Scottsdale | Scottsdale Sucks

That DC Ranch armed robbery

Two thoughts on the armed robbery at The Barkery at DC Ranch this week:

1. This is the third armed robbery in "affluent" north Scottsdale in a week. Phony $30k millionaires getting desperate to make those BMW lease payments and McMansion mortgage payments, eh?

2. There is a Scottsdale Police sub-station a whopping 500 feet from The Barkery. What the hell - were all the cops out sitting on corners with their money-making radar guns?

Just my two cents on it.

The truth about The Secret

I sent this out to my email list today, and posted it on my business blog, but I wanted to post it here as well because this is relevant information for anyone, and since the premiere of the sequel to 'The Secret' is taking place in Scottsdale, where 'The Secret' has an unusually large following, I wanted to get this message out (in fact, in the real estate office where my girlfriend worked, some of the agents watched 'The Secret' every day):

I own 'The Secret' DVD, and I think there's a lot of value in it. The process of focusing on the things you want in life goes all the way back to Napoleon Hill, and even earlier, in learning how to become successful. I used that exact same process to attract the successes I wanted into my life, and it worked.

How it works is a mystery. Napoleon Hill says you're activating your subconscious mind, 'The Secret' says you're sending a signal out into the universe ... I don't think anyone knows for sure, but like Dr. Hill said, "I don't have to know how it works. I just know that it works, and I use it."

However, 'The Secret' only gave half the picture. They left out a really important piece, and it's causing a lot of problems for a lot of people. Let me tell you a true story to explain what I mean:

Yesterday morning, one of my staff members, Ashley, had an extended conversation with a customer who called in to update her billing info (her 30-day trial billed and her card was declined and, being an honest person, she called to give us the new card number). Ashley thanked her, and mentioned that it's unusual for someone to be so honest and call us to pay before we needed to call them. Most non-paying customers need a collection letter or two to "motivate" them to pay.

Well, this customer started gushing about how glad she was to pay for the product. She said the $97 cost is an absolute joke compared to the value she received from it - she signed a six-figure contract with a major corporation only 10 days after receiving the program and applying the system, and signed another just a few weeks after that!

Ashley thanked her for her praise and told her she is the kind of customer we really appreciate - someone who actually puts the information into action, explaining that people who return the product under the 30-day trial seem to think that leads will magically appear on their desks the next morning (in other words, they need to go back to reading magic books instead of my book).

The customer went on to say, "I can see that. 'The Secret' has ruined everyone. Salespeople all now believe they can just sit back and wish for the things they want without having to do any work to get them."

She, on the other hand, applied the material and signed a six-figure contract (and got a fat commission check for it) only 10 days later. And then repeated the process. I'm sure she'll continue to do that over and over again.

This is what happens when you decide to get into ACTION and actually DO something to make your future happen for you, instead of sitting around, being lazy, only hoping and dreaming but not DOING.

Napoleon Hill addressed this issue as well, explaining that everyone has hopes and wishes, and that everyone dreams of becoming rich, but almost no one does anything about it.

I'm writing to you today because this idea that you can just wish for more sales is sabotaging the careers of far too many people. You CAN NOT believe that only by focusing on your goal and wishing or "attracting" it that you're going to get it.

Yes, you have to do that, but you also need to DO THE WORK to make it happen.

Believe me, if I just sat back thinking about and "attracting" best-selling author status and a life of luxury and freedom, but didn't put in the work and the effort to make it happen, I'd still be working at a job.

I see it every day in emails, in blogs, in forums, and from the customers who return my products because a big stack of leads didn't magically appear on their desks the next day.

Or because they read my system and see that they actually have to DO something to make it work, and choose laziness over doing (yes, amazingly, most of them actually complain that they have to do something). They choose the status quo and choose to go on being dissatisfied in life because they won't put in a few measly hours of effort, mistakenly believing that simply wishing for more sales will make them appear.

Whatever you do, DO NOT fall into this trap!!!!!

Like I said, 'The Secret' is valuable and it's worth having and worth watching. So is 'Think and Grow Rich' and all of the other success material that stresses the importance of focusing your mind on the things you want.

But as 'Think and Grow Rich' also says, as I'm saying right now, you must also DO and WORK if you want to have any hope at all of getting those things. Yes, you must work smart, but you still have to work, like it or not.

Whether you're on my newsletter list as a salesperson seeking more sales, or as an internet marketer studying my methods, or as an aspiring author or speaker who wants to know how I did it, always remember that thinking about, focusing on, and "attracting" your goals simply isn't enough. You must stay in CONSTANT ACTION to make things happen in the real world!!

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now. I think you've gotten the point.

Remember to stay in action, always, and feel free to pass this message along to friends and colleagues. Far too many people are falling into the trap, choosing to get lazy, and need to hear this before it really takes a toll on their lives and they get wiped out financially.

Don't be one of those people. Get into ACTION and stay there!!

More Scottsdale armed robberies........

Thanks to ky for the report on the armed robbery in a PET SHOP in Scottsdale.

Last week it was a SMOOTHIE SHOP.

Damn, the $30k millionaires are really getting desperate!!!

For amusement, google "Scottsdale robbery" and just look at the endless search results that come up. Insane.

