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Take
Charge of Your Future
You
don’t have much spare time... you’re not exactly
rolling in the bucks... and you’re no Bill Gates when
it comes to technology.
We’ve
heard you... and that’s why we asked Marc Charles to
be our “advance scout” for profit opportunities
that you can run from a kitchen table, your desktop, or out
on the road.
They’ve
got to be inexpensive and easy to start, without a lot of
red tape or technical know-how, and still have great income
potential.
There’s
a reason they call this guy “The King of Business Opportunities”...why
not take
a look at what he’s got for you?
-
Charlie Byrne
Rules
Rule
By
Andrew Gordon
A
trading system removes much of the indecision from investing
by giving you realistic expectations, as well as guidelines
for dealing with various situations. For example, losses
are as much a part of investing as winners are, and a good
system gives you a way to limit potential losses before they
occur and then to recover from them.
There
are as many systems as there are days in a year. Basically,
they all fall into two categories: fundamental analysis (looking
at a company's management, financial statements, profitability,
etc.) or technical analysis (looking at charts, cycles, etc.).
So which system should you use? It doesn't matter ... so
long as you pick one and stick with it.
When
you find a system that appeals to you, test it out by doing
paper trades. Within 10 paper trades, you should know if
that system is going to work for you. Within another 10 trades,
you should be ready to trade for real, using small amounts
of money at first and gradually increasing your stakes.
With
the help of your system, you will become a more consistent
trader, winning more often and controlling your losses.
(Ed.
Note: Andrew Gordon, ETR's financial expert, is the editor
of our new investment service, The
Wealth Advantage. Join now and you'll
get a free special report on three companies that have the
very real potential of giving you up to 1,000 percent on
your investment.)
"Change
is the law of life. And those who look only to the past
or present are certain to miss the future."
- John
F. Kennedy
Innovation:
The Secret to One Superstore's Success
By
Michael Masterson
There's
an old axiom about business that every successful entrepreneur
comes to appreciate: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Why,
then, is Brad Anderson, CEO of Best Buy, fiddling with his
$30 billion a year machine?
Anderson
believes that if your company ain't broke, you should fix
it anyway. Despite the fact that Best Buy is the most successful
consumer electronics retailer in history, he believes that
unless it is constantly getting better, it is going to get
worse.
Anderson
joined the business as a salesman in 1973, and worked his
way up to being founder Dick Schulze's right-hand man in
1981. In the decade that followed, Schulze and Anderson built
Best Buy into a regional retail success story ... while continuously
tinkering with its working model.
Best
Buy's innovation strategy has been a combination of doing
the obvious things (like aggressively opening up new stores),
thinking ahead (getting into the computer service business),
and challenging convention (getting rid of employee commissions).
Today,
they continue to innovate by opening up superstores in China
, peppering U.S. cities with technology boutiques, and radically
expanding their "Geek Squad" computer service business.
In addition, Anderson is challenging the company's traditional
marketing program by implementing a new business model popularized
by Columbia Business School professor Larry Selden: "centricity."
In
a nutshell, "customer-centric marketing" goes like
this: Not all customers are alike. Some cost a lot to acquire
and then spend very little. ( Selden calls them "demon" customers.)
Then there are those who, however expensive they are to acquire,
end up spending a lot. If you can segment your buyers, and
cater to the big spenders, you will increase your profits
considerably.
When
Anderson applied this model to Best Buy, he realized that
the company had five kinds of buyers: the busy suburban mom,
the price-conscious family guy, the gadget fiend, the affluent
tech enthusiast, and the small-business owner. So he asks
his stores to figure out which type of customer is delivering
more to their bottom line. Once it figures that out, the
store changes itself. It changes its inventory, its advertising,
even the way it stocks its shelves - all to focus on that
key demographic.
Anderson
tested the idea on about 50 stores, and it seemed to make
a big difference. He then pushed to have another 154 stores
quickly centricize - but, with those, saw little return on
the investment. (A typical conversion can cost a store $600,000.)
He
and Schulze are not giving up on the new model. The company
has billions in cash, so they're not worried about temporary
setbacks. They are convinced that the long-term success of
the company depends on centricizing and on other innovations
that they haven't yet thought of.
I
think there is a great deal of good sense in the old "If
it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach. But it's the
kind of business truth that is best followed in some circumstances
and ignored in others.
In
my own business career, I can recall several times when I
changed something - some product or pricing or marketing
formula - only to see results go south. But most of the time,
the great businesses I've been involved in have succeeded
due to constant evolution.
Point
is, you can't be afraid to change things just because they
are working. All businesses operate in vital, ever-changing
markets. Competitors change. Circumstances change. And the
needs and interests of customers change too.
If
you don't keep up with the changes your market is going through,
you will gradually lose your share of it. If you maintain
a consistency in what you do, the decline will be so gradual
that you will likely attribute it to a weakening of the market.
And that's the problem with the "Don't fix it" philosophy:
If you keep doing everything like you used to, your business
will slowly but surely deteriorate. And you'll never understand
how and why it is falling apart. (I've warned about this
process of "incremental degradation" several times
in past issues of ETR.)
If
you have a growing business - and you want it to keep growing
- change it. Don't change it radically (if it's not broken).
