Re: Thanks Michael... let me give you a little BEHIND THE SCENES info...

> Yes, I agree here. APPLAUSE. APPLAUSE for
> those that got started and finished.

> Part of the 10 day "training" that
> I gave people, was to take a look at other
> people...so I had them visit two sites...one
> is Jimmy Krug's SIMPLE PUBLICATIONS and the
> other was Paulette Ensign's BOOKLET site.

> At Paulette's you'll find a slew of 4.77
> virtual booklets being sold. At Jimmy's
> site, you'll learn how he sold over a
> MILLION booklets in a year using a totally
> different approach.

> Each of the participants in the 10 DAYS-MIND
> TO MARKET exercise brainstormed with me
> possible ways to market for free.

> Example. The Greyhound Guide might be the
> type of work that could follow the Krug
> Model...providing a nifty marketing piece to
> those industries that would have a vested
> interest in the subject.

> The tracks might be interested. The cities
> where tracks are located. Tourist
> guides...or Bus Tours...all could use the
> guide to PROMOTE their businesses. I have
> advocated for many months that people learn
> and study Jimmy Krug's methods, there is
> gold there (and YES, I've got several
> booklets in the works too).

> Building the product, as hard as it is to
> do, is the easy part.

> MARKETING or SELLING is the hard part. That
> is why we have talked about target
> marketing...who would you put your ad in
> front of?

> Take teen makeup...my opinion is that TEENS
> are not the market for the work, but here is
> where tests come in.

> I'm sure NONE of the participants expect to
> get rich off of this very first product...in
> fact, I told them right off that it was the
> PROCESS that I would help them through and
> to understand.

> Several people made comments that it was
> harder than they first thought it would
> be...

> Micheal, you and I know better.

> As for using just FREE ads, as in press
> releases, or publicity or promotions...it is
> being done every day. Does it work for
> everyone? Of course not. Learning how to
> advertise, how to promote, how to get free
> publicity and what to do with it when you
> get it is all part of the learning PROCESS.

> We discussed this, and we brainstormed...and
> for some of these people, this wont' even be
> a product they market very long if at
> all...but the fact they DID it and learned
> the BEGINNING steps of the process is the
> most important part.

> Gordon Alexander

Gordon,

You're absolutely correct on things like free PR...I should have touched on that, my mistake. But to even send out say 400 press releases via fax or mail, you need a few dollars to work with, not much but a few. You don't need a lot of money to test a product or idea. Send out a few hundred press releases, place a couple small display ads in low-circulation magazines and run a couple two-step classifieds in low-circulation magazines and you probably wouldn't have any more than $300-$500 invested. Not a great deal of money, but enough to tell you if you should go forward or not. The question is how to get that amount of money to get started...I think the Chattel Report, Don Alm and Jim Straw can help someone get that money.

Take care,

Mike Winicki