EDIT - I got the details on this and the armed robbery took place not in any pet shop, but in the pet shop at DC Ranch ... DC RANCH!!!! Well, no surprise, that was always the very epitome of Scottsdale fakeness and now that the mortgage-broke residents are desperate, this is their "solution."

Open thread while I'm away

I'm going to be gone for a few days, then I've got some other travel, speaking engagements, and several other projects on my plate so I'm crossing this site off my schedule for a while.

Feel free to chat on this open thread while I'm gone.

Since this site is a public service intended to warn normal people with character and integrity about Scottsdale, America's Snake Pit, be sure to do a good job for me in my absence!

PS: Interesting numbers today - HUD's current numbers show an almost identical inventory of HUD-held homes (read: ghetto section 8 properties) in CA and AZ ... even though CA's population is 6 times that of AZ and has two big cities with plenty of ghettoes! Explain that one....

The end nears for Scottsdale

Alt-A mortgage defaults climbing sky-high

Contrary to popular belief, most Scottsdale mortgages are not subprime. Subprime mortgages are for people with bad credit. In Scottsdale, credit is everything. It's the Holy Grail. Scottsdale people strive to have good credit so they can continue getting more BMW leases, open more and more credit cards, get loans from the furniture store, and so on.

Alt-A loans, however, do constitute the vast majority of Scottsdale mortgages (these are the low-doc, no-doc loans where you don’t have to prove your income, etc). And guess what - now that the subprime debacle has taken place, Alt-A is next ... Alt-A delinquencies are as high as 17% and climbing.

Goodbye, Scottsdale phonies. You should have "bought" houses you can afford.

Classic Scottsdale D-Bag

Thanks Brandon for this gem:

Scottsdale D-Bag BMW for sale

Read the description at the bottom, especially this bit:

This car has gotten me laid so much it is ridiculous. I would like pull up to a pimp club in Scottsdale and the valet would crap his pants, but I wouldn't let him park it. I just leave it up front and make sure all the ladies saw me get out. I'm also totally ripped so that helps too. I inject myself with pure bull shark testosterone and lift 4 hours a day. My diet also consists of 24 egg whites a day. I've got a killer 6 pack and some delts that you would not believe. I only hook up with 9s and 10s. Never less because I'm a winner! I'm not saying this car will do the same for you but it's a start. If you're interested in taking the first step to becoming a true Jedi Pimp email me at [email protected]. I'll probably be working out so I'll get back to you as soon as I finish my protein shake (and probably hooking up with a hot chick).

Only in Scottsdale does a used M3 with aftermarket ghetto trim get you laid, if he's telling the truth at all. Even by Scottsdale standards it's not that impressive. Valet guys "crap their pants?" Uh-huh. Here - or in most other real affluent cities - that car would get him laughed out of the valet line.

Oh yeah, and I haven't seen a truly hot chick in Scottsdale since about 2002 so I'd like to know his definition of "hot."

Just another example of why Scottsdale is the laughing stock of America.

EDIT - The ad was deleted a few hours after my post. I guess too many readers of this blog probably heckled the guy :)

More armed robberies in "affluent" north Scottsdale

Funny how all the violent crime has shifted from north to south in recent months - $30k millionaires getting desperate?

Police searched Wednesday for a man who flashed a gun and demanded money at a Scottsdale smoothie shop, officials said.

The robber made off with an undisclosed amount of cash Scottsdale police said, after he approached a cashier and lifted his shirt to reveal a handgun tucked in his pants about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Booster Juices, 20553 N. Hayden Road.

Police described the man as in his 20's, white, clean-cut, about 6 feet tall with a skinny build, wearing a white shirt, black hat, and sun glasses.

He fled eastbound on Thompson Peak Parkway in a newer model gold Nissan Altima police said.

There was no surveillance footage taken of the robbery, police said.

Why is Scottsdale so drunk?

Okay, I can understand it now that all the phonies are losing their cars, houses, and bank accounts - I'd be wasted every night too if I were in that position - but even during the peak of the housing boom, the "good times," it seemed like all of Scottsdale was drunk every night.

Why?

Was it the stress of living a lie - convincing the floozies from the bar that you're rich after they are no longer fooled by the pre-owned leased BMW? Is is the constant stress of dealing with bill collectors and running from the repo man? (Which, by the way, is something I saw in my north Scottsdale neighborhood almost daily way back in 2001, before the boom & bust.)

Is it knowing that you've sold out yours and your children's future by signing an impossible, risky mortgage that you know you can't pay in a few years?

Why was Scottsdale a city of drunkards even at the height of the "good times," fake as they may have been?

Quote of the Day

Thanks John -

"Will the last one to leave Scottsdale please turn out the lights?"

Reader Comment of the Day

I agree TOTALLY!! My husband and I moved to Scottsdale 8/8/2007 from Knoxville, TN. He works in the golf industry, so I don't have to defend myself there. We have both HATED it since we got here!!! HA We are planning on moving in the next few months due to FAKE, LAME, INSECURE people. Back in ol TN you are taught to say: Please, Thank you, Excuse ME......but here those words don't seem to exist. Get some manners people!!!! And I can't stand people saying "Where are you from?" Alright I DO have an accent, and I'm NOT from TEXAS!!! People here can't seem to grasp that Texas isn't the only Southern State!!! Oh yea, one more thing.........Scottsdale people CANNOT DRIVE!!!!!!!! Come to the south and we'll teach you how to really drive.