Archive for the “Blogs & Websites” Category

I understand that every individual gets to choose how they want to participate in social network whether you use Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or some other application.

There are many people who want to “collect” people.  In other words, they want to gather as many “friends” as they can.

It took me a while to warm up to Facebook but I have to admit I have grown to like it on a limited basis.  It is an easy, non-intrusive way to keep up with your friends and have your friends keep up with you.

But there is a lot of talk about using social networking for business purposes.  I don’t have a problem with that except when someone under the guise of a “friend” starts spamming you with their marketing and advertisement messages.  I have no problems with the occasional business announcement but I have a real problem with a steady stream of “come look at this new product I am selling” or “drop by so I can serve you” type of messages.

I finally got tired of the offenders who I happen to be friendly with and quietly deleted them.  I don’t need to hurt their feelings and make a big fuss about it but I refuse to have my private Internet space invaded with such shenanigans.

The way to do business on Facebook is to be clear that the account is for business purposes, not “stay in touch” personal purposes.  But you don’t suck people in under the guise of a personal friend, then suddenly, get all these marketing and advertising messages I never asked for.

Quite frankly, I am a bit skeptical of users who have over 100 friends.  In my view, they fall into the “friendly acquaintances” category.

I also started deleting those “friends” who really could care less about me and what I do.  They simply know me and have a passing curiosity of what I do but that is it.  That is why I don’t generally have anyone from high school or anyone else I have not been in contact with for many years.  There may be a couple of special exceptions but they are few.

I also don’t add to my friends list anyone who might have questionable content that I am not comfortable associating with.  I believe that your reputation can be tainted by the people you associate with.

There are some who use some kooky pictures or graphics in lieu of their personal photo.  I don’t mind a bit of creativity, flair, and style but some put up something that has nothing to do with their personal appearance.  Again, when someone views my friends, and they don’t have the confidence or good sense to use some semblance of their own photo to identify themselves, I figure why should they see all of my personal photos and information.  It is plain goofy to me and I have quietly deleted or ignored those requests.

The contents of my Facebook account is an extension of my private life that I have chosen to share with a few people and I am going to keep it that way.  Quite a few people have wanted to add me to their friends list, and I think about it awhile.  Some I ignore right off.  I have no desire to have any Facebook connection to them.  Some I leave in limbo to consider at a future date.

A lot of people seem to have issues about offending others so they just add them to the list.  Fortunately, I have no such issue.  I know where I stand and how I want to use Facebook.  Some are allowed or invited in but many are not.

For me, it is about the quality experience, not the quantity.  There is also a certain amount of mutual respect and decorum that needs to happen online just as if we are in the same room with one another.  For me, I don’t just don’t want to see goofy, adolescent antics on Facebook.

This article was first posted on The TurnKey Investor’s Blog.

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Because of my dissatisfaction of how the Columbus GA Housing Authority manages and conducts itself and its apparent lack of customer service accountability, I have taken the step to launch ColumbusGAHousing.com to assist and provide information and editorials to local landlords in navigating the Section 8 Housing Voucher Program with the Columbus GA Housing Authority.

ColumbusGAHousing.com will give “street information” as to how they actually work, not the “official” public line they tell people. They always seem to have excuses as to why they fall short in their customer service performance but they have no problems holding anyone else accountable.

My business partner and I continue to work with them and have several rental homes under the Section 8 Housing Voucher Program but our complaints have largely gone ignored. However, that may change when they find out (through ColumbusGAHousing.com) that more landlords are dissatisfied with their customer service to landlords. It may also require escalation to higher levels of the HUD Agency to get some attention.

At long last, a major revision and update of TurnKeyPublisher.com has been implemented.

With the release of my newest book, TurnKey Publishing, the website update and revision was overdue. There is a link to Amazon.com to order my newest book.

With the rollout of the revised website and upcoming TurnKey Publisher titles, you will notice more frequent updates and changes in the weeks and months to come.

I received a sad note a couple of days ago from the Van Tharp Institute that my friend, Melita Hunt of MyLeftLung.com, lost her battle against lung cancer and died at the young age of 41. It pains me especially because she never even smoked.

She valiantly fought the disease here in the U.S. but eventually went back to her country, Australia, to rejoin her family in the final weeks.

She brought many things into my life during our years as friends. I will miss her.

Melita, rest in peace. You will be remembered.

P.S. The photo you see were of us together in October 2001, nearly 8 years ago in Phoenix, AZ.

This is a quickie post.  I am in Seattle attending the Independent Online Sellers Conference.  I almost didn’t come because this event is largely a grassroots effort.  There are about 200 Amazon resellers here.  Interestingly, this event is acknowledged by Amazon.com.  I am looking forward to visiting Amazon HQ on Monday.

I also learned about micro-blogging today.  So, I set up a Twitter account.  My account is mattchan66.  The link to my Twitter site is http://twitter.com/mattchan66 It is too early to tell how or what I will be using it for.  If it is anything like having a Facebook or MySpace account, I will probably not do too much.

I want to keep this post as brief as possible because this announcement is not one I consider “good news” but it was necessary given the amount of inquiries and information I have been getting regarding the infomercial company, “Incredible Discoveries”.

As a brief recap, “Incredible Discoveries” came into my life around June 20, 2007 when they wanted to talk to me about marketing my books with infomercials.  The conversations ultimately led to a $75,000 fee they wanted me to pay.  I was immediate suspicious and I declined the offer.

