Gary Simpson Interview

I was first introduced to Gary Simpson in 2009 and lately we have had a chance to get to know one another a little better. I won’t go into too much detail about Gary myself (he does a great job of it himself in this interview) except to say that he is a person who has accomplished much, has great integrity and is someone I respect.

Gary Simpson is based in Perth in Western Australia. He’s been online since the late 1990’s but only seriously became interested in marketing on the Internet in the last couple of years. Before that he only “dabbled” as he puts it, even though he’d built quite a large site called www.motivationselfesteem.com in 2004 to feature some of what would become many e-books, reports and courses.

Gary is a prolific writer and has vast experience in all forms of writing from being a one time technical and speech writer for a State Government instrumentality to magazine and newspaper articles and stories to technical journals, novel writing, copywriting and almost everything in between. Gary has released an instructional e-book called “How to Write the PERFECT STORM of an ebook” to help others with the construction of their own e-books.

Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? How old are you? How long have you been working in this industry?

Hi John, they say you are only as old as the woman you feel. Therefore I should feel older than I really am because my wife is older than me. Let’s just say I’m in my early 50’s. But, seriously, I don’t feel that old coz I work out a LOT, don’t smoke, drink only moderately (compared to most people I know) and think only PURE thoughts. Scratch that last one. I’m just kidding with you. But the rest is all true.

What accomplishments so far are you the most proud of?

Hmm, not sure exactly what you mean here, so I’ll answer it two ways. Online, I am very proud of all the content that I create. I have created over 40 e-books, manuals and reports plus one giant course on personal development called “Journey Life Destiny” which is 12 volumes of the most powerful self help information that you will find anywhere.

Really, John, I have to say I am proud of EVERY e-book, report and manual I create because I put so much effort into getting them up to the highest standard.

Offline – this usually freaks people out – I have achieved the level of 7^th Dan black belt in karate. This has taken me 40 years of continuous training and, for the last 8 years, I have trained EVERY day without missing a single day. Even if I am on an international flight I will carry my books to do the mental training. Even so, it gets a bit weird for people sitting next to me because I’m so highly tuned to the katas (forms) that even when I follow them in a book my muscles tend to twitch as if they were firing the moves. I do get some strange looks.

How did you come to learn about Internet Marketing? Why did you choose it?

Hmm, I think I just naturally gravitated towards it as an outlet for my many e-books etc. I chose it because I was doing a fair bit of mail order but the printing and postage costs were killing the viability of making a profit.

How long did it take you to go from part-time to a full-time Internet Marketer?

I still run a couple of businesses offline but because I have two desks in my office I kinda flit back and forth between the two – on my big wheelie chair. So, it gives the impression to many that I am always online but that really isn’t so. I’m actually out of the office a fair bit.

What do you think it takes to be successful as an affiliate/internet marketer?

A LOT of dedication and effort. The failure rate is so high because most people are looking for the easy way out – ie “push one button and watch the money flood into your Paypal account.” And, if they believe that to be the case then they are in for a VERY rude awakening.

Many so-called “products” promise to do just that but they are fake and simply prey upon the gullibility and laziness of people.

Becoming successful online takes a plan, a lot of hard work, trial and error, refocus and persistence. You also need to be consistent. Whatever time you have available use it, but do it consistently – ie EVERY day. That requirement will wipe out the much documented 98% of people who fail and everything I have said here will become the reason why.

What have been your biggest failures and frustrations?

I can’t say I have failures but my biggest frustration is encapsulated in the answer I gave above. People just keep jumping from one stupid idea to another.

I’ve written so many e-books and courses to help people but – even if I give them away – most people simply will not read them. I know that because they continue to ask me questions that are CLEARLY explained in the books. But they prefer to waste my time in endless Skype chats and emails. That annoys me.

The truth is that they just keep jumping around like a cricket on a hotplate desperately searching for the ONE button product that will do it all for them. And that is why they keep falling for every lie and con and fraud scam placed before them.

