Business Program Reviews

Is SMC a Good Way to Make Money from Home?

June 29th, 2008

Specialty Merchandise Corporation, also known as SMC, is a business located out of California. The company is well-known for their late night infomercials which detail how they can help you start your own home based business. The procedure is supposed to be simple. All you have to do is sign up for an account, purchase a number of catalogs, and then begin selling the products in the catalogs you have purchased. The percentage of commission you earn is very high, making it easy for you to sell to both businesses and individual customers. SMC also encourages you to sign up additional salespersons to form your own team.The folks at Specialty Merchandise Corporation conveniently forget to tell you that the retail prices they charge for their products are out of this world. Even if you earn a 60% commission on each sale you make, there is absolutely no way you can sell the products at wholesale prices to other businesses. The businesses you approach won’t be able to mark up the prices enough to actually make a profit.

Recruiting new salespersons will not be easy at all. Many of those you approach will be hesitant to attempt selling the products you are selling because they will fear the program is nothing more than another pyramid scheme. SMC is not actually a pyramid scam, but it is always difficult to convince people that a network marketing business is NOT one. I’ve always been told that you should never pay to work, but paying for essential items such as catalogs and order forms is essential if you’re ever going to make an actual sale. A business that does not charge its distributors for supplies will do nothing but lose money.

In order to become successful with SMC you will have to find direct customers who will purchase items at retail. What’s the easiest way to do this?

Start with your friends and family members, then move on to their friends. What comes next, though? Specialty Merchandise Corporation suggests purchasing tables at flea markets and fairs. The problem is that people who go to swap meets and craft fairs are looking for good bargains. It will be impossible to sell your products at full retail cost.

SMC will also sell you a website you can use to sell your products. The problem is that everyone who purchases a website from the company gets the exact same site. A cookie-cutter site is guaranteed to make you look unprofessional.

If you prefer, you might want to purchase your own website. In order to do so you will need to have a decent amount of web design experience. You’ll have to design the site, add a shopping cart, create a merchant account for payment processing, and open a business checking account.

A less expensive option is to buy a website and then search for free codes and services. You can find free shopping cart codes and use a free payment account with PayPal or another similar service. You might have your customers make checks out to your personal name so that you can cash them with your personal account, but just know that customers are hesitant to purchase from a website where they have to make checks out to an individual instead of a business.

The most important question is whether or not all of this design work is worth the effort? Personally, I’ve had a SMC section on my website for almost 10 years. I’ve never made one sale with their products.

Specialty Merchandise Corporation: Rip-Off or Genuine Opportunity?

SMC is a great opportunity for some people - you know, the ones in the testimonials and on television. Those people are probably paid to talk about SMC, but I do know that a few people have had legitimate success with the company.

Many people who join SMC end up using their membership to purchase products for themselves at wholesale. Of course, the point was to have a home based business, which you do NOT really have if you’re only making purchases for yourself or your family.

Are there alternatives to SMC?

Don’t bother with SMC if you can help it. It’s just as easy to get a federal tax ID number and then make partnerships with whatever wholesale company you choose. Some of these companies will handle drop-shipping on your behalf and you’ll likely avoid large membership fees. SMC charges $300 to join!

I don’t think that SMC is really a rip-off, but it’s not exactly what they want you to believe it is, either. If the company was a little more honest about their pricing scale, or changed it completely, members might be more successful.

After examining and testing hundreds of money-making opportunities and work at home programs, ONLY ONE brought in a paycheck that covered all my monthly expenses.
Click here to go to this website.

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Stuffing Envelopes: Is it a Scam or a Legitimate Home Business?

June 13th, 2008

Let’s start out by defining the term “job” and the term “opportunity.”We’re probably more familiar with jobs than we are with opportunities. Most of us have had at least one job. You are hired permanently, have daily requirements to meet, and you get paid.

An employer reviews your resume, has you complete an application, offers benefits and a salary, and takes taxes from your paycheck. If they’re paying you a salary and giving you a job, they are going to ask you for your social security number or your employer identification number. They do this because they are required by law to report your annual earnings to the IRS.

Suffice to say, if you are not asked for your social security number you are likely participating in an opportunity. Most envelope stuffing companies would like you to believe they are giving you a real job, but they are not. This is your first red flag.

