Follow Us on Twitter
by ayb |
I wrote about the Learning Annex’s Real Estate Wealth Expo in my earlier post, Experts Predict Market Drop, Yet Donald Trump Wants You To Buy Real Estate – Does This Smell Fishy?
Now, Reuters is reporting that the Learning Annex is paying Donald Trump a record amount – $1.5 million per one-hour talk, plus expenses.
You can buy used copies of Donald Trump’s books for as little as fifty cents. And, if you can’t spare that change, you can get most of them for free from your public library.
So, should you spend hundreds of your hard-earned dollars – and a whole weekend – to attend the Real Estate Wealth Expo? One Wealth Junkie reader, webjanet, doesn’t think so. This is her review:
I just had the fortune of attending the Learning Annex REAL ESTATE WEALTH EXPO.
First of all, the seminars were little more than a series of infomercials for the speakers personal books and “business systems” – most costing $1,000 or more. (They might cost $2,500 but they would tell you the Learning Annex made them give a deal!)
They also refused to tell you when Donald Trump, Robert Kiyosaki or any of the other speakers were appearing until you got there on Saturday because of “scheduling and security concerns” and yet they had 50,000 schedule books miraculously printed and ready to hand out at 8am on Saturday when they told you to be there. And you find out the Trump does not appear until 6:30pm Sunday and Kiyosaki on Saturday morning.
They purposely try to keep you there, because once you have been to 1 or 2 “seminars” you realize you wasted your money, your time, your gas, the parking fee, because you could have learned as much in your local library.
I was terribly disappointed! I actually hoped to LEARN something. I didn’t expect to get rich, but as a new real estate investor, I wanted to learn SOMETHING. Anything.
Obviously I was a big sap, like all the other lemmings. But I would never trust Trump, or the Learning Annex again.
Have you attended the Real Estate Wealth Expo? Tell us what you think!
{ 100 comments… read them below or add one }
← Previous Comments
Hello all
I just got back from the Expo in Toronto and I have to say that what everyone is saying rings true. (no, not the fake positive posts inserted by paid employees of either the Learning Annex or of the speakers) This really was one string of live infomercial after another. I got a letter prior to the course vaguely indicating that at least one of the keynote speakers worth mentioning would be starting at 8am. Because of that finely crafted letter, I arrived bright and early at 8am only to find that Tony Robbins didn’t start until 3:30 in the afternoon. Everything from 8am until then was utter and complete crap. The “hot girls†try to funnel you into the main hall and try to not let you leave with various comments. It was extremely pathetic. As mentioned previously, the whole weeked was just puffed up sales seminars to sell materials for various “speakers†who probably sold their soul to present there. As someone who was once sucked up into the Amway crap, I was pretty ticked off at how the Learning Annex truly operates. They even went so far as to put Donald on the same page as the other Saturday speakers to make it look like he’d be there at the end of the day but the fine print showed he was actually there on Sunday. Why would they not put him on the Sunday page? Psychology I say. Anyways, my friend and I killed about 7 hours walking around Toronto in the rain, hit a movie, went to Hooters for lunch and came back to see Tony Robbins. At least we know what to expect with him. He OPENLY agrees that he makes his living from speaking and coaching. There is no smoke and mirrors with him and he does know his stuff. The only people worth seeing in my opinion are Tony and Donald, but even now I question that as I simply cannot believe they condone these business practices. There is absolutely no way they can’t know what is REALLY going on……
Anyways, because of how the Saturday schedule was put together, I WILL NOT be returning on Sunday even though Branson and Donald will be appearing. (Branson via Satellite) In addition, they schedule Branson at 8am and Donald at 5pm!!!! WHY IS THAT? To get some suckers to “fill their time†in the other sales seminars which are laden with somewhat scantily clad very cute girls jumping like kindergarten students and going “woooooohooooo!!!†leading unsuspecting fools like cattle to the slaughter.
This was a very sad excuse for a “wealth expoâ€. The only people becoming wealthy from this are the organizers and the sales sharks. Now before anyone jumps on me, I run a relatively successful online venture and have been free of my previous job for coming on 4 years now so I’m not some disillusioned nobody who’s never done anything worthwhile in his life complaining because I have nothing better to do.
THIS SEMINAR and others like it are designed with one purpose in mind! To get your money, period! Stay away at all costs, the best part of the weekend was Hooters, sad but true.
Agree with KwanMan and Aaron, except for the cute girls. Surely, Toronto has a lot of beautiful women and some of the girls in attendance were more pleasing than the “fun” girls.
At any rate, the Learning Annex is truly a waste of money if you paid more than $100 for two tickets.
Most of the speakers pray on the desperate folks who are down on their luck and want nothing more than to believe that these speakers want to help them. Reality is that nobody has a magic formula that will turn you into a millionaire, as it takes work, dedication and lets be honest some luck.
The highlight of the day was Anthony Robbins.
James Smith was funny at times but he needs to drop the god complex. His presentation style is unique but towards the end it disolves as he starts speaking real estate.
On more than one occasion he contradicted earlier details and while I understand that a parent loves their children, portraying them as deities did not improve anybodies real estate game.
Go have some fun at the Annex but don’t expect to walk away with any secret sauce to make millions of dollars.
As the saying goes, those who can do, those who can’t teach.
Remember, people of wealth do not readily reveal the “how” of their fortunes. Everybody tries to protect their secret sauce and you and I wouldn’t be any different, so don’t fall into the trap of letting your emotions control your money.
My last piece of advice is, leave your cash, credit cards, cheques, etc. at home and only take enough for lunch and the parking fee. This will avoid the impulse buys that you regret in the morning and unlike the US, we don’t have any cooling off periods.
I actually went to the Expo for the Saturday event, I to was disappointed in the content of the event and realizeds that i shoudl of just showed up for Sunday as that is when all the speakers draw the crowds.
I did however capitalize on the opportunity to network my Direct sales business. Healthy Chocolate, I handed out 10 nuggets of the purest chocolate in the world .So some good did come out of the 100.00 spent.
