Truth Be Told… (part 1)
I just Googled my own name. As usual, all I could find was blog after blog claiming that I am a scam artist, bankrupt, a bad person, a baby seal clubber, and the Devil incarnate.
To be honest with you, I’ve known this stuff has been out there for quite some time, but I’ve been “unable” to do anything about it… until now. I’ll go into more detail a little later.
It definitely makes it fun to explain myself when I meet new people and they Google me, especially when discussing potential business deals. After all, what would make someone feel warm and fuzzy about doing business with me more than dozens of reports of me being a shady internet marketer?
So I’d like to address the rumors, and explain what’s really been going on. Because nobody else is gonna do it for me.
Well, where should I start? Let’s go with the basics first.
1.) I am not a cartoon character. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I am a real person.
2.) I am not a 40 year old, tanned Italian guy with a six-pack. Sorry ladies.
3.) I do not drive a yellow Lamborghini. While I’ve had my share of 6 figure cars, I currently only own one car – a Range Rover. It makes it easier to haul my 2 children around (when I don’t have them locked in the cellar). Yes, I’m a single dad.
4.) I do not have a harem of young ladies in my life. Instead of filandering around the Playboy Mansion all day and night, I prefer to have monogamous, long term relationships. I know, I know….BORRRING.
5.) I became a millionaire (on paper) at age 24, and have done quite nicely ever since. But I definitely don’t have enough money to buy anything I want. I do not own a jet, a boat, dozens of homes, or a submarine.
For most of the past 2 years, I was living in a $3.5 million dollar mansion in Bel Air, CA. I had $500k worth of cars in the garage. And I can tell you, I honestly thought they would make me very happy. It turns out, they didn’t. I felt very UNHAPPY, and attracted a slew of new “friends” who were more than happy to hang around as long as I was paying for everything.
Sufficed to say, a couple of months ago I sold the cars, ditched the house, cut-off the friends, and moved back into my San Diego house. It’s about half as nice as the Bel Air house, and I’m much more comfortable. I wake up every morning knowing I’m exactly where I want to be. Who woulda thunk?
6.) Contrary to popular belief, I do not enjoy ridiculing people, per se. However, I do enjoy making fun of stereotypes. For example, I’ve written dozens of emails that people may have found degrading to women, homosexuals, the autistic, african americans, etc. And yes, those emails still make me laugh. And that was my intention – to entertain. Much like Chris Rock would. I hope I succeeded in that.
I have many friends who fit the exact characteristics I’ve made fun of. I like to poke fun, and sometimes I take it to the extreme. I have been known to laugh at someone else’s expense – like when someone in a Youtube video gets hit in the head by a wiffle ball bat or something. In the right context, I think that’s funny. Sorry.
7.) I don’t party Rich Jerk style. I’ve been to my fair share of shindigs and had some really good times. However, I don’t stand on tables, order 10 bottles, or “make it rain”.
8.) I work – a LOT. I’m not on vacation all day, every day. I did take about a year off not long ago. I got extremely bored and it was unfulfilling.
I enjoy finding new marketing tactics, and testing them out. I like pay-per-click, SEO, getting backlinks, discovering new niches, and constantly checking my rankings and stats.
I’m not really in pursuit of the 4 hour work week right now. Maybe the 15-20 hour work week? I currently work about 40-50 hours per week. In 2006-2007 I worked around 90-100 hours a week and got burned out.
In other words, you can make a ton of money online, but it will likely take a lot more work than you think. Because you may become addicted to it.
Another thing I think it’s important to remember is that you’re always just one person, one deal, one email, or one website away from changing your life. But instead of swinging for for the fences, why not just go for basehits every day, and before you know it you WILL hit a homerun or at least score a LOT of runs in the process.
9.) I don’t come up with “big ideas” very often. Instead, I learn small tidbits of interesting info pretty much every day by reading forums and blogs. Even from people I don’t necessarily like. I don’t copy exactly what they do, because that’s what everyone else does. I prefer to take their insight and tweak it in some interesting way that no one else has thought of. You just have to be able to sift through the BS, and avoid getting sucked into a marketing funnel, unless of course you want to be sucked in so you can study what they’re doing exactly. I highly recommend reverse engineering anything you think is interesting and potentially profitable, and hopefully that has a low barrier to entry.
10.) I’ve burned bridges with a lot of “top” marketers. I tend to tell people what I really think about them. And it got me a bit of a bad reputation amongst the whole IM guru crowd.
In the end it kind of ended up helping me, because a lot of those guys like to talk to each other all day long, go to seminars, do webcasts, podcasts, teleseminars, and just generally celebrate how wonderful they think they are.
And they never call me for anything, which leaves me lots of time to work, play video games, watch a movie, grab a bite, head to the beach, or do absolutely nothing. 
————————————————————————————————
Well, that rounds out the top 10 basic things I want people to know about the real me for now.
Next time, I’ll be getting into the super secret stuff I’m not supposed to tell anyone about.
And immediately after that, I’m going to lay out a perfectly simple, step by step plan that you can copy to achieve lots of top 10 rankings in good ole’ google. I’m still amazed at how easy it is.
The videos and case-studies are near completion.
Take care,
Kelly
Posted: November 17th, 2009 under rich jerk.
Tags: kelly felix, rich jerk
Comments
Comment from Alan
November 18, 2009 at 12:47 am
Kelly, I found this post very interesting. Keep on keepin’ it real.
Comment from Jason Rowe
November 18, 2009 at 5:00 am
Hey Kelly,
Man is it interested to hear from the real person behind the website, very interesting post…
I’m very excited about you sharing the top 10 rankings method. Will this be a product or just a blog post? Super psyched either way!!
