Google Ripped off Don Lapre's 'Tiny Classified Ads' Idea...

What was the infomercial you were just watching? a Google infomercial?

Talk about a blast from the past.
My guess is he's on one of those tropical beaches laughing his butt off

I am pretty sure I have actually seen one of his infomercials recently (as in within the past year).

Don is a serious scammer. The "info." he sold was worthless.
Took me almost four months, and dozens of phone calls to get my "prompt no-hassle refund" So yeah, my guess is beach.

I actually have his original course on using classified ads, not very fancy course.

The last Don Lapre infomercial I remember was that Greatest Vitamin in the World one.

It had a couple of hot chicks talking about what a great business opportunity it was and if I remember right Don Lapre got in some trouble over that one.

So on the second one they used one of those chicks and pushed a great money making opportunity but didn't say it was the Greatest Vitamin in the World, which it was, and Don Lapre was not seen or mentioned.

My aunt got that. One day she just gave me the vitamins. They reminded me of horse pills. But I didn't turn into Superman so I stopped taking them and they went in the bin.

Don Lapre is my role model. I bought his tiny classified ad product four times. The fourth time I ordered it, he had left a personal note on my customer record that said "I like this guy."

Not precisely accurate. He did recommend strongly that you sell an information product... but not the one he was selling. He recommended that you create your own. I myself wrote a guide to producing an information product, because it amused me to make such a circular offering. I sold almost 600 copies of it at $20 apiece (over the course of six months) before I started doing the math on how far I could take this.

What Don didn't tell you was that there was a major hurdle in getting from a few hundred a week to thousands a day - and that hurdle was scale. While he did, in fact, drag several million dollars a day into his business... he also paid several million dollars a day in expenses. Out of the $25 million a day that came into the business, he got to keep less than ten thousand of it.

Which is still six figures a month, so nothing to sneeze at. But to make this sort of thing work took either a large amount of time, or a massive initial investment. Don's greatest skill was (and is) the ability to sit down and convince someone that they should invest a hundred million in his latest business idea. If you don't have that particular skill, building up to that point CAN happen, but it takes a massive amount of work and investment.

Don was pretty closely following Mass Control, incidentally, although Frank Kern was not yet on the map. Analysing Don's infomercials from that standpoint will pinpoint all the same critical factors Frank discusses, and Don is masterful in the way he employs them.

The order is very important here.

By placing tiny classified ads from his one bedroom apartment, he was able to make $50,000 per week.

But what he did from his apartment was acquire the social proof that went into a business plan that he showed to an investor who wrote him a massive freakin' check.

Now, it's also important to note that he was telling the truth. Don never lied. Not exactly. He misled, so you'd think he said something he didn't say, but when you backed up you realised he didn't really say that. And the clues were still there, too: at some points in the infomercials, Don would be walking through his office, filled with dozens if not hundreds of people busily working. That was the setup which was bringing him $50k a week. If you wanted $50k a week yourself, you were going to need that many people, too.

He was starting a new business venture, but it never quite got off the ground and has essentially folded. My contact information for him is no longer good, and I haven't been able to get in touch with anyone who can refresh it.

One of these days, I'm going to do a JV with Don.

Why are you saying it was lapres idea? You might as well say writing your name, to identify something as yours, is copying my idea! I mean I may be older than many on this board, and did it before they did. Maybe I suggested it a few times! But it is NOT my idea!

I ALSO once had the time, etc.. to try ONE tiny ad. LONG BEFORE Lapres commercial, and it was before the internet was opened up. I got ONE response. Interestingly, the guy is supposedly on this site! Anyway, he sent me a multipaged letter saying how he was so great with selling, etc... and for only about 500-2000 times the cost of my ad(NOT including HIS fee), I could do better. DUH!

BTW I guess that paper didn't match my demographic. 8-( At the time, my product was WITHOUT A DOUBT the best in its class. And $20 to learn all about the important computer hardware specs of the day, from such a SMALL book, and possibly save thousands of dollars? And get software that was worth maybe $300 at the time!?!?!? Sadly, today, such a book could quickly become outdated, and would be HUGE. So I never even bothered to update it. 8-(

Anyway, the simplicity and cost were the best selling points, and I couldn't see paying THOUSANDS for an ad. I was VERY risk averse at the time. And selling it for over $20 would have made it harder to sell.

I ALSO thought about doing the Linux CDs apparently before redhat. Other companies certainly did it earlier, but THEY charged a lot less, and offered no real support. But some of the licenses were restrictive, as to how much you could charge, and I didn't want to end up on the wrong side of a court case.

Steve

Tommy Vu rings a bell but don't remember watching any, but I
certainly could have. Wasn't into real estate back then.

When did Carlton Sheets come on the scene? I believe he was
early 90s. Not sure.

he sounds like a really cool guy Gonna have to dig a bit deeper on this guy.

Don was ahead. No question. Young guy marketing to lots of people as inexpensively as he could-sound familiar. I mean that's where I got the kernel idea from, then had it cemented a few years later when I read Rich Dad Poor Dad. By '99 I had an online dating site and was trading links with Rosalind Gardner.

