Okay, you’re serious about making some money on the side, maybe even ditching the day job for a new career you love. Can buying some guru’s “How to Make Money in Your Pajamas” system get you your dream?
Maaaaaaaybe.
But there are some big considerations to mull over before you plunk down your credit card.
1. Do you trust and identify with the person selling the system?
If you’ve spent any time browsing the Internet and trying to find a way to make money, you’ve probably encountered The Long Sales Letter. You know the one: it’s designed to pull all your desire strings, rev up your hope, and have you speed-scrolling to the bottom so you click the “Buy It Right Now Before the Price Goes up” button.
If this sales letter is your first contact with the author of the product, don’t even consider buying anything. You have no way of knowing if there is any truth behind it. Chances are the product creator didn’t even write it, or if he did, it was substantially edited by a copywriter. Consider it a story, not a true representation of the product creator’s voice.
And, yes, that “voice” matters.
Before you buy one of these make-money systems, it’s important to know the author. I’m not talking about sharing lunch dates and golf games, but you want to have had enough exposure to the author to get a feel for their methods and their values.
Why?
Because your success isn’t just about the system. The system can work for the author, and it can work for someone else, but it may not work for you. For the system to work, it has to be right for you.
Let me give you an example. When I was a broke 19-year-old private in the army, I picked up one of those “business opportunity” magazines that consisted of little more than ads designed to sucker you into buying get-rich-faster-than-it-takes-to-nuke-a-bag-of-microwave-popcorn “opportunities.” I got suckered, and I bought. I sent away $30 for a system that promised to teach me how to make money at home stuffing envelopes in my spare time (yeah, I can’t believe I fell for it either–I like to tell myself the copywriter who put together that ad was exceptionally talented…).
As soon as I got the system, I realized this proven how-to-make-money-stuffing-envelopes system consisted of putting an ad in a magazine and selling people the same how-to-make-money-stuffing-envelopes “system” I had received: a piece of paper telling you how to make money by selling people pieces of paper on how to make money.
So, I could make money if I was as willing to trick other people into falling for the same “system” I had fallen for. Gee.
While some people could make money following the steps, I wanted to be able to sleep at night, so I opted out.
And that’s why I recommend you know who something about the author of any system you’re considering. There actually are a lot of ways to make money (especially if you like to write!), but not every way is going to be a good fit for you.
To increase your odds of being successful with whatever program you choose, make sure you’ve read what the author has written on forums, on social media sites, and on his blog (in this day and age, anyone selling a system should have a blog), and make sure you agree with the ways he makes money.
Make sure you could see yourself doing what this person does. In fact, you should get excited by the prospect of doing it. If you don’t, then keep looking.
2. Does the author of the system do what he teaches, and could he duplicate his success today?
This is especially pertinent for Internet-based systems. The techniques someone used to make thousands a month from blogging or PPC or affiliate marketing or site flipping three years ago may not work today.
Rules change. The way search engines index sites changes. The amount of competition changes (the more people who buy that system, the more people there are trying to make money with it).
While there are some principles (like creating good content) that are likely to be profitable for the long road, a lot of how-to-make-money systems rely on shortcuts that probably aren’t going to work eternally (and may not even work next year).
If you find a system that appeals to you, and it relies on the Internet (or any other sort of rapidly changing technology) to succeed, find out whether or not the author has done what they teach recently. If he hasn’t, find reviews of the system (not testimonials from the author’s sales page…) and make sure people are succeeding because of the advice they received.
3. Have you already purchased other how-to-make-money systems, and if so did you do anything with them?
I’m always surprised how many people become chain purchasers of these types of products. If the first one you buy doesn’t work for you, stop and figure out why before buying another.
Chances are one of two things kept you from succeeding with the first system:
1. You were ethically opposed to what the system told you to do or it was just plain B.S.
2. Something inside of you is keeping you from persisting long enough to reach a payoff.
If it was the first, you’ll know to research the author a lot more before buying another product. This is an easy fix.
If it’s the second, the fix may take a little more work. Buying system after system isn’t going to help. You need to figure out what’s holding you back.
For a lot of people, they get into the trap of rabidly consuming information on making money without taking action. They fail to actually do what they’re reading how to do themselves. They are afraid to make mistakes, because they believe mistakes are tied to failure. And if they fail… then they’ve lost the hope that this system (or maybe any system) can help them reach their dreams.
But you only fail if you quit.
You can’t worry about knowing everything–you have to just jump in and take action. Mistakes speed up the learning process (some day I’ll make a huge list of all the mistakes I’ve made and share them here as a what-not-to-do guide). We forget what we read about, but we remember–and learn from–what we do.
Need motivation? Inspiration?
Some authors/speakers you may want to try reading (or listening to):
Earl Nightingale
Zig Ziglar
Denis Waitley
If there are others you’d recommend, list them in the comments below, so we can check them out!
Did I ever use a how-to-make-money system?
For those who may wonder, I never bought an information product when I was working through how to make money online. (The whole envelope-stuffing fiasco made me leery of information products for a long time.) I muddled my way through it, mostly by learning from people (the ones who were successful) in webmaster forums. There are always people willing to share what they’ve learned for free.
