Passive Investments Liquidation | Further Money Gym Statement

Last week the news broke about Passive Investments going into liquidation and Greg Ballard and Andy Shaw facing bankruptcy proceedings and one of the most difficult phone calls I had to make was the one telling my much-touring singing sister, Heather, about the news.   In my journey as a wealth coach, and the subsequent journey of creating and building The Money Gym, I don’t think I can remember such a difficult and horrid week.

As you know, I regard Andy and Greg as friends of mine, and they helped me so much, both practically and emotionally, when I was going through the difficult time with trying to sell the hotel, after the planning permission for change of use was refused.   I really could not believe that they had done anything wrong.

While all of my friends and family are grownups and able to do their own due diligence and make their own decisions, I still feel responsible that I have introduced them – along with my treasured clients – to something that I really believed at the time was good, even great, but now turns out not to be.

As more and more information comes to light about Passive Investments and the way they have treated some people, I am starting to feel very bad indeed about having promoted them, but I can only say that I (and then the Money Gym) did that in good faith, and the moment we started to suspect that they might not be delivering on the customer service in the way we would have liked, based on Judith’s personal experience as a client, we ceased to do so.

We were paid commission on referrals by Passive Investments. However, I can say, hand on heart, we never introduced Passive to anyone that we felt would not benefit from their service, and both Judith and I often actively talked some people out of it.   If an investment opportunity does not feel right in every way to our clients, we discourage them from proceeding with it.   We can honestly say that we have never introduced anything to our clients for the purposes of securing our introduction fee only; that is a bonus only.

Judith has educated me, over the weekend, about how Passive should have handled the client fees and how it seems they may not have complied with proper accounting procedures.

With hindsight, the statement we released last week was written hastily in response to the discussions on our private forum and comments on the blog and came from our hearts, but perhaps we should have waited for a few days before issuing it while the full story filtered back to us.

My position has always been that I (and The Money Gym) would only promote something that either I, or someone very close to me, had invested our own money in and were happy with.  The service that Passive offered was so attractive that nearly all my friends and family jumped on board, followed by a lot of our clients and subscribers.  However, in light of the developments last week, I feel that The Money Gym will be reviewing it’s stance on introducing anyone or anything at all, let alone quite so wholeheartedly, in the future.

I apologise unreservedly for my part in bringing the services of Passive Investments to the attention of so many people.

Nicola Cairncross

Note:  James Tickell, director of Portland Business & Financial Solutions, the insolvency practice chosen to disband the Passive Investments empire, says the matrix of firms will formally enter liquidation on 11 December.

Contact:  London Office, 43 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5JG, Tel: 020 7925 2651 / Fax: 020 7925 2652 / Office email: post@portbfs.co.uk

Why I Have Sent Tudor Equity A Cheque For £2.5k With A Smile On My Face by Clare Hanbury

Money Gym Subscriber Clare Hanbury-Leu says: The relationship with Passive Investments was built on trust. I have trusted them to find the right properties – to renovate them to a high standard – to rent them out as quick as they can – to advise on the best mortgage deal – to re-mortgage and turn things around as soon as they can etc.

Most of us must be happy to accept risk to put so much trust into the hands of people we don’t know well. My friends, my financial adviser, my partner all felt nervous of the arrangement and advised against it but I pursued it – uncharacteristically ignoring their advice. My instinct felt strong on this one.

I have been involved with Passive Investments for 3 years and have two properties. The rental on one of these was a little slow in coming and the turnaround on the first mortgage again a little slow. I had one property fall through and lost a bit of money on legal costs and survey etc. All this said, I have been delighted with the results of the investments to date and delighted with every contact I have had with the company. I have felt totally supported by them. I like having them in my life. Every glitch, every query has been dealt with quickly, politely, humorously.  I have been happy to talk to two potential clients and chat through my experiences with them.

I have had some contact with Greg in the last few months and found him open and straightforward. He is an ideal business partner. Even prior to my contact with him there was no doubt in my mind that these are very tough times for the company with its peculiar business model that clients pay when we have done well and not until then! I am staggered that he has stuck at it as long as he has with no salary. I know he has worked for the future of his own properties (which is good thing) but he has also worked free for me too!