As for his delivery-I think it as a "shouted whisper." He always seemed very excited but like he had to keep the noise down. Presumably from complaining neighbors in that one bedroom apartment.

He used to have Don Lupre's 1-800-CAN'T-GO-WRONG... as a telephone #..

Didn't he go to prison for awhile?

I love it when an old thread comes back to life...

Can't forget these two...



What are they doing now? Last time I seen them on tv was in a commercial for a pest-control business...dressed up as cockroaches or termites or whatever!

Don Lapre was a big influence on me too.

I didn't buy the course, but a friend did. The course wasn't very good and really could have been great had he added more resouces.

But his concept of tons of "tiny little ads" was a big factor in creating my own strategy for search engine doorway pages way back before it was cool. If the engines are going to give free traffic, why not have tons of tiny little pages?

Maybe Lapre didn't originate the concept, but he's the one that told me about it.

I'm sure his 'tiny classified ads' methods worked at the time, it was a question of how many actually worked enough to apply them and make some money. Same goes today working an online business.

However, those other products he came out with later, like "The World's Greatest Vitamin'! Whoa! Not gonna work Don! Here's more info on what's going on now with Lapre according to quackwatch.org:

Consumer Protection Actions

In July 2005, the FDA ordered Lapre to stop claiming that his vitamin product can prevent or cure a long list of diseases [20]. Although Lapre made superficial changes in his product descriptions, the FDA warned again in 2006 that consumer testimonials and other statements on his Web site still evidence that the product is intended to treat, cure, prevent, or mitigate diabetes, cancer, arthritis, and other diseases [21].

Commercials aired in January 2006 did not mention Doug Grant or the specific disease claims to which the FDA objected. These infomercials offered to pay $500 each time a distributor you sign up got 20 or more people to try the vitamin. We believe that this made the finances of the entire program even more unworkable than described above, because the company would now have to pay out $1,500 rather than $1,000 for the privilege of collecting $900.

In 2006, Grant added The Greatest Weight Loss Pill in the World Grant to his product line and begun doing business as "Saving Lives Across America," which peddled a few more products and similar far-fetched earning opportunity claims.

In 2006, the Better Business Bureau reported:

Based on BBB files, [The Greatest Vitamin in the World] has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to a failure to substantiate its advertised claims and a pattern of complaints. Complaints are concerning refund practices. Specifically, complaints allege inability to cancel the sale or service in accordance with the company's refund policy. Although the company has responded to complaints presented by the Bureau, the company has failed to correct the underlying reason for the complaints. . . .

The company responded to the Bureau's advertising inquiry however, they failed to substantiate the following advertised claims:

• "Our company will pay you $1000 up front or up to $200 a month for the rest of your life every single time you get just 20 new people to try our amazing vitamin

• "Each week we pay you on all the revenue earned the week prior! This is the easiest way in the world to start generating $1000 checks over and over again!"

• "Our top people have made thousands and thousands of dollars doing this!"

• "Each month you get just 100 new vitamin clients, we pay you a $5000 bonus! And the top two Independent Advertisers who create under 100 new vitamin clients also get a $5000 bonus!"

• "Endorsed by the NBCCA representing most teams in the NBA."

• "We use the highest grade and most absorbable nutrients known to man." [22]
• In 2007, Lapre shut down Greatest Vitamin after the U.S. Postal Inspection Service served a warrant on the business and federal investigators served a warrant at Lapre's Phoenix home.

In 2008, the Maryland Department of Securities banned Lapre and The Greatest Vitamin in the World, LLC from continuing to do business in Maryland. The cease-and-desist order states that the company was not registered to sell business opportunities and had failed to provide refunds to dissatisfied customers as promised [23].

In June 2011, Lapre was charged with conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. The indictment alleges:

Lapre's sales pitches for the Greatest Vitamin program greatly exaggerated its income potential.

Buyers were never told that their Internet-based businesses would ultimately be competing against more than 200,000 other "businesses" offering the exact same limited number of products in essentially the same manner.

Although their initial investments were small, buyers were sold expensive marketing programs that had little or no potential for generating sales.
From 2004 to 2007, 226,794 people invested more than $51.8 million and received just $6.3 million in commissions [24].

We believe Lapre will be found guilty and receive a lengthy prison sentence.

You can always argue any new business idea is simply a rejuvenation of something that had been done before, as the saying goes "Nothing new under the sun"

I never bought that one, but I did get the one from Brad Richdale. Not too bad, it had the thud factor when it was delivered.

I believe a few months ago he was arrested for fraud or conspiracy or something like that.

Don Lapre committed suicide in 2011 in prison.

NEWS FLASH! Google is ripping off all business owners both BIG and small these days...

For a moment I thought, Jared's back! And then 2008..

Not excusing his behavior but I guess I can understand why he committed suicide. He obviously was like us and wanted freedom from the boss, a free life etc. Going behind the bars would of been a lot harder for his type than regular people.