How to Spot an Illegitimate Opportunity

All illegitimate opportunities will have at least one of the following red flags. Watch for them carefully:

* The company has no real contact information: email address, phone number, address. You can not contact them to ask questions.

* You have to pay them a fee before they’ll answer your questions.

* You have to send payments to a PO Box.

* The company promises you’ll make a lot of money very quickly.

* The company advertisements focus on the money you’ll make and don’t talk about the opportunity itself.

Those who promote envelope stuffing scams are very persuasive. They’d love it if you would believe you can make money easily by stuffing envelopes and they count on people sending in their money to get more information. They want their potential customers to be excited about making money. Those customers are so excited, in fact, that they never think to ask about HOW they’re going to make that money.

Making money takes time and a considerable amount of real effort. It is easy to make money, but only if you’re willing to make that initial effort.

The REAL DEAL on Stuffing Envelopes

There are thirteen important points you should consider before taking part in an envelope stuffing opportunity. I am positive that after you read these points you’ll have a true understanding of why these systems do not work.

1) Envelopes Can Be Stuffed Cheaply

Why on earth would a company pay you to stuff envelopes when they could have it done at a local print shop. Even better, companies with large envelope stuffing needs can purchase a machine to do it for them.

2) What’s a Starter Kit?

The offer you read promised you’d receive a starter kit in the mail after paying your fee. What is in the starter kit, you ask? No one knows anything except that it contains “everything you need” to start stuffing envelopes. That’s not very helpful.

3) Never Pay for Disclosure

Many companies ask you to send a payment before they’ll give you the real details about a job opportunity. The claim they want to know you’re serious about the opportunity. A real company will tell you everything you want to know and won’t charge you a single penny for it. If you’re being charged for information, run the other way.

4) What’s a Processing Fee?

The company you are researching might call that start-up fee a “processing fee.” It doesn’t matter what they call it if they’re not telling you exactly what you’re going to get. You’re going to get information. What kind of information? The information you need to start your business. Of course!

5) Someone Else Must Stuff an Envelope Before You Get Paid

You don’t really get paid for stuffing envelopes. You get paid for convincing other people to stuff envelopes. When that person stuffs an envelope and convinces someone else to do the same, you might get a check. That is, if they’re dumb enough to pay someone to give them information that doesn’t exist.

6) Free Stamps and Envelopes Cost a Bundle

Lots of envelope stuffing companies claim you’ll get free stamps and envelopes if you participate. What they don’t tell you is that the stamp and envelope will come in the form of a SASE (Self Addressed Stamped Envelope) from people who read your advertisement. The advertisement, of course, will cost you money to place. That’s not FREE.

By the way, why would anyone send a SASE when they can easily go online for almost any information they want?

7) The Revolving Door: The Advertisement is the Product

The letter you are sending to people turns out to be the product you are selling; you’re teaching your customers to send the letter to people as well. That’s a revolving door scam - making people believe there is a product when there is not.

The Back Door Ploy

You might be told that a report or circular is the product, but more often than not that claim is not true. That special report might claim to have the truth about real home based job opportunities. It’ll make your scammer look legitimate as the circular introduces the envelope stuffing opportunity.

9) Testimonials Are Just Words Unless Verified

If you can’t contact the person who has written a testimonial, you should assume it is not real. Anyone can write a testimonial. Only a few people can give you the information needed to back those testimonials up.

10) Beware of Unattended Toll-Free Numbers and No Email Addresses

We talked about this earlier. Be concerned if you only receive a pre-recorded message when calling an 800 number. The recording will tell you to leave a message. They have the number to make them look legitimate and because they know that 99% of people aren’t actually going to call it.

If you can’t identify a phone number or email address that will put you in touch with a real person, consider this a red flag. How will you contact them with questions or when you need real help?

11) Is That Guarantee For Real?

The company will only give you a refund after you’ve made a certain number of sales. They want you to prove that you tried their system and then decided you were not satisfied. That makes no sense. If you made 50 or even 250 sales, you probably wouldn’t be dissatisfied. If the system isn’t working, you’ll have to spend more than you paid to get a refund. It’s not worth the effort and they know it.

12) What They Don’t Tell You

The company would like you to believe you will be paid for simply stuffing envelopes. You will not be paid. You’ll be paid if you sell one of their products after stuffing an envelope. You may find that the envelopes you stuff are promoting products or services that are unethical or even illegal.

