I don’t post most of my reviews to the main blog here (you can find a bunch of them linked to and summarised on my newly updated Reviews page) but this was so in tune with a lot of what I say here, that I wanted to get my thoughts in front of everyone.
Plus, you may already be considering whether or not to buy this. I know quite a lot of Aliventures readers follow Charlie Gilkey, who blogs about productivity for creative people, and Jonathan Mead, who blogs about self development – and they’ve brought their joint strengths together in The Dojo.
The what? It’s a martial arts name, and The Dojo, in Charlie and Jonathan’s words, is aimed to help you do more of what matters. As you might guess, it was definitely my kind of thing…
Overview
The Dojo is an 39 page ebook and a set of seven audio sessions from Charlie Gilkey and Jonathan Mead, aimed at helping you to do more of what matters.
The price
$67.
I’m going to be completely upfront here: I think this is high. I wouldn’t say it’s overpriced (The Dojo is quality stuff, as I’ll cover later in this review). I’d personally like to see it priced at more like $47 or even $37.
It’s only fair to say, though, that this is a high-level product. Charlie and Jonathan aren’t dealing with some new system for sorting your emails or filing your paperwork; they’re giving some very thought-provoking and powerful concepts. I’d be surprised if you don’t end up getting considerably more than $67 of extra meaningful time out of this.
What’s included?
When you buy The Dojo, you get:
- A “Start Here” guide to explain how to use the contents
- A 39-page ebook, with seven chapters
- Seven audio sessions, each around 10 minutes long. (They range from 8 to 13 minutes, and match up with the seven chapters in the ebook.)
Jonathan and Charlie don’t mention it on the sales page, so I hope I’m not betraying any secrets by saying it here …. my impression is that there’ll be extra goodies coming by email for owners of The Dojo. (I’m on the list, and I’ve already had an email about one upcoming extra.)
Good stuff
Powerful and Profound
I’m very much in tune with the way Charlie and Jonathan approach productivity and getting meaningful stuff done. If you like my posts here on Aliventures, and if you’ve enjoyed my guest posts on Charlie’s blog Productive Flourishing, I’m pretty darn certain you’ll like The Dojo.
These are powerful, important concepts which do away with all the folder and inboxes and check boxes that productivity advice so often involves … and tackle the roots of taking meaningful action and living, playing and working in a better way.
No Fluff or Time Wasting
I’ve sometimes bought ebooks which felt rather padded out. There’s no fluff here. Charlie and Jonathan make clear, concise points and they don’t waffle. The Dojo (the ebook and the audio) is short but powerful.
I’m particularly glad about this with the audio sessions, as I don’t generally like listening to material – I prefer to read. These held my attention, and there was no waffling.
Beautiful Ebook Design
The ebook is gorgeous, and, I believe, designed by Jonathan himself. It’s very easy to read on the screen, laid out in landscape format so that one page fits nicely on the screen. The font is very clear, too.
Bad stuff
I had some niggles with this. I’m probably being a little too critical here – if the price was a bit lower, these wouldn’t have bothered me. I’ll cover the audio and the ebook separately.
Audio
There was no background noise or static or anything, but there was a definite echo on the audio files which I found slightly distracting. In fairness, as my experience of online audio goes, these were good!
Personally, I’d have liked a few seconds of intro and outro music, because each track ended quite abruptly. A couple of sentences of summing up or suggestions for action might have worked, too.
Ebook
Although I appreciated the “no fluff” approach that Charlie and Jonathan take, I would have liked a bit more content in the ebook. If there’d been a short case study or example with each chapter, that would have helped me look at the ideas from a slightly different angle – hopefully sparking off thoughts about how I could apply them to my own life.
I’ve read Charlie and Jonathan’s blogging for months, and I was a bit surprised by the style of the ebook. It seemed a little stilted and dry at times, and I wonder if this was a result of merging two different (and individually very strong) writing voices, or whether it came about due to a little too much paring down.
Verdict
Should you buy The Dojo? I think this is a particular good resource if you work for yourself in some capacity – if you’re self-employed, or if you’ve got a side business. It’s also great for creative types, because Jonathan and Charlie both get creativity.
