Archive for June, 2007

I swore to myself I was not going to make any public comments about Paris Hilton.  I was sorely tempted to make some comments about Paris Hilton after watching her respond in Larry King’s interview.  But I thought to myself, what would be the point since I had very little good to say and the respect factor I would give her would rank very low.

However…..

Bill Zanker of The Learning Annex gave me a way to legitimately comment on Paris Hilton.

First off, I enjoyed the two times I attended the Learning Annex Real Estate events the last few years because of the headliners like Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Robert Kiyosaki, George Foreman, and Tony Robbins.  It was energetic, fun, and upbeat.  The first one I attended was in NYC in 2004 and the other one in Atlanta in 2006.   A lot of it was “salesy” and really catered to the mass market but I did manage to get my money’s worth out of it.  (It was relatively inexpensive as far as seminar events go.)

I commend Bill Zanker for being creative and getting some great reputable talent as headline speakers in the past.  But 26-year old, high-school dropout, GED-only, party girl, Paris Hilton as a speaker?  Are you kidding me?  She is going to teach us about business “branding?”  Does anyone expect me to believe she actually had the business smarts to develop her brand all by herself?  Oh sure, I am sure she is the CEO as she parties at night and stars in “The Simple Life”.  She is definitely what I would consider to be a “figurehead”, and certainly not the “meat and potatoes” management talent in charge of her various lines of products.  And having an opinion (especially hers) does not mean she provides any insights or leadership.

I give Bill Zanker incredible accolades for creating the Learning Annex and taking it where it is today.  I understand Bill has to find a new marketing “gimmick” and publicity angle but, jeez, Paris Hilton?  He just made his own event into a big joke.

If I take out the educational component, Bill’s move is a stroke of marketing genius.  It will draw in mobs of people.  But if Bill wants The Learning Annex’s Real Estate event to be taken seriously, I think he just tanked it badly.  I would not want to speak at that event (not that he was asking me mind you).

But I suppose it is more important to get huge numbers of people into the event with a circus than it is to do it in a more “straight” fashion.

As far as I am concerned, I will be staying far, far away.  The joke factor just went up tremendously by having Paris as a paid speaker.  Good grief.  It seems whether we like it or not, “we will always have Paris.”

Two new “TurnKey Investor” audio programs, hosted by Tony Calloway, is currently being prepared for manufacturing. 

The working titles (subject to change) are:

• Inside Secrets of a Profitable Real Estate Partnership & Alliance
• Real Estate Portfolio Success Secrets 

The CD masters have been prepared and completed.  The artwork and cover design are being finalized.

My new manual “The TurnKey Investor’s ‘Subject To’ Mortgage Documents Collection” is on track for printing.  Final edits are being done for one last document.

I anticipate that these titles will be ready for a summer release and available by August 1, 2007.

Because of my conversations with “Incredible Discoveries“, I found a lot of information within Google regarding the entire infomercial industry.  Boy, what a nasty business it appears to be.  So many complaints.

There are numerous complaints on every infomercial I have seen.  It is really staggering.  It is a good thing I trust my instincts.  The problem is so large, there are entire websites dedicated to uncovering infomercial scams and the industry as a whole.

Even the reputable infomercials seem to be a target.  Yikes.

It looks like if I ever get bored, I will have more interesting reading.  The sites that have caught my eye include:

• InfomercialBlog.com
• InfomercialScams.com
• InfomercialRatings.com

They look like good informative reading. 

Oh yes!  The verdict is finally in.  There is still some sense of sanity in our country and the legal system.

Judge Bartnoff ruled in favor of the owners of Custom Cleaners sweeping aside Roy Pearson’s outrageous $54 million lawsuit filed against them over a pair of dress pants.

You can read the Findings & Conclusions of Law prepared by Judge Bartnoff here.

Essentially, she disputed Judge Pearson’s claim that a “satisfaction guaranteed” sign entitled unhappy customers to unlimited compensation.  She also wrote, “A reasonable consumer would not interpret ‘satisfaction guaranteed’ to mean that a merchant is required to satisfy a customer’s unreasonable demands.”

One thing that I found odd is that there was no verbal reprimand by Judge Bartnoff.  Is it because she did not want to berate a fellow judge publicly?  She probably would have gotten cheers if she ad.  But, the ruling in itself says plenty.

You can find more news articles about the Roy Pearson vs. Custom Cleaners verdict by doing a Google search on “Roy Pearson verdict” and click the News section.

The Custom Cleaners Defense fund is http://www.customcleanersdefensefund.com.

I had my final phone discussion with the folks with “Incredible Discoveries“.  It was a cordial discussion but my antenna was on and up high.

I did some Google research about “Incredible Discoveries” allegedly owned by Mark Alfieri since my first posting but I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt.  I had also done some independent research on Google regarding the infomercial business and possible scams.

I repeatedly said that I really couldn’t see my products being in an infomercial but the guy I spoke to persisted, although he was polite.

In any case, I’ve had the benefit of knowing a couple of people who have done infomercials in years past and they never paid any fee.  They also had mixed results.  If someone believes in your product enough, I believe they will generally front production costs.

When the $75,000 fee was brought up, I knew the phone call was going to end very soon.  It was time to end the conversation.  I did tell them the truth regarding how I don’t trust most infomercial companies and I don’t see my products being sold by them.  It was pointless to talk anymore.

I am sure there are many uninformed entrepreneurs who so desperately want to sell their product by TV, they are willing to mortgage their house to do it.  I believe I can put to use my $75,000 much better than they can.

