Author Archive

This post was first published on the MatthewChan Blog.

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This is a teaser post. I don’t have much I want to reveal at this time except for a couple of nuggets.

I am working on a project called the CEO Publishing University.  If all goes well, it will launch in Spring 2010.  This is a work-in-progress.  Don’t assume anything you see on the website will be in the final version. Don’t read more into the project until I officially announce.  I am making no promises to anything or anyone until I make it “official”.

Yes, it is very much related and tied to my current published series, “The TurnKey Publisher” Series.

I am very excited about this project and I am currently assembling a team of advisors.

Again, all of this is a tease but it isn’t a joke.

As an added feature to the TurnKeyPublisher.com website, I have added a Discussion Forum as an open and free resource for anyone interested in getting into the independent publishing business, how to write a book, how to produce audio programs, and other related subjects.

I have visited various publishing discussion forums and I am disappointed by what I see.  There is clearly a lot of interest but there are lots of spam-like posts, self-promotional posts, and otherwise unrelated posts.  Having successfully operated and managed a very active business discussion forum for many years, I thought I was done with that phase of my life.

However, it looks like I am getting back in the discussion forum game on the subject of Independent Publishing because I want to see a better quality and better managed forum where there is quality information and solid enforcement of rules to keep out unrelated, spam-like, and self-promotional postings.

Like my prior forum, I will be assembling a small team of subject matter experts who will assist me in managing and answer questions on this forum.  For now, I am both the Host and Moderator.

If you have any questions regarding how to write non-fiction books or starting an independent publishing business, you will want to register yourself and participate.

In my earlier article on Ari C. Hinnant and the changeyourlife.org website (now defunct and replaced by zkari.com, I strongly suspected and was 95% sure that she was a fraud and a scam artist.  However, today I am absolutely sure of it would bet my life on it.

In the few days since she contested my claims, she has gone to almost entirely a cash basis to collect payments using MoneyGram for the moment.  She had the Amazon payment option but that looks like it got removed.  I suspected that it would not last long since Amazon and other payment vendors has excellent fraud detection.

She has certainly revealed more by posting this “C. Hinnant / Zkari |  Louisville, KY 4022″ as the person all money orders should be made out to.

I must say that watching this 46-year old woman make a mockery of her name and throwing her incredulous claims around is mind-boggling.  I never knew there were so many payment vendors around but she is quickly burning through them all.

An it appears she has made an enemy of Jennifer Cole (twitter jcole711) because there are several tweets trying to warn others of Ari Hinnant’s fraudulent claims that Oprah has jobs for people.

For the people who are wondering why I would waste any time writing about this.  It is simple.  I am trying to prevent others from being scammed and victimized.  And if they have been victimized and scammed, to let them know other people know about it.

I know it is sort of a sick activity watching a scam artist at work but I can’t help it because it is out in the open!  You just have to read the contents and pay attention to the details of changeyourlife.org (now zkari.com) and you will understand what I am talking about.

The latest update I have is, Ari is now on Zkari.com using am Insight Phone cell number of 502-690-4685. The mailing address she uses: 277 Royal Poinciana Way, Palm Beach, FL 33480-4007 is from an RSVP Pack & Ship facility in Palm Beach, Florida.

This post was first published on the MatthewChan Blog.

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As an MBA alumni who became an author, I have been invited by Webster University to attend the Webster University Alumni & Faculty Authors Book Signing & Reception in St. Louis, MO on October 9, 2009.

When I attended Webster University for my MBA well over a decade ago, I did the academic work at the Orlando campus.  I have never been to St. Louis and looking forward to finally visiting the city and the Main Campus being at the heart of the academic action.

I will be bringing out my digital camera and camcorder to capture some memories of the experience.

On Friday, September 25 at 2:30pm EST, I will be interviewed by publicist Joanne McCall on her Internet radio show about my publishing experiences and the TurnKey Publishing brand philosophy.  The program will be 30-minutes long.  I am looking forward to this fun experience.

