Hello! David J here again bringing you more of the steps on my journey toward financial independence.
Gee - we're getting these posts a bit more often now! Cool!
In the last post, I promised a URL to my "squeeze page". Before I do that, let me explain: this will be most useful to those in the Chicago Metropolitan area. The squeeze page takes you to an ivitation to a local meeting - remember, we talked about that last time: this group is based in the western suburbs of Chicago. They also have an office on the City's northwest side, in Indianapolis and in the Greater Rockford area.
So, that said, here's the link: www.DJEDevelopmentGroup.com
The video is short, about five minutes.
The "squeeze page" asks for your name, your phone number and your e-mail address. It's o.k., I won't be calling or e-mailing you without your permission. See, when you enter that information, the first message you get is by e-mail asking permission to continue to correspond with you. Seems redundant, but it IS required by law that I do it that way.
Click on the "authorize email" link in that message and you will receive a "Thank You" message from me. In the "Thank You" message, I tell a bit more about the group and the folks who lead it. Don't want to spill the whole thing here. This is a blog, and that's information for folks who choose to pursue a business relationship with me and with the group.
Still, you can unsubscribe at any time. I don't plan to do e-mail campaigns or any of that.
If you do choose to continue with me, we will be in touch regularly by phone, e-mail and in person, if you're local to the Chicago suburbs.
What I am doing a bit different from most folks in the group who choose to use the squeeze pages is that I'm using their ability to do on-line "relationship building" via e-mail. I've had a good two years of exposure to on-line marketing, though this is my first attempt at on-line relationship building, known in the larger business world as "CRM": Customer Relationship Management.
This may catch on, depending on the response I get. So, please use the comments space here on the blog to voice your opinions. I'd really like to know your thoughts to help me build this business further, hopefully with some of you alongside me. We can earn, learn and grow our businesses together.
Here's the best part: this group holds a workshop every month, usually the third Saturday. For $50, whether you join in any other aspects of the group or not, you get a whole day of content and learning, from 9 to 5 with a 90-minute lunch break. Note that the focus of the day is content, not a sales pitch. For $50/month, you can't beat the learning opportunity. Others would charge hundreds for a single-day presentation.
Otherwise, the group meets on Thursday evenings and Saturday noon time for the business presentation, and then on Friday at noon time and Monday evening for a follow-up, question and answer session.
This is what you don't get from the "gurus" who do the 90-minute sales pitch webinars: a place to learn and to build an on-going relationship with the people in the group. As we go along here, I'll point up more of the differences, but that's a big one, and even though you're getting this blog for free, this little bit of knowledge can be worth many, many millions of dollars to you.
If you've read my earlier posts you know that I DO advocate listening to the sales pitch webinars. In the first place, they're "free". You're paying to run your computer and have internet access anyway. This is one way to make it productive. If you listen to enough of these "gurus" you can pick a LOT of good information out of their presentations. You just have to get past the sales pitch to find the information.
Here, this group doesn't offer up sales pitches. The Saturday Workshops are all content. In fact, when you come, bring a fresh pad of paper and a good pen or two to each one because you WILL want to write down a lot of information. You won't want to run out of paper or have a pen run dry on you.
Here in this area, I know of only one other group which holds "no sales pitch" meetings. The group is known as "the WCRT", for no special reason. The letters don't really mean anything according to the group's leader, Ryan Steele. Ryan is a successful investor in own right and does do one-on-one mentoring, for a fee. The WCRT meets the first thursday of every month, except where that falls on a holiday. Take a look at the WCRT website for more information. Every month features a speaker - pure content, no sales allowed.
Having the group for support and making local contacts is by far the most valuable resource any group can offer. The "gurus" don't seem to get that - their presentations are pure marketing from start to finish - just being brutally honest, no offense intended.
As to part 2 of the latest crooked furrow, I dispatched my first direct mail campaign this afternoon. 556 pieces to two carrier routes in a local zip code. We'll see what kind of response they draw. Untargetted direct mail gets the lowest response rate, usually. So, I'm guessing less than 1%. Out of 556 pieces, maybe 2 or 3 people will pursue it. I'm hoping to do better, of course.
We'll talk again soon!
Take care - be well!
Much Success!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Saturday, August 06, 2011
The Next Crooked Furrow
Hello! David J here again bringing you more of the steps on my journey toward financial independence.
Well! We went another more than a month without a new post. I've been busy and there's good news coming!
First, let me thank those who expressed support while I was recovering from the changes that went down this past Spring. Your warm wishes meant a lot.
Secondly, I'm still plying my IT trade and shopping the job market while working toward my financial independence goals. Working on a new job that's more in-line with the bulk of my experience. Looking good, but I don't have the offer yet. Wish me luck!
Third, I have some REALLY great news on the financial independence front.
I've connected with a local group of investors. I was going to make that a longer sentence, but thought better of it because it contains an important point: I've connected with a LOCAL group ...
The key word there is "local". That means I can visit them, attend their gatherings, sit and take notes as often as they hold their events. That's SO much better than buying something off the web and trying to figure it out without some active support. It means so much to have the group to whom I can turn with my questions because SOME one is there who has some kind of answer. There's typically more than one answer to questions not involving legal issues, and even that is not 100% certain.
