Archive for the “Audio Programs” Category

In last year’s review of the original Kindle, I speculated that there would be a Kindle 2.0 and how user feedback would be incorporated into a newer model.  I complained about the clumsy side buttons and speculated that there would be improved battery life.

It looks like I was right on those two issues.  Not only this, Amazon included a whole lot more.  I had been on the fence on the original Kindle.  Ultimately, I decided against getting one for myself since I still prefer books.

However, this time around, I decided to break down and pre-order the newly-announced Kindle 2.  I have more of an open mind because the product seems to be greatly improved.  But more importantly, I am a publisher and, as such, I believe the Kindle will be a force to reckon with.

Whether or not I personally prefer a Kindle to read books, the truth is that I believe the Kindle is here to stay and that means I need to become familiar with it quickly.  I also believe that I will have start publishing my books in the Kindle format.

Whether or not the average consumer base eventually adopts Kindle in a widespread format is unimportant to me.  What is important to me is that the Kindle audience are passionate folks about their Kindle and passionate readers in general.  For someone to spend $360 for a reading device either means they are affluent or simply serious in their reading.  Either way, it would be a mistake for me to not produce books for this audience.

I cannot wait to get my Kindle 2 at the end of this month.

A brand-new MP3 audio introduction has been recorded and uploaded to “The Intrepid Way” website.

Some readers may not be clear what the book is about or what it was intended to be.  This MP3 audio Introduction should clarify what The Intrepid Way series is all about.

You can visit TheIntrepidWay.com to download the file there.  Or you can simply download the MP3 file here.

Two weeks ago, during my blog hiatus, my friend Tony Calloway and my business partner Wes Weaver joined me in hosting and conducting a brand-new seminar, “The Turnkey Investor’s Seller-Financing Short Seminar”.

Essentially, this is a more advanced seminar that builds upon and expands the content of “The TurnKey Investor’s ‘Subject-To’ Mortgage Crash Course”.  The “subject to” mortgage is only one form of seller-financing.  While it is a great way of financing investment property, there are many instances that technique is simply not practical, nor desired in some transactions.

Wrap-around mortgages, land contracts, contracts for deed, and lease-options are also legitimate ways of financing investment properties.  Each of these financing techniques have their own pros and cons as well as the circumstances of when you should use them.

Wes Weaver and I share our real life experiences and comments on the other forms of seller-financing techniques that we have used (and those we have chosen NOT to use!).

Originally conceived as an additional “audio crash course” in the spirit of “The TurnKey Investor’s ‘Subject To’ Mortgage Crash Course, Tony talked me into making the Seller-financing presentation into a seminar in front of a live and experienced real estate investor audience.

Essentially, the raw unedited recordings come to over 4 hours of audio content.  I expect to edit it down to less than 3 hours however that is a very rough estimate.  I am trying to pare it down to a 2-CD audio course set but it may end up being a full 3-CD audio course set.

Once the audio course has been completed, I plan on taking that content and creating an all-new manual called “The TurnKey Investor’s Seller-Financing Handbook” which will be similar in format and a companion manual to the “The TurnKey Investor’s ‘Subject To’ Mortgage Handbook”.

There is no precise timeline for when the Seller-Financing products will be available except that I expect it will be released in 2008.

I will be putting a warning label on the products that beginning investors or students should not buy either of these products.  The discussions were advanced level.  The one beginning student we had was a bright person but clearly did not have the background to keep pace with the seminar presentation.  She served as a barometer for me to warn off beginning investors and students.

I would like to comment that all the students in the audience (with one exception) were prior students of ours and had actually done at least a couple of real estate transactions.  Gauging from the feedback from students, they greatly appreciated the fact much of material that Wes and I presented had not presented in such depth and sophistication.

As I get more news on the progress of the Seller-Financing products, I will post them here.

In my prior article, I wrote about my larger role and responsibilities as a Publisher for Ascend Beyond Publishing. I continue on that article by sharing the educational model I am employing in my publishing business.

Many years ago, when I was a Technical Trainer and Technical Instructor of advanced networking, technologies, and network operating systems, I became indoctrinated to the idea of customized education and modular learning.

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of modular learning, it is simply the concept of giving the student the ability to custom create and design their own learning curriculum no matter what the subject matter is.

The fact of the matter is, we live in a society where time is precious and adult education is something we pay for. It takes time and costs money to learn any new subject but each of us have a different view of what we should learn and how much time we should take. The determination of success from our learning comes from the results that come from the execution of our action plans. If we execute and manage our affairs well, we should yield successful results. If we don’t, we have poor results. In other words, we no longer get grades as we did in school. We simply measure results.

