by Johnny Jackson

©2009 Johnny Jackson - protected by CopyScape

Purpose of this review...

If you are like many people who are looking for ways to make money online, then you know (or will soon come to know) the value of training and mentoring when it comes to reaching your marketing goals on the internet.

With all the hyperbole laden claims of who has the best training and support, it became evident to me that very few internet marketing schemes really walked their talk in terms of really providing the marketing know how, the crucial in depth training, and the vital hands on support that most if not all beginners to the internet truly need when they first tackle the internet.

Total beginners to the internet are like plates of food to many unscrupulous so called business opportunities that exist on the world wide web. They need some guidance in order to avoid many of the pitfalls & leg traps that can crush them.

The point I want to make is that while you do have to be cautious of many programs that proliferate the online world, there are a handful that really do carry the torch and deliver what they promise...

Today's review is going to talk about one such company: Big Ticket To Wealth.

This company has been the subject of considerable buzz lately, and so my antennas popped up as a result of all the very noticeable activity on the web.

Let's put them under the microscope...

 

What Is Big Ticket To Wealth?

The company is in the business of providing internet marketing training and mentoring to people.

In a nutshell, their premium mentoring product package gives members access to the largest archived video training library I have ever seen on the internet.

What is extremely interesting, and initially what really caught my eye, was the fact that Big Ticket is NOT some hyped up business opportunity that makes claims of outrageous earnings to any Tom, Dick and Harry. It is more like an online school or college for aspiring internet marketers - but with a twist! You can actually earn affiliate commissions on product referrals, and we are talking about some serious dollars (another thing caught my eye and (I admit) my skepticism). More about that in a bit...

I'm not a big fan of their header graphics because they are a bit on the loud side, but what is substantial is the amount of training and support that the company boasts. And, they are not shy about giving just about anyone a free tour of their private training and member's area.

Now, I'm not going to give out any links to the company web site because I feel that would defeat the integrity of this review. However, feel free to Google either the name of the company - or the owner of the company at any time. That is what I personally did. I also attended some of their live & recorded webinar presentations which I think is another prudent thing for you to do if you are considering becoming involved with this company in any fashion.

Initially, I was also not impressed with the name of the company as I thought it was a little too much over the top. But, I have to say that it has gone on to 'grow on me' somewhat because the truth is, mastering online marketing can be a person's Big Big Ticket To Wealth. So, how's that for a flip flop?

What did impress me was the unbelievable size of their training library and training archives, plus the fact that they offer enormous amounts of live training to their members every week. Even more impressive is that this company is big on giving away free trainings & test drives to prove to people that they are as good as they claim!

Big Ticket is all about automation too! Whether it comes to making money, making presentations, supporting folks, solving problems - - it doesn't matter - - they take an automated approach. However, there's always a live person to speak to if you feel like picking up the phone!

 

Who Owns This Company & What Is Their Track Record?

Big Ticket To Wealth was founded and created by Canadian Marketer & Businessman Gerald Van Yerxa in December of 2007. It officially launched in January of 2008. He appears to be the sole owner of the parent company that owns a 100% stake in Big Ticket To Wealth; that parent company goes by the name of Conasia Global Internet Inc and it seems to own the majority of Van Yerxa's holdings both on and off of the internet.

Mr. Van Yerxa appears to have a legitimate background in the print and electronic media in Western Canada. He was the co-owner of a handful of successful radio stations. The flagship property was CFCW radio founded by his father in the 1950's out of Edmonton, Alberta. His younger brother John was also involved and together they also operated CKRA-FM in Edmonton as well as CHRK-FM in Kamloops, British Columbia where Gerald Van Yerxa currently makes his home.

In the 1980's and 1990's Van Yerxa also owned and operated a Vancouver, BC based advertising agency called Y.M.M.C. which was the short version for Yerxa Multi Media Consultants. Its focus was print & electronic media placement for clients.