They also don’t tell you that the cost of advertising will quickly add up and that you are likely to spend more on advertising than you actually make. They won’t teach you anything about advertising, either - if you don’t know anything about it, you’ll lose even more as you waste time and money on ineffective techniques.

13) Envelope Stuffing Operations Have Been Targeted by Federal Authorities

This is true. The FTC actively pursues envelope stuffing scams. HINT: The FTC pursues things they find illegal. The FTC watches home-based business opportunities very closely and regularly presses charges against illegitimate companies. Many of the companies they have pressed charges against are envelope stuffing companies.

If you haven’t figured it out already, envelope stuffing schemes are both unethical and illegal. Anyone who participates is probably hoping for a quick income. They don’t care about you or your success

Envelope stuffing isn’t legitimate. If it were, you could get all of the information you want or need right up front. Instead, the company knows that you would never be interested if you knew the details up front. If it were a legitimate opportunity, you’d have a real product to sell!

Can I find a Legitimate Envelope Stuffing Opportunity?

Sure - you can stuff envelopes for a mailing house or print shop. They aren’t going to pay you well at all, though.

You might consider founding your own Direct Mail company. Direct Mail companies stuff envelopes for a living - they get paid to promote other people’s products. Direct mail is LEGAL.

If you have a product of your own to sell you can stuff envelopes with advertisements in order to solicit sales. Direct mail should not be the only marketing technique you use if you have your own products.

I have not found any legitimate envelope stuffing opportunities. Those who promote these schemes only want to steal your money and they do so by making fraudulent statements.

You can’t make money without putting any effort into it. If envelope stuffing were that lucrative, everyone would be doing it already. I don’t know anyone who makes money stuffing envelopes. Do you?

After examining and testing hundreds of money-making opportunities and work at home programs, ONLY ONE brought in a paycheck that covered all my monthly expenses.
Click here to go to this website.

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Kevin Trudeau Exposed!

May 26th, 2008

“Research shows that three characteristics are related to persuasiveness: perceived authority, honesty, and likability.” - Robert Levine”It’s all about money. The drug industry does not want people to get healthy.” - Kevin Trudeau

“Natural Cures They Don’t Want You to Know About,” is a book written by Kevin Trudeau. I’m sure you’ve seen him on television, as his popular infomercial is shown quite often. He claims to have information that will make you healthy but that the drug companies would prefer you not know about. One of his outlandish claims is that cancel cells are acidic and that if you have cancer it can be cured by changing the pH of the cells from acidic to alkaline. One of his infomercials promotes Robert Barefoot. Barefoot claims that coral calcium has also played a contributing factor in the curing of a number of diseases (Barrett 2004). The two together believe that combining coral calcium with alkaline water will change the acidity of the blood.

Gabe Mirkin, M.D. counters the claims made by Trudeau and Barefoot:

“Anyone who tells you that certain foods or supplements make your stomach or blood acidic does not understand nutrition.

You should not believe that it matters whether foods are acidic or alkaline, because no foods change the acidity of anything in your body except your urine. Your stomach is so acidic that no food can change its acidity. Citrus fruits, vinegar, and vitamins such as ascorbic acid or folic acid to not change the acidity of your stomach or your bloodstream. An entire bottle of calcium pills or antacids would not change the acidity of your stomach for more than a few minutes.

All foods that leave your stomach are acidic. Then they enter your intestines where secretions from your pancreas neutralize the stomach acids. So no matter what you eat, the food in the stomach is acidic and the food in the intestines in alkaline.

You cannot change the acidity of any part of your body except your urine. Your bloodstream and organs control acidity in a very narrow range. Anything that changed acidity in your body would make you very sick and could even kill you. (Mirkin 2003)

Kevin Trudeau has a list of credentials proving that he is an amazing marketer, but he has nothing to back him as a credible nutritionist.

