Andy Shaw’s book “Money for Nothing and Your Property for Free” was a big hit in the business opportunity world when it was launched back in early 2007. The book was relatively cheap at £20 or so and it described, with great excitement and optimism, how anyone could make money through buying residential property.

Many people, including myself, thought the ideas were wonderful and that Andy was an extremely successful property investor who was willing to share his secrets for a small fee via the book.

Of course, there was more expense. The book only gave a general overview of the methods. For detailed instructions you would need to spend more with Andy and Greg.

Buying the book automatically enrolled you in a monthly membership site for which subscription rates were £40 per month. Then there were seminars which came with a ticket price of £5,000+ (allegedly) and also a scheme, costing £35,000+ which promised to set buyers up with 6 properties over 5 years.

In reality the book was just the top of the funnel and Greg and Andy’s main aim seemed to be getting people onto the program costing £35k.

I met both of these property investing experts at a seminar in Birmingham in April 2007. Andy insisted on drinking Bellinis all weekend, which cost a fortune and therefore I imagine made him look rich. Greg spoke loudly about the problems he and Andy had faced in driving “the Bentley” up the motorway.

They were nice people, friendly to all the attendees and willing to share tips and advice to anybody who asked. I wasn’t surprised when they spoke on the Saturday and wooed the 100 or so people in the room. At the end of their presentation they simply stated that if anyone wanted to know more they should just buy the book. Every other speaker that weekend went to great lengths to sell some expensive special offer but these two didn’t, they just mentioned in passing that everyone should buy the book.

Several months later I learned that they had held a small seminar with 30+ people attending and providing video testimonials as to how great the material was. I recognised several faces from the Birmingham seminar. I guess they had gone ahead and bought the book then gone through the funnel to the £5,000 seminar part.

Next was the £35,000 part of the funnel - which brings us up to the present day.

According to reports, things have soured a little…

“Greg Ballard is in Brighton bankruptcy court on 14 December and Andy Shaw on 21 December“

To learn more, check out Maria Davies’ blog:

Passive Investments - Greg Ballard & Andy Shaw Latest…

On reading more it struck me that some of the people I recognised from the testimonial videos may well be contemplating a huge loss at the moment.

One I remember had been sat with Greg in the smoking area as Greg suggested he remortgage his mother-in-law’s house to release funds to start investing in property.

I just hope he had second thoughts after the seminar and stopped short of taking Greg’s advice and using the money to fund the 5 figure investment with Passive Investments.

This year’s “UK Gold Event” is being held in Haydock, Lancashire from Friday 18th September to Sunday 20th September 2009. Speakers will include Neil Stafford, Neil Travers and a specially picked team of speakers from their membership site - ordinary men and women who have made a fortune after learning from Neil and Neil.

The event is no ordinary internet marketing seminar but your chance to listen to and meet a group of successful people and learn from some of the UK’s leading Information Marketing Experts in a private meeting.

The ‘Two Neils’, as they are known in the IM world, promise that their event will get you focused on building your business with the very latest online techniques. There’s no fluff and no pitch-fest - just excellent, solid, money making information.

In fact, here’s how powerful the event is.

Just last year one delegate sat in the small audience and listened hard to what he was being told. He then twigged onto an idea for his fledgling business and went away and focused on that idea.

I’ve been told that this attendee is going to be back this year - as one of the specially chosen speakers

The reason?

Because he made a ton of money and he has promised to reveal exactly what he did and how he changed his life around inside 12 months.

His success is a direct result of applying A.L.F.I.

This is the secret UK Gold Event Success Formula:

Attend, Listen, Focus, Implement = Money.

Grab a seat and start applying A.L.F.I. in your business:

Internet Marketing Review UK Gold Event September 2009

Neil was also kind enough to give a special discount for readers of the Biz Opps Blog.

Use the link below to receive £500 off the ticket price and still claim all of the bonuses including the full DVD set of last year’s event which he’ll send to you within 48 hours.

Internet Marketing Review UK Gold Event September 2009

Please note: Discount is valid until 31st August 2009 ONLY

I still remember the first time I was really sucked in by a sales letter.

It was in 2003 when I got a mailing I’d requested from Vince Stanzione for his spread betting course.

I received a large envelope full of sales material and read it over and over again. After a week or so I sent off the money (£297) for the course and looked forward to receiving my new product.

The sales letter had certainly done its job. It had sold me superbly and coaxed me into spending more than I ever imagined I would on a home study course.

That whole experience led me into the business opportunity world and resulted in the creation of this blog and my main review site, BizOppsUK.com.

In the 6 years since I read that first mailing piece, I have read hundreds of sales letters.

Most have been mediocre, some terrible and a select few have been excellent. However, in many of these sales letters there has been one common theme - the copywriter exaggerating the truth somewhat.

Plenty of sales letters contain a story to hook the reader in and I guess you could say that some copywriters, as my friend Sam would say, “don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story“.

I was reminded of this a couple of weeks ago after viewing a website for a Clickbank product, a successful one, which had been created by somebody who I often see at seminars. He’s a great bloke and we tend to catch up over a few beers each time we bump into each other.

This sales letter was telling the story about how my seminar friend had become a successful internet marketer.

Apparently, after listening attentively at a seminar a couple of years ago, he found a secret group having a mastermind session and gatecrashed their little gathering. After that meeting he had all the knowledge he needed to get started on his way to becoming a marketing superstar.

A great story, no doubt, but slightly different to the version of events that I recall.

