dinsdag 15 juli 2014

Under $1000 Investments: IM Cartel - Last Call!

Under $1000 Investments: IM Cartel - Last Call!: I received a couple of emails yesterday as an IM Cartel member. Only got around to reading them today. Here's what's important for ...

IM Cartel - Last Call!

I received a couple of emails yesterday as an IM Cartel member. Only got around to reading them today. Here's what's important for you.

The IM Cartel partnership closes today. So if you want to become a member, like me, today is your last chance. Not sure whether it will ever open up again, there was certainly no mention (or even suggestion) of it in any of the mails I've received, nor in the Facebook group.

If you want to buy a second space for $100 off, for yourself or a family member, that offer also closes today. I'm still on the fence about this myself. I've had an expensive month so far, so I'm not sure I want to fork out another $900 right now. Have to think on that for a couple more hours.

As mentioned in an earlier post, this has become a true passive income opportunity; you don't need to buy or do anything after claiming your space.

IMPORTANT
Most people who are talking about "Kindle Cartel reviews" (Ben changed the name to IM Cartel a couple of days after the launch) don't own the product. In fact, going over most of these "reviews" it has become painfully clear that the majority of these marketers haven't even bothered to read what this product is all about.

They are using this as an opportunity to try and sell you a "cheaper" internet marketing product. Here's the problem with that.

IM Cartel is NOT an internet marketing product.

It's a partnership.

An investment opportunity.

Comparing this 100% hands off investment to a product that will require you to slave away on the computer is like comparing a brand new Mercedes and a second hand kit-car with only half the manual. Sure, you might get the kit-car to drive eventually, but it'll cost you a lot of time and energy, and most likely extra money because it's missing vital parts.

It's simple really; if you don't have $997 to invest, IM Cartel is not for you.

If you rather create your own business, with all the risks and time involved, it's not for you

If you're looking for >10% ROI passive income opportunities, IM Cartel is definitely for you. Read my other posts on this blog and click here to find out the details.

Remeber, this closes Tuesday night, July 15th.

zaterdag 12 juli 2014

IM Cartel Review - Part 1

I thought I'd do an IM Cartel review for those interested in this investment opportunity. The books in my cartel, there are several cartels, will be published starting July 18th. So I can't give you any details yet on how well it's doing, hence the "Part 1".

http://quokka.shafferb1.zaxaa.com/s/1184239210894

Here's what I do know.

The ordering process is pretty straight forward. After you buy IM Cartel, you get hit with a bonus offer. You have a chance to buy another space in the cartel, kinda like buying a second share of stock, and save $100.

A nice option is that you get to choose whether you want the second space in the same cartel group or a different one. Why is this a great option? You don't know how well your group will do. Buying a spot in a different group spreads the risk. You know, not putting all your eggs in one basket and all that. It looks like you can buy as many spots as you want.

Personally, I'll stick with one for now.

The link in the first mail I received from Zaxaa didn't work. The link in the first mail I received from IM Cartel, however, did work. Your first order of business is creating an account.

Oh yeah, you get another mail from Ben Shaffer with basically the same info as the one from IM Cartel.

Once the account is created there's not much to see. Just a welcome message, the name of the cartel group you joined and a link to the Facebook group.

You're also asked to fill in your Kindle reviewer and Facebook names. I only filled in my Facebook name. Kindle reviews are no longer an obligation, more info here, so I'm leaving that blank.

When you go the Facebook group, don't forget to click on the join button. Again, you don't have to join the group. I did, mostly out of curiosity as I'm not the most social person out there and only login on Facebook once a month (if that).

The group is pretty new, so at the moment it's a lot of members introducing themselves. You can see how many people are in your cartel, which means you can calculate how many books will be published weekly.

There are some questions that appear to get answered in a timely fashion. Ben Shaffer visits the groups personally and also answers questions, gives updates on what's to come. I take that as a good sign and, quite frankly, didn't expect anything less from Ben.

Personally, I think there could be a little more info on the welcome page you first received. By the looks of it, most of the action and updates will be done on Facebook, of which I'm not a fan. I'll see on the 18th whether there will be any updates on the welcome page.

So, all in all, not much to report yet. I received an email from Ben yesterday, stating that the offer will be closed for the public next Tuesday. If you're interested in investing in the IM Cartel, read what it's all about here, ask questions if you have any and crunch some numbers to see if it would be a good investment for you.

Update: Click here to read  Part 2 of the review - my 2 month conclusion

dinsdag 8 juli 2014

IM Cartel Update - Excellent News

Yesterday I posted about IM Cartel as an under $1000 investment opportunity that was almost hands off (read it here). Well, Ben Shaffer has just updated the terms and turned it into a 100% passive income opportunity. You can't not love that.

Not that you had to do all that much before; buy and review two ebooks a month. Not that much work, you don't have to read a book in depth to write a review. But still, not exactly what most investors are looking for.

Now, an important part of the effectiveness of the marketing method used in the IM Cartel is getting lots of reviews. So you may be wondering if this change will hurt your bottom line in the long run.

It won't. Ben is hiring a team of people to write the reviews. An experienced marketer will manage this team and make sure everything runs smoothly.