When the letter came though last week, the trust I had placed in them suddenly felt foolish. However after a few minutes indulging in panic…most of what I felt was what a WASTE of the talent and expertise that is this team. I felt upset that I would not complete the portfolio. I felt nervous about having to deal with the properties on my own and I felt frustrated to have to do so when they have a good system in place. I have a property in London too which I manage myself and would much rather it was in Passive’s care! Then I read that Steve wanted to keep things going with the team there and I was keen to know how I could help.

So…..there is this 2.5k (which is a LOAN) to help Tudor Equity capitalise – this is money that the very same advisers, partners friends etc will describe as throwing good money after bad – but I don’t think so. From a numbers point of view…Because the 15K back payment /property has been reduced to 10K this means that by the end of completing the portfolio of 5 properties, there will be a SAVING to me of 25K from the original agreement AND I’ll get the 2.5 loan back.

Hmnnn why is this a difficult one to agree to? I guess that it’s difficult because of trust. Do I trust them again? The way I see it is that they have ALREADY done so much for me re: my properties that they have ‘earned’ this AND if the team don’t think they can make a go of it because there are not enough of us signed up – we’ll get the money back anyway…and if they DO think they can make a go of it – well I am willing to give them an opportunity to do so.

My cheque is on its way to them with a smile on my face. I really want to help keep this business going and I am grateful to them for giving us a chance. I have not yet spoken to anyone outside of Passive and I have not looked on the internet to read what is being said so my words are unaffected by others’ opinions.

I don’t see any point in NOT supporting the team now. I feel the market is not only stabilising but strengthening – I think we all know this and what we also know is that we have a dedicated team and they will be even more so if this can go ahead. I really hope there are enough of us to give them a chance to navigate a path to creating a robust business again. I’m sure they can do it. The banks won’t help but I will.

Clare Hanbury B.Ed (Cambridge) MSc (London) MA (London)
International Development Consultant ClareHanbury.com

Passive Investments In Liquidation | The Money Gym

Read The Latest Money Gym Statement Here>>>>

Nicola says: Following the shocking news that Passive Investments have gone into liquidation, and that Andy Shaw and Greg Ballard are being made bankrupt by one of their larger creditors, many people are asking us to comment, both on the blog and in our private google group.

When I first met Greg and Andy, back in 2004 I think it was, they struck me as two highly intelligent, funny, energetic, successful guys, who had been in traditional business before, who thought very differently to many people and who had created a FANTASTIC model for investing in property. They were also helping their friends and family invest in the same way, on a fairly small scale, as well as building their own portfolios which numbered about 150 properties in those days.

I immediately knew that our Money Gym clients would love to meet them and hear about this method of investing in property, getting your money back out and going again, as the need to leave money in a property was frustrating many of our clients. We organised an Open Day at my hotel, The Acacia, and many of the clients who were there wanted Greg & Andy to do it for them, like they were doing for their nearest and dearest. Greg and Andy put together an offering, and I spread the word into the Money Gym group of clients and subscribers.

I introduced them to Gill Fielding, my first wealth mentor, who immediately invested with them, ditto Maria Davies. Gill then started presenting this opportunity for them. When Gill could no longer present, Maria Davies took over for a while.

Everyone loved the concept, especially busy professionals and people who wanted to invest in property but didn’t have the first clue about how to go about it. Most people really took to Greg and Andy too, as they shared their knowledge freely, helping many, many people make money along the way. I particularly remember one lunch where they helped a Money Gym client to negotiate a purchase, making him an extra £80,000 along the way. They then took him under their wing and mentored him for a while in his own property deals.

Pretty soon, they were so swamped with people wanting them to invest for them, that they had to create a company to handle the demand. Passive Investments was born.

We are also aware that they then developed a “private investor” scheme whereby people with money sitting idle in a low interest bank account lent the money to Greg and Andy personally for bigger property projects, and because I was not one of those people, I didn’t find out any further details and they never sought a public platform for that opportunity though the Money Gym.

My sister Sarah and brother-in-law Nick invested, my sister Heather invested, Steve Watson and I both bought a “place” each too. I would have happily bought more “places” if I could. The company still owe us for some of the second “place” so my family and I are all out of pocket as well as those of our clients who chose to invest alongside us.

