If you had the chance to attend a seminar featuring iconic American heroes like Michael Phelps, Colin Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and Zig Ziglar live and in person, would you go? Heck, I sure would, and I did. On March 26, 2009 a seminar called “Get Motivated!” came to the Arco Arena in Sacramento, CA. Although I don’t exactly live in the Sacramento area, I had a free ticket to this event (supposedly a $225 value) so I woke up at 5:30 am to make the drive and attend the seminar. That’s how interested I was in hearing these titans of American culture speak live. So what was the experience like? Before elaborating, let me try to put all of my thoughts into a single sentence: The “Get Motivated! Business Seminar” was an interesting mix of fantastic public speakers, Christianity, and sophisticated, irresistible sales pitches to which many succumbed. Read on and I will explain the whole event in detail, paying attention to the fantastic speakers, but more importantly to the impressively clever ways in which this seminar pried into people’s willing, open wallets and made a killing.
The morning began without me- I arrived at 8:30 am and missed Steve Forbes who was presented via satellite ( I thought this was supposed to be a live and in person event!). No matter, by 9 am one of the key speakers was on stage, Michael Phelps. Phelps is no doubt a world class swimmer, but a world class speaker he is not. He did not take the stage alone nor did he address the audience directly, but rather he was interviewed on stage by the MC. His stories were interesting, like the revelation that he once went 5 years without taking a single day off training, not even for Christmas. However there was little he had to say that was highly memorable, and in fact there wasn’t much for him to say at all–he was on stage for only 20 minutes.
Next came Colin Powell, who was tremendous. He spent the better part of an hour delivering a fantastic speech that discussed leadership qualities, highlighting the need to have a sense of purpose above all else. Colin Powell’s perspective on our nation’s problems today was very interesting: he talked about how the world today is a better place than the one he grew up in, a world threatened my the ravages of WWII. Powell spoke at length about appreciating our immigrant heritage and looking out for all of the people you manage or who provide you with a service, including those you might not ordinarily interact with or appreciate fully (like the people who clean your office at night).
After the exciting appearances by Phelps and Powell, a guy named Phil Town took the stage. This guy was good, in fact he was great; funny, energetic, and personable . Once a whitewater rafting guide in the Grand Canyon, Phil was taken under the wing of a former rafting customer and taught to trade stocks, eventually amassing a fortune. Phil Town’s presentation seemed at first to aim at educating the crowd about ways to find good companies to invest in, such as looking for companies with excellent earnings-per-share growth. But slowly Phil revealed that he had a system, a software program that could help you to make your own wise stock trading decisions. To show how easy his system was to operate, he brought 4 volunteers from the audience on stage, and showed his system in action. On the giant overhead screens, the audience could follow along as a stock chart showed the share price of a stock moving through time. Suddenly the chart was marked by three green arrows.
“What should we do?” Phil asked his helpers on stage?
“Buy!” the volunteers shouted.
Then three red arrows appeared on screen.
“Sell” the volunteers yelled into the microphone.
Wow, I thought with great skepticism, making money in the stock market couldn’t be easier!
When the volunteers were dismissed, Phil Town mentioned the price for his software: $3200. This number was probably arbitrary because Phil started to mention all of the discounts that were available for this one-time special offer, not to be repeated. He slashed this fee and that fee until the price was reduced and the magic number of $99 flashed throughout the arena on the giant television screens.
“Register now!”, Phil encouraged as he mentioned a 100% satisfaction guarantee while also explaining all of the bonus gifts available only by signing up right away. Lights came on, illuminating the Arco arena, while staff members dispersed all throughout the arena waved white colored light-wands to indicate signup locations. People flocked to the white lights and took a clipboard each, registering with their credit cards for Phil Town’s stock trading program.
It is hard to explain the almost irresistible magnetism of Phil Town’s presentation and engaging style. You felt like you knew this guy a little because he had shared excerpts of his personal life story. You felt like you could identify with him because he came from modest means and seemed down to earth. He identified with Christian values and probably related to a lot of people in that way. You laughed with him as he made fun of the big guys on Wall Street and challenged you with a dare-to-be-great mentality. There was no reason why you couldn’t succeed on your own. The dream was sold, and Phil Town’s stock trading software was the enabling tool.
By my estimate, about 25% of the 10,000 strong audience at the Arco Arena that day signed up for Phil Town’s software system. I deduced this by walking around at lunch and noticing the great abundance of people carrying or sitting with their brand new, red tote bags which contained the special gifts that had been promised at signup time. The red tote bags were everywhere. I couldn’t believe that I had briefly entertained the idea of signing myself up too. It became clear what was really going on here: Phil Town had just cleared approximately $250,000 (2500* people signed up @ $99 each).
