The Retired Millionaire
by Jonathan Paston
This page, The Retired Millionaire, is worth visiting, I promise you it is; I’m recommending you click this link but not for the reason that you might think! http://www.theretiredmillionaire.com/
If you’ve followed my Challenge you’ll have seen that I’ve made copywriting a huge personal study over the past year or so. Now each copywriter has a ’swipe file’ - a file of best-selling emails, ads and salespages from other writers! This file is occasionally useful to dip into when looking for inspiration.
How do I make my swipe file? I keep in touch with what is happening in the marketplace, stay on other marketer’s email lists and follow links to promising looking salespages. And that’s how I found The Retired Millionaire.
Now the reason I want you to follow that link is not necessarily to buy the product (I’ll come to that later)! What I want you to do is to read the page - every single word of it. And when you’ve reached the end go back to the top and read it again. Because this is an exercise in emotional tugging the like of which you’ll rarely see.
This is a salespage which incorporates everything that we teach about successful copywriting. It virtually tugs your wallet out of your pocket. Aren’t you just itching to click on that Order Now button?
Well, please don’t. Because although this salespage was obviously written by a consumate marketer, and I take my hat off to his or her craftsmanship, the stuff that’s behind the page in no way lives up to the promise.
Now that doesn’t mean that the collection of software and manuals on the download page isn’t worth the money. It’s just that it is the same old dosh that is served up by a lot of get-rich-quick promotions. Far from being the ’secrets to the opportunity of a lifetime’ all you’ll receive, if you do click that Order button, is a bunch of products to promote and the opportunity to part with more money on buying hosting for a website to sell them from!
You’ll see this sort of technique used on a lot of get-rich-quick sites. Some offer you a website to promote the product you’ve just bought into. Some guarantee to make you wealthy by helping you become an affiliate - for their product. Let me tell you, it is ten times easier to sell your own product, or act as an affiliate in a niche which you’ve researched yourself, than it is to sell just ONE of these programs.
So when you see a page like The Retired Millionaire, do what I did. File it away for posterity in your swipe file. Use it as a prime example of how good copywriting can sell a promise. It’s just a pity there isn’t a real product behind it!
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I am beginning to get the message as well…unfortunately it cost me 39.99 to learn the lesson…one I will not forget. The thing that gets me is after they recieved my money now all I get is these “deals” from somebody named Fortebuilder wanting me to “upgrade” to being a “PAID” member??!!! Well what the heck was my 39.99 for!! I asume that I paid that just for the privilegde of being “hounded” to buy some juice that ends up costing big time!! Fact is I have no need for any STUPID JUICE!!! Sorry it just makes me so mad for these scam artists to prey on folks trying and hoping to find something that will work to make a better life. Seems like this “retired Millionare is one of those.
I hope you are still within your 56 days ‘money back’ period because, if you’re unhappy (and I guess you are) you should demand a refund.
Hey JPaston! I randomly came across this page looking at page rankings and I am the one who wrote the copy for the retired millionaire (no affiliation with the product) just like to say thanks for the kind words and can you believe I did that entire copy, even the pictures, in one night! (the copy pics not the header/background)
Destin, all I can say is well done!
This is, indeed, a perfect example of how to craft a salespage (even if the product contents leave much to be desired).
Everyone can take a lesson in copywriting right there.
You must have been inspired to write it in one night.
Jonathan
I purchased the retired millionaire product and wasn’t able to download the projects because they had malware attached to it and for the last week or so I have been trying to get someone to help me and none of the email addresses that I have sent emails to have responded and everytime I send something to support@dirtyinternetsecrets.com I get a can’t find this address notification so Destin are you and this so called Chris Everson just a couple of con men or do your really have a product that you have some faith in because right at the moment you seem to me to be a couple of con men how about giving the support you claim to.
Don’t blame Destin, I know for a fact that he is not affiliated with the product but just did the copywriting.
Chris Everson is a pseudonym, so it’s not easy to find the product author.
I suggest that you contact ClickBank and ask for a refund. Providing you bought less than 60 days ago they will refund you as you are unhappy with the product support.
Hi bought this a week or so ago and finally looked at it yesterday because I had a call from someone in their support seeking people to work with to help grow the business.
The content I’ve downloaded and looked aqt doesn’t seem to have any issue with malware/virus etc and I was surprised with how good the video stuff is (not the powerpoint videos which are basic but the other ones)
Hi, Been reading all your comments and can’t help thinking, aren’t there any honest people in the Internet Marketing world anymore? If Destin is the copywriter, then the ‘retired millionaire’ is just an imaginary figure cooked up by Destin in one night, right? Fine, I know Internet Marketing is full of scumbags…but to create copywriting (however good writing it may be)that lies to hoodwink innocent buyers who are sincerely looking for means to earn some income to support themselves is totally unacceptable. However good the sales page may be. End of the day it is still being used for unethical means…or maybe I am just too ‘innocent’ in believing all these.
