BJM Free Press |

HOW TO TURN YOUR COMPUTER INTO A MONEY-MAKING BATTLEAXE! (Part 2 of 2)

Part 1

The first part of “HOW TO TURN YOUR COMPUTER INTO A MONEY-MAKING BATTLEAXE! (1 of 2)” was published last Friday.

WHY DO PEOPLE BUY INFORMATION?

An important thing to keep in mind is that every single person who buys an information product does it for one of two reasons: to avoid a pain, or to find a pleasure. Sometimes the reason they bought the product could be both. For example, why did you buy this issue (or subscription)? Did you want to learn ways to make extra money? That’s finding a pleasure. Or, did you want independence from working for someone else for the rest of your life? That’s avoiding a pain. Use this fact as a guide that will help you attack an information subject from the proper angle. Show your target market how to find the pleasure or avoid the pain, and they will buy.

How do you find information on a subject you’re writing about? There are many ways. Your local library can provide most of the information you’ll need. You can interview experts on the subject, either in person, or through the mail or phone. Write to groups and associations connected with the subject. Whatever you do, though, DON’T just copy the information you find. This will more than likely violate copyright rules.

DON’T WANT TO WRITE?

If you still don’t feel like you can successfully write an information product, or just don’t want to, there is still a way you can get a successful start in this business. What you need to do is find information that is either PUBLIC DOMAIN or includes REPRINT RIGHTS.

Public domain means no one controls the copyright. Either it is older material that never had the copyright renewed, or it was released free of copyright to the public. One excellent source of copyright-free material on a myriad of subjects is the U.S. Government Printing Office. If you want some information on a certain subject, or want to get on their mailing list, write:

Superintendent of Documents
Government Printing Office
Washington, DC 20402

The best type of material to look for, though, is information products that include reprint rights. In other words, when you buy the product, you also buy the right to reproduce it and resell it. Many times, a sales flyer or advertisement is included, with a spot left open for your name and address, so you can immediately start making a profit. This is a secret of the business that has been kept our of the general public eye. You can find droves of material like this mostly from mail order dealers who specialize in informational products. Everything from single page reports to full books are available. Besides being great for starting out, reprintable materials are also fantastic as add-ons to your own line of products. That’s what I do, and it works great!

When you purchase an information package including reprint rights, the smart thing to do is type the material into your word processor, and save it to your hard disk. That way, when you receive an order, all you need to do is print out a copy.

A breakthrough in the reprint rights business has been the emergence of reprintable material already on disk. Most of the products are contained in ASCII text files, which can be loaded by almost any word processor. Some of the disks even contain menu and printing programs, so your word processor isn’t required. I have an excellent product like this available, called the INFO-DISK Business Report System, which contains over 120 reports that you can print out and sell. The package includes personalized flyers and ads, so you can get started right away. I’ll tell you more about this later… back to the information!

By the way, you don’t have to limit yourself to the printed page. Information can be published on audio cassette, computer disk, video tape, use your imagination! If you’re writing about how to refurbish old bicycles make a video! You can do it with a regular home video camera, with some practice. Or, create your product on audio tape. This can be as simple as reading your printed info-product into a tape recorder. Thus, your customer can listen and learn while driving, riding a bike, or whatever.

Whatever publishing method you use, be sure to copyright your original material (even if you’re creating a product that will be sold with reprint rights - you still own the copyright, you just give certain people the right to reprint your work). This can be done easily and with no expense by putting a copyright notice on your product, such as this: Copyright 1993, Pat Flanagan Publishing & Design. Either spell out “Copyright” or use the official copyright symbol (the letter “c” with a circle around it). Don’t use (c), as this is not legally acceptable. If you have put together valuable information that people may want to copy, you can officially register your copyright. Call the U.S. Copyright Office at (202) 287-9100, and they will send an application form, along with full instructions.

MARKETING YOUR INFO-PRODUCT

I’ve written a lot about marketing in many of the articles in my own and other publications. All of the methods I’ve discussed are applicable for info-products. For example, read the report on this disk titled “Power marketing with your Modem” for some good low cost publicity methods.

