Thanks for the clarification Y-Man
Piston Broke, I'd like the opportunity to respond to your comments if I may?
Firstly Active Property Network (APN) has never & will never sell property of any type. EVER!
APN has been running monthly property investor meetings since early 2006, and of the 60-100 that attend each month are many people that started with us way back then. Its very nice to know we are still providing great value to them after all this time!
Yes, we do love the company of our attendees, but we do spend a few days each month pulling it all together, arranging speakers, room hire, powerpoint presentations, website & newsletters etc. Sometimes it is quite challenging. Does anyone really expect us to do this for nothing?
My accountant rang today to tell me APN made a profit of just over three thousand dollars in 2009. Nice, its right up there with a paper round!!!!
It actually works out to be about $10 per hour at a guesstimate. I do however sleep well at night in the comfort I'm not ripping anyone off, and all the emails & comments I get from attendees assure me I'm not!!
Regarding our annual membership, yes Piston Broke you are correct it is $200. That entitles members to 11 monthly meetings, or about 33 hours of (in the words of an attendee in February, "as good information as any $1,000 plus property seminar I've ever attended") quality information throughout the year, at just over $6 p/h. Pretty good value I'd suggest?
Casual attendees can pay just $30 at the door (we now have $25 pre booked on line offer) for those 3 hours (this is now up to a whopping $10 p/h) however we do have a '100 times' value guarantee, which means if you dont think you can take the information from the night & make and/or save 100 times that amount (that'd be about $3,000 worth) then you get your money back, no questions asked. On that note, one couple did request their money back early last year. They were disappointed, they were expecting to be offered to buy investment properties below market value. I guess we didnt quite offer them what they expected? I guess you can't be everything to everybody!
I dont recall any event we have run at a price of $679, however you may refer to our previous 'D-Day' onsite 'property development' day event. I believe this to be a very successfull event, in that we have had several attendees taking the step from 'wannabe' developer to actual property developers with several attendees currently in the midst of six figure profit projects. I'd suggest these people would have been very happt with their return on investment?
I can also provide you with 30+ video testimonials of the event if you wish. just let me know, ok?
Piston, you are correct. Regular speakers do include a property developer (that would be myself and a JV partner of mine. We are currently updating attendees each month on progress of a local development project we are doing, allowing attendees to follow & learn the process from the safety of their seat). We also have Brendan Kelly, a coach from the RESULTS mentoring program. We only have about 50 or so video & written testimonials about APN, Brendan & RESULTS would certainly have hundreds of them. If you ask about their 'claims', ask someone who has been through the RESULTS mentoring program to find out a little about it. I suspect you will be surprised with the answer you get. Actually im sure you'd be blown away by how many people would be eager to come forward to tell you how much of an effect this program has had on so many people!!!
As for our mortgage broker, Neil Gorman has been giving his time for about 3 years at APN and i can promise you that there is not a broker that walks this earth who tries harder to get the very best result for their client - enough said.
We also have 'key note' speakers who sometimes do have products (not property) to sell. While no one is ever under any pressure to buy, many do recognise that spending a few dollars to gain expert information can be a return on investment many hundreds of times over. Some also dont understand it & ignorantly criticise from the sidelines. I certainly do understand where they/you come from. I was once the most skeptical person going around. Fortunately over time I have learned that the only way to improve my life is to learn more, and to do more. i am soooo glad that lesson!! (I personally spend tens of thousands of dollars each and every year now educating myself!)
Piston, I'm not sure what you mean by "out of the goodness and kindness to their fellow human beings" but if you mean spending many hours of their/our time to 'donate' to people rather than spending time on their/our own business or with their family...can I please share this with you?
Nearby to me is a great fish & chip shop. The best!! Not only do they sell the best fish (& potato cakes to die for) but the owners are really nice people & really hard workers too. They run a great business. I go there often, obviously! However, every time I go there, I pay them. Yes, I pay my $4.50 for a piece of flake, 80c a potato cake etc. Nothing too unusual there, but Piston, do you expect people to give their time & efforts for free all for the goodness & kindness etc....?
I certainly don't!
So Piston Broke, there ends my response to you. However, I extend the same offer to you, as we do to everyone. In fact, as a special offer for you, I will do something I have never done before. Simply attend any of our Melbourne monthly meetings, and if you dont think you have received information worth 100 times your entry cost, then not only will I refund your money no questions asked, I will take you out to a steak dinner (I will pay) & listen to every criticism of APN you can find within you! That is, if after actually attending an APN meeting you still feel the same way as you do now!
More importantly, we have gotten off topic.....
Back to Yvonne.
I met Yvonne back in 2006 through the RESULTS program, and I can testify that this lady is one of the most amazing & down to earth people to walk this earth. I am so pleased to have Yvonne on board as we expand this network, I cant begin to describe!! (if oyu arent sure, my number is below, give me a call & ask!)
If you live within a couple of hours of Canberra and have some sort of interest in property, then do yourself a favour & get along to the 1st meeting in Fyshwick. You will be very glad that you did!!
Ultimately, you are all entitled to your own opinion.
But I believe that knowledge is power, so whatever your opinion, make sure it is an educated opinion, not an ignorant one.
Troy
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0409 642 261