How to Make $37,000 in a single day

Seeing people question the $1000 price tag made me chuckle.<p>Some comps - Shoemoney's elite retreat for affiliate marketers is $5k a head for 2 days, multiple real estate seminars are $10k a day, heck even the "Rich Dad advanced seminars will set you back $2500 a day.<p>The price of admission is cheap for people that go in with the right mindset of:<p>A) Networking like crazy - one good connection is easily worth the price of admission and at $1k a ticket you're going to meet some interesting people.<p>B) Pumping the speakers for information - the entire second half of the day is set up for hands on consulting from these guys. Let's say you've got a GREAT app, these guys bring really relevant experience, they're one click away from Jeff Bezos and lots of VCs, a post on the 37 SvN blog, etc.<p>I have said my fair share of detracting comments about 37signals, but if I were closer to Chicago I'd be there in a heart beat for the above reasons .

This is really 37signals cashing in on years of blogging, so saying it was made in single day is a bit misleading.

This is a business lesson.<p>Say what we want about 37signals, their marketing and community engagement are truly exceptional. They've communicated their value so thoroughly that people will drop $1,000 to spend a day with them.<p>Why? Trust.<p>Regardless of any other factor, it's easy to trust the fact that these guys know what they're talking about. They spend every single day showing us, through their products or their blog, or many other channels, that they do.<p>Rails, for example, is one of the most brilliant marketing moves in the history of software development.<p>And maybe in the history of marketing.<p>There's no point to arguing the relative value of their training versus other consultants. The difference between these guys and any consultants who may offer training like this?<p><i>Everyone</i> in your industry has heard of 37signals. No one has heard of your guy.<p>Your ability to generate wealth is a function of how many people trust you can do what you promise. My hunch is that they're under-charging. But clearly, this is entirely in the realm of what the market will bear.

I don't read most of the 37 signals stuff, but it feels pretty cult-like for people to be paying $1000 for a one day "master class". I mean seriously, for the same cash you could get <i>all</i> of the following: a professional logo designed for your business (~$100?), a 3 hour consultation on your pitch with a copywriter or speech writer (~$100?), 2 hours with an accountant ($200?), 1 hour with a lawyer ($200?) and then flying out to nice weekend relaxing listening to business podcasts and with two nice business books from Amazon on a south American beach (insert nearby cheap holiday destination, $500?). Also, putting your app/idea/code/whatever onto an "Ask HN" costs nothing. But if people are paying, people are paying I suppose. Furthermore, they must be masters of something to be getting people to pay that much and selling out the tickets so there is obviously something to be learned from them (although attending the event might not be required to learn it).

FYI, the event is not sold out yet.<p>Eventbrite holds a ticket for a while once someone clicks "Order Now". If they don't complete the transaction the ticket is released back into the pool.<p>We had a mad rush of people click the "Order Now" button which made it look like the event sold out, but there are plenty of tickets available.

A: Work hard for 10 years building great stuff that people buy.

"in a single day"? You're not serious are you? Jason and the team have been working to build their expertise and reputation for YEARS and YEARS (and YEARS) to get to this point. Far from getting $37k for a "single day", attendees are paying for the insight that comes from YEARS of 37signals' work. No one gets $37k for one day of work. They might have an additional $37k in their pockets in one day, but they EARNED it over years and years.

It looks like Amy Hoy (HN: ahoyhere) is probably going to net $50k today (or at least pretty darn quick) with <a href="http://unicornfree.com/2010/the-deal-30x500-launch-class-splained/" rel="nofollow">http://unicornfree.com/2010/the-deal-30x500-launch-class-spl...</a> too :-)

Here is the problem I see with this: $1000 is a price a big company would easily pay for its employees, as a benefit, to go attend a class on something. I think though that the content of this class would be more valuable to people who are trying to build / bootstrap new companies. But for the latter the opportunity cost is too high.<p>Maybe 37signals could do something online and charge less per person?

How do you know they're charging too much? If they don't sell tickets. However, I imagine they're going to easily sell every ticket. Supply and demand. They're running a business, not a charity.

You know what would be funny? If they sold 37 seats at $1000 and then when you get there they told you that's what they did.<p>All kidding aside, if I had the money, I would be interested in this. It is a bit steep, but I admire these guys and their business philosophy.

Given their success and popularity, that seems like a fair price.<p>How much do you think Steve Jobs could make in a day running a class like this?

This might be slightly off topic, but I see Ryan's name in the announcement, he did a very interesting talk about "Designing with Forces: How to Apply Christopher Alexander in Everyday Work" <a href="http://vimeo.com/10875362" rel="nofollow">http://vimeo.com/10875362</a>

Actually, they've only sold 7 out of the 37 spots at time of writing (see: <a href="http://twitter.com/jasonfried/status/27258896050" rel="nofollow">http://twitter.com/jasonfried/status/27258896050</a>).

They sold out in 15 minutes, so the price must be right.<p>Actually, considering it sold out so fast, they should most probably double the price.<p>If they were doing that full-time, that would put the activity in the $8-10M/year range. I imagine significantly under their annual revenues with apps. Not only would they make less money, they wouldn't learn anything new to talk about. So at $1,000, they're doing you a favor. :)<p>edit: looks like they didn't sell out in 15 minutes. I guess doubling might be too much then, but the rest still stands.

I'm somewhat new here, and expected some kind of story about how someone made this money at eventbrite. Instead it is an ad for a masterclass, targeted towards the readers of this site. Very sneaky. Also I would recommend the story links open in a new tab. Feel free to tell me if this comment is appropriate or not.

Thanks for this post. I just bought my ticket. I've seen other classes go for a lot more that offered a lot less.

Good for them. They've worked very hard and been extremely thoughtful about how they've built their business.

The tragedy of it all is that Eventbrite won't let you order more than 3 tickets in one go...

A: Sell seats to your pointless masterclass for $1000 a pop.