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I'll quit blaming the victim when you stop playing the victim. Of all the things you mentioned in your post you did not touch on the company's financials-- not even a proforma like a prospectus.

I'm not "scolding" you. I'm bringing to light what you will not see because until you do- you're going to keep doing stuff just like this. That's the way life is-- it will keep giving you the same test until you pass, and it won't let you move on to the next level before you do.

I'm not here to whip on you, I'm here to help you.

Oh, and "Easy E-Mail Millions"-- just a headline, friend. Marketing.

You sure are hostile for someone I've never met. Obviously there are some complaints about the company and you posted that you were amazed because they ran a big ad in Newsweek, WSJ, etc. that they could be disreptuable.

The point you seem most worked up about is my remark that I turn away investors. It's a minor point. In fact, I've not made a single point for or against the company-- rather I've weighed in on investment principles-- not companies, or products.

Whether they are or good, bad, or indifferent is not something I've commented on. I've only pointed out that just because a company can run an ad doesn't make them credible.

Secondarily, I put the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the investor. It was an admonishment-- do your own due dilligence.

While we're on investment principles, I'll bring up another one-- lose the emotion. Don't get married to your investments. If the numbers make sense you don't have to get all hot and bothered defending them. Just sit back and enjoy the returns. Ignore the critics, and naysayers and relax.

In your own post, you could not have posted a better example of a "greater fool" investment mentality. You even stated you thought that the returns wouldn't last due to housing market shifts. So, your gut told you you were riding the tail and big surprise you got whiplash.

You can always tell someone who's holding and hoping for a "greater fool" by their response to the slightest criticism, or interpretation of anything and everything that isn't enthusiastically supportive as "criticism" when it isn't. Just reaffirming what you've already known all along-- what you suspected, and even what you've stated outright. So, why take it personally? I'm just clarifying what you've already posted with a few comments of my own.

25% is low. It's not the promised return-- it's the lack of information.

I'm not a "competitor" by any stretch of anyone's imagination. The other reason I don't advertise is that it would be illegal for me to advertise the way I do it without registering with the SEC, which I have not done.

You missed the main point of my post-- just because they've got an ad running in a credible publication does not make them (or anyone else) credible.

It's a system of marketing to pre-foreclosure home owners via subscriptions to lists, our own research, leads from other investors, and birddogs.

This book is outstanding- especially if you're new to the metaphysical laws of wealth attraction (and wealth inhibition).

I don't advertise because I don't need to. In fact, I turn away more investors than I accept. Advertising isn't an automatic clue that someone's a fraud, but it is certainly worth asking-- if these guys are so hot why do they have to run giant ads. Case in point- mutual fund and investment companies. The lowest returns in the western world seem to come with the highest fees, and the biggest advertising budget. I can find some nice feature stories on Enron- and we all know what happened there.

Point being, INVESTORS are not looking for returns from ads in Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal. Investors are looking at the financials-- did you ever see any? They're looking at the managements record-- namely WHO are these people? What's their track record? Who will personally vouch for their character and veracity? Is there an external audit of the business? Why or why not?

ANYONE can run an ad. The CON in con-artist is short for "confidence". That's the whole game. The con artist shows you everything but the duck's guts. They put a big veneer on everything and they attempt to gain your confidence so that they can part you from your money-- usually by playing on your greed. If they can blind you with promises of too-good-to-be-true rates of return, or the promise of a "jackpot" down the road. The really good ones will get a huge chunk of change from "investors" and then brazenly go back to the same investors with threats that if we can't raise $X amount more we're going to lose the whole thing-- instilling a fear or panic of losing the money they've already unwittingly lost anyway in hopes of motivating them to cough up even more.

As hard as it might be to swallow, it's absolutely true that the "investors" here did this to themselves. They didn't have first hand personal knowledge of who they were dealing with, they didn't investigate the management team, and they never saw ACTUAL financial documents or assets. They put their trust in the "presentation" and found out what happens when you do that.

An excellent merger of expectations-- quantity, and quality.

Ryan,
Glad to see a follow up post-- interesting story about following up: when I began assembling my very first mastermind (it was a highly conscious act) we met at a coffee house and sitting next to me was a person who is now a highly successful internet marketing entrepreneur, national speaker, and so on. This was in 2002 sometime. Another person who was just starting out who does multi-million dollar real estate deals from development, to commercial properties and assisted living stuff was there, too. The real estate guy brought goal sheets with and we filled them out and discussed them. The internet marketer (I am very tempted to "name drop" here, but I shall resist :crying: ) says his goal is to "Be here a year from now". My first honest thought about that is this guy is weird. My second thought is that he might be terminally ill. My third thought was I HAVE to ask him what the heck he means by that.

He says it means to be "here" in the "entrepreneurial game". So many people START and never finish. So many people SAY they will do great things, achieve their dreams, move on to do incredible exploits and then you never hear from them again. Five years down the road (often just months down the road) they're "success drop outs". They quit. His goal was to still be at it- to be consistently moving towards his vision of success and you know--- that simple session changed my life. That ONE IDEA-- this idea of be here a year from now so inspired me that at that moment-- I can literally trace the last four years back to that moment in time and that single idea: KEEP GOING. Do NOT quit-- I made a solid commitment that I was going to do whatever it takes to succeed. I committed to paying the price. I asked what's the worst that could happen-- and do you know what I came up with? I may fail and find myself bankrupt. I then asked-- can you live with that? And I decided that bankruptcy after having given it a go would be easier to live with than wondering what might have been if I had only tried. Then I made a second huge commitment-- I said if I go bankrupt it will not stop me. I won't stop until I leave this world for the next.

So, what I'm trying to say here Ryan is that I think you're making the right choices-- even if that means simply that you are keeping going, pressing on...

[i]"Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not;

nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius

will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not;

the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination

alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always

will solve the problems of the human race."-- [/i]President Calvin Coolidge