Back in 2006 I put up a page about Pat Adams and his retirement package.

Although this offer has long since expired, the page still exists:

Pat Adams Retires

This write-up has a lot of details about the contents of the package that Pat was offering – which in all fairness was very impressive.

It’s been quite a while since I looked at it but today I received some DVDs that I bought from eBay and written on the back of the thank you note was a letter:

“I looked at your website, and the facts about Pat Adams’ retirement package are not entirely true.

I bought it, went to his retirement seminar day and was promised loads. He did give us a shopping cart website to sell his stuff, and I added lots of my own info, manuals/CDs but I discovered 3 weeks ago he has taken it down without letting me know and he is not answering my many emails.

He promised us the next 2 seminar DVDs etc and I only managed to get one lot of stuff by continually pestering him for it. I still haven’t received the newsletter software he promised for the 1st seminar.

I feel badly let down, but I don’t have contact with other people who went to the retirement day to see if they have had anything from him or not”

Now in all fairness to Pat, emails can go astray and therefore remain unanswered. Years of continuous spamming by morons means that many people have over-zealous spam filters which will gobble up the most innocent of emails.

However, as this person was kind enough to take the time to write to me I would like to ask anyone else who bought this package to get in touch and let me know if they received everything that was promised.

I have just bought a package which promised several expensive bonuses which I have yet to receive and so I can understand how frustrating it is. The person who offered these bonuses is currently not responding to emails or help desk tickets and there are many people who are starting to worry.

So, if you did get Pat’s retirement package, please do get in touch and let me know how you found it. You can find my email address on the main site at:

http://www.bizoppsuk.com/feedback.php

I don’t know how Mr Filsaime does it but he managed to get me to pay out $500 for his latest product which he has called the “7 Figure Code”. I’m really looking forward to getting it in 10 to 15 days but with 16 DVDs, it could be sometime until I get a review up.

One thing’s for sure though, Mike’s gonna make a fortune on this one, again! Fair play to him, he does seem to be well liked and creates good products from what I have seen in the past.

Now I’m no big name internet marketer and I am not automatically on the “must JV with” list for many people so I can’t give you an affiliate link to buy through 🙂

However, if you are thinking about getting Mike’s course then have a good look around to see what bonuses are being offered.

What I’ve found is even though the product is quite low-priced (and therefore the commission will probably be in the $250 dollar range), lots of marketers are offering a load of excellent bonuses to get you to buy through them.

This tends to suggest that promoting this product isn’t about the money.

I guess that many marketers are promoting this to try and become the number 1 affiliate – because in the IM game I would imagine that if you’re able to boast that you were the no 1 JV partner for a Mike Filsaime launch it proves that you know your onions.

I happened to stumble upon the JVBlog that Mike has setup which wasn’t particularly hidden. Well, I didn’t exactly “stumble upon” it, I went routing…

He’s given some great prizes for the top 15 people who promote his product including some great boys’ toys and also cruises!

Anyway, getting back to the 7 Figure Code course, I am excited about getting all the DVDs because for a few days I considered paying the $5k to actually attend the seminar over in the US. I didn’t go in the end because I had just paid my tax bill and I wasn’t entirely sure that I really needed it at the time but I get to see the footage now.

When I was researching bonus offers I found that there were some serious packages being offered. See what I mean by checking out the blogs of Russell Brunson, Anik Singal, Jeremy Burns, Keith Wellman and Pat Lovell.

If you were interested, I bought through Keith Wellman’s link because his offer was very impressive.

In the future I will be writing a full review of the course but in the meantime if you want to learn more about Mike Filsaime, click on the link to the right which says “Table of Contents” or go to the main site:

http://www.BizOppsUK.com/mike_filsaime.php

“I received an email you sent out recently regarding Tim Lowe’s ‘How to make £15,000-£25,000 per month from cheap little web ads’.

I had previously purchased the dvd course and having sourced a product and set up a web site i began doing some free advertising and got the odd one or two sales.

