Bragging Is a Good Thing... We're From the Government and We're Here to Help... Unleashing Your Potential... and Much, Much More
By Michael Masterson
In today's essay, I tell you why bragging, especially at work, is a good thing. I also tell you my basic rule for investing. And Jon Herring, managing editor for Total Health Breakthroughs, explains why no matter where your sugar comes from… it's still sugar. Later in the week... Clayton Makepeace tells us about his new friend, The Coroner. What he teaches this fellow biker will save you time and money when starting your own business. Porter Stansberry, of Stansberry & Associates (another Agora affiliate), tells us how much he loves the government and why taxation is very good for entrepreneurs. Success mentor Bob Cox shows you how to block out the distractions that seem to take only a few minutes of your time... but nonetheless "covertly" prevent you from getting things done. And that includes your most important goals. Roy Furr, of American Writers & Artists Inc., tells the story of how a very familiar company got started. And although it's a publishing company, gardening played a major role. -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended ----------------------------------------------------- Do You Make the Most of Your Time? Michael Masterson has a super-busy schedule. But he can still make time to do what he loves. Can you do the same? If you feel hemmed in by deadlines and obligations... and never have time for yourself... let success mentor Bob Cox show you his proven time-management techniques. Read more...
"The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas." Linus Pauling How to Come Up With Big Ideas That Will Make Your Business Succeed
By Michael Masterson
If you want to be important to your business, make the goals of your business important to you. Don't wait to be given the challenge. Take it upon yourself to figure out how your company can grow its profits -- and how you can make a contribution to that goal. This is what good business leaders do. They face problems, seek out opportunities, and take responsibility for moving the business forward. If you are "just an ordinary employee" right now, don't let that stop you. A fundamental rule for success is this: Do the work today that you hope to be doing in the future. So how do you -- a mere cog in the machine -- contribute to the future of your business? Start small, with a single problem-solving idea. Like a way to fix a machine that keeps jamming. Or a better way to report your marketing results. Or the name of a cheaper vendor to print your marketing literature. Start looking for ideas in your own area of expertise first. If you are in accounting, look for bookkeeping or reporting ideas. If you are in product fulfillment, look for shipping or packaging ideas. You'll eventually notice something that is not as good as it should be. When you do, ask yourself, "How could this be better?" Chat with your colleagues. Refine your idea. When it feels right, write a memo to the person who would be in charge of executing it. If the idea is positively received, push to make it happen. Then get on to another idea. And then another one. Meanwhile, get in the habit of documenting all of your suggestions in writing. That way, when one of them changes the company's future and everyone else is trying to take credit for it, you'll have proof that it was yours. You'll notice that each time you present another small-but-good idea, two things will happen: 1. It will be easier for people to accept it as good. 2. It will be easier for you to come up with your next one. Now, try a medium-sized idea. Maybe one concerning a problem with a process -- answering customer-service complaints, dealing with late shipments, overcoming the objections of a perennially cranky but important customer. Bolstered by the success you've had in solving small problems, you'll have little difficulty finding a good idea at this medium level of difficulty. After your first medium-sized good idea is communicated, come up with more. You can still suggest the occasional small-idea solution -- but not as often. At this point, you will have moved yourself up on the ladder of company problem solvers. Most of the smaller problems should be delegated to smaller thinkers. Don't say so directly. Just imply it. Once you've secured your position among the medium-level thinkers, you will be ready for a major challenge: your first Big Idea. Coming up with a Big Idea is a big task. It must be important enough to make a difference in your company's bottom line. It must provide significant benefits for your customers, your employees, and yourself. It should also be cost effective. Recognize that some people will resent you for your chutzpah. Those who do will be from every tier of the business: your subordinates, your colleagues, and even your superiors. But you will win out over them in the end, because what you are doing is essential for the company's long-term profitability. To become (or maintain yourself as) the Big Idea man in your company, focus your thinking on the two or three areas that are critical to your business. For most businesses, these are: 1. generating efficient new sales to produce growth 2. creating vertical, back-end sales to boost profits 3. improving product quality to ensure customer retention Each of these areas demands a different approach. 