I do think that, if you find the right system for you, buying a product (or even better, finding a coach to teach you first-hand) can shave some time off your learning curve.
On the other hand, most people I’ve come across who have found success took their own path. They may have learned from successful folks who went before, but ultimately they created their own “system.”
What do you think? Have you ever purchased a system? Did you use it? Did you regret it? Would you recommend it?
17 responses so far ↓
1 Caleb Rogers // Oct 19, 2008 at 9:22 pm
I once paid $40 for one of those “data entry” work from home type of programs. The ad wasn’t exactly misleading, but the information that I paid $40 for had no actual value. Maybe a buck, two at the absolute most.
What was the program? I paid $40 for someone to tell me to join an affiliate network and write Google ads (that was the data entry part of it) and make money from the affiliate marketing.
Now, I personally think that affiliate marketing is a great way to make some money (though not with adwords), but the way the information was presented, and how little I got for what I paid, made me wary of such things. Still I tried it for a little while until I realized I would go broke from all the Google ads before I turned profit.
So, I put that effort to rest and started to look for what really worked. And what is it? Finding a niche that really fits me, writing in it, and building up a community around that niche. I know that to those of you who haven’t done it, that doesn’t sound like much of a system, but it’s working. Of course, I’m using tricks I learned from Sterling and Jay of Internet Business Mastery…
2 Pat // Oct 19, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Hey Caleb,
I listen to Sterling and Jay’s podcast. I LOVE THEM! They actually inspired me to do a lot what I do on one of my blogs. They really stress community, and I really believe in what they say, because it does work.
Did you join their Academy? It’s a little pricey I think, but it seems like it may be worth it (we’re talking hundreds of dollars here.)
As far as those “money making systems,” they seem to be all the same (affiliate and google adwords), but I do think they can work. There was actually a lot of hype from PPC Classroom the last few days with a new release they just made. They really did a good job at viral marketing it, and I almost bought it, but I didn’t. I’m curious to see how others feel about “systems” before I possibly “throw away” my hard earned money.
3 WordVixen // Oct 20, 2008 at 11:30 am
It depends on your definition of system. I bought BuildANicheStore after seeing an affiliate marketer do well with it (BANS isn’t his main source of income, but he does do this for a living)- and he’s someone who is strongly against black hat and most gray hat marketing, which made me comfortable with the system.
It’s paid for itself and the domains my shops are hosted on (hosting was already covered), which to me is success. And, of course, they’re still earning. As I build more shops, I learn more about them, and am performing better because of it. However, I don’t use advertising at all (not even article marketing) for them, so I don’t know how it would do if I put that extra effort into it.
I absolutely recommend it to anyone who’s interested in this sort of thing. If you think PPC is fun, then I’d say go do PPC. But if you like building websites from a template, and then *mostly* forget about them, it’s a nice way to earn mostly passive income. But, if you’re good at building sites from scratch, I’d skip it and build a similar site yourself.
But that’s me all over. I have fun putting the stores together, and then I get bored and move on to the next one. So, if it weren’t for the money they bring in, I’d be calling it a hobby.
4 Lindsay // Oct 20, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Thanks for the comments, all! “Data entry” has come along ways, I see. Makes me wonder what it was before Google and PPC came along.
Yes, Jay & Sterling do a great job with the free content they put out, letting you know their values and how they make their money. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend their course to someone.
5 Evan // Oct 20, 2008 at 8:43 pm
I’ve bought two systems. One was good – Yaro’s Blog Mastermind. The other wasn’t what it said it would be Teaching Sells (which was actually about selling teaching: which would have been fine if that is what I had been buying – I wouldn’t have bought something about this).
I do think you can mostly find the content for free – for me it was really just letting Yaro do that work for me. Also I really connected with Yaro’s voice and approach, so I felt good about that.
6 Pat // Oct 20, 2008 at 11:35 pm
I heard about Yaro’s Mastermind before. Everyone, including Evan here, has said it was well-worth the time and money spent. I’ll have to do some more research on that one.
I remember way back in the day, when Windows 98 came out, I wanted to use the internet to make money, so I joined one of those “Fill Out Survey’s To Make Money” groups. I think I made a total of $0.72 cents. It’s difficult to do mind-numbing work like that. It was a system, I guess, but it definitely wasn’t passive. And it flooded my inbox too.
Oh those were the days.
7 Brian D. Hawkins // Oct 22, 2008 at 12:42 am
Great tips Lindsay. Another good thing to do is a quick Google search. Many times you can find out how good or bad the reputation of a person or system in blogs and forums. I’ve helped an ‘off line’ friend several times with a little online research. One of the so called businesses he had me check was actually in several ’scam’ and complaint websites. Great post, thanks.
8 Yan Shall Blog // Oct 22, 2008 at 1:30 am
For some reasons, I don’t get caught with all those long-winded persuasive sales letter. Maybe it’s due to the fact that I don’t blog for money so I’m not always in the look out for money making opportunities. Though I do receive them daily on my email and I’m quick enough to click away.
