You can’t keep a good liberal down!

Recently, I invested in a large package of Press Releases from PRWeb. Why did I do this? Actually there are several reasons…

1) From an SEO standpoint, I like the backlinks that I get from the thousands of sites my release finds itself on.

2) From a traffic standpoint, because I write the release in an article fashion, I get a ton of visitors from people who read my article/release.

3) I make a PDF version of the article on the sites that it ends up running on like Forbes, AOL, Yahoo Finance! and I hand that out to clients and prospective clients. (This is a great positioning strategy by the way)

It didn’t really surprise me that PRWeb didn’t care for my release. I mean I did come out of the gates with both barrels blazing.

See, here’s what I did. I thought to myself, who is my idea client?

. . . Small Business Owners.

What do small business owners care about?

. . . Taxes.

Who do small business owners not want to win the election?

. . . Obama.

So, put it all together and I wrote a release on Obama and Taxes.

IT WAS REJECTED!

First they told me that they didn’t like my headline.

I get it. It’s a great headline. Of course they won’t like it. They want my stuff to look like the crap everyone else sends out.

Here was my headline:

An Open Letter To Obama, “Stop Trying To Help. Your Help Is Crushing Us!”

Sending out an “open letter to Obama” with “Stop trying to help. Your help is crushing us.” is like cat nip to small business owners.

That headline will drag them in by the thousands…

Then, I went into the meat of the release…

I mentioned just a couple of the tax increases that Obama is campaigning for that are going to seriously hurt small business owners.

PRWeb came back and said that I needed to give citations for where I got my numbers…

No a problem. I gave them links to an article on Fox News site that listed the increases…

The response from them?

They said they DON”T ACCEPT FOX NEWS AS CREDIBLE!

It’s back to the drawing board for me!

Here’s the original release:

An Open Letter To Obama, “Stop Trying To Help. Your Help Is Crushing Us!”

Pete Mitchell, author and creator of Immediate Results Advertising, begs President Obama to stop instigating policy that is crushing small businesses in America.

(October 3rd, 2012) A core stumping point to President Obama’s re-election bid is the hike in taxes paid by small business owners. Many, if not most, small businesses pay taxes using the individual tax rate. Currently, Obama is pushing for the income tax rate to rise from 35%, which it is at now, to 39.6% in 2012. IRS data shows that a majority of all small business profits face taxation at this new higher level.  This will in turn mean a higher cost of goods and services for the consumer.

“When small business owners get a raise in their tax bill, they simply pass that onto the consumer by raising the price of their products and services” stated Pete Mitchell, dubbed the Chief Marketing Mercenary at Big Guns Marketing, LLC. “It just isn’t reasonable to think that business owners that have taken all the financial risks for their small business are going to also take a cut in pay. They simply pass that onto the consumer.”

In addition, small business owners currently endure a self-employment tax of 2.9%. Obama has raised that via ObamaCare by 30% in 2013 to 3.8%. What is most astounding in this massive tax increase it that the President is trying to help middle America. However Mitchell argues, “It’s a fair statement to say that Obama has no idea what it’s like outside his Ivory tower. In the real world, Small Businesses don’t get anything handed to them on a silver platter. We work for a living.”

Whenever taxes are raised on businesses, consumers suffer. Money that would have been spent to grow the business, such as on lead generation strategies, must now be siphoned off to pay the government. The common mistake made by business owners facing these increases in monetary drainage is that they cut back on their marketing and advertising. Cutting the very thing that brings in new business is what eventually causes businesses to go out of business. When that happens, the government no longer get’s the increase in revenue, but they also lose revenue.

To combat this fatal move and help promote lead generation strategies, Big Guns Marketing is putting on a complementary webinar to help struggling business owners and independent sales professionals discover ways to generate new leads for their business to combat the tax hikes.
 
