Hi Friends! 

By now, I'm sure you're aware that I'm launching of course this upcoming Tuesday. As you've seen, I've been offering special pre-sale pricing up to this point, but this Tuesday, the thing goes live. 10 sections, 12 videos, 31 downloadable documents and hopefully information that a lot of you will find valuable. 

Obviously, I've been pushing this thing quite a bit for the last month or so and as a result, I've gotten a good handful of questions about it. Lots of them pretty similar, so today I thought I would answer a few of the most frequently asked.

1. Why are you doing this? 

First of all, I didn't really want to. My initial plan was to write a book, but after being approached by a couple of different people in a few different directions who do/have done both, it became pretty clear to me that something like this would be a better option. The fact is, you've got YouTube, car magazines and message boards, but nobody from what I could tell has really tried to tie all this stuff together into a package specifically designed for the purposes of pure education. That was really the goal here. There's two buying outlets in particular (who shall remain nameless) that I have watched over the last several years try and deliberately cultivate audiences of the most uneducated, least equipped people possible. Once in a while, I run into these people out in the wild, none of them have anything nice to say and a lot of them either leave the hobby or become much less excited about it. Another thing I've noticed is the general pipeline of how this hobby works and it's something I've watched over and over again throughout the decade and a half that I've been doing this full time. The person that comes in looking for a base model, Mustang coupe, is almost always the same person that comes back a couple of years later looking for a GT350. It's not about the quick score with this hobby. It's about building relationships, enthusiasm and the people that have the most tools at their disposal have the easiest time making that jump. Simply put, there is some selfish components to this. I want to keep this industry and this hobby healthy and alive and smart, plugged in people make that reality much more attainable. If nobody else is going to make something like this, I might as well try.

2. What's the plan with this stuff? 

As of right now, I've got a 10 course schedule laid out over the next 3 years. I'm starting with the basics and then we'll move into more thorough and sophisticated components as we move along. This course and the next course are foundational and that's why they're being done in the order that they're being done in. Some courses will be extensive, multi-hour/multi-day flagship type experiences, but there will be some quicker, sort of mini courses that people will be able to get through in a day or a couple of days also. People on this newsletter will always be the first to know, so stay tuned and keep your eyes here first. 

3. Who are these products for? 

The first couple of courses are going to be more geared towards beginners looking to build a foundation on solid fundamentals. I think it's pretty likely that more advanced enthusiasts will find value here and I deliberately tried to throw some stuff in for people that aren't necessarily at the ground floor, but these first two in particular (Start Your Engines I: Buyers Blueprint and Start Your Engines II: Sales and Marketing) are constructed with buyers and sellers that may be new to the market in mind. 

4. What should I expect from these? 

First, I have built these specifically to work with the Teachable platform. I chose Teachable in particular because it has a long list of more integrated features that allow the course to be more thorough, offer more and work more seamlessly than some of the others that I looked at. It feels to me to be like more of a premium experience and that's something I wanted to provide students. Each section will contain a video lesson (which for the first course averages about 15 minutes or so), a section summary which provides a written overview of the lesson, a "Road Test" module, which calls for a real world actions in some capacity, like role playing or going to events or watching an auction or something along those lines and then a "Pit Stop" module, which is going to be your section quiz. For the first course in particular, there's very few right or wrong type answers. These sections are designed around giving you the tools that you need to put yourself in a mind frame to where you can make the best, most correct decisions for yourself. I'm not trying to teach you how to do things my way. I'm trying to teach you how you can learn to do things your way.