1. To come up with new selling ideas, you have to become a student not only of your own company's selling strategies but also of the selling strategies of your competitors. When I consult with a business, I make it a policy to study every advertising campaign they have done in recent years, how it performed, what kind of customers it brought in, how much they spent, how much they refunded, etc. I do the same thing with their primary competitors. In the process, I begin to see the invisible links that support the most successful efforts. And ideas come to me. I wonder what would happen, for example, if A company used the pricing strategy of B company but with the copy approach of D company. 2. To come up with ideas for possible back-end products, focus on the initial advertising campaign -- and try to understand what, exactly, the customers responded to. Were they interested in something that allowed them to work more productively? Or did they want a product that would project a certain image -- powerful, professional, or creative? Once you've discovered the foundation of those initial sales, you have a psychological basis on which to create many back-end products. I begin with the premise that what a customer bought once, he'll buy a second time. And what he bought a second time, he'll buy again. So I create back-end products that have the same general appeal as the lead-generating product but are different in respect to other factors: pricing, packaging, size, quantity, frequency, etc. For example, a book that promises to make you feel better about yourself can be repackaged as: - a $79 audiocassette program
- a $599 home-study program
By constructing a simple grid with different prices along one axis and different packaging formats along the other, you can often come up with a dozen or more good back-end product ideas in a single sitting. 3. Coming up with good ideas for improving your products is relatively easy. All you need to do is ask. Ask your customers by phoning them, writing them, e-mailing them, and surveying them. Keep in mind that sometimes they will give you answers that they think are "good answers" rather than truthful answers. So read between the lines. Ask your customer-service people, too. They understand the major gripes, nagging issues, and market trends that influence your customers' decisions to buy (or not to buy). And ask the people who make your products, especially those on the manufacturing line. Ask them, "What are the three best things about this product?" and "What are the three worst things about this product?" What they say might astonish you -- but also inspire you. By doing your homework in these three critical areas -- front-end sales, back-end development, and product improvement -- a constant stream of ideas will keep popping into your head. Run these ideas by trusted colleagues to get their support before you announce them publicly. Based on their feedback, do some refining. And as soon as you have the wrinkles ironed out, present them at company meetings. Standing up in front of the company and making an argument for change takes guts. And wise men derive their courage from thinking, planning, and testing. So don't just shoot from the hip. Carefully plan what you're going to say. Memorize the first and last sentences of your presentation. Make sure you have impressive and persuasive data to support your claims. Explain how the customer will benefit from the idea -- and then explain how the company will too. Summarize your main points succinctly. Be prepared to have your Big Ideas rejected when you first suggest them. (Almost every one of the Big Ideas I've come up with has been.) But if you can be open to criticism and flexible enough to make sensible modifications, your Big Ideas will get better and better -- and your critics will eventually become your supporters. [Ed. Note: Why give all your Big Ideas to your employer? You could start your own business -- online, where it's cheaper and easier -- and make a part-time, full-time, or life-changing income. With the Internet Money Club, you'll get step-by-step instructions to do just that. And Early to Rise is guaranteeing you'll make money. Yes, they guarantee it -- or your money back. Check out this incredible offer here.] -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended ----------------------------------------------------- Where Can You Find the Best Business Partners? You may consider your competitors bitter enemies. But in business -- especially online -- some of your most profitable deals will come from partnering with them. In the Internet Money Club, you'll learn how to set up these lucrative joint ventures. And put together win-win deals.