It was easy to get caught up in Phil Town’s speech and yet too easy to suspend your disbelief. Was this guy reputable and if so then why did I have to sign up right then? A couple of days later, and by great coincidence, I tuned in to a financial radio talk show host named Rob Black. Rob does a two hour radio show about the stock market, investing, and all things financial. is radio personality is a lot of fun to listen to, so I often check in on his show “Rob Black and Your Money”. Anyhow, Rob took a caller on the air who had similar to concerns to mine about Phil Town’s three green arrows, three red arrows stock trading software. Listen to Rob Black’s hilarious response:
rob-black-opinion-phil-town-stock-system
for another opinion on what Phil Town is selling, click here for real life results by people who tried the system and wrote about their exprience
After lunch, the afternoon portion of the “Get Motivated! Business Seminar” was essentially a repeat of the morning format: more great speakers (Zig Ziglar, Rudy Giulliani, and others) with another crafty sales pitch embedded; this time focused on real estate investment. For only $49 you could sign up for a three day course to learn how to create wealth in a wide variety of ways, especially through real estate sold at rock bottom prices through foreclosures, DEA sales, tax liens, etc. Again, many audience members offered up their credit cards at the conclusion of a a very funny, polished, and highly believable presentation.
From a purely capitalistic point of view, the “Get Motivated! Business Seminar” is a genius money making machine. I doubt that anyone paid the face value of the tickets for this seminar ($225), but even people who got in for free, such as myself, walked out with a lighter wallet. There was $12 for parking, $5.75 for a slice of pizza, $20 for a workbook to take notes in during the seminar, $99 for a stock trading program, and $49 for a real estate investment program. Also, a great deal of personal information was gathered; in order to enter into the drawings for the door prizes (flat screen TV, $10K cash**), you hd to complete a card and disclose your full name, phone number, address, and email. So if you ever have a chance to go to a seminar like this, go for the celebrities but think twice about parting with your personal info and your credit card number.
*this number is a best guess, but the point remains that the real money to be made was in selling the software, but probably not using the software–after all if it really worked then wouldn’t it be worth gazillions, priceless in fact?
**interestingly, I believe that one had to be present in the audience to win the door prizes, but when the raffles occured the winner of the flat screen TV was not in the audience, nor was the winner of the $10,000.
Tags: Arco Arena, Colin Powell, Get Motivated, Get Motivated! Business Seminar, Michael Phelps, Phil Town, Phil Town investment, Phil Town stock trading, Rudy Giuliani, Tamara Lowe, three green arrows three red arrows, Zig Ziglar
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I was appalled by the entire event in Buffalo, NY on 18 August. The entire program is a hard sell designed to break you down and swindle you into buying their products. I enjoyed Phil Town’s presentation until I Googled his name and the word “scam” about halfway through. Don’t buy into this nonsense. My estimate is that the company made hundreds of thousands of dollars at the expense of our entire region’s productivity (lost time and productivity costs most likely in the millions of dollars). As a Federal employee, I was shocked and dismayed by the sales tactics used to appeal to the crowd. Neither the Government nor any employer should ever send employees to this on official time- it is completely innappropriate. I did not buy in to Phil Town’s crap, and neither should you. Don’t be roped in by the cheap ticket prices- you will receive a phone call the day prior to the event attempting to “up-sell” you more expensive tickets. Phil Town will certainly make you believe that you, too can make millions in the stock market by managing your own investments with little or no experience or knowledge. They will encourage you to take money out of your 401K or IRA fund and invest it yourself using their “tools” (not software) and tell you that you can make 30% or higher returns on your investments in a matter of months. Don’t purchase their ridiculous workshops. I did not attend one, but take a look at what they are doing. In each city, this company adjusts its ticket sales prices and workshop prices in order to be more in line with the local population’s median income. That should be a clue to you.
Out of the “goodness of his heart,” Phil Town will offer to come back out on stage during lunch. The “company” will “buy” you boxed lunches, and encourage you t o move closer to the stage. You’ll see people hooting and hollering and getting excited about something and someone they have never heard of before. Another clue?
Tamara Lowe, a self-proclaimed “expert” tries to sell you not one, but a case of her books at $15 each or nearly $200 per case. She has no qualifications and there is no intellectual rigor attached to her theories. She’ll tell you that all of the proceeds will go to the charities they put up on the screen. Have you heard of any of those before? I had not, but they sound remarkably similar to legitimate charities we all know about. I’d bet that Tamara is on the board of each and every one of those “charities” and she probably gets a nice kickback from them.
Rudy Guiliani gave a nice speach- for 8 minutes. Practically everything he said has already been captured on YouTube. Zig Ziglar was pathetic to watch. In his prime he was certainly a motivator, but now it is more depressing to see him take the stage for 1-2 minutes, and then watch a 20 minute video interview of him talking to his son. The family should be ashamed! I left after Phil Town’s lunchtime presentation, which effectively sealed the deal for me. I couldn’t take any more of the sales pitches and “get rich quick” garbage. Please don’t buy into this crap, and please don’t think that you can strike it rich doing what Phil Town says.