As the names implies, educational marketing is a specific type of marketing where you engage potential customers and clients through education and consultation.  It is about taking a leadership but also an expert, instructional, and training role in engaging customers and clients.

Done well, it is a collaborative well and there is goodwill on both parties.  Done poorly, customers and clients feel that the power of knowledge and expertise is being used against them as an unfair advantage leaving them feeling dissatisfied from the experience.

Educational marketing is often used in large businesses where a high degree of technical understanding is part of the customer-buying process.  The computer hardware, computer software, Internet, medical, and pharmaceutical industry are large-scale examples of businesses that engage in educational marketing efforts.  Even late-night infomercials engage in educational marketing when they demonstrate how to use new, innovative products.

In smaller businesses, doctors, attorneys, accountants, electricians, plumbers, and auto mechanics also actively engage in a form of educational marketing.  They have to educate their customers and clients as they market and sell to them.  Done well, everyone is happy.  Done poorly, it becomes a distasteful experience especially for the customer and client.

Educational marketing is quite pervasive in many businesses even though business owners and managers do not necessarily use the term educational marketing.  They simply know they have to teach their potential customers and clients.

In this article, I focus on discussing educational marketing as it relates to consultants, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and other high-achieving business professionals.  Doctors, attorneys, accountants, small business owners, and entrepreneurs all fall into the group of people I focused on and work with.

These are people who often represent the human face of businesses they own or work for.  How they perform as individuals is a direct reflection of their business.  The individual-company relationship cannot easily be separated with the business.

Fundamentally, there are four basic ways potential customers and clients learn during the educational marketing process.  They can read, listen, see, or do.  They can read text information such as books, brochures, newspapers, ads, and other media.  They can listen to a live or recorded audio program such as a speech, training, or presentation.  They can see (watch) a video (such as instructional tapes, videos, and DVDs) or a live demonstration through a class, workshop, or seminar.  Or they can practice on or work with the product itself such as product and software trial periods.

I believe powerful educational marketing tools include published books, audio programs, and videos.  They are powerful because they are also the same tools used in credibility marketing.  In fact, successful educational marketing efforts result in a dual benefit.  Good educational marketing also translates to good credibility marketing. (You can read more about Credibility Marketing in another article I wrote.)

Even in a seemingly irrelevant business such as leasing single-family homes, we have had great success with ongoing educational marketing efforts using our website. Everyday, we “teach” our applicants through our website using text information and videos and our dedicated telephone information hotline through pre-recorded audios.  We expend relatively little information on a personal level but we “teach” our potential customers 24-hours a day, 7-days a week.

We actively use publishing principles in the real estate side of our business.  We don’t publish books per se for our potential customers but we do publish information on our web pages.  We don’t publish formal audio programs for our potential customers but we do create audio recordings on our dedicated telephone information hotline.

However, if I were to actually sell our homes for commissions as real estate brokers do, I would not hesitate to write and publish a book and audio program on the subject.  They are great business calling cards, symbols of my expertise and credibility, and they would teach my potential clients what they need to know to buy, negotiate, inspect, and finance a home.

I am an advocate of using published products as part of any educational marketing strategy. Even if books don’t get read, they command the highest respect out of all the media available including newspaper ads, brochures, radio, CDs, videos, and TV.  This stems from the academic and scholarly symbolism we attach to books to this day.

An author is often bestowed by the public with expert status on the subject they have written and published on. I often say, writing and publishing a book is like getting a GED for the college degree. Depending on the subject and quality of your book, it may be like you getting a Bachelor’s, Master’s or even a PhD degree.  The difference is that it takes far less time, money, and effort to write a book than to earn an academic degree. Becoming an author is a worthwhile investment for any high-achieving business professional, entrepreneur, consultant, and CEO.