5. What's the best way for me to take these? 

I don't think there's really a best way, but the manner I would approach these if I was a student would be to get a three-ring binder, print everything out build a book that you can easily use as a reference. By the time you've gotten through all of these, not only do you have the lesson components at your disposal, but now you will have the book I was initially trying to write as well. Plus, with the Pit Stop and Road Test components, you will be an active contributor to that book, for which you will likely go back and rewrite numerous times. A lot of the stuff in the first two courses in particular is going to be evergreen and reusable and the worksheets provided will help you create processes and procedures for yourself along the way. Next, I would just be attentive. Again, I'm throwing a lot of information out pretty quickly, so don't hesitate to rewind where necessary. Once you purchase, as long as the course is alive on the Teachable site, you will have access to it, so you can go back and review whenever you need. I will also be making updates occasionally and as required as the industry shifts and moves also.

6. What is Z260 Insider?

Built on the Skool platform, Z260 Insider was created with the idea of continuing education in mind. This is a place where students can trade notes, interact with me more directly, network and socialize. I will also occasionally throw out Insider exclusive content and will likely do things like webinars and Q& A's and things like that when the time comes too. There's also places to discuss things that are adjacent to automotive collecting and investing. For example, there's a place to discuss stock stuff, fine art, watches, vintage guitars, etc. People who collect, tend to collect so I felt like this was a good opportunity for people to be able to expand other things that they're interested in and share those with other students and community members. At some point, I will open this up for outside registration, but for the time being, it's only really for Z260 Classroom students. 

7. Why does this thing cost so much? 

First of all, there's a lot here. Start Your Engines I is built with the idea of trying to help you avoid making mistakes. If $400 prevents you from making a $15,000 mistake, it seems like a pretty worthwhile investment. Secondly, I want people to be invested so they actually get involved and go through the process. Believe it or not, only about 20% of people that purchase courses ever actually finish them. 20% don't even open them and start at all. The price point is somewhat of an attempt to discourage this from happening with Z260 Classroom students. Would this thing be easier to sell in larger numbers at a $99 price point or something like that? Definitely. However, I would rather have less total students and more students who complete the course, then a ton of people out there who paid for it and got nothing from it. 

8. What is Z260 Premier?

If you got the emails, you already know. If you didn't, Z260 Premier is a list of the most engaged people who subscribe to this newsletter. Is everybody eligible? The answer there is yes, but that largely depends on you. There's a number of algorithm based automations I’ve built and things behind the scenes that sort of decide who goes where with this thing, but the safe answer is, if you open and/or engage with at least 75% of the newsletter emails that I send or more, you will automatically be added to that list. There is no cost to being added. Premier subscribers will receive early and enhanced discounts on courses and additional upcoming products (there's more coming), can be beta testers for certain things where required. This is also where I will send emails asking people for their opinions on the direction of not only this newsletter, but some of the surrounding products therein. I put a lot of hours into this stuff and I want to give you guys things that you want and appreciate. Premier subscribers are largely going to drive that boat. As for numbers, currently (as of Sunday morning) this newsletter has 20,493 total subscribers. Of that, 1,917 subscribers have qualified for Premier, so it is a limited thing and it's not something that everybody gets. Again, if you want to be added, just keep reading, vote in polls, leave comments and you'll receive benefits. Pretty easy! 

Anyway, that's more or less the general rundown and what most of the questions look like that people have been asking over the last month or so. Of course, if you have any additional questions, you're welcome to reach out by replying to this email directly. In the meantime, we've got special subscriber pricing on SYE I going for the next day or so, so if you're planning on jumping in, it's worth it to do it now. If not, hopefully one of the next courses will appeal to you. 

I appreciate you guys continuing to follow along and keep your eyes open for more cool things that are coming!

That's it for this week…

Darin Roberge

(Learn More About Me Here)

Start Your Engines I: The Collector Vehicle Buyer's Blueprint launches June 30 and is designed to help early-stage collectors confidently purchase their next collector vehicle. Whether you're looking for a classic car, vintage motorcycle or modern collectible, this course provides a practical framework for researching, evaluating, negotiating and purchasing the right vehicle while avoiding expensive mistakes along the way.

“I belong to several car clubs, and the combination of great cars, camaraderie, and shared expertise is hard to beat. I completely agree: if you’re not already a member of a car club, join one.”

- Anonymous