May 26 2008

10 Reasons Why You’re an Idiot

By Jeremy Schoemaker 82 comments

At least once a day we get an email from someone who wants to work on a partnership together or a JV (I really hate that joint venture word). Its VERY VERY rare we work with other people on projects but a lot of times I will give my opinion on the idea or refer them to people who can help them.

Then there are those whos first impression on me is “This guy is a idiot”. Here are 10 reasons that tip me off.

1) Hotmail user - If your address ends in hotmail.com forget it. In my experience most hotmail users doing business with their hotmail accounts have missed so many opportunities because of hotid hotmail filtering. I am also not that big on other free hosted accounts… I mean if you can’t figure out how to register a 7$ domain and setup googles free gmail for business….

2) blogspot.com domain. If your trying to sell me something or convince me to work with you and your website is somethingspammy.blogspot.com odds are ive already hit delete. Its one thing to start out on a free host but even scoble eventually figured out he needed his own domain to quit looking like a amateur.

3) Spell my name wrong. Its Jeremy Schoemaker. Yes I spell names wrong all the time and yes I am a hypocrite. I am sure people delete my email and think I am a idiot when I do and rightfully so.

4) Tell me how great you are. Honestly I can do a Google search on your name and see what you have done or who you know so save it for someone who doesn’t know better.

5) Have Audio playing on your webpage. Evidently somewhere along the line some idiot convinced people that this improves conversion to have a voice start pitching your product. I HATE U WHOEVER YOU ARE.

6) Have one of those lander web pages that is like 10 pages long of crap just to get my email. Yes I am sure it works to get peoples email to spam them later I just think its retarded if this is your companies homepage.

7) Social stalker - bombard me with social network invitations. This really bugs me. Someone will email me with an idea or a proposal then requests to be a friend on linked in, myspace, facebook, pownce OHH then like initiations for every possible application.

8 ) Tell me your idea is identical to some other guys idea and because he was successful you will be successful too.

9) Have a quote from some A-lister about your product as a key point on why I should work with you. If they like you so much why are you coming to me.

10) Explain to me why you want me to invest time and money into a project you are not willing to quit your day job for.

Antares said on May 26th, 2008 at 7:28 am

Haha. I agree with every point.

[Reply]
Jason said on May 26th, 2008 at 7:48 am

No, you’re an idiot. just kidding. I figured that guys like you get a lot of requests for JVs. I’m sure these people appreciate the advice for on their requests. Why don’t you just create a tab up at the top with a page about the requirements for a JV (like Joel Comm). As for the social network stalkers… it is a given if you use sites like that.

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Christoph Trautmann said on May 26th, 2008 at 8:02 am

Happy to see that I wont count myself to the idiots….but why gmail??? Whats up with your privacy?

Best regards, Chris

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Link Snitch said on May 26th, 2008 at 8:31 am

Nicely put. I don’t send those requests, but at least now I know how to avoid the first 10 Shoemoney filters of email management.

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jim said on May 26th, 2008 at 9:11 am

#10 is spot on, if you aren’t willing to put yourself on the firing line… why would you want someone else to commit their time/$?

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Apoorv said on May 26th, 2008 at 9:26 am

#1 and #2 are Pretty Right.

There is some problem with

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Apoorv said on May 26th, 2008 at 9:26 am

I mean to say 8 )

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Josef said on May 26th, 2008 at 9:37 am

I joined hotmail when I was young (now 18) And its so hard to change….I think the blogspot think is true..But it doesn’t mean they’re an idiot..it just means they know shit all..The whole 20 pages for a landing page for an email is true.Agree with audio..those guys look like cheap asses..people spell my name wrong all the time..agree with the final part!! Nice post! I have a question and I may too sound like an “IDIOT” but would this be considered link bait? Just a naive question maybe…I am new to this..Please don’t think I’m an idiot… lofl

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Zak Show said on May 26th, 2008 at 9:41 am

Yeah you are totally right, I got a lot of those mails too. People are going crazy and they try to spam everyone :p

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Chetan said on May 26th, 2008 at 9:41 am

Haha well explained Jeremy Shoemaker.. Oops Schoemaker lol.

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Moneybites said on May 26th, 2008 at 9:42 am

Just letting you know your 8 is broken

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MouthyGirl said on May 26th, 2008 at 10:02 am

I think the most successful people (such as yourself) are those that have no patience and commit no time to BS. Another great post. This is why you are one of the few I still read regularly. No BS.

