The Good News About Being the Bearer of Bad News
By Michael Masterson
Good leaders handle bad news quickly and personally. Step 1: They make an immediate assessment of what went wrong, the extent of the problem or damage, and the causes. Step 2: They put in place a temporary solution to stem the blood flow, and set a schedule for follow-up remediation. Step 3: They notify the parties that are directly affected. Superiors should be notified almost immediately -- certainly within 24 hours, but after the first two steps have been completed. Employees should be notified next. And if the bad news impacts them, customers, too, should be notified. I nearly fired a promising young executive -- several times, in fact -- because he was so reluctant to tell me bad news. He never volunteered negative information. He'd wait until I heard about it some other way and asked him about it. He gave me honest answers. And he'd always taken the first two steps I mentioned above. But the mere fact that he didn't have the nerve to tell me about a problem made me uneasy. We talked about it several times. And he's better at delivering bad news now. That's good for me and good for his career. Any business leader can look good when things are going smoothly and profits are climbing. It's how you handle yourself when things go wrong that defines your character. -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended ----------------------------------------------------- Why You Don't Need To Be an Author to Have a Bestselling Book A Florida martial arts expert "found" a dusty old book. Then he turned it into estimated sales of over $20,000 in one month. With another book, he's pulled in over $332,250. A 30-something Internet marketer used the same formula to dig up his own bestseller. The little-known art book he found made $19,453 in just 3 weeks. These books weren't first editions. They weren't famous. They weren't wildly popular. Best of all? These hidden treasure troves don't have to cost you a penny. You could unearth the next bestseller. Find out how right here.
"Relationships in general make people a bit nervous. It's about trust. Do I trust you enough to go there?" Neil LaBute Making Money With a Small, Responsive List
By Brian T. Edmondson If you have an online business, you've probably come across the expression "The money is in the list." This refers to the database of names, e-mail addresses, and other information you collect from customers and prospects. Building a list is the core principle behind the Early to Rise Model of Internet Marketing. And, all other things being equal, the bigger your list, the more money you will make. That's great for marketers and list owners who have thousands, tens of thousands, and even hundreds of thousands of subscribers. But what if you are just getting started? Can you make money with a small list? The answer to that question is a resounding yes. In fact, I've done it myself. I built a small list (about 5,000 subscribers) that generated six figures yearly. And with another list of only about 1,200 subscribers, I generated over $15,000 in sales in one month. It wasn't difficult. I simply drove traffic to my website and captured the names and e-mail addresses of my visitors. Then I sent them follow-up e-mails with quality content and relevant sales promotions. Just to give you a frame of reference, most online marketers will tell you that if you can earn an average of $1 per subscriber per month, you are doing well. So if I had generated about $1,200 in sales from my 1,200 subscribers, that would have been par for the course. The $15,000 I actually generated is more than 10 times the industry average. I was able to do it because size isn't the only thing that determines how much money you can make with a list. The responsiveness of the list is a key factor. Responsiveness refers to the number of people who open your e-mails and take the action you want them to take -- by subscribing to your newsletter, for example, or making a purchase. One of best ways to increase the responsiveness of your list is to develop a relationship with your subscribers. The easier you make it for them to know, like, and trust you, the more likely they will be to open your e-mails and click on your links. So how, exactly, do you develop a relationship with the people on your list? Get personal! When you write copy for your website or for an e-mail that you'll be sending to your list, write it as if you were having a conversation with your reader, face to face. And look for ways to incorporate your personal story and your personality into the copy. I make my websites and e-letters personal by keeping my readers updated on where I am and what I'm doing. I also share information about my background, such as the fact that I'm a Penn State grad. (Go Lions!) And I share my opinions on current events. The bond this creates is extremely powerful. You've probably noticed that Michael Masterson constantly shares information about his life and travels with his ETR readers. (And keep in mind that Early to Rise started as a personal letter from Michael Masterson to a few of his colleagues.) Start your e-mails with a quick personal update. Then go into your content or sales message. On your website, the "About" page is a great place for your personal background information. Include a picture, or pictures, of yourself (especially on the home page) to help put a face to the name. You could even have videos. People frequently come up to me at events and tell me that they remember me because of something I mentioned in my e-mails or on my website -- something completely unrelated to business. And customers often tell me that the reason they purchased something from me was not because of the offer, but because they felt like they actually got to know me as a real human being. Getting personal can help you and your website stand out in a cold and crowded digital world. While it's true that "the money is in the list," you'll quickly discover that there is more money in your relationship with the people on that list. [Ed. Note: As Internet marketing expert Brian T. Edmondson says, it IS possible to make serious money online, even if your e-mail list is still small. In fact, Brian, Director of ETR's Internet Money Club, can show you how to start making money -- even if you have no list at all. Find out more about IMC -- and Brian's incredible "make money with your business or get your money back" guarantee -- here.] -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended ----------------------------------------------------- The Relaxation Technique That Eases Stress in Seconds You're stuck in a boring meeting... a long line at the bank... or bumper-to-bumper traffic. Your blood pressure is rising. Your stress is through the roof... But with one unconventional (and often misunderstood) technique, your frustration, anxiety, and stress will simply slip away. You'll feel peaceful, in control, and happy within seconds. Any time. Anywhere.
