How To “Reverse Engineer” Network Marketing Success…
Hey, did you see the movie Paycheck? It’s not exactly a blockbuster movie but It really inspired me to make some of my biggest marketing breakthroughs.
Here’s the gist of it without spoilers, because I don’t want to ruin your awesome Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman experience…
Basically, Bennie-Boy gets paid large lumps of money to analyze his clients competitors, break apart their products, and design new products that outperform them.
Like 3D TV’s And Other Whizbang Gadgets…
The only problem is that after he designs a new product they completely wipe his memory. So he wakes up the next day with amnesia, a machine that can predict the future, and a few million bucks!
The added bonus, is that he doesn’t remember doing the work in the first place. (Hey, wouldn’t that be handy for some jobs?)
Anyway, I thought that was pretty cool and you can do the same thing too without the time machine… and maybe someday… you’ll wake up with a few million bucks or at least a couple grand…
I’m not making any promises so don’t go banging on my door asking for your money – or I’ll send my uncle Toni after you! Anyway…
It’s Called “Reverse Engineering”
Reverse Engineering is basically taking anything apart in order to see how it works so that you can duplicate the same results without stealing the actual parts of the original.
Not to be confused with copyright infringement which is using anybody else’s protected intellectual property for your own personal gain without their personal and legal permission.
So while it’s not illegal for you to look at how people do things, it would be illegal for you to use that knowledge to compete with them or outright duplicate their products.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from people by watching how they do things.
Remember, we talked about this yesterday… 
But I’ll Give You An Example From My Own Personal Experience…
Last night, I was looking for a way to embed videos on websites. It’s easy to do if you’re posting free videos, but you can’t exactly load a product you’re selling onto Youtube! Unless you’re a doorknob.
So I was looking for an easy and secure way to do this…
I was stumped, till I noticed a video e-mail in my inbox, I watched the video, then looked for links to the software that embedded that video on this marketer’s website.
Found them. It brought me to a site that sells commercial video hosting at a low monthly rate. The perfect solution to my video hosting problem.
If they had an affiliate link, they would have made some money, because I wouldn’t have been able to do that on my own…
So next time you’re stumped with a problem….
Next time you feel challenged…
Challenge Yourself To “Reverse Engineer” A Solution…
Almost every problem you’ll come across online these days has been solved in a hundred different ways.
And if your problem hasn’t been solved yet…
Actually that’s great news!
You have a golden opportunity to make some money solving it yourself!
How Do You Think Bill Gates Got Rich?
How do you think the real money is made?
Solving people’s problems…
That is what you’re trying to do with your opportunity, right?
See you soon,
Jason The “Better Networker”
The Jason Better Blog
P.S. Facebook Share - If you enjoyed this article then feel free to share it with your friends on Facebook by clicking the blue “Facebook Share” button on the top of this post. Much appreciated. 
40 Comments
Jason on February 18th, 2010
Thank you Josh,
Hey, looks like you’re the first to comment again… you sly guy you…
[Reply]
Shaun Judy on February 18th, 2010
Hey Jason,
No only if I was able to take my sponsor apart with out damaging him…=)
This post actually got me thinking about picking him apart and putting him back together so I can see how he truly works.
Thanks for the awesome post!
[Reply]
February 18th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
As long as you put him back together!
Haha
[Reply]
February 18th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
I will try my best to put things back the way I find them…LOL
[Reply]
Mitchell Dillman on February 18th, 2010
Howdy Jason,
What ‘cha workin’ on, huh?
Sounds like some top secret videos you’ve put together…
When will these be released..? and what solution have you found? Or should I be asking, what problems have you solved?
Now that you’ve got my curiosity up, Jason, I can’t help remembering what killed the cat…I’ll be patient.
I’ve been reverse engineering stuff ever since I was a mini-me out in my Dad’s workshop with his tools and an old radio. One day I decided to take that radio apart just so I could see what made it work…Never did get that thing put back together…Oh, well.
Thanks for passing on this tip…
Maybe the Fed can reverse engineer the economy to see how they can fix this mess…On second thought, seems kinda like that’s what they’ve been doing and we all know what happened back during the 1930′2.
Let me ponder this some more…We’ll get back to ya 
Mitchell Dillman
[Reply]
February 18th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Micthell,
You know me, always working on secret
projects… I would tell you… but then…
Well you know…
People would have to disappear.
[Reply]
Michael Cole on February 18th, 2010
Hi Jason,
I had a somewhat similar with the opt in form on my blog.
The form wouldn’t fit in my widget sidebar. I played with the code until I found the part that controlled the width of the name and email fields.
The same with the border color and background color in my themes editor. I looked until I found the proper color numbers. I wanted it to look like it belonged there.
I may not be able to write code, but I can tweak it a little when neccessary.
Michael
[Reply]
February 18th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
I do the same with code…
Used to be quite handy with HTML, CSS,
and so on, but now I need to reference everybody
else to get it done.
[Reply]
Ilka Flood on February 18th, 2010
Hi Jason,
Taking things apart and putting them back togehter, huh? Gosh am I familiar with that. I have 3 boys who used to do that. Not always with success … I mean the putting together part
I ‘reverse engineer’ (love that term) at times. It’s neat to find out how people do certain things. However, that doesn’t mean that I’m always successful in doing it myself, haha.
[Reply]
February 18th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Ilka,
I hope they aren’t like me.
I once took a remote control truck apart and then
hid the parts in my pillow case…
Boys will be boys.
[Reply]
February 18th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Hahaha, that’s too funny! Where you really thinking your mom wouldn’t find out. Give us some credit
[Reply]
February 18th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
I don’t know what I was thinking…
But it didn’t work.