A disgruntled, ex-employee, Robert Danoff, and another individual made contact with me feeding me insights.  With my suspicions and their suggestions, I followed up on their insights.  I made a few more blog postings regarding Incredible Discoveries updates as it related to Robert Danoff.  I posted them because Robert Danoff gave me information that I thought might be of public interest.

To make a long story shorter, I eventually put an end to discussing “Incredible Discoveries” because I did not want my blog to become overrun with this story that really had little to do with me or my business. If you want to know more, go visit these posts.

• “Incredible Discoveries” Sets Up Phone Appointment
• “Incredible Discoveries” Makes First Contact
• Highly Suspicious of “Incredible Discoveries” $75,000 Fee
• More Thoughts on Infomercials & Complaints
• Incredible Discoveries Lawsuit against Bob Danoff – Part 1
• Incredible Discoveries Lawsuit against Bob Danoff – Part 2
• “Incredible Discoveries” Submits Alleged Written Retraction by Robert Danoff

However, since these posts last year, this blog persistently gets traffic on “Incredible Discoveries” which means many people are interested and someone is reading.  But I also continue to get emails and phone calls from people wanting my opinion on “Incredible Discoveries“.  I also get a few complaints.  But I am not the Better Business Bureau.  Nevertheless, I keep my ears open to what people tell me.

The straw that broke the camel’s back is when yet another person called asking me my opinion.  I told them it was up to them and it was their money.  It was like they wanted me to prove or disprove that “Incredible Discoveries” was a “bad” company.  Quite frankly, it isn’t my job to be responsible for others.

As a public service, I shared my opinions on the blog already and if you think you can part with $50,000 to $75,000 and take the risk, fine with me.  It is your money.  But I keep telling everyone that my internal radar says to spend your money elsewhere.  You can do a lot with $75,000 on your own plus I think a lot of the infomercial business is one that offends my sensibilities.  That is why there are so many complaints.

• InfomercialBlog.com
• InfomercialScams.com
• InfomercialRatings.com

In any case, I did get curious enough to do more fact-checking on “Incredible Discoveries“.  After all, why does this blog get so much interest because of “Incredible Discoveries”?  Obviously, a lot of people are searching for information on them which led me to do some searching on my own.

And so, I am trying to put this issue to bed.  I dug out more interesting information.  I had some interesting phone conversations from various past plaintiffs and defendants against “Incredible Discoveries”.  I found information from the Florida Attorney General’s Office and Florida Division of Corporations.

With all of this, I compiled my findings into “The Incredible Discoveries Information Page“.  I have tried to be fair and I am upfront of my biases.  I give commentary and information but it is up to the reader to draw their own conclusions whether anyone should do business with them.

If you have additional meaningful information or corrections, I will accept them.  But I am resistant to taking any more phone calls on Incredible Discoveries. I got better things to do than discuss them.

To those who care, “The Incredible Discoveries Information Page” is a free resource. The direct link is:  http://matthewchan.com/incrediblediscoveries-info.htm. To those who don’t care, you aren’t missing much.

This was first posted on The TurnKey Publishing Blog.

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When I first received my Getty Images Settlement Demand Letter on Monday, June 16, I took prompt measures to be proactive.  One of those proactive steps was to face this issue head-on.  I called the phone number 800-272-4170 twice and left one message.  My voice message was professional and courteous.  I was letting them know I acknowledged their letter and was quickly taking corrective measures.  I also told them I welcomed a call to discuss the situation.

Chloe Surdyk called late Wed. afternoon.  It was actually a cordial conversation.  I did my best to find common ground.  I understand their need to protect their copyrights and go after people but I did not agree with their tactics.

I told her I especially did not agree with her rationale that victims of Indian web designers should have to pay Getty Images especially when I contracted for a web banner, not specific images.  I also had little or no say in the selection of any images, only whether I liked a web banner or not.

She offered me a lower settlement (from the original $1,300) of $800-something.  I told her I did not agree with her and it was likely we would have to agree to disagree.  In the conversation, I told her I was not ignorant of the law and due legal process.  I have been to court many times to be a plaintiff and occasionally a defendant.  I was not simply going to “roll over”.  I told her I did my research on the Internet on Getty Images and I was informed of their upcoming tactics.  I told her I was not going to sit still and that I would likely publicize my interactions with her and her company.

My sense of embarrassment over this is substantially lower than my sense of outrage at their attitude.  Surprisingly, during most of the conversation, Chloe was cordial.  Even towards the end of the conversation, she said she would put into her notes to give me another 14-days to consider her offer.  Chloe even gave me her direct phone office line:  206-925-6779.

In my mind, there was no way I was going to “settle” with them.  I mentioned to her that she would likely have to sue my company if she wanted anything.  For now, I told her we would simply agree to disagree.

My next move is to get my “official reply” sent out by Certified Mail within the next couple of days.  I am biding my time as I continue to do more research.

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If you want to learn more about this case, visit ExtortionLetterInfo.com.

This was first posted on The TurnKey Publishing Blog.

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In light of my unwilling involvement with Getty Images, as president of my publishing company, I have decided to take the proactive and defensive measure and gathering and reporting information relating to the Getty Images Settlement Demand Letter.

In fact, this whole fiasco is so outrageous that I have named this the Getty Images Settlement Demand Letter Extortion Scheme.  I think this term truly fits what they are doing.  The information I am finding on the Internet is simply outrageous.

I have launched ExtortionLetterInfo.com so that my blogs don’t get overrun with the Getty Settlement Demand Letter discussions.  If you are interested in what is happening with this, go visit the website.