A Guaranteed Way to Capture the Attention of Prospects By Perry Marshall
One of the greatest mistakes companies make is developing products based on a "great idea." My friend and fellow consultant Rob Olic used to be Marketing Director for Small Business Development at the Wharton School. Every week, entrepreneurs would tell him, "Man, my company developed this exciting new product that's so good, it sells itself. I've got a warehouse full of these things. Can you help me get rid of them?" Great ideas are a dime a dozen. But even if they're well-executed, that doesn't mean they'll be successful in the marketplace. Winning products and marketing messages talk to people about things they're already wanting and thinking about. They address irritations that have been lurking under the surface. They solve problems that have been keeping people up at night. Several years ago, I was working with a company whose "great idea" was the scheduled delivery of household products. The idea was that just when you were about to run out of something like Kleenex or vitamins or peanut butter, the service would replenish your supply. It was a convenience for customers and an automatic revenue stream for the company. It looked promising. But nobody loses sleep because they might run out of toilet paper or shaving cream. Nobody even thinks about it. So it was a great idea from a salesman's point of view, but not from the customer's. And it was a flop. I, and a lot of other people, lost money in that business. Why did it fail? Because the idea had nothing to do with a conversation that was already going on in customers' heads. It didn't harmonize with what they were already thinking about. Marketing on the Internet is a good example of what I'm talking about. Search engines give us a powerful -- and free -- way to obtain new customers. If someone types a specific phrase into a search engine and your product comes up in the first few results, it's free advertising. I've gotten boatloads of quality leads this way. But it's not as simple as throwing some information on a website and waiting for the orders to start coming in. There has to be a precise match between the words your prospect is typing in and the content on your website. It requires you to know exactly what your customers are looking for. The phrase they type into Yahoo! or Google is part of the conversation inside their head. Tap into that conversation and your product will sell. [Ed. Note: Perry Marshall, the world's foremost authority on Google AdWords, is a marketing consultant dedicated to helping both online and brick-and-mortar companies generate sales leads and Web traffic, and maximize advertising results. Perry is offering a Special December Promotion for ETR readers only: Buy 1 Perry Marshall Product, Get 6 Free Gifts, including the Definitive Guide to Google Adwords. Find out more here.]
Become a Creative Thinker in 15 Minutes a Day
By Michael Masterson
Developing the ability to think creatively, as with any other skill, is largely a matter of habit. Practicing daily is the best way to do it. Give yourself 15 minutes a day -- early in the morning or late at night. The only things you need are a problem to work on, a pad of paper, a pencil, and a quiet place to sit. Begin by listing, as rapidly as you can, all the ordinary and obvious possible solutions. Even those you know in your heart won't succeed. Then draw up a second, shorter, list of more innovative ideas. Try to come up with at least two or three. Finally, select the idea that seems best and list its strengths and weaknesses. The entire process shouldn't take more than 15 minutes. And if you invest 15 minutes a day in this sort of problem solving, you'll be amazed at how good you get at it. What Do You Do When You're Stressed Out?
By Michael Masterson
If you live in a state of perpetual stress, your health (and your waistline) may be at risk. High stress is a risk factor for heart disease, cancer, and a variety of other health concerns. And it can make you crave sweets, which only makes your health problems worse. A recent study examined two groups of people. One group was stressed and the other wasn't. But both had access to four bowls of snacks: potato chips, nuts, grapes, and M&Ms. All the participants ate the same amount of chips and nuts. But those who were stressed consumed five times more M&Ms and four times fewer grapes. Why so many M&Ms? Probably for the same reason that people who are depressed crave sweets: High-carb foods increase serotonin, the feel-good neurotransmitter. However, while sweets might improve your mood temporarily, they won't reduce stress. The best way to manage stress? Exercise. A study performed in Denmark recently showed that those who exercise for 15 to 20 minutes a day are 61 percent less likely to feel highly stressed than people who are sedentary.
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The Language Perfectionist: If You Love Words of Wisdom...
By Don Hauptman
Mardy Grothe, a friend and fellow language enthusiast, specializes in creating collections of great quotations. Within each of his books, all the quoted passages share a unifying theme. His latest work, just published, is called Ifferisms. What's an ifferism? The word is Mardy's own coinage. It's an aphorism that begins with the word "if." A surprisingly large number of quotations follow this format. In his book, Mardy has assembled almost 2,000 and organized them into chapters. The topics range from politics to sports, and from business to sex. Among those quoted are Woody Allen, Dale Carnegie, Winston Churchill, Walt Disney, Thomas Jefferson, Stephen King... and hundreds of others. In epigrams and proverbs, the "if" element implies that things might be different than they are. It suggests the conditional, the hypothetical, the imaginative. Thus, many sentiments phrased in this manner are positive, uplifting, and inspirational. "I have come to believe," Mardy writes in the Introduction, "that if is the biggest little word in the English language." To support that assertion, here are a few examples from Ifferisms: - "If you are able to state a problem, it can be solved." -- Edwin H. Land
- "If you're going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big." -- Donald Trump
- "If you are guided by opinion polls, you are not practicing leadership -- you are practicing followership." -- Margaret Thatcher
- "If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free." -- P.J. O'Rourke
- "If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest." -- Benjamin Franklin
But the most famous example is surely Rudyard Kipling's poem, "If." Mardy calls it "one long ifferism... a magnificent tribute to many of humankind's great virtues...." I remember reading this classic as a child. I hope it's still taught in schools, and hasn't been replaced by studies of hip-hop music and graffiti. Here's an excerpt: If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on".... Kipling's "If" was first published in 1910, so this coming year marks its 100th anniversary.
Unlike most anthologies, Ifferisms goes beyond telling us what was said and who said it. Mardy often adds commentary on the meaning and background of each passage, biographical facts about its author, notes about related quotations, and more. You probably won't endorse every observation in this book. I disagreed with some of them. But you're bound to find Ifferisms provocative -- and you might even discover something that changes your life. Of course, this review has to end on an "if" note. So... If your gift list this year includes people who are literate and literary, who appreciate the power and rhythm and meaning of the written word, Ifferisms is the perfect stocking stuffer. [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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