Here’s an interesting offer I got from Streetwise the other day (well, it was actually the second mailing – they must be testing as it was a different sales pack to the first).
It’s called the Information Entrepreneurs Circle and is offered by somebody calling himself “Michael Milligan” although I am pretty sure I known who is really behind it – a very big info publisher who “retired” a few years ago.
This opportunity is one which the market has been calling out for for a long time.
Once a month you get resale rights to a complete course that you can sell as you wish. The rights are quoted as having a value of at least “£1,000 to £20,000 PER LICENCE” so £197 per month seems like a great deal.
Oh, and you also have to give Streetwise 10% of everything you sell (not profits, 10% of your actual sales amount).
However, if the sales letter is to be believed, this is an excellent bargain and you should grab it immediately.
My doubts would be the usual – how on earth do you sell this stuff?
Each month you could get the rights to a great course including CDs, DVDs, manuals etc but if you don’t have a tip-top sales letter and good advertising then you’re not going to get anywhere.
Also, you’ve got to worry about the idiots who put each package up on eBay for pennies.
Example: I got the rights to a great home study course recently which had a suggested minimum price of $97. Two days after I took delivery, somebody has it on eBay for just $4.97 – you can’t predict how the lazy morons will use their licences…
But don’t let that put you off if you are serious about giving this a good go. There are lots of info publishers in the UK who have made a fortune from licencing so it can be done.
For the right person, and providing these products are good, this could be a real goldmine of an opportunity.
Unfortunately, Streetwise do not give you any details about the type of course you will get which is disappointing.
All they say is that each month you will get “‘How To’ products, usually with a money-making spin”
It’s a mystery package that you get every month and could be anything (including stuff that didn’t sell well).
Why do I say that?
Well, I recognised the product licence offered as an example (even though they have tried to obscure the title of it) and it was one which I received a sales letter for just once. If they only mailed once, is that because it bombed?
In conclusion, I think this could be a great offer but that depends on how good the products are.
There’s no guarantee with this opportunity so you will have to pay for at least the first month but Streetwise are reputable and if you cancel, that will be it, you won’t get charged again.
Be aware though that “Michael Milligan” is probably a pen name and you may well need to sort out sales letters etc yourself.
If you do go for it, please do let me know how you get on.
For more information about business opportunities like the Information Entrepreneurs Circle, check out the free biz opps email newsletter today.
I made some inquiries with Streetwise as to this attractive opportunity. These were more or less the queries raised as follows:
* Does each product per month come with a ready made sales letter?
– No, you have to do one yourself or Streetwise could suggest a low cost copy writing service. Plus they stated every body would have the same one letter doing the rounds so to speak – want to keep things unique.
* The little black book of step by step advertising methods provided on “loan” will be used by all members will that not cause some saturation in advertising channels by members using same channels?
– No because the book contains very diverse advertising advice methods.
* In light of the above what are the start-up costs envisaged for this opportunity on top of the £197 for the first month?
– I think they said approx. £200-300 tops.
Having taken the replies above I declined to go ahead. Main reasons that stopped me were no Sales letter provided and start up costs.
I mean surely one could adjust and change the letter slightly with their own USP by using a comparator product as close as possible. Just makes life easier. And if there are so many diverse advertising methods in the “little black book” it would not make that much difference then if there was a standard sales letter supplied.
A sales letter takes ages to write from scratch if you are not a copywriter and therefore by the time you put one together + other tasks (printing, duplication, booking adds etc) to set up to get the ball rolling with the first product, it’s probably going to be well into the first month, fastly approaching your first direct debit payment of £197 membership fee to go out, before you even launch.
If you opt to pay a copywriter. Fine ok. What does that do to your bottom line after all expenditure to roll out your first months product? As you do not know how well it’s going to sell and will you get a good return to cover your next months membership fee and be in decent profit to roll out the next months product? Also I agree with you Ben, you will get mugs flogging off the same product dirt cheap on Ebay seriously denting your overall efforts.
I just found the above all inhibitory to enter this opportunity, where you are going to be 50/50 on your first roll out.
Sri.
P.S. Yeah I think I know also who that chap “Michael Milligan” is really. He “allegedly” retired from the business he said a while back in final info product sales promotion push 😉
Comment by sri — 10th November 2007 @ 2:03 pm
I have also been considering this opportunity but have been put off by the thought of EBayers devaluing the investment.
Comment by cs — 5th December 2007 @ 1:39 pm
Am I correct in believing that the person behind it is none other than Andrew Reynolds? He’s always been the man behind the USA to Uk resale right deals. I would have thought he had his hands full with the new shopping channel.t
Comment by James King — 6th February 2008 @ 3:00 am
I don’t think it’s Mr Reynolds but I am pretty sure that there is no “Michael Milligan”.
I received a mailshot offering this but it wasn’t from Streetwise, it was from a company called Focus Research and Marketing Limited.
According to documentation from Companies House, “Michael Milligan” is neither a director nor a secretary of this company and it seems to be run by a couple working out of a residential address in Felpham, West Sussex.