“During the early 1990s, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Trudeau served nearly two years in prison. In 1990, he pled guilty to larceny in a Cambridge, Massachusetts state court in connection with $80,000 in worthless checks he had deposited at a bank. The sentencing memorandum said that he had posed as a doctor to increase his credibility with bank officials. In 1991, he pled guilty to credit-card fraud in a Boston federal district court. Among his misdeeds in the federal case, he misappropriated for his own use the credit-card numbers of customers of the memory-improvement courses that he offered at the time.” (Barrett 2004)

Trudeau’s credit card scam was significant. He stole over $122,700 from American Express. He also managed to steal an additional $5,000 from major banks such as Citibank and Chemical Bank. A website known as The Smoking Gun has a copy of his indictment posted for public review.

Nutrition for Life International, also known as NFLI, supposedly knew that Kevin Trudeau had a criminal record when they made him a business partner. NFLI is an MLM that specialized in nutritional supplements such as shark cartilage capsules. The company went bankrupt in 2003. Before declaring bankruptcy, the company made all of its partners, including Trudeau, into very wealthy individuals.

“In less than 10 months, Kevin Trudeau and his marketing organization have persuaded some 15,000 people to plunk down more than $1,000 apiece for a highly touted opportunity to sell products.

The 32-year-old recruiter’s delighted business partner has already granted Mr. Trudeau so many stock options that he has a paper profit of more than $11 million.” (Emshwiller 1996)

At one point, NFLI traded on NASDAW for over $35 per share. In 1995 the company boasted over $32 million in sales. Trouble started shortly thereafter:

“On Aug. 23, 1996, a class action lawsuit was filed in the District Court of Harris County, Texas on behalf of purchasers of the common stock and common stock purchase warrants of Nutrition for Life International, Inc. (NFLI) during the period July 11, 1995 through July 16, 1996, inclusive (the Class Period). The complaint charges NLFI, certain of its officers and directors, the lead underwriters of its July 11, 1995 offering of stock and warrants, and a major marketer/distributor Kevin Trudeau and the Trudeau Marketing Group Inc. (collectively Trudeau) with violations of Texas statutory and common law, by, among other things, misrepresenting and/or omitting material information concerning NFLI’s business, marketing efforts, sales and earnings during the Class Period (07/11/1995 through 07/11/1996). In August 1997, the case settled. The company agreed to pay $2,000,000 in cash to individuals who purchased common stock and warrants during the class period. The company also agreed to pay the plaintiffs attorney fees up to $600,000.”

Despite these negatives experiences, a number of individuals are still recruiting new NFLI members. Trudeau is still marketing products as well. In 1998 he signed an agreement with the FTC claiming he would:

“(a) pay $500,000 in consumer redress, (b) be barred from making false claims for products in the future, and (c) establish a $500,000 escrow account or performance bond to assure compliance.” (Barrett 2004)

Trudeau obviously ignored the terms of his contract with the FTC. In 2003, they filed a preliminary injunction stating that Trudeau

“disseminated direct mail pieces and an infomercial that made claims that coral calcium is an effective treatment or cure for cancer and other diseases. The preliminary injunction prohibited Trudeau from making these claims. The Court ordered that Trudeau cease all marketing of coral calcium and expressly reserved the right to impose additional remedial measures.”

It wasn’t long before Trudeau violated the temporary injunction and in 2004 he was found to be in contempt of court. He was then forced to sign a new contract with the FTC, stipulating that

“broadly bans him from appearing in, producing, or disseminating future infomercials that advertise any type of product, service, or program to the public, except for truthful infomercials for informational publications. In addition, Trudeau cannot make disease or health benefits claims for any type of product, service, or program in any advertising, including print, radio, Internet, television, and direct mail solicitations, regardless of the format and duration. Trudeau agreed to these prohibitions and to pay the FTC $2 million to settle charges that he falsely claimed that a coral calcium product can cure cancer and other serious diseases and that a purported analgesic called Biotape can permanently cure or relieve severe pain. (FTC press release)

Trudeau is definitely unrepentant and has gone on to appear in several infomercials. These were aired after the FTC agreement was finalized. In July of 2005 he went as far as to run an advertisement for his Natural Cures book in Newsweek magazine!
* The New York State Consumer Protection Board has issued a warning regarding Kevin Trudeau. They claim that anyone following his advice should call a toll free number for additional information. Supposedly, Trudeau is selling his customer database to telemarketers and direct mail companies.

* In October of 2005, several customers began complaining that Trudeau surprised them with additional charges for his newsletter and that they received unexpected charges associated with his discount programs.

