Tips for Better Email Marketing
“Three hours of writing require 20 hours of preparation. Luckily I have learned to dream about the work, which saves me some working time.” – John Steinbeck (Steinbeck: A Life in Letters, 1975) Inside Direct Mail recently published a list of 48 tips for better e-mail campaigns. Most of them…
READ MOREQuiz Yourself: Are You a Good Leader?
“You don’t get points for predicting rain. You get points for building an ark.” – Louis J. Gerstner, chairman and CEO of IBM How good a leader are you? Answer the following questions by giving yourself a score of one point for every “inadequate” answer, two points for every “competent”…
READ MOREInvent a Product – And Then Make it Obsolete
“We cannot remain consistent with the world save by growing inconsistent with our past selves.” – Havelock Ellis (The Dance of Life, 1923) Very few products — and very few companies — can survive without change. What works today in the current market will almost certainly fail 10 years…
READ MOREProductivity Secrets from the NBA: How To Do Everything Better and Quicker — And Make A Lot More Money in the Process
Did you ever notice how many professional basketball games are decided in the last 10 minutes? Plenty. It’s a curious thing. Ten guys jump around like madmen for 50 minutes, the score seesawing a few points this way and a few points that way. Then — halfway through the last…
READ MORE10 Silly and Dangerous Things People Say About Stocks
“Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves.” – Rousseau (Émile, 1762) Peter Lynch was the most successful fund manager in the world from 1977 to 1990, when he ran the Fidelity Magellan Fund. The fund grew from $20 million to $14 billion in assets under his…
READ MOREWhy You Need a Career Exit Strategy
“Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower When you’re talking job security, hardly anything beats being a Rolling Stone. While nobody understands how the Stones have…
READ MOREHow to Start a Multi-Million-Dollar Catalog Business, Part 2
“Watch the turtle. He only moves forward by sticking his neck out.” – Louis Gerstner, Chairman and CEO of IBM I asked SL, “Is it still possible to start a successful business like yours working from home?” His quick, sure response was, “Yes — even in today’s tough business…
READ MOREHow to Start Your Own Multi-Million-Dollar Catalog Business
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin. Boldness has genius, power, and umagic in it.” – Goethe SL and his wife began their catalog business together 15 years ago with a tiny display ad for a reading lamp — and have grown it into one of the…
READ MOREThe Hooker’s Conundrum: What to Do When Business Falls Off
“It is always the latest song that an audience applauds the most.” – Homer (The Odyssey, ninth century B.C.) MN, who has recently taken over my role as head butt-kicker for a $90 million business, is — despite his best efforts to the contrary — starting to act more and…
READ MOREDon’t Be a Brand Junkie
About 20 years ago, a partner of mine was shopping for a luxury car. I had been reading the car mags and was very excited about a brand-new generation of luxury cars being introduced by Toyota and Honda. The new Lexus and Infiniti sedans had been strategically targeted by their…
READ MOREHow Do You Measure Up in the Wealth Contest?
“All wealth is relative; and so is its absence.” – Sybille Bedford (The Sudden View, 1953) How does your financial situation compare to that of a typical wealthy American? Following are some numbers to work with (provided by Dr. Steve Sjuggerud). The average wealthy American (based on numbers Steve…
READ MOREHow Much Should You Be Mortgaged?
“Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.” – Benjamin Franklin In April, May, and June of this year, 640,000 mortgages were in foreclosure. On a percentage basis, that’s 1.23% — the highest, by far, in the 30 years that the Mortgage Bankers Association has been…
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