Corey Rudl
“Be the change in the world that you wish to see.”
The impressive, talented and inspiring internet marketing entrepreneur Corey Rudl passed away 2nd June 2005 in a car accident in California.
At only 34 years Corey had already achieved business success that comes with vision and tenacity and it is difficult to comprehend how such vitality could be gone.
His business, the Internet Marketing Centre, is now his legacy and is continuing to operate under the guidance of Derek Gehl. Corey’s discipline of building solid business systems is coming to the fore, enabling the business to run smoothly.
I learnt of Corey’s passing through my monthly Affiliate letter which came with my cheque, a testament to the smooth running efficiency of business systems. So to share information with you I’m collecting details here and a link to the best site.
Corey Rudl and the Internet Marketing Centre is part of the inspiration behind my business newsletter sea change articles – freely sharing how-to information just has his Internet Marketing courses do with practical examples of sales copy and text.
I’ve explored the net for info about what happened and here’s a link to the most informative and caring site: Remember Corey.
To help understand Corey, his life and passing here is a letter from Corey’s dad to Ken who created Remember Corey
Hello Ken,
This is John Rudl, Corey’s father. I meant to write this sooner but this has been a trying time for my wife and I. Thank you for setting up this site (Remember Corey) in honor of Corey. Losing a child is a parent’s worst nightmare. It is comforting to my wife and I to see the depth of how many lives Corey has affected. Thank you to all those people who have taken the time to post their tributes.
If you did not know Corey personally, then you probably only saw the sales side of him. Corey had an incredible ability to love. He loved life and he lived it with a positive passion. He absolutely adored his wife, he loved doing business, he loved cars, and he loved his family. His life coach told me at his Memorial, “I never met anyone who had such an ability to not hold a grudge.” There are so many things I could tell you about Corey that made us proud to have him as a son, but the one thing that impressed us the most was that he never let success go to his head. He was still the same man of integrity and personality as he was before his success. He never bragged to anyone, even to us. We had to pull everything out of him when we would get together.
I read a couple of comments on the Internet, something to the effect that he was only an amateur driver on a racetrack, so possibly it was to be expected. Let me assure you he was an outstanding driver who raced against professionals and Won. He also won first-place overall in the 2002 Vancouver Molson Indy sports car event. Unfortunately, he was not driving when this accident occurred, and if he were, I believe this tragedy wouldn’t have happened. The newspapers did not tell the whole story. The local sports car club had rented the racetrack for the day for their car owners to run laps, not race. In other words, they would put a few cars on the track at a time and they would practice driving skills by running against the clock. Corey had taken a drive with a fellow driver to see how the Porsche handled, as his car was malfunctioning. They were coming down the straightaway at high speed when another car that was mis-qued came out of the pits right in front of them and they had to swerve violently in order to miss that car. That’s what caused the loss of control of the Porsche. They skidded across a grass strip and hit a concrete barrier at high speed and Corey was killed instantly as the car hit the concrete barrier on the passenger-side.
Corey was also an astute businessmen in many ways. One of the many things he was doing the last year was grooming his executive staff to take over in his absence, as Corey had other projects he was considering doing. He was trying to “un-brand” his name from the company by setting up policies and procedures that would always keep the “Internet Marketing Center” on the very leading edge of Internet marketing whether he was there or not.. In particular, the present CEO, Derek Gehl was the new face of the company. It is ironic he was killed only one month after that process was completed. We are so sad he did not get a chance to enjoy his success longer and particular, his next major project. It was to tour the country speaking with troubled teenagers and coaching them how to make a success of their lives.
What people don’t know was that Corey was a very high energy, negative thinking rebellious teenager who almost drove us crazy with worry. As luck would have it a combination of an excellent schoolteacher, his motocross successes and our steadying influence, turned his negative energy into a positive force that has propelled him through the years until his death. He told us on this last Mother’s Day that one of the things he wanted to do was to give back to society by writing a book called, “Parents,There Is Hope For Your Teenager Yet” and tour high schools encouraging them on how to turn negative energies into positive results. All free of charge, of course.