Big Guns Marketing promotes avoiding the scam webinar that is designed to sell an overpriced lead generation system that does little more than separate the business from their working capital. The new webinar will launch at http://UltimateLeadMachine.com and help those looking to grow their business in spite of the impending tax increases.

For more information on lead generation strategies from Pete Mitchell and Big Guns Marketing, visit http://UltimateLeadMachine.com

When they attacked us on September 11th, I was a financial advisor. Had several appointments that day at peoples’ homes. My modus operandi — showering, and finishing my first appointment’s presentation and paperwork — was rolling along.

Hadn’t turned the TV on. No radio. I was working. One of my buddies, Chris Roth, called me. I’d been mentoring him since he got in the business so it wasn’t unusual to get a call from him.

But this call was different.

“Pretty crazy huh? The Twin Towers are gone.”

“What are you talking about?!”

“Those planes flew into the Twin Towers and now they’re gone.”

I had no idea what he was talking about. I assumed he was exaggerating and maybe the buildings were on fire. But gone? I didn’t believe it.

To my horror, Chris was right.

We live in an ugly, evil world. As Americans, we’re sometimes trapped in a bubble with no real understanding of what is going on outside our borders. We don’t understand it. We don’t want to understand it.

That September day, my generation — which hadn’t personally known a long, drawn-out war — was going to change. We find ourselves, 11 years after the fact, still fighting. Still at war. And unfortunately all too many of us have fallen back into that comfy bubble, barely acknowledging the goings-on outside our borders.

I also remember the day we got bin Laden.

I was at the Dan Kennedy Marketing Superconference. It’d just ended, and a bunch of us were sitting at the hotel bar. I was facing the TV that was on the other side of the room. One of the cable news stations was on. Then I saw it scroll across the screen. We finally got Osama.

I was ecstatic. This was my generation’s equivalent to getting Hitler.

Who will be the next bin Laden is anybody’s guess. But there will be one. There always is. I thank God for the men willing to stand in the gap and fight for us.

If you haven’t done so, pick up a copy of No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden by Mark Owen. It’s a great read. I couldn’t put it down.

Yesterday I was surfing the net, working on something (right now I can’t even remember what it was) when I saw an article come across my toolbar that the SEC just closed down another Ponzi Scheme – this time, to the tune of $600 million dollars.

When I clicked on the link to read the article, my jaw dropped when I saw it was for Zeek Rewards (ZeekRewards.com, Rex Venture Group).

I was in shock.

Just two days before a very good friend of mine had set up a conference call between me, her and her upline so that I could hear all about this incredible opportunity.

Interestingly enough, it was on my conference line so I have a recording of the entire call. I think I’ll go back and re-listen to the call in light of the new information.

For 50 minutes, this guy and I went back and forth on the legitimacy of this company.

I come from a unique background when it comes to evaluating companies. First, I’ve been in the financial planning industry for over 12 years. I own and operate an investment advisory firm (by the way, I’m not giving investment advice here!).

Also, as a marketing consultant, I’m brought in to look at companies to see how to improve their sales.

For those that don’t know, Zeek was supposedly a Penny Auction site powered by network marketing.

If you aren’t aware, here’s how Penny auctions work-

The company puts up a high value item like an iPad for auction. Retail price of $799. They start the auction at $0.00. Bids are done in 1 cent increments. After each bid, the clock counts down from 20 seconds. Every new bid restarts the clock. When the counters hits zero, the last bidder wins the item.

Sounds great right? Wrong.

I did a penny auction one time and discovered what a scam it is. You see, in order to place the bid, it costs you money. With Zeek, I was told it costs an average of $0.65 a bid.

So get this, the $800 iPad sells for $384. That means the company made, are you ready for this, $25,344!!!! (minus the cost of the iPad which they don’t even order until someone wins)

How do they make all that moeny? First, $384 that was collected from the winning bidder. Second, 38,400 bids at $0.65 each = $24,960.

What a rip-off!

