No more details needed.

 

What was it like? why did you fail?

 

congrats

 

There was a big discussion here before it even started and the objections turned out to be true as far as I see from your review..

 

Now that you are familiar with their basic process, do you think you might have more success on a 2nd or 3rd try? Or perhaps you can merge their process in to one of your own making?

 

I was a also a student of The Foundation last year, an I pretty much agree with most of what Greg said here. My results were: I had an idea extracted from the Dialysis industry, but I wasn't able to really gain traction from the software idea from more than 2 or 3 people.

What I got out of it:
-Changed my marketing mindset. Dane Maxwell and Andy Drish really know their stuff when it comes to marketing and copywriting. I learned a lot about trying to do the least amount possible that you can get away with in order to get the results you want. The content they put out was not really organized, but the quality was high if you're just starting out. (however, I did see what they're building for this year, and it looks a lot better with more organization)

-It really opened me up to what is possible in entrepreneurship. I believe their main goal isn't really to get you to start a software company, but it's just to open up your mindset and get through your limiting beliefs to get you going. You'll start to be more open minded and you'll start thinking more like an entrepreneur. Where and how you can find the pain, extract ideas, and think up solutions to those pains. I know most of you on here are already there, but when I joined my mindset wasn't open to that way of thinking yet. Dane doesn't just want to teach you tactics, he wants to teach you the mindset, frameworks and strategy so you can come up with your own tactics along with what he provides. What I learned in the six months would have taken me longer to figure out on my own if I wasn't in The Foundation. So I'll have to see if the ROI is worth it.

The community- There was a lot of awesome like minded people in the group that joined and I still chat with a few of them now. It was really cool seeing them go through the same things I were. Also they tried creating smaller teams of members within The Foundation so it's easier to communicate and keep each other accountable, but it didn't really stick after the first few months even though we tried to meet every week but it kinda fell apart. I believe my group was around 15 people. 2 of the guys in my team became success stories of The Foundation, so that was really cool to see their progress every week when we were doing google hangouts in the beginning. Chatting with them definitely helped me through the tougher times when cold e-mailing and calling.


After my failure, I'm now looking at different models that could lead to a SaaS kind of like what Greg mentioned above.
I can start a blog to start a conversation with a market or use the blog as a platform to interview people. I was able to get people to agree to talk to me for creating a post about them on my blog. Just offering it got them to open my cold e-mail and set up calls, but none of them actually cared if I made the post or not.

Another model I'm considering is a product I heard Dane talk about which was his Broker Roundtable. You create a series of interviews with top brokers providing actionable insights that can helps brokers make more money. You sell the first interview for really cheap, then charge a higher monthly fee for 1 interview a month. I believe this model can lead to a SaaS because you're already getting to know the market so you can find out what kind of SaaS would help them. You can apply this model to a bunch of different professions/industries.

That's all I can think of right now, but if anyone has questions I'm open to answering them.

 

Let's dissect the info a bit better, as I was a student of TheFoundation v2 too:

I agree with GregH in most parts and as we all know that 1000 people come in, few stick till the end and maybe 1 succeeds (in every training). But who succeeds most of the time? The one who provides the service/training/ etc, right? (the one who sells not the one who buys)

This program generated half of million $ in sales last year. From all the students, who generated at least $100k? (I'll let others who participated, answer this).


About technology/programming/hiring a programmer and so on:

By profession, I am a software engineer and I know the ins/outs of how to code. One of the "solution" for hiring a coder, that they gave, was to go to Odesk/Elance/Guru and post a job using a "text template" asking for the best coder. And then start filtering and decide on one programmer.

Now I'm telling you this: If you DON'T know how to code, or you don't know somebody (a programmer) who can assist you in monitoring the ones you're hiring, YOU ARE TAKING A TREMENDOUS RISK.

Why?

Well they will spot you instantly, that you're a newbie and they will play you all day long. Remember I'm not talking about web design or some fancy "javascript" tricks for your site. I'm talking about a software (either web based/cloud or desktop based) that can actually perform.

And after all this, there is the "testing" part. Some might underestimate it, but THIS is a continuous process for the SAAS. How come? Only when you start using the software you can actually detect bugs: overloads, memory crash, variable allocation and so on. At this point you kind of depend on your programmer (and the speed of execution they have).

Did you know that each programmer has an individual coding style? This means that you have to tell them to write a clean code and use a lot of ("//" comment lines) so the next programmer who will code, will clearly understand what on earth was coded there (I bet most of you didn't know this).

Back to TheFoundation, one of Dane's SAAS was "pipeline" something. Well rest assured that he didn't go blind in this market. He had family members who were in this niche for a decade and already knew the ins and outs.

Of course Dane was asking "how do you feel about it" and doing that "yoga/zen" thing because there's NO WAY to give a precise answer to a question, in a market you have NO IDEA about.