One ray of hope is that those of our clients and family who have properties may make up the monies they have lost (by having paid a fee for a service that now won’t be delivered) AND may ultimately end up better off, due to now not having to pay Passive the agreed “back end” fee on the eventual refinancing of their properties.

Judith Morgan, ex-accountant, Money Gym client and now our business partner, invested the entirety of her inheritance from her Mother into her two “places”. This should have meant ten properties in the fullness of time but she only has three. Her portfolio could not be grown once it became impossible to achieve mortgages or re-finance.

I have heard some horrible stories going around about things that Greg and Andy are supposed to have said and done and while I have no personal knowledge of those things, I’m working on the “innocent ‘till proven guilty” theory. I have always liked and respected Andy and Greg, and I feel sure that most of the rumours are unfounded.

Only yesterday Andy’s website was apparently hacked into, allegedly by someone known to the company, and a personal message to members and investors was changed beyond all recognition to cast the worst possible light on Andy. Here is a link to Andy’s correct personal statement.   Remember to click on the Free User button and then the blue Download button.

We have also been re-educating our clients during the credit crunch to take a more active role in managing ALL their investments, including this one which was originally intended to be passive.  You might want to read about one of our clients (who is not alone by any means) who feels that she will go forward with Tudor Equity, the company that some of the management team is putting together to take the portfolios forward.

Feel free to comment on the blog here but be aware that we reserve the right not to publish any comments that are potentially libellous or are simple repeating content from other people’s blogs or emails.

Later Note: James Tickell, director of Portland Business & Financial Solutions, the insolvency practice chosen to disband the Passive Investments empire, says the matrix of firms will formally enter liquidation on 11 December.

Contact:  London Office, 43 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5JG, Tel: 020 7925 2651 / Fax: 020 7925 2652 / Office email: post@portbfs.co.uk

Topher, Triumphant, Traffic, Toes & Teeth

Speaking at Triumphant Events with Topher Morrison was a triumph!  Hahahah, I do love my own jokes.  Easy journey, lovely crowd, really primed by Topher to be very responsive to the idea of wealth being about being in your head and in your flow, a great audience reaction with apparently great feedback for my slot, and we attracted four or five lovely new clients for Membership Club Magic who I get to meet properly at the bonus live workshop on Saturday.

We will be covering the many ways to monetise any website, especially membership sites, and how to plan and create your marketing funnel, then your product funnel.

I’ll be placing particular emphasis on what Michael Masterson calls the “lead product” as it’s crucial to get to the point where you can actually sell something from your site as quickly as possible.

So many people complain to me “well, I’ve got a website but it’s not working” and when I quizz them on what “not working” means, they tell me it’s not making any money.  So what is your lead product and how much is it selling for, I ask….and then they tell me they haven’t got anything to sell on there yet.

Or they say they have something for sale, but it’s not selling, which is where we get into a conversation about traffic and how many unique visitors they get per week……and often they can’t tell me with any degree of certainty!

So then we get into a conversation about how they are measuring traffic, because how can you even begin to tell if your site is working or not, when you don’t have a lead product or if you do, you don’t have any idea if you are getting any traffic?

Phew, rant over.

The good news is, that Jodie, one of our Membership Club Magic clients, has just sold her first ebook from her site – she is thrilled.  And that’s from only a few unique visitors a week, as she’s actually focusing on another site that get’s more traffic at the moment.

That’s the last workshop of the summer, but you can keep up to date on our plans for Autumn and 2010 here and I’m off to Greece with my sister Sarah for a week, then Spain for three weeks with Sarah, all our kids and a couple extra besides.  What are we thinking?!!

In between times, and while in Spain, I’ll be re-writing my book.  I just can’t seem to get going on that while there are outstanding jobs on our projects, so Judith and I are getting together on Monday to recce a venue and to hammer out any niggling details so we can clear the decks.

Other excuses to prevaricate include the fact that my toe had a collision with a Tesco’s trolley on one of my rare visits in person.  Same thing happened to Sarah last week so we think their trolleys need mudguards or something!

And then I had to have a tooth out.  The same one that I got (rather disconcertingly) crowned in gold without my say-so just a couple of months ago.  It felt wrong so I made the trek to Worthing to Strand Dental in the town center, rather than go back to the Shoreham Smile Clinic, where I just did not feel looked after or talked to.  I used to go to Ross Dryborough at Strand Dental when I was a client of Chris Barrow and so was he, and I have to say the experience has got even better.  I saw Arvin Mirzadeh who calmly talked me through my limited options as the tooth under my crown was now infected and he put my mind at rest about the pain of having the tooth out.

