You want to be rich? Then start talking shit! – Part 2

by neilpatel on October 20, 2007 · 60 comments

Last week I discussed how you could make money by talking shit and it seems it was actually successful for Joe Tamargo. Joe talked some productive shit to a potential client and it was so effective that they actually asked him to send over a proposal.

The other day I read a great post you had on shoemoney.com about “talking shit will get you work“. I read that post and applied it to my field and passion and BOY it worked like a charm. See, I have been doing development and seo for about 3 years now, but always for other people and so on, and I decided to do my own “passion” site abut three months ago. So now that I have “talked shit” and got the work, ( Guy , told me to send him a proposal ).

What is my next step? Selling online “consulting” is a bit different for me. Sure, I know what to do once he pays me, BUT my problem is that the guy is not to “tech savvy” and I am afraid if I make the proposal to “tech” he won’t understand and I will lose the job, I am used to just dealing with other webmasters that know what “seo” or “serps” are.

So now the question is, now what?

First, you need to figure out their company goals and how you could potentially help them achieve those goals. When doing this, you will also need to figure out how much it is worth to them. The easiest way to figure this out is ask them directly what their budget is. If they are not willing to tell you their budget, keep on asking them in different fashions until they tell you. And if they still don’t say anything, try and throw out some ranges, but make sure they aren’t too low because many people try and negotiate from your lowest number in the range.

After you get their budget you need to craft a proposal that discusses what they need in detail as well as the price. Try not to put anything in the proposal that could potentially hinder your success like non-compete clauses unless they request it. Also if the proposal is a bit techie try to dumb it down a bit. Just don’t dumb it down too far or it may seem that the work you are proposing is easy.

Lastly, hope that they sign the proposal and you can start working with them. If they ignore you or don’t respond back right away, give it a while. A few days later you can call to make sure that they received it and if they had questions, but don’t push the potential client. Remember it is in their best interest to hire you and if they can’t see that then it is their loss.

About the author...

– who has written 10 posts on ShoeMoney.com.

Images provided by ShutterStock


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{ 59 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Mike October 20, 2007 at 2:31 pm

Neil, Do you really have a clue about anything? Stop condoning SPAM, and start writing about something worth writing about, you are absolutely pathetic and you know absolutely nothing about what you write about.

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2 Jonathan Volk October 20, 2007 at 2:36 pm

Great follow up post.

I’m glad to see it’s working for some people. I’d love to hear some more success stories.

I am thinking about doing this type of deal for offline businesses in my area.

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3 Nick Sullivan October 20, 2007 at 3:18 pm

Good follow-up. Though I wouldn’t agree ‘talking shit’ is the way to go. To a degree sure but I wouldn’t make a habit out of it even though it might work for some.

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4 King Jacob October 20, 2007 at 3:18 pm

I did something similiar where I ranked my blog higher for all the keywords my fathers company ranks for and it convinced them to hire an seo on retainer.

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5 Chris Jacobson October 20, 2007 at 3:29 pm

A friend of mine who is sponsoring Shoe’s RSS contest just pulled out because of your vulgar title. Nice one. lol

Good post though.

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6 Neon October 20, 2007 at 3:39 pm

i do agree talking shit can be successful but only if
- it is convincing. talk about stuff that people already believe, reinforce it. and stuff that seems to work. Give advise that everyone already know and convince people that you know more… :D
- or talk about stuff that is darn funny. parody sites and stuff often very successful and popular but they are talking shit.

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7 David Wilkinson October 20, 2007 at 3:40 pm

Right – well feck him. ;) I’ll throw in a $75 sidebar graphic ad spot to subsidise that on TechZi.net, Jeremy.

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8 David Wilkinson October 20, 2007 at 3:41 pm

oops – I replied to the wrong comment. Was meant to be the dude above you mate

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9 Collin October 20, 2007 at 3:51 pm

Thats to bad

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10 Collin October 20, 2007 at 3:53 pm

I can’t bring my self to do that sort of thing. Some people are reat at doing it but I feel honesty is still the best policy even though us nice guys seem to finish last.

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11 Men's Health Board October 20, 2007 at 4:06 pm

you should title this post “start dealing with a new client 101″

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12 Randy Brown October 20, 2007 at 4:53 pm

hehe.. I know Joe pretty well and he is a good shit-talker! Maybe i can pay him to give me some lessons :-)

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13 King Jacob October 20, 2007 at 5:07 pm

Are you serious?, the word shit offended your friend.

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14 King Jacob October 20, 2007 at 5:08 pm

You arent lying, in fact you are being blatantly honest.

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15 Chris Jacobson October 20, 2007 at 5:34 pm

I’m not sure, I don’t think he wants his company associated with such non-professionalism or something. Oh well.

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16 Justin Cook October 20, 2007 at 5:50 pm

I have to agree. I think it is very unprofessional, regardless of how good the article is

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17 wethead October 20, 2007 at 6:26 pm

Well , The first post was an excellent one by Neil for sure!

And this is a great Follow up, neil is the man for sure !

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18 wethead October 20, 2007 at 6:27 pm

Its True, sometimes a good “Hey – your site sucks” gets peoples attention :)

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19 wethead October 20, 2007 at 7:00 pm

Oh come on now,

Does he wipe his ass with rose pedals as well?

Thats the funniest thing I heard all day, I mean Shoes Blog is all about being honest and open,

Maybe your friend doesn’t know this blog to well..

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20 wethead October 20, 2007 at 7:01 pm

You just don’t get it thats why…

Its just a title its called an “explosive metaphor “, you should maybe read about his stuff :)

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21 UK Site-Ads Matchmaker October 20, 2007 at 11:48 pm

Yo, Jeremy –
FYI Mr. Patel is making your blog stinky. Whenever he comes to post, he leaves sh*t. Maybe he needs a map to those airport toilets you like so much?

