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Comment by nhangen | Hacker News Reader

Read my comment again:

'The problem with courses like the one the OP took is not that they offer bad advice, but they get people thinking about what they can sell instead of a) what problems they can solve and b) what problems they have the authority to solve.'

This has nothing to do with what the course teaches, but with the perceptions of the students during their time in the course.

I haven't analyzed the OP's business success, so I can't say whether or not I'd feel comfortable taking her advice, but I can tell you that were I to buy something like this, I would expect that it should come from someone with a good reputation and a volume of experience in the field (authority is a function of this).

I'm not damning the course or the OP at all, merely stating an observation based on my own experiences in the field of info-products.

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Okay, I read it again :)

No, 30x500 doesn't get people thinking about what they can sell instead of what problems they can solve. This goes for the material, and the student perception of it. I'm making this bold claim because beginning by "thinking about what problems you can solve instead of thinking about what you can sell" (i.e. the opposite of what you've stated) is one of the major premises of the course.

If you're talking about other courses, and you just assumed 30x500 was similar, fine. I just wanted to point out the differences, and how what you said was so far away from what we learned in the course (that includes the material, and our 'perceptions' during our time in the course).

"Courses like the one OP took" <--- (You said this without knowing anything about 30x500...???)

Amy doesn't remember but her and I have had many conversations at various conferences. I know many of her peers, and I know several people that have taken her course. Her husband and I discussed my sunburn at lessconf. I know that she/he are good people.

My reference to courses like that is to any course that teaches someone how to make money on the internet, whether they sell ebooks, software, tools, downloads, or anything in between.

My comment is not an indictment of her course, but of the many get rich quick seekers that take courses like these.

Amy and I spoke about this today and mentioned that she markets so as to avoid this type of person. I think that's great. However, I'm not going to back away from my comment just because her students don't like what I'm saying.

Do you know any 30x500 alumni who "think about what they can sell instead of what problems they can solve"? Or was that just a general statement about "any course that teaches someone how to make money on the internet?" (In which case I wouldn't disagree. I was just surprised to see 30x500 thrown in the mix there, had to add my two cents.)

You are totally entitled to your opinion, but here's what happened from my point-of-view:

1. You read/skim my post

2. You assumed I'm selling advice (or info-product)

3. You assumed I didn't know my topic

4. You assumed I would be stupid enough to tell people "gee, I don't know anything about this biz optimization thing" while selling advice on the topic via the same channel

5. You assumed I was a "get rich quick seeker" out of my depth

6. You assumed that Amy's course somehow was responsible for this

7. And now it's not Amy - it's us students, who the courses like this attract

I'm not offended though, I'm just amused. LOL. And I can see how my communication and not being native english-speaker are partially responsible for this.

The funniest thing here is that many of us "get rich quick seekers" in Amy's course have spent years building online businesses. Yeah, we definitely don't like what you are saying :D

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