Products & Services

Why Some People Almost Always Make Money Online...
Aug 5 2007 12:51

Sunday, August 5, 2007
From The Offices of Michalis "BIG Mike" Kotzakolios & Diego Hernando

Listen, we're not going to lie to you and tell you this is some big secret industry. You've seen it, you've participated in it, and we would bet our own houses that you know (or at least know OF) someone who has paid thousands of dollars into it - if you haven't done that yourself.

Until now, this opportunity has been "hidden in plain sight". In fact, you might even be driving past one of these million dollar businesses on your way to work every day.

And not in some big, unmarked building, either. These businesses have advertising & marketing all over them. You can't drive within a block of one of these places without seeing or hearing SOMETHING about the business.

These guys are everywhere!

Every year, they quietly rake in millions of dollars in revenue, and their customers thank them for the privilege. The average value of a customer at some of these places is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a large percentage of those customers are actively purchasing more and more over a period of three years - or even longer.

And what's even STRANGER about these businesses? Most customers actually FRAME their receipts, and hang them on the wall!

Okay, so at this point, either you know EXACTLY what we're talking about, or you think you've just found evidence that we are truly insane. In either case, good for you - you've just stumbled upon a big secret!

The Billion Dollar "Public Service"

So, for those of you who think we're insane, we have to tell you what it is we're talking about. After all, what business would have customers SO loyal, that they brag to their friends about it, and hang their receipts on the wall?

Well, let us tell you...Universities and Colleges.

The "Aha!" Moment

Now you see it! Every year, people spend thousands of dollars on education. And when they finally graduate, hundreds of thousands of dollars and several years later, they're proud to be customers. They brag to their friends, write it on their resumes, and hang their receipts (otherwise known as diplomas) on the wall.

But it hasn't always been easy to get into this game...

50 years ago, the only way to get a piece of the educational pie was to spend millions of dollars opening up a physical campus. Paying staff professors & instructors, building libraries, funding sports teams... It was a HUGE endeavor, requiring MILLIONS in capital.

But then, the industry changed...

All of a sudden, a few entrepreneurs had an idea - to create a fully accredited university or college, and deliver courses by MAIL.

It changed the educational landscape forever. All of a sudden, you could learn how to do almost anything - from becoming a locksmith to keeping the books - from the comfort of your kitchen table.

Now, this still required a fairly substantial amount of money to do - but not nearly as much as a physical university campus. Professors could work on contract, from their homes, grading papers that came in the mail. Course creators could write books and send them off to their students, instead of giving long lectures. Physical buildings were limited to a few phone staff, and the executives running the company.

Education became accessible to everyone.

By reducing the operating costs, these schools were able to reduce tuition - and almost anyone could finally afford to get a professional certification.

The big players in the industry quickly became multi-million dollar organizations. Their reach spanned the globe - from North America, to Europe, to Asia. Students around the world were getting their education at home - and paying for the privilege.

We've all seen the commercials - with the long scrolling list of every job you can get after studying the courses from these companies. How much money do you think they have to make to advertise on prime time television like that? Millions - easily.

But the landscape has changed again!

Universities were the first ones to utilize the internet... And now, they're using it to create multi-billion dollar businesses - online.

When online universities and colleges first started popping up, the big universities got scared - they started putting down any degree earned by an online university, and propagating the stories of online "diploma mills" to reduce the value of these certifications.

Still, companies like the University of Phoenix started creating complete programs, delivered via the internet - and they were starting to take over the educational scene.

Trust in these companies grew, and now a certification or diploma from many online universities means as much - if not more - than one from your local community college or technical school.

The cost to setup one of these operations became minimal, at best. Create course materials, install the script, pay for hosting, and get the word out. Accreditation and marketing became the biggest expenses. Some of these companies grew into the multi-billion dollar range within just a few years.

Big names started to catch on.

The universities panicked again, and started offering online courses (a little to late, but they are there...) Big companies like Microsoft started offering their own online certifications. Organizations like BrainBench offered employee certification to Fortune500 companies - and got millions for it. Even "The Donald" started his own online school. Ever heard of "Trump University"?

The barriers to entry were gone. Accreditation was no longer required by students - they just wanted to learn. All of a sudden, anyone could create "the ultimate info product" - and sell it for hundreds of dollars more than before.

But there was still one big problem...

The development. Not course material development, but the creation and management of course delivery. Many of these big places had entire teams of programmers, working long, hard, expensive hours to create course delivery systems.

Others chose free or inexpensive script packages, but ended up spending thousands more on customization and expansion - trying to keep up with the number of students, and the number of script bugs.

Education was still an expensive proposition.

How many of you could afford entire website development teams - even if you WANTED to hire them??

An info-product creators dream.

We saw this problem, and we set out to solve it. After all, home study courses are the ultimate info product - and, creating them should be within the reach of info product marketers!

It wasn't easy, though. It took months of development, and tens of thousands of dollars... First, we had to figure out what it was that you really needed. And THEN, we had to create it!

But finally, its finished - and its ready for you.