From:

North of Jewfish Creek

Dear Friend & Subscriber,

This is the first time I can ever remember sitting down to write a letter and being nervous I will not be able to communicate my message clearly.

I almost don't know where to begin. So following my time-tested method, I'm just going to plunge right in and see how it comes out.

First of all, one way my readers can be divided is, those who are on my announcement list... and... those who are not. All that happens when you are on my announcement list is, you get an e-mail whenever I post a new newsletter telling you it's up on my website. You don't have to be on this announcement list because anybody can go to my website at any time and see if there's anything new posted on it.

Many people may choose not to be on my announcement list because they don't want to give up their e-mail address or other "personal" information. My pet name for these type people are "lurkers".

I don't blame these individuals for being a "lurker" especially if they don't know me. In many cases, giving up your e-mail address... even to get access to free information... will mean you will be subject to an endless barrage of e-mails.

I, personally, rue the day I signed up for "Classmates.com". I get so many messages from them telling me about new high school classmates I will be able to learn about (if I pay money to join their site)... that sometimes, it seems to me... they are promising to provide me with information about more classmates than actually attended my high school.

Another site I gave up my e-mail address to was "DoubleYourDating.com". I get almost daily messages from that website. Actually, they are well written and informative. I would bet whoever owns that site makes a good profit with it. But, I was only curious. I really don't want to learn how to "double my dating" because I am in a 100% monogamous relationship and happy with it.

One point I'm trying to make here is, there is so much information coming at all of us (especially through television and the Internet) that I, personally, don't want any more information. Even if it's good or great information. My information cup runneth over. It has spilled unto other cups. I cannot deal with one more drop of information.

It's like someone serving you a 97-course meal, where each course is more delicious than the previous one. But you get to the point where you don't want the next ultra-delicious course because it's going to take you days to digest the 37-courses you've already eaten.

Anyway, if you are on my announcement list, on March 31 you received an e-mail from me that said:

Then again on April 1 readers who are on my announcement list essentially received the same e-mail but with slight changes. It said:

This has created such a flood of e-mail communications to me, I have been reading them for days (and am still reading them). They were coming in so fast, I couldn't read one and go on to the next one before others were stacking up in my "In Box". In other words, I was getting so many e-mails, it was impossible to clear out my "In Box".

One of the things about all this is, many of the "lurkers" did not know I had decided this would be the final Gary Halbert Newsletter until they read THIS particular newsletter. All of the announcement people already knew. I am sure most of the "lurkers" are just finding out about the announcements I sent out on March 31 and April 1 as they read this newsletter.

OK, now I am going to jump around a little bit. But don't worry. I'll pull it all together before this newsletter is finished.

First, many times when I do teleconferences, I ask the host to "undo" the mute buttons of the listeners so I can have them all say, "Hi Gary" or something like that in order to reassure myself I am not talking into a vacuum.

And sometimes when I'm speaking at a seminar, the room is deathly silent. At first, I thought it was because I was boring the people to the point of apathy. Then later I caught on to the fact the attendees were incredibly silent... because... they were paying such rapt attention to what I was saying.

In any case, when I began posting "The Boron Letters" on my website, I wasn't getting my normal flow of feedback. So I sent a short e-mail message to my announcement list basically asking, "Hey, is there anybody out there paying attention to these letters? Am I wasting my time posting them?"

Shortly after that, I was having a "bad hair day" and Theresa (without my knowledge) wrote to my announcement list an e-mail saying I could use a bit of cheering up. She said maybe some of my readers could send me an e-mail to brighten my spirits.

In any case, these two particular announcements created the first flood of e-mails to me. And when I say "flood" I mean a torrent of e-mails.

A few people even asked me if Theresa's writing about me having a bad hair day was some sort of marketing trick. That maybe I was using it to set people up to sell them something. That was very few people but still, it irritated me.

First, as I said, I had no idea Theresa was sending such an e-mail. And certainly, it was not some sort of marketing trick. It was just her way of trying to lighten my load a little bit.

You know, people seem to watch and read what I'm doing so intensely and so carefully, they are always trying to figure out my motive for doing what I do. Much of the time, they're trying to figure out a motive which simply doesn't exist. You ever hear the old joke about the two psychiatrists walking towards each other down a sidewalk? As they approach each other one of them says, "Hello" and they both keep on walking their separate ways. But the other psychiatrist says to himself, "Gee, I wonder what he meant by that?"

The truth is, many times there is LESS to what people are saying and doing (including me) than what meets the eye. Sometimes "hello" just means "hello". Sometimes when Theresa does something like sending a message that Gary's a little bit down, it's just a message that Gary's a little bit down. It wasn't Machiavellian at all. She just thought I needed a little cheering up.

In any case, this virtual flood of e-mails has resulted in a lot of questions. I'm going to answer the two most common questions right now.

The #1 most common question is:

"Am I Going To Leave My Website Up?"

The answer to that question is:

"Yes."

Many people were so afraid I wasn't going to leave my website up, they frantically printed every issue on my website. Rest assured, at the very least for the foreseeable future, my website will still be there for you to read, download, re-read and study.

The second most common question was asked a number of ways but they all went something like:

"What happened to your son?"

or

"How did your son, Bond turn out?

Did he appreciate all those letters?

Did he take them to heart?

Did he become a success?

Did he just ignore them and go off

to become a tattooed drug addict?"

The answer to that question is:

Bond Leads The Most

Well Balanced Life Of

Anyone I Know!

Here is Bond's situation today: He is happily married to a woman he deeply loves. He has two beautiful and exceptional children, one girl and one boy. He works pretty much when he feels like working. He is not obsessed as his father was with making millions of dollars. Bond has done well enough for himself financially to lead a good, but not extravagant life. But then again, Bond's not interested in an extravagant life. He's interested in the quality of his life and spending quality time with his family.

Bond's into hiking, camping, and something called "geocaching". He is a student of direct marketing. And he has had (with my guidance) enough success in that field to live exactly the life and lifestyle he wants to live.

Bond has said he's VERY appreciative of the letters I wrote to him. And although he doesn't follow all my teachings with religious zeal, he does follow most of them... and... they have helped lead him down the path to a happy, complacent life.

One nice thing resulting from "The Boron Letters" is, he (Bond) has already started writing letters to his own daughter and son... even though... they are not yet old enough to read them. Even so, one day he will have a treasure trove of wit and wisdom to give them and leave as his legacy.

What we have started here is, I believe, a new family tradition.

I never wanted Bond to get a college education because I think they are basically worthless. But he did get one any way (without my help). He has a degree in International Business Administration. One of the things I'm very proud of, is Bond has said to several people he learned more in a half day hanging out with his father than he did in all his years spent at college.

And for what it's worth, Bond said I should tell all my readers he is pretty much satisfied with the father he has... so... he's not shopping around for another one.

On the other hand, Bond has done something to disgrace the Halbert family name. As far as I know, no Halbert male (before Bond) ever married a woman... unless... that woman was pregnant. After all...

What Would Be The Point?

In Bond's case, he not only married his wife when she was not pregnant, but they actually practiced planned parenthood. Bond and his wife had their children when circumstances dictated it would actually be the best time to start and then continue their family. (Did those last few remarks piss anyone off? I hope they did. Because I need reassurance I'm the same old Gary Halbert I used to be.)

I've got a lot more to write in this newsletter but I'm going to stop for now. I'm tired. And I still have to put the finishing touches on a piece of marketing I just wrote for a client.

So, fear not, my little website newsletter reader. You can come back to my website tomorrow (Wednesday) and read Part II of this particular newsletter. I hope you do that. I think you'll find it interesting.

To be continued...