As a publisher, I believe in providing tight, singular topics my readership and students can choose from. Comprehensive learners prefer to buy “an entire set”, many others prefer to buy their educational materials “a la carte” or “piecemeal”.

In the TurnKey Investor Series, readers and students can immerse themselves in the TurnKey Investing Philosophy that we created and practice ourselves. Or they can simply pick the individual pieces they want to learn about. Either way, the customer comes away happy.

I have had customers that I have never heard from and swoop in buy entire learning sets in one purchase. I have had many more customers who bought one or two titles and come back to purchase a few more. Clearly, repeat customers are a sign they are happy with what they have read or heard.

There is this myth that most readers or students want a monolothic approach to their learning. I believe that represents a small minority of readers and students. This is why encyclopedias, tomes, and other thick reference books don’t sell as well as smaller, tightly-focused titles. This is why Audio Titles have gained so much ground in recent years co-existing with their print versions.

Outside of the walls of Academia, people want to choose to learn in their own way at their own pace. And so, unlike so many of my fellow authors and educators, I don’t try to create a high-priced “monster master course” that tries to cover everything and anything regarding a subject.

I say to my readers and students, “Choose and create your own education” from our suggested set of offerings.

Customized education and modular learning is the new paradigm. Publishers, authors, and educators had best understand this new learning paradigm.

This article is one I have long thought I needed to write and clearly express my “official position” as to why I regard and identify myself as a Publisher more than I do as an Author.

First off, I have no negative feelings attached to the title of being an Author because it is something I have done many times. In fact, I am quite proud that I can include the title “Author” on my resume (or CV). I have obviously written, co-written, and edited many books and audio programs with several more in various stages of development.

However, I identify myself more as a Publisher because it is a larger scope of responsibility I take on than “simply” authoring books. In some ways, the Publisher title is less glamorous. I have to oversee the creation of a body of work whether or not I am the primary author or not. Up to this point, it so happens that I am the most prolific author in my publishing company simply because I have a lot to say and communicate, not because I am not willing to accept more titles from other authors.

I believe it is my responsibility to ensure that the body of work I bring into reality fit in consistently and congruently to the greater whole that represents Ascend Beyond Publishing. Every title must be congruent and synergistic to the greater whole. There is a “greater message and theme” that Ascend Beyond Publishing (ABP) represents. Ascend Beyond Publishing represents optimism, independence, entrepreneurism, strength, decisiveness, unedited truth, and personal responsibility.

Any author or work that does not fit in congruently with these attributes will not be able to be published under the ABP banner.

In the last 4.5 years Ascend Beyond Publishing has been in existence, 19 titles were created and developed. I expect the the number of titles will double in lesser time. As each title comes out, the body of work ABP stands for will continue to evolve and updated with the times.

My responsibility will continue to grow as Publisher. If I do my job well, I hope to make a larger positive impact in the world we live by serving my readership and students well.

My newest audio program, “The TurnKey Investor’s Real Estate Portfolio Success Secrets” has just been released.  It outlines the crucial areas professional real estate portfolio builders focus on.  This 62-minute audio program was hosted by my friend, Tony Calloway.

It is now available on Amazon.com, AscendBeyond.com, and TurnKeyInvesting.com.

My real estate partner, Wes Weaver and I have just released our newest Audio Program, “Inside Secrets of a Profitable Real Estate Partnership & Alliance”.

This program was a result of an interview conducted by our mutual friend, Tony Calloway.  Tony has become of our biggest fans in our local area and felt strongly about interviewing us to better understand the origins, inner workings, insights, and philosophy of how we created our Real Estate Partnership & Alliance.

I have to admit I did enjoy that interview and it was one of the few audio programs in our library which has the interaction of 3 individuals on the microphone.

The program is now available on Amazon.com, AscendBeyond.com, and TurnKeyInvesting.com.

In further writing and outlining the content for my new audio program, I realized I needed to change the working title of “Why Real Estate Investing Isn’t For Everyone” to “The Hype & Lies of Real Estate Investing”.

This better reflects what I am going to talk about and the tone of which I will be speaking.  The tone I will be taking will be similar to the strong one in my earlier audio program, “The TurnKey Investor’s Deadly Sins of Real Estate Investing“.

The working subtitle is “Why Most Beginners Fail & Other Ugly Truths Real Estate Investing Books, Courses, Seminars, Infomercials, and Gurus Won’t Talk About!”

This will be helpful information to any real estate investing student looking to invest more money into their real estate investing education.

Tony and I are looking to record this program within the next two weeks.