Get rich quick schemes you bought

I once brought a pack of DVD's for MLM marketing from Andrew Reynolds. Spent around £2000 on it! What a big mistake well this was in the 90's aswell!

I have learnt so much since then and realised that what these peeps were selling is just junk!

Haha! God, his voice is annoying! I have spent countless dollars on get rich schemes like this, and they never worked. But just like you, I bought one, and branched out to something else from it, and here I am, selling articles I write so my clients don't have to! I love to write, so this is a great job for me. I'm glad you found something that works for you!

Hi,

I don't mean to play devil's advocate here but if you got something out of what you bought (as 2 have said so far) What's the problem?

I'm not a fan of DL but I do know his methods worked on various levels for some people.

No business, not eBay, not Don Lupre, Not Amazon, not Shaklee, not Amway, not Robert Allen, NO business works for the majority of people who buy in to it. Why? I'll not raise a controversy here by repeating the "why." . It's stated over and over in this forum.

However, All of them work for some. The "Why?" is the opposite of the "Why?" above. Again people get angry when we say the "Why?s"

Anyway, Congratulations on taking action (oops) on a segment of DLs program and making it work.

Oh, in answer to your question, I got into shaklee, sold two bottles and went out and bought a new car based on future earnings. Those darn downline people never sold another bottle of the stuff so my car payments never came in.

The other thing I got into was a soap/cleaning products company. They went out of business but not before I proudly became a "General" based on my PV Those products lasted us for a few years. I even used them in my cleaning business and turned them into thousands of dollars based on the money my janitorial accounts paid me. (How's that for rationalization?)

Nice Thread, Thanks,

George Wright

The Zaken Corporation, yikes!

Sorry I guess my thread brought out a spammer. Post reported

Let's see, there's been so many.

William J. McCorkle's "No Money Down" Real Estate System

U.S. Mortgage Bi-Weekly Mortgage Simulation

Don Lapre's "Tiny Classified Ads"

SMC (Specialty Merchandise Corp)

John Beck's "Free and Clear" Real Estate System

That's all I can think of right now.

Don't leave me alone late at night with a credit card nearby!

Don't worry, if they ever run a late night infomercial for a cleaning Earl Grey Tea from keyboards... I'LL ORDER IT!!

I have to admit though it was Andrew Reynolds that first brought my attention to internet marketing and the click bank website so in that sense i did gain something from him but for £2000 pounds i still do not know if it was worth it!

I think that the only problematic thing about "Get rich quick schemes" is the "quick" and the fact that they make you believe that you will not have to work.

When they say "take action" they talk about buying the get rich quick scheme, they don't tell you that you will have to do so all along the way, and that riches will not come that quick, or at least that it will depend on how much time and energy you will put into it.

I bought into some get rich schemes many years ago. My first one was some thing that I was supposed to get for collecting names/addresses for a mailing list or something. I don't think I ever earned anything from it.

This is honestly one of the funniest threads I've seen on here.

But I agree that sometimes difficult circumstances put us in the path of lessons or experiences that end up being the foundation of what we actually succeed at.

Although Tiny Classifieds sounds more like a Disney cartoon...

The Rich Jerk
Internet Millions
Make-N-Dollars
Data Entry Typist
Carleton Sheets
Real Estate Auctions
Grant Crap

I bought more but this has gone on so long that I actually do not remember the other schemes' names. At least I learned my lesson after a while instead of still playing the sucker.

I have purchased some things that haven't turned out to be great but I usually feel that I come away learning at least something.

Anything advertised on the TV always scares me so I would never buy from there (at least in the make money niche). I remember seeing that real estate guy in the middle of the night when I had to stay up with my newborn early last year. The next day I went online to see what people were saying about it because it looked like a scam and sure enough that is what people were saying. It is just sad that some people gave him 1000s in follow up courses that did nothing.

LMFAO!!! I just found Don Lapre's Twitter account.

And it DEFINITELY is him.

I'm not going to post it though bc I feel by not posting
it I'm doing a lot of you guys a favor.

I found him too.

