Specific eCourses and eBooks I've Received as a CMPS Student:

Here are the eCourses and eBooks I have received as bonuses (i.e. included in my CMPS enrollment fees) with the CMPS Program

1) How To Master the Art of Making a Fortune as An Affiliate Marketer
(Dan Kuschell eBook included in CMPS White Binder)

Explains all the basics required to become a profitable online Affiliate Marketer. This includes finding affiliate programs, generating traffic, and using autoresponders. Great introductory material.

2) Discover the Amazing Secrets to Become a "Millionaire From Scratch"
(Audio teleseminar featuring Dan Kuschell and Joshua Shafran. CD & transcript included in CMPS White Binder)

A one-hour discussion of how these two gurus would build a million-dollar business if they had to start over with absolutely no resources.

3) How to Make Money with MySpace
(Jonathan Mizel and Joe Alexander, two-hour audio course. Provided to me by Media coach)

Somewhat dated content, but it is useful and relevant to any use of "Web 2.0" site for marketing purposes.

4) The Science of Getting Rich, eBook version
(Provided by email)

Classic book by Wallace D. Wattles on mindset and a "scientific" review of how successful people became rich. This book takes a slightly different perspective compared to Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, but is from a similar philosophy of personal growth.

5) The Faster WebMaster
(online study course by Erik Stafford)

Goes into great detail on how to set up a marketing website. It includes step-by-step tutorial videos. A really great program, that I can use to develop my own independent marketing websites!

5) How To Build Your List, audio course/workshop
(6-week audio course by Joel Christopher aka "Mr. Listbuilder")

This has something like 15+ hours of audio content, and includes workbooks with homework you complete each week. It covers step-by-step how to generate a loyal email marketing list. This includes techniques to generate content for your autoresponder or eZine.
This is an intensive course, and is totally awesome. I don't say that lightly. I am learning tons of great stuff from this course. I'm only on week 3 (of 6) right now.

6) Co-Reg Cash Manual: Generate Massive Email Lists on Demand
(Compiled by Mary Gersten, ?and staff?)

A 118-page eBook summarizing all the latest techniques to generate a massive email subscriber list using "co-registration lead" techniques.

7) A Champion in the Making
(eBook by Dan Kuschell)

An inspirational and motivational book on how to achieve success in your life. It is 123 pages long and looks like it also exists as a softcover published book. It is available for free by going to Dan Kuschell's website (achampionvision.com)

8) 5 Actions to Explode Your Income
(eBook by Dan Kuschell)

A 24-page pamphlet on "five simple steps to attract abundance."

9) Grow Rich While You Sleep
(by Ben Sweetland)

A 1962 classic on how to use your "Creative Mind" while you sleep to turn a negative mindset around and "get whatever you want out of life."

Overall, I admit I am very impressed by the range of materials that have been provided to me as a "CMPS student" in the program.

It puts a lot of pressure on me to really study these materials and put them into practice...which I admit I haven't been doing as enthusiastically as I should.

I'm especially wary of the "spooky" positive thinking stuff that is contained in several of the eBooks I've listed above. I haven't read most of them yet, except for The Science of Getting Rich which I thought was pretty good.
For the record, I've also read Think and Grow Rich, which I thought contained a grain of truth buried under a mound of hype and hogwash. I'll have to explain why I say that in a post another day.

Many of these materials were sent to me simultaneously by a Media Coach, which overwhelmed me for a while. As I review all of these and begin to put their techniques into practice, I may post some tips here on what to do first if you are in the CMPS program, and how to prioritize your time in studying all these courses.

I'm now taking these courses on, one bite at a time. Hopefully this will turn into more checks in my mailbox soon.

Training I've Received From the CMPS Program

I have to admit, now that I'm about 8 weeks into Mary Gersten's "Certified Media Placement Specialist" (CMPS) program, I honestly feel like I've gotten a lot for my money.

[The money I have in mind here is the ~$600 I've paid for enrolling in CMPS...half of which I should get refunded within a year once I complete the required checklist of activities. I'm still undecided about the thousands I've invested in the GCFN "guaranteed traffic program" which is "guaranteed" to make money or they re-run my traffic campaign. The advertising cost a bundle...but is not subject to a money-back guarantee, just a "make money or we run it again for you again for free" guarantee.]

The courses and eBooks they have sent me have covered a wide range of advertising and marketing (aka "media placement") techniques for both offline and online use.