On this conference call, to recruit me, I was told that penny auctions were legal and akin to gambling. Since gambling is legal, penny auctions were the next gambling thing.

The problem with that statement is that gambling isn’t legal in most of the country. The US government has gone after internet gambling companies that have customers in the US. (But that’s a story for another post) The fact is that the government doesn’t care if the one’s running a gambling site don’t live in the US or operate their company from within the US, they still go after them and put them in US jails.

For whatever reason, I accepted the false premise that gambling was legal in the USA – maybe it’s because I live so close to the Las Vegas strip.

My argument was that I’ve personally seen the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) walk in and close down a company. I’ve been there when this has happened. I’ve seen the government bury good men and women in a lawsuit that can’t even hope to win.

If there’s one thing I learned from watching others go through this, it’s don’t play in the gray. Ever.

My argument was that I thought the FTC would close down Penny Auctions sites. I still feel that will happen at some point. Maybe Zeeks involvement with that industry will cause that to happen that much sooner.

Now here’s the interesting thing, I was so focused on the FTC side of things (mainly because I deal with FTC issues more than SEC issues) that I totally ignored the obviously fraudulent actions of the core company.

I totally missed that the core company was a Ponzi Scheme. (Though if I’d spent anymore time thinking about it, I’m sure I would have arrived at that conclusion).

I knew from a timeshare company that I consulted with that talking about selling something that also happens to produce an income is considered a unregistered security and the SEC will be all over you for that if you aren’t properly licensed and don’t handle those transactions correctly.

That should have been a HUGE red light to me because that is what Zeek was doing.

With Zeek, you could invest $10 to $10,000 and start getting an income in 90 days. Your money would grow at 1%-2% a day! All you had to do was go to sites like craigslist and put up ads that drove people to the auction site to bid on products.

Now, Zeek’s representative that was talking to me was saying things like, “we aren’t a bank so we can’t call it compounding…”. The SEC, FTC and every other regulatory body doesn’t care at all what YOU call it.

If it walks like a duck, quack’s like a duck, OR the g-man wants to call it a duck – it’s a duck.

Losing money always sucks. Especially when you lose it like this. The only thing that you can ever really be sure about is something that you built. Your own company. Your own deal.

Despite the line that every MLM uses that you are “in business for yourself, not by yourself”, it just isn’t true. You don’t own the company. You have no control over a single thing. You are at the whim of those that do own and run the company.

So, what’s the marketing lesson in all of this? Ya know, since this is a marketing site…

Don’t let others control your future. Learn everything you can’t about real marketing and apply it to your own business.

If you are wondering, no, I didn’t buy into Zeek and had no plans to do so.

More than any other type of mail I send, I send “lumpy” mail. Mail that has a unique property to it as to get it opened and read. Bank bags mailed with address and stamp on the outside and message on the inside; pill bottles with message inside and stamps on the outside; giant plastic balls with message written on the back and stamp and recipient written on the front… All cost more than a postcard. All make me more than a postcard. (I live by the creed that I never skimp on advertising. Never.)

While searching out another great marketing piece to swipe and add to my own collection, I came across a mail piece with a horrible message, but a great idea.

To promote Sweden’s Zombie Film Festival, a mail piece was sent out with holes drilled through the envelope and fold out poster. When opened the poster has a picture of a zombie with the headline “Don’t Panic. Aim For The Head.” (There were no holes in the head.)

If you received an envelope with holes through it, you are going to open it and see what it is all about. That isn’t the type of mail piece you are going to throw away without opening

The fatal flaw with this mail piece is that there is no call to action. There is no urgency to go online or call and purchase tickets to the festival. The mail piece succeeds in getting opened, but does not finish the task which is to bring in a profit. (Also, there is no way for this mail piece to be tracked to see if it was profitable.)