A "Tried and True" System of Selecting Investments
By Michael Masterson
When it comes to investing, my rule is: Hope for the best, but plan for the worst. In today's market, this means that I am actively reorganizing my portfolio to protect myself from both inflation and deflation -- two realistic possibilities that could decimate my wealth. I'm protecting myself from inflation by continuing to buy gold coins and investing in natural-resource stocks. I'm protecting myself from deflation by investing in gold-related stocks and holding a lot of cash. But I don't expect these investments to provide me with an income or increase my net worth. I take care of those important objectives by investing in small businesses (actively) and large businesses (passively). But I have very rigorous standards. One of the people I go to for advice on my passive investment portfolio is Sound Profits Editor Andy Gordon. He knows a lot more about investing than I do -- and, just as important, he shares my conservative approach. He believes, as I do, that the return of my capital is more important than the return on my capital. Plus, he has a proven track record of making profits in good times and bad. I recently asked Andy for the secret of his success. This is what he told me: "When I choose a stock to invest in, I have to feel absolutely confident that the company is able to weather bad times. Markets are cyclical... good and bad times don't last forever. "For example, I happen to like the energy sector, and I've recommended several energy companies to my readers. Have energy prices peaked? I don't know. And as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter. Why? Because the shares of these companies are heavily discounted and they have growth strategies that will do well even if energy prices decline. "I also like certain food and drink companies, industrial global companies, and a data processing company. Are these sectors headed up or down? I'm not sure. But it doesn't matter. Why? Because I would be buying these companies at significant discounts, and each of them has resilient growth and global customer acquisition strategies." Sugar Is Sugar Is Sugar... On a recent visit back home, my stepmother poured me a cup of coffee at breakfast. Then she proudly proclaimed, "And here is some sugar, if you want it. It's organic!" I didn't comment at the time. But her idea that "organic" sugar is a healthy choice struck me as funny. It reminded me of one of my friends who always shopped at the health food store -- and loaded his cart with ice cream, waffles, and potato chips. Just because it's "organic" doesn't mean it's good for you, especially if the food in question spikes your blood sugar. The truth is, ALL digestible food -- not just carbohydrates -- can be converted to glucose in the body to be used as energy. But high-glycemic foods and liquids are converted to glucose very quickly. That causes a sharp increase in blood sugar and a corresponding increase in the production of insulin. In the absence of frequent vigorous exercise, the chronic consumption of high-glycemic foods and drinks can be a recipe for weight gain. And can substantially increase your risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and a host of other ailments. So it doesn't matter one bit if the sugar you're consuming is refined, natural, or organic. It doesn't matter if it comes from honey or fruit juice or mashed potatoes. If you frequently consume foods and drinks that rapidly break down to glucose, you're risking your waistline and your health. Here's a tip from Bob Bly: The "breath test" can determine whether a sentence you've written is too wordy. Without inhaling, read the sentence in question aloud. If you run out of breath before you get to the end, you need to do a little editing. The solution: Use a dash (--) or ellipses (...) to break the sentence into two or more parts. Or rewrite it as two or more shorter sentences. Doing so will make your writing livelier, more conversational, and easier to read.
Latest News -
Our friend (and a speaker at our recent Info-Marketing Bootcamp) Joe Polish is hosting a teleconference with Tim Ferriss tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. And he's given Early to Risers a free pass! They'll be talking about Tim's newest project, an updated version of The 4-Hour Workweek. We were big fans of the book when it came out a few years ago. And we're curious to see what Tim's added this time around. Get all the details on the teleconference here. Enter the passcode "GiftFromETR" on the page to get the access info for this call.
"I always enjoy your insights... on a broad range of topics! I appreciate your understanding that investing in our physical health is just as important -- and maybe more so -- than our financial wealth. "Thanks for your ongoing inspiration on self development -- showing others how to be the best we can be." Paula Terifaj -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended----------------------------------------------------- Delegating for the Web Entrepreneur Do you work solo on your Internet business? Most start-up entrepreneurs do. And they work their butts off! Bob Bly doesn't (at least not on his Web business). And yet he makes an extra $7,000 a week. His secret: outsourcing. Find out how he does it... and dozens of other tips for making a full-time income from part-time work... here.
Today's Words That Work: Chutzpah Chutzpah (HOOT-spuh) -- a Yiddish word -- means audacity or nerve. Example (as used by Michael Masterson today): "Recognize that some people will resent you for your chutzpah."
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