Edition #135 8/29/2007
Yes I read all of your comments after the last edition of Eric’s Tips, and yes– I actually took some of your advice!
Several of my readers expressed that they would like to see more educational content in The Next Internet Millionaire, and while I’ve explained that the number one objective of the show is to entertain, I agreed that the next episode should have a little more of an educational bent to it.
Along with the drama, I think you’ll see that episode 2 has some great nuggets of information packed into it about about blogging and branding.
You can watch the episode at:
The Next Internet Millionaire Episode 2
Also, we’ve released some bonus teaching clips to further satisfy your thirst for knowledge. So far we’ve uploaded three clips (one of Mark Joyner and two of Armand Morin) with nice minute-long bite-sized lessons (this material was not shown in the episode).
You can check out those bonus clips here:
(Link removed- bonus clips no longer available)
After watching episode 2, please leave your comments here and let me know what you think about it.
Have a great day!
Eric,
I’m a longtime subscriber and occasional
customer of yours.
Great job on NIM.
I enjoyed watching the first 2 episodes.
Armand Morin’s stressing the importance
of branding confirmed my long belief about
that point.
Also, 1 of the best moments so far was when
that guy Thor talked about how he misjudged
one of the other guys based on his looks.
I thought that was very cool of him
to step up on camera and talk about that.
Jaime is really cool. I hope she makes it.
She has skills that she doesn’t know she has yet.
And of course the godfather….mad cool.
Hey Eric!
I really enjoyed episode #2! Even more than the first one. I think the educational aspect made it even more appealing for me, yet what I wasn’t expecting is how I’m now getting sucked into the drama of elimination and connecting with the contestants! However, it’s about time Joel starts cutting some people, no more sandbox, time to send some people packing!! haha
Great Job Eric, looking forward to episode #3!
Hi Eric,
Really entertaining watching watching TNIM episodes.
Congratulations and respect to you and Joel for creating such
an excellent content product. Better than TV.
Am looking forward to Episode#3
Hi Eric,
Thanks for the chance to provide feedback directly to you and Joel about the show.
I have watched the first two episodes and will be watching more as well. I also read all the comments in the previous blog entry so any that I agree with will be reiterated here in case other readers have not read them and to support those writers’ points.
Production Values – They are much higher than expected. I watch the videos in full screen mode and they are just barely a step below when the television networks post videos of their shows online. I can see the amount of money that must have gone into this production. Occasionally, I do get a small sound drop off when there are cuts of people being interviewed, but I can live with that. Overall, it’s an exceptional production job, congratulations to the entire background crew.
Entertainment Value – I’m not a reality show fan in general, but I do find the show entertaining.
Educational Value – I must agree with other posters that this is the biggest disappointment in the show (and point out to them that they also learned very little about business from watching any of The Apprentice versions). That being said, I hoped that Next Internet Millionaire would be different. I wanted it to transcend its inspiration and prove that a show could be both entertaining and educational at the same time.
I appreciate your point of view that this isn’t a training seminar series, but at the same time, the show will lose all appeal to its core audience if it becomes nothing but a 12 episode teaser to the inevitable series of training seminars that one can only conclude will be sold at a princely sum at the conclusion of the series.
All is not lost, though. You have a full day’s worth of raw material for every episode. Take advanatge of the fact that this is all web-based and you are not restricted to making each episode come out to an exact length. Double the length of each episode! Keep half as you have done now and work in an additional 45 minutes of instructional material.
Joel As Host – I like his deliberate manner of speech. I also love his attitude toward the contestants and their purpose there. It is so refreshing to see a presence like that on camera, rather than one that is antagonistic.
Show Format – I like the extended Judgment room (as compared to similar TV shows). It gives the audience more insight as to why decisions are made. I like the individual challenges that result in the Hacker-Safe immunity award as opposed to everything being judged on a group basis. Group judgment is so phony. Automatically blaming the group leader for a team losing (as so often happened on TV) is ridiculous. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Put the blame where it belongs. When talking about adults, everyone is accountable for his or her own actions and can’t (nor should they be) held responsible for other adults who don’t fulfill their own duties.