* Trudeau currently battles the FTC. The FTC believes Trudeau “deceptively claimed” that the weight loss plan in his new book is “easy to do, can be done at home, and ultimately allows readers to eat whatever they want.” The diet is not that simple and “requires severe dieting,” as well as regular injections of a drug that is not approved by the FDA. The program also calls for “lifelong dietary restrictions. You can read the FTC press release dated 9/14/07 for more information.

After examining and testing hundreds of money-making opportunities and work at home programs, ONLY ONE brought in a paycheck that covered all my monthly expenses.
Click here to go to this website.

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The Truth About John Commuta

May 21st, 2008

One weekend, during one of my many used book store trips, I came across an entire box of self-help and wealth building books. Someone had brought the box to the store and left it for sale. I paid the owner $75 for the entire box and was surprised at how many interesting courses and books I walked away with. One of the courses in the box was Turning Debt into Wealth by John Commuta.Previous to reading through his course I had the privilege of hearing John Commuta’s radio show where he talks about reducing debt and building wealth. He advertised that his course would help individuals to do both in an effective method very quickly. I remember thinking that the commercial sounded like a customer service announcement designed by someone who truly wanted to help the community.

I had no idea how popular the business of debt consolidation really is.

I read through the course and truly believe that the information contained within it would be great for either a beginner or an individual who managed to get themselves into some sort of serious debt. Most of the information was similar to what has been published by Charles Givens or Robert Kiyosaki, both popular gurus. The book basically says to stop using credit cards, to make double payments on cars and mortgages, to find a way to reduce excess spending, and to eliminate one debt at a time. Commuta recommends paying off the highest debt first and by doing so by making quarterly payments. The advice is great, but it’s definitely not new.

As far as wealth building is concerned, the course introduces four techniques recycled from other sources. The techniques include affiliate marketing, real estate, online product marketing, and online auctions. John Commuta doesn’t give detailed information on how to apply any of these techniques, so you’ll probably end up needing to purchase additional resources on your own.

Overall, I found the course to be relatively disappointing. It reads as though John Commuta started out with a great idea but then ran out of inspiration. Maybe he was just holding back so that he can write another book later on…

After examining and testing hundreds of money-making opportunities and work at home programs, ONLY ONE brought in a paycheck that covered all my monthly expenses.
Click here to go to this website.

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The Truth about Carleton Sheets…

May 20th, 2008

Carleton Sheets has been a presence on the television for years. His infomercials have run longer than any others I have seen so far. This in itself is a sign of success. He consistently sells his course to individuals on a daily basis. An old marketing adage states that if you see an advertisement over and over again it must be successful. Otherwise, the company would have pulled it in an attempt to stop wasting money. Carleton Sheets must be doing pretty well. His infomercial has been on television for over 25 years.The “No Money Down” course was originally created back in 1985. I purchased it then and then repurchased it two years ago. I wanted to see how the course has changed in response to real estate changes over the past 20 years. I was dissapointed to see that the course itself had not changed at all. The only change was that the format - the cassette tapes are now CDs and the video tapes are now DVDs.

The course itself might be ok for beginners as it gives a general overview of how the real estate industry really works. He talks about foreclosures, fix-up properties, and landlord vs. tenant issues. The course doesn’t add much depth to your level of knowledge. I think it has actually contributed to competition in the market, making the identification of new real estate deals very difficult.

I find the course to be misleading as well. He leads his students to believe that it’s easy to purchase a home by putting no money down. This is simply not the case. You’ll have to pour countless hours into looking for new properties and then contacting owners and agents before you can finalize a transaction.

Having a healthy income and investment plan should certainly include real estate ownership. I personally own both commercial and residential real estate, but I remain realistic about my goals. I don’t think that no money down transactions are good for beginners. There are dozens of effective ways to make money both online and off. Building up a cash flow will make future transactions easier to conduct. Later on you will be able to consider becoming a landlord or making additional investments.

UPDATED - May 2008

The sub-prime mortgage crunch has had a significant negative impact on the real estate market in the United States. If you’re motivated, you’ll have no problem finding a real estate transaction amongst the thousands that are currently pending. Carleton Sheets methods might be helpful in the current market.