And that is also why the cheats make so much money – because they FEED that rabid, desperate audience with one useless dog of a “product” after another. If people would wise up then those jerks would go out of business but it just goes on and on and on. Hence, the 98% failure rate.

It’s really frustrating for me to see that on a continuous basis.

What is the single toughest problem you’ve had to face, and how did you get through it?

Learning HTML. I toughed it out.

Is there anything that you don’t like to do, that you just hate working on?

Wasting time.

If it’s possible for you to share, are there any particular niches that you currently favor? Or that you aren’t necessarily in right now but that you would recommend?

I’ve already mentioned my personal development niche. I think that subject (and especially my JLD course) can REALLY help people with having a positive mindset but… again, most people won’t see the necessity for that. Sadly, they think it is psycho-babble and mumbo-jumbo. How WRONG they are. But you cannot convince bigots. They need to find out for themselves… one day – if ever.

What niche has worked best for you?

I think generally just trying to help people is where I get my greatest satisfaction, so I guess just general IM. I’d like to spend a lot more time in personal development but it seems I’m always trying to plug a hole in knowledge in so many areas of general IM. That’s why I create so many products. If you take a look at my blog you will see just the tip of the iceberg of those products sitting there.

Which methods of promotion do you favor?

I’m a writer so I prefer e-books but I just did a really in-depth 55 minute mp3 interview with a lovely lady called Jean Shaw. Within 10 minutes of releasing it to my subscriber list, I’d blown out the bandwidth on Jean’s site. LOL.

Interestingly enough, just prior to that interview I had been dabbling in creating podcasts for some of my more popular articles.

How have you made those promotion methods successful?

John I have 10’s of 10,000’s of my free e-books out in the marketplace and 100’s of 1,000’s of articles. It brings a nice steady flow of people to my main site.

What have you been up to recently? What projects are you working on?

Well, I already mentioned that interview with Jean but I’ve been working on a coaching course with a partner now for over 12 months. This will be the most comprehensive IM course anyone has ever seen and… it will be the product against which all others will be measured for a long time to come.

My partner (who shall remain nameless for the moment) has such complementary skills to mine. Both of us are very strong in certain areas and our combined ability would match that of any team in the world. Keep an eye out for that one. It will be an evergreen product and there will be many smaller spin-offs from it.

What problems have you had with those new projects?

Just the time factor because of the amount of information that we are creating.

Do you think anything particular in your past prepared you for this industry? Your education? Jobs you’ve held before?

My ability as a writer serves me well. I can pretty much write an e-book or a report or even a course on most things now in IM. I’ve reached a point now where I see an idea for a product and, with very little preparation, I can just write the book. Many of my e-books were written in a day or two or three at most.

What is the future of Internet Marketing?

Heh! Well… a lot of people will be either shocked or amused or annoyed with this but… IF we don’t drive the crooks out then they will destroy IM for everybody. I’ve written two very comprehensive reports on this (around 55 pages each):

1 – “How NOT to Be an Internet Marketing VAMPIRE” and

2 –  “How NOT to Be an Internet Marketing ZOMBIE”

John, you’ve already read one of those reports and you have it sitting on your blog with the most wicked looking cover that I have had made. Steve Barrow did that for me from a design I gave him. He’s an awesome talent.

I intend to make both reports rebrandable and viral to get the word out about these types.

What are your greatest strengths?

My writing ability and my stick-ability. I also believe that my ability to explain concepts in terms that are easily understood is an asset.

What are your greatest weaknesses?

I would never reveal any weakness. But, if I had to list one I would say that I am far too loyal to people. Far too often people let me down – especially when I have done so much for them. At the first request I make of them they start floundering for excuses. That sh*ts me.

What motivates you?

Life in general and always striving to be the most complete person that I can possibly be.

What is the best advice you’ve been given and try to apply to your life?

NEVER give up.

Who has impacted you most in your career, and how?

Hmm, I can’t really say. I get input from so many different directions. I just filter out the crap and retain what is good from everywhere. That means I am filtering out a LOT of…

What kinds of people do you have difficulties working with? Any good stories?

