Triple Your Chances of Accomplishing Your Greatest Goal

  “Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success.” – Henry Ford If you want to triple or perhaps even quadruple your chances of success, partner up with someone who will work with you toward your goal. Two heads are generally better than one — not just twice as good,…

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Why You Should Never Wrestle With a Pig

  “Common sense suits itself to the ways of the world.” – Joseph Joubert (Pensées, 1842) I like Mark H. McCormack’s new book, “Never Wrestle with a Pig,” not only because of its intriguing title but also because he admits on Page 1 that he doesn’t have a computer and has managed to successfully run…

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Buy Into an Existing Franchise – Or Turn Your Business Into One

“How sweet an emotion is possession! What charm is inherent in ownership!”  – David Grayson (Adventures in Contentment, 1907) It’s an interesting problem … er … opportunity. Investing in a franchise — as this person correctly guesses — isa very different ball of wax than owning your own business.  Have you ever considered buying a…

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Why You Don’t Want Your Employee-Turnover Rate at Zero

“Always do right. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” – Mark Twain Employment experts will sometimes tell you that the lower your employee turnover is, the stronger your company is. If you accept this claim, you are going to be attracted to all kinds of schemes that aim at making employees happy.…

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What Do You Do When a Friend Asks You for Money?

“My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.” – Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics, fourth century B.C.) They say you shouldn’t mix business with either friendship or family. And they may be right. But I’ve done a lot of both and have mostly good things to say about it.…

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Three Steps To Making Your Direct-Mail Copy Super-Strong

I’ve been directly or indirectly responsible for more than a billion dollars’ worth of direct-mail copy over a span of more than 20 years. During that time, I’ve never stopped trying to find new and better ways to make the copy stronger. What follows is a simple but (for me, so far) extremely effective and…

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