He tweeted

"I am looking for the best person who can show me how to get my website rocking? Who knows an internet expert? Thanks in advance!"

I'm tempted to suggest posting a bunch of tiny little ads in a bunch of newspapers.

Too late I already did.

I wrote this -->

RT - @DonLapreTV - here's how to get your website rocking. Post a bunch of tiny classified ads on the web and your traffic will SKYROCKET

Let's not forget about "Paid Surveys"

I think it was my first exposure to a clickbank product
and it took me about a month to realize it was one of
the biggest crocks of sh*t as I stated on my blog. LOL

But Data Entry is crap.

So was Angel Stevens. TOTAL GARBAGE

I think they got shut down. At least that's what I heard.

What a joke. LOL

Specialty Merchandise Corporation is the one I remember most. There were a few others in the late 1990's I purchased, but I can't remember them now.

When i just finished school at the tender age of 17 i bought into:

1) Stuffing envelope schemes
2) Work at home making little electronic gadgets. You would pay £25 and the company would send you some basic materials with some vague instructions. Once built we are supposed to get paid £25 for each one we build.

Of course i had dreams of doing 100 a day. Low and behold every time i made the little gadget it would be returned back saying it is wrong.

Mmmm - my dreams were shattered, lol!

Riz

I'm happy to say that I've never fallen for any type of get-rich-quick scheme. I do remember the 'tiny classified' ads advertisement and thinking 'how in the world does this work...?'

Chris Johnson's Free Grant Money

Even lost a friendship over that one.

Dave

I will have to disagree with those that said "The Rich Jerk " is a scam. That book is filled with solid information about getting started in IM and the price now makes it a no brainer. I bought it years ago and I'm sure it opened a lot of people up to affiliate marketing.


One scam that I fell for was that notorious chain letter that sounded so great on paper.

I also purchased one of those "assemble products from home kits."

Don Lapre, Brad Richdale, Dave DelDotto (i'm givin you a rainbow , Carleton Sheets, The Asian pimp himself Tom Vu (I really miss his infomercials. Bought it and kept watching it for the laughs!) William McCorkle (now imprisoned Ron Legrand & the twin dwarfs, SMC, Mellinger Import/Export, Ken Roberts Commodities course, and a ton more

There is a serious need to define terms in this thread, because "Get Rich Quick Scheme" means very different things to different people:

1) Highly promoted program making big promises that only a small portion of buyers profit from even though they provide legitimate information (because that's the nature of the beast when you cast a broad net)

2) Highly promoted program making big promises that provides poor information that helps virtually no one because of its low quality

3) Illegal ripoff scam

Posters here are listing envelope stuffing and data entry rip-offs alongside Rich Jerk. If that's the threshold, 4/5ths of WSO's could be listed here as well.

I thought newbies were supposed to be broke and penniless - how could you guys afford these programs?

Although I never bought it - tom vu was my favorite my brother and I still immitate him for laughs

Haha, I remember Don Lapre. I actually bought his crap when I was desperately seeking a way to make money because at the time I didn't believe in myself and thought I could never get a job. I also fell for those stuffing envelopes scams (you actually get a book on how to start a mail order business). I "considered" getting that Carlton Sheets real estate crap as well, but I started donating plasma.

That Don Lapre Classified Ads System is actually the SAME exact system i bought like 10 years ago! Funny!

The Jeff Paul underwear thing
Gov't auctions
Data entry
Surveys
And I am really ashamed to say...Horizon Technologies. That one wasn't so much a get rich *quick* scheme, but it was a scheme all right.

I could tell you a million stories about this too. Andrew Reynolds, Streetwise Marketing, even a lot of the big IM guys now... all they're selling is "the dream", then regurgitating it and reselling it as "the bigger dream".

Brad - should have made the thread "Get rich quick schemes you bought and got rich quick from".

That would have thrown a spanner in the works

Yeah, I once bought one of those real estate schemes, they even pitched in a cheap watch, I was able to get my money back though. But you live and learn.

Did you get to keep the watch?

none.

yeah, they are 'get rich quick schemes' the part they leave out is it's a make them rich scheme, not you.

