My Heart Went Out to Her... and Then Came Back!
By Michael Masterson
Profiled in The Wall Street Journal the other day: A single mother, hit hard by the recession. She can barely keep a roof over her family's head. Her salary was cut by 60 percent. And buying even the basics is a struggle. A story we've heard again and again. "How sad," I thought to myself, as I read the article. "How can somebody possibly be expected to live on ... $150,000 a year? Wait! What?" That's right. This woman, a Hollywood realtor, is bitching about making more than 95 percent of Americans. I don't know her personally, of course. But I bet I can guess the problem. She spends too much. Expensive house. Designer clothes. Four-star dinners. Vacations galore. She may have felt rich. But she was just making herself poorer with every purchase. As I say in Automatic Wealth: "Having the things you desire -- say, a big house and fancy cars -- does not make you materially wealthy if you don't have the wherewithal to keep those goods over a protracted period of time." The money this lady has gives her an amazing opportunity. If she would only follow the simple plan I outline in Automatic Wealth. She can reduce her expenses. She can save. She can put that extra money to work to create multiple streams of income. She can start a side business. She can invest in rental real estate. She can make smart investments -- the kind she could read about in Sound Profits. If she does that, she'll have more than enough to live on and retire very comfortably at an early age. And without bitching. -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended ----------------------------------------------------- The $1,000-a-Day Internet Cash Generator Bob Bly isn't the biggest Internet marketing operator out there. "I'm just a copywriter," he says, "with a little business on the side." Three years ago, Bob put down $263 to fund that "little business." And guess what? That little business is adding an average of $1,000 to his bank account... every single day. That works out to an annual income of several hundred thousand dollars a year. "My Internet Cash Generator doesn't make me millions," he says. "But I don't work on it very hard either. It takes about an hour a day." Bob's one of the best there is at breaking down what it takes to complete any task. And now he's applied this skill to show you exactly how he created his business. Find out more about his income-boosting secret right here.
"So what do we do? Anything. Something. So long as we just don't sit there. If we screw it up, start over. Try something else. If we wait until we've satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late." Lee Iacocca What Is the Tipping Point for Online Success?
By Bob Bly KJ, like many of my subscribers these days, wants to get into Internet marketing. But she feels frustrated and unable to move forward. "Where should I begin?" KJ asked in her e-mail. "What was your tipping point to online success?" My answer: "The tipping point in Internet marketing success is to stop reading about it and stop talking about it and actually start DOING it." I'm not saying you shouldn't learn something about Internet marketing before you start. I AM saying you do not need to learn EVERYTHING. It's simply Michael Masterson's "Ready, Fire, Aim" principle in action. And it's especially true in Internet marketing. There is an oppressive mountain of courses... seminars... coaching programs... DVDs... websites... audio CDs... e-books... reports... and other "how to get rich on the Internet" material out there. Aspiring Internet marketers quite sensibly buy and study this material in preparation for the day when they'll start their own business. Unfortunately, for the vast majority, that day never comes. They get so caught up in reading and talking about Internet marketing that they forget to actually DO Internet marketing. And so they never graduate beyond the student phase and move into the real world. Their knowledge remains theoretical and never gets applied... and, they never make a dime from it. To be sure, many people really enjoy reading how-to business books and studying marketing. If you're in that group... and all you want is a pleasant, intellectually stimulating hobby to pass the time... well, nothing wrong with that. But I'm guessing you (like KJ) want something more than just entertainment. Specifically, you want to start and build a home-based Internet marketing business. And by doing so, earn thousands of dollars a year in extra income. To do that, you have to stop just studying Internet marketing... and start doing Internet marketing. Every day, I hear something like this from one of my readers: "I'm almost ready to start my online business. I just have to finish reading Mr. X's book and taking Mr. Y's coaching program." My advice to them is to forget about Mr. X and Mr. Y. More than likely, you've already bought and read a ton of material on Internet marketing. At this point, you will learn much more through real-life trial and error by than by buying more education. KJ told me that another thing holding her back is that she is a "rookie with no capital." I have news for KJ. Everyone who is successful in Internet marketing today was a rookie no farther back than 10 years ago... and many (including me) much more recently. So being a rookie doesn't stop you. As for "no capital" being a disadvantage -- it simply isn't. Internet marketing is one of the least capital-intensive business opportunities on the planet. You can create and launch your first product for a few hundred dollars. And if you don't have even a few hundred dollars, you can start by selling someone else's product for an affiliate commission. KJ also told me that she knows "a little bit about everything in Internet marketing." It's good to be so well-versed. But most of us aren't. There are dozens of techniques for selling products and services online. But you don't have to know all of them -- or even most of them -- to get started. In fact, you need only three things: 1. People to sell to -- either visitors to your website, your e-list of online subscribers, or e-lists owned by joint venture (JV) partners. 