The program is set up to “inspire” you with one speaker and sell you something with the next. They’ll appeal to your humanity using religion, justice, and compassion, and then push you hard to buy something you know nothing about. Please, if you go to one of these things, leave your credit card at home and don’t ever use your real information to get a “free packet.” In fact, you would be better off not going at all!
A Lion in Sheep’s Clothing
A motivational seminar sounds innocent enough. Who among us doesn’t need a little motivation once in a while. With the economy the way it is, most of us need a boost. Wouldn’t it be even better if such a seminar included speakers such as Colin Powell, Laura Bush, Rudy Giuliani, and Terry Bradshaw to lure thousands of these people into a big venue arena. It would be better yet if the arena was filled with giant jumbotron televisions, some exhilarating music, fireworks and a light show.
Well, a company called “Get Motivated” is doing that very thing. The only problem is that they are using the stage as a platform for perpetuating a giant fraud. They are ambushing the unsuspecting audience when they least expect it and when they are most vulnerable. It is fraud and deception at its worse. They’re dangling carrots in front of the horse and then bringing in the vultures later to clean out their pocket books.
These famous speakers are being dooped and so are all the attendees. The venue promises the big celebrities but nothing is said, about having to listen to 3 get rich speakers that aren’t even on their posted agenda. The “Lowes” (who run the seminars) are pulling off a scam to rip people off. Caveat emptor or let the buyer beware doesn’t really hold true when the captive audience is at the prey of their deception and deceit. The audience is highly vulnerable in this setting and are easy victims in their emotional state of trying to learn to be successful. Their highly unethical and possible criminal approach to promising people riches isn’t necessarily new but it has definitely taken on a new approach with their wide scope of celebrity speakers as a decoy. Their big venue approach in soliciting unsuspecting and susceptible targets for their deception has taken on a whole new meaning of fraud.
Perhaps the biggest scam in this, is hiding the highly suspect “Investools” company under the name of “Wealth Magazine Investor Education”. This “Investools” company is under investigation from almost every Attorney General’s office in the United States. (check out the internet for scams and rip off reports for both this company and “Get Motivated”. They are selling a $3950 dollar, 2 day course in day trading, for an unbelievable price of $99 with the idea that you will get rich from their award winning software. What they don’t tell you is that after the course, you will not be able to use the complete software without taking an advanced course for as much as a $1000 more and then after that course, taking another PHD course for as much as $10,000 or more. The illusion is that you can get rich for $99 but the reality is that they will keep after you until you use up all the money on your credit cards plus whatever else you can borrow.
I think it is one thing for such a seminar to sell their books and CD’s but these events are designed to suck you in and bleed you dry. I saw about 15,000 people pack the Wells Fargo Center in Des Moines, Iowa on the 17th of September and maybe as many as 5000 or more bought in to their hype.
Please see what you can do to warn the people in your area of this scam. The celebrities also need to know that they are helping these people perpetrate a fraud.
Ahhh… no one won the TV or 10 grand at the seminar I went to either! Total scam!! The lady at the end “pulled out a name”, read it once, gave it to some random guy, then said, ‘ok thanks for coming’, all with in 15 seconds. Maybe I’m wrong, but wouldn’t you expect them to at lease… at least read the name twice. Or maybe to call another name of someone who is actually there to run up on stage and get the “cash”. Ridiculous!
Agree on all counts. I enjoyed the seminar here at the Pepsi Center in Denver on October 13, 2009. However, I did get caught in the Phil Town hoopla. You have a nice looking, believable guy, talking fast(should have been the first clue) and pulling in the audience. The selling point for me was that the credit card would not be charged until you attended the next seminar. Okay, so I was supposed to attend the following weekend and came down with the flu. I contacted the phone number a few days later only to be told my card had already been charged and I could attend a future weekend and if I couldn’t I could partake of an “online” tutorial. When I mentioned that Phil said it wouldn’t be charged until we attended, I had the person on the other end of the phone ‘reading’ me the “fine print that I may have missed”. I gave away $100.00 to help Phil get richer. Good for him for making money, and next time I will think twice. Actually, I was hesitant, but my husband was all excited about it and he is a computer guy, so I gave in.
Many great celebrity speakers, all of whom I enjoyed, so the day was not a loss.
I just attended the seminar in Orlando. Personally I enjoyed the speakers as most of them were great. I was expecting the sales hype and did buy into Phil Towns program as did many of the people I went with. In fact, two of them are going to his seminar today and tomorrow so I will report back on what they said. All in all, and the concensus of the 28 others that went with me, it was a great time. Rudy was great, Colin Powell was excellent and my favorite was Kirsh Dundham ( I think that’s how you spell his name)and Terry Bradshaw was excellent too. None of them tried to sell us anything.
I went to the seminar knowing that it would be part sales pitch part speeches. Would I go again? Yes. I got what I wanted out of it.