I simply REFUSE to have anything to do with rude, aggressive, abusive or deceitful people who try to force themselves onto others. Try that crap with me and you’ll think that the US 7^th fleet is completely under-weaponised. Seriously, I hate bullies and deceivers on all levels. I also hate bullsh*t.

I give people a couple of chances and if they don’t wise up then I just NEVER want to speak to them or deal with them again – on ANY level. I could give you a few names but I’m not into public naming and shaming. They just better stay away from me if they know what’s good for them.

I have a saying that says: “I can be one of your greatest most loyal friends or your worst nightmare but the best part of that is – it’s YOUR choice. So choose wisely.”

What are some of your long-term goals? How much is enough? If money was no object, what would you be doing?

Long term I’d really like to be known world-wide as a person of truth, trust and integrity who has helped thousands of people. Scaling that up, make it millions of people. I have the capacity to do that within me. I know it.

And if money were no object, I think I’d just do the same but I’d take a lot more holidays and meet a lot more people face-to face.

Where do you want to be ten years from now?

Still helping people overcome life challenges. But, we never know what life will throw at us. So, with that in mind, we should spend our time WISELY.

How do you like to spend your free time? What does work-life balance mean to you?

I like to spend my “free” time reading, exercising, furthering my karate ability and knowledge and generally, just having fun with friends. My work and my life are completely integrated so that question is actually pretty difficult to answer.

If you could go back to being 18, what different career choices would you make?

I always wanted to be a Policeman, believe it or not. I would have made a damn good one too, I think, because I have an enquiring and curious nature and I see a LOT of things that other people don’t. I have an eye for detail and I can sense things intuitively.

What is your greatest achievement outside of work?

Achieving a 7^th Dan in karate. It’s taken me so long and it has come through so many 1000’s of hours of such hard work – both physically and mentally.  I am ranked at the level of 7^th Dan both nationally and internationally and I also have the teaching title of Kyoshi which, translated, means “teaching master” or senior professor. It’s quite a rare title and definitely a great honor. And again, I have national and international certificates bestowing that honor upon me.

It really makes me laugh when I see people of all dubious standards claim the title of “guru” on the Internet. You don’t “claim” a title! You are awarded it for hard work. So when I see all these self-proclaimed King of this and Queen of that I just laugh at how they are so deluding themselves.

What are some of your unfulfilled dreams?

Reaching 8^th Dan in karate and helping a HUGE number of people across the world with the information I am creating.

What is your favorite quote?

Oh good. I’m glad you asked this because I have always loved the following quote by Galileo. It is just so TRUE. Here it is:

“You cannot teach a person anything,

you can only help them find it within themself.”

There is so much truth and wisdom in that saying that I actually cloned one from it for myself. If you’re interested here it is:

“You cannot want something for somebody more

than they want it for themself.”

Are you on Twitter and/or Facebook?

Yes and yes. But… Twitter has become such an abused service that I don’t go there much any more. First the porn freaks tried to destroy it with their explicit full frontal nudity which, although I am no prude by any stretch of the imagination, I found disgusting. Kids access Twitter. The assh*les who do this have no thought for them at all. Hence, my anger. I sent PM after PM reporting the pornheads as I call them and I regularly used to tweet my adapted version of the singer Pink’s “Funhouse” lyrics. Here’s what I kept tweeting:

“Twitter used to be a fun place, but now it’s full of evil porn.”

Through my actions and those of many others Twitter finally managed to identify and ban most porn but then the spammers took over. They came in by the 1000’s and smashed everybody mercilessly.

All that aside, my Twitter ID is www.twitter.com/gazzman Gazzman is what my friends call me coz [laughing] they think I am the oracle, or something.

I have a fledgling Facebook account but I’ve done nothing with it yet. From the day I created the account all I have had is a flood of people annoying me with “be my friend, be my friend.” I think that lameness is about as cheesy as it gets so I’ve ignored everybody so far – even my REAL friends, much to their annoyance.

Thanks for allowing me to answer these questions John. I hope your readers get some value out of my responses. Or some laughs. Either way it’s fine by me.