Lately I’ve been getting official looking e-mails that appear to be from banks. They have beautiful logos and extremely official looking forms. One supposedly from Washington Mutual Security begins, “WAMU is committed to maintaining a safe environment for its community of buyers and sellers. To protect security of your account, WAMU employs some of most advanced security systems in world and our anti-fraud teams regularly screen WAMU system for unusual activity.”

Note emphasis on safety and security. They even have an anti-fraud team! In order to “secure my account” I’m supposed to click on a link and supply information -- information which will lead them from my pretend account with them to my real account, which they will then kindly clean out for me.

•Anti-scam rule 2: Your bank does not need you to “confirm” your account number, your credit card numbers, or your social security number. It already has all information it needs. As for some official sounding bank you’ve never heard of -- sheesh!

•Anti-scam rule 3: Give your credit information online only when you have gone to a legitimate website and are in process of purchasing something from it. People who buy things from my website, http://foodandfiction.com/Entrance.html, a very legitimate site, as part of purchasing process are taken to a safe place online, so they can give their credit card information directly to credit card company with whom I have a legal contract. As owner of site, I NEVER SEE THE CREDIT CARD NUMBERS! All credit card company gives me is name and address of person to whom I should mail merchandise, what they ordered, and how much they paid. And that is way all legitimate online merchants deal with your credit card information. We say your information is safe, and it is.

I’ll be back with more fascinating attempts to separate you and me from our money.

Find the best recipe, food gift, and healthy dieting sites in Janette Blackwell’s Delightful Food Directory, http://delightfulfood.com/main.html -- or enjoy her country cooking at Food and Fiction, http://foodandfiction.com/Entrance.html

7. You want to build your valuable lifetime customer database fast and free.

You can do this in several ways, but there are a few easy methods that you should combine: free publicity, viral marketing, joint venture deals and advertising on a large scale. The key here is that as long as you break even or make a profit on first sale, you can basically build your database of loyal customers as large as you want instantly and for free. From there on it's all profits.

8. From here on you simply continue to build your relationship with your customer list by helping them solve their problems and achieve their goals.

Do this by recommending information, products and services that will help your customers. All you have to do is create joint ventures and reseller agreements with other business owners to make money in process - you split profits. This is your back-end strategy, and this is where you make REAL money.

9. Always, always over-deliver on your promises. Take extremely good care of your clients and subscribers.

Treat them like you would treat your best friend. Again, your main goal here is not just to "make money" but to actually HELP your clients. Never recommend a product to them that you wouldn't recommend to your best friend. Keep their interests in mind always and satisfy their needs and wants. Do this and you must succeed.

10. Continue with this process from here on and you'll make a fortune.

Keep selling your front-end product to add new lifetime customers to your list for free. Keep helping them reach their ultimate goals by recommending additional good, related products. You'll make a very nice living and enjoy life to fullest, all while doing what you love. And you'll make a lot of new friends in process.

That's it.

Do you realize how powerful this system really is? Follow it, and you cannot fail. Take your time to think about it. It may sound simple, but that's really all there is to it.

A lot of people try to complicate things too much, only to end up confused and frustrated. Don't let simplicity fool you - When you have all these steps in place, you MUST succeed.

Now, it does take work to set everything up. No business is easy to start. However, if you follow this plan you will have a great time in process. And rewards are MORE than worth it.

Remember my friend, hardest thing is always getting started. So do it now! You'll remember this day for a long, long time.

Think big.

A great future filled with freedom and a richer life lies ahead... Go for it!