2. A product to sell to them -- either your own or one produced by a JV partner. 3. A way to sell it to them -- usually e-mail marketing messages driving them to a dedicated landing page or micro-site. So when is the best time to start your new Internet marketing business? Quite simply, it's today. And here's how... First, make a commitment to work on your new business at least five days a week, at least an hour a day. Second, make a list of 10 things you need to do to get the business off the ground. (Not including any reading you still think you need to do.) When your hour to work on your business arrives today, start with item #1 on your list. Work on item #1 until it is done. If you run out of time, finish it tomorrow. Or the next day. Then move to item #2. And keep going until all 10 items on your list are done. By that time, you'll be in business! Yes, there's always more to learn. But you'll learn it as you go along. And because you'll be doing Internet marketing and not just reading about it, the lessons will stick better and will be more meaningful. Not to mention much more profitable. [Ed. Note: Bob Bly is a freelance copywriter and marketing expert and the author of more than 70 books. His Internet Cash Generator program is the only one you need to start your own profitable Internet business. Take action today and learn everything from search engine optimization to e-mail list building to copywriting.] -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended ----------------------------------------------------- $394,510,000 in Useable Techniques You Can Take Home and Profit From "ETR's Bootcamp is one of the best experiences we've had!" said attendee Lou Betancourt. At this year's Bootcamp, you'll discover: - Mike Koenigs's "global reach" strategy that can give you access to over 4.5 billion customers worldwide...
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When a customer says "no" to your sales pitch, ask him why. Listen carefully and respectfully to his answer. Take notes. Thank him, and tell him you won't bother him again until you have something better to offer. Then, when you do have something better, give him a call. He will probably listen to what you have to say. After all, he already "knows" you -- and you've proven yourself to have his best interests at heart. At that point, given a better offer, he may very well be inclined to say "yes." If you are too hungry when you sit down to a meal, you will probably overeat and end up feeling way too full. Try this: Drink two full glasses of water 15 minutes before you eat. I tried it recently and found that I ate considerably less. You wouldn't think the water could have that much of an effect. But it does! A Word To Use Next Time You Get a Chance
By Michael Masterson
I learned a lovely word today: MacGuffin. A MacGuffin is an irrelevant interest grabber -- a story whose purpose is to draw attention to itself and away from something else. It comes from a plot device invented by Alfred Hitchcock. He borrowed it from a shaggy-dog story that goes something like this: A couple, riding in an English train, notice a tall man carrying a large, odd-looking package. They ask him what it contains. Instead of telling them to mind their own business, he says, "A MacGuffin." "What is that?" they ask. "It's used to catch tigers in the Scottish Highlands," he replies. "But there are no tigers in the Highlands," they say. "Well then," he says, shrugging his shoulders, "it must not be a MacGuffin." End of conversation.
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The Language Perfectionist: A Concatenation of Confusables
By Don Hauptman
In my reading, I frequently encounter misused and confused words. Here are five recent sightings, most from major newspapers: - "Anyone who passes even feint praise on anything containing Adam Sandler..."
The writer means faint praise -- not very much. A feint is a deceptive or diversionary action.
- "Now, watching a young and inexperienced American president appear to waiver on his commitment...."
This is a common mix-up. To be indecisive is to waver. A waiver is a relinquishment of a right or claim. - "Unaware of the possibility of evoking Section 1732, I set up a private transfer treaty to move him to an American prison."
To evoke means to summon or call to mind. The correct word in this context is invoke, to cite as justification. - "If pot were legal, the beer industry would loose money."
The distinction should be obvious. But an amazing number of people confuse lose, to mislay, with loose, the antonym of tight. - "[When I studied foreign languages,] absurdity acted as the impotence for comprehension and eventual memorization."
Somehow, the desired word impetus, meaning stimulus, morphed into impotence. My guess is that this was the result of an unintended Microsoft Word "auto-correction." Computers are useful tools but they can also create new problems. There's no substitute for human intelligence, common sense, and proofreading. [Ed Note: For more than three decades, Don Hauptman was an award-winning independent direct-response copywriter and creative consultant. He is author of The Versatile Freelancer, an e-book that shows writers and other creative professionals how to diversify their careers into speaking, consulting, training, and critiquing.]
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