I also like the sandbox idea. If the point of being there is to learn, it only makes sense that people get to stay for the entire run of the series.
One Final Comment – This used to drive me crazy on similar TV shows, please put an end to it here. In the second episode, there was a disagreement between teammates as to what actually occurred in the group. One claimed vehemently to have pushed for a silhouette in the logo and others denied that had happened. Unlike in the real world where we may have to decide whom to trust, every minute of this has been filmed so we have another option here. Should this happen again, please, simply have Joel review the tapes and expose whoever is lying. That makes a lot more sense than guessing.
Overall, I’m looking forward to Episode 3 of The Next Internet Millionaire.
oh yeah,this is fun! Also giving me some ideas for processes/formats I can develop in my own business. I jot ideas all the way thru—-with brief pauses as I feel the tension in the judgment room 🙂
soooooooooooo, when will you tell us there’s a next go-around on this, and how to audition?
Hi Eric,
I’ve enjoyed the two episodes of The Next Internet Millionaire but from a person who is a huge fan of “The Apprentice” I’m not hooked on the tasks that the groups have to do or perhaps you haven’t given me enough information on the ‘importance factor’. In the second episode, it was presented that having a logo was important but the reasons could have been presented more powerfully in the episode. Or perhaps it’s because the task was not tied to an objective on-line performance indicator. For example, The Apprentice contestant’s must do the task but in addition to the task the end result is tested with real people using the criteria of highest revenue generated, most positive feedback from a group, percent increase in sales, etc… I’m a novice internet marketer but I’m sure there could have been some great internet marketing performance indicators for the blogs that were developed or even testing of the logos with a target market.
Just a few thoughts that may or may not be useful.
Okay, I’ve been silently observing all the comments made from both episode 1 and 2, on the forums and also here…. and I finally feel like I have to say something.
First off, I love the show. Maybe because my husband is a contestant…. but I watch each episode on the edge of my seat … all of my family (including my mom, who rarely ever ventures online), all of my friends, all of my friends’ friends are watching the show religiously, and loving it!
Here’s the deal… for those viewers requesting more teaching time, I think it’s a great idea to include the key elements in there, so that fans get a taste of what’s being said to the contestants, but “Make Money at Home”‘s suggestion of expanding the teaching time by 45 minutes? I’m sorry but that would drive even ME away (and I’m into internet marketing!) … Eric, I think that you have come up with a great plan to satiate some teaching-hungry viewers by posting the “bonus videos” in the blog… and I’m sure that you won’t want to give it all away in case they’ll be selling it all at the end…. after all, in Joel’s emails, he specifically says the episodes are part of a really long “pre-launch”… so yeah, I guess it IS a 12 episode teaser.
So Eric, I think you’re doing a great job, I know you must be working your butt off trying to reach deadlines (Jason and I spent almost 20 hours working on his 2 minute audition videos, so I can see how a high quality, full length production can take so long!) I know that you know what you’re doing, so I won’t even bother to offer any suggestions (because they’d probably be biased anyway towards wanting to see more of my husband at work) …. so instead I’ll offer encouragement: I think that what you’re doing is harder than any of us can imagine, being on the watching end… and with such limited time (after all, it hasn’t even been a month since the show finished filming, and already there will be 3 episodes!) you are working so fast… For all the people who think they could do it better… I’d like to see them try. Be thankful for all those who are enjoying the production, and hopefully the other comments (especially from Ep 1) will roll off your back… You have at least 100 to 200 viewers of my family and friends who are loving the show, and looking forward to seeing more!
God bless you, Eric!
Heather Marshall
I just have one thing to say. Whoever that young man holding the microphone was…he certainly was good looking. So congrats on having such an attractive crew.