I had an interesting phone call a couple of weeks ago with someone wanting to “collaborate”. During the conversation she said, “You have to offer the whole package. Think of it as a soup to nuts business school. You could charge $50-75,000 or more if you segmented it right and it was spread over a couple of years. When you compare this to other programs out there someone would spend closer to $100k to buy this bit by bit. If you concentrate on the mechanics and throw away the other stuff people will eat it up like candy.”

Yes, but, I wouldn’t sleep at night.

There are plenty of people out there selling the mechanics of how to invest. Where I have always been different is in going way beyond that.

Anyone can detail the process to put out signs, find a property, get it under contract and resell it. There are common steps in the process and anyone can learn them and most anyone can explain them. Just look at how many books, courses and camps exist on this subject alone!

But, how do you turn that process into a sustainable business? How do you deal with a changing market? How do you deal with the unexpected?

See, that is where I am different. I am not interested in hand-holding someone through the mechanics of things like this. I like to help and often do not charge for my services. To be honest, there is a rather selfish reason I don’t charge for most of the one-on-one help I give.

In coaching others, I have learned I have to be selective in who I work with. I wanted to open it up to many more but I it does not suit my style. Those who are familiar with the recent adventures at the Field Guide will see a common pattern here. Sometimes, I am slow to see the obvious but I now know it is more to do with me than with the other SMEs at the Field Guide in relation to less experienced investors.

Life sometimes has an interesting way of teaching you the same lesson multiple ways until you get it.

For example, my son plays hockey. Now, to most outsiders, hockey looks like a game of brute force and intimidation. In reality, soccer far more fits that bill than hockey. Hockey requires the basic mechanics of skating, stick handling, positioning, etc. But, it also requires more, much more; things like strategy to get the right player in the right place at the right time when the puck suddenly “appears” comes to mind.

Then there is a difference in the quality of play due to experience and attitude.

For example, most kids who start playing hockey play in a house league at a rink. Now, unless the kid just can’t stay up on their skates, they are going to play and they are going to get plenty of ice time. Obviously, their experience level is low and they are still concentrating on the mechanics of skating, stick handling, etc.

In house league play, the coaches are volunteers and usually coach the team their son is on. Some are great some are not so good, but the kids get an opportunity to learn more about hockey and have some fun.

Above the house leagues there are various levels of play that are increasingly difficult with higher and higher expectations.

At the travel level, for example, the coach does not expect to have to deal with the mechanics of play they expect the kids to know how to skate and have demonstrated ability to play good hockey. The coaches concentrate on the more advanced concepts.

During this phone call, I realized I would suck as a “house league” investing coach. I don’t have the patience and to be honest, way too many of the mechanical things are just second nature to me. I don’t like always starting at the beginning.

I don’t like to do it, but I expected the other SMEs at the Field Guide to do it. They were right to push back, in fact, they should have pushed back harder than they did!

So, where is all of this leading?

I still want a way to help newer investors, it is almost an obsession now. I am going to talk to the SMEs on a call later today and I am going to see if we can’t come up with a series of materials to cover the aspects of investing. This will be offered as a series from the Publishers of the Field Guide for Investors. Much of the intermediate and advanced content exists but there are holes in the beginner level materials.

The advantage we have is there are lots of experts involved and subjects can be covered from “soup to nuts” and not at a $50-75,000 cost.

This past weekend someone asked me how the materials will be delivered. For the intermediate and advanced topics, I am looking at a number of options. But, for the beginner materials, it will be mostly books and audio.