I'm a bit fuzzy on the dates, but he apparently has sold his interests in the broadcasting and advertising properties. The radio properties alone evidently fetched in the neighborhood of $20 million.

On a side note, his brother John was awarded a brand new radio license for the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The station call letters are CJNW and it will be known as the New FM 107. The launch date is set for the fall of 2009.

Gerald Van Yerxa also some history in community service. He is a former past president and campaign manager for the City of Kamloops United Way. He is also listed as a former director of tourism for something called the High Country Region in the interior of the province he lives in. In addition, he is a recipient of the city's 'volunteer of the year award' for two separate years. My guess is because of his roles with things like the United Way and tourism.

In the 1990's he was the original founder of the 'Coalition of Concerned Canadians for Personal Health Freedom'.

In the early 1990's, Van Yerxa became engaged in the multi level marketing industry where he became a top earner of a nutrition based company by the name of Mannatek located in Dallas. He also helped launch 2 other companies: My Liquidity International based out of Dallas - Fort Worth, Texas (also a nutritional and dietary supplement company), and Lexli International out of Fargo, North Dakota (an aloe based cosmetics company).

He has been marketing online since 1995 with significant success - and that takes us up to today where he is the active CEO of Big Ticket To Wealth.

 

What Claims Does This Company Make?

The company claims to be the largest internet marketing & mentoring program online for a fraction of the price of what the gurus charge. They regard themselves as a school or college of internet marketing!

That's a pretty tall claim. In fact - that is two claims!

I know that programs like 'The Internet Marketing Center', founded by Cory Rudyl, have a 6 month mentoring program that goes for about $10,000 USD and includes one live hour of mentoring each week plus unlimited email support. And, if you want to go through the full program - it will cost you 3 rounds of 6 month mentoring sessions. Big price tag!

The famous Frank Kern (who has now paired up with Anthony Robins) offers fabulous training and mentoring - and it is quite expensive. Is it good? Heck yes ...but very, very expensive! And, from what I can see, you get the same stuff at Big Ticket!

Then you have folks like Stompernet, Mike Dillard, Russell Brunson, Perry Belcher, Matt Trainer, and others who have allot of great product. But, here again - very expensive.

Clearly, the price tag Big Ticket Charges is far less. You can see that if you do price comparisons.

As far as being the largest? Well, I have yet to see anyone with 400+ hours of archived training - 99% of it all on video.

Plus, all of Big Ticket's products are exclusive to them. In other words, they don't buy PLR (Private Label Rights) to products that someone else created and then put their own name on them. Big Ticket produces 99% of their own stuff.

What is equally impressive is that the company adds anywhere between 1 to 3 additional training's each week to the archived training library.

 

Are They For Real?

When I looked at this company, I noticed that they actually ran the real full names of their members beside the online interviews they conducted with some of their top members. How do I know the names were real?

Well, because I Googled them all and then called each one of them pretending to be a prospective marketing student and someone who 'might be interested' in the free business that goes along with the product purchase of a mentoring program. I used an assumed name when I called these folks and didn't leave any clue I was gathering information for this review.

On one of their 'presentation replay sites' that I looked at, I actually called someone called Josh Valentine from the state of Wisconsin; I called a husband and wife team by the name of Shawn & Emily Stoik from some small place in Alberta Canada (the city sounds like a Disneyland animal); I made a call to the United Kingdom to speak with a handful of 'blokes' by the names of Eric Cole and Warren Aldridge; I spoke a Julie Wilson in Wales; I had a telephone conversation with a 74 year old pastor from New Zealand by the name of Graham Kingston Smith; and I finished up my phone interviews with a guy out of Mexico City called Mike Heesen.

What was the outcome? I have to say I was impressed! I still am. The quality of all these folks (with the minor exception of one who was a tad arrogant) was outstanding. But, I suppose that you have to expect a bit of an ego when people are making the types of incomes I saw. All in all - I was impressed with everybody. But that doesn't mean that everyone you speak to with this company will be a winner. I'm sure that like anything else you will come across a bonehead or two if you call enough people!

