The Australian company promised lots of things and made the best sales pitch of the event.

When they returned to Sydney, they just chose to under-deliver their promises, and when things got hot and their students in Australia commented on them in Facebook, the management even had the gal to call them up and threaten them with lawsuits…how ridiculous can that be?

The company over expanded and in a few months time, they lost 5.5 million and had to be sold to another company, When we emailed them about getting the refund which was written in the contract, they just told us to refer to the new owner (based all the way in Australia).
They did not inform us of their sale, and for the past few months whenever we joined their weekly webinars, the host was never there.

If you go to Facebook and look at The Geekversity Issues Group…you will know what I mean….Some of the locals there were charged AUD18k to 21k…

These people ought to be hanged in public!

I saw (as you mentioned) many people with over-eager ambition to take up everything the speakers presented during the Kuala Lumpur GIS 2009. One even signed up for SIX COURSES!!! And he not a computer-savy person.

Another case of such scam involving an eBay guru.
He promised that we can buy and sell properties in ebay.
When my friend signed up and then turned up at the workshop, the “guru” told them they need to buy a special software that costs USD5k…
What happened was, they did not manage to buy or sell US properties because of one simple rule – NO SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER.
Everyone else – in their haste to make money – forget that basic, simple fact.
SO my friend ended up losing lost of money , around USD6k.

These so-called gurus can be real mean and inconsiderate people. they are willing to con everybody (i think even their own parents) if they get the chance.

Once in a while, you will find a content only seminar where the speakers aren’t allowed to sale from the stage, but most do.

It is a tough decision, because they will make you feel like you need it, some may help, some don’t…however that’s the experiences of doing business.

Some people work best with a step by step high priced program, they put more work into it because they paid so much, others make it happen for free…and others explode on the scene after reading Honest Riches!

It’s so many different avenues for many people, but it is a shocker if you’re not expecting it.

I know what you mean about deleting emails. Just today I was doing exactly that! Emails from certain addresses. It felt great!

And I have to agree with this:

“I guess that is the biggest mistake we all make in our ongoing businesses, jumping around all over the place.”

It can be one of the drawbacks of being your own boss – some people forget that you really do have to BE your own BOSS! (As opposed to just, not having a boss).

I am not a millionaire (yet?) but I am at least earning enough money online (and through what I learned in the meanwhile about web design which allows me an income from Freelancing) to work at home and continue building up my websites.

Every month my websites earn more money and have more traffic. Every month, they get closer to the top of the SERPS for very high-traffic keywords. I am progressing and learning as I go.

I never paid my life savings to get started! What if it had turned out that Internet Marketing was not for me? What if I didn’t have the persistence and interest to keep going, even in those first months where I had only a few nights to work on my websites and made 42 cents?

I always advise friends to start with a low investment, learn the ropes, find their interests, and get practice in the field, before investing any large amount of funds.

After you have started to get somewhere in a particular field, and you want to invest in a product, software, or service which you have certainty will help you earn more money or build up your business faster, that is a different story!!! Go for it.

As a general rule, I never invest more per month in my websites or Internet Marketing business than I have earned that month. When I was first starting out, I generally never had more than $100 invested than I had earned online. I recommend the same strategy for others. ESPECIALLY “newbies.”

There is SO much you can learn without spending a lot of money. Most of our hard drives are full of high quality reports, inexpensive eBooks, MP3s, and videos that we have been “meaning to study.” Our email inboxes are full of useful information from subscription emails. There are blogs all over the place one can follow and study. There is no lack of free or inexpensive information which can help you get started.

Once you are earning a few hundred or a few thousand dollars a month online you can consider paying a higher price for information which might be more streamlined or more targeted to what you are trying to do. But that is when you are already rolling, have a better idea of what direction you are taking, and can invest with more confidence.

I think just as you suggest get everything you can out of a conference and network, network, network. Actually going the next step and paying for coaching seriously consider the alternatives.

Great post and thanks again.

However, Nice poem…