve Show I felt something had changed, something big was happening. Within a short period I saw your show and read 2 books that sent lights off in my head! That was a few months ago. I am so inspired by you both, love your relationship on your videos, love that you are in our age group, love that you are so honest and so fun!
Brett and I are students of the Law of Attraction and Social Media. We have read lots of books on success principles, believe the Law of Attraction. Gary Vaynerchuks book really helped me in understanding the social media world. I truly felt that I was too far behind in the world of Social media to ever figure it out, thank goodness I have Brett. I also felt our age was a disadvantage-who is interested in some Baby boomer couple and what they have to say!
I thank you both for your show, your dreams and for sharing everything you know and learn on your journey. You have worked super hard, are totally dedicated to what you are building. I agree that there has to be action, a plan to success and working hard is part of it. Thank you again! meg :~D
Hi Megan, it’s weird to have this obvious new connection with you and Brett, and we haven’t done much with it yet. I guess we’ve done what’s possible for now. I love that the 2 of you comment and I’m always stoked to hear about whatever insights you’re getting as well as what projects you’re developing. If Sue and I can be the lightening rods that help you guys feel confident to take your own leaps of faith, then I feel incredibly proud. 10 years ago, I would not really have understood the depth of us all being in this together. I know it more than ever now. I don’t mean to sound corny, but I really LOVE hearing great inspired news from people I look up to. And you and Brett kick butt.
I EXPECT great things from both of you.
Belinda,
Wow Ibiza! I have a good buddy who lived there a long time… Liam Kelly.. know him? hehe
Vive les differences. Herrin’s retort is good, he’ll see the light after my reply to him.
Criticism is part of the growth, we have to accept it, handle it, and no allow it to affect the dream. I think the dream even needs to include visualizing handling the criticism head on. I’m totally thankful for Herrin’s post on Sara Prout’s blog because it gave me the incentive to write the response. We’ve had a lot of people questioning our motives… usually I just let it go. But last night I just decided to write about why making a million dollars is fun, rewarding and makes the world a better place. Every adult day of my life, I have dreamed of leaving a legacy of creating hope for people who feel left out. It’s taken me 30 years to understand how I could do this. If it wasn’t for my wife, and her patience with me, I’d still be an angry old musician left behind by an industry that I was unwilling to adapt to.
Life is frikkin AWESOME now!
Steve, Bravo! Love it, so honest, and genuine, and full of passion. There is no doubt in my mind with the energy that Sue and yourself put into everything you do to assist others and share this fabulous knowledge you have gained, that you will achieve the goal of becoming a millionaire, but as you have already learned…what you become on your journey there, is priceless. Love you guys, You Totally Rock. Looking forward to the Millionaire Affair, and working with you to make the world a better place. Keep up the amazing work.
Hello Herrin,
I think you can see that we completely agree with you about “engaging the process.” Whether or not it’s MORE imortant than the goal is up to individuals. There are lots of ways to skin a cat man, your ideas are likely exactly what you need to be doing for yourself.
What I now understand clearly for myself, was that my once lofty dream of becoming wealthy was a necessary part of my progress towards being able to manifest the actual millions. I NEEDED the shallow to understand the deep. You may think that dreaming of a QUICK and EASY million dollars is counter-productive to actually manifesting it. But I know that was an essential motivation that Sue and I had to honour, to get to where we are today. So while you’re thinking there are better or more ethical ways to become marketers of stuff, I am reminded of my Law of Attraction studies, which tell me that diversity is a wonderful thing. There isn’t only one path to greatness. And I know that you are doing exactly what’s right for you.
I spent decades being a pessimistic cynic about people or companies with lots of money. I carried around that bitterness with me, and it deeply affected my happiness and the people I allowed myself to hang with. I remember one millionaire guitar player guy I met a few years ago. He was quite willing to get to know me and came over lots to record with me for fun, because he’d been a guitar player all his life until he started a very successful music distribution company that he later sold for zillions. I told him honestly after about 10 visits together, that I just couldn’t hang around with him because I was going crazy wishing that he could teach me or make it easy for us to have a lot of money. He knew I wasn’t ready, and politely left me alone with my bitter-coloured glasses.
So please, understand that my comments are about our experience, and that we don’t have a desire to tell anyone that they can only get wealthy the way we are doing it. But I’m also Ok with the marketers who try to slamdunk the easybake oven method of getting rich fast. There are people that those guys attract, and those guys are doing the right thing for themselves and their clients. There is no wrong way to improve life, there are just some ways that work better for some people than others. But don’t take my word for it. You’re doing just fine.
