First of all, I want to remind you about this week’s “Weekend Super Deal” from David Allen.

David has packaged together a load of high-quality information products and is offering Private Label Rights on all of them. This means that you can edit them in any way you like to form your own products. Perfect if you are struggling for something to sell.

Check it out here:

http://www.WeekendSuperDeal.com/latestdeal.php

And don’t forget, the doors close on Sunday so be quick and grab it now whilst it’s still available!

Out-tasking - it works!

A few weeks ago a friend came to me asking for help in setting up a website for his wife’s new business.

I’m pretty good with HTML so I didn’t think it would be a problem but what I found was that I am no designer. I was always pretty poor in art class at school and nothing has changed.

Anyway, the project stalled for a few weeks whilst I tried to sort out a good design which matched my friend’s requirements.

Eventually I admitted defeat and decided to out-task the job.

So, I went over to RentACoder.com and submitted a “bid request”.

What this means is that I posted a listing which described my requirements (design and building of a 12 page html website) and then this was listed on the site where web design experts could compete for the work.

As it happens I got 26 bids on my work - in the first 24 hours. After that I think my job dropped down the list and so didn’t receive any more bids.

The lowest bid that was submitted was $50 and the highest $650!

I got bids from the UK, US, Romania, Pakistan, Egypt, India, Sri Lanka and Cambodia.

Now, what you will find when you start to deal with sites like RAC is that people will just bid on your work without reading your requirements. They simply bid on every job they see to try and snare one or two people - almost like spamming.

What I found is that if you include a little bit of text in the description box of your bid request, you can suss out who actually read your request properly and who didn’t.

Obviously, anyone who didn’t should not be considered for the task because they may not be suited.

Here’s the text I used to stop the “spammers”:

“Please ensure that you add the keyphrase ‘BUTTERFLY’ in all messages you send to me.”

Now, as was looking through the bid requests I simply ignored any which did not mention that specific word in the message.

Straight away, then and there, I knew if that bidder understood the job I needed doing.

I can’t take credit for that little trick as it is something Mike Filsaime mentioned somewhere but it is a technique that I always use.

As for the site, it was done and finished in a little over 5 days. Brilliant work by the coder and my friend was happy.

Out-tasking works and I highly recommend you use it whenever you get stuck or whenever a project requires some work that is outside of your skill-base.

Yes, it costs money to use an out-tasker but in the end it saves a lot of time…

The Brit Pack Live Seminar, October

I recently spent 3 days down in Coventry to attend Robert Puddy’s internet marketing seminar.

What a great weekend!

Over the 3 days, Bob packed in 9 expert speakers, a load of ‘hot seat’ sessions and several ‘Ask the Expert’ free-for-alls.

The speakers were excellent even though I must admit that I hadn’t heard of half of them prior to the seminar. Just goes to show that some of the real big guns stay in the background.

There were only about 70 attendees and it made for a superb networking event with everybody coming down to the hotel bar each day after the presentations.

Unfortunately, I completely missed the Sunday morning presentations due to a ridiculously late Saturday night ‘networking’ session.

A large group of us were still propping the bar up at 6.30am Sunday morning.

Again I have to say that you really should consider attending next year. Everybody was raving about the weekend and I came away motivated and raring to go.

The next one is next October so I will be mentioning it nearer the time.

I’ve already booked my ticket.

Global Pension Plan

Some time ago I mentioned this particular “program” in a newsletter as it had been creating quite a stir.

In response to several requests, I wrote my personal thoughts on this so-called reverse pension plan on the main BizOppsUK site. You can read that report here:

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

Apparently the plan has now finished recruiting new members - it claims to have the 100,000 members it needs and so it can now, in theory, pay out the vast fortunes it has been promising to members.

I’m still very sceptical but I suppose we will have to wait and see what happens.

My guess is that the people behind this scheme will continue to provide excuses as to why no-one has been paid until one day the site goes offline and never reappears.

The blog has been very busy with people posting their opinions on this one. In fact, as I write, it is easily the most commented-on post on the BizOppsBlog by far with 49 comments.

You can read all the comments here:

Global Pension Plan - Do Your “Due Diligence”

Feel free to provide your opinion on this one. With 100k members (or maybe even more), a lot of people have a huge interest in what happens.

The Lazy Lay Profit System

I have been receiving a lot of enquiries about this one over the past few weeks.

Back in April I wrote a blog post about this one when Streetwise were sending out sales letters offering it.

The Lazy Lay Quick Cash System from Streetwise Publications

It’d be very interesting to hear your thoughts on this one if you have bought it. I know that a lot of readers of this newsletter are horse racing fans.

==========================

Don’t forget to check out the Weekend Super Deal - it’s a bargain not to be missed!

http://www.WeekendSuperDeal.com/latestdeal.php

Have a great weekend!

Thanks,

Ben

So, it’s the Grand National in a couple of hours’ time - all the bookmakers will be grinning from ear-to-ear as the overround on this event is absolutely ridiculous.

Still, I’m a mug punter so I have bet on Hedgehunter, Idle Talk and Slim Pickings.

This certainly isn’t a tip, I’m just saying. I wouldn’t copy me if I were you

Best of luck - hope you can pick a winner, or maybe even clear up by using a sophisticated laying system to take advantage of all the one-day-a-year punters?