I was wondering if you have had any experiences regarding placing classified ads in any of the papers Tim mentions on the dvds, I am at a stage where i would like to advertise to a larger audience but am a little put off by the fact that these papers can be slightly difficult to deal with ie, wanting references etc.

Have you had any success with them or can you recommend alternative places to advertise?”

Thanks for the query but I would just like to ask: have you contacted any papers at all?

If you are selling a biz opps type of product then I will assume you are talking about advertising in the Mail on Sunday or the Sunday Times. I get these papers every week just to check out the new adverts in the Business Opportunities section.

Anyway, there are always new adverts coming and going – including many from people who seem new to the “game”. I would be surprised if they had references which they could use…

When I placed an ad in Exchange and Mart, the sales person I spoke to laughed when I asked if he needed any references!

He just took the money and placed the ad which was good for me because I am not sure that I could’ve got the references required.

You can read about my experience from that advertising here:

Advertising Offline to Drive Traffic to a Website

When you bought the package part of the deal was that you could ring Tim to get an evaluation of your website. I would suggest that you take him up on the offer and ask his advice. After all, if Tim Lowe offers you a consultation about advertising in the press and you have questions about the same topic – take him up on it!

As for other places to advertise, there are loads.

Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing, biz opps ezines, banner ads on relevant websites etc

Or you could search out potential Joint Venture partners who will spread the word for you in return for a commission on the sale.

First thing’s first, though, I think you should take Tim up on his offer of a consultation.

And if the idea of joint ventures interests you, I know of a great guide to getting JVs:

The Sara Brown Ultimate Income Plan

Hello again,

I hope everything is going well for you and you are enjoying your weekend!

I was reading today that house prices are going down, again…

Didn’t they say that last year, and the year before, and the year before etc?

In fact, there were people on a certain forum who called the market top back in 2002. They sold their houses to start renting, waiting for the crash. Once the crash took hold, they planned to buy again at the lower price.

Obviously it never happened and they have now missed large returns from property. These people are now very bitter.

Moral of the story? Don’t call market tops and bottoms.

Simple as that…

————————

Louise Woof and Keith Cotterill

Got this email recently:

“Hi Ben,

I am seriously considering ditching my boring daytime job.

I am attracted to Louise Woof’s Forex scheme or Keith Cotterill’s spread betting system. I wonder whether you have received negative comment about either”

First of all, I haven’t bought either course so I cannot comment on the quality of either I’m afraid.

But there are several points to ponder whenever you think about making money from financial trading.

My own particular spread betting exploits have all centered around the methods I learned from Vince Stanzione’s course.

Vince doesn’t “do” day-trading or short-term trading, he concentrates on holding his trades for months at a time.

I like this particular method of trading because I do not want to be sat at a monitor for hours at a time. Besides, I have a day job which I do actually enjoy and I cannot trade during the day.

Last October, I started trading UK shares long term i.e. holding positions for at least 3 months. By March of this year I had made 4.95% profit on my money from a handful of trades.

Everything I traded was researched over a weekend or evening and then I placed orders to open positions the next day. Each trade I made included a strict stop loss and risked only 2% of my starting bank.

The actual breakdown of my results was as follows:

30 trades in total:

14 winners
14 losers
2 break-evens

Overall profit: 4.95%

It’s all on the blog:

http://bizoppsuk.blogspot.com

It wasn’t a very exciting way to trade at all but it seemed to work for the 6 months I was doing it.

I had to stop to use the money for a house purchase but I will be starting again in the near future!

There is no doubt that some people trade more often than this and that some people make a whole lot more money than I did.

It’s all about discipline.

If there is no trade then you do not trade. No ifs, no buts, if your system does not indicate that you can trade then you leave it and come back the next day to see if anything “lines up”.

Money management is the key – never risk more that you can afford to lose and always use a stop loss.

If you can follow a system *to the letter* and trade only with non-essential money then it is worthwhile to try any system.

Also, you can use virtual trading accounts so that you do not risk any of your own money. Test out your system using a free virtual account.