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Website Reveiws said on May 26th, 2008 at 10:27 am

I agree with most, but the one about the audio auto-playing I am going to whole-heartedly agree here. Any website I open that has audio that auto-plays a sales pitch or cheesy music I close the site before I give the content a chance!

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Warenwirtschaft said on May 26th, 2008 at 11:06 am

I dont think that #3 “spelling” should send someone into the filter but i wholeheartedly agree with all the other points. Especially sound on homepages. I HATE It.

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Barbara Ling said on May 26th, 2008 at 11:26 am

Personally I think a hotmail or gmail or yahoo address is the sign of an insincere business person.

It’s very simply to set up an autoforwarder on your domain to send any received emails to your free account. By investing the $7 in a domain name, you’re saying, I’m staking my spot out on the Internet and it’s going to last!

Data points,

Barbara

[Reply]
Vahid Chaychi said on May 26th, 2008 at 11:59 am

I had unsubscribed from your blog feed but were used to drop by every now and then.

I subscribed again because I am one of the idiots you described above!!!

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Harald Johnsen said on May 26th, 2008 at 12:08 pm

Haha, good post, this made me laugh out loud. It’s not surprising at all that you get that kind of stuff, though. Never underestimate the stupidity of human beings.

And I respectfully disagree with Warenwirtschaft (hey, if I spelled that wrong it’s because it’s a hard name to spell correctly). If someone want’s to do business with you and don’t even care to check if they know your name they deserve the axe.

I DO agree that you’re a tiny bit of a hypocrite when it comes to the name spelling, though. I’ve noticed that you even spell MMA fighters’ names wrong. I’d be careful that didn’t come back and bite me in the ass one day. Some of those guys can be mean.

[Reply]
Web Marketeer said on May 26th, 2008 at 12:08 pm

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen was a really good lesson in professionalism. It’s all in the detail folks. Shoemoney talks and bullsh*t walks….

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Stak Loaded - How to make money doing nothing! said on May 26th, 2008 at 12:11 pm

Haha YES, all for banning audio on websites say AYE!

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Hustle Strategy said on May 26th, 2008 at 12:22 pm

My favorites are yahoo accounts. There are a lot that really confuse me, like why people would use their isp’s email…

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Hustle Strategy said on May 26th, 2008 at 12:23 pm

what I really dislike is when there is not an obvious mute button for me to hit quickly. if there is no mute, i get really pissed.

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Alex D said on May 26th, 2008 at 12:27 pm

Oh damn it, I totally agree with the point number 5!

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Chris Jacobson said on May 26th, 2008 at 12:52 pm

Who made you the God of all of this?

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Sergio said on May 26th, 2008 at 1:40 pm

I’ve personally had several problems with myname@mydomain.com so maybe I’m an idiot when it comes to that. I try though, I try.

I agree with all the other points. It’s just pathetic sometimes. I’m a musician and labels have contacted me in a similar form as they approach you, and I just ignore them. Bleh.

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Apoorv said on May 26th, 2008 at 1:55 pm

Google Apps is the Best solution for webmail, others like squrrel mail, roundcube and horde suck hard !

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Nick said on May 26th, 2008 at 2:03 pm

I know people like you probably get tons of requests so it definitely makes sense to have some set internal rules to filter through them. *Note to Self* Bookmark this post in case I ever have some sort of request to send!

[Reply]
failureblogger said on May 26th, 2008 at 2:31 pm

LMAO….. No one!

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Stephane Grenier said on May 26th, 2008 at 2:33 pm

I think #10 is the biggest by far!!! If you’re not willing to invest in yourself why should I? It’s amazing how often I hear this one. To me this is #1 by far!

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failureblogger said on May 26th, 2008 at 2:38 pm

LMFAO, You offended alot of people including me.

But that’s ok because I have a blogspot domain right now but once I get some money I will buy a domain and I will switch to wordpress.

It doesn’t matter though,….You told the truth!

[Reply]
Mark said on May 26th, 2008 at 3:57 pm

Finally, a truly brilliant post. Vent Shoe, VENT!

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Goran Website said on May 26th, 2008 at 4:01 pm

Hahaha great post, people can be so silly sometimes

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Chris Desouza said on May 26th, 2008 at 4:12 pm

Ah, The joy of achieving success. 10 is very conservative. You have a long way to go Shoe….