This is a powerful guide with many strong insights, from two guys who work as coaches teaching people this stuff. It’s pricey, yes, but it’s considerably cheaper than hiring either of them for an hour!
Go and check out The Dojo, and get ready to start doing more of what matters – in a stronger and calmer way.
(Oh, yeah. I’m delighted to be an affiliate for this one 
)
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t have a lot of experience with eBooks, but £45 for a 39 pages of content and a few podcasts sounds like daylight robbery. I think textbooks are overpriced in general and they still rarely top £20 on Amazon these days.
Things that would stop me buying this…
1. The price (a tenner maybe, fifteen quid tops. Buying this is a gamble. It’s all based on personal observation so YMMV).
2. The buzzword bingo marketing page (plain English please).
3. The lack of a sample chapter (this would be a large chunk of their product I guess…).
4. $67 seems a terribly random amount to charge for something and this makes me suspicious (perhaps irrationally so, but I like round numbers and prices that end in .99).
I don’t subscribe to the cult of self-empowerment, but I find your blog posts interesting and I can take something from each. Having read for a few months I’ve also got more than 39 pages worth of advice. And it was free.
Feel free to delete this comment if it seems an overly harsh assessment
.
Sam Strong´s last blog ..Campaign for Real Fear
My problem is that I *do* have quite a bit of experience with buying ebooks. But the first ones I bought were about $9 (Holly Lisle’s Create a Character Clinic and Create a Plot Clinic, I think) … and perhaps that set my pricing standard for life.
Ebooks often seem high-priced to me. I guess the price is justified by the material being time sensitive and often aimed at quite small markets (where there isn’t really an equivalent print book). If I bought paper books on blogging/social media/etc, they’d be quite out of date due to writing and publishing times.
For some reason, ebook prices often end in a 7. I have no idea why, I assume someone once tested it and found that it worked. I priced mine at $19 (Staff Blogging Course) and $29 (Blogger’s Guide to Effective Writing) because I don’t like the 7s either!
(Tempted now to make the next one $6.66, just for giggles, and see how that impacts on sales…)
I’d like to hear you say more about the cult of self-empowerment… hold that thought for now, and let me drop you an email.
I think your comment is a very valid view, and one which needs to be heard. It’s also the reaction (particularly to the price) that I’d probably have had two or three years ago, before I got sucked into the world of ebooks.
I really appreciate your perspective on the price, Sam, and I respect your decision not to purchase the Dojo.
That said, prices for ebooks are all over the board, but one widely accepted intro price is $47. The Dojo’s quality is far above an intro product, and had we priced it lower, some people would have thought it was too cheap and thus not valuable. Pricing is always difficult, but we did take a lot of time to think about how we wanted to price this one.
It’s interesting that you say that we use buzzword bingo rather than plain English, as well, because many others have appreciate the lack of buzzwords and standard techniques for getting people to buy. Again, it’s hard to please everyone.
There is a sample chapter available on the sales page, as well. Perhaps you missed it – or don’t consider it a real chapter.
I value creating and consuming free information; in fact, my blog has nearly 1,300 pages worth of free blog posts. However, “free” content isn’t really free – it’s free for you, but normally the cost of free information is displaced onto the writer. If we don’t charge for some things, you don’t get the rest. Having experimented with charging way, way less and having people not buy “cheap” products, we decided to try a different approach.
Also, how many of the books that you’ve bought gave you a chance to have a live Q&A with the authors? How many gave you follow-up support and additional material?
Again, I understand your perspective and I once said the same thing, and I don’t want you to buy something and willingly allow yourself to be robbed. However, there are different perspectives that draw the price/value distinction rather differently.
Charlie Gilkey´s last blog ..The Dojo: A Guide To Doing What Matters
At some point you’ve got to move beyond free. Some ebooks are expensive (my review of this one coming soon), but unless a blogger/marketer sells thousands, if not tens of thousands of copies of a book (rare), then they’re better off not creating it at all than selling it for a few bucks.
Nathan Hangen – Digital Emperor´s last blog ..From Zero to eBook Superstar in 5 Easy Steps
I agree with you here, but this caught my eye:
then they’re better off not creating it at all than selling it for a few bucks.