If it works and you are happy with it, start to use real money. If it does not work for you, make sure you are following the instructions correctly and not trading on your hunches.

At the end of the day, these systems usually have money-back guarantees so you have nothing to lose by giving them a try, except maybe a little of your time.

As for giving up the day-job, DON’T be too quick to quit. With any biz opp, you should run it in your spare time if possible and only when it yields enough profit to cover your living expenses should you even think of leaving your job.

Quitting work to become a full-time trader puts you under enormous pressure to make money from your trades. All trading systems go through draw down periods i.e. a losing period. If this period comes at the very beginning of your trading career, it could end in disaster.

Please, don’t go quitting your job thinking that you can replace your wage immediately from trading!

————————

Passport to Wealth

Another email came into the BizOppsUK inbox this week:

“Hi Ben,

I wondered if you’ve had any info or experience with an opp called PASSPORT TO WEALTH?

A kinda network marketing deal that is very tempting.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks”

My reply was not particularly complimentary about this one because it reminds me somewhat of the extremely dodgy Prosperity Automated System.

That particular pyramid scheme crashed and burned last year leaving thousands of people nursing very heavy losses.

So I sent this back:

“Passport to Wealth is a pyramid scheme.

You have to make 4 sales before you are in any profit. Then the people you refer have to make 4 sales to get into profit and so on.

People at the top of the pyramid will make thousands. 90-95% of members will make absolutely nothing. In fact, they will end up being $997 or more DOWN.

Complete and utter rubbish – I wouldn’t touch it with a barge-pole if I were you.

To see what happens to these types of schemes, check out the PAS system:

Prosperity Automated System

Thanks,

Ben”

If you think I am being overly harsh, please let me know.

However, my personal opinion is that any scheme which calls itself a 1-Up or 2-Up is to be avoided.

Someone summed it up on a forum when they said:

“You’d get the same results by standing on top of a windy hill ripping up ten pound notes”

————————

Ultimate Entrepreneur Wealth Club

This particular opp was pointed out to me by a former PAS cheerleader called Julie Wilson.

She sent me an email claiming all kinds of huge earnings, none of which were verified in any way. Half a million in one to two years was her claim in this one…

When PAS was in full flow, Julie advertised heavily in the Sunday Times and all over the web, trying to get people into her downline. Looks like she has moved onto a very similar scheme now that PAS was shut down.

Anyway, I ignored her email but someone asked about this later on in the week:

“i wanted some advice on the ultimate entrepreneur wealth club and the secret of getting rich what do you make of these and also agel network marketing comapany . have you ever been involved in network marketing and what is your view on these types of businesses please be in touch i wait for your response . thank you”

Here was my reply:

“I’ve had a little look at this and it seems to be just like you said, a network marketing program.

Seems like you buy a set of products – DVDs, CDs and books for $1250 from your sponsor. He pays $250 for them and then takes the remaining $1000 as profit.

You then must sign-up 6 other people in order to become a “Director”.

I then assume, because the details are sketchy, that you sell tickets to the various other stages i.e. the cruises etc and get a large commission for each sale.

So, if you are a good salesman and believe in the product, I am sure you can make a good amount of money from this.

However, as with all network marketing programs you will be in competition with 100s if not 1000s of other people including anyone you introduce.

Also, if you are not internet savvy you will have to find another way to advertise this opportunity which could prove very difficult and expensive.

The same goes for Agel. I know very little about this opportunity but it is network marketing and I always stay well clear of this kind of scheme.

Instead of network marketing, why not learn more about internet marketing and providing real products of real value?

There is a seminar at the end of this month in London which deals with both property investing and also internet marketing.

Now, I went to the Birmingham seminar in April and it was very, very enlightening. I have written a little about it here:

http://www.BizOppsUK.com/entrepreneur_weekend.php

For a four-day event it is very inexpensive and the presenters are very business savvy and approachable.

I would recommend that if the internet or property is something you are interested in learning more about you should consider attending.