The most important marketing methods you can use are press releases (send them frequently); reviewers (get your product to as many of them as you can); articles/columns (offer to write articles on your subjects for publications free of charge - as long as they include a short paragraph you supply that contains your name and address, and a short description of how readers can benefit from you and your products); and, of course advertising.

When advertising, the best method to use is the two-step. That’s not a dance; it’s advertising that asks for inquiries instead of selling the product outright. People write for more information, and you send them a ton of info on your products and services. This is what draws the order. It’s much less expensive, easier, and produces better results than a bunch of expensive ads which will send you to the poorhouse if they don’t pull.

There are many ways to cut your mail order ad expenses. You can use expanding classified ads (your classified ad gives a “teaser” message with a phone number - callers get an answering machine that delivers a 2-3 minute sales message, and takes credit card or COD orders); you can use print & mail dealers (they will print and mail your flyers or ads by bulk mail to large numbers of people - usually opportunity seekers - for much cheaper than if you tried to do it yourself); you can advertise electronically on computer Bulletin Board Systems; you can create your own ad sheets (your ad takes up part of a sheet or sheets of paper, and you sell the rest of the space to pay your ad’s way - this is a business in and of itself); and you can set up your own advertising agency (most large magazines and newspapers give agencies a 15% discount and an additional 2% discount if paying in advance - create a new business name with new letterhead to do this).

IMPORTANT RULES TO FOLLOW FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS

Guarantee your products - Offer a money back guarantee on your products. If you feel uneasy doing this, maybe your product isn’t as good as it could be. If you are proud and confident about what you’ve created, you shouldn’t have any qualms about doing this. A guarantee will boost your sales by building customer confidence.

Always be good-natured with your customers, even when they complain - If you’re surly with your customers, they’ll tell others not to do business with you. Enough said.

Keep your ears and eyes open - Watch what others in your field are doing. If you see a company that has come up with a good idea, think about how to adapt it to your own business.

Walk a straight path - Be honest, pay your taxes, be ethical, etc. You’ll sleep much better at night.

Don’t be afraid to admit your mistakes or failures - You won’t hit a home run every time you go to bat. If you create a product that doesn’t sell, don’t run your business into the ground trying to get it to sell. Drop it and move on. Keep plugging away, because mail order is a “get-rich-slow” business when done right.

Share your knowledge - Once you’re good at this business, help others get in. Teach a beginner what you’ve learned. This is called mentoring, and I feel it’s an important concept. It helps you stay in touch with your business, and helps the home business and small business industries grow and advance.

Above all, HAVE FUN! - Why work so hard to get into your own business if you don’t even like it? Take things lightly, and have a bit of fun. Self-publishing can be a very rewarding, relaxing and fun business. Stay at home with the family, work a few hours a day, and enjoy what you’ve accomplished.

CONCLUSION

Self-publishing your own info-products can be done by anyone who’s willing to apply themselves and reach past their limits. It’s not as hard or expensive as you think. Start small, with a few short reports, and work your way up. Look at me - I’ve publish a newsletter, a book, this disk, and literally hundreds of info-products, all from an office in my home. If I can, you can too!

Part 1

The first part of “HOW TO TURN YOUR COMPUTER INTO A MONEY-MAKING BATTLEAXE! (1 of 2)” was published last Friday.

HOW TO TURN YOUR COMPUTER INTO A MONEY-MAKING BATTLEAXE! (Part 1 of 2)

Why did you buy your computer? Did you buy it to play games? Fair enough. Did you buy it to help you keep track of your current business? Good answer, too. Not sure why you bought it? That’s okay. That probably describes most people.

Here’s something you should know… your computer is an important tool that can springboard you into a very high-profit business! How high? 1000% profits good enough for you? If not, you’re too greedy, but if that sounds good to you, read this report. You’ll learn how you can start a highly profitable business creating and selling INFORMATION PRODUCTS with your computer.