It's like blowing your money on the Dr. Phil self help book of the week, same information, differnet cover, all common sense and a waste of money.

I'd say something about a few of the WSO's but... let's not get myself banned today.

Pyramid Madoff-style, made A LOT of money with it. Fortunately, in the black before the owner vanished.

The ONLY TIME and most money I've EVER made "working at home".

Seeing that 4-figures check NOT bouncing was incredible.

Bought a real estate system similar to William J. McCorkle's , but a UK version.
1 Year later the property boom's, bubble burst, damn!

Then you realise why it was none of these companies where advertising their system when the property market was booming, lol.

Cheers

Graeme

Anything by Ewen Chia or Michael Cheney

I bought that system four times over as many years, compared each version to the others, and took voluminous notes on what he changed, removed, or added.

So in a very real sense, Don Lapre was my marketing mentor. He just never knew it... although he may have suspected. The last time I bought his system, the operator mentioned that Don had left a note on my account. It said "I like this guy."

I also wasted money buying the Don Lapre stuff when I was younger and more naive - how foolish of me.

The best way to build trust with customers nowadays is to give away quality products for free - which is exactly what I do on all of my sites, including my main site in my signature.

John Burton

Thanks for sharing the Don Lapre and Tom Vu videos.....Total hilariousness.

I fell for John Beck's Free and Clear Real Estate System.

He shows you how to buy homes on pennies for the dollar by purchasing tax liens.

Interesting stuff but only can be done in a few states.

Not a one. I bought many products/systems when I first started out(as I suspect most do) with the intention of learning. Of course somewhere in my head I am sure I thought I may "Get rich quick", but ultimately I knew I was learning...

I have always been able to pull info from every product I have purchased. I have always been of the opinion that there is no one system for me, that MY system is melding of many different strategies put together in a way that I can make them work in my favor.

There were many products I was disappointed in...of course, but I wont name them because I am only one person and my opinion on someones product...is just my opinion, and may not reflect the product to someone else.

keith

I fell prey to Ty Coughlin's "Reverse Funnel System"

Just writing that makes me want to punch that !@#$er !@#$er right between the eyes haha.

However, I would have to say that in order to make it not a total loss, I did learn as much as I could and learned the best way NOT to do things.

- Tommy

Much of the things I've seen Ewen Chia come out with lately are actually quite helpful and inexpensive, particularly if you're new to IM or new to a particular technique (like building a list). Probably the same would apply to the Rich Jerk although I've never seen his product.

This isn't really a get rich quick scheme but my mother was dead set on buying Kevin Trudeau's weight loss crap "they don't want you to know about". As soon as she opened up the first page and read 'colon cleanse' she closed it and promptly put it on the back of the toilet where it belongs. I tried to talk her out of it...show her the Amazon reviews, but she insisted he must know SOMETHING!

That something was how to take your money from you

3 lines are forever engraved in my mind... unfortunately:

"Just pick up the phone..."

"that's all you have to do..."

"tiny 1 BR apartment..."

lol, thanks Don.

I still get pissed thinking about this one. I paid 200.00$ for this and I really thought I could make it work. The flaw was no one in their right mind would pay the low prices required to make it work. Also they tried upselling the crap out of me. I'll never forget it. I'll also throw in John Becks free and clear real-estate system. What a load of crap.

I actually got a $20 settlement check for some online mall system I'd bought but never did anything with. The company got sued for false claims and had to pay out in a mass settlement case.

Having a little taste of justice was nice.

I hate to rain on everyone's parade here, but if we explained what niche marketing was to anyone that doesn't make money online, they would tell you that you're either one of those spammers, scammers, or your in "one of those get rich quick thingies".

I look at it this way: Anything can be sold if it is sold with integrity and without lies.
But there are certain things I would never sell like sex and drugs.

But information products are just information. The trouble comes when people lie
and deceive in order to sell that info.

Let's face it people................HYPE SELLS.

Hype isn't bad, lies are bad. Some people seem to think that hype and lies are the same thing though. I don't think they are.

But I digress.

