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Table of Contents

1. Editor's Musings
2. An Ethical Dilemma? Selling Something That You Can Get For Free by Willie Crawford
3. Recommended
4. Internet Sites Reviewed
5. Freebies and Other Good Deals
6. Joke of the Week

1. Editor's Musings

Christmas Day is passed, and we're heading towards New Years. I wish a happy and prosperous 2005 to all my loyal subscribers. As my new years gift to Windows users, I offer the M8 Multi Clipboard. I use this great little utility myself. You'll find more information about it in the Recommended Products sections.

And, for all Apprentice fans, have you read Carolyn Kepcher's book "Carolyn 101 : Business Lessons from The Apprentice's Straight Shooter"?

Its highly rated and highly ranked at Amazon.

2.Article: `An Ethical Dilemma? Selling Something That You Can Get For Free by Willie Crawford

At least once a week, I have someone point out to me that a big-name information marketer, software "developer," or company, is selling something that is very similar to a product that you can get for free. They see something fundamentally "wrong" with SELLING a product or information that can be obtained for nothing... if you search in the right place. Often, they point this out to me because they just feel the need to protest something they view as somehow "wrong."

First of all, if you search long enough and hard enough, you CAN find free software that will do just about anything. Some very intelligent programmers create lots of software, which they happily make open-source, shareware, or freeware. These programmers do this for various reasons that we won't get into. These programmers will also give or sell you permission to modify their software slightly and put your own label on it. Is that "wrong?"

There are thousands of documents explaining practically any topic imaginable. The Internet makes it easier to tap into databases and find this information. Some people compile this free information that they find into reports or ebooks and sell it. Is that "wrong?"

After certain intellectual property has been around long enough, if the copyrights aren't renewed through various means, it may become "public domain." That means anyone may then have the right to publish or distribute this material without violating copyrights or intellectual property rights. Is taking an old book that belongs to the public and selling it as your own "wrong?"

Having been trained as an economist, I try to see things as they are rather than as they should be. In economic terms this is looking at things in a "positive" rather than a "normative" fashion. It just means looking at things with a scientific rather than a moral or ethical eye. I don't avoid the moral or ethical issues, but try not to judge others based upon my opinion.

So back to the question... is selling something that you can get for free "wrong?" Since we've already said that you can find practically any software or information for free if you search long enough and hard enough, the answer actually lies in why people will pay for the same "stuff" anyway.

Free does NOT mean without cost. When you buy branded software or repackaged information, the marketer is theoretically reducing your risk. The marketer conducted the research, and located a product that met a specific need, and then made the public aware of it. The marketer investigated dozens of pieces of readily-available software, perhaps modified it, and then "certified" it as capable of meeting your needs.

Another very big reason that the market is willing to pay for something that can conceivable be obtained for free, is because of the search cost. There is a cost of time, energy, and other resources, in investigating options. The marketer has invested that search cost and charges you for that service. Depending upon how you value your time, you may gladly be willing to pay for something that you could have eventually located for free... and then tested to verify that it was exactly what you needed.

Very often, a creator of intellectual property is not a marketer... and doesn't understand the finer points of marketing. So a terrific piece of software, a book, or an idea, just.... sits. A marketer with an above-average grasp of human behavior and psychology can step in, "repackage" that product, and the market will devour it. Should that product have been allowed to languish rather than some marketer stepping in, fixing the bad marketing, and profiting from it. If the product improved the lives of end users, who would have otherwise never noticed the product, then clearly the marketer is providing real value.

So, where is the dilemma? The dilemma is in the perception that the marketer selling a product that didn't cost him anything... or very little, is doing something wrong. It is purely a perception. However, whether on-line or off-line, people who locate "stuff" that the market wants, and charge for that "service" are clearly serving a need. If they weren't serving a need, then the market wouldn't pay for it.

The reality is that people have marketed information since the beginning of commerce. Both on-line and off-line, there are fortunes being made ferreting out information that the market wants, and then providing it. It's the PERFECT way to make your online fortune. Provided that the product is of the right quality, it should certainly not be considered a question of ethics. Doctors, lawyers, realtors, teachers, religious leaders... they all charge you for readily available information that they have "repackaged" and put their brand, or seal-of-approval, on.

When you're doing research, and you discover a product very similar to one being marketed under a different label, it IS very eye opening. However, it is not generally a matter of ethics (in my opinion). It's no different than an off-line supermarket selling the identical product side- by-side for two different prices. Often the store brand is made at the same factory, with the same formula, as the name brand product. They are sold side-by-side for different prices. The higher price is justified by the brand identity and "certification" that goes along with that.

As an Internet marketer it is important that issues such as this be studied. Many people who start businesses on the Internet have never run or studied how brick and mortar businesses operate. This article is an attempt to fill in a bit of that missing training... or at a minimum - create discussion :-)

3. Product Recommendation: *** M8 Multi Clipboard for Windows ***

I love the M8. While running minimized, the free version of this little utility saves the last 30 text or graphic clips that you have copied or cut. You paste with one mouse click, or alternatively, you can assign a keyboard command that allows you to paste.

The benefits are obvious. The Windows clipboard is inconvenient. If you want to copy and paste multiple items between software applications, it's back and forth, back and forth. What a nuisance.

The freebie M8 solves all that. And, since its compatible with Outlook Express, you can paste graphics directly into the body of your message.

As you might guess, the paid version is more sophisticated. It offers the same functions as the freebie, but includes other functions as well. You can store your clips in a library permanently (or until you decide to delete them), name your clips, fill out forms, do block pasting, and more.

4. Internet Sites -- reviewed by June Campbell

*** Weekly Business Horoscopes
Good for a laugh, or who knows, maybe they're accurate.

*** Last Year's Predictions for 2004
Check them out and see how many came true.

*** Business Resolutions 2005
Good resolves for business success in the new year.

*** New Years Resolutions 2005: Top Financial Planning Tactics for the New Year
best tactics to start off your finances for the New Year in a great new way.

5. Freebies and Good Deals

6. Joke of the Week: A Good Point.

Bill Gates is talking to the chair of General Motors.

"If automotive technology had kept pace with computer technology over the past few decades," boasts Gates, " you would now be driving a V-32 instead of a V-8, and it would have a top speed of 10,000 miles per hour. Or, you could have an economy car that weighs 30 pounds and gets a thousand miles to a gallon of gas. In either case, the sticker price of a new car would be less than $50."

"Sure," says the GM chairman. "But would you really want to drive a car that crashes four times a day?"

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