I will be sending an email out about it soon but it is something to bear in mind because you will get a lot more out of meeting people over a few days than spending $1000+ on a load of DVDs.

So, in short, I couldn’t recommend the schemes you asked about because I really think that network marketing is flawed – unless you are already an excellent salesman.

Offline seminars pay for themselves over and over again because of the contacts you make.

I hope this helps.

Many thanks,

Ben”

——————————————————————

So, a harsh review of a couple of new opps and a whole-hearted recommendation for the eConfex seminar at the end of this month.

If you are available that weekend and have an interest in property investing and/or internet businesses, make sure you have a good look at what is being offered at the UK Entrepreneur Convention.

Until next time, thanks for reading,

Ben

I got an email recently from a subscriber who asked:

“Where can I buy good email lists from?”

And it is a question I am asked a lot. So, I thought I would answer it on the blog to clear up a couple of points.

Simple answer to the question is – you can’t buy good email lists!

You can’t buy and legally use email lists because the recipients will not have specifically requested your emails.

The end result of emailing to big lists that you have “bought” is that you will be, quite rightly, labelled a spammer.

You need to build an email list or, failing that, arrange a joint venture with someone who has an email list.

Another option is to pay for an advertisement in an ezine that targets your specific market.

Whatever you do, don’t buy email lists and mass mail to them. You will get in trouble.

To build your very own list, what you need to do is put up a web-page which advertises your email newsletter.

You then use sales copy on that website to gently persuade visitors that they really want to subscribe to your newsletter.

Make sure that all subscribers MUST be double opt-in to get on your list… which means they must click on a link in the first email that you send to them to 100% confirm that they really do want to be added to your email list.

If they do not click the link, they do not get added to your list.

I would advise you that you should only ever email somebody who has double opted into your email list.

Don’t bother collecting names with a single opt-in, ensure from the beginning that all your prospects have confirmed that they want to receive your emails.

Having double opted-in subscribers gives you a nice clean list. And one which is less susceptible to spam complaints.

A subscriber cannot accuse you of spamming them because you can quote the exact time and place where they opted-into your newsletter.

Also, you will know that your subscribers actually want to receive email from you, that they will probably read it and they also are likely to click on the links that you send to them.

All of my email lists are double opt-in, without exception.

I rarely encounter a problem from any of my subscribers because they know that they can unsubscribe from the list with just one click.

Having all of the confirmation details of each subscriber also comes in very handy when someone forgets why you are emailing them.

One subscriber recently asked:

“Hi Ben,I’m already subscribing to Andrew Reynolds’ Cash-On-Demand course have seen what Tim Lowe has done with his little classified ads I’ve also been invited to Bournemouth conference which i intend to go to but any information regarding what Tim is doing would be appreciated.

By the way, where did you get my details from?”

 

Now, if I had simply emailed this person out of the blue or “bought a list”, he could rightfully report me for spamming him.

However, because I had all of his confirmation details, I could fire off a quick email to remind him where he found me:

“Hi [subscriber’s name],Thanks for the email.

You signed up for my email newsletter on the 4th March 2007 at the following website:

 

http://www.BizOppsUK.co.uk/

I can’t go to the Bournemouth conference unfortunately and I am a bit miffed about it! I’m sure it will be a great learning experience and at a VERY attractive price.It would be great to hear how it goes!

As for Tim, check out the main site at:

 

http://www.BizOppsUK.com

and click on the Tim Lowe related links to the left.Hope this helps!

Thanks,

Ben”

 

I use AWeber to run all of my email newsletters.

It’s inexpensive, very easy to use and automates almost everything to do with email marketing. You don’t have to mess about hosting any scripts on your own server or anything like that – they do it all for you.

More importantly perhaps, AWeber can be setup to ensure that everybody has to double opt-in to get onto your email list and it also makes it very easy for subscribers to unsubscribe.

And, if that wasn’t enough, I hear that AWeber has one of the best email deliverability rates of all the autoresponder providers.