So, at last, here is a complete list (as of August 28) of the training topics covered as part of the Certified Media Placement Specialist Program so far. I am led to believe other trainings and e-courses will be provided to me in the future as part of the program.

Frankly, I am already overwhelmed by the content they have given me, and haven't had time to review all of it yet!

Topics covered by CMPS Training & Mentoring materials:

1. Affiliate marketing
2. Writing Press Releases and Informative Articles in order to drive traffic to your websites
3. Email List building
4. Building a money-making website
5. Social Web 2.0 Marketing (MySpace course)
6. Google Adwords Pay-Per-Click advertising
7. Making money with Google Adsense
8. Blogging & RSS Feeds for profit
9. Direct mail/postcard marketing techniques
10. Advertising with classified ads (short catchy calls to action)
11. Using Banner Ads
12. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) basics
    

As I put the above list together, even I was amazed at what I've been learning so far.

Nearly every aspect of online marketing and driving traffic to websites is covered in some way. The one notable absence is a tutorial on copywriting, though I am led to believe a course on that will be sent to me at a later stage of my program.

In my next post, I'll list the specific courses and ebooks I've received as a CMPS Student so far.

The Truth about Mary Gersten's Global Cash Flow Network

If you've been looking for a way to make money on the internet, but don't know where to start...let me warn you, there are lots of scams out there. This blog is intended to help you learn more about one of the offerings out there, the Global Cash Flow Network. Whether it is a scam or a great opportunity is not yet clear to me, I am trying to figure that out as I chronicle My True Story about the Global Cash Flow Network and Mary Gersten's "Certified Media Placement Specialist" (CMPS) Program.

In early July 2007, I became a "student" of the CMPS program, as one of many things I was trying to use to make money and start a "home-based business" of my own. I had quit my job in June (to pursue a network marketing opportunity that I had been in for over a year, which I thought would explode if I pursued it full time...which is yet another story for another day).

Anyway, I was sick of corporate-life slavery and I wanted to be able to work from home and become an independent entrepreneur.

Needless to say, after plugging away at it for a couple of months, the MLM thing still wasn't making enough money for me and my wife to live on. Savings began to dwindle, credit card balances began to rise.

I had heard all sorts of hype about people making hundreds of dollars a day on the internet. After a bit of searching (see my Squidoo Lens for the full introduction and summary of my story so far), I ended up as a student and "business owner" with the Global Cash Flow Network.

After spending several thousand dollars on GCFN "add-ons" I was really questioning my intelligence. Doubts were overwhelming. Is it all just a scam?? Can I really make money with this program, or should I abandon it and try to do something from scratch? Did I just waste my money on this CMPS thing? Money that I could have used more productively?

Which brings me to this Blog today.

I have a couple of Squidoo Lenses about this topic. As the main one about my story grew in length, I decided the best thing to do was start a Blog and just use the Lens as a summary.

I am writing this in my spare time. As none of the "businesses" I have started are producing enough money to live on right now (even collectively), I have taken another job, which limits the time I have for blogging.

But I continue to implement what my "CMPS Media Coaches" have been telling me to do, as part of the program I have invested so much money into so far.

If this is a scam, it needs to be revealed as such! I think the public deserves to know the truth.

If you have tried the CMPS program and GCFN, maybe reading this will help you make more money with the program (only time will tell...)

Bottom line: The GCFN gives everyone who signs up 12-months to try their program, after which I can get (some of) my money back if it hasn't worked out. So I don't want to be hasty in calling this thing a scam. They claim some of their students are making thousands per month. I have actually received some checks back from the company (as of August 27), but not enough to be fully convinced I've got a money-maker on my hands. For all I know, they sent me those checks to make me THINK I had a legitimate opportunity, since I've put a lot more in than they've sent me so far.

On the other hand, from all the "rich gurus" I've read and heard in the past, I am led to believe the biggest factor determining the size of your bank account is yourself, not your product. That's what marketing is all about.

For the record, I am dead-set against so called "prosperity doctrines" and the "think and grow rich" thing. I think they're hocus-pocus hogwash. But I do agree with the concept that my attitude and personal growth are the primary things holding me back from making a good living as an entrepreneur.

Anyway, these are some of the things I intend to touch upon in this Blog.

Join me here each week, as I chronicle my story...primarily about trying to figure out if the Global Cash Flow Network is a scam or not!