PRIVATE ZONE: No Admittance!! 2 Team Pars, etc
Ok, you broke in. You're not deterred by signs.
But, it is SBR's zone, not mine. I'm jes' borrowin' it here for awhile. To satisfy my curioiusity and have a bit of fun.
For about 10 years - early 90s thru early 00s - I operated a small-time tout service. Football only, and later on the last month of college hoops and March Madness.
Got into touting kinda by accident. Was working at a sports marketing company and some friends & fellow employees began to follow my football picks. Which I gave free. Wasn't even thinking of making money from people.
After a few years it was becoming kind of a hassle with people, some I didn't even know at this point, calling me to get the picks or have me fax them out --- this was before the Internet, or before it really made it's breakthrough.
So, defensively, I began to charge a small amount. Mainly to limit the number of people bugging me. And most years I did well, with a few really good years. And the neg years weren't bankroll busters.
But had only a few dozen subscribers. In the last three years I ran this thing, I did start doing some small promotion and advertising. Like in sports sheets and local papers, and by buying a mailing list of former tout clients.
Nothing huge, but maybe tripled my permanent client base. For several reasons that was big enough for me.
In the penultimate year I decided to make a bold offer: other than a very small registration fee, I would give the season's picks FREE. Except that I would pinpoint two teams each week and ask each client to make a $30 parlay wager on them. For me, and remit immediately after winning the net profit.
I made the offer partly out of curiousity, to see how it would go. I know tht most casual bettors love parlays (tho I rarely, then and now, bet them); and, I was tiring of running the service, with other things starting to take a lot of my time.
I did learn in running this service that clients, most of them, DEMAND tht the tout exhibit an absurd degree of sureness and confidence. I mean, a guy could be a doctor or a bank president, but when he starts to bet sports he becomes a blithering and naive idiot.
Breakfast time, back later with the rest of this diatribe, and of course THE PICKS. lol
But, it is SBR's zone, not mine. I'm jes' borrowin' it here for awhile. To satisfy my curioiusity and have a bit of fun.
For about 10 years - early 90s thru early 00s - I operated a small-time tout service. Football only, and later on the last month of college hoops and March Madness.
Got into touting kinda by accident. Was working at a sports marketing company and some friends & fellow employees began to follow my football picks. Which I gave free. Wasn't even thinking of making money from people.
After a few years it was becoming kind of a hassle with people, some I didn't even know at this point, calling me to get the picks or have me fax them out --- this was before the Internet, or before it really made it's breakthrough.
So, defensively, I began to charge a small amount. Mainly to limit the number of people bugging me. And most years I did well, with a few really good years. And the neg years weren't bankroll busters.
But had only a few dozen subscribers. In the last three years I ran this thing, I did start doing some small promotion and advertising. Like in sports sheets and local papers, and by buying a mailing list of former tout clients.
Nothing huge, but maybe tripled my permanent client base. For several reasons that was big enough for me.
In the penultimate year I decided to make a bold offer: other than a very small registration fee, I would give the season's picks FREE. Except that I would pinpoint two teams each week and ask each client to make a $30 parlay wager on them. For me, and remit immediately after winning the net profit.
I made the offer partly out of curiousity, to see how it would go. I know tht most casual bettors love parlays (tho I rarely, then and now, bet them); and, I was tiring of running the service, with other things starting to take a lot of my time.
I did learn in running this service that clients, most of them, DEMAND tht the tout exhibit an absurd degree of sureness and confidence. I mean, a guy could be a doctor or a bank president, but when he starts to bet sports he becomes a blithering and naive idiot.
Breakfast time, back later with the rest of this diatribe, and of course THE PICKS. lol