It is a great concept that I plan to swipe and use in other industries. An example is to take the idea of a mail piece with holes through it and write a message that points out your current retirement plan has holes through it and is leaking. Time to plug the holes with ________ (fill in the blank: an annuity, a mutual fund from xyz, a financial plan from abc, etc.) My client that sells plans for do-it-yourself boat builders could use this concept showing that plans other than theirs can have holes (implying that you will then also have holes in your boat.) Way cool!

Point is, direct mail can be a powerful tool—when it is used correctly!

They were salesman selling some of the most obscure advertising I’d heard of.

I received these calls because my financial planning business (which doesn’t take on new clients) is still a powerhouse agency in the city of Long Beach.

The first guy called and wanted me to buy advertising on a bench at the golf course that my office is adjacent to. In his pitch, he went on to describe to me how they had surveyed the members and asked them what type of business they would use if they could get them to advertise on the bench, and the answer was “insurance.”

And to think I spent all those years advertising my insurance services the hard way. All I needed was to buy a plaque on a bench so people could plant their behinds on my logo… If only I had known… (that’s extreme sarcasm for those that don’t know me well enough)

He was quite convincing. Funny thing is, his office is located 2 states away. All his company does is sell advertising space for golf courses. So how did he know what type of services the members of the golf course would like to use? He didn’t. He said what an insurance agent wants to hear, “I’ve got people that want what you do!”

I told him I wasn’t remotely interested in buying ad space where people plant their asses during a round of golf.

The thing of it is, people who play golf on this particular course would be ideal candidates for my insurance services. But advertising on a bench on a golf course is the wrong marketing channel to be using. Advertising is about entering the conversation that is already going on in the mind of the customer. When people are playing a round of golf, they aren’t interested in picking up a phone and calling an insurance agent. That’s not the conversation going on in their head.

The next call I got was from a gal at Vons. She was selling advertising space, again to insurance agents, on the little rubber spacer that you use to separate your order from the people in front and behind you in the checkout line.

Apparently, they just redesigned the rubber spacer to make it bigger. I asked her what it cost and her reply was “$250 a month.” Then she went into her close. Her close was to set me up on an appointment with the local VP of Marketing who was only in the area for a couple of days. My reply was, “No thanks. I can’t think of a bigger waste of money.”

The response back was worth everything! “Well this isn’t Direct Response!”

“It obvious isn’t direct response which is why it’s a waste of money.”

She then went on to explain that having my advertising alongside a web campaign, where people would be surfing the internet, come across me and say to themselves, “That’s the guy on the checkout counter at Vons. I should use him.”

If you have followed me for any length of time, you know that that is absurd!

I assured her that, for the most part, insurance agents are as dumb as rocks and she should have no problem finding one agent with money he wants to throw away. I’m just not that guy.

She thanked me and that was that.

I then headed to the local grocery store to pick up a movie rental from the RedBox machine. There in front of me was an advertisement on the shopping cart from an insurance agent. His slogan, “Working Hard… Working Smart… For You!”

Like I said, dumb as rocks.

It’s not enough to hear me tell people the value of being in a vibrant group of entrepreneurs, sometimes it takes the voice of others to get that point across.

Here’s a quick video from a fellow traveler that you should check out:

If you are in the Southern California area you should check out the Marketing DNA Summit happening next week.

Sign up by Saturday the 25th or miss out on this awesome session!

Attention Orange County Entrepreneurs and Business Owners…

“You Too Can Dominate Your Competition In Just 3 Hours Using These Amazing Marketing Secrets”

Our next meeting is being held at:

Tuesday February 28, 2012 From 6:30pm to 9:30pm

Register early before all the seats are taken.

Only 32 seats left!

Dear Fellow Entrepreneur,

. California has been called “The Land of the Small Business” – there are over 3,320,977 small businesses in California before you even count those that are self employed. Yet the average small business produces less than $39,000 a year for the owner. And unfortunately, that isn’t enough to live on in our neck of the woods.

. By contrast, the really successful earn well over $100,000 per year. And earnings of $250,000 per year and even more are not uncommon.

