* Highly
Recommended *
How
Much Money Can YOU Make By Copying This "Mistake"?
How
did Vicki Smith accidentally ‘hotwire’ the Internet
and turn it into the goose that laid the golden egg?
Well,
imagine a huge fortress with steep, heavily defended walls
and a great big, drawbridge to get through. Inside that fortress
is the huge pile of wealth there is to be made on the Internet.
Now imagine trying to scale those walls with no equipment and
never having done anything like it before. That is what many
people try to do...
But
what did Vicki do? By mistake, she got ‘lost’ and
wandered around the back of that fortress and found a ‘hidden’ door
which lead straight in. A solid gold door which opened up a
gateway to riches…
It’s
an opportunity which really does work, that anyone can follow
and put into practice quickly in just an hour of your spare
time from home.
Read
about Vicki’s good fortune...
-
Patrick Coffey
Dear
Michael Masterson: "Should I look for another company?"
"I
am a big fan of your book Automatic
Wealth and have read part of your most
current tome Seven
Years to Seven Figures. Your advice for
obtaining a huge increase in salary by obtaining a financially
valuable skill, I think, is right on target. However, I'm wondering
will this work in an environment such as an accounting firm?
"Long
story short, I work as a first-year staff tax accountant in
a small but growing firm that services middle-market companies
of up to $100M in revenues. I learned that our firm, as do
most accounting and law firms, makes a profit based on the
new business brought in by the firm's partners. So it seems
in order to have a direct impact on the firm's sales and profit
center, one has to be a partner. Something that cannot be accomplished
in the space of anything short of seven to 10 years.
"My
question is this: Should I look for another company where your
advice of impacting profits can be more easily implemented
in less than seven years? Or is there another way to increase
my income to at least $100K in less than two years in my current
position?"
Jerrold
H. Stallworth
Northbrook, IL
Dear
Jerrold,
You
work for an accounting firm whose principal method of attracting
new clients is to rely on and compensate partners for finding
them. You say you can't become a partner in time to hit your
income goal in seven years. Should you get out?
Yes.
If your goal is to have a net worth of a million or more in
seven years or less, yes. Without a doubt.
Getting
wealthy as an employee takes more than JUST learning and employing
a financially valuable (and valued) skill. I make this point
every time I write about this subject. It takes strategy. You
have to practice that skill within the context of a growing
business in a growing industry.
Your
business - the professional firm you are working for - is set
up in a very conventional way that is perfect for slow and
steady growth. If you wanted to get rich relatively slowly
- in 15 to 40 years - this would be the place to be.
But
you are more ambitious than that. So what can you do?
If
you want to stay in the accounting field, you are going to
have to identify the fastest-growing portion of that industry
and locate or create a business that can become a leader in
that sector. Keep reading Seven
Years to Seven Figures. Chapter 10 is
all about Brad Solomon, an accountant who turned his expertise
into a hugely profitable business. Perhaps Brad's story will
give you some ideas on how to go about transitioning from your
current job to a faster track to wealth.
Along
the way, you will certainly have to make sacrifices. You will
have to learn lots about marketing and sales and product development.
But you can do all that and you can build
a great business that will make you wealthy. Start planning
today!
-
Michael Masterson
"Self-respect
is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows
with the ability to say no to oneself."
-
Abraham Joshua Heschel
The
Prerequisite to Loving Your Neighbor
By
Robert Ringer
When
psychologists look at the most heinous murderers of our time
- from Charles Manson to John Wayne Gacy to Jeffrey Dahmer
to Ted Bundy to Dennis Rader (the infamous BTK serial killer)
- they’re pretty much in agreement that all of these
less-than-human creatures had, or have, two things in common:
a lack of self-respect and an abundance of self-hatred. It
seems clear that the inner conflicts of these monsters comprise
a significant part of their motivation to wreak vengeance on
others.
I
bring up this distasteful subject because I see a great deal
of self-contempt in many people I encounter. It isn't necessary
for a person to tell me he lacks self-respect. You can see
it in his facial expressions and body language. You can hear
it in his words and the tone of his voice.
People
who lack self-respect leave clues. Territorial people, for
example - who saturate the workplace - always lack self-respect.
There are no exceptions.
The
same is true of people who defile their bodies (e.g., with
facial tattoos, multiple piercings, pink/purple hair) in order
to attract attention. School bullies - a group I have studied
in some detail - are also notorious for their lack of self-respect.
