Howdy! Rick Raddatz here.

WOW -- very interesting thread. Lots of guesses on people's part about my thinking (or lack of it) and motivation, etc. We've got ageism and racism in the conversation. Reminds me of a good old philosophy 101 after-class discussion in the hallway, or back at the dorm.

ok.. so now I get to reveal the real truth.

1) BEST POST AWARD: Of all the posts, Ken Calhoun is most on-target. The real issue here is the confusing USPs. I was fully aware of that when I wrote the email. But early June is a dead time for people with families, so it was a great time to try the singles-week idea. I thought I'd toss it out there and see what happens. We got a lot of nibbles, but quickly realized the dual USPs made it broken, and so we directed leads towards a non-singles workshop in July. A lot of people outside the age range called in wanted to be put on a list for when we do a group for their age.

2) HOW THE RANGE WAS CHOSEN: The age-range was a simple decision based on the fact that culturally, on average, younger women marry older men. I'm not saying it happens that way every time, but hey -- if you don't know the difference between the aggregate and an individual case you are losing money in your copywriting. No slight was intended. Dating *has* an age-factor... and so it *was* appropriate. (even if communicated poorly)

3) HOW THE RANGE WAS VALIDATED: The age-range was run past one person -- my marketing manager, who happens to be a 40+ year old woman herself. She blessed it. I even confirmed it with her -- are you sure? I asked. Yes, she said. So although a slight to the sensitivity to 40+ year-old women was clearly made, it was not made by a man alone!

4) MY WIFE SPEAKS OUT: It turns out, I should have run it past my wife. I just described the original email to her and she freaked out "YOU DIDN'T" she gasped. lol. I said "Look, women on average date older men, right." She replied, "That doesn't matter! Women don't like to be reminded of their age. They can't control it. They're very sensitive to it." Everyone I guess except my marketing manager! : )

5) BIG CONCLUSIONS:

a) I should have limited the men to guys making $1,000,000+ after tax profits and women under 25 weighing no more than 115 lbs taller than 5' 10"... then I would have offended more people! : )

b) I will be using this lesson learned in my new book about male and female energy in business, family, and politics. So I'm very glad this happened.

c) Whenever you experiement you run a risk. And although we romanticize taking risks, sometimes (if you take big enough risks) you end up losing on the downside. If, from that downside event, you learn to slow down, take fewer riskes, to be more cautious, then you have probably learned the wrong lesson! The lesson learned here is 2 things -- some women are more sensitive about age than I realized and never mix USPs in one sale.

I'm sure there's more lessons, but I think I touched on most of the larger points.

Enjoy!

- Rick

p.s. I will not be replying to this thread again, so feel free to debate amongst yourselves... this is a great topic.

p.p.s. Ohh -to the person who said that my absence of a reply was admission of something funny going on... I am offended! : ) No, seriously I don't read blogs or forums. I'm on very few people's lists. For the next six months I am working just 1 hour a week as I have a new baby. I only found out about this thread today because it appeared on my google Alerts for EntrepreneurRetreatNetwork. So mabye the real lesson for all of us is to calm down a little, and assume the best of each other. naaaaahh

p.p.p.s. Deb, I would be honored to have you back on my list some time in the future if you deem me worthy. Best wishes.