Publishing a book or an audio program are excellent ways to engage in educational marketing.  In addition to being great business symbols and calling cards, they help teach and spread your message. They empower your potential customers and clients with your expertise, knowledge, and wisdom.

In closing, I am a huge advocate of Educational Marketing.  Large or small business, you will have to educate your customers and clients about your business, product, and service before you can sell them.  Educational marketing should be part of your overall marketing strategy.

Despite what you might have heard, credibility marketing is about marketing your brand, company, mission, and yourself. Credibility marketing is not about directly promoting your products and services.  And it is certainly not about the hard and quick sell.  Credibility marketing is about investing and reinvesting in your company brand, message, and mission.

Credibility marketing is about developing and enhancing your presence, stature, authenticity, and respectability so that when you (or your company) has something to say, potential customers and clients will not only listen, they will believe you with minimal skepticism.

Often, this is about sharing information about your mission and what values you stand for.  You are also measured by the authenticity (believability/honesty) of the message you convey and portray.  Authenticity can sometimes be hard to determine but listeners look to their gut to determine if someone is authentic.  However, it is true that good acting can deceive others into thinking that you are authentic when you are not.

Closely aligned with authenticity is congruency.  You will also be measured by your congruency.  Congruency is the measure and appearance of how you (and your company) behave, act, and respond as it relates to your public message.  Are you company actions and responses always consistent with your company’s mission, brand, and messaging?  If not, how often are you inconsistent?  If your congruency factor is low (less than 70%), your company may be perceived as inconsistent or, even worse, hypocritical.  The polar opposite of congruency is hypocrisy.  Many have a high distaste for hypocrisy.  It is the fastest away to kill credibility marketing efforts.

I believe a powerful way of enhancing and building credibility is the willingness to acknowledge imperfect aspects of yourself and your company.  A willingness to express humility, self-deprecation, and imperfections can greatly enhance your credibility. It humanizes your company in the face of other marketing campaigns that say they are “perfect, flawless, the best, the greatest, etc.”

I am not subscribing to openly sharing your critical weaknesses and Achilles Heel so that competitors and others can take advantage of you but showing that you have an ongoing philosophy to self-improve can be an asset to building credibility.

Another powerful way of building your credibility is through education.  Educating others is about sharing expertise, knowledge, wisdom, and empowering others with valuable information so they can make an informed decision even if that decision means not buying your company product or services.  Short-term, you may lose a sale but in the long-term, you will create goodwill and be remembered favorably for the next buying opportunity.

People who educate place themselves as an authority and expert figure when they teach, train, and instruct others. As a teacher, trainer, instructor, and expert figure, your credibility is almost automatically enhanced.  People are listening and learning from you.  They are opening their minds to you.  They are more receptive to you.

One reason I am a huge proponent of publishing books and audio programs is that authors are often considered experts and teachers in what they write and speak about.  Of course, that is not true in every case and every person.  But in the professional and business world, authors are still much fewer in number than college graduates.  In fact, for most “average” people, their chances of personally knowing someone who is an author (even an unknown one) is much lower than they knowing someone who is a college graduate.

Becoming an author is one of the best ways to build, enhance, and even jump-start your credibility.  Holding a book you authored and published in your hands is a powerful symbol that shows your expertise in a subject matter or field.

As I often say, writing and publishing a book is like getting a GED for the college degree.  Depending on the subject and quality of your book, it may be like you getting a Bachelor’s, Master’s or even a PhD degree.  The difference is that it takes far less time, money, and effort to write a book than to earn an academic degree. Becoming an author is a worthwhile investment for any high-achieving business professional, entrepreneur, consultant, and CEO.

In closing, I am a huge advocate of Credibility Marketing.  Large or small business, if you don’t have credibility, people will not believe what you have to say or sell.