The truth is, I was going to try to expose anything I could find wrong with the company if I found anything wrong.

Interestingly, I have not been able to find any serious flaws in what I have looked at so far. And that is a first for me!

I've torn apart many other companies for allot of different reasons. And, this isn't the only good one out there. But, what is notable is that I found zero flaws. Perhaps there are some cosmetic things I don't like - but all in all, this seems to be a good company with some good people!

Now, if I were running this company, there are certain things I would do different, but I must admit that they have hit a big home run in their primary claim that they are 'arguably' the best internet training and mentoring program on the internet for the total beginner. I actually borrowed the word 'arguably' from their sales literature. That is another thing I like about this company too: they show a little humility and while they certainly do promote the sizzle behind what they have - they do it with grace, and they take out any unnecessary hype. (But, I will say again that I really don't like their loud graphics on their headers and footers).

Finally, I was able to get hold of the owner of the company himself: Gerald Van Yerxa. I found his number in the FAQ support section of their web site.

Interestingly, he offered to give me several names of people I could check out, and he encouraged me to Google the name of the company and find some of his members that way.

I told him I already did that, and that part of my due diligence was to speak to him. He accepted that but he made a point that if I was interested in any of the company products that I would have to make a purchase through an active member of the company!

I have to tell you that impressed me quite a bit! In this day and age where companies will literally compete with their members - I ran into an owner who actually seemed to walk his talk. He was more interested in making sure I connected to one of his members if I decided to pull the trigger and buy something.

In any event, it was my interview with him that cinched my opinion of him and his company. No hyperbole, just lots of confidence in his product, plus a genuine effort to help me to understand what Big Ticket was all about.

The other thing that struck me about him was that he wore his faith values on his sleeve for everyone to see in plain site. He is a professed Christian (although he said he was not saved until he was in his late 30's) and he seems to be big on family, values, and helping people. I've run across folks like that before - but this man seemed quite authentic. And, being the CEO, I was a teenie bit surprised that there was no arrogance about him - in fact, he showed some humility and self deprecation at times. What can I say ...he won me over!

 

What Is The Primary Product That Is Offered?

The product is the glue to this company.

In a nutshell, it is an internet marketing and mentoring program.

There are some very good internet marketing gurus on the internet, and some of them have outstanding mentoring programs and seminars and courses.

The unfortunate thing for most folks is that these programs, courses and seminars cost thousands, and even tens of thousands of dollars for the good programs.

Are they worth the money? Some definitely are, but the average person cannot afford that kind of price tag.

For example, there are good programs out there that cost anywhere from $2,000 for a weekend seminar, to $20,000 for a week long marketing boot camp.

With Big Ticket's mentoring product, you get the same quality programs and seminars for a fraction of the price. Plus, once you pay for your Big Ticket product, you have permanent access forever as long as you continue to pay your small monthly subscription fee (more on that later when we talk about the affiliate program).

The company's slogan is: "why pay internet marketing gurus thousands or tens of thousands of dollars for their internet marketing programs and seminars when you can get the same or better from Big Ticket at a fraction of the price!"

I like that, and it seems that what they are saying is true after my week or so of researching them.

With a Big Ticket To Wealth mentoring program purchase you get the following with that package:

(a) up to 3 live mentoring sessions per week (60 to 120 minutes each on average).

(b) access to over 400 hours of archived training by way of 36 training theaters

(c) 10 hours of keyword research done for you by the company if you are at the big mentoring level. (I have to say that I have never ever seen this before! At $200 per hour, any SEO specialist would charge you a couple thousand dollars per month for this alone). This is a massive benefit for anyone looking to have a business online!

(d) unlimited telephone, email and live chat support 5 days per week.

The program is laden with supporting training manuals, video training's & live support. These guys look like they wrote the book on support, training and mentoring ...and it shows!

 

How Much Do They Charge & What Do You Get For Your Money?