I think this is all about expectations. Sometimes it’s smart to create a product even when you know it might not make a lot of money. But what is important is to consider that once you cross the penny gap, you really have to think about the costs of marketing a for-sale product versus releasing a free product.
There’s also the whole Placebo factor to think about, too – some people will only half-use free products, whereas they’d use that same product in a much different way if they paid some money for it.
I love uncertainty and gray areas, but the ones that come along with pricing are ones that I don’t particularly care much for.
Charlie Gilkey´s last blog ..The Dojo: A Guide To Doing What Matters
Absolutely.
I think you’re better off giving something away than selling it for say, 10-20 bucks. My take is that it’s an ROI thing. Now that I’ve launched nearly a dozen products, I can safely estimate how many I’ll sell.
From there, I calculate the price I need to make it worth my while. That’s not the only factor of course, but it’s a major condition. If I don’t think I can sell it at that price, then I can do one of three things:
Lower the price and make it a 100% affiliate product (sell something on the backend)
Give it away as a list builder
Scrap the idea
I also like to test my audience and often times I use price point as one of those tests. If my audience finds my prices high, then something isn’t right.
Whew! I think I covered it all
Nathan Hangen – Digital Emperor´s last blog ..From Zero to eBook Superstar in 5 Easy Steps
Hi Ali,
Glad to have found you via DLM:-) Love the posts and while The DOJO sounds really cool and something that I’d want to have a look at, the price is what holds me back, more so when I convert it into INR!
Anyways, thanks for sharing this and love all the other posts as well..
Best wishes always
Prerna ´s last blog ..Book Review: Friendship for Grown Ups by Lisa Whelchel
You might want to subscribe to Charlie and Jonathan’s blogs (I linked to them near the top of this post) — they write on similar topics to the ones they cover in the Dojo, though not in quite the same depth or with the same focus. You’ll probably like their style!
I really appreciate this review, Ali – especially the bad stuff. I’ll take a look at the audio and see if I can take the reverb/echo off; I didn’t think to try that at first.
The idea for case studies is a great one. I honestly didn’t think of going that route, but I wonder how much the Q&A calls will help with that.
Charlie Gilkey´s last blog ..The Dojo: A Guide To Doing What Matters
Thanks; the bad stuff is niggly (and very much outweighed by the good stuff)!
Looking forward to the first Q&A
I have went back and forth on all this when we were launching How To Be Rich and Happy. This initial launch was $97, but we dropped that a day or so later and went down to $47. That was for a book that was 250 pages long and took us 2 years to write and included video tutorials and free phone ins.
Yet even at that price I still felt uncomfortable and it has nothing to do with doubting the value (of 15 people that bought at $97, 6 refused the refund because they said it was worth it). However, it does have everything to do with accessibility.
Many, many people cannot afford $47 and we were denying them the opportunity the get the benefit. In fact the people that probably could have used the book the most were the people we were pricing out of the market.
This is such a tough nut to crack and I doubt it even can be, but I do think value is a red herring.
If value were the litmus test then I have books that theoretically I should been happy paying $1,000 for because I have had that kind of value. The reality is it’s a trade off between cost of sale, time invested, what the market will bear and of course, value.
And yeh you’re right Ali, a lot of research has been done into procing and it was found out the figures with a 7 on the end out perform 9 and amazingly enough 5, so $27 will tend to do better than $25.
I’ve not seen any new research, but I suspect that with the proliferation of digital products that all seem to be priced the same, the benefit will be pretty negligible.
Tim Brownson´s last blog ..Education Sucks Worse Than You Think
I really feel you on this, Tim, and I’m so glad that HTBR&H is now 100% accessible, and you’re right that the value is there no matter what price it’s set at – even when that price is zero.
I also sense that I’ll be writing a post about why $67 rather than many of the other price points it could have been, but I’m careful that it doesn’t read defensively because that sets the complete wrong tone. That said – and I’ve shared this with Ali – I’m quite disheartened by how many of us accept that products in this niche have to go for less than a bunch of the business crap that people will pay 2-3 times more for without batting an eye.
So, let me get this right: if I give you information that theoretically helps you make a few hundred bucks, you’ll give me $200. If I give you information that can make a substantial difference to what actually matters to you, you’ll balk at $67. That makes sense?
