ETR: Good Thing He Didn't Listen

Saturday - October 24, 2009

When George told me about his plans, I was worried. Just months after his son's suicide, he wanted to organize an annual marathon walk to raise awareness for the cause. "Start small," I told him. "Don't make it a media event the first year. Make it a private thing. See if you like doing it." I was concerned that after suffering such a terrible loss, the burden of taking on a major project would wreck him. I pointed out all the hurdles he'd be facing. It would mean days and night of planning, I warned. Plus an entire advertising campaign. Plus enlisting the help of dozens of volunteers. He wasn't the least bit discouraged. "Didn't you write a book called Ready, Fire, Aim?" he said. That shut me up. Six months later, I got this note from him: Michael, Ready... Fire... Aim! We are front-page news in Rockville Centre, Oceanside, Island Park, and Long Beach. And today I was interviewed by two local newspapers in Manchester, Connecticut. We have raised almost $20,000. We walked 150 miles through two states. Most important, we raised awareness about the dangers of treating suicide nonchalantly. I've gotten this movement this far with zero talent, no experience, and very few skills. Pretty much the only thing I had going for me was brass balls and a ready-fire-aim attitude. I guess it's time to pat myself on the back for a job well done. GW Note: Every year, 33,000 Americans kill themselves. (Compare that to the estimated 15,000 who die from AIDS.) Many of these are young people with full, productive lives to live. If you'd like to know more about suicide and how to prevent it, visit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. You can elect politicians who promise to hold the line -- or even lower taxes -- but you know they're not going to do it. The problem is that the people in power -- in big government and big business -- have been spending money they don't have and expecting us to pay the bills. They got us into the Great Recession, and the only way they can get us out of it is by forcing us to keep kicking in -- either through inflation or higher taxes. Your only solution is to create a second income. Start now, and before long you'll be making so much that none of this will matter to you. And one of the best ways I know of to create a second income is by starting your own business in your "off hours." I call it "chicken entrepreneurship." It allows you to figure out what works and what doesn't without risking your steady paycheck. And with the Internet, it has never been easier or quicker (or cheaper) to find a profitable niche market and start cashing in. Learn how an online business can provide your second income here. A while ago, there was a widespread outage on Google's Gmail service for more than an hour. Google's response to its customers was a good example of how every business should act. First, they acknowledged that there had been a problem and let their customers know that they understood how much it affected them: "Gmail's Web interface had a widespread outage earlier today, lasting about 100 minutes. We know how many people rely on Gmail for personal and professional communications, and we take it very seriously when there's a problem with the service." Next, they apologized for the outage -- and did NOT try to minimize its impact: "Thus, right up front, I'd like to apologize to all of you -- today's outage was a Big Deal, and we're treating it as such." Then, they assured their customers that they had looked into the cause of the outage and were taking action based on what they'd learned: "We've already thoroughly investigated what happened, and we're currently compiling a list of things we intend to fix or improve as a result of the investigation." And they provided some details that demonstrated their ability and commitment to resolve any technical glitch quickly: "The Gmail engineering team was alerted to the failures within seconds (we take monitoring very seriously). "We brought a LOT of additional request routers online (flexible capacity is one of the advantages of Google's architecture), distributed the traffic across the request routers, and the Gmail Web interface came back online." Finally, they explained what they were doing to prevent an outage in the future: "We've turned our full attention to helping ensure this kind of event doesn't happen again. Some of the actions are straightforward and are already done -- for example, increasing request router capacity well beyond peak demand to provide headroom. Some of the actions are more subtle -- for example, we have concluded that request routers don't have sufficient failure isolation. "We'll be hard at work over the next few weeks implementing these and other Gmail reliability improvements -- Gmail remains more than 99.9% available to all users, and we're committed to keeping events like today's notable for their rarity." This is a pretty good template for any business to use. It begins with a quick acknowledgement of the problem and its seriousness. It includes enough information to make the customer feel confident the business understands the problem and can fix it. Then it provides reassuring evidence that it won't happen again. Every business makes mistakes. Fair-minded customers know that. If you respond to problems responsibly, the way Google did in this case, your customers will stick by you. But if you try to bury or minimize your mistakes, you will lose