Here’s a plug for your very hip looking, content rich blog! For Effective Classy Websites, check out Herrin’s.
And if you’re interested in more brilliant marketing guys, I highly recommend Chris Brogan.
Hi Stephanie,
The Millionaire Affair is already rocking our world. We’ve had hundreds of new signups just today. We’re just bursting with excitement.
Passion combined with making the world a better place is a recipe for TOTAL BLISS.
Hi CP,
We’re kicking butt man, this thing is flying! Woohoo!
Firstly Steve thank you for your honesty, your integrity and your vision. Before I give feedback have you thought of taking up ‘blog writing’ this is brilliant!. Anyway Steve and I got the ‘One Miinute Millionaire’ on the way to the airport on our honeymoon. I have that book by my bed to this day because the lessons in it are profound. I could not believe when you mentioned the book. As for the movie ‘The Secret’ I totally agree with Herin it was a very, very good marketing campaign that lead to the success of the movie. But I also thing ‘The Secret’ had a very good underlying message and that was ‘you can be whatever it is you want to be or achieve as long as you believe you can do it and get off your BUTT and take action’. That is what Steve and I took away from the secret and we have never looked back. As for thinking that what you wish for will appear well that was a little too ‘airy fairy’ for my liking.
As for what you and Sue are trying to achieve. I think it is very positive. You are creating a very real and transparent view of two every day people setting an goal and taking action to get there. You cannot ask for more honesty than that especially in this totally non transparent ‘online industry’. So I believe what you are doing is a good thing. Where it will take you ….who knows….but what impresses me is that you are getting out there and having a go. That is what I did and I have never looked back. And if one of your interviews with millionaires inspires another person to get off their BUTT and have a go then as far as I am concerned MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
Thank you for this blog post. It moved me and I respect your honesty and heartfelt respect for your wife, your family and for wanting to make a difference.
You will succeed….because you have what it takes to be a millionaire.
You guys ROCK!
Cheers
Pam Brossman
Sue – thank you so much for inviting me to share in this. The blog is truly a wonderful way to capture the journey you and Steve have intiated! I remember a year ago and I don’t think you or I could of imagined it would of been so full of the GROWTH you have obviously sustained….Isn’t that the beauty of having faith in the unseen?
It is such a pleasure to watch your prosperity grow, both outside of yourselves and within you and your beautiful family. Success is already truly upon you and sharing this with the world – well, it will help many and it really gives me joy to share in your success…..
It is truly one of life’s greatest compensations, that no one can truly help another until they first help themselves…..
YOU BOTH are wonderful, inspirational souls and I am very fortunate to have you in my life!
There is no room for waste or negativity and we KNOW that eventually we do reach the crest of the hill!
Much love to you both,
Awesome
Hey Pam! My head is buried in the Millionaire Affair stuff right now, but just wanted to say thank you so much for your comment and kind words – you’re awesome and I always appreciate your honesty. Belinda, Patrick, Stephanie Meg and Awesome – thanks to all of you as well for your love and support. It’s so amazing to be on this ride with all of you.
Herrin – I appreciate your comments too. I agree somewhat with what you said about The Secret…yes it was great marketing, turned out really commercial and didn’t really dig very deep into the law of attraction. I can honestly say though that that movie changed my life.
I didn’t even know what the law of attraction was before I saw that movie. After seeing it, I completely changed the way I thought about things. As far as I’m concerned, that’s pretty incredible value to get from a movie. It also made me hungry for more…I started exploring new books to read and stumbled upon Abraham-Hicks who have taught me more about life than I ever imagined I’d learn.
Thanks for all the comments…really appreciate you all taking the time!
Steve and Sue,
Thank you so much for all that you taught me in your social media course. I still have not fulfilled my dream of being a tutor online, just because I haven’t been able to get a fast enough connection in Spain yet, but I know I will do it soon. I share your passion for the law of attraction and I am grateful for your friendship.
Blessings to you both and to all your friends and fans.
Un beso
JIm
From what I know about Steve, he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who just sits around. In fact, getting The Millionaire Affair together is a feat in itself. However, I do agree with Herrin about “The Secret” in terms of those who think that you just wish for it and it comes true. While there have been some scenarios where this has happened for me, all of the big stuff comes from taking action as Herrin and Steve have suggested.
The Secret had some very clever marketing and they knew their audience. The book is short because they wanted to make it marketable to those who do not have a lot of time. They use big names in the self-help circuit because they wanted to lure a large fanbase. They broke it down into these steps because they wanted to convince audiences that it was easy for them to do. They knew their demographic and they were very clever about it in terms of marketing (as Herrin mentioned).