I joined ACN, Ameriplan, ect... Oh wait. I did make money in Ameriplan but I realized that I could be putting my efforts into more productive tasks.

Brad,
OMG, did this thread ever bring back some memories for me.

I am embarrassed to say that I bought just about every get rich scheme that came along back in the 90's and early 2000's.

I too bought Don Lapres tiny classified ads and then fell for the $500 upsell from one of his telemarketers a few weeks later. Here are some of my other memorable "investments":

The Mellinger company - Import/Export business

Association of Certified Liquidators

M.O.R.E. Company "Successful business tools"

William J McCorkle's "The whole enchilada" real estate course
(I have to say though that I really did enjoy seeing him cry like a baby in front of the judge before they sent him off to the "Big house.")

Carleton Sheets real estate course

Ken Roberts commodity course

Brad Richdales "Secrets to makey money now" course

Dave Del Dotto

Coastal Vacations

Emerald Passport

All those years I always thought that I just wasn't selling enough stuff to make any money but then I heard Frank Kerns take on it and I liked it a whole lot better.

He said
"I think the problem a lot of times isn't that we're not selling enough stuff. I think the problem is that there are too many people not buying our stuff. Therefore (Classic Mass Control) it's not our fault. It's theirs for not buying our s--t! What's wrong with these *$#%!'s?!"

Amway was my first. Then AL Williams, then Amway again. I can't remember why I tried them again. Must have been a change in the program. Next was Carlton Sheets which I returned and got a refund, then Rich Dad/Poor Dad, which changed my way of thinking. Even though I never earned any money, I did learn that with the right product or service, MLM could work.

Oh this brings back memories... most of them not good. :-)

I've bought a few real estate courses from lesser known RE gurus - Vena Jones-Cox, Drew White, and Donna Bauer all of which turned out to be helpful.

I bought Sheets at a time when I already owned property. Much of his info was out of date. I gave the course to a neighbor who always had wanted to buy it, but he never got around to doing so. He sold it at flea market for a few dollars. LOL

Jeff Paul's underwear program - did $40,000 with that one. About half of that amount was money I spent on advertising. Sooo $20K from it wasn't bad. And I learned a lot.

Don Lapre's Makin Money - piece of junk. I remember an article in "DM News" (Direct Marketing News) about Lapre filing for bankruptcy protection. The article published a list of his creditors. He eventually sold the "Makin' Money" business, and could no longer offer it. That is why he went into the vitamin MLM business.

:-Don

Not a get rich scheme but I'm right on the tipping point of springing for the

p90x fitness program

I need a "late night infomercial" sponsor to call when I find myself wanting to jump up off the recliner and start running for my wallet.

Dear god... Maverick Money Makers.

That was before I knew anything about anything related to Internet Marketing. To add insult to injury, I should've seen it coming - that was back when there were "only 17 spots" left but affiliates could make a lot of money through promoting - with the amount of affiliates promoting, those 17 spots would've been gone in an hour or two.

Oh well. You learn from your mistakes.

Carlton Sheets "No Money Down" Great Info Product, but not easy at all....

Did the Amway (Quixtar) thing once and Excel phone service. Met alot of very motivated people at Amway and they do some great training but peolpe fell out of my downline as fast as I could get them in. Felt like I was spinning my wheels. I must say though that some of the principles they teach have been very helpful when applied to my current business and to life in general.

How about this for a get rich quick scheme headline:

"You Can Be A Millionaire Guaranteed, By Pressing A Few Buttons In The Right Order"

Vague but certainly correct ... if only it were that simple

Regards

James

Oh man does that bring back memories... I was stupid enough to fall for it twice.. Once back in the very early 90's where I paid him about $200 for that course. I was about 16-17 at the time I think & My mom was pissed. Made me file with the BBB and get my money back from him. Then about 6 years later I ran across him again and purchased the 900# sports/physic lines he was selling. Yeah it was a joke to say the least.. Oh well, you live and learn.
I I just read something recently that he just committed suicide. Bunch of lawsuits against him for basically stealing peoples money for these bogus courses..