Thanks for the tips. You have made some excellent points which help me to look at it from a different perspective. Good stuff, Lindsay…
Yan
9 Norhafidz // Oct 22, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Kudos to you Lindsay for this comprehensive guide. Trust is an important factor, if the people is trusted by the community and has proved that he has what it takes, it worth trying
10 Dot Com Dud // Oct 22, 2008 at 3:59 pm
I think the most important question for me when I see people seeling these systems is “If this system works, why are they selling it instead of keeping it to themselves and cashing in?”
Maybe I am just greedy but I think when people hit a gold mine, they don’t invite the neighbours around to have a dig.
11 Pat // Oct 23, 2008 at 2:40 pm
@ Dot Com Dud
I think that’s a good point. However, some of these systems make good money, but just imagine you had a system that made you some money, and you sold it to people for more money than it would make you (either because you’re too busy or the system really doesn’t work.) That’s a ton or profit.
It’s like the gold mine analogy, but they are paying you to dig, and are coming out with less. Does that make sense?
Another comment I had is about those “long-winded sales letters.”
I’m having trouble understanding how those things actually work too. It just seems like sensory overload when looking at those things. Plus, whenever I look at “tips for blogging” I see things that advise to make things organized and in such a way that the reader, who doesn’t usually read every single word, can still understand the content.
Just my thoughts.
12 Lindsay // Oct 23, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Yup, the big money is in selling the system. They say that if you can make $250,000 in real estate, you can make $2,000,000 selling how you did it.
In regards to those long sales letters, from what I have heard from people who use them, they convert a lot better than anything else. Hard to believe, isn’t it?
13 Pat // Oct 23, 2008 at 11:09 pm
With the success of my first e-book, I’m planning on writing another one soon, and I’m going to do some keyword research and promote it using a landpage like that. It’s going to be interesting writing one up myself.
I always wonder if all of those testimonials are real. Does that mean when the first day the product came out, there were no testimonials on the page? Hmm…
Well I guess I have to write the book first. I’ll cross the landing page bridge when I come to it.
14 » This is one I wish I could say I had written. crescentcitygal.com » Blog Archive // Oct 30, 2008 at 10:40 pm
[...] 3 Questions to Answer Before You Buy a “How to Make Money” System… [...]
15 Glenn // Nov 2, 2008 at 11:59 am
Per Lindsay’s recommendation, I want to write about an experience I recently had buying a product I thought would really help me with achieving what Lindsay has with AdSense. To be short, avoid buying AdSenseWealthEmpire.com. The program cost me $1,000 USD and then the *#%^@! charged me $91 for shipping too if you can believe it. One of the reasons why I bought it was because they offered a “365 day ‘no-hassle’ money back guarantee.” Well, that was an outright lie. I bought it March 14, 2008 and in mid-August 2008, I asked for a refund. At first they ignored my request and then said that they’d changed the terms of the guarantee to 30 days and that I had clearly passed the 30 day guarantee mark. I was incensed. I reminded them that while it’s their prerogative to change their guarantee policy, the new change doesn’t apply to current customers who bought under different terms. I even quoted to them out of the copy I had made for myself of their purchase agreement (I made it into a .pdf). From that point on, they’ve ignored me. I have sent the material back to them along with a copy of the purchase agreement I bought under with the 365 day money-back guarantee clearly highlighted in yellow but they’ve still ignored me. I got scammed.
The program consists of 2 CDs. One has their proprietary software programs on them (their crap) and the other has a number of “instructional” videos. In truth, there is some good information on those videos but it isn’t worth the $1,000 they asked for. Not even close. Another reason why I bought the program is because they make $90k+ a month with AdSense. The hope of getting that knowledge combined with what their repeated promise of 365 days money back guarantee caused me to bite.
Boy, do I regret that. Their liars and thieves. Don’t waste your hard earned, over taxed money. It’s a scam. Yes, you can get some good info from the videos in the program, but mostly you can get what they offer online for free if you just look hard enough.
I have found most “gurus” online make more money talking about how to make money than actually making money. That is really deceptive and I could name about four right off of the top of my head that I know who do this if I didn’t fear a lawsuit. So, I think Lindsay’s advice is well conceived.
I hope this info helps someone avoid making the same mistake I did.
GR
16 Glenn // Nov 2, 2008 at 12:10 pm
P.S. I wrote about the AdSenseWealthEmpire.com scam but forgot to add one very important point. I have bought two things, a product and a service from non-American companies in hopes of furthering my Internet marketing endeavors. This was a mistake. While I have no doubt their are honest sellers of products from abroad (like Paul Smithson of his Xsite Pro product), it’s wise to consider not buying from a foreign made product. AdSenseWealthEmpire.com is in Israel. The one service I bought was a hosting service I subscribed to in Sweden. I got scammed by both due in part to the large geographical difference (I live in N. California).
Hope this helps.
GR
17 Bob // Feb 20, 2009 at 10:11 pm
I’m just starting my blogging career.
Robert Kiyosaki is one of my favorite authors.
Allah’u'Abha
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