Change it in small degrees. Push it. Prod it. Ask challenging
questions. Work always with this mantra: "If it's good,
then good. But how can we make it better?"
These
are the three key areas to focus on:
1.
Management Structure
Your
business won't grow quickly if your key employees aren't
willing to change their roles on a regular basis. Everyone
should understand that flexibility and speed are essential
components of success. If the business as a whole is to grow,
the important people involved in that business must be willing
to change their roles as often as is needed.
2.
Marketing
What
worked last year might not work this year. Growing companies
need to be alert to new marketing practices, both within
their industry and without, and to test out those new practices
whenever possible. By testing new product concepts, marketing
schemes, pricing structures, and media, advertising departments
can keep up with (and possibly jump ahead of) the market.
3.
Operations and Customer Service
The
objective here is simple: to always, always improve. Company
growth naturally and inevitably creates problems that reduce
the quality of the customer experience. Only by having a
staff of people who are dedicated to making things better
can you hope to at least keep them as good as they were.
Smaller
businesses move faster and must change more. In the start-to-$20
million phase of business development, you must be prepared
to "re-invent" your business frequently - maybe
as often as twice a year.
Everything
needn't change at once and not all changes will take place
quickly. But if you want to keep pace with your growing company's
potential and keep it growing, you will have to teach your
management team to accept (more than that, to desire) change.
Today's
Action Plan
The
natural process of "incremental degradation" isn't
limited to business. It can affect your personal life too.
So take a few minutes today to think about how much change
you allow yourself. Are you always tinkering with "good," trying
to make it better? Or are you afraid to make adjustments,
worried that you'll damage what you already have?
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Is
That Cup of Coffee Putting You at Risk for a Heart Attack?
By
Jon Herring
A
study of more than 4,000 people revealed that about half
have a genetic trait that makes caffeine stay in their bodies
longer. And, according to the researchers, drinking coffee
could increase the risk of heart attack for these "slow
caffeine metabolizers."
The
study, published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association , indicated that slow caffeine metabolizers
who drank two to three cups of coffee per day were 36 percent
more likely to suffer a heart attack. Those who drank four
or more cups were 64 percent more likely to have a heart
attack. The risks were even higher for those under 50.
Caffeine
affects different people differently. Some people enjoy a
cup of coffee and go straight to sleep. Others have a cup
in the morning and still feel jittery hours later. If the
latter describes you, it would be wise to curb your consumption.
There's a good chance you're a slow caffeine metabolizer.
Food
for Thought: Michael Masterson on Financial Independence
...
Think
about the term "financial independence." What does
that mean? And why should you want it? Here are some possibilities:
-
You
may want more freedom in your life. You want more choice
about where you live, how you live, how much you work,
etc.
-
You
may want more leisure in your life. You don't want to
feel compelled to work eight or 10 hours every day, or
five and six days every week.
-
You
may want more tranquility in your life. You would like
an end to the stress that lack of money sometimes causes.
You want to be able to sleep easily at night and enjoy
your days without worry.
Those
goals are all reasonable, laudable, and possible. And they
are all attainable if you follow the advice I give in Automatic
Wealth for Grads …and Anyone Else Just Starting Out.
ETR
Insider Report: Take a 5-Day "Summer Vacation" With
Early to Rise this July 12th to July 16th
By
Charlie Byrne, ETR Editorial Director
This
could be the one you've been waiting for...
This
July, we're going to take a small group of ETR readers and give them
a fully operating Internet business - the whole shebang,
from soup to nuts - in an intensive, five-day, business-building
program like nothing we've ever done before.
You're
going to walk in with nothing - no product, no marketing
skills, no technical know-how - and you'll walk out with
your own online business. Guaranteed.
Best
part? You get to pick your new business from an area of interest
you know and/or love. We'll get you up and running with everything
you need: domain name, running website, search engine submissions...the
works.
Most
importantly, you'll wind up with an online business designed
to throw off profits for years to come. And once you've been
through this program, you can copy the plan as often as you
like. The only limit to how high you can go is your own imagination...and
your motivation to succeed.
Spend
five days of your summer vacation with us this July, and
you might not have to worry about vacations at all in the
future...because you'll have the freedom to do as you please,
where you please, whenever you please.
Over
the next few weeks, we're going to introduce you to some "regular
folks" who have done just that...using the exact same
plan you'll be using.
We're
still finalizing the details on this unprecedented event.
But if the idea of building your own online business in just
five days - guaranteed - sounds interesting, you must reserve
these dates on your calendar right now: Wednesday July 12
to Sunday July 16.
This
is going to be an intensive, hands-on event. We're going
to take every attendee by the hand and walk him through every
step. Understandably, that means we'll have to severely limit
the number of people we can invite. This program will sell
out.
If
you'd like to get on our "hot list" - and be one
of the first to get all the details of this event - just
drop me a line at FiveDaysInJuly@ETRFeedback.Com.
I'll
put you at the head of the list, and if you have any questions
I'll try to answer those too.
*
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Word
to the Wise: Pleonasm
"Pleonasm" (PLEE-uh-naz-um)
is the use of more words than are necessary to express an
idea. It comes from the Greek "pleon" ("more").
Examples:
