September 11, 2004

From a Cybercafe near the Persian Gulf

Dear Friend & Subscriber,

It is HOT here in Dubai.

Not only is it 95 to 100 degrees, it's so humid
that when I go outside, my glasses fog up.

United Arab Emirates is 100 miles from Saudi
Arabia, 200 miles from Iran and 400 miles
from Iraq - here's a map:

http://infoplease.com/atlas/country/unitedarabemirates.html
Dubai is right of center.

This is a fascinating place, a strange mix
of traditional and modern, old and new. Yesterday
I went to the beach - I've never seen women in
skimpy bikinis and women in full muslim head coverings
(you can only see their eyes) all walking around in the
same place. Very strange fusion of cultures and
customs. Here's a photo, and in the background you
can a woman walking across the sand in full muslim dress:

http://tannah.net/photos/beach1.jpg

Yesterday was Friday, which is the Muslim holy
day, the equivalent of our Sunday. They call
Dubai the Hong Kong of the Middle East, but it
didn't seem like it yesterday. Little was stirring
in the scorching sun, but you could hear hymns
and Muslim prayers from the mosques wafting through
the air. It's almost impossible to go anywhere
without being in sight of a mosque.

Here's a photo of a Muslim bakery, where bread
is made the same way it was hundreds of years
ago: http://tannah.net/photos/bakery.jpg

I met up with Sarfraz, a Pakistani fellow
who works here as an expatriate (foreign
worker living in UAE). In Dubai, expats outnumber
residents in some neighborhoods, making for a
fascinating mix of Asians, Indians, Russians,
Africans and occasional westerners like myself.

We went to Mercato Center, which is the ultra-modern
shopping mall that's only a stone's throw from the
Persian Gulf, complete with Starbucks and a Barbie store,
plus all the famous vanity brands like Gucci and
Calvin Klein. Here's a photo:

http://tannah.net/photos/mercato.jpg

Sarfraz got on my email list via Chris Carpenter's
GoogleCash, and he had a ton of questions. Most
people have the same questions he asked, so let's pause
for a short business tutorial.

The first lesson comes from the fact that Sarfraz
knew I was here in the first place - because he was on
my email list.

When you have an email list of tens of thousands
of people -- and you've actually built a relationship
with them, and not just hammmered them with sales pitches -
amazing things happen.

I've gotten gracious invitations of hospitality
from people in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore,
Dubai and Nairobi. Why? Because building a quality
list has been my #1 priority.

(BTW there are some people whom I haven't been able
to respond to, for various reasons - if you emailed
me and didn't hear back, don't take it personally,
it's the difficulty of managing things from the road...)

With rare exceptions, the most valuable asset
any business ever has is its customer list - which
by the way shouldn't just be email, it should
be snail mail, too.

Now the GoogleCash method - buying traffic on
Google and sending it through affiliate links, and
collecting the difference as profit - it can
and does work, and it's the best, least-risky
way to enter a new market.

But in my opinion, it's only the beginning.
If you're only brokering traffic, you're building
no assets. The next step is to build an asset,
which is an email list.

So that means assembling some helpful information
and giving it out in exchange for email addresses,
and building a list before you send people on
to the affiliate site, is the very next step. It
can double or triple your profitability overnight.

Another question that comes up is: What to sell?
Amazon stuff? Ebay? Commission Junction?

Well here's the thing:

It's great to know a lot about marketing.

But it's more important to know about Markets.

What do people love? What do they hate? What keeps
them up at night? What do they crave?

If you know answers to those questions, everything
else is just mechanics.

So here's the thing: You are already an expert
in five or ten different markets. Professions
you've worked in. Hobbies you have. Places
you've lived in. Clubs and organizations you
belonged to.

All of those things are markets.

So if you're trying to decide what to sell, think
in terms of the microcosms you're already familiar
with. Dialects you already speak.

At that point, all you have to do is find
affiliate programs within those markets and
you're likely to already know what keywords
to bid on and where people in that market
hang out. You're already an expert.

Now here's another tip I gave Sarfraz. He's
from Pakistan, and for him, English is a second
language. He does speak excellent English,
make no mistake, but writing advertising copy
is still a very demanding art. Skill with words
is paramount.

I suggested that he read English novels by
talented authors. Nothing is better for making
your vocabulary richer than books by people
like Stephen King or John Grisham. Their
colorful language seeps into your brain and
it actually makes you more articulate.

As a matter of fact I'm reading one of the
great novels of the 20th century, the Lord
of the Rings trilogy by Tolkien. As I journey
through Asia and Africa, I have Frodo Baggins
and Gandalf as my companions.

Tolkien is a masterful writer. And people
who read great writers think more clearly,
communicate more effectively, and have
greater imagination.

If it's good advice for an entrepreneur
from Pakistan, it's good advice for Americans,
Canadians and Australians as well.

~ ~ ~

This morning I walked down the street to see
what I could see, and happened upon an
Uzbekistani restaurant, where I had breakfast.

Couldn't read a single thing on the menu,
because it was written in Russian. So I just
told the guy to bring me something he thought
I'd like.

It was terrific. Something called Pelmani,
which included beef dumpling soup, some
sort of egg and ham salad, plus bread
and yogurt with an interesting tang. An
excellent choice next time you stay
at the Diplomat Hotel in Dubai.

~ ~ ~

I talked to Laura and the kids this morning,
and she told me about a dream she had last
night. She dreamed that I went to an amusement
park where I was having all kinds of fantastic
fun and going on all kinds of rides.

In her dream, while I was having all this fun,
she was just doing laundry.

And more laundry. And more laundry. And more laundry.
Do you get the point?

I sure did.

I quickly called up Westgate Flowers in Oak Park
Illinois and sent her a dozen roses. The card
said 'Missing you in Dubai.'

One must respond very quickly to such situations
as they develop! Like I said a few emails ago,
I owe her BIG TIME.

Her old friend Angela is coming to Chicago this
weekend and they're going to have a ladies' night
on the town, which no doubt will include
some theraputic shopping :^> and caramel lattes.

Some guys would call that retaliatory spending,
but I say more power to 'em. They're both
saints!

Salaam until Next Time,

Perry Marshall

Go on to the next installment: "Voyage to the Heart of Africa"