We went to the Expo in Toronto on the weekend of March 24-25th. The Learning Annex promised 72 wealth experts. There were maybe 11 – if you want to call them experts. They hardly gave you information, some not any. They mostly tried to sell you their programs, which usually cost $995. We realized quickly that it was just a scam, but had to listen to a few while waiting for the key note speakers. One of them, Raymond Aaron, was just terrible. He was selling a “mentoring package” and was talking about the “laws of attraction”. He told everyone there, that he never did this but that he was going to give everyone a boat cruise. Uncertain cheers erupted. He then said that we didn’t believe it, and in that case, we were right, we weren’t getting a boat cruise. Luckily for us, there would be one more chance later. So he continued to tell everyone what a wonderful man he was, showing pictures of his daughter etc. and somewhat later on said “this is your chance, I am taking all of you on a boat cruise!” Words were flashing, reading BOAT CRUISE! BOAT CRUISE! and people were jumping up and down chanting and screaming. Then Raymond said “You have done it!! You have all won a boat cruise!!!” Needless to say he was scamming. He casually mentioned later that if you bought his $995 program and completed the 17 month mentoring program and fulfilled two goals, you would then receive a boat cruise. Sure Raymond, I hope you can sleep at night.
All in all, the keynotes were good, but the rest was terrible and misleading and they should be sued.
I have to say: what a let down.
No where did they advertise it would be a day of sales pitches for each speaker’s expensive
“wealth tools” / packages; whatever you wish to call them, but at prices in the thousands, let’s get serious. Hundreds of people buying “packages” that will help the careers / futures at
ridiculous prices == big profits.
I couldn’t stomach much of it after the first few hours on Saturday. I even went through all
the notes looking for information regarding these packages they were pushing (no mention of them in the broschure material for obvious reasons).
So when people say “what did you expect”. I’ll tell you: I expected to learn the secrets of
these great business folks (exactly as they described in all their PR for this event).
I didn’t expect to be:
1 — led around like cattle going into a slaughter house.
2 — see “cheerleading” types trying to get the crowd into it.
3 — being made to feel that if I didn’t participate, we weren’t entrepeneurs or successful
people.
James Ray (The Secret) said (when people didn’t fill in his registration form — complete with
Visa # prior to his 1 hour speech — notice the word PRIOR). He went on to tell people that “to make a change in life you sometimes need to do drastic things… if you choose not to fill in this form, it says a lot of your character.” Huh? Is this guy for real? My character says I’m not an idiot who’s going to fill in VISA #’s on carbon paper (the type that makes 3 copies of info) and then leave it / throw it out or whatever: all for his weekend seminar.
I grew tired of all the “happy go lucky” types.
All the speakers pretty much told me things I pretty much already knew: buy low, sell high (brilliant)
One guy pointed to a curve illustrating when to buy a stock (the lowest point of the curve).
When to sell the stock (the highest point of the curve). I’m going to be rich now
I almost smacked the person next to me, when they actually wrote that down — maybe some people
do need help
I went back on Sunday, late in the day because I can only take so much idiocracy. I toned down my attitude a bit because I realize a lot of people were buying their packages.
One woman sitting next to me just loved James Ray (the Secret). She was yelling positive re-enforcements
back at him when he was giving his speech — I felt out of place.
I felt a lot of folks there were willing to try anything to be successful. I felt that a lot of people were victimized this past weekend.
I can go on for a while… but anyone reading this gets my general feeling for this event.
I hope others out there don’t get suckered. Please use the internet, connect with other people
online — there are resources out there to find real estate (it’s not as easy as these speakers
make it seem — but it can be done at a much lower cost to yourself).
Kind Regards.
/Drakes.
I attended the Toronto Expo in March and yes, most of it sucked.
I was very happy I got to see Tony Robbins, and this was worth the price of admission. Donald was entertaining and Harry Stintson (a toronto real estate guy) was most informative and even took a few tongue-in-cheek jabs at all the other BS speakers! I signed up to go again next year for $30 VIP. Because I live close to the convention centre, next year I will only attend the key note speakers I like and not bother with any of the other BS
I also attended the Toronto Expo (March 24-25, 2007) and I enjoyed most of it.
I got tickets 2 for $99. But I found a two for $50 coupon code after I bought the tickets. So that sucked. But hey, airfares fluctunate all the time, so it’s supply and demand…
I thought the “money dance” was silly but some people seemed to enjoyed it and nevertheless, I enjoyed watching the dance off at the end. It was funny.
Anyways, I attended all of the keynotes and if you can just accept the fact that they will sell you something at the end (though not all keynotes did), you will get something out of it. I thought it was of great entertainment and motivational value. And I did learn something new from almost all keynotes. In addition, they also reconfirmed my own studies and beliefs in wealth building. Most importantly, my partner is finally convinced of the importance of setting financial goals and giving back.
It’s just an experience that you should try it yourself to decide whether it is for you or not, instead of listening to others’ opinion since different people learn different things in different ways at different stage of their life.
What worked for me might not work for you and vice versa.
I did also buy a package b/c I don’t know what I don’t know. Plus the potential upside of a $995 package is way higher than my $4000 MBA course (that’s one course!) So whether it is expensive or not is all relative.
Good luck on setting and achieving your own financial goals!
“This really was one string of live infomercial after another.”
Of course it was! It was a SCAM! See my post back on March 14th.
The Learning Annex is little more than a criminal organization based on fraud and deceit, and really should be shut down.
I agree with an earlier poster that the Learning Annex should actually be paying people to go and listen to such a pile of crap, not the other way around.
What everyone should do now is call their credit card companies and do a chargeback due to mis-representation of the 2 day infomercial. You may be very surprised at just how easy it is to get your money back. And with some luck, the Learning Annex may even lose their CC Merchant status.