their faith in you. And that is the most valuable asset you have. IDE's Andrew Gordon is refinancing his house. Yes, it is still possible. But, as Andy points out, rarely done. "I've lived in the same house in Catonsville (a southwest suburb of Baltimore) for 25 years. My wife and I refinanced once before, back in 2002," says Andy. "I'm going to give a lot of business to local construction and remodeling companies. But I'm in the minority. The days of rampant refinancing are behind us." The real estate bust made getting a home equity line of credit or second mortgage almost impossible. Gone are the days when Americans could go to their local bank and simply pull the equity out of their homes. That's where the government comes in. What the banks have taken away, the government has given back... to the tune of a $787 billion stimulus-spending package. But the math doesn't add up. Economist magazine recently reported that 1.25 trillion in credit lines have already been cut. And another $1.5 trillion will vanish by the end of 2010. I've got a bad feeling about this. The little growth we have is from the stimulus spending. Take it away and we're right back in the throes of a bad recession fed by falling demand. I predict the government will be throwing us another stimulus-spending "lifeline." In the short run, it'll keep demand from falling off a cliff. But our $11 trillion-plus debt hole is getting deeper and deeper. It's too early to declare the death of the dollar. But it's not too early to buy gold. (I've been recommending gold for years now.) Our economic policies stink. I hate bad government and bad policies. But gold loves this stuff... and it's going up. Hormone levels can drop significantly as you age or as a result of lifestyle factors. And when they do, your sex drive plummets, you start putting on extra weight, and you tire out faster. Hormone deficiencies can also cause serious health problems. In men, for example, low testosterone levels can cause metabolic syndrome. This leads to high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and insulin resistance. And in women past menopause, low levels of DHEA can cause musculoskeletal pain. It's not just the levels of your sex hormones that you need to be aware of. Chronic stress increases the hormone cortisol in your blood. And too much cortisol can cause inflammation, high blood glucose and insulin levels, low thyroid function, and even impaired immunity. But here's the good news. If you know the signs and symptoms of hormone deficiencies and imbalances, you can take steps to keep all your hormones at healthy levels. Learn how by clicking here. I talk regularly about the restaurant business because: I used to be in the business. I know half a dozen people who are restaurateurs. I am aware that opening a restaurant is the number one fantasy of people looking for a retirement "job." My advice has always been the same: Don't do it -- unless you have money to burn or are willing to start small and work your ass off for less than a hundred grand a year. These days, I'd say don't do. Period. Here's why. A recent survey by a restaurant trade organization asked its members how their restaurants performed during the first six months of 2009 compared to the first six months of 2008. Of the 628 respondents, only 25 percent reported an increase in 2009 sales. That's not good. But most of those who are in trouble are working hard to survive. Some of the things they say they are doing: Reducing staff and cross-training to improve productivity Training dishwashers to be pantry cooks on slow nights Renegotiating credit card processing fees Shopping insurance policies and waste removal services Cutting out low-margin specials Tracking their numbers much more closely Eliminating non-essential employees Tying management compensation to food, labor costs, and profitability Reducing ads in newspapers and the Yellow Pages Tracking the usage of their top 10 inventory products Reducing inventory levels to reduce waste Putting more focus on portion control Getting rid of unprofitable services (mostly breakfast M-F) Converting to new sources for electricity and phone service Replacing high-priced managers Getting lease concessions Closing on slow nights Eliminating menu items that don't sell It occurs to me that all or most of these actions make sense for any business that's in trouble. Cutting expenses is always a good strategy -- if, that is, doing so does not denigrate your product or service. Before you make a proposed cut, consider how it will impact your customers. Any change that could diminish their experience with your product or their perception of your company is probably NOT worth the potential savings. In the long run, you'll be better off focusing on building your customer base, no matter what the economy is doing. A Warm Welcome for a New Member of the ETR Family "Today's article by Dr. Srikumar Rao was written just for me! Thank you for doing that and making me aware of my chatter. "Though I have been switching my chatter's focus for years, turning it around to positive ('But he did work late, came straight home, then walked the dogs for me so I could take a long hot shower. I guess he loves me after all!'), it is always good to be reminded that I am on the right track." Barbara Parrish [Ed. Note: Michael Masterson welcomes your questions and comments. Send him a message at AskMichael@ETRFeedback.com.]

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