What’s More Important Than Marketing?
“The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand.” – Frank Herbert “I’m not so interested in products,” my partner explained to a mutual protégé. “Products change with the times. I’m interested in developing a sophisticated understanding of how our market works.” As someone who…
READ MOREOne Way to Know It May Be Time to Get Back into Stocks
“Don’t be afraid to take a big step when one is indicated. You can’t cross a chasm in two small steps.” – David Lloyd George There’s an old market adage MMF and I generally agree with: The trend is your friend. The idea is simple: More often than not,…
READ MOREHow Bad For Business Is A Negative Employee?
Can one rotten apple spoil your barrel? The answer depends on two things: how good that employee is at his job, and how good the rest of your group is. If the employee with the bad attitude is a weak performer, you should get rid of him right away. If…
READ MORETransform Your Debt Into Wealth in 5-7 Years
“I have had a taste of it myself, and it’s mighty bitter. A debt is a debt, whether it’s margins or mortgages; and debts are all the same, no matter how you try to camouflage ’em. You never get much out of ’em except trouble. On the farm or…
READ MOREHow To Take A Relaxing Vacation
Three things will make any vacation stressful: 1. worrying about your job while you are gone 2. having to handle crises on the phone 3. fearing the inbox when you return Here?s how to solve those problems and enjoy your time off worry-free. * Block out the vacation days on…
READ MOREDon’t Be A Self-Improvement Junkie — Improve Yourself Instead
When it comes to self-improvement and success, there are two kinds of readers: 1. the perennial student 2. the future superstar Which are you? It’s an important question, and you need to give yourself an honest answer. If you read a lot about success but have not yet made progress…
READ MOREHow to Increase Your Direct-Response Sales 1000% Almost Immediately
“Be everywhere, do everything, and never fail to astonish the customer.” – Macy’s motto You can double, triple, or even quintuple your sales by using an age-old technique that’s easy to understand and relatively simple to employ. It was responsible for one direct-mail publisher I know going from a…
READ MOREForget Most of What You Think You Know About Feng Shui: Here Are The Essentials for a Productive Place of Business
I tried to believe. I really did. But half of what I read about feng shui seemed totally loony. So, once again, I’m going to rely on the benefit of 52 years of experience. Here’s the “ETR shui” on setting up a good office/studio. First, some observations and conclusion: *…
READ MOREThe Easiest Way To Convince Skeptics To Do Business With You
“You can convince anyone of anything if you just push it at them 100% of the time. They may not believe it completely, but they will still use it to form opinions, especially if they have nothing else to draw on.” – Charles Manson Using testimonials — quotations from…
READ MOREFive Ways to Fight Back If You Are Turned Down for a Raise
“Raise your sail one foot and you get 10 feet of wind.” – Chinese proverb I’ve never been turned down for a raise, but I have had the awkward duty of declining raises to dozens of people. Most of them simply sulked and disappeared. But a few of them…
READ MOREGetting Help from Rich and Powerful People
IR arrived at my office for our lunch meeting 20 minutes early. If there is anything worse than arriving 15 minutes late, it’s arriving early and expecting your host to drop what he’s doing and pay attention to you. If you must arrive early because you aren’t sure how long…
READ MOREHow to Use Deviance to Predict Your Future
“Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” – Niels Bohr In “The Deviant’s Advantage,” the authors argue that most companies never make big breakthroughs because they focus all their talent and energy on mainstream stuff — stuff that’s popular today — and not on the Fringe stuff that…
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