. In case you haven’t guessed it, it’s the marketing skills that set apart the successful.

. You undoubtedly have the expertise in your field but unless you are able to effectively market yourself, you will never achieve the income you deserve.

Your competition Does NOT Want You To Know About This!

. Finally there is a resource for the Entrepreneur like you to discover the marketing and advertising secrets used by the most successful small business and sales professionals from inside and outside your profession.

. As a leader in your industry, you are invited to be at the Orange County Glazer-Kennedy Insider Circle Marketing Summit.

. At this summit you will discover:

• Easy to implement ways to generate leads with no hard selling, no tricks, no fluff – absolutely guaranteed…
• How to magnetically attract clients with your website…
• Where your customers are and how to get them…
• What everybody ought to know about advertising effectively so you don’t throw money down the drain…
• How to take all of your competitors clients away from them…
• How to prepare both ongoing advertisements in magazines, newspapers and direct mail, as well as online advertisements that will bring “hungry” clients direct to you…
• How to create your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) that will open the floodgates of sales…
• How to DOUBLE the effectiveness of your ads and sales letters with the proper use of the telephone…
• How to run ads without any risk on your part whatsoever…

. My name is Pete Mitchell and I’ll be hosting this event. If you are not familiar with me directly (though you’ve probably seen my work in print or radio and didn’t even know it), I’m known as America’s most recognized authority on Immediate Response Advertising™. In my seminars, private clients and books, I have helped over 10,237 small business owners and sales professionals improve their practice.

. This marketing summit brings you the best strategies you need to gain new clients and reactivate old clients. And you will discover how to generate a never ending stream of cash into your business.

This summit shows how to:

• Position yourself to take advantage of the most lucrative markets…
• How to navigate all the new technology to find out what really works to bring in money…
• Implement an Emergency Cash Infusion Plan™…
• Write sharp advertisements that will get you the client…
• And much, much more!

. The Orange County Glazer-Kennedy Insider Circle Marketing Summit is being held February 28th (Tuesday) at the Ayres Hotel in Costa Mesa (325 Bristol St, Costa Mesa, CA 92626). It starts promptly at 6:30pm and will end at 9:30pm.

. The seating is limited to 40 people and there are only 27 of the spots left. Here is what you need to do next to reserve your seat – go register right here:

or by calling 800-551-4376

. The investment for the night is regularly $47, but because we are moving to this new location, it is only $25 when your reservation is made online or via the phone. If our lines are busy when you call, keep calling back. You don’t want to miss out. If your competition goes and you don’t, don’t act surprised when they start taking all your business.

This Event Is Guaranteed

. How can an event be guaranteed you ask? Let me tell you. By the end of the night you will have your hair blown back, toes curled up and mind completely awed with these easy, fast, simple, secret and lucrative ways to increase profits. If not, at the end of the night come to me or one of my staff and I insist that you let me give you all your money back on the spot – no questions asked!

. Hurry up and register right here:

Warmly,

Pete “Big Guns” Mitchell

PS. Tickets will not be sold at the door and once the remaining spots are filled, no one else will be admitted.

.

Right now, I’m sitting in my movie theater room enjoying a Sam Adams Cherry Wheat – or as I like to call it, a little drink of heaven…

December was a great month for me. Not in terms of new clients, but because of the continuing education courses that I choose to invest in and go through. I had several conversations with one of the guys in my Mastermind Group that lead to a couple of powerful “ah ha” moments – for both of us.

The crowning moment was when I was watching an interview with Sylvester Stallone on the making of Rocky (interview is posted on the end of this blog post).

Often times we see celebrities and people of note and we forget that they were once just everyday people. At one time, Sylvester was a no name, less than B level actor. There was a time when no one knew who the guy was…

He moved to Los Angeles to try his hand at this acting thing.  At the time he wrote Rocky, he was so broke that he had just over $100 to his name.