That said, there is something connected with this group which is strongly in keeping with the principles I set forth when I started this blog: at least SOME level of support for those whose financial means are stretched well past the breaking point.
While this group does do marketing for a real estate "university", they do something that NONE of the other marketers in this space can even pretend to do - and many of them do "pretend": the school offers financing! ...and down payments as low as 20%!
Unfortunately, even this outfit and their marketers do not have what the true "no cash, no credit" people (like me) need, BUT: they do have a way to generate income that can pay for the classes they offer. By being an affiliate marketer you can earn commissions that can pay for the classes you might want to take from the school. The affiliate licensing fee is $125 a year.
Also, the class material is all self-paced and on-line. You can study at your own speed in your own home office or anywhere you have internet connectivity.
In my next post, I'll do something that might be considered unthinkable by some: I'll post a link to my "squeeze page" where you can be introduced to this group and the school they represent. If you want to know more, you'll have to tune in again in a couple of weeks to get the rest of the story.
In the mean time, ask yourself this question: if you had people with private money looking to you for an opportunity to get better-than-bank returns on their retirement accounts and other investments, how easy would it be to turn some real estate deals and make some income?
Now, what does this have to do with "crooked furrows"? Well, if you read my earlier posts, you may remember that one of my adopted mentors holds that he'd rather see a crooked furrow than a field unplowed. I'm cutting another crooked furrow in relation to my latest venture thanx to the US Postal Service.
USPS has introduced a new service called "Every Door Direct Mail", or "EDDM". EDDM provides delivery to every mailbox on a carrier route within any zip code. It's not targetted at all - there's no provision for mailing lists or special permits, it's just base rate per piece. You need a minimum of 200 pieces in a mailing, which means you may need to start with two or more carrier routes to go over the top of 200.
Here's the USPS link for more information:
https://www.usps.com/business/every-door-direct-mail.htm
I showed my first draft mailpiece to some group members. One of them suggested I need some attention-grabbing graphics. Right now, it's all text, like a sales letter. I'm not a graphic artist. I don't know from graphics. So, I'm considering my first attempt at a direct mail piece to be a "crooked furrow".
Tune in again in a week or two and I'll have more for you!
We'll talk again soon!
Take care - be well!
Much Success!
Well! We went another more than a month without a new post. I've been busy and there's good news coming!
First, let me thank those who expressed support while I was recovering from the changes that went down this past Spring. Your warm wishes meant a lot.
Secondly, I'm still plying my IT trade and shopping the job market while working toward my financial independence goals. Working on a new job that's more in-line with the bulk of my experience. Looking good, but I don't have the offer yet. Wish me luck!
Third, I have some REALLY great news on the financial independence front.
I've connected with a local group of investors. I was going to make that a longer sentence, but thought better of it because it contains an important point: I've connected with a LOCAL group ...
The key word there is "local". That means I can visit them, attend their gatherings, sit and take notes as often as they hold their events. That's SO much better than buying something off the web and trying to figure it out without some active support. It means so much to have the group to whom I can turn with my questions because SOME one is there who has some kind of answer. There's typically more than one answer to questions not involving legal issues, and even that is not 100% certain.
That said, there is something connected with this group which is strongly in keeping with the principles I set forth when I started this blog: at least SOME level of support for those whose financial means are stretched well past the breaking point.
While this group does do marketing for a real estate "university", they do something that NONE of the other marketers in this space can even pretend to do - and many of them do "pretend": the school offers financing! ...and down payments as low as 20%!
Unfortunately, even this outfit and their marketers do not have what the true "no cash, no credit" people (like me) need, BUT: they do have a way to generate income that can pay for the classes they offer. By being an affiliate marketer you can earn commissions that can pay for the classes you might want to take from the school. The affiliate licensing fee is $125 a year.
Also, the class material is all self-paced and on-line. You can study at your own speed in your own home office or anywhere you have internet connectivity.
In my next post, I'll do something that might be considered unthinkable by some: I'll post a link to my "squeeze page" where you can be introduced to this group and the school they represent. If you want to know more, you'll have to tune in again in a couple of weeks to get the rest of the story.
In the mean time, ask yourself this question: if you had people with private money looking to you for an opportunity to get better-than-bank returns on their retirement accounts and other investments, how easy would it be to turn some real estate deals and make some income?
Now, what does this have to do with "crooked furrows"? Well, if you read my earlier posts, you may remember that one of my adopted mentors holds that he'd rather see a crooked furrow than a field unplowed. I'm cutting another crooked furrow in relation to my latest venture thanx to the US Postal Service.
USPS has introduced a new service called "Every Door Direct Mail", or "EDDM". EDDM provides delivery to every mailbox on a carrier route within any zip code. It's not targetted at all - there's no provision for mailing lists or special permits, it's just base rate per piece. You need a minimum of 200 pieces in a mailing, which means you may need to start with two or more carrier routes to go over the top of 200.
Here's the USPS link for more information:
https://www.usps.com/business/every-door-direct-mail.htm
I showed my first draft mailpiece to some group members. One of them suggested I need some attention-grabbing graphics. Right now, it's all text, like a sales letter. I'm not a graphic artist. I don't know from graphics. So, I'm considering my first attempt at a direct mail piece to be a "crooked furrow".
Tune in again in a week or two and I'll have more for you!
We'll talk again soon!
Take care - be well!
Much Success!
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