It’s amazing to see the number of comments that just blatantly shoot everything down. I wonder how you will honestly do anything in your life. What did everyone expect the Expo to be? Have you been to an expo of any kind? It is always filled to the brim with salesman and ‘eye candy’ have you ever been to the auto show?? Do they teach you how to be successful race car driver?? I think a lot of your expectations are ridiculous.
The one thing that is appreciative is that Joanne posting on March 26/2007, actually is going to a course that most of you deem a ’scam’. I think that speaking for the interested parties on this forum we would all love to hear what you thought of your $995 package Joanne. I am contemplating doing a similar program, and I gave my card to the woman next to me in the seminar and told her to contact me if she wants to know how it went. Expensive experiment? Maybe. Is it worth trying? Absolutely. Ok. $6k not so much, but $1000 for two is definitely doable.
Please let us know Joanne, you seem to be one of the few people that don’t just rant here.
Cheers.
We are not ranting: NO WHERE on ANY advertising did it say it was a day full of infomercials — NO WHERE. I challenge anyone to provide me one piece of advertising where it says you will be subjected to hours of strong sales pitches — then I’ll back off. Instead we were told to come and learn the secrets… blah blah blah.
NO WHERE. That is mis-representation and definately for the purpose of misleading it’s audience. Calling it anything else is total denial of truth of what really transpired there.
I’m sorry some folks need to justify they spent their money for their “legitimate reason”, but people should wake up and call an infomercial really what it is.
I recently attended the Learning Annex weekend. Yes I paid $100 plus parking plus food and YES in many ways it was like a weekend of infomercials BUT come on people!!!!!….are you not smart individuals who have a brain and your own power to say NO to spending money on the kits each speaker was selling!!! I can’t stand all these NAY SAYERS who put this down!!! THAN DON’T GO AND SIT ON YOUR DIRTY COUCHES AND WATCH TV!
If you go there and listen and even took home just a little of what each speaker was talking about, than you are far better off than sitting at home watching CSI! Well, that’s if you want to actually learn something.
I’m telling you this weekend was VERY inspiring and NO I did not have to spend thousands! But that is the difference between actual doers and fans sitting on the sidelines crying that this was a waste of time!
I was shocked that the Expo was a string of infomercials. However, I have an open mind and I did enjoy my first expo.
I am a beginner real-estate investor with two properties and small positive cashflow and am ready to go to the next level. I have to admit I learned a lot of things from all the speakers despite their predictable sales tactics at the end.
I did research on Saturday night and found all the speakers on the internet were offering their CDs for the same price or less from their website! Reggie Brooks was the only speaker who’s internet price matched his learning annex offer.
I did end up buying Shemin’s package which I have been listening to and have learned a lot of things I didn’t know. All this info will help me as I delve more into real-estate investing. I will warn those who bought packages that the free training that’s offered is another INFORMERCIAL to plunk even more money into their mentoring programs ($5000-$15000)–thank you http://www.realestatecoursereviews.com/
I liked keynote Harry Stinson: he actually warned us about the dangers of RE that none of the other speakers mention. Donald was great entertainment and again, a practical fellow.
I bought VIP tickets to go back next year; only because I learned a few things this year and expect to next year. I met a lady while waiting for Trump who taught me about having multi-corperations for asset protection and getting free money from the government. Chris Johnson’s Free Money information is great.
Learning Annex was unscrupulous in promoting 72 speakers when there were less than 20 and not disclosing when Donald Trump would be appearing. I was charged $40 U.S. for their mylearningannex.com but I called and yelled at them and got a refund right away. If you don’t get a refund, call your Credit card company and ask for a charge-back and say you never consented to purchasing this online service.
All in all, what I took away this weekend I will use this year. I just submitted my first grant proposal two days ago!
Drakes says:
“We are not ranting: NO WHERE on ANY advertising did it say it was a day full of infomercials — NO WHERE. I challenge anyone to provide me one piece of advertising where it says you will be subjected to hours of strong sales pitches — then I’ll back off.”
Don’t waste you time, Drakes! The only people who will argue against these mass infomercials being scams are those who promote them or have a vested interest in them. I, like you, would be more than happy to back off if anyone could provide me with any degree of verifiable proof that they ever made money from taking any of the over-priced courses being offered.
I would strongly doubt if anyone ever has.
These Expos are deceptive. I am looking at one of their online ads and Trump is claiming to “teach you all my secrets to becoming a billionaire” at the Expo. !
Can anyone claim to have walked away with even ONE actual SECRET of his, let alone “all”?
This Expo is getting the bad reputation it deserves.
This is pathetic.
If you expect to learn the whole system from a series of 90 minute speeches, you are deceiving yourselves.
The information provided is great. If you are too cheap to pay for more information, that is your problem!
“The information provided is great. If you are too cheap to pay for more information, that is your problem!”
Funny! That’s what every low-life scammer says!
This is a FRAUD show and the only people that make money are the organizers and speakers at the show. 20% -30% of people buy something at the show. Return the stuff with in 3 days and get your money back. And write to the BBB.com or the Attorney General office for doing this
Info at Phila L.A. Expo was helpful.
Reggie Brooks said there’s less competition buying abandoned properties and I believe him. Mr. James is a funny and entertaining speaker, and, like the others he motivates people with his optimism. But I didn’t buy his course.
Hello everyone,
I just want to add my two cents and once and for all make this clear to everyone out there reading this.
I used to work for the learning annex and the real estate wealth expo as a table manager for their main hall, I traveled the country with them and I have their training manuals and I remember their unethical, scandalous procedures very well.
I can tell you with certainty that the real estate wealth expo and the learning annex are in the business of making $$$$$$$$. I’m talking in the 7 figure range. Some of these outdated, overpriced “educational” packages they sell are even produced by them.
I also know for a fact that if you are a business person in the real estate industry and you are thinking of spending $5k or $10k for 2 booth spaces at the expo – DON’T DO IT!! – you will waste your money undoubtebly. I know of not one but several companies who did generate a single sale because of how the learning annex did not care to drive traffic to the exhibitors hall where these companies are advertising their goods and/or services.