Selling information is, in my opinion, THE best business. Why? Well, there are a number of reasons. Among them,

• It’s easy and inexpensive to start
• It’s easy and inexpensive to run on an ongoing basis
• It can be run in spare time or full time
• Anyone, young or old, male or female can do it
• It can be run from the home
• It can have incredibly high profits
• There’s no need to tie up a bunch of money in inventory

A very important aspect of this business is that people will ALWAYS want information. It’s not a business based on trends or fads (unless you’re writing about them), and competition isn’t as big a factor as in other businesses. There may be other people writing about the same subjects as you, but there will always be many angles and approaches that can be taken toward the same subject. This will make your information product unique.

There is no limit to the types of subjects that can successfully be sold. People will always want to know: ways they can make or save money; information about hobbies they either are involved in or want to start; travel tips and techniques; how-to information about various trades and businesses; and much more. The secret to doing this successfully is called TARGETING.

Targeting means that you are producing specialized information that will appeal to a specific group of people. To paraphrase an old adage, if you try to be all things to all people, you won’t succeed. But, if you try to be a certain thing for a certain group, you WILL succeed.

The trend that has shaped and reshaped this business, more than any other, has been the explosion of direct mail marketing. People are buying more and more by mail, and it seems like each year doubles the previous year. The great thing about direct mail marketing is that there are many ways you can isolate a specific group of people and market directly to that group.

To put this another way, if you put an ad in a newspaper that has a circulation of 25,000, maybe only 5,000, or even 1,000 or less, will be interested in what you have to offer. However, if you put your ad in a publication that has a circulation of 25,000 people interested in fishing, you’ve just targeted a group that will be interested in what you have to offer (as long as your offer has to do with fishing). The more you narrow down your target group to the exact people who will be interested in your information products, the more success you will see. This is targeting.

So how does your computer help you in this business? Well, besides the obvious uses of keeping your customer list and organizing your accounting needs, your computer can completely eliminate the need for inventory. That’s right! Create your info-products with your word processing program, and you can print them out whenever you need them, however many you need. That way, you don’t tie up a lot of money in printing and storage, plus, if you happen to create an info-product that DOESN’T sell (everyone does - just ask me!), you don’t get stuck with a bunch of product you can’t sell.

Also, the computer makes it easier to create these products. You say you can’t write? Well, don’t get scared away. You don’t have to be Tolstoy in this business. Here’s the secret: WHEN YOU WRITE SOMETHING, PRETEND YOU’RE TALKING TO A FRIEND! MAKE IT LIKE A CONVERSATION, AND IT WILL BE EASY TO WRITE, AND EASY TO READ. That’s exactly how I write. I do all my writing just like I’m sitting across the table from a friend of mine, or writing a friendly letter. Too many people churn out stilted, boring, college professor-type writing, thinking it sounds “high-minded” or “educated.” It’s just hard to read, that’s all. Conversational writing is the best, and the computer makes it easy. If you can type with any reasonable speed, you can type faster and longer than you could write, without getting tired.

PICKING YOUR SUBJECTS

What to write about? Make a list of everything you know. I know, that can be easier said than done. You may think you don’t know enough about much of anything to write about, but that’s not true. All of your hobbies, interests, work experiences, etc. can be great starting points.

Don’t worry about how much information you can pull out of a subject. Info-products aren’t all 200 page books. Successful information products have ranges from large books all the way down to single page reports! A three page report that costs less than 50 cents to print out and send can be sold for $5. What percent profit is that?

Pick a subject from your list that you think would interest a good number of people. Now, list the possible questions you could answer. The best way to organize them for an info-product is usually the “problem-solution” method, where you state the problem or question, then give the solution or answer. Now, talk to your imaginary friend! Tell him or her story. If it helps, talk out loud into a tape recorder! Then, type it with your word processor. You’ve just created your first info-product!