As I said, I feel you on this one, Tim.
Charlie Gilkey´s last blog ..The Dojo: A Guide To Doing What Matters
Some great discussion kicking off here!
I personally *don’t* pay 2-3 times more for any business crap (and I would bat multiple eyelids if I did!) But I take your point that people do, and that it’s expected/accepted.
I do think it’s easier to price when there’s a clear return on using the information in a product in a very clear, systematic way (more cynically: without doing much work/thinking). When I priced the Staff Blogging Course, I pitched it at $19 because I was advising buyers not to accept less than $20 for a blog post. So the way I explained the price to potential customers was that if they sold just *one* blog post from reading the ebook, they’d have made their money back.
Charlie, I’m with you that the stuff in the Dojo is considerably more valuable than a bunch of technical tips … but I can also see why people find it hard to make a mental translation about the price of it and the value to them.
Look forward to reading more from you on this… it’s an interesting area (and a bit of a minefield) and one I’m struggling with myself.
No, I don’t think it makes any sense at all, but I think that’s definitely how it is for most people.
We were up against the same thing. ‘Rich’ is in our title because it’s what people think they want. Screw the happiness, just show me the money and I’ll be happy is most peoples unconscious belief which is why people are happy to pay stupid money for product that helps them sell product to other people for stupid money.
I’m sure we’re in some sort of giant pyramid scheme at the moment that is just waiting to come crashing down. If nothing else, it’s fascinating social psychology experiment
Tim Brownson´s last blog ..Education Sucks Worse Than You Think
Ali,
If memory serves, Dojo is the place where martial artists practice their techniques: sort of like a studio.
Dojo is where competitions are held, where the master teaches his/her students, and where you keep the fancy equipment for a good work-out. Stretching and other exercises can also happen in a Dojo. That’s what occurred to me, since I am a fan of martial arts. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong here.
This post struck me as balanced and objective. You’ve done a good job in promoting the work of Jonathan and Charlie: I am a fan of both blogs, to be sure, as you are probably aware by now.
For this reason, you are sure to emerge as a credible voice for people who want to purchase such works. Your believability factor, me thinks, is quite high. I also like to see such joint ventures and collaborations between blogging superstars. Synergy can be a good antidote to old wine, new bottle.
As an aside, I look forward to you spending more time on the guitar. It may take some time to learn the ropes, but you can do it. Your sister thinks you are uncool, but me thinks you are cool enough.
Maybe you can be a rock and roller, given time. Lots of people experiment with new paths. Cheers!
Archan, I think you may well be right! I’m pretty sure Charlie and Jonathan explained The Dojo metaphor on the sales page. I think the idea of The Dojo (as in the product) is supposed to draw on that idea of entering a studio and learning from mentors.
Thanks for your kind words about me, too. I try hard to be balanced and fair in reviews, because I know how much other people’s reviews influence my own purchasing decisions.
Not sure about a rock and roller, but I’m hoping I’ll eventually be able to play more than the Smoke on the Water riff and the first four notes of the Master of Puppets intro… (that’s the extent of my guitar progress so far!)
Hi Ali,
Charlie and Jonathan both provide excellent information on their blogs, and I saw The Dojo as a great opportunity to learn from them together. So, I bought it. Overall, I’m happy with my purchase, and I feel that your Good Stuff / Bad Stuff assessment is fair and accurate.
When people complain that things are overpriced, it’s often useful to ask, “Compared to What?”
- My wife bought tires for her car recently and it cost us nearly $600 (US).
- While we waited, we had lunch and it cost us $20.
- The last book on CD I bought cost me $30. It had 5 hours of audio, of which 3 hours was fluff. I appreciate that The Dojo was short and to the point.
- I’m going to buy Quickbooks shortly and it will cost me about $150.
- I’ve been looking at this cool new MAC and it is $2,100.
- The dentist charged $500 for dental work last month.
- It cost me $50 to buy gasoline for my car the other night.