It makes me sick to this day when I think of the thousands of people I sold some real expensive seminar package and/or DVD’s. I used to be a financial consultant, that was the reason I could not keep doing what I was doing I felt wrong telling people to buy this $1k kit or $10k kit when I knew that what I was selling was not worth that and that these people could go invest that or use it for their first home down payment or so many other investment opportunities there are.
To the people who write nice comments and what not, most are full of it. They either work for the learning annex or one of the speakers.
Yes, Donald and Tony do get alot of the $$$$$$$ the learning annex and real estate wealth expo makes from the admission to the expo, kits sold and exhibitor booth spaces sold but most of the money goes to none other than Mr. William Zanker or otherwise known as Bill Zanker founder of the learning annex.
He gives jews and new yorkers a bad name………………
READ THIS – FIND OUT WHAT YOU ARE BUYING.
I understand where all the negative comments are comming from.
We attended the Toronto Expo March 2007. What was adertised was very different then what was presented. However, we had seats very close to the front and enjoyed the likes of Donald, Tony, and George.
We bought into one of the courses from the least polished sales pitches – Don Burnham.
My wife and I are by no means power investers, but we do dabble, and we have decided to spend more time in RE investing. So when we attended the seminar, we were very disappointed.
RED FLAG
We listened to a 1 hour introduction which basically was an “audience inoculation” period to redirect any potential negativity that will occur during the next couple of days. A trick lawyers use on jurors in a court room – hmmm our speaker said he was a lawyer.
RED FLAG
We were told to bring lots of business cards so that we can network. (We sell mortgages – yahoo – what a great hit, all these investors). But our trainer “Tim” said we could not network or swap cards. (one of us might have googled them the first night and warn the rest).
RED FLAG
We were “directed” to fill out a form with all our personal information SIN (SSN) included and sign the bottom. This was a disguesed credit application. We had to hand it in as we left the room for our first break to get together with our mentor. (We passed on filling in the form).
RED FLAG
Our breaks basically gathered around our mentors – again keeping the group from drifting into negativity.
RED FLAG
When we came back “Tim” said that a credit check was being performed on everybody, and they would individually meet with us to address the individual needs.
HELLO 20% of your bekon score is based on “seeking” credit
What a great way to qualify your customers before you sit down with them.
RED FLAG
“Tim” and Don Burnham married the same woman. They both told the exact same story on how it took 7 years of “asking for a hand in marriage” before their wives relented. We picked up 3 more stories that they both took credit for. Ouch! credibilty issue here.
RED FLAG
Our first day is over, and we have homework. One of our assignments for the eveinging is to phone our credit card company and increase our credit limit. Now “Tim” instructs us how to do this in such a way as to prevent the CC company conducting their own credit check on us. 2 hits in one day – not good. “Tim” was decent enough to tell us after the fact that seeking credit affects our rating.
SERIOUSLY – We should not have a limit any higher then what our monthly cash flow can support. There should never be an outstanding balance on your credit card. Holding credit is expensive – especially on a card, and especially if its consumer debt. Your credit card should be used as a “convenience” for holding cash your pocket, not to be used to spend money you don’t have. Investment debt should be carefully planned out. (Sorry for the lecture)
RED FLAG
Guess why we increased our credit limit last night. Well today we found out the purchase price of the courses. Many levels from $25K – $95K. But today we get a deal, $10K to $55K. Thankfully it was Canadian funds. – too bad we are trading at 0.90 the last couple of days.
The rest of the second day, my wife and I tried to convince as many people as possible, to BE CAREFUL!.
Being a memeber of IAI, many RE deals will be offered, but based on the level ($55K being the highest) priority will be given to the top. I figure being at the bottom level, I can still see these properties, because all their seed money has been exhausted.
We did not attend the third day. Like the Learning Annex, what was advertised, is not what was delivered. This was another highly focused infommercial.
What did I learn? 3 50pound open bags of charcoal that are allowed to sit in a unventalated house for at least 3 days, will remove all the foul musty odors.
What else? I really know a lot more then what I give myself credit for.
$1000 well spent.
Will I go again. Yes, if only to warn other people.
I have attended many of these seminars and have met lots of people who have been extremely successful with the help of the expo. Yes a few of the speakers sell educational products and additional training but no one makes you buy it! The sales breaks takes about 10-15 minutes during the break between speakers. (not all speakers have product to offer) You are not required to buy anything! What you get for the price of a ticket is a steal….2 full days of education and motivation to succeed by the best of the best in the business…and TONS of networking connections and contacts. What you do with your 2 days is up to you!!! You can sit around and bitch that things are sold there so it must be a skam or you can get out and attend a seminar and get motivated to achieve your goals. For the price of a pair of shoes, you get 2 days of information, networking, and get entertained by some amazing and entertaining celebrity speakers. think about it….what does $79 buy these days. This could be the best $79 you ever spent. Think about the price of education at a college in this day and age….nothing is for free, i am not sure what fantasy world you are living in if you think it is. Its an investment for education for your future. IF you are too stupid to see that, then you are doomed to fail.
I saw a lot of negative comments and a few positive comments and I’m the type of person, I’m intelligent enough to make my own decision on this sort of thing. But – of all of the comments mentioning “coupon codes” I didn’t see a single coupon code. Maybe I missed it.
If your one of those who found a coupon code for a free or almost free VIP pass, pass on the wealth!
I called and talked with kathy and then the manager Devin willis. I was treated with respect and my concerns were anwsered.
