need advice from people who have gone through this course

[j_roberts]

There are three business people in our group who have read the sales letter and remain a bit skeptical of this, including me. After all, this is being offering by a man who has made his fortune offering people a way to make money on the Internet. This is not what we want to do.

We each have a brick and mortar business, serving our small local community. We're not getting rich but have found a nice niche and have been doing okay for along time. That said, each has a specific issue that needs to be dealt with so our attenae are up for possible solutions.

The other factor is time. It's not the $297 that concerns us, it's the hours it would take away from our companies in order to go through the course. If this is not suitable for our needs and won't yield a solution, then it will do more harm than good.

Here are the details and perhaps you can offer your views on whether this will work or not. Again, I'm soliciting the opinion of people who have gone through the course -- or at least a good chunk of it -- and applied it, and maybe there's a few folks who even had similar circumstances and concerns.

1. My company has published a small monthly business magazine for 12 years and we've been trying to add a second print product. Our main problem is that we can't find enough self-motivated people to bring on board who will expend the effort to go the extra mile. We continuously struggle with deadlines as a result. We pay well for the market, and offer a completely non-bureaucratic workplace. I'm somewhat of an absentee owner, only coming into the office once or twice a week. If we can't solve our staffing issues we will not grow.

2. Another person offers an event service that is being plagued by low sales. Her small company survives from project to project, and occasionally has a good project that tides her over. However, she has two sales people who seem to try hard but just can't get people to make commitments. She sees potential but is working a ton of hours and is essentially just pulling down a paycheck -- and not a big one. She could close the business and consult a half-dozen companies and make more money while working less. She's been through three sets of salespeople and is growing more frustrated by the day.

3. The last person is nearing "retirement" age but has all of his assets tied up in his family business. He needs to create a succession plan for a child sho will start paying his retirement income out of monthly proceeds, or he'll need to sell the company.

All of us, particularly the last person, have been in business for years and wonder if this course may be too general to apply to our unique situations. We also are skeptical that something costing $297 could possibly help us.

Again, we do not want anything to do with Internet marketing. I may be interested as a sideline at some point when my problems have been dealt with, but my existing business is taking 60-70 hours of my week as it is.

The three of us have been together for a long time and when I saw the sales letter for the 7-day course I shared it, and that's when the questions started. Hopefully, somebody here can lend an opinion that will help us.

Thanks for reading this.

[rhondakay]

I am on day 4 of the program and the first two days alone helps you put everything in financial perspective and even find money you aren't aware that already exists.

Don't focus so much on tactics or Internet Sales as you do the principles that are being taught on getting things done. The course is simply a guideline that if we follow we should get similar or even greater results in whatever line of business we are in. There is an exercise on creativity on day 3. When going through the course, ask yourself "How can what I learned today be applied to my business?"

The main thing I am getting out of this program is to take action, be creative and be consistent in order to get results. For example, I plan to use ideas I got from these principles to get viewers for my talk show. Hope this helps.

Rhonda Kay
http://www.rhondakayshow.com

[tjustin]

You're in a scramble to make things happen and on a tight time leash. So, you're (in this case) making a decision, then backing off a bit, unsure. I don't blame you, given the circumstances you described.

Your problems sound like something in a sales letter after completion. The course would address most of your issues. the solutions will determinate on your use of the material.

In case 1, I don't quite understand. You say you work 60-70 hours a week, yet you're an absentee manager. Does that mean in another job or company?

New employees need guidance and usually crave structure, that's why they're employees and not your competitors. If you can't provide supervision in the beginning for these people, you likely won't see the results you want unless you get lucky.

Your partner in the family business can't be assured of his retirement income if his assets are tied up in the business today. How competent and experienced is the family member who would take over the business? If they aren't absolutely proven to be excellent now, he's betting and hoping for ongoing income and tied up assets that will somehow pay dividends in the future.

You may also be misunderstanding Internet marketing. Anything you do on the web to further your business is Internet marketing. 90% of small business owners don't have a marketing website. They have a billboard and those do no good until people find it.

If they only way people find it is if you "point" to it, you're not marketing, you're doing the equivalent of passing out a brochure on the street.

So, you might want to take a very close look at your promotion and marketing.

Most businesses that are either stagnant or fail so so because they are so busy putting out "fires" that they can't call the fire department. This course could be your fire department.

Good luck!

Tom Justin