After examining and testing hundreds of money-making opportunities and work at home programs, ONLY ONE brought in a paycheck that covered all my monthly expenses.
Click here to go to this website.

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The Latest Forex Testimonials We Received

May 10th, 2008

Averaging 250 to 350 pips per week: “The pivot numbers are very effective. I can pick the high and low for the day extremely accurately, and therefore trade the range very effectively. In fact, I refuse to believe it is this straight forward. I simply find it difficult to believe what is happening in terms of how this helps you to gauge price movement. Since you have been training me upon purchasing your program over six weeks ago, I have been averaging 250 to 350 pips per week simply by adopting your strategies.” - Rod Brown, Australia Averaging 30 pips per day: “I have to thank you for the forex training. I know for me it’s still early days, but I’m averaging 30 pips a day since studying Pivot Points (67% trade win ratio and improving). I trade the GBP/USD pair and so far you Pivot Points have been deadly accurate (3 days in a row). It only missed M1 once by about 15 pips I think, but what’s 15 pips! Your system has paved & lighted my forex trading path & turned my dumb money into smart money.” - Andre, South AfricaEarned back money in 2 weeks: “It has been one month since I purchased the course material. I have already earned back the money spent for this in 2 weeks. It’s really a great offer. Thanks Peter. Most importantly, I have built up my confidence in trading the FX using your method. It’s amazing how the price react to those pivot points. I’m really excited about it. You’re great mentor as you response to my questions within the same day. I really appreciate that.” - Jenny Wong, Hong Kong

Trading improved ten fold: “I just wanted to tell you how pleased I am after finding your course and AM Review. I have been trading the Forex market for almost two years. After foolishly spending thousands in my first year trying to learn how to trade currencies. I found your material, and now my trading has improved ten fold since ordering your material and listening to the AM Review on a daily basis. Your system has changed my trading from consistently losing to consistently winning in a short period of time…” - Tom Schwartz, Scottsdale, AZ

Accurate trading methods: “Peter Bain’s forex training course is nothing short of awesome. The pivot point trading method is analogous to a precision guidance system. It amazes me time and time again, the way prices adhere to these pivot numbers. Just wait for the signals in and around the pivot points, pull the trigger and let it rip! This is by far, one of the best reading investments I have ever made.” - Mark Johnson, Atlanta, GE

More info at: http://www.secureonlineinvest.com

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Viral Marketing Made Simple

May 9th, 2008

Viral marketing is an internet marketing strategy that is commonly used to quickly spread information about a product, service, or website to as many people as possible in a short period of time. Viral marketing is similar to word of mouth marketing in that information is usually passed from one person to another.Conducting a viral marketing campaign on the Internet is a little bit different than offline marketing. The idea is to develop a creative marketing campaign that will drive as much traffic to a website as possible. The marketing campaign has to gain the attention of readers and viewers, encouraging them to then pass on the links to your website to more people. The result is a snowball effect, generating tons of unique visitors to your site.

Viral email marketing is one of the most common campaigns you’ll see. A company will offer a special deal or incentive and then encourage the reader to forward the same email on to others who may be interested. Everyone wants to find great discounts, take advantage of free services, or read funny stories, so viral email campaigns generally take off very quickly.

You may have been exposed to other viral marketing campaigns, as they are known by other names. For example, they have been commonly referred to as word of mouth, leveraging the media, network marketing, or simply creating a buzz. The campaign must be engaging but simple enough for anyone to participate in. Leaving links on websites makes it easy for those who do visit your website to send your link to even people.

The viral marketing campaign you set up must have a clear purpose. As long as you are offering a product or service that your readers perceive as valuable, you’ll have no problem getting the word out to thousands of people.

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Brian Tracy University Reviewed

May 3rd, 2008

The president of Brian Tracy International, Brian Tracy, developed his own online education program known as Brian Tracy University. The classes offered at the online university focus on helping individuals to develop their professional skills in order to enhance their job performances.

Brian Tracy has spent years working closely with corporations and his personal experiences add a lot to the programs offered throughout the program. He has worked in a variety of fields and spent time as the COO of a $265 million dollar corporation.

Brian Tracy’s company has given him the opportunity to work with some of our nation’s largest corporations. These companies always report increases in employee productivity, better management, and increased revenues after employees participate in his programs. The knowledge and experience Brian brings to his business is in part responsible for the success of his university programs.