Two days later, I’m in the chair, all injection’ed up, and the most amazing crunching and cracking sounds are coming from my mouth, but I could feel nothing beyond some pulling and pushing.  Nearly swallowed the crown when it detached but we managed to catch and keep it for Nelson, who’s got an idea about selling it on eBay.

I’m famous, lad, but not THAT famous! LOL

An hour later, I’m home again, on the sofa with a blanket and “Place In The Sun” on the tele, feeling very sorry for myself as the injections wore off.

What with the toe, the tooth, and various changes at home, I’ve been feeling very unsettled and discombomulated this week all round.

But that’s the beauty of working for yourself, you can take it a little bit easy when you don’t feel great.

Still, an early evening poker game and then the workshop tomorrow calls, then there is a house party on shoreham Beach tomorrow when I get home, so that will be great.

The thing about the parties on the beach is that you get a great age range, from the kids to the grannies, and everyone knows each other and that’s very cool.  Might even be able to pick up some gossip about the latest celebrity building their “dream house by the sea” which is rumoured to be Chris Evans. Tall, thin, strawberry blonde, and very very funny.  Now that would be interesting, wouldn’t it?

Have Fun, We Always Do!

Nicola

Banana Bars, Birthdays, Britain’s Got Talent & Bladerunner

I’m writing this after a Bank Holiday when I actually took three days off from the computer  completely.  It was my daughter Phoebe’s 14th birthday and what with the whirl of (her) social activity, my feet hardly touched the ground.

http://www.phoebesoremekun.com

She kicked off with an under-18 party at The Pier Club in Worthing, then off to her dads’ for a night, then back to ours for pressies, a trip to Brighton to get her first and hopefully her last piercing (I know! but I did promise when she was about 9!!) and then to Prezzo’s for dinner with the family.  They call it belly button piercing but it’s not, it’s the tiny bit of skin above the belly button, and of course it was filmed for YouTube.  Not by me, I was just there to sign the form and avert my eyes, but by her mate, Keturah, who was done last month.  It did look very pretty with the pink “banana bar” against her brown tum and PunkTured Studio was very clean, funky and nice – great name for the place and a good website too!

Last week’s business building / wealth creation activities included speaking for the inaugoral Brighton & Hove Property Networking event, where they had a good turnout of more than 50 property investors.  One of the other speakers was a young chap called Liam, who recognised the income potential of HMO’s when he was still at college, and has subsequently built a successful upmarket HMO buying and renting machine, always near to universities or hospitals.  Classic stuff and I hope to interview Liam on a webinar soon.

The really exciting thing about Liam The HMO King though, is that he’s been on Britain’s Got Talent, but although he was hoping to be featured on this Saturdays show, I couldn’t spot him.  He is a dance act and while he couldn’t divulge how well he did, he was smiling.  This week another contender for the singing crown emerged though – Jamie Pugh, lorry driver by day and pizza delivery man at night.

Jamie kept the story of his wife dying of a brain tumour recently as secret as he didn’t want the sympathy vote, not that he needed it.  He sang another song from Les Miserables “Bring Him Home” and I’m thinking that, obviously in spite of the name, that musical has got some cracking music in it.

Could Jamie be the next Tom Jones?  So, my top three tips for the top on Britian’s Got Talent are, so far, Shaheen Jafargholi, Jamie Pugh and Susan Boyle, in that order.

Back to the point of business building / wealth creation, I also picked up my magnetic car stickers, which I hope will stimulate some interest in my Rent2Own activities locally.  I drove home with them on and within an hour I got a Facebook message from someone who lives in London but has a rental property round the corner, who had spotted me driving though Shoreham – talk about co-incidence them being there at that precise nano-second.

I’ve pretty much given up on trying to advertise with the Worthing Herald, whose advertising department seems to specialise in doing every thing they can NOT to take my money.  In this day and age, why they can’t just keep your card details and run your ads every bloomin’ week, I don’t know.  You have to check your ad in case they miss it off AND call them every four weeks to renew it.

