Posts by Early To Rise
Eventually Every Good Businessperson Does A Catalog
“A ship in port is safe, but thats not what ships are for.” – Admiral Grace Hopper (1906-1992) Sooner or later if you are successful in business you will consider mailing a catalog. Catalogs are alluring sales vehicles, because they are relatively inexpensive (on a per-item basis), are generally well received by prospects,…
Read MoreDelivering Bad News: When To Write, Phone, Have Lunch
“Surely human affairs would be far happier if the power in men to be silent were the same as that to speak.” – Benedict Spinoza (1632-1677) Someone once told me that you should always deliver bad news in person. I didnt think much of it at the time, but over the years Ive come to…
Read MoreHow To Make Your Business Immeasurably Better
“Small leaks sink the big ships.” – American proverb One of the ideas Im going to come back to over and over again is what I call the theory of incremental degradation that you can eventually ruin your business by making many very small downgrades in the quality of the product or service you…
Read MoreGetting Yourself Addicted To Success, Step 1
“Want is a growing giant whom the coat of Have was never large enough to cover.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Conduct of Life A few weeks ago, I talked about what I call the junkies secret power. I said Ive always marveled at the ingenuity and assertiveness of the typical urban drug addict. In…
Read MoreThe Fundamentals Of Internet Advertising
“The most dangerous untruths are truths slightly distorted.” – Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, German philosopher (1742-1799) So much has been written about how different Internet marketing is from traditional selling. And there are real differences. But most of the differences are superficial. The fundamentals of selling are tied to the nature of the human personality. And…
Read MoreWhose Idea Is This Anyway?
“Possession is nine-tenths of the law.” – American Proverb Last night during dinner with several business partners, BK said, We all know that in business, ideas are the most important thing. I knew what he meant and it was mostly true . . . but in one important way very false. I wanted to explain…
Read MoreThe Connection Between Your Thoughts and Your Success
”The price of greatness is responsibility.” – Winston Churchill (1874-1965) If you’ve done some thinking about what you want from life, you may have discovered that becoming wealthy is not at the top of your list. This presents a dilemma: If you spend your prime time on some other goal, you may live poor; if…
Read MoreThe Underestimated Importance Of Firing People
“The trouble with human nature is that there are too many people connected to it.” -Milton Berle When you want to save a hammock of endangered hardwoods, you start by chopping down a lot of trees. You must get rid of the younger, faster-growing trees that threaten the good wood in order to let the…
Read MoreHow To Be A Better Writer – Fast
If youve been paying attention in class for the past two Thursdays, you should have a pretty good idea of how to write good sentences. Now, lets look at the big picture.If you want to be successful, you must master two skills: (1) You must learn how to break complex things down into their individual…
Read MoreWhen To Charge More Than The Competition
“My family pride is something inconceivable. I cant help it. I was born sneering.” – Sir William Schweneck Gilbert (1836-1911), British librettist Ive talked to you about the power of cheap pricing. I made the case that for many start-up businesses the most efficient way to successfully enter a market and gain a significant share…
Read MoreThe First Rule Of Business: Sell First. Ask Questions Later.
“The first blow is half the battle.” – Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774), She Stoops to Conquer Two separate start-up ventures recently profiled in Success magazine illustrate the importance of what I will pompously dub MMFs First Rule of Business: Sell first. Ask questions later. What I am about to say applies to starting new businesses in…
Read MoreThe Second Great Secret Of Growing A New Business
“A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up and outpace.” –Ovid, The Art of Love Last week I talked about price competition and why nothing else is more important to the success of a new business. Underpricing the competition is the single strongest way to enter a…
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