Wayne Vassell on February 18th, 2010
Ahhhh, “Reverse Engineering”… Yeah, that is a good point, can we also use the word “spying” or does that sound cheeky!? (ha)
Well, the way I see it is, most of the early MLM training philosophies have always said to find a successful mentor and copy what they did to be successful.
Online is no different, apart from the fact that we all know not to literally copy, but we can learn from what works and “reverse engineer” to our benefit.
The best thing is if you can reverse engineer it, and then improve on it!
Another nice post J.
Wayne Vassell, signing out…
[Reply]
February 18th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Wayne,
You spying on me?
Haha. Yeah, I guess you could use that
word, but it sounds sneaky… while “reverse engineering”
sounds like you need a degree to do it.
[Reply]
Derek Fobert on February 18th, 2010
Hi, Jason.
I like how your mind can come up with new, fresh, interesting and valuable topics to write about everyday. I would like to duplicate what you do… I would like to pick apart your mind and rebuild it to my advantage. Oh, you will not remember a thing, my friend.
Oh, and say hi to Uncle Toni for me!!!
[Reply]
February 18th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
Derek,
I wish I knew how my brain worked too,
then maybe I could “reverse engineer” the successful
posts here and get 94 retweets every day like that
Twitter Ninja post here. lol
[Reply]
Matthew Pedler on February 18th, 2010
Cool a movie i can watch and call it working!! i like this I use to “right click – view source” and try to break down how code worked… not the fastest way looking back. There is a good website www(dot)w3schools(dot)com where they have all things html, and a practise program where you can mess around with code and see how it will look(all free)…i might be getting off topic here though…
Great article like aways mate,
Matt
[Reply]
February 18th, 2010 at 3:23 pm
Hey Matthew,
That’s a cool resource for anybody who’s interested
in HTML. I think even these days, it’s a handy skill to have.
[Reply]
Derek Alvarez on February 18th, 2010
Love this post, Jason!
I’m a reverse-engineering expert. 2 things are required to consider yourself an expert in this field:
1) Keen observational skills
2) The ability to fail multiple times until you get it right
Happy Thursday!
– Derek
[Reply]
February 18th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
Derek,
I think I’m a master of #2
I mean, failing until I get it right!
Aren’t we all?
[Reply]
February 18th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Ha! You’re right, Jason…
I suppose I meant “The ability to STOMACH failing multiple times until you get it right.”
[Reply]
Mary Thayer on February 18th, 2010
Another insightful post!
Another way reverse engineering can come in handy is doing it with your goals. Working backward to figure out exactly what you need to do specifically to meet your goal. Like how many leads do you need to make a sale and how many sales do you need to meet your goal.
Happy end of the week!
[Reply]
Chris Owen on February 18th, 2010
Hey Jason,
Reverse engineering is my life. I build everything off of the shoulders of those who came before me.
Even though I make my designs and ideas look new and fresh, it would have taken much more time to do things from scratch.
Great advice.
[Reply]
Dee Light on February 18th, 2010
Right on Jason. Derek said what i was thinking, you know willing to fail. . . again and again and again. Usually for me I am following the “SIMPLE” instructions to doing something online—you know the ones that say just a few clicks of the button and Voila! you’ve got it done. Well for me it’s about 48 hrs later I finally got it right—-that’s if I’m lucky. But thats’ not what reverse engineering is—just what happened across my brain in this nm cloud I’m living in these days
Great post.
[Reply]
February 19th, 2010 at 8:54 am
Dee,
Hah, I know that feeling.
It took me forever to fix the comments.
[Reply]
Keith D Shrock on February 18th, 2010
I was a product engineer — for over 25 years. I know exactly how to backwards engineer products.
I have heard it’s a good idea to analyze a top competitor entire sales system. Copy & paste emails, websites, etc — through his whole sales funnel.
It would be un-ethical to use his exact copy etc –but you can find a pattern — and do something similar.
That’s what kept Mike Dillard up, late at night, learning copy-writing.
That’s where the 1st better Japanese cars came from.
[Reply]
February 19th, 2010 at 8:56 am
I think it’s the best way to learn…
Like you said without exactly copying… but
the underlying principles are the same.
Learn what works and do it again.
[Reply]
Jeff Peterson on February 18th, 2010
Spot on!
I have been in the tech support most of my working life and “Reverse Engineering” is how I fixed almost everything. Why bother reinventing the wheel?
Great post!
[Reply]
February 19th, 2010 at 8:56 am
Jeff,
But it’s so fun sitting there with a block
or rock and a chisel… Haha
[Reply]
Clarissa Winchester on February 18th, 2010
This was a great article, Jason!
I have done “reverse engineering” in a lot of things in my life – including in my business. I definitely am going to take a new look at some of the things I am doing (including emails, face-to-face interaction, advertising, and building relationships) and see if there is a better way to do them.
Thanks much! Keep the great info coming!!
[Reply]
Lynn Glaser on February 21st, 2010
Hi Jason,
Reverse Engineering, I like the concept! It’s all about getting down to the nuts and bolts of the thing and seeing how it really works. Take it apart play with it and put it all back together and see how it runs. Once you’ve done that you may even become an expert at it. You really can apply this to anything.
Cheers, Lynn
[Reply]
February 21st, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Hey Lynn,
Thank you.
I’m a big believer in learning from everybody
who comes my way.
[Reply]
Hey Jason,
That is cool ‘Reverse Engineer’! Didn’t know there was a name for it. That is how I manage to finish college using Reverse Engineer.
All I can say, I’m learning a lot by reading your stuff everyday. Don’t know if there is anything I can break apart to put together…
Awesome Post!
Josh
[Reply]