SUBMITTED: Monday, November 26, 2007
POSTED: Monday, November 26, 2007
The original filer of this report requested an unbiased opinion on the matter of AWAI and their program.
Accordingly, I would like to present my personal experience and present some facts - and some nonsense, regarding the issue.
On the surface AWAI claims to provide individuals with the training, concepts, and insider information needed to make money - specifically $100,000 or more annually - through copywriting, and more specifically, through direct response copywriting. They promise a lush and lucrative lifestyle with the ability to work at home and have a virtually unlimited income ceiling.
Notice that I said they will provide you with the information... not necessarily the clients, contacts, assignments, or income. This is a critical distinction in the debate.
The question then becomes this: Is AWAI living up to their promises? Are they actually providing the promised information for your $507? And, more importantly, can the information itself actually live up to the promise?
Consider it like buying a package of corn seed. The package promises to contain corn seed let's say a hybrid golden sweet corn perfect for boiling or roasting on the grill during a July 4th BBQ. Two promises here: First the actual contents of the package: corn seed. Well, you can prove that theory by simply ripping open the package and looking inside. Are they in there? Yep. Then, at least that part of the promise was true.
But then there are the promised characteristics of the corn the seeds: sweet, tender, ears perfect for boiling or roasting. To prove that part you have to get to work. The package will not be able to grow itself and even in the growing of the seed, it will take some solid effort to turn those dry, hard seeds into sweet, juicy ears of corn. Plowing, raking, planting, watering, plenty of sunlight, and a bit of bovine droppings (excuse me, fertilizer) will be needed to get the job done. And even after you do all of that, if the seed is bad, then you'll be left with nothing but a few weak sprouts and a lot of wasted time.
The analogy holds true with AWAI's program. Fact: AWAI's program has every scrap of information that their letters and promotions promise to deliver and more information that they don't tell you about. It is as easy as cracking open the package and looking inside to prove that.
But will the information deliver? Will that three ring binder and the 457 pages (plus bonus materials) really be able to give you the know-how to work from home and make six figures as a freelance writer?
The fact is, the only way to know for sure is to get out there and plant the garden or, as you are attempting to do here, learn from other's experiences.
Here's another fact: no one who has not gotten out in the garden, plowed, planted and followed the instructions on the package has a right to tell you whether or not that corn seed will actually grow and deliver on its promises.
Everyone else is just an armchair quarterback, howling at the TV on Monday night. All they have is theory, opinion, and nonsense. They cannot know, because they have not paid the price to know. They cannot tell, because they have not experienced the reality of the program. They cannot comment (intelligently that is) because they either did not try or they tried it their own way without following instructions. That kind of unbiased opinion should be viewed as unsubstantiated evidence and immediately tossed out.
Consider this: would a judge in any court in this country take a statement from a “witness†that was not at the crime scene and knows nothing of the incident? Clearly, the answer is no.
I read the comments made by Karl of Long Beach, CA and wonder how that ever got posted. The point in question is not how AWAI may or may not stand politically or socially. The point in question is whether or not AWAI is living up to the promises they make about copywriting. Will paying $507 to AWAI give you enough of the right information to empower you to make a six figure income as a copywriter? That is fundamental issue at hand and all other insights or opinion outside of that issue have little bearing on the case. Not only are such comments unsubstantiated, they are wholly irrelevant and inconsistent with the premise of The Ripoff Report.
Given that perspective, I would like to offer my personal, real life experience of ordering, reading, and implementing the AWAI program. With this brief account, I also make the offer to have anyone who reviews this information the opportunity of contacting me directly. I'll gladly present to you any and all information, documentation, and evidence necessary to substantiate the claims that will follow.
In April of 2005 I was financially flat on my back. My company had just dissolved and I did have an income of any kind coming in. About that time I received a letter from AWAI telling me that I could Retire This Year and Still Make More Than Most Doctors. Being financially starving with 6 children and a wife to provide for, I was intrigued. I read and re-read the letter about the program over the next 7 days. My wife and I discussed it at length… in very earnest tones.
