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Bill Bartmann's new venture is rooted in marketing, selling seminars to teach firms how to buy debt and forming partnerships with anyone interested in buying debt - and with the capital to invest.
Two-day seminars cost $2,995. Five-day seminars that provide the nitty-gritty details about buying debt cost $10,000. Bartmann has held seminars since November and offered that his two-day events average about 180 attendees.
Bartmann is culling his partners from the high-dollar group. He plans to set up between 150 to 200 partnerships nationwide, and already has about 100, he says.
So, is the new business really about the seminars or buying debt? "We're putting together two pieces that are not usually put together," he says. The seminars are about creating partners to fuel bad debt purchasing, he says, adding that he expects to make more money buying and collecting than on seminars. "There's a limit to how many people you can put in a room and what you can charge," he says. "The prospects of what you can make buying debt in a burgeoning market are not infinite, but they're unquantifiable."
Bartmann expects by the end of the first quarter to offer partners both front-end and back-end services - portfolio reviews, skip tracing, accounting and reporting functions.
Bartmann does not envision every partnership will be a big operation buying charge-offs from JPMorgan Chase on a forward-flow basis. "We see this as a cottage industry," he says.
Partners must contribute capital to the venture. There is no set required amount but, reacting to a ballpark figure of $10,000 plus the cost of the seminars, Bartmann acknowledged it is unlikely that would be enough.
Partners are welcome to contribute a lump sum to receive a certain number of services or choose services on an a la carte basis, he adds. Partners can run their business how they choose, such as either choosing to outsource collections or build an internal staff to handle the work.
On a Web site for his Billionaire Business Systems, Bartmann also is marketing 24 video seminars about how to run a business. The cost is $100. Other related ventures: marketing "How to Buy Bad Debt," a $29 CD/DVD advertised in USA Today twice a month; production an infomercial that should be ready by the time this article publishes; and his new book, "Bailout Riches: How Everyday Investors Can Make a Fortune Buying Bad Loans for Pennies on the Dollar," should be published in May.