Another, more powerful way to create an information product is to find a market that is hungry for information, then research and write products that will feed this hunger. If you know the market is already there, then half your work is done for you!

How do you go about finding these markets? By doing a little creative research. The simplest method is to go to your library, and get at least eight consecutive months or more of magazines that have large classified and mail order ad sections. Look through the ads and find the ones that keep appearing in each issue. These ads are obviously drawing orders, or else they wouldn’t keep running. Make a list of the subjects of these ads. These will be some good markets to explore. And don’t worry about the competition! Offer these markets something different and better, and you’ll find success.

Part 2

The second and final part of “HOW TO TURN YOUR COMPUTER INTO A MONEY-MAKING BATTLEAXE! (2 of 2)” will be available next Monday.

A REAL LIST OF MAIL ORDER BUSINESSES TO CONTACT

Before you spend any money. Before you believe all the lies out there on the market — here are a few people you can contact that are honest and trustworthy folks in the mail order industry. Their names and addresses are current at the time of this writing, but since this report carries reprint rights, you could be reading it for the first time many months or years into the future. Therefore, you need to keep in mind that people move, lives change, businesses close and people die. However, since these people have already been in business a few years and become established — they or a relative should still be operating the business when you contact them.

Here’s how to contact them, write a letter that says something to the effect:

“I saw your name and address on a mail order report that recommends you as an honest business. I am enclosing two first-class postage stamps. Please send me updated information and prices on the products and services you currently offer. Thanks. (Your name and complete address.)”

Respected Mail Order Dealers

• J. Stewart Caverly, 216 McLean St, Wilkes Barre PA 18702
• Herman Holtz, PO Box 1731, Wheaton MD 20915
• Graphico Publishing, PO Box 488, Bluff City TN 37618
• Valentine’s Printing, 870 Bender Ave, Galion OH 44833
• Don Harris, PO Box 1052, Oviedo FL 32765
• Broadway Publication, 7546 Palm Rd, W Palm Beach FL 33406
• M.T.B. & Associates, 1482 Clairville Rd, Oshkosh WI 54904
• Ken Weiand, PO Box 624, Cherokee Village AR 72525
• Margaret Lucas, 1006 Runion Ave, Fort Wayne IN 46808
• Harland DeGroot, 2765-H Jefferson, Springfield IL 62702
• William Lee, Rt 1, Box 10790, Madisonville TN 37354
• David Dye, PO Box 1002, Battle Creek MI 49016
• Willie Damel, 25 Clifton Ave D-1508, Newark NJ 07104
• Robyn Hormel, 4615 Takilma Rd, Cave Junction OR 97523
• Gloria Rivers, 5308 NE 49th Ave, Vancouver WA 98661
• Mail Order Messenger, PO Box 358, Middleton TN 38052
• Gary Davis, PO Box 80, Foyil OK 74031
• Kathy Mathews, PO Box 8125, Fort Collins CO 80526
• Willie Mae Brehm, 1422 S Lake Pleasant Rd, Apopka FL 32703
• Gold Service, PO Box 508, Duarte CA 91009
• Joe Reinbold, PO Box 424, Morganville NJ 07751
• Glenn Bridgeman, PO Box 10150, Terra Bella CA 93270
• Tropics West, 130 E Main St #315, Medford OR 97501
• JRS Printing, PO Box 2508, Calcutta OH 43920
• Tom Leash, 64 W Main St, Dallastown PA 17313
• C.J. Nelson, 1825 Domanik Dr, Racine Wi 53404
• William Thrailkill, 4811-16th Ave, Chattanooga TN 37407
• George Norr, PO Box 70268, Salt Lake City UT 84170
• Gregory Bey, 1324« Lincoln Ave, Pittsburgh PA 15206
• Frank Novak, 3857 Heppner Dr, Chippewa Falls WI 54729
• Gail Lamothe, PO Box 46, Derby VT 05829
• Dale Rolland, 2045 Deer Trail, Floresville TX 78114
• Charlie Mims, 316 Hill St, Rochelle Ga 31079
• Ray Benbenek, 1151 Sonora Ave #118, Glendale CA 91201
• Bill Kern, 6460-65 Convoy Ct, San Diego CA 92117
• Edward Canty, 4828 Zorich Dr, Charlotte NC 27533
• Hamilton Plummer, PO Box 7768, Washington DC 20044
• Maynard Hawkins, PO Box 3403, Wichita Falls TX 76301
• Betty Culpepper, 3082 New Franklin Rd, LaGrange GA 30240
• Roy Beasley, PO Box 3087, Jekyll Island GA 31527
• Carl O’Shea, PO Box 700, Baldwin Park CA 91706
• Scott Covert, 24650 Eglinton Ave E #303, Scarborough, Ontario Canada M1K 5J7
• Don Smith, PO Box 7600, Newark DE 19714
• Chris Nelson, PO Box 745, Bloomington IL 61702