If
a person dislikes himself and has a low regard for his own
abilities, he is unlikely to respect others. Such a person
may not become a murderer, but, in all too many cases, he will
harbor resentment - even hatred - for people in whom he identifies
his own intolerable flaws.
This
is why self-love (not narcissism!) is the foundation
of a peaceful society. If you don't love yourself, how can
you "love thy neighbor"? As theologian Joshua Liebman
phrased it, "We must have good domestic relations with
ourselves before we can have good foreign relations with others."
How
do you learn to overcome feelings of inadequacy and perhaps
even a dislike for yourself? Philosophers and psychologists
have been wrestling with this question for centuries. The truth
is, there is no simple answer and certainly no one answer.
However,
there are certain actions you can take that are guaranteed
to bolster your self-respect. Following are some of those that
I believe to be among the most important.
Action
No. 1: Rid yourself of the delusion that people
of great wealth and/or fame are superior to you. I've known
my share of rich and famous people, and have found them to
be, as a group, more insecure than the average person.
Which
is why you should never allow yourself to become overly impressed
by the fame and fortune of others, and never sell yourself
short because of someone else's success. You are a unique human
being - and, without even meeting you, I'm certain you have
a number of unique talents.
Why?
Because the universe is not a cookie-cutter factory. No two
stars are alike, no two snowflakes are alike, and no two human
beings are alike.
Action
No. 2: Show respect for others. You don't have to
respect a person's behavior, but you are morally obliged
to respect his time. Which means, first and foremost, being
on time when it comes to phone calls, meetings, and other
commitments.
When
I was just starting out in business, I was notoriously late
to meetings. What I recall most about arriving late was that
it made me feel inferior. I felt like I was on the defensive
before I even entered the room.
On
a couple of occasions, when the person with whom I was to meet
refused to see me because I was so late, I felt like a bug.
Thankfully, the pain ultimately became great enough to motivate
me to become obsessed with being early.
These
days, I usually show up for appointments 15 to 30 minutes early.
Sometimes even an hour early if traffic turns out to be much
lighter than I expected. I still miscalculate now and then,
but it's rare. And since I usually have a good book or other
important reading material with me, being early is never a
waste of my time.
Action
No. 3: Deal only with people who demonstrate - through
their actions - that they are anxious to deal with you. If
someone doesn't return your phone calls, it is the height
of rudeness. But the important thing to understand is that
he is sending you a message that you are a low priority on
his "to-do" list.
Even
worse is when you allow yourself to get maneuvered into a position
of having to justify your existence. If you ever find yourself
in such a situation, have the presence of mind to make it clear
to the other party that you don't have time to be interrogated.
Then make your exit.
As
an alternative, skip the explanation and just exit immediately.
The best self-respect builder you will ever find is the word "Next!" When
you possess self-respect, you recognize that you don't need
any one person or any one deal. You know you're independent
when you deal with whom you want, when you want, and, to the
extent possible, on your terms.
Action
No. 4: Strive to lead a concentric life. By this
I mean making certain that your actions align with what you
know, in both your mind and heart, to be right. Pretension
and hypocrisy are among the most vile human traits, so be
vigilant about always displaying the real you.
This
often means renouncing childish behavior and accepting adult
responsibilities such as marriage, family, and a profession.
It means understanding that your actions affect those around
you in myriad ways that are not always obvious on the surface.
It's
much like throwing a pebble into a pond and watching increasingly
larger ripples form. Every action you take causes ripples that
affect many other lives, including those of people you may
never meet.
Remember,
self-respect comes from within. You do not have the right to
demand respect from others, but you do possess the right to
refuse to deal with people who do not show you respect. As
a general rule, however, the more you demonstrate that you
respect yourself, the more likely others are to respect you.
[Ed.
Note: Get Robert Ringer's unique perspectives and profound
wisdom ... and join the millions of entrepreneurs, business
owners, salespeople, and individuals in all walks of life who
have taken gigantic steps toward achieving their personal and
professional goals. Click
here for three of the most powerful personal-development
books of all time on CD.]
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Beat
Osteoporosis Without Drugs or Calcium
By
Al Sears, MD
One
of my toughest jobs as a doctor is dispelling myths about medicine.
Case in point: A 55-year-old woman comes to my clinic. Her
previous doctor diagnosed her with osteoporosis and gave her
drugs to prevent bone loss. His parting words, "Osteoporosis
is a natural part of aging. Here's a prescription ..."