In a recent participation of a LinkedIn discussion forum, I ran across a pretty audacious posting that immediately raised my suspicions.  If it had only been posted once, I probably would have disregarded but it was posted 3 times in a forum where there were quite a few inexperienced people interested in publishing.  Her bio and book description screamed of red flags.   Her bio read like this:

===

Ari is on a mission. She is traveling around the country empowering people with jobs and peace of mind.

Ari created 30 eBiznesses that will create millions of jobs, raise confidence and save millions of street children.  All of Ari’s books are the stuff that dreams are made of; her books create jobs, quick income and profound peace of mind.

For the last decade, Ari C. Hinnant has reached millions of people through her 30 books, radio network, speaking engagements, workshops, column, social networks and articles. Ari is a guest host on (Rumor Mill News Radio) that has over 1.2 million listeners and 17 million monthly visitors.

Ari is donating twenty five percent of every book to empower homeless street children.  Yes, there are literally 150 million plus children (Age 1 month to 18 years old) living on our global streets. Tonight while you are in your comfortable bed with a kitchen full of food, there are millions of children hungry, alone, exploited, sleeping in drainage ditches, under ground in abandon railroad shafts and buildings. No adults, no food, no safety, no love and no future.

Ari will be speaking everywhere!  All events benefit street children and women around the world. All events will supports the following organizations: Global Angels, City of Joy Foundation, Oprah’s Angel Network and Habitat for Humanity in empowering homeless women and street children.

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Her book description reads like this:

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The Author’s Guide to Selling 100,000 Books in 12 Months
(GUARANTEED OR MONEY BACK!)
E-Book by Ari C. Hinnant

Twenty five percent of ‘The Author’s Guide to Selling 100,000′ books profits will be donated to empowering homeless street children.

Ari’s newest book, The Author’s Guide to Selling 100,000 Books in 12 months’ will ignite all writers to release their formidable powers to create a masterful product and effortlessly sell over 100,000 copies in 12 months.

You may think 100,000 books is allot of books, but, Ari has sold and donated over a million books.  Jack Canfield has sold 144 million books and he was told he wouldn’t make it as a writer. My goal is to make your path of a writer effortless, profitable and fun.

===

This is one of the posts minus all the “accomplishments” that was listed prior. Will sell 2 million books from someone I couldn’t find on Amazon.com or barely find on Google search?

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Sell 100,000 Books | Free gift to the amazing community

Namaste,

I’m a successful author. I expect to sell 2 million books next year. I would love to gift this amazing community with one of my best selling books.

The Author’s Guide to Selling 100,000 Books in 12 Months
http://changeyourlife.org/authors.guide.free.download.htm

My intention is not to spam this group, just to help other authors and speakers.

LOL, ari

====

Bottom line, I did a quick Internet background check and website review.  This is what I found on changeyourlife.org and Ari Hillant.

I suspect Ari Hinnant of making questionable business claims and not who she says she is. I have done some checking out of sheer curiosity and audacity of the claims.

There is no solid realistic photo for this Ari whether you look at Ari’s Twitter or Facebook account. A Google search reveals no particular history for Ari Hinnant except that she is a 46-year old woman living in Louisville, KY. Anyone with such an extensive list of accomplishments and philanthropy would have some kind of Internet listings, records, and media news coverage.

For an author who has written 30 books and sold 1 million books but isn’t listed on Amazon.com or BN.com is very suspicious to me.

The twitter account has entirely spam-like messages with hard-to-believe claims.

And everywhere you go to pay on the changeyourlife.org website, it is either a Western Union cash payment, a suspended AlertPay’s Alertrax account (big red flag!), or some other obscure alternative payment company. Where is her merchant account as most reputable vendors use? Or even Paypal? Or Google Payments?  The Amazon payments I see is a very new service so we will see how long she keeps that service.

Curiously, nearly all testimonials are from gmail addresses or “free” email accounts. Not one testimonial email address comes from a paid domain?

And on the contact information, where is a mailing address? No street address or even a P.O. Box for such a successful person?

