Posts by Early To Rise
Develop Your Advertising Like A Blockbuster Movie
“Less is more.” – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe If you want to come up with breakthrough advertising ideas, it can help to practice a technique filmmakers use to develop blockbuster movies. The technique — which is applied to the movie’s essential idea — is called “high concept.” A movie has a high concept when…
Read MoreHow to Achieve Your Most Important Goal
“To be always ready a man must be able to cut a knot, for everything cannot be untied.” – Henri Frederic Amiel (Journal, June 15, 1851) One of the fundamental principles of the ETR system for setting and accomplishing goals is the idea that if you want to be absolutely sure of succeeding, you must…
Read MoreGoal Setting as a Means to Success
“You can’t set a hen in one morning and have chicken salad for lunch.” – George Humphrey (Time Magazine, January 26, 1953) – Every January, I write down a set of goals. Some are financial. Some relate to my business. And some are personal. When I put my new list down on paper, I feel…
Read MoreInvesting In Real Estate, Lesson 5
“Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.” – Henry Ford Here’s a very nice and easy way to make good money in real estate. It’s something you can’t do all the time, but when you can it’s golden. The idea is to buy pre-construction homes/condos in very promising, local developments. Let me give…
Read MoreF 2 Real Estate Lesson 2
“Seek not proud riches, but such as thou mayest get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave contentedly.” – Francis Bacon (Essays, 1625) My first experience in real estate was an unforgettable disaster. KFF and I were living in a little town house in the Dupont Circle area of Washington, D.C. I had just come…
Read MoreChoose Investments That Keep Risks Low And Profits High
“Be not penny-wise: riches have wings, and sometimes they fly away of themselves; sometimes they must be set flying to bring in more.” – Francis Bacon (Essays, 1625) If you get up early and make good use of your time, you will have a higher-than-average income. If you commit to saving a significant portion of…
Read MoreBecome a Marketing Genius By Asking Flattering Questions
“Mountains of gold would not seduce some men, yet flattery would break them down.” – Henry Ward Beecher (Proverbs From Plymouth Pulpit, 1887) There is a businessman I know, SP, who is considered by some to be occasionally bombastic, if not arrogant. And even from my braggadocian perspective, he sometimes blows a tad too hard.…
Read MoreWhy A Successful Career Is Like Being A Winning Racehorse
“To win without risk is to triumph without glory.” – Corneille (Le Cid, 1636) EN, a recent AWAI graduate who has written several successful nonprofit promotions, e-mails me every once in a while with news of her career, questions about copywriting, and suggestions for ETR. Today, I got a message from her saying she had…
Read MoreHow Long Should You Observe A New Employee?
“From now on, time will pass without artificial academic measure. It will go by like the wind. Whatever you do, do it now. For life is time, and time is all there is.” – Gloria Steinem (Commencement address, Tufts University, May 17, 1987) You hire someone new. You have every reason to believe he will…
Read MoreThank God For Your Health
“The first wealth is health.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson (The Conduct of Life, 1860) I woke up this morning with an urgent sense that I should tell you something that, in a fully awakened state, I realize you already know. But obvious things are often worth stating simply because they are so true. Nothing…
Read MoreGetting Out When The Going Is Good
“There are two fools in every market: one asks too little, one asks too much.” – Russian Proverb I was talking to my brother-in-law, RF, about stocks this afternoon. He was telling me about the beating he took in the market and his attempts to bring his portfolio up to the surface again. I was…
Read MoreNeither A Borrower Nor A Lender Be
“Have a horse of your own and you may borrow another’s.” – Welsh proverb When it comes to making personal loans, don’t. Don’t borrow. Don’t lend. As Shakespeare said in Hamlet, “A loan oft loses both itself and friend.” Borrowing from friends and/or family members sends a message of weakness: “I am not capable of…
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