Hmm... I have been busy all sumer and have not been able to devote much time to my wunderkind Prosper. He's growing very fast and maturing. I did manage to get a Prosper discussion group on eBay Click here if you are an eBayer
Went to Vegas for eBay live represented Prosper at the convention. Had dinner at the Red Square in Mandalay Bay with several group leaders, Chris Larson, Karen Appelton, Shira Levine and Andrew Martinez-Fontz. A great time was has by all and we left well fed with food and knowledge!
Attended the ASD/MSE show in Las Vegas the next month. Must have walked 75 miles and seen more fashion glasses than one person should see in a lifetime. I thought I was going to puke if I seen just one more rhinestone tiara way too many tiara's in one convention, it was like the tiara boat came in and they had to dump them somewhere.
This month I will be in San Francisco at the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance fall summit. Of course I'll stop by and see the new Prosper offices. Of interest is that Prosper is one of the sponsors for the event.
Prosper groupleader flyer spotted in Brooklyn.
Kudos to that group leader!
I think this would be this group: http://www.prosper.com/public/groups/group_home.aspx?group_short_name=Apple
Our two late payments, turn out to be not late, but were early payments that caused a bug. Everything seems to be working great. Prosper customer service worked dilligently with us to research the problems and help resolve them.
End 4/14/06
Dear Dave, It's priceless :-) send me a picture with you holding up a sign that say's "Prosper Rocks" and it's yours. www.zopasucks.com
Bob Parson's show "Life online with Bob Parsons" is a pretty cool radio show, you can find it at www.lifeonline.com
Seth Godin released a new ebook called "Flipping the Funnel". It can be downloaded here and best of all is that it is Free! Cost is ZIP, ZERO, NADA, NOTHING! (Seth makes his profit through volume!)
I just finished reading Flipping the Funnel. I loved this statement:
Turn strangers into friends, Then turn friends into customers and then do the most important thing,Turn your customers into salespeople
END 4/10/2006
Quick stats Today
303,250.00 loaned to 30 DocProsper members in 58 days. Average interest rate of 12.06%
124 members
83 lenders have decided to support the group.
#1 Group according to Prosper Top Ten stats https://www.prosper.com/secure/borrow/default.aspx
By my count that's 207 people that have made a decision of some sort that is aligned. The power of many people to make the right decision, demonstates the power of group intelligence, as evidenced by lack of defaults or late payments.
Are we Prosperians, smarter than a credit card companies selection algorythm, a banker or loan officer at a credit union?
Today there are 734 loan listings up, 584 groups.
Since day 1 I have said that there will be borrowers on Prosper who will not get a loan. I don't know why this comes as a suprise to reporters, media, lenders and commentators. The line has to be drawn somewhere? When the interest gets too high, it paints Prosper in a very bad light, I don't think thats what prosper is about, we are not in Vegas betting on longshot odds. We are not gambling, I'd like the greedy to get all they can, thats good, and thats a factor of human nature that draws lenders to take a chance on the Prosper platforn. BUT, common sense must override greed for now, Risky behaviour could cause the whole thing to crash. There is and always will be safer bets to place. If more are needed, they will come.
An interesting comment from -T
"Think of the marketplace at this point as a young child crossing the street.
You hold a young child's hand, to keep them safe, until they can do it on their own."
I'd like to thank the early adopting lenders and borrowers who have supported my group, All the credit goes to you! You are a Pioneer in the P2P lending industry. You are truly on to something!
end 4/5/06
I love looking at the groups on Prosper. I just looked at all 493 groups today, 500 groups just around the corner, what a milestone for Prosper?
Some of the groups I found interesting.
American Bikers Credit
Constance Russel Notice the ripoff from DocProsper? Cheaters never Prosper!
Harley Owners Group H.O.G
OTWA - Online Traders Web Alliance
Fanafi Financial
Jeff and Heather now have the largest group of borrowers on Prosper, When I looked there were 197 members, 85 listings and 33 funded loans. I really wonder how their high risk, accept anyone model will turn out, when group rankings are released at the 90 day mark? I also wonder if it's really worth it managing all those high risk borrowers and small loans? Time will tell, my hats off to Heather and Jeff, They have worked very hard at building their group!
Members of my group DocProsper's Virtual Credit Union, have borrowed over $253,067.00 to date on 27 loans, at an average interest rate of 10.96 %
I wish borrowers understood the platform better and would set higher starting rates, letting lenders compete to drive down their interest rate. Listing over and over and over bumping the rate up each time is not effecient for lenders or borrowers. I'm almost betting that lenders start to ignore the listings after the 3rd relist.
I've met some very interesting people on the platform, that will be able to assist me in other areas. The networking potential for groupleaders in itself, is worth the admission price for being a 100% shared groupleader.
Done a few changes to the Docprosper site based on input from others. One big thing you'll notice is advertising, that pays the rent if you know what I mean? so help a brother out, if you see something you like. If you would like Doc to answer a question in my blog, send it to docprosper@direcway.com
Many thanks and thats it for today,
Doc
P.S. Stay tuned for my eBay Prosper Conspiracy Theory. Ask yourself, Why didn't eBay develope Prosper? Were Meg and Bill too busy buying SKHYPE for 4.6 BILLION and they plain missed the boat? Me don't think so.
end 3/18/06
Blogging about Prosper from a group leaders prospective....
Okay where do I start? It's fun being a group leader, very enriching personally, hectic and of course doing it for free, puts a whole new spin on it that was never conceived. I hope some of the larger charities and organizations put affinity groups on Prosper. Would be neat to see a Clark Howard group or an American Cancer Society group ran by those organizations.
I've met some really cool people in my group, my social network is expanding and I've generated lots of new ideas to use in business. Sometimes you just have to look past the money. Find your skill and passion, the money comes later easily. One of my virtual friends from Houston, Diva. called me the other day and I told her about prosper.. She looked at it and kept me on the phone saying, "OH SHIT" for 2 hours... That was my initial reaction when it was revealed to me what I would be beta testing for CircleOne... I missed a complete nights sleep.
end3/11/06