The whois record for changeyourlife.org is listed to a Bella Lenta at 860 Global Gate in Roswell, GA with an email address of coolzenist@gmail.com. However, Fulton County GA Property Records shows it is owned by Victor Stevenson. According to movoto.com, the house has been listed for sale since 2/3/2009. Can it be Victor who is stupid enough to pull this scam off? Or is he simply a victim where his street address is being used?

The IP addresses of her recent email to me and blog comments by HappyCarole indicate she is based in Louisville, Kentucky.  It is consistent with what I found in peoplefinders.com.

A Google search on “Bella Lenta” reveals no information of any real meaning so I am guessing it is also a fictitious name.

I don’t buy it. Lots of red flags in this very simple background check anyone can do on Google. I do not believe there is an Ari Hinnant that has written 30 books, sold 1 million of them, and is a philanthropist, coach, and author. Although I am not 100% certain, it smells like a fake and scam to me. And I have screen shots on my computer to back up this report even if the website gets taken down or “corrected”.

Let the buyer beware.

===

On the night of September 23 at 12:07am, I received an email allegedly from Ari that said this:

Would you like to chat?  So, you can see I’m real.  Would like to see my 130 personal pictures of me and my family on Facebook?  I wonder why people take the time to spread hate and lies?

I will call you tomorrow.

Blessings,  ari

The email header which that email came from says this.

Return-Path: <SRS0=pYjU1Y=FO=changeyourlife.org=ari@yourhostingaccount.com>
Received: from psmtp.com (exprod7mx231.postini.com [64.18.2.184])
by new.ascendbeyond.com (8.13.1/8.13.1) with SMTP id n8N47MGr009962
for <matt2@ascendbeyond.com>; Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:07:23 -0400
Received: from source ([65.254.254.73]) by exprod7mx231.postini.com ([64.18.6.14]) with SMTP;
Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:07:23 EST
Received: from mailscan08.yourhostingaccount.com ([10.1.15.8] helo=mailscan08.yourhostingaccount.com)
by mailout05.yourhostingaccount.com with esmtp (Exim)
id 1MqJ8T-0006VH-TA
for matt2@ascendbeyond.com; Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:07:21 -0400
Received: from impout02.yourhostingaccount.com ([10.1.55.2] helo=impout02.yourhostingaccount.com)
by mailscan08.yourhostingaccount.com with esmtp (Exim)
id 1MqJ8T-0005R2-N9
for matt2@ascendbeyond.com; Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:07:21 -0400
Received: from authsmtp06.yourhostingaccount.com ([10.1.18.6])
by impout02.yourhostingaccount.com with NO UCE
id k47M1c00207rVmq0000000; Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:07:21 -0400
X-EN-OrigOutIP: 10.1.18.6
X-EN-IMPSID: k47M1c00207rVmq0000000
Received: from 74-128-166-84.dhcp.insightbb.com ([74.128.166.84] helo=hptestPC)
by authsmtp06.yourhostingaccount.com with esmtpa (Exim)
id 1MqJ8T-0002Z2-9m
for matt2@ascendbeyond.com; Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:07:21 -0400
Message-ID: <A68C2C6F15A740BD88D17FAE168D4DFD@hptestPC>
From: “ari” <ari@changeyourlife.org>
To: <matt2@ascendbeyond.com>
Subject: Hi Matt
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:07:02 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary=”—-=_NextPart_000_001F_01CA3C46.5C4E40D0″
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Windows Mail 6.0.6000.16480
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.0.6000.16669
X-EN-UserInfo: 6645f217cc3689b91bbe6894aae1add7:44f492f8fc0bfc25a88f45ac2ce9676d
X-EN-AuthUser: ari@changeyourlife.org
Sender: “ari” <ari@changeyourlife.org>
X-EN-OrigIP: 74.128.166.84
X-EN-OrigHost: 74-128-166-84.dhcp.insightbb.com
X-pstn-neptune: 0/0/0.00/0
X-pstn-levels:     (S:30.41648/99.90000 CV:99.9000 FC:95.5390 LC:95.5390 R:95.9108 P:95.9108 M:97.0282 C:98.6951 )
X-pstn-settings: 1 (0.1500:0.1500) cv gt3 gt2 gt1 p
X-pstn-addresses: from <ari@changeyourlife.org> [db-null]
Received-SPF: neutral (new.ascendbeyond.com: 64.18.2.184 is neither permitted nor denied by domain of SRS0=pYjU1Y=FO=changeyourlife.org=ari@yourhostingaccount.com) receiver=new.ascendbeyond.com; client-ip=64.18.2.184; helo=psmtp.com; envelope-from=SRS0=pYjU1Y=FO=changeyourlife.org=ari@yourhostingaccount.com; x-software=spfmilter 0.97 http://www.acme.com/software/spfmilter/ with libspf2-1.0.0;

