How ridiculous is this?

publication date: Oct 11, 2007
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Hi
 
How ridiculous is this . . .
 
I met 2 of my cousins for a drink last night.
 
No, that's not the ridiculous bit . . . what's
weird is we've all been living in London for
years and our offices are within walking
distance of each other, and yet we have never
met up! 
 
That's impersonal London for you!
 
Now I'm not sure if it is something to do with
the Laight entrepreneurial genes, but we each
had eerily connected lives. While I publish
business opportunity, investment and
gambling advice, one cousin - Paul - works as
a trader for a binary betting broker, while
Jonathan is a retail analyst for a bank. But his
greatest passion is betting and even had a share
in a couple of horses! It was incredible how
much our interests overlapped and I got some
great new ideas.
 
Anyway, the reason I mention all this is that
we actually have Facebook to thank for
bringing us together. You probably know
http://www.facebook.com - it's a free online
social networking site. I suppose you could
describe it as a funkier version of Friends
Reunited.
 
Everyone seems to be talking about Facebook
right now. It's a little like YouTube was last
year and Blogger.com the year before that.
 
Is there a way for us to make money out of
Facebook?
 
Well nothing immediately jumps out at me.
However I know that there is a lot of buzz in
publishing circles right now about how to
exploit user-generated content through the
likes of social networking sites and wikis!
 
Wiki-what? Don't worry . . . that's just a
fancypants term for what are basically
collaborative sites where the content is
generated by users for free.
 
Now imagine if you could form an online
community of people who share the same
passion for . . . hmmmm, let's say children's
TV Shows from the 1970s - now what if you
went to all the existing forums devoted to
nostalgia and invited people to come along to
your site and add their own posts about
specific shows. Over time that site could turn
into a recognised source of reliable info on that
subject.
 
Just think how your site would be viewed by
search engines! All that ever-growing keyword
rich content would send you to the top of the
results pages pretty quickly.
 
And with all these people visiting your site -
both to add free content and those who have
stumbled across your site - how easy would it
be to monetise those names by having an
affiliate deal with eBay and Amazon so that
people could go on a nostalgia trip and buy
DVDs and related memorabilia of their
favourite shows!
 
Hmmm . . . now as I write this I realise this
might be a very viable model!
 
Let me investigate further and I'll flesh this
out some more and see if I can do a full-blown
business blueprint for you . . .
 
 
**********************
 
Did you get half a letter yesterday?
 
**********************
 
Did you get my letter yesterday - the one that
alerted you to the very exciting opportunity to
profit from the financial markets?
 
If you did, then you may have noticed that the
gremlins at our mailing house had spirited one
of the pages from my letter away so that it
ended mid sentence! Thankfully, all that is
missing is my signature and a PS!
 
Apologies for the mistake! But it does give me
a good excuse to give you advance warning
that we are opening the doors to the brilliant
Don't Tell The Professionals trading course
for one week only. All this is due to the unique
market conditions.
 
If you haven't a clue what I'm talking about -
don't worry I'll be sending you full details
tomorrow. But in the meantime I can give you
a sneak peek here
 
**********************
 
If you want to make money from
Import/Export, go to this seminar
 
**********************
 
 
Justin Power is a nice man - a VERY nice
man.
 
He's an old friend and head honcho over at
Wentworth Publishing. You may recognise the
name, as Wentworth are responsible for
everything from Government Auction News,
the classic Bruno Furst Memory Course and
the Schmidt Report Tax letter.
 
A couple of years back Justin also bought
Wade World Trade's Import/Export course.
Now I have very fond memories of this as I
did my first freelancing copywriting stint when
it was owned by Peter van Berckel back in the
mid 1990s. They've been running the same
small ads in the national press for decades (and
the course itself was first launched back in
1946, so it could rightly lay claim to being one
of the oldest surviving business opportunities
in existence!).
 
The course reveals how to set up your own
Import/Export Agency where you match
buyers and sellers and take a cut in
commission. It's a solid business opportunity
and gets my highest possible recommendation.
 
But that's not what I wanted to share with you.
 