My recollection of that seminar was that this particular fella was usually found sat on the back row with myself and several other semi-successful marketers, watching (and picking holes in) the various presentations and pitches (taking the mickey, basically).

When we weren’t in the seminar room for the scheduled presentations, we were at the bar.

The only “mastermind” session that I remember from that particular seminar was the downing of shots at the bar and the drunken arguments in the smoking area.

Perhaps the most successful marketer who was there (one who you would imagine would be in a mastermind group) was more interested in drinking than masterminding and we usually found him slumped over the bar come breakfast time. I don’t think he surfaced from his room unless there were other marketers at the bar.

Don’t get me wrong, the Clickbank vendor telling the story is successful and well worth listening to, but the events were slightly different to the professional sheen he put on the story in the sales letter.

The other story that didn’t quite ring true got me into a bit of trouble with one successful UK marketer.

This particular fella had written a story about a chance meeting with a millionaire who then basically taught him everything he knew.

Unfortunately in my review of this marketer I told a different version of events - one I had gleaned from a talk the marketer gave at one of his seminars.

At the seminar he said that he had been chasing the dream for years, attending lots of different events and paying for all kinds of mentoring packages when one day it just ‘clicked’. In the sales letter he told this completely different story that clashed with the truth, as I understood it.

Obviously this caused problems. Customers would see his sales letter, decide to do some research and come across my site. On my site I told a different story (don’t forget, the one he told in front of a camera i.e. a primary source) and so these customers became confused and confronted him.

The first I knew of it was when I received an email basically saying “what the &%#@! Please take that stuff down ASAP you’re confusing my customers!”

So much for the down-to-earth, honest, ex-minimum wage slave!

Of course, telling lies in a sales letter can get you into a lot of trouble if you step over the line.

Adding a couple of little white lies to a sales letter is usually considered fine, probably to be expected but once you start creating fake Clickbank screenshots or faking testimonials then you’re into fraud territory.

Sadly I’ve seen plenty of those types of sales letters too and I’m sure they’ll keep on coming…

I’m back from Bob Puddy’s Bristol event and feeling exhausted - it really takes it out of you when you are up ’til late each night then waking up first thing to get to the first presentation.

From 5 o’clock on Thursday evening until late last night it was pretty much a non-stop marathon of drinking, laughing, networking and learning. 

Bob again managed to attract a good range of marketers from the newcomer to the very experienced and it was great to see everyone in the bar each night, speakers and attendees.

Having access to all the speakers in an informal atmosphere was a welcome change - the last seminar I went to was disappointing when the speakers didn’t venture into the bar in the evenings. I got the feeling that the vast majority of them left the venue (a hotel in Heathrow) 1 hour after finishing their pitch on the stage.

Not in Bristol…

I witnessed one speaker buying trays full of shots then distributing them amongst all the attendees in the smoking area. The other speakers were a permanent fixture at the bar each evening and very approachable. I get the feeling that Bob makes sure he books people that he knows enjoy a drink or two!

Anyway, it’s becoming common to see the same core group of UK marketers at each of these seminars and it’s always good for gossip hunting!

In fact, from the insider gossip I heard, it is obvious that the vast majority of internet marketers are psychopaths. There’s no other explanation. 

“Cage Fighting” springs to mind! (Anyone at Bristol will know what I mean by that…)

A full review will follow in due time, just give me a few days to recover from the overdose of Cobra.

Photo above is a quick shot I did of my notes using my mobile phone.

I’ve a load of notes to go over now, I always find it’s very important to get cracking with the new ideas and techniques asap, whilst you are still enthused…

Word to the wise: Be there next year, you won’t regret it

Just over a week left until the LFMpire event starts so if you were sitting on the fence about attending, it is time to make a decision.

For more background info, see the previous post:

Robert Puddy’s LFMpire Seminar, Bristol, May 2009

My advice would be to just do it - clear your diary, book the ticket, book the hotel, jump on a train and get down to Bristol.

Come and join us on the Thursday night in the hotel bar and get involved.

What you’ll find when you get to the bar are 80+ UK based internet marketers eager to network, looking to find new business contacts and excitedly talking about the business (often giving away their best tips too, once they’ve had a couple of drinks).

At the last seminar organised by Robert Puddy (the Britpack Live Seminar in Coventry) the bar was packed each night and attendees saw the results of deals done at that seminar for months afterwards.

These events are focused on helping you in your business. They are a different kettle of fish to the numerous ‘pitchfest’ seminars where the idea is to get you in a seat from 9 ’til 6 over 3 days and show you a procession of different sales pitches.

The first ‘Puddy’ event I went to yielded over 40 pages of notes that I still refer to now. I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said that it added 5 figures to my profits that year. All for a small investment of a couple of hundred dollars for the ticket and then beer money and hotel costs. A small price to pay for some excellent knowledge.

Sincerely, I can’t really recommend these events enough. Before I attended my first one I was very apprehensive about the idea of attending seminars. However, I took a chance and travelled to Birmingham in 2006 and it was a superb three days.

I now have lots of contacts in the industry and meet up monthly with several other marketers in a mastermind. I’m not promising you’ll have the same experience as me but I’m willing to bet you’ll have a great time if you attend.

8 days to make up your mind:

http://lfmpireworkshops.com/

And if you do decide to attend, make sure you come and find me at the bar. I’ll buy you your first drink and introduce you to some very successful marketers. And who knows where that could lead you…