The university was first known as the Institute for Executive Development, which was first launched in 1981. The company grew into a successful corporation on it’s own, after which Brian merged it with Brian Tracy International.

Brian Tracy University has grown increasingly successful over the past few years, grossing over $500,000,000 in sales. The products and courses have led the school to be known as one of the best learning institutions available. Brian Tracy works hard to ensure that the university is always using the most up to date technology.

All of the courses taught at the Brian Tracy University focus on teaching real skills that employees can immediately implement on the job. Most of the ideas taught focus on successful sales and entrepreneurial skills while others focus primarily on management skills.

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Marketing in Your Underwear is Nonsense!

April 29th, 2008

Perhaps if you’ve been living on another planet, or if you had the misfortune of being required to “take the short bus to school,” then the Jeff Paul “system” might be attractive to you. Otherwise, all Jeff Paul is selling in his $29.95 “Making Money in your Underwear” package are simple marketing ideas that one might find any high school level course about business. At the risk of sounding like an educated snob, I have to remark that the overwhelming number of grammatical mistakes and typos in each of his “books” (each is approximately 50 pages in total length) exponentially increases my dissatisfaction and skepticism.

Some of the “books” that come with the package are nothing more than directories of direct-mail fulfillment companies, mailing list companies, and other reference material that could easily be obtained at a local library or perhaps the internet. A frequently used term in much of the texts is “secret-this” or “secret-that.” I have become so skeptical of the use of the word “secret” in biz-op programs, and Jeff Paul liberally applies the word to everything (how secret can it be if the concept is being shared with me and every other paying customer).

Another ploy that Jeff uses, but is also shared by so many other biz-op programs, is the emotional appeal that is created by stories of how his “secrets” have allowed him to spend most of his time fishing, boating, being with children, etc. These types of emotional hot-buttons are spread throughout the texts, where more ‘meat’ and substance should prevail instead. However, it is these dreamy stories of success and “making (easy) money in your underwear” that sell the package to desparate people yearning for any sort of method to escape an otherwise dismal experience of life.

This is pure crack for the biz-op addict dreaming of easy returns with little effort. On the positive side, I will likely incorporate tidbits from his texts, here and there in my current business. However, isn’t that the way life is anyhow? Don’t we all take ideas from many different sources, that which we can utilize, and leave the rest? Unfortunately, for those who are looking for, or are too stupid to create on their own, a complete, turn-key business plan, one will not find it in this package from Jeff Paul. Fortunately, I only spent $29.95. I feel very sorry for those who have been taken for so much more.

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The Smart Way to Make Money Online

April 28th, 2008

Site Build It

Developed by Ken Evoy, Site Build It was designed to help everyday individuals learn to design and publish their own websites. Site Build It is different from most other website building programs because the system teaches individuals how to take the websites they develop and turn them into substantial business ventures.

Site Build It focuses strongly on positive customer service by providing as much individualized attention as you need in order to get your site off the ground. All you need to have in order to get started is an idea. Site Build It will provide the web knowledge you need to turn your idea into a reality.

The representatives at Site Build It can still help, even if you haven’t thought of the perfect business plan. You’ll learn how to find the right business by brainstorming and researching your ideas first. You’ll then learn how to design and build your website with proper SEO and marketing strategies.

Site Build It can help you to develop several different types of online businesses. You can create AdSense sites, online stores, and affiliate marketing websites. The system uses point and click or drag and drop features to allow you to add customized features to your website, including blogs and newsletters.

The program itself combines services you might normally purchase separately from several different sources into one powerful marketing tool. This program is excellent for anyone new to the internet and web development. The site you end up will be as professional as one that has been on the web for years.

Unlike many other companies, Site Build It is willing to share real life case studies as examples of the work they have done. I have personally met people who went to Site Build It with nothing but a basic seed for an idea. SBI was able to help them match their interests with targeted niches and then move on to build successful businesses and websites.

Site Build It is not meant to be a get rich quick scheme or money making program. This program is great for someone who wants to work hard but doesn’t have all of the necessary technical skills needed to succeed. You will still have to put a lot of hard work into making your business a success, but you won’t have to waste time designing a website on your own before you can get started.

More info at: http://videotour.sitesell.com/incomesolution1.html

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