Frankly, I wish everything was less expensive, but in most cases, you to get what you pay for. If people don’t feel it is worth $67 to learn from two wise men sharing lessons learned from their coaching businesses, then don’t buy it. Myself, I greatly enjoyed the collaboration (two heads are better than one), hearing information from the real-world, and having both the pdfbook and audios. I have zero regrets in spending the money and I look forward to the sequel.
Thanks Mike, glad you agreed with my take on The Dojo.
Great points with “compared to what”. I find that I can be a bit blind to expenditure in one area only to count pennies in another. I’m spending £4,200 (over $6000) on my MA course fees, and frankly the price of an ebook is negligible compared with that. If the ebook helps me get the most out of the course, it’s probably a good investment.
Ali, I really appreciate your balanced review here. I bought a copy of both The Dojo and Tim’s book, How to Be Rich and Happy. I haven’t had a chance to read through either one, so I can’t comment a whole lot on that at this moment.
However, I will say that I’ve been following the stuff of all 3 and know them all well enough to trust that whatever they put out is worthwhile. I didn’t hesitate on either product and thought the price was very reasonable on both.
That said, I firmly believe that whenever you buy a decent product, what makes it valuable to you or not is what you make of it and if you actually apply what you’ve learned to your own life and time. If The Dojo helps me free up my time to do what’s important to me, well, that’s priceless. And if How to Be Rich and Happy helps me be a little richer and a little happier, well, that’s priceless too. It doesn’t really matter how long either one is or anything else as long as I am able to get what I need out of them.
Personally, if I think I may not actually apply the advice of the product I am buying or I don’t need it, I don’t buy it. If I can’t afford it at the moment, I don’t buy it. That’s where things start to become expensive.
Naomi Niles´s last blog ..I’m a web designer…I think?
Thanks, Naomi. And make time to read ‘em, they’re both great books (and very readable — I think I read Tim’s over breakfast for a couple of weeks running!)
You’re totally right about making use of products. Dave Navarro’s great at encouraging people to do this — I don’t know if you have any of his stuff? He puts in worksheets and reminds you to print it, etc. I’m working on a new ebook at the moment, and I’m trying to figure out ways to make it as “actionable” as possible (with worksheets, a “start here” bit like Charlie and Jonathan provide, etc).
I’m all too aware that if I don’t make myself get involved properly, ebooks just end up gathering virtual dust on my hard-drive!
Thanks Ali for the review. You made me curious to check out the Dojo. I will make sure that I get it. Thanks again
Dia´s last blog ..Eliminate negative thoughts in 1 easy step
the way you wrote the review is very organized Ali, it made it very clear for me to quickly absorb all of the information you wrote, thanks
Farouk´s last undefined ..If you register your site for free at
I like how you honestly wrote the things you didn’t like so much about The Dojo. I’ll think more about it and decide if I want to get it. Thanks.
Julius´s last blog ..Do Blind People Use a Special Keyboard?
Cheers! I think it’s only fair to write what I really think, even when that might be a bit negative. I’m very aware that people may well choose to buy this based on my review, and I want it to be as helpful and as fair as possible.
I’m with Naomi on this, I’d be happy to buy products from all three because I follow them and respect them. Personally though, I waited patiently for the price of Rich & Happy to go down because I didn’t feel I could justify it at the original price. Okay, I admit I’m a cheapskate, because the info in there is invaluable, but I’ve got a budget and I try to stick to that.
In terms of the Dojo, I made sure I was on the advance discount list and got it at a very reasonable price – in fact I pretty much only buy info products at the advance discount price which means I can afford to buy a whole lot more juicy stuff than I would have been able to otherwise.
Having said that, I really need to follow your example Ali and go on an info product freeze for a while because I still have a lot of great tips and suggestions to put into action from the ones I already have..
Milo´s last blog ..Creative Types #1 – Bartholomew Owl (from eagleowl)
I think sticking to a budget is fair enough. You can’t buy EVERYTHING, however great it is. (Not do you have time to read/use it all.)
Being on advance discount lists is a great idea; I’m on several for my favourite people (Naomi Dunford and Dave Navarro both have lists, too.)
Good luck turning your info into action! Hm, maybe I should do a post about that…
Thanks Ali. I’d read that with great interest!
Milo´s last blog ..Creative Types #1 – Bartholomew Owl (from eagleowl)