Here
are the facts: Aging does not make osteoporosis inevitable.
A lack of exercise does. It causes muscles to become smaller
and weaker. This loss of muscle mass combined with the hormonal
changes of aging leads to a loss of bone mass. Just as muscles
atrophy without challenge, if muscle force does not challenge
your bones, they become thin, light, and fragile. This is the
beginning of osteoporosis.
And
calcium supplements won't help. Hormones control the
amount of calcium that sticks to your bones. If estrogen levels
fall, calcium will fall away from the bone. Taking calcium
supplements will give you a short-term boost in bone density,
but that's it. Over time, your hormones will work against the
extra calcium and leave your bones brittle.
Challenging
your muscles and bones is the only way to prevent osteoporosis.
The ideal exercise routine will challenge your large muscle
groups enough to put stress on the bones. Try bicycling, running
in sprints, and calisthenics for your legs and back.
[Ed.
Note: Dr. Sears' PACE program is a great way to reverse disease
and prevent muscle and bone loss. Hear him describe exactly
how the program works in his new audio program Supra-Aerobics.]
Marketing
Tip: Increase the Pulling Power of Your Ads, Part 3
By
Bob Bly
1. Offer
a free product sample or a free consultation, analysis, recommendation,
study, cost estimate, computer printout, etc.
2. Talk
about the value and benefits of your free offer. The more you
stress the offer, the better the response will be to your ad.
3. Highlight
the free offer in a copy subhead. The last subhead of your
ad could read, "Get the facts - Free." In
a two-page ad, run copy describing your offer in a separate
sidebar.
4. Be
sure the magazine your ad is in gives you a reader service
number that you can put in your ad. Use copy and graphics that
specifically point the reader toward using that reader service
number. For example, an arrow pointing to the number and copy
that says, "For more information circle reader service
number ___ below."
5. Consider
using more than one reader service number. For example, one
number for people who want literature and another for immediate
response from a salesperson. In a full-page ad for multiple
products, have a separate reader service number for each product
or piece of literature featured in the ad.
6. Test
different ads. Keep track of how many inquiries each ad pulls.
Then run only those ads that pull the best. Look for a sales
appeal, key benefit, or theme that may be common to all of
your best-pulling ads. Highlight that theme in subsequent ads.
[Ed.
Note: Bob Bly is a popular Early to Rise columnist,
self-made multi-millionaire, and the author of more than 60
books. He is also the editor of ETR's
Direct Marketing University: The Masters Edition -
a program to help you start your own successful direct-mail
business.
Subscribe
to Bob's free monthly marketing e-zine "Direct
Response Letter" - and claim a free
marketing library worth more than $100 - at bly.com/reports.]
* Highly
Recommended *
Start
Making Money Today
Interested
in getting a nice little side-business going on the Internet?
Or maybe even from your living-room table?
But
you don’t have too much money, you don’t have too
much time, and you’re not exactly Bill Gates when it
comes to technology. Sound familiar?
A
lot of people are in the same boat. The good news is that ETR
has heard you. And now we’ve done something about it...
We’ve
asked our colleague Marc Charles to be on the lookout for profit
opportunities that can be run from a kitchen table, your desktop
or out on the road.
Criteria?
They’ve got to be inexpensive, easy to start, and still
have great income potential, but without a lot of red tape.
They
say when you’re first getting your feet wet with a side-business,
the most important dollar to make is the first one. Well, Marc
is an expert at taking beginning entrepreneurs and showing
you how to make that first buck. He knows, because he's done
it dozens of times for himself, his family and his friends.
If
you've been dreaming about starting your own business ... now
you can get started for about the price of 2 lattes.
And
get this - you could be making money literally just hours from
now. Imagine the feeling of finally getting a side business
launched -TODAY!
Why
not go for it?
-
Patrick Coffey
Word
to the Wise: Xenophobia
"Xenophobia" (ZEN-uh-FOE-bee-uh)
is the fear or hatred of anything that is strange or foreign.
The word is derived from "xenos" - Greek for guest/stranger/foreigner.
Example
(as used by Ruth Brandon in Surreal
Lives: The Surrealists 1917-1945): "In
the embattled atmosphere of wartime France, Apollinaire's quenchless
appetite for the new was not widely shared. Xenophobia reigned."