Leaflets next, but I need to get a bit more of a sniff of a deal before I can justify that, as it will cost in the region of £500 to do the Worthing area. I feel that’s the most cost effective way to attract vendors though.

Another weird thing happened this weekend, my sister heard from my mother, who apparently lives in Hull.  It was her 70th birthday recently and it made me feel very weird to think I have a 70 year old mother who I never see.  I’ve written about my mother before, on her birthday last year

Apparently she’s been saving for her funeral, but something happened and she had to use the money.  So she’s saving up again which can’t be easy on a pension.  We all found that very odd, because 1) when you are dead, what do you care who pays for your funeral?  and 2) we can probably afford to bury her between us by now.  Morbid thoughts perhaps but perhaps it becomes more important as you get older?  I just want to make sure the dying speech by the replicant Roy, in Bladerunner, gets played at my funeral, along with some great tunes including the entire Nu Yorican Soul album, to remind people that’s where I’ll be when I go, watching the attack ships off Orian and busy being the Black Gold Of The Sun.

Thinking about my mother being 70, made me realise that I’m nearly 50. She had me when she was 18 and then sister Heather 18 months later – and my father was away at sea all the time – can you imagine how tough that must have been?  I had my babies in my thirties with a very involved husband and that was hard work enough for me!

I certainly don’t feel nearly 50 – I feel more like my mid-thirties.  HOwever, my ankles are a bit stiff in the mornings and I do have to move books about in that middle aged way, to read in light that is not so bright. I might have to get some pinze-nez to wear in the evenings….LOL.

Have fun on the wealth creation journey, we always do.

Nicola

Wealth Coach Diaries – Nicola’s Week

Amazing Offers, Radio Waves & Outer Space

So who moved the Bank Holiday from the traditional last weekend in August to this weekend then? First I knew about it was when GMTV started wittering on about DIY for the Bank Holiday!

It’s been a weird week without the kids – this year I’m coping better because I’m getting out and about more – except NOT down the beach obviously!! I’m playing poker live around various venues in Sussex. For £12 a night, you get two games and your dinner and last night at the Montague was a great night all round, with a fine home-cooked Shepherds Pie with peas (yum) or chicken korma with rice.

Lee the landlord of The Montague is incredibly entrepreneurial, and is running a great pub there, with “cocktails & karaoke”, comedy and cabaret nights in addition to the biggest Texas Hold’em game in the area, up to four tables now. There’s two computers with fast internet connection, there are notices on the bar telling us who our bar staff are, and lockers to put your drink in if you need to go outside to smoke (not me!). Join The Montague’s “University of Poker” (M.U.O.P) Facebook group.

As a list building exercise, participating in the Wealth Giveaway was a great event for the Money Gym adding over 300 new people to the Money Gym MVS system. I’m hoping that many of those are internet marketers who will be interested in re-branding and giving away my free reports on their websites and blog.

I’ve had a frustrating week with technology, but we figured out why the admin area of the blog was running so slow – it was a rogue plugin. After deactivating them all, then reactivating them one by one, it’s now running along nicely. Having issues with my podcasts from Hipcast though, as soon as I post one, then go to change the category, the player disappears! I’m going to dig out Mike Stewart’s tutorials on podcasting direct from the blog later today.

New at The Money Gym is a great special offer for just £4.97, where we are bundling a great load of stuff, some audio including the first three chapters of the Money Gym book, as read by the author, four reports, the UK’s first Wealth Conference audio and a 30 day trial of the Money Gym Club site…..and folks are signing up in droves!

As I say, I’ve been recording the Audio version of The Money Gym book – listen to Chapter 1 here. I’m a reading kind of gal, but I know 30% of the population like to listen to stuff in the car or while exercising, so I’m working my way through the book, and the audio version will be available by next week as an option.

It’s made me realise that I need to rewrite it and update it - I’ve learned SO MUCH MORE since I wrote it. I think I will lose the “Day by Day” format too, and make it flow more. Must talk to Debs and Joe at Bookshaker about a relaunch…..”The Money Gym Revisited” here we come!