It seems like the company did its best to create a product price point for literally anyone.

At first I didn't understand why they would choose to have so many packages, but then it made sense that the company wanted to be accessible to everyone at virtually any price point.

The truth is, for what you end up getting - it's a bargain at every level. But I have to emphasize again that the keyword research at the top level is an amazing and valuable feature I have never seen any company do before. That alone makes their top package worth every penny just by itself!

(i) the senior or big package is $1,997 (their Presidential product)

(ii) the middle package is $1,197 (their Executive product)

(iii) the junior package is $797 (their National product)

(iv) the hobby level package is $397 (their Hobby product)

Of course, the higher the package, the more you get back. And, like I said earlier: I am still dumbfounded by the fact that the company will do keyword research for its members.

The big question I had was: 'who was doing the keyword research?' - because there's no value there if the person doing it doesn't know what they are doing!

The answer I got back was that it was Gerald Van Yerxa himself who did all the keyword research, and according to my sources, he is one of the best keyword researchers on the net! So, if it is true that it is in fact Mr. Van Yerxa who does the keyword research - then that is a truly valuable feature!

 

Does The Company Offer An Affiliate Program?

As I mentioned earlier, when you become a student of the company, you automatically get a business for free.

At first, that seemed a bit odd from my perspective. I mean, how valuable could a business be that you got for free?

Then, I started to think that these guys were just trying to creatively sell their business opportunity...

It was not until I saw the sheer size of the mentoring and coaching products that I realized these folks were on the up and up!

Then again, once I analyzed the so-called free business - I got goose bumps because it beat just about anything else I ever looked at.

You may not operate a business unless you first buy & use the product personally. The company believes that the best sales people are satisfied customers. That makes complete sense to me. And, it's very refreshing to see a company that will not allow just anyone to market their products! There's tons of credibility with that policy because it means that the 'sales people' are all satisfied customers of the product themselves!

Additionally, the level of business you get (because they have a small, mid and big level) is in direct proportion to the size of product package you buy. That just means that if you purchased the big product yourself - you will generate bigger commissions with the business you get for free!

The other interesting thing to note is that federal legislators & law-makers have a continuous big bone to pick with business opportunities that don't offer a real product, but where money is made by the sheer recruitment of people.

Here, with Big Ticket To Wealth, you cannot pursue the business unless you buy the product. Plus, if you take away the business (which you get for free anyway once you buy the product) - then you still have an outstanding product that does not need a business opportunity attached to it in order to sell well.

Big Ticket To Wealth's free business is a 2 tier (or 2 level) affiliate program. That means that it pays out on 2 levels of people. It also means that they are not an MLM program (which pays out on multiple levels of people beyond the 2nd level).

The pay plan is also very simple to understand. That's a big relief because many compensation plans require a pilot's license in order to comprehend the way income is earned.

There are essentially 4 types of income:

(1) the direct product sale : you make this when you or your web site makes a sale. The pay is up to $900 for each sale made. This gives you a wide margin of profit on your up front sales. That is very good for when you start marketing online. It makes it possible to get into profit early on in your business.

(2) the direct product override: you make overrides on all the business generated by people whom you or your web site brought into the free business. Each time one of these people make a sale - you earn a matching amount. For example: if they make $900; you make a matching $900. Pretty simple. This income is leveraged income because you are earning off of the productivity of your people!

(3) the residual monthly fee commissions: every person you attract personally or through your web site pays $75 per month where you can get $50 of that amount. If you are registered with the company's top mentoring package, then that means you get a sizeable $50 commission from every $75 monthly fee that is paid by those people! That $50 payout is per person, per month, and is regardless of what level people join you at! With just 10 people, that gets you exactly $500 per month! Very impressive. I started to think about the income with 100 people. These guys hit the bulls eye on the residual part of the pay plan. Most MLM companies would require a few hundred people to equal what Big Ticket can pay you with just 10 people!