Hi, yes there are honest people in the IM world and most of them work, as I do, in promoting products which are good value and help people. And you’re right, the ‘Retired Millionaire’ is completely fictional and the only reason I pointed you towards it was to show how masterly copyrighting can suspend disbelief.
You are not too ‘innocent’ at all, you have the right to call this unethical if you wish, but bear in mind that you could consider all advertising to be unethical in that it raises the expectations of the buyer beyond the capabilities of the product.
In the case of the Retired Millionaire it is unfortunate that the copywriting is far, far better than the product - I wish it was the other way round!
I agree with the general comments: it’s a very compelling sales pitch that I bought into on 15th September 2009 (US$47). Yes, at least a year after everyone else in the world got caught… so it’s still plying its dubious trade!
On discovering that it is simply a whole load of recycled junk (Step 1: First read through these two ebooks (Beginners guide and Essentials for Newbies). Step 2: choose from this list of several dozen ebooks to read which ones interest you. Step 3: choose from dozens of tacky old PLR… use them, sell them, do whatever you like. And “Please Feel Free To E-mail purchase@theretiredmillionaire.com With Any Questions!)I decided to call on the “56 day Money Back Guarantee” on 23rd September.
And what do you get if you have any questions? Or in my case, a refund demand?!? This reply:
“A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:
purchase@theretiredmillionaire.com
mailbox is full: retry timeout exceeded”
A PERMANENT ERROR?? What on earth!
I don’t know the technical definition of a SCAM, but this particular site must be very close.
I shall persevere - although at this stage I’m not even sure it was a genuine Clickbank purchase. No confirmation Clickbank email, and no response from CB on this matter.
In fact I am extremely concerned…
BE VERY CAREFUL ON THIS ONE.
Steve Kekwick, Pretoria, South Africa
Hey im glad I found this site I was just about to purchase that retired millionaire crap thanks alot everyone
I too have just been emailed with details of The Retired Millionaire. I was quite interested but then I noticed all the spelling and grammatical errors in the sales splurge and had second thoughts. There is also a Virtual Computer chat which offered a $7 discount of I took the package. What I didn’t understand was how $47 bought a $2000 value package but taking $7 off brought the value down to $99.95. The alarm bells were really clanging by this time.
Hmmmm….
“Great copy”?
The core product is the method and marketing of a retired millionaire. However, that person is fictional, and therefore any product that is delivered is not what was described.
Therefore it is a pack of lies! Frankly that is actually illegal, indeed fraud, and not “great copy” at all.
Yes, it common and even accepted practice for salesman to “bend the truth”, however, once you get to the point where you totally misrepresent the product, you have crossed the line from salesman to scammer.
Also, Destin, being knowingly involved in this, after all you created the crap, makes you an accessory to fraud and as bad as those that hired you.
By the way… no, I didn’t buy it. The “only 50 copies” and blinking “only 4 left” was enough to ward me off, but then when the offer kept dropping with 2 “Please don’t go” redirects all the way down to $17…. didn’t quite fit with the story of the retiring millionaire passing on his legacy!
Lift your game, people! Stooping to this crap is not good marketing, it is just lowering the bar.
I’m a bit ashamed that I bought the Retired Millionaire. I guess I do so based on two reasons…
1. A recommendation from someone I thought I respected. Not so any more! That’s another story.
2. A good sales letter like you talk about Jonathan.
As soon as I had purchased the product I knew I had blown it! I immediately emailed for a refund, but didn’t receive an answer. A few days later I tried another email contact and it too was ignored.
After about 2 or 3 weeks I contacted Clickbank and requested a refund directly. Normally when a refund is requested they give the vendor an opportunity to contact the buyer and settle the dispute. No such contact was ever made from the Retired Millionaire. So in the end Clickbank simply went ahead and refunded the money.
Since then I have received two phone calls from their call center out of California, as well as one about 30 minutes ago. This time the guy (Grant) was unbelievably rude. Never seen anything like it before. Absolutely refused to take me off their list and basically said their was nothing I could do.
And by the way, this is the first time I ever requested a refund from anyone for any product, ever, so I’m not that hard to get along with.
Anyway, for anyone looking at buying the Retired Millionaire, don’t! Your money is much better off being spent on something legitimate.
How do we know when not to buy? Same old advice…if it’s too good to be true, it’s a Scam.
Thanks for letting me vent,
Norm
thank you for the report i have spent $$$$$ on things like this and am almost broke trying to reach a way to make money on the internet all a bunch of lies
How do u get in contact with this scam artist from “the retired millionaire”, what a joke, anybody got a phone number!, i want my damn money refunded!