Two Programs to Toss, One to Keep

An information product should stand on its own. That means it provides useful information in an understandable format for a reasonable price. I don’t care who puts the program together or how it’s put together – ebook, CD, DVD, combination, it’s the material that’s the value. Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of products that aren’t giving any real value, or certainly not worth the price tag.

The latest trend seems to be these “DVD/ CD combos” that come with some printed “instruction manual” and “lessons.” Joseph Matthews’ latest product falls under this category. Sounds like a great system, kind of like an online college course or something. They charge a lot for these programs – in the neighborhood of $400-500 and hype them up a LOT as the end-all system, the “complete pick-up system, unlike anything the world has seen before!”

Except the world has seen this before. In the case of both Joseph Matthews and John Alanis, you’ve seen this stuff all before. There’s nothing new. If you’ve used a couple David DeAngelo programs, you’ve seen it, and for a lot less money. And even David D’s stuff isn’t all that great.

The “breakthrough” techniques they teach are pretty much recycled “Double Your Dating” stuff. In the case of “Charm School,” he throws in things from a few sources – come up with stories (Juggler, among many, many others), create a persona for when you go out (a ripoff of Real Social Dynamics and an idea I COMPLETELY disagree with), talk to everybody in the bar for a short period of time (Brent, et al).
It’s not that their stuff is crap. In fact, they’re not bad recycles of other people’s ideas. But hyping it up and charging half a grand, that’s BS. A fair price for these products would be a tenth of what they’re charging - $40. Matthews’ CDs are nothing but PowerPoint presentations with audio; Alanis’ CDs are downright crappy as far as quality. I can’t imagine either of these guys invested a whole lot of time in putting this stuff together, and the material is nice, but not breakthrough.

This seems to be the trend lately – every “guru” is coming out with their “system,” which is some CD/ DVD combo with special bonuses (such as “binders” to put your stuff in) and an exclusive membership into the [Insert Guru’s Name]’s Keyboard Jockey Circle Jerk Forum so you can integrate the lessons by posting messages on the Internet at 3am with twenty other dudes instead of getting laid. And all this for the bargain-basement price of NEARLY FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS – Whoo-wheee!

And, of course, supplies are limited, so you better hurry and get yours right when the doors open, because once they sell out, they’re gone forever. Maybe there will be some disclaimer about how every other PUA hates this guy because he’s giving away all these killer secrets. (Probably a half truth, since in one case he gave away THEIR material, probably without financial consideration to the original source. If someone ripped me off I’d be pissed too, but that doesn’t make the material itself anything special.)

I should add that the membership in the KJ Forum is only free for the first month and after that it’s $30-40 a month.

Nonetheless, either out of curiosity or stupidity, I bought a couple of these, then did something I’ve never done before – returned them. I’ve seen the pattern and I won’t be buying ANY of these “systems.”
One "expensive" thing that I will be continuing, however, is the phone coaching from AMP. The great advantage of coaching is, if they’re any good (and AMP is), they’re helping you formulate a game plan that works for you. Any material they recommend integrates with this plan, so you’re not wasting time and money going in a direction you don’t want to go. And if you’re serious about using the coaching, you can start to self-coach and build off the momentum. I’ve gotten further with the AMP coaching, even in the midst of all the drama I’ve been going through lately, than I’ve gone at any time with anything. The Hypnotica stuff has integrated beautifully with the AMP, so for the first time I feel like I’m on a real path as far as “self improvement/ women and dating” goes.

No doubt, I’ll be on the “PUA shit list” now for daring to dis a guru, and I’ll probably get a zillion posts from their employees defending their boss and claiming I’m full of BS, but if it saves one fool from parting with his time and money, it’ll be worth it.