(4) there are the direct retail sales make by marketing 'seminars a la carte' from the online store that you get when you join the company. The commission here is 50% of the selling price. This is a great deal because the company has produced these products themselves which make them unique & original + they joint venture with you to sell the products and give you half the profits. Very nice! Other product sales you can make have to do with the marketing of flash videos and travel subscription incentive to business (for the North American market).

There are some other features of the pay plan that make it even more attractive. For example, if someone purchases a small mentoring package from one of the people on your team (who is themself a product customer at the small hobby level) - and then that person sells the big mentoring product to someone - then your income is not only going to be the $900 matching override, but it will also include an $800 product sales roll up for a total of $1,700. The implication of this is that you can actually make more money when one of your customers buys a smaller package for themselves and then they attract other customers to the larger packages. Very creative & well thought out!

It then dawned on my why this company was dong so well online: they were paying approximately 90% out to their members and keeping about 10%. At first, one might think these guys were stupid. In reality, they are smart like foxes because once the products are made (and they are extremely high value information products), they cost nothing to sell! There is zero cost of goods sold! Think about it ...everything is downloaded electronically online. Even if the company is paying out 90% and only keeping 10% - they are making a ton of profit when thousands of members are making just 1 sale every month!

The marketing plan is brilliant!

It's kind of what Amazon.com did when they first introduced the concept of affiliate marketing to the world (because they were really the first to do it right).

I began to think that Gerald Van Yerxa was really looking to the future when he built this company. It is so obvious that his intention was to create a company where he could pay out commissions that his competitors would never dream of paying out. Of course, his risk was that he had to get enough customers to make that worth while.

Well, his gamble paid off in a huge way because Big Ticket is making sales 24/7 and they are all over the internet!

I recommend that you watch the 'replay presentation' the company has because it explains the compensation plan in a very straight forward and simple manner. Here again, you'll have to Google the company and find someone to speak to because I want to maintain the integrity of this review article by not giving out any links whatsoever!

The bottom line is that although this business is yours free when you purchase a mentoring product from the company - that free business pays out more than any pay plan I have ever seen from the so called business opportunities!

Unlike so many of the MLM models out there, you cannot be pre-empted out of your income, which happens all the time in multi level when you raise up a leader and they appear somewhere between you and the rest of your downline.

If I had to rate the compensation side of the business model, I would give it 5 out of 5 stars without any hesitation at all.

 

What Countries Are They In?

You can find this company doing business in just about any 'western country' where there is a live internet connection.

The program & training is all in English which is too bad because the Hispanic market is pretty big. But, if you are Hispanic and you speak even a little bit of English - you would be well advised to check these guys out.

If you're looking to also market the free business that goes along with the purchase of this company's mentoring products, then other than the language barrier, the only thing you would want to be certain of is that you would be able to find an online payment processor that would be able to process your online sales. Personally, I don't think that is a big deal because great secure payment processors are all over the internet. For example: PayPal.

As I understand it, the company can point you in the right direction with a number of choices to consider.

 

Final Verdict...

This is a good company.

Actually, it's an even better school ...an internet marketing school where you can also earn an income while you learn how to be an effective marketer!

By the way, they teach over 51 different online tactics and strategies. And, you don't have to master all of them. In fact, the top earners I spoke to typically used only about 3 or 4 primary methods of marketing. It's just those methods varied from person to person. Ultimately it means that you can literally pick and choose the marketing methods you feel the best about!

For internet newbies - it is hands down the most thoughtful and empowering program I have ever seen online...

For the intermediate marketers or seasoned pros - the program offers amazing opportunities to learn some advanced marketing methods - but in very simple ways!

Yes, it sounds a little too good to be true when you first look at Big Ticket To Wealth, but after some serious scrutiny I cannot find any holes.

The training, support, live mentoring, products, and free business are all top notch.

I would challenge you to find anything better...

Johnny Jackson

"Unbiased Reviews of Internet Marketing Programs & Gurus"

©2009 Johnny Jackson - protected by CopyScape

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