He had to sell his dog because he couldn’t afford to feed the poor little pooch.

His apartment was so small that he could sit on his bed and open the window and close his door – at the same time!

He was in an audition, and as he was leaving, he stopped and mentioned to the producers that he was also a writer. He told them about the idea he had for Rocky and they told him to bring it by when he had it finished.

So Sly went home and wrote the script in 3 and a half days.

After they read it, they loved it. They offered him $30,000 for the script, but there was a caveat – he couldn’t be the lead role of Rocky.

With no money, a real crappy place to live, about ready to sell his dog – he turned them down.

Keep in mind, this is 1975 when 30k meant something…

They upped the figure… Again he said no…

They upped it more… Again – NO…

It finally reached $330,000 that they would give him if he wouldn’t be the lead role and that really caused him to stop and ponder the offer.

What would you have done in that situation?

Sly, thought to himself, “If this movie becomes a hit and I’m not the star, I’m gonna jump off a building or walk in front of a bus. I have to be the lead role!”

And so the producers gave in, paid peanuts for the script and took Sly as the lead role.

The rest, as they say, is history…

There are many lessons that can be taken from this story – none of which is based on the law of attraction. Sly didn’t think his way into the role of the century, he took massive action to make it possible! He even wrote the script just for him!

That is what massive, directed action can get you.

I hope you are like me and have decided to take massive action and make 2012 your bitch!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

The first thing you have to remember is that a News Release is a “news” item. It needs to “inform” people, NOT sell them something. For example, you are reading this article because you want to learn something that will BENEFIT YOU. You aren’t reading it just so you can buy something else. Your main goals should be in developing customers and clients that see you as the logical expert in your field. Of course, you want to do this while still making money.

People don’t care what mountains you had to climb, what seas you had to cross or what tribe of people you had to learn the ways of just to find a secret formula. Instead — they want to know WHAT the secret formula is.

Get the idea?

The sales circulars you print and mail sell your product. A News Release informs others about your product. Instead of your main objective being to sell the product and have the customer send in an order immediately, a News Release informs the customer exactly how your product will benefit their lives. This must be conveyed in the form of a “newsworthy” News Release. If you have a sales circular to sell a product, you can easily turn it into a News Release without much difficulty. It’s just a new marketing angle of presenting your product to the public.

The following is an example of a typical News Release for publishing services:

So many people are entering the mail order market these days, but so many of them are getting ripped-off by a bunch of hype. People are promised untold riches in a short period of time. The hype ads play with their emotions by making them believe it’s so easy to make money through the mail. It’s sad.

However, a new book has just been released to help solve these problems for the average person. For the first time in history — a REAL directory has been compiled listing the ACTUAL name and addresses of 179 honest and trustworthy mail order folks. People can write DIRECTLY to these people and receive FREE information to get them started in their own business now!

It’s unbelievable. Without trying to sell you anything else, you can get this book for only $4.95 — a price anyone can afford. Meet the real mail order dealers who care about their products and wants to help you get started doing what they are doing.

Only available from Graphico Publishing, PO Box 488, Bluff City TN 37618.

As you can see, this is a short but sweet News Release — however, you should be able to see the “newsworthiness” in it. It’s main focus is on the fact that most people get ripped-off when they start their first mail order business. The solution to this problem is a new directory that is available for the first time in history. The sell is slowly led into because the reader will naturally want to get their hands on this one. It doesn’t ask for money — it only tells the reader how to get a copy if they want one.

Here’s a great test for a real news release. Since your final sales pitch is included in the last paragraph — read the News Release aloud. Would it still be worth reading WITHOUT your sales pitch? If so, it’s probably a News Release.

News Releases come in many forms due to the product you are writing about. However, the basic rule of thumb still applies. If you’ve never wrote one before — it may be a little difficult. Don’t despair. Grab the latest daily newspaper and read some of their informational articles. Notice how each article is written and pattern yours after the same format. After you do a few of them — you’ll be able to “get the picture.”

