Posts by Mark Morgan Ford
What the Hell CAN You Eat?
A recent study from the University of North Carolina confirmed what several of ETR’s favorite health gurus (including Dr. Al Sears and Dr. Joseph Mercola) have been telling us for years: Fresh fish can be toxic. The study found that one in five women of childbearing age tested had high enough levels of mercury to…
Read MoreExceeding Your Business’s Potential
Andrew Carnegie was one of the world’s wealthiest men. In 1901, his fortune was estimated at $480 million. That’s the equivalent of $10.8 billion in today’s dollars. As America’s dominant steel industrialist, Carnegie was considered to have a natural genius for business. Yet he claimed to know practically nothing about the steel industry. He said…
Read MoreIf You Want to Be Happy for the Rest of Your Life …
I was happy this morning. After stretching on my bedroom balcony as the sun came up, I made a pot of coffee and ambled to my writing studio above the garage. There, I put on a disc of Gregorian chants and began my daily work as a story writer, picking up the narrative thread I’d…
Read MoreNotes From Michael Masterson’s Journal: 3 Reasons to Get Married
Married people are much more likely than their single counterparts to rate themselves “very happy.” According to Princeton Survey Research Associates, 43% of the married people polled claimed to be very happy while only 24% of the unmarried people did. I was surprised to read that statistic. Married people, I know from reading other studies,…
Read MoreETR Insider Report: Our First “Big Picture” Theory of Success
A colleague wrote suggesting that ETR might be more interesting if we tied the subjects of our articles to current events. “I just wondered whether you couldn’t make ETR more topical by using the news to establish context,” he wrote. “Ford announced another 10,000 jobs lost this year … and, as you’ve been saying in…
Read MoreA $79 Investment That Can Make You Millions
About 25 years ago, my business partner and I started a private investment club for Americans who were interested in increasing and protecting their wealth by banding together and hiring dedicated experts to advise them on all sorts of international investment options. From day one, the club was successful. But when it was taken over…
Read MoreBob’s Bad Week in Las Vegas
Bob came by Sunday to smoke a cigar. I asked him how his week in Las Vegas went. “I gave two speeches on Thursday,” he said. “The second one, I killed. But the first one – I don’t know. I was off.” I was surprised to hear Bob confess to an “off” performance. Of all…
Read MoreMoney Madness
According to the February 13 issue of Newsweek, couples fight about money more than any other subject. The magazine didn’t cite a study. I suppose it’s one of those generally agreed upon “facts.” I don’t think K and I have ever fought about money. As far as I can tell none of the couples we…
Read MoreHow Does Your Company Stack Up?
There are at least four critical aspects to any business – four areas of activity in which success and failure are worked out. 1. Product/Service Over the long haul, nothing matters more than the usefulness of your product. There are all kinds of products for all kinds of customers. Making your product attractive to its…
Read MoreAre You Getting Enough Sleep?
If you’re not getting enough sleep, you are far from alone. An NBC Today Show/Zogby International poll found that half of Americans say they don’t get enough sleep. About 25 percent say they get less than six hours. Most people need seven to eight hours of sleep to perform optimally. If you sleep less than…
Read MoreNotes From Michael Masterson’s Journal: A Lesson in Music Appreciation
One thing a mentor will do for you is prepare you before they occur for things that will change your life. My father did a good job of this healthwise. He documented his physical tribulations so that I could see – 30 years ahead of time – what pains and aches life held for me.What…
Read MoreBreaking the Money-Making Habit
Making money is habit-forming. That’s a good thing – because it makes it easier to keep working. But it’s a bad thing too – because it makes it harder to stop when you want to stop. What compounds the problem is that most people increase the cost of their lifestyles as quickly as they increase…
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