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Robert said on May 26th, 2008 at 4:12 pm

Damn, that list is powefull. A lot like mine in a lot of ways. I especially hate those that come up and say, I have a great idea, and no proof behind it. No website, no scope, not even a dumb blogspot page. I want to see ideas that work and ARE working, come back to me when I have something to invest in.

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Adam Holland said on May 26th, 2008 at 4:37 pm

8 - can be right or wrong depending on what kind of project you’re talking about…

All I can think about is ’stealing’ a website idea… cuz I just watched the movie ‘Knocked Up’ last night… and the main character and all his buddy’s were making a site just like Mr. Skin haha

[Reply]
Mike said on May 26th, 2008 at 4:51 pm

Yep, there are a lot of ways to make someone not want to invest in you… that’s why I went back to the ski-mask & gun method of raising capital.

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soggy said on May 26th, 2008 at 4:53 pm

Very good points Mister Schuemarker. All that aside, I have great idea I would like to venture jointly with you. Jason Chow says it is “fantastic”. Reach me at MyIdeasBetter[at]hotmail.com or just accept my friend request on myspace. Gotta go, off to my 7-11 slurpee cleaning job.

BFF

[Reply]
Hobo said on May 26th, 2008 at 5:19 pm

Ha Ha Jewemy that was quality!

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Jonathan Volk said on May 26th, 2008 at 5:20 pm

Hahahaha. The hotmail one I am the same way for sure…

I’ve been asked to be an investor in a site idea where they wanted $500,000 in capital and in exchange they would give me a seat on the board of directors… LOL The site wasn’t even created yet…

Hilarious..

[Reply]
Rom Factolerin said on May 26th, 2008 at 5:25 pm

maybe there’s so much truth in the saying “like minded people attracts each other” that’s why idiots come to you. I guess I’m lucky enough not to be attracted. I have the 11th reason though i keep it to myself

[Reply]
brainpicker said on May 26th, 2008 at 5:52 pm

Ha, spot on. I’d have to add the grandfather of idiocy cues, an AOL email. Plus a couple of miscellaneous give-aways: a cheesy quote in the person’s signature and an abuse of puns. (And, depending on the context, any use of puns is often an abuse.)

And let’s not even get started with widget overdose.

[Reply]
José said on May 26th, 2008 at 6:07 pm

Hi,

I bet no one asked you : would you like to buy my blog ?
Unfortunately I’ve had problems due to using a hotmail account, but I do like hotmail.
When contacting someone I always try to post a title as direct and honest as possible.

Have a nice week,

José

[Reply]
KushMoney said on May 26th, 2008 at 7:02 pm

At the moment I am using hotmail for my blog business because the gmail name I was looking was not available.

I totally agree with your list, #10 hit the nail right on the head.

[Reply]
Frank C said on May 26th, 2008 at 7:40 pm

I have an MSN address I’ve used since 1994 and it’s the one I usually give out, for example, I used it in this comment’s email field. Just about anybody who knows me know that’s my email address. However, some affiliate programs do have a problem with that MSN address so I give them an email address from one of my major domains instead.

[Reply]
Terry Tay said on May 26th, 2008 at 8:03 pm

Yeah, I hate when they spell Tay wrong.
Good to see I’m not the only one that hates audio loading as soon as I arrive on someone’s site.
~Terry

[Reply]
Ken Nickless said on May 26th, 2008 at 8:38 pm

Nice post Jeremy. Hey, if you’ve got time how about Googling my name to see if I may qualify for a possible JV at some stage! But it’d better be soon, I’m 65 already!

[Reply]
Bibokz said on May 26th, 2008 at 9:48 pm

They are idiot if they haven’t noticed the great pool with the logo of Shoemoney.. i like the pool. lol

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Bob said on May 26th, 2008 at 11:01 pm

hello shcoemoney!! ha ha ha:)..nice post ….

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V said on May 27th, 2008 at 12:17 am

Damn it!
I totally agree.=P

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George said on May 27th, 2008 at 12:58 am

Should make it “top ten reasons” because I can count at least 16 reasons why I’m an idiot!

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Eva White said on May 27th, 2008 at 7:44 am

Mr. Jeremy Schoemaker, interesting to know that there are so many people you consider idiots. Though I would personally agree with you on 7 of the accounts given as well.

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Collin - Feed Flare said on May 27th, 2008 at 7:57 am

I don’t think I fit into any of those groups, so why don’t you ever resond to my emails…..lol……jj

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Luisana said on May 27th, 2008 at 8:01 am

You are an idiot

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Luisana said on May 27th, 2008 at 8:03 am

I agree with you on # 10 though.

