Jamie McIntyre's 21st Century Academy, and the art of advertising

Those who've been following my blog for a while will know that I'm not a particularly big fan of B.S. in advertising.

Jamie McIntyre's "21st Century Academy" is the latest example to cross my radar.

In large print, his letter opens "What is the #1 Wealth Creation Strategy?"

Good question. Now, I have in the long distant past spent around $8k-$10k on "wealth creation" seminars he orchestrated. They were interesting. For the right people they might have been worth the money. For most participants is was a waste of money. But one thing for sure : stock market trading, options trading, and property investing were held up as the ultimate wealth creation strategies, with options trading at the top of the pile as a fast and reliable way to make easy money.

So Jamie will still be singing the same tune, right?

Wrong.

"Business is the No. 1 wealth creation strategy and one of the fastest ways to generate serious cash flow."

Wow - ok, that's not what he told me nearly ten years ago when I forked over great gads of thousands of dollars to hear his wisdom. But it gets better :

"Take it from me, over the past 10 years I have personally built over 12 successful companies, 8 of which are million dollar companies in their own right."

Ah, yeah. You mean, the group of companies that ran "wealth education" seminars, at which you told us you were already wealthy and financially independent courtesy of your stock market involvement. You know, the ones you charged each attendee multiple thousands of dollars to attend, so we could learn from you how to live a luxurious lifestyle like yours without needing a real business or a job.

But it gets even better : in a little bio section, we're told that Jamie McIntyre is "Founder of over 12 companies, 8 of which have become million dollar companies in their own right over an array of industries, such as education, trading, accounting, stockbroking, financial services, media and publishing, internet and rural enterprises."

Translation : "education" means "businesses selling Jamie McIntyre's wealth education packages focussed on stock market, options and property investment/trading". His "trading" business mentioned could mean "trading education" (double-dipping on the "education" side of things). "Stockbroking" - I wonder if he recommended his own stockbroking firms to the people who came to his seminars? Great way to earn extra cash on the side. Except that I don't ever remember him disclosing that. And if he did it without disclosing it, that' s a naughty-naughty. (But he didn't necessarily do that - I'm just wondering...) "Financial services" - like maybe "investment advice"?

In short, he's built this beautiful little circle : at the outset, he told people he was an awesome stock market trader and property investor and could teach us his magic. By that means, he made MILLIONS on seminars, whilst many (most?) of his graduates made little from the strategies they learned(*1). Then, having made MILLIONS selling people instructions on how to build the ultimate life through stock market and property investments/trading, he boasts that the best way to make money is in business, and wants us to part with cash for him to spin that spiel to us. His proof that he's great in business? His wealth creation seminars where he told us trading and investments were the way to go!

Now, again, I don't want to be too harsh on the guy, nor too favourable, but I will say that after parting with $15k-$20k on "wealth creation" seminars between him and the lovable Peter Spann, I came firmly to the conclusion myself long ago that in fact business was (for me) the better bet than stock market and property.

I figured that out myself. I didn't need Jamie McIntyre to change his tune and tell me the same thing nearly ten years after taking thousands of my hard-earned dough.

Peter Spann I respect - he never said that options (which he taught) or property (which he also taught) were "the ultimate" way to make money. In fact, one of his seminars I attended was specifically geared to starting profitable businesses. So no gripes there.

But for Jamie McIntyre to turn around nearly ten years later and tell us all - we who provided his millions for him in his "education" business - that actually starting businesses is the best bet, and as proof, he offers the very businesses which raked in our money telling us investments not business was the best bet - that, my friends, is just not right.

But back to picking apart false advertising : there's also a luverly little sheet in here advertising the "21st Century Platinum Club" and a special cruise.

"Imagine being able to take leaps forward in your journey towards a life of abundance... All while cruising the Caribbean!"

Ooooo yeah, baby, I'll take one of them! Sipping margaritas, sunbathing, and effortlessly transforming myself and my business towards abundance. I mean, c'mon, who wouldn't sign up? And it's only a cool $4,995, not even quite $5k. So, who knows, for the right person, might be worth it.

The ad continues :

"In January 2011, 21st Century Members have the opportunity to join Jamie McIntyre for 7 nights cruising the idyllic islands on the world's newest and largest cruise ship, Oasis of the Sea."

Sounds cool.

"With 28 ultra-modern loft suites and 2,700 spacious staterooms, this 16-deck marvel proves that the impossible is possible - 7 distinctly designed neighborhoods including ... Spa & Fitness, Pool & Sports Zone, Entertainment Place, Youth Zone, Central Park Neighborhood and the Boardwalk Neighborhood."

Sorry - you might accuse me of nit-picketing, but I always find it nauseating when someone announces that the "impossible is possible", especially when they announce something so pathetically possible as their proof. I mean, seriously, who could ever possibly have imagined it would be possible to combine a spa, fitness equipment, a pool, some sporting rooms, cinemas, theatres, a graffiti wall, heck, even a small skate park, some central grassed area, and even some nice little boardwalk overlooking decks below - who could possibly have imagined such a thing was possible! The fact that it sounds remarkably similar to most large cruise ships should not trick you into thinking it was possible. It was impossible. After all, Jamie said 'twas so.

Which reminds me of one of the very few really dumb things Peter Spann said during one of his seminars, so many years ago. After getting us all to punch through one-inch-thick wooden boards (kinda cool experience), he intoned dramatically that "if you can punch through that board, you can do anything!". It was a very dramatic moment. I expected people to launch up into the sky, unconstrained by such trivialities as gravity. Maybe whiz around a few times, then shoot up to Neptune, visit Alpha Centauri, come back, turn into an elephant, explode into millions of flowers that gracefully float back down to the ground, then reassemble Terminator style to the original human. Now that would be impressive. But punching a wooden board proves anything's possible? "You know you make me wanna wretch, hurl my foo-ood up and wretch, c'mon now!"

Whether Jamie's magic will work wonders for you or not, I can't say, but I can say that multiple false representations (at least one of which arguably was an outright lie) were made to me by 21st Century Academy, and I can say that other people I know who attended his seminars lost many tens of thousands of dollars trying to diligently apply his "easy to follow" strategies. Fortunately for myself, I only lost the money I spent on the seminars themselves. Would I recommend them to friends? Not in a hurry. But like I said, who knows, maybe you'll be one of the ones to really benefit from it. who knows...

Footnotes :

(*1) Granted, people not making money after attending Jamie's seminars is not necessarily Jamie's fault - anyone can run a seminar and find that no-one applies what they learned. But it was more than that. It was all supposed to be so easy - follow the step-by-step directions, and yet somehow of the seven other people I know who attended 21st Century Academy courses, none seem to have any benefit at all (and some of them certainly have substantial losses) from trying to apply what they learned there. No benefit, of course, except chalking up points to experience. Y'know, lessons of the expensive variety...