Sunday, November 16, 2008

Houston. We Have a Problem.


I'm now officially sixty days behind schedule in launching my training course. It's been unbelievably complicated and time consuming. I'm glad I'm not having to hold my breath --- or my bladder!

I've still got writing, editing, and tons of loose ends waiting to be nailed down. Who knew how much brain power was required to put together something like this, I ask.

Meanwhile, I'm motivated by the fact that one of my mentors offered two-day training camps every two months for about ten students at a time for about two thousand dollars each person. If my math is correct that's about ten thousand dollars a month gross before expenses. He probably spent about thirty percent on overhead. He told me that it wore him out and he's no longer offering the training camps. Hmmm. Maybe it was too inexpensive?

My other mentor meanwhile is grossing nearly four hundred thousand a month selling a newsletter! I'm almost tempted to go into the newsletter writing business! :) Nah.

Yesterday I was writing advertising copy. It read well enough that I was halfway tempted to pull out my VISA card and order my own course from myself! Ha! Maybe I should do that anyway just to make sure everything works?

During my research of various account providers I discovered that PayPal has a LOT of restrictions, including holding back money from it's clients for six months in the event they suspect fraud. I also learned that one of the merchant account providers held up several hundred thousand dollars of my mentor's VISA receipts because the credit card processor was surprised by and consequently suspicious of the huge amount of money they were processing. They are still holding back several hundred thousand dollars of his --- after six months! Another vendor is still holding about thirty thousand dollars. Wow. That would be scary and irritating!

I just learned that my credit card company wants to know what my sales estimates are before they "approve" my merchant accounts. With all the 9/11 security checks and money laundering schemes they want to know what to expect. I have zero idea. For safety reasons I'm going to say, "Exactly Six Quadrillion Dollars a month."

That's a start, huh?

Meanwhile, back to the writing, editing and marketing "stone." I'm so anxious and excited about my course launch that I'm giggly on my way to bed every night!

More to come later...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats on nearing completion of your course Jay. I'm sure it will be a great one.

I wouldn't beat yourself up over it taking longer than you thought; it's kind of like your first big rehab. Things come out of the woodwork to screw up your schedule and budget, but afterwards, once you have the experience under your belt things get much easier.

Good luck!

Jay Palmquist said...

Thank you Matt,

I'm trying not to beat myself up --- keeping my eyes on the prize, as it were.

However, you're right. It IS like my first rehab job. It's exactly how you described it. The only difference...the rehab job was completed in a month! :)