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Gevril and Haurex Italia dinner during Baselworld in March 2011 with Larry Brauner standing in the background.
Baselworld 2012 is right around the corner!
Mar
9
Building on a Budget
Filed Under Books, Networking and Marketing Strategy
I was away yesterday with my family. About once a month we all spend a day in a group home for multiply handicapped girls. Our hope is that they will enjoy, at least for a brief time, a warm family environment.When I arrived home I found three pleasant surprises.
- Another reader had registered as a user of my blog bringing the total to 105.
- My blog had moved up to #8 in Google for the keywords online social networking. I’m back to #51 today, but it felt good to receive validation, however temporary, from Google.
- An envelope had arrived by Priority Mail with my very own copy of Mike Dillard’s Building on a Budget.
Today I’m feeling jetlagged from the advance to Daylight Savings Time, but I’m happy to report that I’ve already read Mike’s book cover-to-cover. Here is my feedback.
My book review of Building on a Budget is mixed.
The advertising promises to show network marketers how to leverage a one-time cash outlay of about $500 to acquire new skills and resources and generate a continuous stream of leads without further expense.
Building on a Budget outlines an excellent marketing approach and provides great tips that all marketers could learn from — not just network marketers. The Internet and social media marketing concepts presented in the book are explained very clearly and concisely.
The book discusses one pre-requisite and five marketing strategies which are more effective than the strategies that most marketers currently employ. There’s a chapter each for lead capture pages, Craigslist classified ads, video marketing, press releases, blogging and funded proposals. I feel that these are all excellent choices.
Social networking sites are mentioned but only in passing.
Here are my reservations about Building on a Budget.
I have the knowledge and the resources to implement Mike Dillard’s suggestions. I’m already using several of these techniques in my online marketing, but what about a newbie?
Let’s say that our enthusiastic new marketer decides to follow the book’s instructions. He or she sets up web hosting, domain names and an autoresponder, all absolutely essential tools, and purchases Magnetic Sponsoring, MLM Traffic Formula, Black Belt Recruiting, a camcorder, Camtasia Studio, and one or two other items. The $500 figure can very easily top $1,000, and paid third-party assistance might still be needed.
I have spent much more than that to educate and equip myself to market effectively in today’s environment, and I’m a former IT professional with more than ten years network marketing experience.
I don’t regret it at all.
What I object to is an unrealistic $500 price point established by Building on a Budget. And not only is it unrealistic, the book itself is a powerful sales letter — not an academic marketing text. It’s written to sell information and recruit affiliates. Mike points out that he’s a great copywriter. I totally agree. However, I don’t fault him one bit.
I will make good use of Building on a Budget. It’s a compact reference that I will want at my fingertips. You may find it useful too. However, please be careful about your expectations.
Oh, before I forget to mention it. I will schedule conference calls to help. So if you purchased the book, expect to hear from me.
I welcome questions and comments about the book, but please, keep them upbeat.
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Tags: autoresponders, Black Belt Recruiting, Blogging, book review, Books, Building on a Budget, classified ads, conference calls, Craigslist, domain names, funded proposal, Internet marketing, keywords, lead capture, Magnetic Sponsoring, Mike Dillard, MLM Traffic Formula, network marketing, online marketing, press releases, social media marketing, video marketing, Web Hosting
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Hi Larry,
I really appreciated your honest review of Mike Dillard’s book. It’s exactly what I’d expect from you. Nothing stinks more than a blanket approval of a product JUST for a few sales.
There isn’t a big secret in getting a blog to the top of Google, just concerted effort and targeting the right keywords properly.
Check out my blog, www.marketingsearchnews.com.
While you may see if differently there due to regional results, I’ve had it near the top of Google for several months..sometimes holding that top spot for days agains PR7 and PR8 sites.
What a feeling!
I liked your unbiased review on Building on a Budget. It’s not a whole bunch of hype to promote it.
And I agree about the price point thought. Everyone will always spend more money in order to get the results they want. But it just depends on the value they place on what they are doing.
Will people be willing to spend more than $500 using BOAB techniques? I think they would be if they’re willing to purchase the actual book, and believe that it will work.
AndrewMc
Very good write up on”Building On A Budget”. I bought the course recently as well as “Black Belt Recruiting”. I have also purchased “Magnetic Sponsoring” in the past.
Yes, I agree that a person COULD spend more than $500 by implementing all the great information in “Building On A Budget”. It depends on the individual and where he or she wants to take their business. Could a person do it for under $500? Absolutely, by using a technique or two suggested in the book.
What I remember from reading in “Magnetic Sponsoring” is to invest in your education to further your skills and business. So, I do not have a problem spending $39 to learn some proven techniques to boost my business. Both “Building On A Budget” and “Magnetic Sponsoring” are at this price point.
Plus, there is a one year money back guarantee for people buying these courses!
“Black Belt Recruiting” is excellent. The handling objections piece was worth the price of the course. Plus the entire course comes in audio CD with 42 pages of printed text.
What’s interesting about Mike Dillard’s work is that it all reflects back to his original work “Magnetic Sponsoring”. The key concept being the value of the funded proposal. If you have an MLM, keep it on the back end of your business.
Bruce Shilander
Shilander Marketing
Austin, Texas
www.shilander.net