Justin told me a about a one day seminar he
was putting on and I thought it was so
interesting I'd let you know about it. This
Seminar is for ideal for anyone interested in a
business opportunity that requires next to no
capital. And of course, if you are already
running a small to medium-sized
Import/Export Agency - or you would like -
it's well worth attending.
 
Full details here
 
By the way, I don't get a penny from telling
you about this. I like Justin and all the guys at
Wentworth and they always deliver top quality
advice.
 
 
******************
 
Why this betting syndicate deal sucks! 
 
*******************
 
I got an email from a reader today asking my
advice on a particular betting syndicate. I think
you'll find the resulting correspondence very
interesting.
 
First off, here's the original email: 
 
******************
 
"Dear Nick, Can you give me any information
on D & E Associates of St Leonards Road,
Windsor?
 
I had a trial month with them and they
appeared quite successful although the 'biggie'
went down. This was supposed to be for a
coup and on asking about the loss on behalf of
the 'connections' was told to treat it as a loan
and take it off the winnings of the next one,
assume this sounded reasonable.
 
Two days to the end of the trial received letter
stating membership could only be renewed by
paying upfront for two years, £477 but with a
guarantee card stating if member fee not
recovered and profit shown the full fee of
£477would be refunded.
 
They state their strike rate was 80% with 25
points profit not taking into account last
Saturdays miss.
 
Is this a normal ploy - trial membership one
month then a '2 year deal?"
 
*****************
 
Now my gut reaction was to tell the reader to
avoid this. The jump from one month to a 2-
year deal is just too great a leap of faith for
me. But to double-check my feelings I asked
our betting expert - Clive Keeling - to answer.
His response was so acute I felt it was worth
repeating here:
 
"One thing I keep reiterating regarding these
tipsters is the simple fact that there is no
regulatory authority to keep an eye on them
and their business practices. I will echo what
my publisher said regarding your discomfort in
the deal. If you don't like it, walk away.
 
From a personal perspective, I leave these
types of people alone, and tend to concentrate
on the more transparent tipsters out there who
do not suddenly come up with these
pressurised offers, and the promise of future
winnings - an 80% strike rate is highly
suspicious for a backing system and this is a
cause for concern. Also, the promise of future
winnings is just plain wrong - nothing can ever
be guaranteed in this game.
 
These glossy brochure boys' guarantees are
also not worth the paper they're written on to
be honest with you.
 
As far as the £477 for 2 years is concerned,
have you been satisfied with current
performance? Have you asked how they have
fared previously over the jumps season - bear
in mind that your trial period has been over the
flat and the jumps is, quite naturally, a whole
different ball game (kicking off as we speak
and running until April).
 
I am trying to gather a roster together of
tipsters who are not of this ilk, and who deliver
consistent, realist profits over the longer term,
and who don't use pressure tactics.
 
BOTTOM LINE - if you are going to part with
a large chunk of money, you are well within
your rights to fire off questions - what's your
jump's strike rate like? Do you have any
unsolicited testimonials? Have you kept
records of your personal bets (bookmakers
provide statements on a regular basis and
Betfair provides historical data)?
 
Is your address an accommodation address?
Do you proof your bets to a legitimate
proofing organisation? (And if they say The
Racing Post, then ignore this, as the racing
post is not a proofing organisation)
 
Personally these go to line my cat litter box. If
it just doesn't fit, walk away
 
To get more of Clive's tell-it-like-it-is reviews
of betting systems and tipsters, just go here:
 
 
******************
 
Yes! The next issue is coming!
 
*******************
 
A bit of a tease now . . .
 
The next WRMM issue is out at the end of
next week and I just wanted to give you a
quick taster of what's in store . . .
 
You'll find a great blueprint on making money
from Government Surplus sales AND one on
setting up your own local directory publishing
business. 
 
After recent reviews of Day Job Killer and
Robert Evans' I investigate the massive impact
changes in Google's adwords rules next year
will have on the whole affiliate business model
and how you can make money out of it!
 
You'll also find some hard advice on how to
see through the marketing hype of financial
tipsters and trading systems so you can find
the best and most profitable ones for you.
 
More details of this next week . . .
 
Regards
 
Nick
 
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