When your News Release is written to your satisfaction, the proper way to submit it to a publisher is:

• Be sure and type it on a typewriter or computer.
• Standard format is double-spaced and not longer than two 8 1/2×11 pages.
• Be sure and put your name, address and page number at the top of each   page.
• Write the words: “For Immediate Release.”  at the top.

If you are only sending the news release to one publication — tell them   it’s a “first run.”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve met with a client and they’ve told me that their product or service is for everyone and therefore they want to know how to reach the “everyone” market.

Rarely is it true that someone’s product or service is for everyone, but even if it is, pray that it isn’t. It is nearly impossible to finance the marketing to everyone.

I saw this postcard and immediately loved it. This storage company, which anyone with more stuff than space can use, has decided to niche their marketing. On this postcard, they are targeting contractors.

I really love the “Get a FREE 6-pack” with tour offer.  I kinda want to check out their facility just for that reason!

Love the offer. I just wish they had a sense of urgency tied to the offer such as “Move In Special for Contractors Available Through 12/15/2011″ or some such.

The real take away from this postcard is that they took a product that is for “everyone” niched down the offer to a segment of the population and targeted them. The next move for them is to take out the word “Contractors” and change it to another niche group and target that group. Dentists, Doctors, Mortgage Companies, etc.

How can you use this idea in your business? Tell us below.

John Brantuk from Glen-L Marine Design sent this email with article to me. It is a perfect example of a bank using “personality” to bring in the kind of clients they want and keep out those that would seek to rob them.

Chappell Hill is a small town between Houston and Brenham on Hwy 290.

Any would-be robbers planning to walk into the bank here had best think twice. There is a new sign in town. About a month ago, Chappell Hill Bank president Edward Smith looked at a sign on the front door prohibiting concealed weapons from his business and decided to make a policy change. Licensed to carry a handgun? Come on in, and bring your weapon.

The sign, now prominently displayed on the bank’s front door, says: “Lawful concealed carry permitted on these premises. Management recognizes the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as an inalienable right of all citizens. We therefore support and encourage the carrying of licensed concealed weapons.”

Smith said he made the policy change to send a warning to potential robbers, and also to express support for Americans right to bear arms. “We had the sign on the window, the red circle with the pistol inside and a line through. I started thinking. We’ve got this no gun sign up and a robber can come in and do what he wants. But if you’ve got a policy allowing handguns, he won’t know how many people are going to be in here carrying a concealed weapon. There may be some little old lady who’s mad at the government, and she’d love to use it” he said.

The bank has been robbed twice in the last three years, including last March when a Western-attired man walked in, ordered bank employees to fill a canvas bag with money and then fled in a pickup truck. The man, who did not brandish a weapon, has not been caught.

The sign has made Chappell Hill Bank and Smith somewhat of an Internet sensation. A photo of the sign has made its way around the world, and Smith has even been interviewed for the National Rifle Association’s radio network www.nranews.com/#/nranews. He’s also been contacted by other media outlets wanting to do stories. “It’s kind of gotten a life of its own” he said. Expressions of support have far outnumbered criticism. Smith has been contacted by officials from larger banks considering taking similar action, and has received e-mails in support from across the United States and even from England, Canada, and Germany.

“I haven’t gotten any from Chicago or California, which doesn’t surprise me”, Smith said with a laugh. “We did get a real nice email from an 88-year-old World War II veteran who said it’s about time somebody stood up in this country.” The NRA has even invited him to speak at an upcoming convention, but Smith said, “I’m still deciding on that.” Smith said he’s only received one negative e-mail, from an anonymous sender.

The policy change has also brought Chappell Hill Bank a handful of new customers and comments from people outside Washington County that they’d bank there if they lived here, said Smith. “I tell them that we’re a full-service bank and we’re on the Internet. They can bank online,” he said.