Posts by Early To Rise
Turn Your Favorite Pasttime Into a Moneymaking Venture
“Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.” – Reggie Leach What’s your favorite thing? Golfing? Gardening? Poetry? Sports? It doesn’t make any difference what it is, there is a way to make a living from it — maybe even a very good living. Today, let’s talk about earning…
Read MoreUnderstanding What Makes Your Customers Tick
“‘Cherry-ripe, ripe, ripe,’ I cry, / ‘Full and fair ones; come and buy’” – Robert Herrick Conventional marketing wisdom says that people buy most products and services for emotional reasons — and that the emotions that most motivate buying are greed and fear. If you can figure out how to equate your product with avoiding…
Read MoreStay in Touch and Reap the Benefits
“Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.” – William Butler Yeats If you are an executive — even the CEO — of your business, consider writing a note once a week or even once a month in which you express, in the most informal way you can, your thoughts…
Read MoreHow to Think Like a Wealth Producer
“I care not so much what I am in the opinion of others, as what I am in my own; I would be rich of myself, and not by borrowing.” – Montaigne The average Nicaraguan is born in a shack with a dirt floor. He earns less than $15 a week. Enrique, my gardener in…
Read MoreThe Myth of the Limited Market
A request I received this morning reminded me of a little-understood but immensely important principle of advertising. I call it the “infinite-universe” principle. If you know this principle and apply it to your business, you can make a lot more money and avoid a lot of needless bickering. The particular incident I’m speaking about involves…
Read MoreDon’t Disperse Your Energy and Intelligence
If you think it’s a good idea to stop working during times of crisis and “schedule a half-hour at lunch and 20 minutes in the late afternoon” to “focus on the news,” I have news for you. First, you shouldn’t be watching that much television. Period. Second, you shouldn’t be spending 50 minutes of your…
Read MoreJust the Right Amount of Impatience
“Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it.” – Jane Wagner and Lily Tomlin When it comes to stress, it’s not the external factors that seem to be the culprits — the deadlines and traffic jams and pain-in-the-ass people who have cents-off coupons on every damn thing they buy —…
Read MoreKill Your Customers With Kindness
“Sow good services; sweet remembrances will grow them.” – Madame de Stael Killing his customers with kindness has been the policy of PM, a restaurateur in my neighborhood, who has used it to develop a chain of eight or 10 businesses that are very profitable. Sometimes, he sells them and cashes in — but after…
Read MoreSell 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 MoreHow to Make Partnerships Work
“An honor is not diminished for being shared.” – Lois McMaster Bujold (“Shards of Honor,” 1986) Great partners make great partnerships — even if the partnership itself doesn’t work out. In my view, a great partner has the following characteristics: He has something besides money to offer the partnership that you don’t. This might…
Read MoreAppeal to Your Customers Heart and Brain in the Right Order
“Man is a mixture of desires that extend beyond his knowledge and often result in action conflicting with rationality.” – Charles A. Lindbergh (“Atlantis,” Autobiography of Values, 1978) The following story illustrates a million-dollar business secret. RP was unsure about whether he should buy another standard SUV or upgrade to the deluxe model. We…
Read MoreThe 14 Characteristics of Successful People
“There are admirable potentialities in every human being. Believe in your strength and your youth. Learn to repeat endlessly to yourself, ‘It all depends on me.’” – Andre Gide According to productivity expert Jeffrey J. Mayer, successful people have 14 traits in common. They: 1. have a dream 2. follow a plan 3. have…
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