The problem with both of the above statements, is that while the second is a totally strange conclusion to come to and is totally incorrect, and the first statement is somewhat true to an extent, it still doesn't give you the whole story. Where do the best parts of your list come from? Leads? Nah, e-zine ads? Nope. Free subscription boxes? Nope again, it's your customers, the people who buy from you. Think about this, if you've made a sale before, where is that customer now? Are they on your list, or did you let them escape? These are the people that should land on your list before anyone else. The important ones that have bought from you before, and most likely will again if you don't discard them or forget about them in a hurry. So this is where the fun part comes in.
You'll notice that everything I talk about links into building the other four main resources along with it, and this is no exception or coincidence. How about making sales, and taking money for a subscription system or a website for the simple aim of building your resources, in this case, your list (although probably the other four along with it too).
Now here's something I see quite often from the top marketers, that you could most likely overlook if you haven't bought into these products or got involved before. Take this opportunity to think for a moment. If you could set up a product with the sole intent of building your resources, what would it be? At this point I'd expect replies associated with giving free stuff away, tell-a-friend scripts, and some sort of mass ebook library give away like we see all too often nowadays. Boring!