Posted by John Behle on January 15, 2005 at 15:05:44:
In Reply to: ATTENTION: Mr. John Behle and/or Associates posted by Fab on January 14, 2005 at 20:11:50:
I fired the girl that had contracted to market and reproduce the video course a few weeks ago. The video duplicators she was using were poorly maintained and she was not reviewing or maintaining the quality of what she was putting out.
The course is NOT 20 years old. It was recorded in November of 1991 - just over 13 years. Very, very little of the material has changed. The note industry has changed a great deal in some areas. The area of brokering notes has changed, but not that much has changed as to investing in notes. Very little of my material has to do with brokering.
About a month after the seminar was recorded, the Jefferson Institute that sponsored the seminar took out bankruptcy - still owing me a great deal of money. A marketing organization that marketed our Associate Training Program then decided they would go in search of fresh leads. They stole our computer with our accounting data and marketing leads and then burned our office building to cover their tracks.
That made Christmas of 1991 quite interesting and basically was the death of National Note, though we tried to keep it going for a while and I poured over a million dollars into bringing it back to life. The stress of it all knocked me off my feet with a series of heart attacks and nearly killed me.
So, Jefferson Institute does not exist and National Note does not buy notes nationwide. The 583-NOTE number goes to a charred office in another city now. There are many dozens of large note buyers and hundreds of smaller ones throughout the country and it is easier to broker notes than it was back then.
The seminar was professionally recorded and except for a moment where someone passed in the hall with a vacuum cleaner, the sound and video were quite good. But, the group that recorded and produced the videos lost the originals when the owner died. So, the videos produced since then have been from a second generation copy. They have come out okay and there have been very few complaints until recently. No one has ever found it as stressful as you have and most have appreciated receiving ten times the knowledge they could get anywhere else for one tenth the price. People gladly paid $4000 for the seminar and later $1295 for the video course.
The originals of the manuals and some of the forms included in the back were on the computers destroyed in the fire. A copy was scanned into the computer and included with the course.
The individual reproducing and selling the course let the quality slip - through worn out duplicators and possibly worn out masters. She repeatedly was told to include a letter that explained the fire, phone numbers, lost manuals, etc., but never seemed to bother to include it. People were happy and understood when they received the letter and confused when they did not.
Since she refused to include it, I told her to pull the scanned pages that looked like a bad photocopy from the back of the manual. They are solely sample forms to look at that were included by an attorney the Jefferson Institute hired that had little if any experience in the note market. Though the videos referenced the forms, again and again, I mentioned they were solely samples and that ANY form you used would need to be a state specific form and that ANY funding source you were to go to broker notes would provide their own forms.
The "Listbot" service that provided the "subscribe" function for mailing out marketing pieces, etc. run by Microsoft stopped functioning and baited people with their free service then pulled the rug out to try to get them to pay for an expensive service. Since we don't send junk spam mail and excessive mailers out to people, the service has no interest. Most traffic to the website comes in through a different page and bypasses that outdated feature. I don’t spam people and I don’t send out junk email or continually pester people who have at one time responded.
I've been recovering from open heart surgery and editing a website that few visit hasn't been a big priority. Since the individual that had contracted to reproduce and market the course was doing a poor job, I just pulled the course from the market. Many people have been very upset by that and it may be put back when a better set of masters for the video tapes is available and a professional duplication system is in place. There is no rush, as I do not live to market courses as many do and do not travel the "circus circuit" or "real estate evangelist circuit" hawking wares. Most of those traveling around make their money selling tapes, not in the business. Sadly many have never done the business. One a few years back had been hired out of a Silo store because of his voice and appearance then given a script to memorize.
I had made the video course available because it contains the best education in note investing there has ever been, though it is not as shiny and colorful. Too many people are fascinated with pretty boxes instead of the content of the education. For several years the course was marketed primarily to provide an income for a young mother supporting her kids and putting her husband through school. After expenses, I didn't receive a penny. But, I had to stop it when the quality became un-important to her.
If your interest is in brokering notes, there are several sites and organizations to assist you. They are:
www.noteworthyusa.com
www.papersourceonline.com
www.notenetwork.com
www.wallstreetbrokers.comand several others that you will be lead to from these sites and the links section of the www.papergame.com site.
I do not encourage or support people in the area of brokering notes. It is over-hyped, overcrowded, under-educated and un-professional. The money in notes is in investing in notes and using them in real estate transactions, etc. Brokering notes is a low paid sales job that most people fail at and few make any serious money.
Investing in notes is a safe, profitable way to provide both an income and a future retirement. It really is much easier than becoming a poorly paid note salesman. One reason I had allowed a decade old video course to be sold is that it is the only course that truly addresses note investment instead of just becoming a bird dog for some organization. The content of the course is un-equaled, though right now too many people prefer a pretty box over valuable content. So, for now the course has been pulled from the market and for the first time in 22 years a version of "The Paper Game" is not available for sale and I have no plans to do an updated course.
At the same time, most of the courses out there are impractical and out-dated hype no matter what the copyright date. Impractical or in-accurate information is always out of date - no matter when it is recorded or published. Most courses stem from one course put out by a couple popular gurus that never had any experience in the note business and were just out to scam their students. Very little of the material out there is real, practical and taught or authored by someone who has actually done the business.
I haven't read or reviewed most of the other courses available but have received feedback from thousands of my students.
To avoid these "hypey" courses and for further a "real" education in the business, students have been happy with courses by Hank Harrenberg, Bill Mencarrow, Jon Richards, Eddie Speed and most especially - Lorelei Stevens.
Jimmy Napier's courses and seminars have been excellent in the past and any seminar by Peter Fortunato would be worthwhile. I've never met an un-happy Fortunato student though I haven't had the pleasure of attending one of his seminars.
I've heard nothing but good about Terry Vaughan's materials and David Butler's. Though there have been a wide range of experiences of those involved with the "Note Network" that David Butler is associated with.
Barney Zick's note materials have been good in the past, but I have not seen his revised course.
Almost any course under a few hundred dollars would be worthwhile, but be cautious because some are just pitches for expensive seminars and coaching programs. The odds are a hundred or thousand to one of those happy with coaching programs. Most of the time the people doing the coaching have no experience and some just spend their time trying to pitch even more expensive seminars.
I do not do a coaching program due to my health and when I have in the past - or if I did one again - it has been solely with me personally doing the coaching or a very trusted and trained assistant. Some of the coaching programs out there are like the 1-900 number where the "sexy female" was actually a large slovenly male with a high voice on the other end.
The note business is an excellent business if you approach it in the right way. You have the best, if not the prettiest course available on the market.