Subscribe to a newsletter from Streetwise Publications and you will always receive a couple of sales letters thrown in the envelope.

Usually these are business opportunity related offers but there can be the occassional strange offer for a weight-loss course or a speed camera detector.

I’m not surprised that Streetwise do this, it’s good marketing. If you are receiving a newsletter from them then you are already a customer and so related offers for other products are likely to be well received.

So, in with this month’s issue of Passive Income Newsletter (PIN for short) I got a sales letter for a new product which is described as a “back to basics betting method”.

If there’s one thing that sells well in the biz opp world then it is a system involving horse racing.

This one is called the “Lazy Lay Quick Cash System” and has been written by someone called Bill Stratford.

Bill claims that, starting with a £200 bank, he made a tax-free profit of over £47,000 in 2006 by turning the tables and becoming a bookie.

He even provides a run-down of his results he got from laying horses to lose in 2006 and during this time he only had one losing month when he lost £685.60 in October.

His best month was December where he made a massive £21,853.20 in profits spread over 24 bets. Pretty impressive figures…

This system isn’t cheap at £197 but it does come with a guarantee: If Bill’s system has a losing month in the first 3 months after you purchase, you can get a full refund provided that you have followed the system correctly and you send in your betting records to Streetwise.

I’ve purchased a similar laying system in the past but was unable to make it work correctly simply because I had to be glued to the PC in order to trade during a horse race. This was so that I could minimise losses by betting in play.

Not sure if you need to be available during races with the Lazy Lay Quick Cash System. It doesn’t seem that way because Bill says in the sales letter that:

“…you only need to invest a few minutes each day to make this system work for you, scan your morning paper, and place your bets…”

Sounds great but I’m not sure if I’m going to buy this one - not yet anyway!

Bill Stratford is correct in one respect:

“…You know it’s hard to pick winners, so it’s not surprising you never see a poor bookmaker. After all, picking losers (which is what most punters do every day at the bookies’) should be easier…”

I got another letter today from a racing tipster, this one is called Philip Croshaw.

Philip is representing a firm called “Race Brokers Ltd” who, according to the letter, represent “a small group of highly successful professional racing investors“.

Over the past 2 weeks the tips have apparently won £250, £112.50, £87.50 and £800 based on a £50 bet.

Sounds great but don’t they all!

All Mr Croshaw wants me to do is ring this Wednesday (21st February) between 11.30am and 1pm for full details.

Of course, there is a catch:

“When you get the name of the horse expected to win… all you need to do is place a nominal bet on it for the professionals, together with one for yourself… then sit back and enjoy!”

I assume that if the bet wins you have to send money to Race Brokers Ltd but if it doesn’t, what do you do? Swallow the loss? Or do they take the stake off the next winning bet?

Anyway, the number to call is 01372 460 600. This number is based in the same area as the Race Brokers’ office which is in Esher in Surrey.

I like getting these letters, just to see what is going around and how they try to sell to their prospects. I still want to know who is selling my address though…

Apparently Philip Croshaw’s professionals are “… possibly the most successful in the Country… handling money for “live” horses… horses that the stables are secretly betting”

I won’t be calling though I’m afraid, not for me. If you happen to call, please leave a comment below as to which horse he tipped and whether it won.

Well, I rang Bob Rothman’s tipster hotline on Saturday and got the bet. It seems that several other people did too as I got a flurry of emails about it. And the tip won!

Email 1:

“Seeing you mention Bob Rothman brings back bad memorys, I was with his betting service some 7yrs ago and he still sends out the same sort of letter and you got bets by ringing the line just before the race to get a good price and the cost to you was that you put £30 on for him and sent him the winnings minus the £30 stake, he never had a winner from 12 bets that I took he was $%^&*()x useless and a !@£$%^& *&^%$£@! so I suggest you watch this one with caution…”

Email 2:

“checked out bob rothman - horse given was witchita lineman - put £10 on it when i saw who the jockey was.was basically a 2 horse race - odds were evens and second in betting was 5/2 or 11/4 at one point. McCoy does not get on a horse expecting to lose. thanks !”

Email 3:

“A big thank you for producing BizOpps which I look forward to receiving.

I too heard from Rothman Racing. I watched the race on satellite and it was exciting as their tip, number 3, Witchata Lineman duly WON! The horse was lying 5th for most of the race but was expertly ridden and came on really strong at the end and won by several lengths.

Incidentally I should mention that the race was on a specialist channel which allowed me to watch just the one race but then said I would have to subscribe to see more. I would think that this would have to be an additional “business expense” that potential “investors” would have to consider making because it added so much to the fun factor.

I understand this horse was the favourite and the odds were even but Bob placed £200 to win and you can’t argue with the fact that the guy made £200.

My partner and I are looking forward to the promised follow up from Rothman Racing and will be pleased to consider their offer. Clearly Bob is not going to win every time but there are real attractions to a fun form of money making where you do not have the bother of having to declare or give 40% away to Gordon Brown.

Keep up the good work.”

Thanks for all the emails!

Personally I am happy I made a little profit from Mr Rothman’s racing tip but I won’t be going any further with it… Not for me…