I would like to also add my 2 cents as a former employee to the annex. I worked at the headquarters in NYC and have never had to question my morals so many times working for this deceit machine. Of course the company for the most part keeps the employees in the dark about the inner workings of the company to prevent the lackeys from gaining a perspective. The Learning Annex is in business for QUICK money. They realize that this whole Trump expo thing is only a novelty and will die out within another year or so. I’ve witnessed/been privy to countless acts of deceit, lies, fraud and other scheming machinations. This is an evil company that doesn’t give a damn about their customers and is in it for the quick dollar as they are trying to get your money before you wise up and ask too many questions. A company that advocates so many frauds…Raymond Aaron/Robert Shemin/James Smith/Don Burnham….and countless others should be driven out of existence immediately! The expo is one giant sales pitch, and unless you like high pressure salesman trying to sell you some farce of a specialty course they think they invented, you will be ultimately let down. Anyone posting good things on this site about the annex are working for them…and it’s quite apparent based on the verbage used and the ENTHUSIASM! I strongly urge you to do your research online and you’ll find that all of this information that these “professionals” sell is available for free online…or at your library. Don’t buy any products at the expo. What you buy at the expo usually leads to a bootcamp in which they try to sell you even higher priced “bootcamps” in the 30-100k range. I can’t tell you how many nightmares i’ve heard, and how many people have cried over the phone because of these deceitful programs. Save your money, and do your own research…it always pays. By the way the president Bill Zanker will order that 20 people are fired….including the one ethical director, so that he can take a pay increase. Karma will come back to haunt these villains down the line. They all have it coming, and sadly enough they aren’t smart enough to realize it. They are conniving, greedy, filthy animals who only care about the $. If you don’t want to take my word for it…read the other former employee’s testimonial above.
It never occurred to me to attend the Wealth Expo in NYC as I
thought it was ONLY about real estate.
However, a friend and I attended another free seminar and were
gifted FREE tickets to the Wealth Expo.
Seeing that Anthony Robbins was going to be there I was very
excited. I am a follower of Anthony Robbins and have been to one
of his life seminars before.
It is true, the Learning Annex was not helpful to let me know
when Tony would be on. I was not willing to go there early in
the morning in the hopes that I would see him – as much as I
wanted to see and hear him.
However, when Saturday rolled around I finally got someone to
tell me he would be on in the afternoon and I did attend.
Anthony Robbins NEVER disappoints.
I will say, I thought to myself… I should have made better use
of the FREE ticket as there were a few other speakers I would
have liked to hear as their subjects interested me. I did not
realize this until I heard about them from others. I really did
not know what the expo was all about until I got there and I did
get there later in the day.
One *does not* have to purchase anything in order to get value
from the information. All of these seminars, whether free or pay
are there to sell something. One just has to use common sense.
The motivation and inspiration is invaluable, no matter where or
who it comes from. To rob yourself of any opportunity to learn is
self defeating.
For me, I did want to buy one of Tony’s products, but it was not
offered during his talk. I never had time to visit the
exhibition floor as I was given incorrect information as to when
it would close for the day.
However, it was ironic… A few days later I got an email from
the Robbins Research (I am on the mailing list) and the product I
wanted was on a good discount. I did buy it, but it had nothing
to do with my visit to the expo. I have done a few other
programs of Tony’s and found him motivating, inspirational and
helpful to get my life on track after 911.
We just have to be realistic. I did not go to the expo to get
rich. IF I got rich as a side effect, then that would have
been marvelous, but my intention was to see what I could learn.
I am hoping to go back this year, but will look for cheap or free
tickets.
I am not looking to buy or sell real estate, but I am interested
in learning.
Donald Trump is a delight to listen to. One thing he is adamant
about is NEVER GIVE UP!!!
My advice is to be open. Life in challenging enough… Listen,
but… Make your own decisions.
Lots of good information was given here about how to get discount
tickets. That in itself is invaluable.
Roz Fruchtman, NYC / http://www.SayItWithEcards.com
WOW! I am AMAZED by some of these comments on here. Are you really all okay with playing the victim card?
Okay, first we need to recognize that this is a business… for the learning annex… for the keynotes… for the investors. These people have made millions in real estate, etc. and guess what? They had to start somewhere, too! This is their passion!
Ever been passionate about something? Didn’t you want to share that info with everybody? If you did it enough, and more and more people kept knocking on your door for the information you could provide, do you think you’d start using more of your time helping others and less of your time focusing on your passion? I don’t blame these guys for wanting to leverage themselves! Good for them! They’ve worked hard and have a lot of knowledge to share so why not offer seminars and cds to help others who are committed to that same dream!
I just attended a Learning Annex event in Dallas and it was amazing! I didn’t go hoping to learn all the secrets of real estate in two days… I went to network…. maybe pick up a few tips along the way… and I went ALONE! It allows you to meet others… agents, brokers, cpa’s, lawyers, investors… and it puts you smack in the middle of thousands of positive, driven and like-minded individuals! WOW! Now why wouldn’t you pay for that opportunity?! Who cares about them trying to sell you stuff… THEY SHOULD BE!
As with anything, just use common sense. Yes, you can probably get a better price on the ticket the closer you get to the event. They’re trying to get those seats sold! Then again, you may be risking it being sold out depending on the venue… so just check it out and get a feel for how many tickets are still available.
Don’t jump in and buy the first program you see… wait until you get a feel for everything, because they all seem great! And yes, they can be on the expensive side, so just do what makes business sense. Any education you can get about this stuff is valuable… and it pays to learn about it from the professionals. I recommend seeing Robert Shemin, though… this guy is genuine and committed to helping you succeed…. IF YOU’RE WILLING TO HELP YOURSELF! If you’re not committed… if you don’t have a strong sense of drive to move forward… if you’re going to jump on the bandwagon with some of these other folks on here listening to all the negative talk, then don’t go and save your money… because real estate is probably not for you then. Please don’t take that in a bad way, but perhaps your passion is in something else. And that’s great! So find it!
Some other good ones to check out… James Smith and Blaise Ingoglia. I recommend these three mainly because I have either been in touch with them personally since the event or I met people who work with them directly, and these guys are legit… but they will not waste their time for someone who’s not willing to work for it!
Do any of you have a friend that just sucks the energy out of you by complaining all the time or an employee who needs his/her hand to be held? Okay, so perhaps you can identify with these guys then… except they literally have thousands of people wanting their attention at all times…. you have to MAKE yourself known. And you do that by showing you’re committed with or without them.