HOW TO ANALYZE A RIP-OFF SCHEME

This review is taken DIRECTLY from a piece of “junk mail.” It is for the program that starts out with the heading: “Before You Decide To Throw This Away, Please Read The Enclosed At Least Once — Then Decide. This is Not a Chain Letter! I Threw The Program in The Trash.”

The first paragraph reads: “I had received this program before and threw it away, but later I wondered if I shouldn’t have given it a try. Of course, I had no idea who to contact to get a copy, so I had to wait until I was mailed another copy of the program — eleven months passed, then it came. I DIDN’T throw this one away. I made $41,000 on the first try!!” Signed by D. Wilburn, Muncie IN

In order to get your attention quick, Mr. or Ms. Wilburn shares their experience of making the mistake of throwing the letter away. A normal person will say to themselves: “I don’t want to make the same mistake Wilburn did. He had to wait another 11 months before he had the chance, so I better really read this thing.” But in reality you’ll find out that this piece of garbage has been floating around for years and if you miss this copy, you’ll get another one tomorrow or the day after.

The next thing you see is a bold headline reading: “You are about to make at least $50,000 in less than 90 days — in the comfort of your own home. Read the enclosed program, and then read it again.” The average person is skeptical but the idea of money has been planted in your mind right up front. This will cause you to read a little while longer.

The rest of the page is completely filled with hype — informing you everything is LEGITIMATE and LEGAL. (We all want to be legitimate and legal don’t we?) Claims are made that the program works 100% every time and how thousands have used the program to raise capital to start their own business, pay off debts, homes, cars, etc., and even retire. You can ALWAYS recognize a scam because your emotions are appealed to in a big way. Think about it — doesn’t everyone on the planet earth want money to start a business? Pay off debts? Have homes, cars, etc.? Would anyone turn this offer away? NO! That’s what makes it so easy to recognize these scams — they appeal to everybody and do nothing! Your emotions are cruelly played with!

Okay, let’s move on. Frank T of Bel Air MD relates his personal testimonial at the top of Page 2. Try to look in the phone book and find either D Wilburn or Frank T. Notice how only a partial part of their names and addresses are ALWAYS presented. This is so nobody can find them. But why bother? They don’t exist!

The instructions are presented on the rest of Page 2. They consist of precise directions for ordering four reports, paying $5 cash for each one and moving the names around on the list. This is a typical chain letter and they don’t work because 99.9% of everyone receiving it replaces their name and members of their family with the people listed.

These instructions are completely stupid. They make you go through a bunch of bull just to make you believe you are doing something worthwhile. Actually — all they’re doing is selling you some worthless reports — which you may or may not ever receive.

Page 3 instructs you to get a mailing list to mail the letter you are reading to. Of course, when you order the reports, you will get information on where to purchase this mailing list. Don’t you see that these people only care about selling you a mailing list? They could care less if you get a response or not because they made their money from you purchasing their bunch of worthless names and addresses. In fact, you are even told to get names and addresses from your phone book. Come on! This is the ABSOLUTE WORST way to sell anything simply because you have no idea what these people are interested in. Even if you sold a real product, let’s say: baby-sitting services — you wouldn’t sit down and advertise it by writing letters to everyone in the phone book. Instead, you’d place an ad in the paper and have people only interested in baby-sitting contact you.

