ETR: How to Get Fired

Dear Early to Riser, As a member of Early to Rise you've already gotten a full week of powerful, actionable advice that will change the way you work, run your business, set and achieve goals, and more. And now Michael Masterson wants to give you something special on Saturdays. It's totally free and part of your subscription to Early to Rise. The Michael Masterson Journal comes direct from Michael, and only Michael. In his off-the-cuff, informal style you'll get even more strategies, tips, and techniques for jumpstarting your wealth, health, and success. You get his no holds barred guidance, plus first crack at his latest breakthrough business ideas and marketing strategies. He gives you both specific recommendations in the world of wealth-building and investing and in-depth explorations of economic issues. If a myth needs busting, Michael is there… if the Wall Street Journal got it wrong, he'll expose it… if the Fed needs to be knocked down a peg, he'll be ready… and if there is something you should be doing right now to accelerate your success, Michael will tell you about it. The Michael Masterson Journal will arrive in your inbox each Saturday. Don't miss it! Enjoy! Cheers, MaryEllen Tribby Publisher and CEO, Early to Rise

Saturday - August 29, 2009

Master the science of selling and you will distinguish yourself from 99 percent of your fellow workers. The world is filled with incompetent marketers. In the long run, they can ruin a perfectly good business. But in many companies, they work under the radar. They show up. They attend meetings. And they follow directions. But they add nothing to the bottom line. Then there are the competent laggards. They understand marketing, but approach it with the enthusiasm of a sloth. They are often kept on the payroll because they have specific skills that their managers lack, and their bosses are afraid to let them go. But competence is not enough in a competitive environment. Mastery and excellence are needed for long-term success. I don't understand marketers who are content to settle for competence. They work the same hours as their masterful colleagues, but enjoy their work less because they are no longer learning new things. They may think they are "cheating the system." But in the end, as Mrs. Grow, my high school English teacher used to say, they are only cheating themselves. The masterful marketer has every advantage over his competent and incompetent colleagues. He likes his job better. He enjoys more job security. And he makes more money -- usually much more money. I am going to presume that you have entered the ranks of the masters. You may not be a master yet, but the decision to become one puts you at the top of the marketing food chain. Make no mistake about that. Welcome to the fraternity of individuals who are determined to learn more about marketing every day of their lives. Be happy to know that with each new secret you discover and each new skill you develop, you will advance closer to the ultimate benefit of master marketing: You will spend the rest of your life in comfort because you will have the ability to generate unlimited wealth. Ready to master the science of selling? It begins with examining the phrase itself: Master the science of selling. Mastery means much more than being familiar with -- and more still than knowing or being good at. Mastery means you know the subject inside and out. And that takes time. To master a skill, you must be prepared to spend at least 5,000 hours practicing it with focused intention. Science is the study of something's underlying structure or nature. Science is never closed or definitive. It is always evolving. The scientist is always looking to know more. Selling, in this context, is not synonymous with pushing or cajoling or tricking or manipulating. Nor is it begging or pleading or bribing. By selling, I mean creating a deep and lasting change in the heart and head of your prospective customer -- a change that initiates a long and profitable relationship between buyer and seller. When people ask me "What's the best way to make money?" I usually tell them to start an online business. Last year, while brick-and-mortar operations and big-name retailers were dropping like flies, Internet-based ventures were up 7 percent, according to trade publication Internet Retailer. The Internet is already a $133 billion market and its future is bright. If you've been thinking about starting an online business, you should check out a new program ETR has created with veteran copywriter and marketing consultant Bob Bly. Bob and the team at Early to Rise have put together a quick-start action guide for Internet newbies. It's based on techniques -- from proven copywriting secrets to the latest trends in online ads -- that Bob has discovered over his 30-year career. I've never read a book written by Bob that I haven't enjoyed. I've never heard him give a speech that I didn't learn something from. I'm confident that this program will be jam-packed with useful advice, as well as entertaining and easy to follow. I recommend it to you. And you can start on it today. I've said before that eventually there will be only three newspapers in the USA: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and USA Today. Why? Because of two trends: 1. General advertising (ads for cars, perfume, cigarettes, etc.) has been in a long-term downtrend. And with the Great Recession, that downtrend has become a tail-spinning dive. 2. News reporting in print is outdated. The Internet has seen to that. The only print publications that survive will be those that provide not just reliable information but a unique and compelling perspective. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times are the best-written newspapers in the country. And both will survive because they represent two significant but different readerships: The NYT represents intelligent liberals. The WSJ represents intelligent conservatives. (I like both!) USA Today is pitched to Middle America. That is a big crowd, but a tough market to serve. The reason I think it will survive is because the people behind it have been very clever about how they do their job. For one thing, USA Today is on top of U.S. culture. Examples: It was the first national paper to cover the Internet boom, natural health, and mixed-martial arts in any depth. (Just recently, I noticed the results of a MMA championship contest on page one. That is astonishing.) For another thing, they have become competent direct marketers. Example: Michael Jackson was not even buried when USA Today published the first half-page ads selling its own MJ memorabilia. I bet they pulled in a half-million dollars in profit off that one campaign. The Take-Away: If you are an information publisher, you need to have a unique perspective and you need to master direct marketing. Are you taking advantage of Early to Rise's Word to the Wise service? You should be. It will give a positive start to your day. And it takes less than a minute. I've been learning a new word five times a week for about five years. That means I've increased my vocabulary by about 1,300 words. But these are not esoteric words I'll never use. I'm very selective. There are lots of words that are sent to me by dictionary services that I'm not at all interested in. For example, one of the words Merriam-Webster sent me was "brachiate." It means to swing by the arms from one hold to another. Monkeys travel through trees by brachiating. A child can move across monkey bars by brachiating. But who needs such a word? And even if you could think of a way to use it in conversation, can you imagine saying it without sounding like a show-off? I can't. I recommend ETR's Word to the Wise because it will give you words you can actually use in business and your personal life -- words that will enhance your personal power, not make you look like a pompous ass. Check it out here. A recent news story illustrates a problem with government solutions. About five years ago, Americans began to question whether the Bush administration could win "the hearts and minds" of the Iraqi people by bombing them. In 2006, a better idea was approved by Congress. The Community Stabilization Program was going to counter insurgency by paying Iraqis cash to do such things as digging ditches and removing trash on public work projects. According to an audit conducted last year, things didn't go according to plan. From the get-go, millions of dollars started flowing to projects that never happened, workers who never existed, corrupt community leaders, and even anti-American groups! The non-profit organization that executed the program, International Relief and Development, admitted to creating phony documents to support the corruption. They claimed they were pressured by the Pentagon into doing so. The Pentagon presumably was pressured by key congressional leaders, who felt pressured by their constituency to prove that the program was working. I've talked about the danger of the neurotoxin mercury in dental fillings and fish. And high fructose corn syrup has already been linked to diabetes, obesity, liver damage, immune system problems, diminished bone and muscle strength, impotence, and an increased risk of certain kinds of cancer. But it also may contain mercury, according to a recent report in the journal Environmental Health. The study found that the average person ingests three times more mercury than the FDA considers to be safe. And FDA limits may be dangerously high. A Source of Hope and Inspiration Early to Riser Jim Young takes a recent essay to heart: "I want to thank you for Michael Masterson's piece on dealing with rough times. It was uplifting. Thank you for being a source of hope and inspiration (and information) for your readers." Jim Young Los Altos, CA [Ed. Note: Michael Masterson welcomes your questions and comments. Send him a message at AskMichael@ETRFeedback.com.]

© 2009 Early to Rise, LLC.

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