Since the event last month, I’ve been in touch with a number of major investors… been offered an amazing job… joined an incredible investment club… and two meetup.com groups. The momentum is going and it doesn’t look like it’s anywhere near stopping! I just moved to Dallas four months ago from Hawaii… and was considering moving back before I went to this event. I STRONGLY suggest you all check it out and stop listening to the negativity. I’m sorry that some of you didn’t have a similar experience that I had. If I may suggest something… please don’t focus on it being a bunch of “mini-informercials”… that’s playing the victim card and you all have the power to be better than that! You DO get some valuable information… and it’s all what you make of it…. as with anything in life!
Good luck to you!
Cate
c.goemans@gmail.com
Just spend the three days- IAI Don Burnham training- Little dissappointed as I thought that he was going to focus on rehab and foreclosures- The main focus was
getting people to invest into their Wealth Institute Training- From $8900 to $50,000 levels- Oh then those so called “Success Coaches” (SALESMAN) some of them wearing suits Wallmart suits!! INCREDIBLE!!! Just to tell you more into the buying those $$$$$Wealth Institute Training.
Yes, Mr. Burnham at the real estate expo say that for 995.00 get lifetime membership, support, and blast emails of deals. At the third day of the the 3 days he say that those deals are send first to the members of the Wealth Institute because they invest the money and then we were general membership and OH by the way there was preferred membership for $25 a month.
Rehab spoke the same amount that he did at the Real Estate Expo or less. Foreclosure he explained the process and said that once you sign up for the Wealth Institute you will get detail training in those areas.
SO basically, attended three day pitch to get into their Wealth Institute. Maybe the money is not in real estate but to sell training courses.
Yeas maybe pick up a couple of ideas and pointers but after $995 and three days
you are back to HOW DO I START? PLEASE SPEND $185 in Carlton Sheets and you will learn more detail.
“What was advertised was very different then what was presented.”
It usually is! It’s called FRAUD!
I went to the RE annex last year and although I agree with most comments saying that it feels like one whole infomercial I did find that I learned quite a bit.
I found the materials from James Smith useful. Although I ended up copying the useful parts for myself and returning the whole thing. Then I got some tax liens course. The lectures offered with it by IAI was a joke. I only found 10% of the tax lien documents useful I copied it for myself and again I retured the rest. Funny enough each group sent me an extra package and I sold the brand new extras on ebay for much more than I expected to get. So in the end I made a profit from the event. =)
But that’s not my point.. I got lucky. I think if you’re very selective in what you’re looking for and you read up on the speakers beforehand you can get some useful information. I suggest not to buy anything at the expo. Instead find the product you like, scan ebay for it and buy it at a much larger discount from there. You don’t need the coaches or training. They’re just salesmen as someone said earlier.
I’m going again this year. Not so much for the speakers or products anymore but mostly to talk to people.. network with other re investors, find people willing to invest money, and to check out the exhibitors in the exhibition hall.
I haven’t read all these comments, but yes, the learning expo does have sales pitches in it, but people, open up your eyes and learn something! I am betting that 99% of the people complaining about the real estate expo doesn’t even own real estate, or owns maybe one piece of property!
This is how the poor people think, about the time they wasted, etc, etc. instead of looking at it as a learning experience to gain valuable knowledge.
If you just come away with one good idea from the entire day that makes you 5k, 10k, etc. isn’t that a darn good return on investment. Or maybe something from Tony Robbins that gets you up and working out and puts 5 years of additional years on your life because you eat healthy or work out, isn’t that worth a day at a “convention”?
I recently attended the Learning Annex 2 day seminar in Chicago, IL. It was not what I expected in both good & bad ways. First the good…
Attending is worth it just to see Anthony Robbins, George Foreman, and Donald Trump speak live, particularly Robbins. The information I learned from them is quite useful for anyone who is serious about personal success.
Now the bad… First, the cheesy high-fives from the event staff on your way in , and cheerleader type activities throughout each day. If I wanted to attend a high school pep rally or night club to dance I would’ve done so. I’m not against keeping the mood light and fun, but they went WAY over the top in that regard. Also, I paid for the VIP pass, which basically got me closer to the stage seating, a copy of Trump’s new book, and a canvas Learning Annex bag. The other “gifts” and day long refreshments I was promised never happened, unless you consider the water everyone else attending had access to as the so-called “refreshments”. Of particular disappointment were the rest of the speakers I sat in on who were all the typical carnival barker type pitchmen with product to sell. The same tired bait & switch seminar techniques I’ve seen for years with the “amazing” low price for a “limited number of people” if you buy today, and promises of “free” gifts, cruises, etc. for staying to the end of their pitch that never ended up really being free at all. Such distasteful, patronizing, and clearly misleading slick salesman practices should not be allowed as part of the “learning” activities of the weekend, but alas it seems Bill Zanker has willingly compromised the integrity of the gathering for the sake of whatever these assorted self-appointed gurus are paying him to latch on to it.
Boston Cancelled Already Bought Tickets!! Has this happened to you?? Are you still waiting for a refund??
I just came from learning Annex in New York City at the Jacob Javits Center. I got a free Gold Pass from a friend. What a big Waste of Time. OMG. This was just awful. I’m not the type that usually complain, but this is an exception. Like all the other bloggers here, to me I find this to be just one big Infomerical that you could sit at home and watch on TV at 2am in the morning. They are just using this event to sell there products, which you can easily get for free with a little research. Or you can even find this information in books and the net. I stayed like 2 hours and then I just got up and got the hell outta there. This whole Annex event is Fake as a 3 dollar bill.