My guess is that this whole thing has been organised by a very famous direct mailer with the initials SG. But, I could be wrong…
Comment by Ben — 6th February 2008 @ 9:42 am
Ben, the only person SG resembles is a very well known marketer and copywriter who occasionaly does a few emails for The Money Tree.
Anyway, don’t you think it’s a little bit funny how a lot of so called marketers claim they are retiring and then appear again? Either they get bored in retirement or it’s just marketing hype. I’ve seen Pat Adams latest offering at his new site l******d-p******s.co.uk
Also another thing that bugs me is when marketers tell you a package will never be offered again, charge a rip-off price, and then relaunch the package a few months later at a knock down price! That’s just plain unethical!
Comment by James King — 20th February 2008 @ 10:35 pm
Hi James,
I did get the emails about the “un-retirement” of Mr Adams. Had a quick look but I haven’t bought into it.
I will say that I own a few DVDs with footage of seminars that Pat has held and, on the whole, they are very good.
As for his “retirement” well, I think he could’ve handled it a bit better. He sold off the rights to his seminars to lots of different people for a pretty large amount of money but then returned a few months ago and flogged a few sets himself at a massive discount – in effect creating very unfair competition for his licence holders.
When SG retired (for the first time) in around 2002 he sold off the licences to his products but I believe that he stood by his word and never sold those products again himself.
Unethical? In certain cases I have to say that I agree with you. I also suspect that it is marketing hype rather than being “bored in retirement”.
Thanks for your comments, very interesting reading!
Comment by Ben — 21st February 2008 @ 10:11 am
Well it looks like it has gone out to the Streetwise Sucker list then as I had a flyer in the post today from Streetwise Marketing offering me this very same opportunity with “BRAND NEW PRODUCTS” to go. Their clincher line for their Inner Circle club “I’d like to say Come back when you can afford this but alas, this opportunity will be long gone by then as all Information Entrepreneur Circle places are expected to go within a very short period”
It’s now April 2008 and the comments on this site date back to August 2007 !!!!! God knows how long this has been going, come to think about it I seem to remember a very similar mailshot about a “Black Book” in the past turning up at a jumble sale that made the owner very rich, their grandson had apparently sold it to someone at a jumble sale who then went on to make a fortune from this type of business.
I think there was reference to that in this sales letter, i.e. this black book being on loan to stop it turning up at a jumble sale!
Must be the same copywriters 😉
That letter was a few years back though !!!!
Got to love the copy of the letter though, so many “TAKE ACTION” bits in there. If it is too good to be true it probably is, the thing that got me though was that this sales letter referred to “EVERYTHING BEING DONE FOR YOU INCLUDING THE SALES LETTERS AND WEBSITES” now reading the reviews here they talk about this not being the case and having to hire copywriters. Ouch! that’s a grand before we even sell the first product!
The fact that this author is hiding behind his real name has also put me off investing, I mean how can I get the support he is offering when he / she will not even trust me with their proper name.
Comment by Justin — 5th April 2008 @ 4:22 am
Some questionable claims today in an email from someone I’ll call “Mr R” who has decided to start promoting this “new opportunity” from the marketer allegedly called Michael Milligan…
Mr R has decided to promote this opportunity because, as he puts it, it is “new and good”.
New? Not really…
Good? Not sure. Reasoned logic would dictate that it probably isn’t top quality because if it was the big boys of the biz opp world would be selling these products individually rather than as an ongoing “opportunity”.
Call me sceptic but I get the feeling that Mr R is promoting it because he has been leaned on by his boss – the person he shills for and the person who gave him his big break. Or it could just be the large monthly commission 🙂
Differing from the previous promotions of this opp, Mr R actually gives examples of the products on offer included the names of the people behind them.
No big names here – none of them have any reputation whatsoever in the biz opp field (much like “Michael Milligan”!)
I’ll pass I think.
The main reason being that I can’t see any reason whatsoever why somebody feels they need to market this using a fake name.
Unless they are worried about ruining their reputation?
Comment by Ben — 13th April 2008 @ 4:58 pm
Hi,
I have received this information pack in the post
Michael Milligan’s name at the end of the letter, but on the front of the sales copy it reads recommended by Andrew Reynolds, I must admit I. was tempted at first but after reading through everything and not being able to find any contact detail’s i:e phone number or e-mail address was a little worried. And now after reading some of the comments have been put off as like someone said they do not indicate the cost of setting up a sales letter or advertising cost and like me was worried at the time scale before the next month of your standing order came through.
Thanks to all for their comments.
A struggling person trying to make money on the Internet
Comment by Peter — 27th April 2008 @ 8:42 pm
Felt compelled to leave a comment after reading all of the others.
I have received this mailshot over that past eighteen months, as it seems to have been doing the rounds for so long would it be fair to conclude it is pulling in orders?
There is speculation that the products aren’t up to much but it appears that the “big boys” are promoting this package at £197 per month so are probably doing quite well out of it. I promote various
products (which I will not do in a forum) and the hardest part about it was getting started. It is a steep learning curve and initially it’s going to cost! It is easy to find reasons not to follow something through, e.g. no sales letter, too much start up capital, etc, etc. Which is the vibe coming across in the other comments.