As part of the run up to the re-launch of the Money Gym Silver Club membership, I’ve been experimenting with some Blog Talk Radio shows. I’m veering between a “Smashy & Nicey” kind of voice, through to a “late night talk show” voice and it’s a struggle to talk normally. I’m having an issue with my headset making my voice very quiet too, but I’ll try holding the receiver today (for half an hour?) and see if that helps. Not quite brave enough to open the lines to phone in’s yet, but there is a chat facility….committed to doing a show every day till the end of next week, then I’ll swap to weekly, probably on a Wednesday at 1pm. Check it out

The sewing hobby is going well too – I’ve made two linen shirts for me, a pair of gingham short shorts for Phoebe, and cut out two nighties ready to sew this weekend. I’ve been listening to Frank Kern videos while I’m sewing so it’s not taking me totally away from the computer, but nearly!

I had lunch with Greg Ballard yesterday, and had a good old chinwag, catching up on all the news, and a look round their new offices, which used to be those of my accountant, Mark Nicholson from Spofforths. It was great to hear that, in spite of the credit crunch, Passive are still picking up lots of great bargains for their clients.

Steve is working his way diligently through John Reese’s Traffic Secrets 2.0 which is excellent and very thorough.

Have fun, we always are!

Nicola

Nicola Cairncross

Wealth Coach, Author
Internet Strategist
Professional Speaker
Founder
The Money Gym Ltd

Email us to have Nicola speaking at YOUR event >>>

Amazing Offers, Radiowaves & Outer Space

So who moved the Bank Holiday from the traditional last weekend in August to this weekend then?  First I knew about it was when GM.tv started wittering on about DIY for the Bank Holiday!

It’s been a weird week without the kids – this year I’m coping better because I’m getting out and about more – except NOT down the beach obviously!! I’m playing poker live around various venues in Sussex.  For £12 a night, you get two games and your dinner and last night at the Montague was a great night all round, with a fine home-cooked Shepherds Pie with peas (yum) or chicken korma with rice.  It was odd going back there as I spent a large part of my teenage life upstairs in The Montague, they used to run a fantastic soul night there, and co-incidentally, this week on Facebook, I was contacted by Steve MacMahon, an ex-Worthing boy, who is now a DJ in New York, whose very sister used to run that soul night!!

Lee the landlord of The Montague is incredibly entrepreneurial, and is running a great pub there, with “cocktails & karaoke”, comedy and cabaret nights in addition to the biggest Texas Hold’em game in the area, up to four tables now.  There’s two computers with fast internet connection, there are notices on the bar telling us who our barstaff are, and lockers to put your drink in if you need to go outside to smoke (not me!).  Join The Montague’s “University of Poker” (M.U.O.P) Facebook group here http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23133628865

It’s the last day of the Grand Wealth Giveaway – Kathy very kindly extended the deadline by two days, so if you haven’t downloaded your free gifts – and there is some great property investing stuff in there, Kathy having made her money in real estate, go and get them now, as the offer is closing at midnight tonight.
http://tinyurl.com/wealthgiveaway

As a list building exercise, participating in the Wealth Giveaway was a great event for the Money Gym adding over 300 new people to the Money Gym MVS system.  I’m hoping that many of those are internet marketers who will be interested in re-branding and giving away my free reports on their websites and blog.

I’ve had a frustrating week with technology, but we figured out why the admin area of the blog was running so slow – it was a rogue plugin.  After deactivating them all, then reactivating them one by one, it’s now running along nicely.  Having issues with my podcasts from Hipcast though, as soon as I post one, then go to change the catagory, the player disappears!  I’m going to dig out Mike Stewart’s tutorials on podcasting direct from the blog later today.

New at The Money Gym is a great special offer for just £4.97, where we are bundling a great load of stuff, some audio including the first three chapters of the Money Gym book, as read by the author, four reports, the UK’s first Wealth Conference audio and a 30 day trial of the Money Gym Club site…..and folks are signing up in droves!  You can get your bundle here http://www.themoneygym.com/offer/

As I say, I’ve been recording the Audio version of The Money Gym book – listen to Chapter 1 here at http://www.MoneyGymRadio.com .  I’m a reading kind of gal, but I know 30% of the population like to listen to stuff in the car or while exercising, so I’m working my way through the book, and the audio version will be available by next week as an option.

It’s made me realise that I need to rewrite it and update it – I’ve learned SO MUCH MORE since I wrote it.  I think I will lose the “Day by Day” format too, and make it flow more.  Must talk to Debs and Joe at Bookshaker about a relaunch…..”The Money Gym Revisited” here we come!