I am pretty surprised at the vitriolic comments here. I stumbled on this site while looking for Bill Zanker’s e-mail address in Google search. I mostly had an outstanding experience this weekend at the Javits Center. I bought the VIP tickets for $19.95 for one and $10 for the second, and took my cousin. It was definitely worth that price (for the book and the coffee alone), but not possibly worth the “$499″ value (crossed out to $299) claimed in all the promotions. They were advertising in the NY Post on Friday that the event was “sold out” yet had ads on TV the same night offering free tickets to the “first 623 people” who responded. So in that sense, there is a bit of a shell game going on. They also ran out of bags and books by the time I got there (I got my book last night).
But let’s move to the value. I spent most of the event in the keynote room, so I was in the 12th row, dead center for Trump last night. I always get great value from Anthony Robbins. Getting him for virtually nothing was worth everything. He usually peppers his speech with upselling for his products, but this time he really did no selling, other than a soft pitch for his future seminar in LA at the end. And while I never found the free backrub room, there was plenty of free coffee available at the front of the room — two sections of urns kept full and unlimited Poland Spring water. I didn’t buy any of the real estate programs, although I did buy the mentoring program offered by the loud Canadian guy, even though I have a great one-on-one coach (and am one myself). This program came with a money back guarantee that checked out when I reviewed it. I started reading the voluminous materials today and have already learned something I never learned before that was worth the “discounted” price I paid for the program.
I’ve been to many trainings in the “circuit” and they are all basically run the same way. You get a speaker who will give you some good value and info, then run “fear of loss” and other marketing techniques to get you ready to buy their products. Most products eventually upsell you again until you’re in their bootcamp or other extensive seminar. A few people will actually do everything they were told and have amazing results. Most people won’t. The truth is that many people are wasting their money — not because the programs are useless, but because they are just going to sit on your shelf, often in the shrinkwrap. (Hint: you can buy TONS of these things on Ebay and other online sites, often unopened, and at a fraction of the price.) If you use them, they are often life changing. The reason you usually see “results not typical” in the fine print in infomercials has more to do with people not taking action than with the programs not being good.
Donald Trump, of all people, was the most honest in that he strongly said not to do what you aren’t passionate about, and that these programs would be a waste of time for a lot of people because they just don’t innately have the core ingredient of being able to handle the pressures of becoming an entrepreneur. He said there was nothing wrong with having a job. He even pointedly told a questioner, a filmmaker, not to do real estate.
Despite a few negatives, I walked away from the event totally stoked, and I got some great nuggets from a few speakers. I will definitely attend the next one.
The Learning Annex Wealth Expo is definitely useless. I learned nothing on Saturday or Sunday. They may as well have just handed me a book list and said “here buy our books”. The seminars went something like this “We are going to teach you the secret to real estate success! When you buy our book, turn to chapter 12…” WHAT? I got up at 6:00am on a Saturday for this? The coffee even sucked. There were “Ambassadors of Fun” (ie, cheerleaders) everywhere throwing beach balls and making you think you are having a good time. No, no, no. Avoid it.
While I’m on the subject — Bill Zanker’s mentoring program is a crock of shit too. They will ask you lots of personal information, and ask you for thousands of dollars…but they don’t tell you how this program actually works. And I learned the “mentors” are people that are somehow related to the idiots on stage at the seminars. Worthless.
Final note about Zanker’s mentoring… they want you to use your credit cards to pay for it. You don’t need that kind of debt.
To Coach Andrew:
Do let us know how the “discounted” $999.00 mentoring program offered by the “loud Canadian guy” (aka: Raymond Aaron) turns out for you. I’m particularly interested to see if you’ll get the refund that was promised, as I strongly suspect you’ll soon be seeking it. Check here:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/261/RipOff0261906.htm
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/224/RipOff0224450.htm
Attended the NYC Wealth Expo on November 17-18th 2007. Saw all the big speakers (foreman, robbins, bach & trump) except for Greenspan who I only caught via the simo-cast for like 10 minutes. Trump was the most honest one I will agree with that comment after telling the film maker to stay in film.
The expo is all a BIG infomercial like a few above have sited. My girlfriend went last year and signed up for the investools and james smith real estate classes. Of course the initial class purchased were only the start because when you attend the classes its all about the heavy upsell pressure and that being said to be the only way to truly succeed. Think about it a 3 day seminar/class loaded with information is no where near enough time to learn how to beat the stock market and/or start making millions selling realestate (common sense).
I am the more level headed on in the relationship so I made sure to attend this years event. We ended up buying the Patrick James beat the IRS package for 995+tax and right now I am in the process of returning it (trust me very good sales pitch). The books aren’t even copied that well. My girlfriend did learn a lot about realestate from James Smith’s course but it was a far cry from all he professed on stage. Actually what was funny was that after he finished his speech i told her that should have been the course she took because it sounded so good. At that point she said that was the course she took. Knowing all the work she has put it in reading etc there was no way what he said on stage was what he delivered. Btw she did take the upgrade to mentor at the 2 day class.
In my opinion all the seminars are over priced especially for what you get information wise. Can you get information that will help you out? I guess you can but that doesn’t change the fact that I would label all of the classes at this show a bait and switch. Hell investools was probably the worse one I would say just because of the sheer ease they made buying options seem.
The worst part I think in all this is here you have positive speakers such as Tony Robbins coming to an event like this and then you have sales men raking people. Wonder what Tony thinks about all that…
Hello everyone,
I just want to add my two cents and once and for all make this clear to everyone out there reading this.
I used to work for the learning annex and the real estate wealth expo as a table manager for their main hall, I traveled the country with them and I have their training manuals and I remember their unethical, scandalous procedures very well.
I can tell you with certainty that the real estate wealth expo and the learning annex are in the business of making $$$$$$$$. I’m talking in the 7 figure range. Some of these outdated, overpriced “educational†packages they sell are even produced by them.
I also know for a fact that if you are a business person in the real estate industry and you are thinking of spending $5k or $10k for 2 booth spaces at the expo – DON’T DO IT!! – you will waste your money undoubtebly. I know of not one, but several companies who did not generate a single sale because of how the learning annex did not care to drive traffic to the exhibitors hall where these companies are advertising their goods and/or services.
