Great article, Alex ... and thanks for following up, Ralf.

Let me give you a quick, true example of my way of thinking on much of this ...

About 3 years ago, I was running what was then a very active Internet Marketing Forum ... and coming into my own as a JV Broker on a part time basis.

A young woman approached me and said that she had heard of my success setting up major launches, and was wondering if I would check out her product and possibly get behind it. The young lady was an absolute doll, and very active on my forum, so I decided to give it a look ... but promptly got sidetracked with other work and we lost touch. The launch was a failure for her, but she dusted herself off ... and took a good long look at her business, and herself. She studied, researched, and worked on improving her web site and newsletter, went to seminars and participated in forums to network and further hone her craft, and started building co promotional relationships with others around her success level, greatly increasing results through leverage ... the success level of her 'inner circle' increased to the point where they were invited to participate with higher level marketers ... now, her name and those of her 'inner circle' are pretty well know, just 3 years later.

... does Liz Tomey ring a bell? Jeff Dedrick? John Hostler? Jason James? Keith Wellman? Eric Holmlund?

I recently apologized to Liz at Mike Filsaime's seminar earlier this year for not holding her hand back then ... she actually thanked me for giving her the chance to fall, and pick herself up. She feels it forced her to make important changes in her business in order to survive and grow ... another example of how it can be done, and how using reciprocal relationships can help.

Best,

Mike