In my opinion, having a professional team of reviewers in place is a big bonus. I can imagine cartel members would start slacking off after half a year or so. Maybe they'd just forget (I'm pointing ten fingers at myself here). It's reassuring to know you won't get kicked out if your memory has more holes than Swiss cheese...

A FAQ for the IM Cartel can be found here.

maandag 7 juli 2014

Invest In An eBook Publishing Company For Less Than $1000

A brand new, under 1000 dollar investment opportunity landed in my inbox a couple of days ago; IM Cartel. If it hadn't been for the author of the email, I probably wouldn't have even read it. Luckily for me, I've done business with Ben Shaffer in the past. He's always proven himself to be an honest business man and eager to help his customers, so I decided to see what all the fuss was about.

This is one of those out of the box investments where you'll be investing in an eBook publishing company. The company is targeting the very lucrative Amazon Kindle market.

Background Info You Need To Know Before Investing


Kindle device
The Kindle, and in particular the Kindle Direct Publishing platform, has been a real game changer in the world of book publishing. All of a sudden indie authors who couldn't get a contract with regular
publishing companies, could publish their books on Kindle for free.

The most popular example of how Kindle changed the world of eBooks is probably author Amanda Hocking. You can read an interesting article from 2011 here. Before Kindle nobody had heard of her, today, 3 years later,  her "Hunger Games" series is being turned into blockbuster films in Hollywood.

Obviously, this is an extreme success story and not all new indie publishers become such a success. However, there is a proven method to publishing and marketing eBooks that will rake in hundreds of dollars a week. Scaled properly, you can even make thousands a week.

Unfortunately, this method involves a lot of work. And if you're not willing to do the work yourself, it will cost you a ton of money to outsource everything. Believe me, I've tried both methods, with moderate success. Even outsourcing every single step ended up costing me quite a bit of time.

With the IM Cartel, the time you have to invest (more on that later) has been reduced to the bare minimum. After all, you're investing in company, not in an "how to publish on Kindle" eBook or training course. Investors generally don't (like to) get their hands dirty, so to speak.

Who's This Ben Shaffer?


In an online world, every Tom, Dick and Harry can start a publishing company, so you'll want to take a close look at who you're getting into bed with. Ben Shaffer of IM Cartel was successfully selling hundreds of thousands of eBooks online, and running a bunch of other businesses, long before Amazon came up with the Kindle Direct Publishing platform.

So, not only does he know what people want to read, with 10+ years of online marketing experience under his belt, he also knows how to market his books. And the marketing is, in my opinion, the hardest part of publishing.

The IM Cartel Breakdown


Investing in the IM Cartel is like crowdfunding a new publishing start up. With crowdfunding the investors usually get some kind of reward. This could be anything from a simply thank you note, to a prototype or personalized special edition of a certain product.

The rewards of investing in this start up could be a lot greater, though. Ben Shaffer offers his investors a percentage of the royalties that are received for the published books. You can see a breakdown of the expected earnings here.

As you can see, if you take a look at the conservative expectations (which is what I always do), it would take you almost 2 years to break even. Considering the fact that Ben has an ace up his sleeve, I think the moderate expectations are more likely. These give you almost $500 in profit in the first year alone.

Not too shabby for investing less than $1000.

The important thing to remember here, is that the royalties will keep rolling in, year after year. And as the number of books published in the cartel increases on a weekly basis, so will the royalties.

I mentioned earlier that you do have to invest a bare minimum of time if you decide to join the cartel. Don't worry, it doesn't involve standing on streetcorners pushing books.

Every month, you have to purchase and review 2 ebooks.That's it.

There are plenty of ways to get more involved in the business if you want to, but these are all optional. You'll receive the titles of the books to choose from and you'll receive instructions on how to buy the books if you've never bought on Amazon. All books will cost between $0,99 and $2,99. So at the most, this will cost you an extra $24 a year.

Do you remember my mentioning Ben having an ace up his sleeve? This is what convinces me the moderate expectations are very feasible.

Once the books have become hot sellers, he incorporates a backend sale for every book. You'll receive a percentage of every backend sale, on top of the percentage of the royalties. This quickly adds up as the number of published books increase.

If you're unaware of what a backend sale is, think of it as the options on a car. You don't necesarilly need them to drive the car, but they make your life so much more comfortable.

Spots are limited. Too many cartel members would water down the royalties too much and not make it worthwile. You can find the number of available spots here (scroll down to the bottom).

Conclusion


Do I think the IM Cartel is a worthy under $1000 investment?

Absolutely!

  1. With sales of Kindle eBooks and devices increasing year after year, this investment could bring in a very nice passive income for several years to come.
  2. Ben Shaffer has a good track record as a business partner and in over delivering to his customers. Quality products and excellent customer service are what separate a company from the competition.
  3. During September, people start shopping for Christmas gifts. Just think of how many people will receive a new Kindle device on Christmas day. The first thing they'll do is head over to Amazon and start loading their ereader with books they want to read during the holidays. eBook sales have spiked during the holiday season for several years in a row.

Even if you follow the very conservative earning expectations, that's without the backend sales, you'll make your investment back in two years. Everything after that is just gravy.

Me? From now on when people ask me what I do, I'll tell them I'm part of a cartel.

Click here to discover all the details of earning money as an IM Cartel member.