Although certainly not a crime or even a red flag in itself, what I find interesting is that she is using a free email program Windows Mail 6.0.  For such a “successful” person, one would think she would use something else.

===

At 12:13am, I received a comment from HappyCarole:

Author : HappyCarole (IP: 74.128.166.84 , 74-128-166-84.dhcp.insightbb.com) E-mail : happy.carole32@gmail.com

Whois  : http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=74.128.166.84

Comment:

Sorry Matt…  I have known Ari for five years.  She is real and doing amazing work.  Her whole family is on facebook.  I have read two of her books and have taken one class and she changed my life.

Her goal is to help homeless children around the world… what have you done to make the world better?

I feel sorry for people like you.

Happy | happy.carole32@gmail.com

If you look at the original email header from Ari and compare it to the comment sent by HappyCarole, you will find that all the messages come from the same IP Address at the same ISP, Insight Communications Co.  If there wasn’t proof before, I have now received more evidence that there is something fishy.  Both Ari’s email and HappyCarole’s comments come from the same IP address 74.128.166.84?  Very fishy indeed.

OrgName: INSIGHT COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY, L.P.
OrgID: INSIG-7
Address: 10200 Linn Station Road
Address: Suite 125
City: Louisville
StateProv: KY
PostalCode: 40223
Country: US

ReferralServer: rwhois://rwhois.insightns.com:4321/

NetRange: 74.128.0.0 – 74.143.255.255
CIDR: 74.128.0.0/12
NetName: INSIGHT-COMMUNCATIONS-CORP
NetHandle: NET-74-128-0-0-1
Parent: NET-74-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Allocation
NameServer: NS0.INSIGHTNS.COM
NameServer: NS1.INSIGHTNS.COM
Comment:
RegDate: 2006-04-07
Updated: 2006-05-17

===

At 12:13am, I received another comment from HappyCarole:

Author : HappyCarole (IP: 74.128.166.84 , 74-128-166-84.dhcp.insightbb.com) E-mail : happy.carole32@gmail.com

Whois  : http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=74.128.166.84

Comment:

One last thought.  How can Ari be a scam artist if she provides a 100% money back guarantee on all her books?  I think Matt is jealous…. how many books has he written? How many children has he helped?

So so sad…

Please note the same IP address.

Also note that all 3 messages occurred at 12:07am, 12:13am, 12:19am.  What is the likelihood that there are actually 2 different people posting 3 messages from the same IP addresses withing 6 minutes of each other?

===

Because of the recent discovery of the ISP and IP address Ari is using, according to peoplefinders.com I will admit that Ari C. Hinnant does appear to exist but seems to be based in Louisville, Kentucky.

Also note the writing style of this person and compare it to my writing style.  Would you say there is a bit of a contrast in style and sentence structure?  I don’t even consider myself a professional writer!  For such an allegedly successful author, Ari and HappyCarole have very similar writing styles.