I get emails all the time from folks asking me to promote their site or their business. I always feel sort of used when I get these, since the person doesn’t have any relationship with me and just wants some free publicity.
I received an email recently, though, from a long-time reader which struck a chord with me. He wasn’t asking for promotion – – – he was just seeking maybe an idea or two about marketing. But I felt what he was doing was so sincere, I wanted to share it with you here. Here’s the email in its entirety, although I’ve boldfaced some particular bits:
Let me first say a big thank you. I became aware of Slope during the 08/09 crisis and have followed it ever since. I don’t post often but I read the articles every day.
To tell you why I’m writing you, let me first share some background. I’m a 46 year old CFP® practitioner with 7, 63, 24, 9 & 10 Finra licenses. I have a degree in personal financial planning from Texas Tech. At one time I owned my own firm, have worked for banks and last worked for one of the largest brokerage firms. When the market puked on 8/24/15, I resigned a week later. The big firm kept me on till late September and I separated from service then. I worked for them as an FA and ran the branch complex in Sarasota, Florida. Long story short, I’ve been around and was “all in” for a career in personal finance.
I left the industry because I know it hurts people. I’m convinced long only, buy and hold managers are the spawn of satan and that the whole scheme is designed to leave some suckers holding the bag. The last bag popped and then reflated. My belief is that the next bag to pop won’t reflate.
So, I left and started a remediation company (blue collar) to pay the bills. I then started a gold and silver brokerage which I’m hoping to grow. I know from my experience that the gold and silver business has an even higher concentration of sharks than the stock brokerage/financial advising business. I believe it’s like 99% in the financial advisor business and 99.5% in the gold and silver industry. Ha!
What i’m trying to do is bring a professionalism to the gold and silver side that doesn’t exist today. I’m neither gold bug or bear as I don’t believe people should put all their money in the metals but do believe they should put some. I believe the metals are insurance and a 5 to 10% allocation of wealth is sufficient. If someone lies more to the bug side then ramp it up but that’s not my recommendation.
To the point, you know a lot about internet marketing and commerce. You’ve created a big presence and following on the web. If you were me and you wanted to create a following and customer base, where would you start? Is there any way to partner with you and Slope? Do you need/want articles or commentary from someone like me?
Here is my Facebook link. https://www.facebook.com/thegoldplanner/
Here is my website. It’s rudimentary but is being redone now by a professional firm. www.thegoldplanner.com
I know you’re real busy, probably get a million emails like this but if you have a moment please share your thoughts. If not then please know that I do appreciate and enjoy Slope. It was one of the main resources that helped deconstruct my traditional financial advisor training and helped me see the matrix for what it is.
Regards,
Craig Hill
Punta Gorda, FL