In the end, we ventured to borrow $39 and bought the first installment of AWAI's program. When it arrived I decided that I would immerse myself in the program 100% and follow their instructions exactly and without variation at least to the best of my ability. I figured that I would put it all on the line and by all I mean my family's security, livelihood, housing, and food by putting AWAI's promise to the test. Only then would I, and could I, be sure that it was fact or fiction… and I desperately wanted it to be fact.
Before I completed the first installment, I got another letter this one promoting a 5-day seminar put on by Bob Bly (no idea who that was) teaching you how to Sell Yourself as a Freelance Copywriter. Well, I could see that the skills needed to write the stuff were, in fact, contained within the program AWAI had sent me. But so what if I could write, if I couldn't get any clients? So, I borrow $5,000 from my in-laws (nerve wracking and stressful by all accounts) to pay for the seminar, hotel, travel expenses, and to get the rest of the copywriting program.
At every step along the way, I resolved to do my very best in implementing the program and the self-promotion ideas Bob had presented to me.
In the second week of June I came home and got to work. I prepared my self-marketing information packet. I put up a very simple website (I used a $39 template from template monster). I got hold of a list of potential clients and reviewed my sales letters and marketing scripts. I finished studying the copywriting course.
On August 1, 2005, I sent out my first solicitation letter and in 3 weeks, I began making follow up phone calls.
I continued these efforts for the next few months and toward the end of October 2005 I received my first positive response and paying client. Still, I continued marketing myself and writing something everyday in accordance with AWAI's suggestions. It was not easy, nor was every step of the game particularly fun.
In November, I wrote a promotion for a company that sold over $45,000 worth of products in less than 7 days. In writing that letter I had put together a checklist summary of all the elements, steps, and techniques that AWAI suggests you put into a sales letter. I wrote the letter following that checklist as exactly as I could. I really, really wanted to know if this program was for real and if I was really going to be able to make a good living. In fact, I really wanted to prove the promise of making $100,000 or more in the first 12 months so I could retire and make more than most doctors.
Upon reviewing the results of my letter – the hard, cold, unbiased facts of how much my letter had sold in just one week and in actually depositing the $4,000 (plus royalties) that I was paid for writing that letter – I knew without a doubt that the information AWAI provided and the system they promoted could, and did, live up to the promises being made.
By the end of April 2006 I added up all the fees and royalties I received for my writing and found that I had made over $100,000 from the time I first read the AWAI letter to that day.
That income amount is a fact. Anyone can review the deposits and who they were from to verify it for themselves.
Based on that 12-month trial alone and the very real facts involved in that experiment, I do not hesitate in stating that AWAI is the real deal.
Of course there is more to the story… objective information that is not so easily verified. For example, how do I quantify the respect, friendship, professionalism, and sincere desires for my success that I felt from AWAI's staff and Bob Bly? How can I plot on a graph or chart the sustaining emotional support I received at no extra cost or fee from Katie, Bob, Helen, or Barb during those first rigorous 12 months? Clearly, such things are subjective though perhaps not all together irrelevant.
But, there is one final set of facts that I can leave you with.
Fact: On April 1, 2005 I had never heard of copywriting as a career.
Fact: By April 30, 2006 I had deposited over $100,000 in fees received as a freelance copywriter.
Fact: Almost 3 years later, I still enjoy a strong, and consistently growing, six-figure income as a freelance copywriter.
Fact: I am the father of eight children (same wife, no twins everyone asks), I work from home with virtually unlimited flexibility in my schedule to do as I please, spending time with friends, family, and associates as I choose.
Fact: AWAI far exceeds every promise they make they deliver.
And now, for the nonsense
Nonsense: AWAI's course will make you rich overnight simply by buying the course. That's as ridiculous as buying a package of seeds and believing they will magically plant themselves and produce a rich harvest for you.
Over the past few years I have actively coached a number of prospective copywriters. Invariably, I have found that those who are willing to follow the instructions given by AWAI find success in their efforts. Those that fail, fail to do the work necessary to make the seeds grow.