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Georgia said on May 27th, 2008 at 8:56 am

People misspell my name too and it’s not even difficult to spell. Anytime someone wants to “partner” with you watch out.

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Zak Show said on May 27th, 2008 at 9:47 am

Ooops ! Your comment should be deleted, JK !

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Moneybites said on May 27th, 2008 at 9:53 am

Ha ha, that yeilds short term gain, but what about the long term profit, and I bet you might be able to find a partner for that JV somewhere

[Reply]
getbestprices said on May 27th, 2008 at 10:02 am

I agree with you on 9 of 10.
The #3 is not a problem with me. People spell mi name wrong and I think they are idiots, ops I agree with you in 10!

nice post

[Reply]
Make Money Talks said on May 27th, 2008 at 10:08 am

I agree with you Jeremi Scohemaker :)

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Paul said on May 27th, 2008 at 12:15 pm

Spoken like a true business man! Not much more to say than that.

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Best Videos said on May 27th, 2008 at 12:53 pm

lol.. what an analysis.

Now I will mail you with completely opposite details so that I get accepted

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androo said on May 27th, 2008 at 1:42 pm

awesome love the number 7 that is listed… i recently did a post about all the Facebook Application Requests…

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Start Blogging said on May 27th, 2008 at 2:43 pm

Hilarious post! And really good points.

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Josh said on May 27th, 2008 at 2:57 pm

I have printed the list for future reference.

Sincerely,

Entrecard Users

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Geiger said on May 27th, 2008 at 9:46 pm

Harsh! True, very true, but harsh!

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Terry Tay said on May 27th, 2008 at 10:01 pm

You have to give 10 reasons otherwise it does not count
~Terry

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Geiger said on May 27th, 2008 at 10:06 pm

How many of those do you think smart people break on a daily basis?

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Mayank Rocks said on May 28th, 2008 at 4:01 am

haha, very true. I totally agree with you. And yes, music playing automatically is one of the most irritating things, specially when I’m already playing a music lol

[Reply]
Mayank Rocks said on May 28th, 2008 at 4:01 am

What method is that?

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Mayank Rocks said on May 28th, 2008 at 4:03 am

Absolutely. For serious business, you must have an email at your own domain. and ofcourse a paid domain site..not free domain sites.

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Mayank Rocks said on May 28th, 2008 at 4:03 am

haha. I always thought it was Shoemaker. Now I wont make a mistake. Schoemaker lol

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Darren said on May 28th, 2008 at 7:37 am

It’s almost as bad as receiving an email from the daughter of a deceased rich emperor who needs me as a banking partner to reap the rewards of her $50,000,000 inheritance…geez. lol
Yoursponsor.ws

[Reply]
Binary Ant said on May 28th, 2008 at 7:53 am

lol… if every business man had to listen to every one who tell him something he’d get crazy …

[Reply]
Eric Go said on May 28th, 2008 at 9:04 am

@ point number 3

I had thought that your name should start with a “Mr.” that should be Mr. Jeremy Schoemaker

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Georgia said on May 28th, 2008 at 2:46 pm

The auto music is one thing I hate about MySpace. Sometimes I just want to waste time at work and look at friends pages, but I get busted if I forget to turn down the sound.

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Nate Hill said on May 28th, 2008 at 3:59 pm

Great list here! Oh well I think I will continue for a bit on my blogspot blog just untill I have enough money to fund some other projects or businesses.

[Reply]
Ryan said on May 28th, 2008 at 8:01 pm

I’m sorry Jeremy but I have to disagree about the audio thing.
I have 4 products which all had an increase in conversion once I added audio introductions.

It might work for some, it might not for others.
Fact is…if you suck at doing voice overs…then obviously its not worth it.
Having someone do a voice over for you surely pays off.

Just my 2cents

Peace out.
Ryan

[Reply]
youfoundjake said on May 28th, 2008 at 9:36 pm

k, oops, i just sent a facebook request to you since you were one of the people I knew through someone else, heeh.

[Reply]
Coach said on June 1st, 2008 at 10:14 am

May I suggest …

#11: Have a website which takes longer than say 5secs to load even with a very broadband access, but invites you to “skip into” in turn.

[Reply]
Urban Wear Addict said on June 3rd, 2008 at 6:23 am

I agree with every one of those points. :p

[Reply]
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