I would say to anyone before you fork over any large amount of money to a faceless person working for a company with a pretty website, you should check things out very carefully.  I am not accusing “Incredible Discoveries” of any wrong-doing because I do not know.  But I know when to cool my heels because I believe there is an abundance of opportunity in the world.  And I cannot see myself forking over $75,000 to anyone without my having a great deal of assurances and control.

Fair or not, I am staying far away from any company claiming to do infomercials.  It may be extreme and I may be throwing out the baby with the bathwater.  But it is the safe thing for me to do.  I need to keep my credibility high and not go down this very “icky” road.

I have no intentions of spending any more time talking to “Incredible Discoveries“.  They were polite and cordial and it was enlightening.  But they simply tried to sell a guy who really doesn’t care to be part of the infomercial industry.

For me, there are lots of ways to get on TV without going down that road.

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The latest information can be found on The Incredible Discoveries Information Page.

It looks like this week, everyone will get to hear the verdict on the now $54 million frivilous lawsuit by “Judge” Roy Pearson vs. Custom Cleaners.

As I had said previously, this has got to be one of the stupidest lawsuits I have ever seen.  It is truly outrageous and really abuses the legal system.  The lawsuit is over a stupid pair of dry-cleaned pants which Pearson refuse to take back or accept payment for.

The sense of entitlement by Roy Pearson is nothing short of ridiculous and abusive.  Talk about self-destructive.  He has managed to become the laughing stock of the legal world.  It is bad enough if an attorney was to engage in this.  But here, this guy is a judge and taxpayers are paying his salary?  Are you kidding me?

There is no doubt Roy Pearson has outraged many people.  He is going to portray himself as a hero for consumer rights.  Sure, we believe that one. 

I think the judge of the case is going to be on the hotseat on this one.  If Judge Bartnoff does not reprimand Pearson and she does not deliver a verdict that is “reasonable”, all hell is going to break loose.  Public outrage will definitely happen and I will be doing my part on this blog to condemn Pearson and the ruling.

I truly hope Judge Bartnoff does the “right” thing.  I have my fingers crossed.

The Real Estate Portfolio Introductory Session for my friend, Tony Calloway’s Primerica group appears to have gone well. 

Tony, Wes, and I jointly hosted and presented to the group in a lively, interactive, and fast-paced session.  Many times, I could not tell the how the audience responded.  They were very quiet and their facial expressions a bit neutral.  It appeared they were concentrating and thinking but I simply could not tell if they like what they were hearing.

Tony gave me some feedback afterwards.  To my relief, Tony said the group seemed to enjoy the session.  Now that we have completed it, it is uncertain what happens now.  I believe some of them will attend an Investors Roundtable meeting to see what we do.

But for now, I will let Tony ponder on what will happen to this experimental group.

After the last post, I felt a bit stupid not knowing what my phone call with “Incredible Discoveries“ was going to about.  All I knew was that it was going to be real estate information and infomercial related.  Not exactly a mix I was overly excited about.

Having seen many education product infomercials over the years, I found most of them sleazy, unrealistic, and simply pandering to what people want to hear.  And most people associated with an infomercial came out the other side with their reputation and credibility somewhat bruised.

In fact, I tried to contact the person who called me and wanted clarification before speaking to the Senior Director.  And if I couldn’t get some clarity or an answer, I certainly wasn’t going to waste their time or my time having a discussion.  I didn’t hear anything, so I simply cancelled the call.

Well, I have to give “Incredible Discoveries” credit for persistence.  The Senior Director of New Product Development called me on my cell phone anyway while I was with Wes Weaver, my biz partner, and Nathan, our intern, touring our vacant properties and handling various issues.  And so, I had to politely put him off since I was in no position to concentrate and talk with him at that moment.  I told him I would try to call him back before the day ended.

Around 4:30pm, it was clear my day was not going to end early and would continue into the evening.  However, I wanted to keep my promise so I called the Director back and asked him for a basic overview of what he was interested in and, most importantly, why.

I have to give him credit.  He was not at all the person I had expected.  He was careful in his words and the expectations he was setting with me.  I think he had a hint, my approach is very matter-of-fact and not always talking about sunshine.  I tell both the good side and bad side.  None of the pie-in-the-sky nonsense that is so common in the real estate courses and seminar circuit.

I made a point to politely let him know my biases against most infomercials and many of the real estate education materials I see today.  Surprisingly, he took it well and acknowledged my concerns.

He made a reference that he knew of my involvement with The Investors Roundtable.  He mentioned how I seemed to focus on “independent-minded investors” (which indicates he visited my real estate investing publication website, TurnKeyInvesting.com.  He remembered that I had left Corporate America and wrote a book on it (The Intrepid Way).

I have to admit, he impressed me with those 4 references.  It showed me that he had done some research on me and what I do.  He did enough homework to let me know he was paying attention to details.

In any case, I still have many questions.  However, my questions are moot at this point.  The biggest thing on my mind right now is that infomercials have to cater to the general public.  That generally means a presentation has to be hyped up and dumbed down a bit to cater to the masses.  I tend to believe (from a marketing point of view) when you try to please everyone, you please no one.  With every project I launch, I am careful to think about who I want to target, not simply pop out a generic product that excites no one.

We are supposed to get back together by phone next week.  I have to admit I was not very interested to the point I cancelled the first phone appointment.  But now, I am intrigued to find out more what is on their mind.

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The latest information can be found on The Incredible Discoveries Information Page.