Now comes the guarantee. It says: “The check point which guarantees your success is simply this: you must receive 15-20 orders for Report 1. This is a must. If you don’t within 2 weeks, send out more programs until you do. Then, a couple weeks later, you should receive at least 100 orders for Report 2.” Notice the word “should.” The fact is, you could mail until the day the Lord comes back and you’ll NEVER get 15-20 orders. You’d be lucky to get even one. Believe me — 1,000’s of people have put the chain letter theory to a variety of tests and actually given it every chance in the world to make money. None have ever worked.

Now, here’s the hype that really gets most people. Here it is reprinted in its entirety: “Let’s say you decide to start small, just to see how it goes, and we will assume you and all those involved send out only 200 programs each. Let’s also assume that the mailing receives a 5% response. Using a good list, the response could be much better. Also, many people will send out thousands of programs instead of 200! But, continuing with this example, you send out 200 programs. With a 5% response, that is, 10 orders for Report 1 (ten people responded by sending out 200 programs each) for a total of 2,000. The 5% response that brings 100 orders for report 2. Those mail out 200 programs for a total of 20,000. The 5% response to those is 1,000 orders for Report 3. The 1,000 send out 200,000 total and the 5% response to that is 10,000 orders for Report 4 (10,000 $5 for you.) Your total income in this example is $50 + $550 + $5,000 + $50,000 + $55,550. Remember friend, this is assuming that 95 out of 100 people you mail to will do absolutely nothing and trash this program. Dare to think what would happen if everyone sent out 1,000 programs instead of only 200? Believe it; many people will do that and more. By the way, at current prices, your cost to send out 200 programs is less than $100. The participation fee is ridiculously low when you consider what you stand to gain! Consider your self fortunate to be invited to participate in an exclusive program that really works. Have faith. Think positively, Keep in mind that your investment is minimal and its easy money invested in you.”

Give me a break! What a bunch of lies. Anybody that reads this and really believes it can work must also believe that Snow White really lives in the forest with the 7 dwarfs.

The truth of the matter is that it really would work if everyone did what they were supposed to do — but they won’t. I’ll prove it. Go to a place where there are a lot of people (like a mall.) Walk up to the first person you meet and ask them to give you a $5 bill. In return for their $5, they will get $50,000 if they will just find 10,000 other people to give them $5 by promising them the same thing. How many people do you think will take you up on your offer? If you do find one person to do it they will either be mentally retarded or hard of hearing. So if you couldn’t work the program in person, what makes you think it will work through the mail with people who have no idea who you are? The truth is — it doesn’t work. It NEVER will!

Page 4 tells you all about these four wonderful reports you will be purchasing. Their titles are beautiful: “How to Make $250,000 Through Multi-Level Order Sales” and “Sources For The Best Mailing List.” I’m sure we all can’t wait to order them right away.

Page 5 is a personal note from the originator of the program — Edward L. Green. He doesn’t have a city and state beside his name. Why, because his full name is used. (Remember, they don’t want you to try and find these people.) A real testimonial would be proud to give you the full name, full address and phone number of the individual so you could get in touch with them to find out more about the program. Anyone hiding so that you can’t call them up or write to them directly is a scam artist. No doubt about it!

Edward L Green tells you about how poor he was in 1979. He also says that he will never see a penny of your money. He has already made $4 million and wants to retire. Give me a break. If you made $4 million wouldn’t you want $5 million or $10 million or $20 million? Why stop at a measly $4 million when you could star on the Lifestyles of The Rich and Famous and be interviewed by Robin Leach? $4 million is chicken feed if something really worked to bring in this amount of money!

Amazingly though, on Page 6, Johnson Distributing gives a real name and address. But try to get a phone number on them with an address of “PO Box 7, SAFB IL 42225-0007.” It doesn’t exist!