Having read the sales letter I personally would not purchase for the simple reason it would be a blind purchase (i.e. you have no idea what the products are), now if these were great products it would not be kept a secret from you, but they would cost much more than the £197 asking price.
Even if they were “poor” products, if you knew what they were at least you could consider if you could turn them into something better.
My closing statement….
Try to look beyond what they are selling and concentrate more on, how are they selling it? There in lies the secret.
Comment by Anthony — 27th May 2008 @ 7:13 pm
Hi folks!
The blog makes interesting reading!
I took the chance and purchased the goods and to my surprise they are very well presented and arrive every month without fail!
I’ve got an offer to make anybody who’s interested in getting their hands on this information. Subscribe to my service for £69.97 inc postage & packaging I’ll send you a copy of the material, manuals & CD’s every month. That’s a saving of £127.03 every month, that’s a deal!
The only down side to this is you can’t resell the product however the information is invaluable though to anybody wanting to make money creating and selling information products.
Mitch Sorbie is my real name, I live in Glasgow and my mobile number is 07973 493787 should you wish to chat about this!
All the best!
Mitch
PS. If you don’t have a product or want to make money on ebay buying & selling on line have a look at my site address below!
Comment by Mitch — 23rd June 2008 @ 11:37 am
Thanks for the comment Mitch.
I’d be very interested to hear some background information about the product developers for example Edmund Baker and Jeremy Gardener. I’ve never heard of them before yet here they are selling a range of products on “how to make money” subjects. I guess they are direct marketing millionaires themselves?
Comment by Ben — 23rd June 2008 @ 2:57 pm
Hi Ben,
Having read & listened to the various manuals, what these people are doing is distilling information from other people who have made money via direct mail. In one manual it has 6 guys discussing how they create products for sale, I must admit I found that fascinating how information products can be created! All the information is interesting & shows how it can be done!
Comment by Mitch — 23rd June 2008 @ 8:36 pm
I subscribed for the first 4 products but found they were all too similar to each other and I really wanted to create my own. However, its a cheap way to start up if you have no product ideas. It gets you off the ground so to speak but I would only subscribe for a couple of months because the stuff is not really worth the money.
“Michael Milligan” whoever he is did answer some emails of mine!
Comment by Sarah Lyle — 22nd July 2008 @ 8:17 pm
Hello All,
I can just tell one thing that the big heads are the ones who are controlling the game. Look at [name removed]. He has flooded the market with selling the resale right to some [text removed]. The exact amount Mr. Michael Milligan charges for his products. [text removed] I just wast curious as to I am sure that these products are the ones which I think are available on ebay all over the globe. In spite of this the hype [text removed] made people buy the products, hardly realizing that it is so hard to sell. One things for sure i can say at the moment that these big yuys are heartless and they are least concerned about what they are doing to the whole info. publishing world , I think because they are too much obsessed to become more and more wealthier, without thinking of anything else.
[Edited by Ben: Thanks for your comments. I have had to edit this comment because I can’t allow you name somebody and then accuse them of “fleecing the suckers” on this blog].
Comment by Span — 27th August 2008 @ 10:54 am
Actually if anyone wants to see what kind of products they would get you can download them at my website, just click on my highlighted name. At least that way you can see what you would be getting. Best, Sarah
Comment by Sarah Lyle — 7th November 2008 @ 3:37 pm
I agree with Mitch, the best Manual and audio CDs explain how to create your own Product. If you have already identified Information Publishing as the business for you, this is all you need, although it is the second offering in the programme, so it would cost you 2 months x £197 to get it.
I am offering it for far less than this, plus some other resell rights products. Take a look at my website if you’re interested.
Comment by John McNally — 26th November 2008 @ 11:30 am
hi everyone i guess we all went for the same thing i brought the first four license none come with sales copy
Comment by Imran — 11th January 2009 @ 1:59 pm
Hi Guys
Your posts make interesting reading. I have subscribed to the first 6 packages with Mike Milligan via Focus and want to know if anybody is having any luck in actually selling them? Also where do you go to get a Sales letter written etc..
Regards
Mark
Internet Newbie
[edit by Ben: Mark, I’ve removed your email address and phone numbers – if you want me to replace them let me know. As for the sales letter question – surely that is explained in the “Black Book”?]
Comment by Mark Jones — 21st January 2009 @ 3:27 pm
Interesting to note the first comment here dated Nov 07 , it’s now May 09 and here it is again!( again closing soon because of limited spaces!) I am interested in getting an info publishing business up and running and have dealt with streetwise on a number of occasions(always honourable people)and this sounded interesting but i think I’ll spend $17 with sarah above and have a look first ( natural skeptic !)
Comment by John B — 20th April 2009 @ 2:43 pm
It’s now January 2010 and the sales letter is out again.
I believe that ‘home business’ does well January to April time, every year so, it’s just Streetwise getting their product out when they expect the most sales.
The sales letter must be converting well otherwise they’d give it a miss.
Great blog, by the way.
If you’d like a monthly review magazine, click on my name below and you can subscribe for free.
I’ll link to this site for my subscribers to read, too.
Comment by Martyn Brown — 16th January 2010 @ 2:19 pm