As part of the run up to the re-launch of the Money Gym Silver Club membership, I’ve been experimenting with some BlogTalkRadio shows.  I’m veering between a “Smashy & Nicey” kind of voice, through to a “late night talk show” voice and it’s a struggle to talk normally.  I’m having an issue with my headset making my voice very quiet too, but I’ll try holding the receiver today (for half an hour?) and see if that helps.  Not quite brave enough to open the lines to phone in’s yet, but there is a chat facility….committed to doing a show every day till the end of next week, then I’ll swap to weekly, probably on a Wednesday at 1pm.  Check it out at
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/TheMoneyGym

The sewing hobby is going well too – I’ve made two linen shirts for me, a pair of gingham short shorts for Phoebe, and cut out two nighties ready to sew this weekend.  I’ve been listening to Frank Kern videos while I’m sewing so it’s not taking me totally away from the computer, but nearly!

I had lunch with Greg Ballard yesterday, and had a good old chinwag, catching up on all the news, and a look round their new offices, which used to be those of my accountant, Mark Nicholson from Spofforths.  It was great to hear that, in spite of the credit crunch, Passive are still picking up lots of great bargains for their clients.

Steve is working his way diligently through John Reese’s Traffic Secrets 2.0 which is excellent and very thorough.  He’s missing the kids but is also getting out and about more with his golf, having bought himself a driver and putter on eBay and a new pair of golf shoes, as the old ones were giving him terrible blisters!

And I’ve been enjoying wandering around the Scienceray blog – check out these AMAZING pics of outer space here http://www.scienceray.com/Astronomy/A-Handpicked-Collection-of-Ultimate-Space-Pictures-3.216589 and look out for the pictures of the planned “doughnut” space station to house the whole human race if we do end up totally destroying the planet, god forbid!

Now, don’t forget to book your tickets for the very exciting two-day “Money Gym Presents….Brett McFall” event on 20th and 21st September – just £25 and all of it (ex the VAT) is going to Great Ormond St Hospital.  It’s the must-attend event for aspiring internet entrepreneurs and We can only fit 300 of you in, and we have 80-odd on our VIP pre-register list, so if all those buy two tickets…..get yours here at http://www.themoneygym.com/brettmcfall

Have fun, we always are!

Nicola

UFO’s Over UK – Video & Pics

Nicola says:  As a long term reader of sci-fi (love Iain M Banks) I was excited to recieve a Google alert that UFO’s were spotted over Worthing (and it turns out other parts of the UK) last weekend.

I scooted over to the West Sussex Gazette website to read the full article and was amazed to find not only this great picture by Danny Barton, but a VIDEO by Marc Baldwin’s and Danny Barton of the lights moving around over their house in Goring!

Turns out that “Emails and phone calls flooded in to the (Worthing) Herald newsdesk from confused residents who watched in amazement as up to 21 orange ball-like lights moved across the night sky over the area below cloud level from around 10.30pm on Saturday, July 25″ reports Chris Taylor.

This is going a long way to make up for my disappointment on hearing that EARTH WIND & FIRE played the Worthing Festival last week………….something no local radio station saw fit to mention, which in my mind is actually CRIMINAL!  I saw them live at Wembly in the 1970’s when they descended in a …..you guessed it….spaceship!  Co-incidence?  I don’t think so….LOL

READ MORE HERE & SEE THE UFO VIDEO >>>

House For £1 – Join Us!

I’m delighted to bring you the edited version (view the out-takes here!) of my personal invitation to a Rent2Buy seminar in Worthing or Essex, with David Lee, The Cashflow Investor. If you are intrigued by the idea of making money from property without a deposit, or mortgage or about how to buy a house for £1, or turning your negative cashflow properties into positive cashflow ones, here’s the link: http://tinyurl.com/cashflow

Invitation – The Out-Takes

To get 30 seconds of streaming video, you often have to have a few attempts at it! Here Nicola Cairncross from The Money Gym tries, battling against the elements, to get one take at an invitation to a Rent2Buy seminar in Worthing, for David Lee, The Cashflow Investor. I’ll post up the proper one in a moment! In the meantime, if you want to come along here’s the link: http://tinyurl.com/cashflow

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