PS: Keep blogging dude, this is turning into one of my daily blog reads…
Comment from sean dap
November 18, 2009 at 6:20 am
i came across your blog through twitter but came across the RJ site many many years ago. it’s good to see you come out and share truths about your life. naturally people will hate on you to get attention, just a matter of life. either way i just wanted to drop a comment and let you know this was a sincere 10 things about yourself and i enjoyed the read. peace!
Comment from Emor
November 18, 2009 at 6:36 am
Honestly, I’ve been struggling to get top 10 google rankings for over 8 months now! I know, it sounds pathetic but I just cannot get it right. I’ve got 3k backlinks, great onpage SEO, everything but it just won’t work. If you can please show me how to improve my sites rankings that would be awesome. I am a long time customer of The Rich Jerk and that’s where I got into the SEO game about 2 or so years back. So yeah any help or advice would be much appreciated Kelly.
Comment from Clint
November 20, 2009 at 2:19 am
Nice Kelly Ive always admired your marketing and I would love to hear the story of how the Rich Jerk started and how you got the idea from it! Liking this blog man keep it up bro!
Comment from Anna Gardners
November 21, 2009 at 2:12 am
Mr. Felix post part two already, I can’t take it anymore, I want to hear more loll!!
Comment from Junjet Trasmonte
November 21, 2009 at 10:19 am
hi kelly,
i’m kinda new to this community, and i think i’m getting more and more into blogging lately. this is a very interesting blog. i’m always curious about how online marketing can change someone’s life.
looking forward for future posts.
thanks,
junjet
Comment from Rob ‘the Genie’ Toth
November 24, 2009 at 7:33 am
Ha! Point #6 is great. ENTERTAINMENT!! It’s funny how hatred started building against a fictitional cartoon character, mostly from the wishful thinking crowd who keeps themselves busy forwarding “funny” YouTube videos of little kids getting smacked in the head by a wiffle ball or skits of a Chris Rock stand-up routine… but when a fake cartoon character, that reached a VERY well recognized brand status does it… well that’s just not right.
Bullshit! Every Random Joe can write a tame, dry, polished email … the world is full of these guys. Entertain me… more importantly, entertain your subscribers and readers. Give them a reason to want to tune in for more.
The entire “news” networks are built on this… stories of terror, followed by cute stories of a puppy that got its paw stuck in a peanut butter jar (or some nonsense). Dry doesn’t cut it!
Anyways… I’m glad you took the SMART rode and provided the “make money” niche with some controversial entertainment and weaved in the education.
And as I mentioned on your facebook… big congrats on a smart branding and marketing strategy.
USER FEEDBACK: Your “comments” link is too hidden. A little more community involvement is always fun but I doubt everyone will try to find the Comment link. It’s there… but not entirely visible.
Rob Toth
RobTheGenieToth.com
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November 24, 2009 at 1:07 pm
[...] Kelly Felix was the original Rich Jerk and has an awesome blog. [...]
Comment from Tony Baxter
November 24, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Are you sure you aren’t an expert copywriter. I would only assume after reading this potential headline:
“I’m going to lay out a perfectly simple, step by step plan that you can copy to achieve lots of top 10 rankings in good ole’ google. I’m still amazed at how easy it is.”
And the prospect says I’LL TAKE IT! LOL – the blog has been bookmarked and I’ll be awaiting for that post hehe!
Comment from Lee Mein Sun
November 25, 2009 at 2:06 am
You have one hell of a creative mind my friend. Who you are and who that character is are two completely different people. Never knew anyy of dis stuff bout u. oh wait, you’re not a chartoon character? hehe!
Comment from Roy Kennedy
November 26, 2009 at 12:31 pm
What do you mean you became a millionaire on paper – like taking a company public?
Comment from Mystery
December 1, 2009 at 4:34 pm
You beat me and many others to this RJ abnoxious controversial but funny character…
Doing it after you will seem very lame and copycat like…
Good work Tuyen!
Comment from John Westbrook
January 16, 2010 at 7:56 pm
I remember when Rich Jerk first went live. I had just lost my job in Southern California and moved to Tennessee (don’t ask why). My wife and I had just begun our slow decent to what would soon be a divorce, no thanks to my obsession with making money online.
I had been involved in all sorts of things, all costing me money. Then I bought two ebooks that changed my life forever.
One was Google Cash. The other was The Rich Jerk (for $97). I LOVED your sales copy and immediately did my research to find out who the master mind was…which I found was Kelly Felix, a young guy about my age with an amazing story and truly genius.
Fast forward.
Now I have made thousands of dollars online, but stopped my IM business due to family trouble. I’m now divorced, a proud single dad, and have a “brick and morter” business as an Information Technology Specialist. But I still yearn for my life online, becoming a millionaire like I was on my way to do.
I am excited about the “Bring The Fresh” product and it sounds like the first really good product of the last 5 years…So Kelly, thank you.
You are the single most refreshing marketer online.
Sincerely,
John Westbrook
Comment from Jon
November 18, 2009 at 12:34 am
Yeah just like i thought, you’ll never own the lambo because you’re a loser. You were born a loser, and you’ll die a loser.
Seriously though, many people allow their envy and jealousy to turn bad instead of using it as motivation for themselves.
I was going to say who cares if 1000’s of people hate you after you’ve enjoyed great success but re-reading your post i can see it isn’t about the money.
Come to think of it, I’m sure i would be bothered by 1000’s of people hating on me when they have never met me before.