As you probably saw the new AMA from him, well I believe that's most likely because ( I can bet on this) he's going to launch the new Foundation soon. My inbox is bleeding with this kind of emails. They are pushing hard to launch.

The only thing that I really found valuable and interesting was the way that HE SOLD to us. The pre-sale funnel, email squeeze page, designs, interviews with big names. That's what has to be learned.

Yes MJ, you were right in the first place. Boy oh boy, this Internet is filled with lots of kids and sharks.

 

So you guys are saying that the foundation is a hyped up guru business where nobody wins except the founders? Big surprise.

 

Very interesting. Thanks for the honest answers. I was just about to check out the Foundation's website, but I'll skip on that now...

 

Adrian/Greg,

Based on what you know now, do you feel like if someone has an understanding of business and the web space that the only thing the foundation offers is a group of like-minded people or do Dane and Andy offer their opinion on how to strategically position your solution?

I really enjoy the podcasts that they provide and feel like if anyone were to compile those lessons they would have a much higher chance of success rather than just going in blind.

When analyzing industries, did you stay in your geographic area or were you able to look in any market?

Also, thanks for your replies, this has been really insightful.

 

Thank you guys for sharing your experiences.

 

I'll be honest with you guys.

While I'm never big into things LIKE the foundation (just not my style)
I tend to think the reason you didn't "make it" wasn't because the system was broken or the material unorganized...
It's because you just didn't hustle hard enough.

If Dane had made all your decisions for you, and you had been successful, it'd really be HIS product don't you think?

 

Vig....once again...:smash: nailed it .

 

DennisDuty, Vigilante I agree. The only one to blame, in my case..well..is ME. When I joined I didn't expect somebody else to magically hand over a 5-6 figures per year for me. I've been there once I know how hard it is to get even the smallest gain.

I joined because I constantly invest in myself, I want to learn more. The issue I see here is the "perceived value" and what it really is.

If I remember right, MJ said this: You walk in a fitness class (with the right mindset to drop weight to become healthy, to learn about it, etc) and all of a sudden a FAT guy comes and stands in front of you. That's your MENTOR. A FAT guy who know everything about the diet and getting that 6-pack abs.


Here's a thing I NEVER SEEN, EVER in any webinar, marketing /seminar, you name it:

Man, if you did this ONCE, the SAME WAY you teach us, then fine - START WITH US. We start from 0, you start from 0 with us. You fail, we fail. We ALL learn. Great thing that we have something to relay on (that you already did) but you start with us. People teach you to do this, do that, go talk to X, Y, Z bla..bla...bla...but it's actually one thing to GO TALK and other thing to simply lay out a beautiful plan. In my opinion if you don't take the same steps that we take, you're basically telling a nice story on how you succeeded. But what about that 100 A/B tests you took on the Landing Page or those 40 people you interviewed?


If the intention is to help people THEN why on earth do I see these *marketing signs* in most sales funnels (big launches):

- "We are not sure yet if we are going to accept you in the program. We'll have to think about it and send a reply in a few days"
- You JUST pay 3 payments of 997, or 97, or 1997 $ and you can have access to the program (Ohh really? Why "97" or "197" why these digits "9", "7" and not simply $1000 or $100. BECAUSE IT SELLS. That's why. X GURU discovered this. Let's follow him)
- ACT NOW. BUY NOW. ONLY 3 PLACES LEFT. CLOSING TONIGHT.
- P.S. and P.P.S at the end of the letter with the CEO signature or face
- This BONUS that it's worth $999999999 but because we are BUDDIES I'll give it for $9
- 30, 90, 365 MONEY BACK GUARANTEE
- Pay 5 figures to meet the GURU, the CEO, the MASTER in a SUPER SECRET LOCATION where..hmm...maybe you'll drink some coca cola and play football and see how great it is to be a CEO.

I've NEVER seen any of these so called "marketing tricks" at MJ. Why didn't he promote his book like this? There's no need to. It's such tremendous value inside the book.

To end this, I have nothing against Dane, it's just I can not trust what he says. I've seen too many of these "marketing tricks" that I'm sick of. It's almost to the point where it's chaotic. Don't believe me? Try your spam folder. Reverse the path of any offer you have there.

 

@GregH ; @SQT

From what you have written, you both have learned a lot. Maybe you failed indeed, but you were just millimeter off. Look how much action you took. Remember, you were both noobs in copywriting, marketing and hustle in general. You can just change your approach and try again on your own now.

It's easy to say the foundation didn't deliver as promised, but hey, are you the same after that experience? I bet it will be a lot easier if you start now again, even if it is completely different business model.

You don't need another products. Those 6 months with the foundation were enough. Change your approach and fix the mistakes you did the first time, or find another market or need and try again.

What are you waiting for?


Use that experience with the foundation. I can't focus on the fastlane at the moment, I need to hustle, but you can. Don't wait.