It is disheartening for us that this dream did not come true in his lifetime, however, my wife and I are looking for some way to continue that dream for him. One of the things we are thinking about is that if we could get enough stories from people that Corey has helped turn their negative thoughts into positive results for them, we could put them together into a book. So if any of you out there have a compelling story, we would greatly appreciate your contribution. You can e-mail me at john@rudl-intl.com .
Again, thank you all very much for your wonderful comments about Corey. It goes a long way in helping us heal through our grieving process.
Here is a letter from Derek Gehl, the IMC CEO to Ken who created Remember Corey.
Hey Everyone,
I wanted to post and say thank you on behalf of Corey’s entire family, his parents, his wife Tracy and our entire team at the Internet Marketing Center. There are so many wonderful posts that touched the hearts of everyone.
Not only was Corey my colleague and my mentor, Corey was also one of my best friends. He was one of the most talented and gifted marketers in the world and opened doors for countless people to achieve their dreams. Not only did he give people the tools they needed to be successful on the Internet, he inspired them to take action… he inspired them to take a chance and strive for those dreams.
I will miss Corey every day… I have spent the last 8 years of my life working with him side-by-side and after reading the hundreds of posts and emails in the last few days, I realize how truly lucky and blessed I am to have been given the privilege to have this great man as my personal mentor. To have his trust in me to run his business… to have his trust that I would make the same decisions in business and marketing that he, Corey Rudl, the guru himself would make.
If there is one thing we can all do as Internet Marketers that I know would make Corey happier than anything, it is to take this time and try something new with your online business! This week, test something new! Test a new strategy and keep testing and trying until you see results! Change a headline… try a new autoresponder… rewrite a sales letter… test a new affiliate promotion… just try something! In business, this is truly what Corey lived for.
He loved marketing and he loved the Internet… he loved the boundless opportunities to try new things and never limit his immense creativity.
When speaking with Corey’s father this morning we were discussing Corey’s “Pet Peeves” and something Corey had said time and time again was that the most frustrating thing in his life – the thing that drove him crazy every single day – was the fact that so many people would buy his products but they would never use them to their full capability… they would never take action and apply them.
He was truly a man who wanted people to succeed and he was a man who would never settle for mediocrity… so seeing people with a dream who would not take action to achieve that dream would drive him crazy.
So with that said, in honor of Corey let’s all test something new on our site. Let’s try something different, something unique and then …share our results. I know in my heart this would make Corey smile.
For many years to come Corey’s company, The Internet Marketing Center, will continue to follow Corey’s core principles and produce the cutting edge Internet marketing tools and strategies that we have all benefited and will continue to benefit from.
As I said to all of our staff at IMC today: “Corey has spent the last couple of years working to build a machine that could sustain itself… and the machine was finally completed”. It pains me to know that Corey will not be here to see this machine grow but I know he would want us to make it happen… and I do suspect that he will be watching to make sure we get it right.
With all of this said, thank you to everyone for your kind words and let’s honor Corey and take action this week. That would make him smile wherever he may be.
All the best…
Derek Gehl
Chief Operations Office and Corey’s Biggest Fan
The Internet Marketing Center
For more details and comments visit Remember Corey. I’m only inclining these two comments so you can get a full and accurate picture of Corey and the events leading up to his passing as it seems the newspaper reports aren’t clear enough. Ken’s site is the best place to find out the details.
So let’s follow Derek’s request and do something for our businesses and ourselves. Make the initiative to test another strategy, educate ourselves, take the next step! Live life to its full.
Find Out More About the Internet Marketing Centre and Its Goodies
The Internet Marketing Centre – provides excellent info and tools for building an internet arm to your business or to set up an internet business from scratch.
I highly recommend the The Internet Marketing Centre as I’ve been using their “The Inside Secrets to Marketing Your Business On The Internet” and it is great. I highly recommend it. I’ve really benefited from it.
It is all about marketing tips, strategies, and secrets for Internet marketing, online advertising and web site promotion.
In my research over the last five years this is the only one that covers all aspects of internet marketing and actually has real life examples that you can freely use as well as clearly explained concepts with easy to implement examples. So check out The Internet Marketing Centre today.
Click here to check out the Sea Change articles.
For all the details and caring respect for a man, his family and business visit Remember Corey.
Rest in Peace Corey Rudl. You made the world a better place. Thank You.