The Michael Masterson Journal

Issue No. 15 - $1.91	Saturday, November 7, 2009
Neiman Marcus is cutting merchandise orders by 20 percent in anticipation of weak Christmas sales. Saks Inc. is dong the same. American Eagle Outfitters says it expects to hire fewer temporary workers this Christmas. Friends of mine who own a chain of jewelry shops will need a holiday miracle to save their business. Sales have been decreasing since the Great Recession started. (When was that? Two years ago?) They've just filed for bankruptcy protection. They are closing stores. "We are staving off the inevitable," one of them said to me. Unemployment is going to go up sharply in the next six months. I don't have a crystal ball, but how can it not? Just think about all those people who expected to get temporary work in department stores. What will they be doing? Filing for benefits, that's what. And that's not to mention all the temporary cooks and waiters and floor cleaners and bookkeepers and sweepers and whatnot who are employed during the biggest buying frenzy of the year. Last year, I predicted that a weak retail showing would start the collapse of the commercial real estate market after the first quarter. That is what happened. This year, I'm betting we'll see a steep hike in unemployment across the board, starting with a rash of retail bankruptcies that will begin in March or April. You aren't hearing about this in the media, because most of it will involve small companies (i.e., with less than $500 million in revenues). But those companies are a huge part of our economy -- and they account for most new hires. The government won't provide any useful help. On the contrary, the Obama administration is spending most of its time cranking up regulations. That makes doing business more expensive and less productive -- especially for the small guys. But who's looking? If misogynist, juvenile humor makes you cringe, I would not recommend reading Got Fight by UFC superstar Forrest Griffin, which is now a New York Times bestseller. Why? Because in it, he says things like the following: "The Only Pickup Lines You'll Ever Need "1. My friends over there were wondering if you like me. "2. Just to get this out of the way, I'd like some sausage and eggs for breakfast. "3. Forrest: Do you work for UPS? "Hot Chick: No. Why? "Forrest: Because I swear you were checking out my package. "Hot Chick (titters): I was. Now ravish me, please. Call down the power of the ancient gods and ravish me pagan style, you beast of a man!" Guys who speak like that (hell, even guys who think like that) should be sent into the Alaskan wilderness where they can interact only with the occasional moose and/or each other. But if you can put up with that kind of humor (even find yourself laughing at it in spite of yourself), go out and buy this book. It will tell you something about being successful in life. For one thing, it will tell you how to live without fear. Forrest Griffin is not the most gifted athlete who ever stepped into the octagon. By his own admission (he is nothing if not self-deprecating), he had no special advantages when he decided to go into the mixed-martial arts game except "not having the sense to know" when he was beaten. But he has provided the sport with some of the greatest and most ferocious fights ever recorded. And he did it because he learned how be courageous. To use his parlance, he was a "pussy boy" in high school. He taught himself to be fearless by exposing himself to the things he feared in small doses. In doing so, he discovered that they were not so terrifying after all. I mentioned this recently in ETR -- why I think bravery is such an important virtue. Bravery is what allows you to persevere through adversity. And perseverance may be the single most important quality of people who achieve great things. Bravery is often thought to be an inborn trait. But, as Forrest makes clear in the book, it does not spring from your DNA. Bravery is something you can learn, just as you can learn ballroom dancing or how to play the guitar. One of his little chapters is devoted to how he learned to be brave about spilling blood -- his own blood. Describing how he overcame this fear -- and didn't let it affect him as a fighter -- Forrest says: "A part of it probably has to do with the fact that I got my ass kicked on a regular basis as a kid. And when I say 'regular basis,' I mean every week. "After the local bullies turn your face into a pinata half a dozen times, you begin to realize that spilling a little blood doesn't mean you're teetering on the edge of life and death." So true. He labels this approach, jokingly, cognitive therapy. But that is precisely what it is. And in my view, it is the only thing that works to conquer fear. It reminded me of a fight I had in high school with a senior named Matt Green. We fought in the parking lot of the Rockville Center Cue Club. Matt was a year older and much stronger, but for the first few minutes I pounded the living hell out of his face. There was so much blood on both of us that I thought I would choke on it. But Matt didn't even notice. He kept fighting till he got me in a chokehold and put my lights out. I remember thinking, "If I fight him again, I'll have to kill him. I don't want to kill him, so I'd better not get into another fight with him." If you want to have an extraordinary life, you have to set ambitious goals and keep after them until you achieve them. The only thing that will stop you will be your fear of failing. Figure out what you are afraid of. And keep those things in mind when you read Forrest's book. And when you feel yourself fearing failure, sack up (as he would say) and overcome your fear. ETR's biggest event of the year, our Info-Marketing Bootcamp, starts tomorrow. As always, I kick things off with a keynote speech. And, as always, that speech will focus on a broad lesson about business building, entrepreneurship, and success in general. This year, it will be about my Special Theory of Automatic Wealth. Most of the other presentations will be more technical. Speakers will get into such subjects as search engine optimization and copywriting. I'll get more specific too, on Monday, when ETR's CEO MaryEllen Tribby and I give an in-depth presentation on direct marketing. If you weren't able to attend Bootcamp this year, all is not lost. You can still learn how to start and grow your own Internet business... and have it operational in 30 days. ETR is offering a set of DVD recordings that will give you all the major presentations in full. No, you won't get the networking opportunities or the chance to meet our experts in person. But you will get everything else that attendees get. Keep an eye on your inbox for a special announcement when the DVDs are released. If you want to retire while you are still young enough to enjoy it, you should take advantage of a trend that half a million Americans (and millions of Europeans) have already gotten in on. I'm talking about moving overseas and living in a tropical paradise for a fraction of what it would cost you to live where you do now. There are several beautiful countries to choose from, including Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico, and Portugal. The most popular retirement destinations, like San Miguel de Allende, are already getting pricey. But there are plenty of others that are still plenty cheap. My own retirement Eden is a property overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Nicaragua. The community is private. My ownership entitles me to the beach club and many other amenities. It's a short drive to Granada, a charming old city where I can dine at nice restaurants, dance in the town square, and visit local art galleries. I spend long weekends there, sitting on my porch, the ocean stretched out below me. My cost? For the land, I paid $22,000. And then I paid, in several stages, about $150,000 more to build a spectacular 5,000-square-foot home. (It's got all the bells and whistles: central air, swimming pool, back-up generator, etc.) Water and food cost next to nothing. Household help will run you about $5 to $8 a day. The community is a 20-minute copter ride from the capital city, which is a two-hour hop from Miami. It is accessible via a highway and is considered right in the middle of the country's next big real estate market. Years ago, someone offered me $900,000 for my house. I didn't sell. My cost of keeping it is very low, and the value of living there part-time is huge. You can buy a new condo overlooking the beach at Rancho Santana for $199,000. You can buy a lot (that you can build on later) for as little as $39,000. Investigate the options. The sooner you get in, the better you will do financially and the longer you will enjoy it. Getting Back in the Game "Love it! Your site is exemplary! Focused, to the point, content. Awesome information. It is incredibly free too... "I am planning on bringing back my former online sporting goods store soon, and I am always on the search for more effective marketing techniques. "I offer a huge thank you to all at ETR." Dave Wacholtz Coloma, WI  [Ed. Note: Michael Masterson welcomes your questions and comments. Send him a message at AskMichael@ETRFeedback.com.]
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