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22 Blog Contests October 21, 2007 at 1:55 am

It’s the degree of shit you talk

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23 lyricsreg October 21, 2007 at 2:29 am

I don’t thing a part 2 for this article was called for. Not even a Part 1 !

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24 ShoeMoney October 21, 2007 at 2:37 am

umm who is your friend? no sponsors have contacted us. That would be some pretty lame ass shit.

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25 King Jacob October 21, 2007 at 4:47 am

and the point of this article is that you can take advantage of that by adding “and heres what I can do to help change that”

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26 sockmoney October 21, 2007 at 7:10 am

Part 1 was lame. Part 2 is worst.

How’s that for sh#$ talking… ;-)

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27 Tracy Robinson October 21, 2007 at 9:50 am

Now, that is an excellent example of talking shit.

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28 Bujes October 21, 2007 at 11:32 am

I don’t like this article. You are realy talking shit, but you won’t become rich because of it.

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29 Frank C October 21, 2007 at 11:50 am

A friend of mine makes over $100K a year on shit, literally. He owns a septic tank cleaning and repair company.

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30 Neon October 21, 2007 at 12:50 pm

you dont have to lie to do business.
by talking shit, it could be exaggerate stuff about your product or service making it more convincing. just like those 1-page sales pitch.

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31 great008 October 21, 2007 at 1:13 pm

hey shoe…where are you??? the john guy is taking over in the rss votes better catch up!!

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32 Olgi October 21, 2007 at 1:50 pm

Good Information ! Thanks

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33 wethead October 21, 2007 at 2:37 pm

You Stink , then again your a sock :)

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34 serge October 21, 2007 at 2:40 pm

nice guys do finish last, some of the time. I would rather be a nice guy in last place then some jerk in first. As for talking sh!t. I don’t think most people deal with someone talking that way, at least not in a way that makes the competitor look bad just so they use you. I think stating facts is more important, and sometimes the fact are the sh!t. But, I do understand the article, I think most people are focusing on the wrong word.

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35 appfunds October 21, 2007 at 3:03 pm

I don`t like dirty language in public. It reminds me urinating in front of people.
Have a good day.

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36 great008 October 21, 2007 at 5:32 pm

im gonna talk shit and make millions…yeah thats it…

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37 tj October 21, 2007 at 7:05 pm

Speaking of talking about shit, you (serge) have a crappy blog. LOL.

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38 賃貸 大阪 October 21, 2007 at 8:32 pm

I think there is one thing to talk confident about what you can do and the other thing to act confident when you have no idea what to do.

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39 賃貸 大阪 October 21, 2007 at 8:33 pm

Neil is still a university student, he doesn’t realize what he is doing…

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40 賃貸 大阪 October 21, 2007 at 8:34 pm

I like Crazy Egg though…

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41 Instant Community October 21, 2007 at 10:06 pm

Neil is just great.

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42 Jonathan Volk October 21, 2007 at 10:14 pm

Crazy IMO. I’d love to know what kind of company doesn’t keep their word…

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43 Jonathan Volk October 21, 2007 at 10:26 pm

Hahahaha… I actually laughed out loud.

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44 lyricsreg October 21, 2007 at 11:50 pm

Now there’s an interesting story ! Please tell us more

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45 PeBa October 22, 2007 at 4:45 am

Yeah, and how you drive visitors to this site? I mean, it’s serious shit :D Who is interested? :D

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46 PLRPro October 22, 2007 at 5:39 am

Agree’d 100%

I had a client that was after my services in the mortgage lending area for SEO. Very non-techy, in-fact completely not an online person and didn’t really understand what I was proposing.

Even after dumbing it down

I didn’t chase him, 3 weeks later and I ended up with interest from an even larger client in the same industry.

When you know SEO well, you have the power. Especially if you do not rely on it as your main income earner from other clients.

You can be much picker.

Regards
Marc

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47 Susan October 22, 2007 at 9:07 am

I used to sell another techical product – insurance! No one understands that! So after I rolled off all the technical terms, I would follow up with, “What this means to you is. . .” They get that right away even though seo terms puts a permanent glaze on their eyes.

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48 Gecko Tales October 22, 2007 at 11:11 am

You have to be able to talk business as well as technology and in the end you have to be able to show the client how your product/service is going to help make them more money or make their job easier.

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49 lyricsreg October 22, 2007 at 11:55 pm

That’s the spirit ! Good luck to you, but I doubt you need it

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50 lyricsreg October 22, 2007 at 11:59 pm

I don’t think that qualifies as “talking sh*t”. Impostor ! Admit it ! You’re not talking sh*t, are you ? :)

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51 Nick Sullivan October 23, 2007 at 12:30 am

I agree.

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52 Publishers Weblog October 23, 2007 at 7:59 am

You know when you say start talking shit, I think you should also mention you should know what you are talking about before you start bullshitting. It can have negative consequences.

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53 Googlelady October 23, 2007 at 4:26 pm

Mike is a good guy that give instant examples :P

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54 MyGoodFinds October 24, 2007 at 10:03 am

Interesting strategy.

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55 Kenneth October 25, 2007 at 11:45 am

okay…. here you go. “SHIT”.. am I rich now?

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56 12 year old blogger October 26, 2007 at 1:54 am

I totally disagree

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57 Amit October 30, 2007 at 7:55 pm

The title with that word didnt give the whole post overall a good feeling :(

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58 cyberst0rm October 31, 2007 at 4:59 am

Talking shit may get you to the top, but it won’t keep you there for long!

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59 Dominik September 15, 2008 at 7:30 pm

Some of the biggest shit talkers in the world make a fortune in their perspective fields, hell one of them runs the US of A.

Interesting article even though it’s old!

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