Some time ago (a few months) I received Avril Harper’s Ultimate Public Domain Profit Plan and, to be honest, have only spent some time on it in the last few weeks.

I have read quite a lot about using material from the public domain in the past but Avril’s guide is the most comprehensive I have seen.

What I failed to realise is that there are lots of rules about using any public domain material and you must ensure that the work you want to use is truely public domain material. Avril’s manual and CD package goes through all the pitfalls that you must be aware of.

More importantly perhaps, Avril offers lots of advice and ideas for using copyright-free books etc to create your own copyrighted work which you are free to sell and keep 100% of the profits.

There are lots of misconceptions about the public domain, what you can and can’t use.

For example, I recently noticed a post on a forum where one lady had got it completely wrong. She had basically said:

As far as I am aware all material on the internet is in the public domain

Her post didn’t last long – a moderator deleted it before too many people read it.

What should be taken from this is that material on the internet is certainly NOT always public domain

But it does highlight how someone can get it so utterly wrong and leave themselves open to serious problems i.e. lawsuits.

There’s plenty more info on the site if you are interested:

Click here to read more about Avril Harper’s Public Domain Profit Plan package

If you haven’t heard of Matt Shaw, here’s a little history.

Matt runs the Fixed Odds Trader service which offers recommendations on bets to place on BetOnMarkets. These are specifically fixed-odds bets on financial markets.

Basically, you sign up for Matt Shaw’s service and he emails you with details of each new bet he places, why he places it and where he puts the stop loss.

Matt apparently used to work in a warehouse but quit when he found he could make more by betting on the markets – especially since his winnings are tax-free.

Recently a subscriber to the free business opportunity email newsletter sent in the following review of Matt Shaw’s Fixed Odds Trader service:

“Further to your bizopp letter I have been doing Matt Shaws fixed odds betting on a virtual (paper trade) account.

IT WORKS! but it has taken me 2 weeks risking £160 to £180 per bet to win a £85.00 in total.

I must admit it is very safe but in betting there is always a risk and you will need to bet lots of indices every day to make real money.

However it is worth the money but I suspect I will never have the balls to stake in thousands which one will have to make big money”

The “How to Make £1,000 per Day Before Breakfast” manual arrived on Saturday morning but unfortunately I didn’t hear the postman so I had to go and collect it today.

First things first, the package contained:

(a) An A4 printed manual, 96 pages long called “How to Make £1,000 Per Day Before Breakfast: Discover how to receive sacks full of money, each and every day – delivered direct to your front door!” This is the manual which is apparently written by Terry Wilson

(b) A short (25 page) A4 printed report entitled “£45 in 3 Minutes… Or Less!” and

(c) A 3 page introduction letter from John Harrison, the publisher and co-owner of Streetwise Publications.

I’ve been able to read about 40 pages of the manual so far and it seems very good.

In my initial blog post about Terry’s book I noted that the sales letter promised a technique which Terry used to make £5,000 in his first month:

“… without any selling, with no staff or premises and without any start-up capital…”

Reading the manual, it is about information publishing and especially selling via Direct Mail. There is probably more to it but direct marketing certainly does need start-up capital.

Also, you definitely will be selling as you will be producing information products to sell to the general public.

Still, the manual looks very detailed and I will be reading the rest this week. Some of the text does look strangely familiar – perhaps from one of John Harrison’s books?

Does Terry Wilson even exist? Is this another made up person like “Vicky Smith” aka the author behind the Golden Backdoor?

The latest issue of the What Really Makes Money newsletter popped through the door yesterday.

Nick Laight’s newsletter is published 10 times a year and delivered for just £37 for the first year.

This month the features included:

– Investing in Romanian property for 15% – 100% annual returns! Unfortunately, I still need to get on the UK property ladder but still very interesting…

– Building an email list. Nick explains why you should build one and how you can make £10-£30 per year, per name

– A review of Peter Walters’ “Cash From Your Camcorder” which apparently is like Bill Myers’ 10 DVD set released about a year ago

Yet again, another excellent newsletter, it is well worth taking a look if you are not already a subscriber:

Click here for Nick Laight’s What Really Makes Money newsletter

I saw a few posts on a forum today where the poster was spamming the same content over and over along with an affiliate link for a product known as “Survey Scout”.

It reminded me of a question I was asked about this time last year:

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“Firstly, congratulations on a clear no nonsense site with pertinent observations. Your Andrew Reynolds and Tim Lowe reviews set the tone. This is my first visit.Have you any comments on two of your advertisers operations, firstly Russell Shedden’s V-Services.co.uk and secondly cash4homework.co.uk 

Inevitably as advertisers I cannot expect a super critical report, but I am looking for a simple way to substantially boost a pension. Limitations? Very poor computer abilities.”

 

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The person posing the question had mistaken Google AdSense for people paying me to advertise on the site.

 

My reply was:

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“(1) Cash4Homework.co.ukThis seems to be a scheme whereby the promoter shows you how to find “paid for surveys” kind of work. It is true that you can get paid to take part in surveys and online discussion groups but the problem is two-fold: 

(a) This information is free if you spend an hour or two looking for it. ciao.co.uk is one scheme, there are many others. What you will usually find is that instead of making money, you earn points to redeem against gifts.

(b) These schemes are often extremely over-subscribed – there are thousands of stay-at-home mums, students etc who flock toward these surveys and they go offline quickly. Also, the companies tend to target specific social groups – young mothers, kids etc. If you don’t belong to the group, you cannot take part.

In short, not a great income opportunity.

(2) V-Services.co.uk

I can’t figure out what Russell is offering here as he does not give a good explanation of the business he is in. He sells a £10,000 a month scheme for £50 or so and if you were earning £10k a month, would you sell the idea on?

The guarantee is not rock-solid. It looks like you have to work for 12 months before you can claim your money back. Would you throw good money after bad to regain £50?

As I mentioned in the last email, the adverts are placed on my site by Google, I do not choose them although I do earn money “per-click”. Some offers are a lot better than others.”

 

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As you can tell from the above, I don’t think much of these “paid survey” schemes.

 

My recommendation would be to avoid them, unless you fancy earning a few points towards some free gifts…