Page 7 and 8 contain letters from Chris Johnson, Paul Johnson, A. Zurki, Carl Winslow, A.S. Jalosyk, Bill Nelson, J.T. Adams, Charles Fairchild, Tommy Jayhet and Mary Rockland. They all tell you some hard luck story about how this program changed their life. Again — try to contact them. If you live in Waco TX, try and find Tommy Jayhet and see what he has to say about all this.

Do you get the picture yet? Almost all scams follow this same general theme. Don’t get taken!

HOW TO AVOID FRAUDS, SCHEMES AND RIP-OFFS

The poor newcomer to mail order is often dealt the hardest blow. Unsuspecting people who know nothing about the business world and how to recognize cons are often taken for thousands of dollars. People who never have worked outside the home or confined to a wheel-chair at home are not out in the world enough to recognize all the con artists. They might hear about them on television, but it’s hard to believe people like that exist.

This same type of person will see an advertisement claiming to bring them financial rewards. They need the extra money desperately. Besides, the ads make everything sound so easy:

• “Make $1 million from a single sheet of paper”.
• “Stuff envelopes at home and make $5 each”.
• “Home workers needed now, limited time offer”.
• “Only $9.95 to get you started in an easy business at home”.

The sad part is that these people can’t afford to be ripped-off because they have low incomes or exist on a meager pension. The only person making any money with this junk is the person you send your money to. It’s a sad situation.

However, there are ways to avoid being ripped-off and it doesn’t cost more than a few cents. Here they are:

1. Before sending more than $1 away for anything that interests you — WRITE the company a letter asking for more information. If they don’t respond to you, they don’t want your business and you are better off without them.
2. Never order anything unless you fully understand EXACTLY what it is you are ordering. Ads claiming to explain the “secret” only after you send in $14.95 are worthless. Anyone with a legitimate product to sell can easily explain what the product is and be proud about doing so. They have nothing to hide and are eager to share the concept before you throw down your money.
3. Since you read mail order tabloids and adsheets, write to some of the publishers or people who have been in business awhile. Ask them for their advice about a specific money-making opportunity. (Just be sure to send a first-class postage stamp or LSASE [long, self-addressed stamped envelope] as a courtesy for their reply and time.) Write several letters. Some people may not answer and some people may. The people that take the time to answer you will probably be good dealers that will introduce you to other people like themselves.
4. Join a mail order organization to be protected against all the con artists. Some long-running, substantial organizations are: The Once-A-Month Association, Chuck Rollason, PO Box 370, Dauphin PA 17018 and The Inner Circle, Dale Rolland, 2045 Deer Trail, Floresville TX 78114 but there are many other good ones out there.
5. Just because someone makes a lot of promises doesn’t mean they are telling the truth. The only way you know they are telling the truth is by practicing what they preach and succeeding with the same advice they are giving you. Ask the guy who claims to help you make $1 million within 30 days if he personally did it? If not — it’s a scam.

It’s amazing that people will actually spend $1,000’s of dollars without knowing what it is they are ordering. They are nickel-and-dimed into buying a report, then a manual, then a book; and still won’t know nothing more than the day they answered the original ad.

Then some people get caught in a “Catch 22.” They buy a program for $50, follow the instructions by sinking another $1,000 into other materials or stock and then are stuck trying to sell the stuff. So as to not lose their investment, they will try their best to at least make their money back and go down the tubes trying to do it. This is a sad situation.

But if you do get ripped-off and you have wrote to the company trying to get your money back, and they refuse — take action. GET ANGRY. Tell them you are NOT going to take their abuse. Don’t threaten that your attorney will be contacting them. Instead tell them that you are going to place PAID advertisements in the SAME publications they are advertising in, telling other people what they did to you. Also tell them you are going to write to every mail order publication too and expose them through national advertising. The printed word is much stronger than you think and can do wonders to help you get your money back.

Then, next time — follow the procedures outlined in this report and avoid the thieves!