It makes me sick to this day when I think of the thousands of people I sold some real expensive seminar package and/or DVD’s. I used to be a financial consultant, that was the reason I could not keep doing what I was doing I felt wrong telling people to buy this $1k kit or $10k kit when I knew that what I was selling was not worth that and that these people could go invest that or use it for their first home down payment or so many other investment opportunities there are.
To the people who write nice comments and what not, most are full of it. They either work for the learning annex or one of the speakers.
Yes, Donald and Tony do get alot of the $$$$$$$ the learning annex and real estate wealth expo makes from the admission to the expo, kits sold and exhibitor booth spaces sold but most of the money goes to none other than Mr. William Zanker or otherwise known as Bill Zanker founder of the learning annex.
To think that Bill Zanker the owner/founder of the learning annex and the real estate wealth expo bought an overpriced lincoln town car that was owned by Warren Buffett. He even tried to have a lunch meeting with him and he would pay him a huge sum of money but Mr. Buffett did not want to have anything to do with a crook like him.
He is a disgrace to jews, new yorkers and entrepreneurs………………
thank god i didn’t pay for these tickets…waste of time and money. Trump you sold out…you are no longer my hero.
Thank you so much for all the useful comments everyone. I will certainly NOT waste my precious time!
I received 2 FREE tickets in the mail to attend the session…but after reading all the comments – when I think about it, how do they make money on FREE tickets? The answer is simple – there is a calculated anticipation that the masses will purchase the ‘investment packages’ and ‘courses’. I will NOT be one of those, and I hope you won’t either. I live in downtown Toronto and am a student at U of T…I can probably learn a lot more at the local library than I can at the upcoming conference (Mar 2008).
The only thing I feel I can learn from this ’seminar’ are techniques on how to sell myself, but repeatedly subjecting myself to blabbering infomercials for that small bit of useful information isn’t personally worth it.
My advice – “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is”.
- Justin (U of T Science Undergraduate)
I went to the Learning Annex scam in Toronto.
I was a bigger fool. I signed up for a $1000 apartment “riches’ seminar to a few select clients.(You know where the riches are going) There were about 1000 select clients for a whole day. There was no opportunity for a refund. I was very disappointed at this series of come ons – very bad business practice. They try to make you feel like a deadbeat if you do not sign up! Then we were pitched for about a quarter of that day on the real one week heavy duty $6000 seminar. These crooks should all be in jail!!! All this should be disclosed up front. Notice that the Learning Annex no longer has offices in Toronto any more. They have blown the franchise and become evil users!
By the way. I was upgraded to VIP for 100. Some VIP seats I almost did not get a seat for the Donald Trump presentation. I sent them a bad review after the event and before I took the course. They did not respond.
Before you invest any of your finances one should always research the firm and/ or person and see what the general reviews are.
Keep a proper track of your finance and see if you can afford to “lose” the money on a seminar.
Very useful files search engine. indexoffiles.com is a search engine designed to search files in various file sharing and uploading sites.
The learning scammex is what is should be called. went to the one in LA in 2006. WHAT A COMPLETE FRAUD AND WASTE OF TIME. what a FARCE. they trick dumb americans into attending a BS seminars that are late night infomercials/get rich trick scams. They need to be indicted for fraud. These get rich quick scams are nothing more than ways to part with your monies by buying their books, tapes, cds, whatever, that is where the $$$ is made. Unfortunately, the average american is quite dumb and they will fall for the fraudulent claims/craps that is propagated at this “seminar.” Do NOT go to the learning scammex.
You are absolutely right!
I am a T shirt designer, Annex contacted me through my website asking me to lecture about my experience in becoming a business owner of a t shirt line, however what they really wanted was to use me and expected me to lie and mislead people about how easy it is to become a t-shirt guru.
When I realized that I pulled myself out of it.
SHAME ON THEM!
Someone should contact a TV channel of some sort.
I will publicly speak about my experience with them and I would even give out names.
BTW all of these people defending Annex are surely Annex people posing as a consumer.
Do you want to know what $79 can buy, ha ha ha, lots of things, specially when multiplied thousands of times.
I just want to add my two cents and once and for all make this clear to everyone out there reading this.
I used to work for the learning annex and the real estate wealth expo as a table manager for their main hall, I traveled the country with them and I have their training manuals and I remember their unethical, scandalous procedures very well.
I can tell you with certainty that the real estate wealth expo and the learning annex are in the business of making $$$$$$$$. I’m talking in the 7 figure range. Some of these outdated, overpriced “educational” packages they sell are even produced by them.
I also know for a fact that if you are a business person in the real estate industry and you are thinking of spending $5k or $10k for 2 booth spaces at the expo – DON’T DO IT!! – you will waste your money undoubtebly. I know of not one but several companies who did generate a single sale because of how the learning annex did not care to drive traffic to the exhibitors hall where these companies are advertising their goods and/or services.
It makes me sick to this day when I think of the thousands of people I sold some real expensive seminar package and/or DVD’s. I used to be a financial consultant, that was the reason I could not keep doing what I was doing I felt wrong telling people to buy this $1k kit or $10k kit when I knew that what I was selling was not worth that and that these people could go invest that or use it for their first home down payment or so many other investment opportunities there are.
To the people who write nice comments and what not, most are full of it. They either work for the learning annex or one of the speakers.
Yes, Donald and Tony do get alot of the $$$$$$$ the learning annex and real estate wealth expo makes from the admission to the expo, kits sold and exhibitor booth spaces sold but most of the money goes to none other than Mr. William Zanker or otherwise known as Bill Zanker founder of the learning annex.
He gives jews and new yorkers a bad name………………
what i cannot understand: why do they allow these info commercials to continue knowing they are scams. we see them published in the classifieds, on tv and on the internet. you see them on street corners during the games. punishment would be great for the scammers to give back every cent they take from people that really cannot afford those packets. oooooh they make me mad.
← Previous Comments