However, what separates the light weights Secret believers from the hardcore LOA success stories is action. Those who take the time to learn more about it realize that The Secret was more of an introductory piece to create a curious audience who will hopefully go on to learn more about LOA. There are aspects of The Secret that I completely disagree with (especially Vitale’s comment that we manifest everything to us), but it is a good example of clever marketing and a way to create general awareness of what needs to be done.
Steve,
Thank you for this post and for sharing the quote by Jim Rohn – the meaning behind the goal is something I have been focusing on lately myself and this quote articulates very well what i have been trying to articulate for myself.
I have been following your evolution ever since seeing your entry in Maria Andros’ contest last year.
I love to see how things have been progressing for you both via your videos and the toolbox of knowledge and skills that you continue to acquire and share withyour tribe.
Although I agree that you both have a unique charisma and energy in the videos you do – love them, you also have a differnt power of authentic transparency and vulnerability that you convey in a different yet equally powerful way via writing. So I want to encourage you to continue to add content to your site via the written post as well. The combination adds richness to the “Sue and Steve Experience”.
I wish you both much success wth your millianoaire Affair project. Bravo for taking inspired action!
Amy (@LotusAmy on twitter)
Thanks James…it was a pleasure getting to know you too!
Amy – I agree…Steve should write more of these awesome blog posts! Thanks for your wonderful comments…you made my day
I love this post!! I love how far you guys have come since you started out and since the 1st videos I saw and I am excited for you
Tia @TiaSparkles
January 11 was my Birthday so I am taking this as a “Good Sign” + feel I Will Attract $Millions of Dollars + Friendz n such in the coming weeks!! Cheers + $$$ Everybody!! Billy
Peace*
Jim,
Thanks so much for the kinds words. And thanks again for being willing to sign up for our coaching course. And when your connection rocks, so will your dream my friend!
Hi Ms May,
thank you for your observations of both me and how you see the Law of Attraction working. Honestly, I’m a very lucky man because Sue is handling almost all of the Millionaire Affair setup and she finds excellent people to build our team with. I’ll be alot more hands on when our next event starts.
For me, I’m still not sure about the necessity of action part. It feels like Sue and I are indeed taking big action steps. But in the back of my mind, I have an instinctual feeling that the clarity of purpose or reasons for manifesting “X,” are more important than anything. Do I know? Nope. Will I ever know for sure? Probably not.
The people that put together the Secret movie certainly did know how to make heads turn, and get people to pay attention. It was marketing magic at its finest. But I’ve never felt cynical towards the people that were in it. To me, the message is still clear. If you want to change your life, change what you think about. Obviously Esther & Gerry felt some of the same feelings about the movie, and distanced themselves from it. To me, that doesn’t matter much because the power of the movie is in how it made both Sue and I feel. It was like a primer to a very exciting way of thinking, that has really affected our lives positively.
There are many philosophies like Joe Vitale’s comments about manifesting everything to us. And I probably ascribe to that a bit more than Sue, right now. I am also of the opinion that all of this, is one giant sized amusement park we travel to from where ever souls wait. We believe everything is physical, but I don’t know for sure. How do I know my eyes are telling me the truth? By using my brain to believe them?
We took the family to see a wonderful display called Body Worlds. It was a scientific exhibit of human bodies, with the skin peeled off. It left me with a strange and unique feeling like the souls of those people who donated their corpses to science, were actually in the room with me. I loved it and found a little video for you about it.
Personally, I probably won’t understand how everything works in my lifetime, but I’m convinced that I don’t need to have ALL the answers right now. Some of them will show up in 5 years, more in 25, some only when I die. But this ride, is fantastic.
Steve
Hi Tia,
It’s awesome that you’ve been following since the beginning. We’re having the ride of our lives! Wait a minute… it actually is our lives! haha!
Billy, Happy Birthday
Here’s a buddy of mine (HarpDog Brown) playing Happy Birthday for ya! Sorry I’m a little late. Attract everything your heart desires!
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by sueandsteve: When Comments Get Out of Hand – Sue and I are very real people, we’re not hiding behind any cloak of anonymity what… http://ow.ly/16jozz...
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sue and Steve Show, Sue and Steve Show, Neha Saigal, Anna Rich, Adriane Mueller and others. Adriane Mueller said: When Comments Get Out of Hand | sueandsteveshow.com http://bit.ly/6bRvsz [...]