| The last two weeks of December is when I look back at what I've accomplished and failed to accomplish and make plans for the coming year. I make a commitment to complete my major goals in each of four areas: 1. Health (mental and physical) 2. Wealth (business and investments) 3. Personal (hobbies and interests) 4. Social (family, friends, community) My overall goal is to lead a well-balanced life. I've found that if I focus too much on one area and neglect the others, I have a hollow feeling that haunts me throughout the year. I don't think I'm the only one who feels that way. I know dozens of financially successful businesspeople who have few friends, no hobbies, and are generally miserable. I also know some wonderful people who are rich in friends and enjoy full personal lives, but are always stressed by financial shortfalls. The worst situation, of course, is having bad health. You can have everything else in abundance -- money, loving family and friends, and a rich intellectual life. But if you are sick (mentally or physically), you enjoy none of it. That is why I came up with this four-part formula. First, I set health goals. Then wealth goals. Then goals for my social and personal life. I limit myself to two or three major goals in each area because I don't want to bite off more than I can chew. Those major goals are highlighted on my checklists throughout the year. I give priority to them. And, usually, I'm able to get them accomplished. Take some time this week to think about what you have done and what you have not done in 2009. Identify your core desires. Make notes. Talk it over with friends and loved ones. Then, sometime after Christmas but before New Year's, convert those ideas into a game plan. I'll show you how I do that next week. -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended ----------------------------------------------------- Is Your Life Unbalanced? - We all have the same 24 hours in a day. And that is plenty of time to work toward goals in all areas of your life. You just have to learn how to manage your time. And we have just the man to help. Success mentor Bob Cox learned how to manage time from four of the richest men in the world. And you can bet they never wasted a minute. Find out more about Bob's system here.
"The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself." Peter Drucker The Simple Letter That Launched a Nine-Figure Business
By Roy Furr The year is 1979. And entrepreneur Bill Bonner sits down to write a simple sales letter for a new publication he's ready to launch. Bonner's letter starts like this: "You look out your window, past your gardener, who is busily pruning the lemon, cherry, and fig trees... amidst the splendor of gardenias, hibiscus, and hollyhocks. "The sky is clear blue. The sea is a deeper blue, sparkling with sunlight. "A gentle breeze comes drifting in from the ocean, clean and refreshing, as your maid brings breakfast in bed. "For a moment, you think you have died and gone to heaven. "But this paradise is real. And affordable. In fact, it costs only half as much to live this dream lifestyle... as it would to stay in your own home! "Dear Reader, "I'd like to send you a FREE copy of a unique -- and invaluable -- report. "It's called..." The letter continues, explaining how you can get a free report titled "The 5 Best Retirement Destinations in the World" just for trying Bonner's International Living newsletter. And how, if you read International Living, you'll learn to live in luxury on a modest retirement income by moving to one of the most beautiful -- and most affordable -- paradises in the world. Does the newsletter sell? Boy, does it! Out of the box, every marketing dollar spent on sending out Bonner's letter brings back $3 in orders. And even today -- three full decades later -- that letter has barely been changed and still sells subscription after subscription to International Living. Starting with this letter, Bill Bonner grew his company, Agora Inc., first to $1 million, then to $10 million, past $80 million, and now well into nine figures. (That's over $100 million per year.) On the heels of this success, Bonner went on to launch dozens of successful newsletters. (You probably wouldn't be reading ETR if it weren't for Bonner's letter.) And Agora now publishes books. And puts on conferences. And arranges travel and "discovery tours" for business owners, retirees, and others looking to move to some of International Living's recommended paradises. New Agora subsidiaries and affiliates are created all the time. What's Bonner's secret to nine-figure business success? Brilliant marketing copy. Being able to write letters that sell. When you can send out a sales letter at a cost of $1 or even $2 and it brings back $3 or $4 or $10 in return, you have a license to print money. In fact, there are copywriters who charge well into five figures to write sales letters. And smart business owners make this investment over and over again because of the enormous profits these letters can generate. But you don't have to pay skilled copywriters tens of thousands of dollars to write sales letters for you. You can learn to do it yourself. Any business owner who can write a letter to a friend can write a successful sales letter. All it takes is following a few specific rules: - Know your customer -- who you're writing to.
You spend every day with your business and your customers. It's your life to know your customers well. Just reading Bonner's letter above tells you the people in his target audience want to live like royalty -- without blowing their retirement savings. That's knowing the customer. - Make the message about your readers' dreams, desires, fears, and frustrations.
Bonner's letter goes right for the jugular on this. It puts his readers right into their dream of living in paradise... and plants them firmly there before even mentioning the "free report." - Spell out all the benefits your readers will get by taking the action you recommend.
While the features of your product are important to you, what your customers really care about are what your product can do for them. So talk about what they care about. - Make the benefits clear and easy to imagine. Make them concrete.
Look back at Bonner's letter. It doesn't start with a rant about expensive retirements and theorize about how to save money. It puts the reader in his seaside retirement estate, beautiful garden, hired help, and all. - Prove what you're saying in every way possible.
Without proof, your pitch is an empty promise. Your reader has to be so confident by the end of your letter that what you have is perfect for them that they'd be stupid not to respond. Bonner's full International Living letter tells the stories of actual people who have done what the letter promises, surprisingly easily. Specific details prove the promises are real. - Keep it simple, building your entire message on one "big idea."
It may surprise you, but test after test has proven that demonstrating one benefit to exhaustion will almost always make more sales than presenting every benefit your product offers. The big idea of Bonner's letter is that you can live in paradise, far better than you're living now and for less. And it demonstrates this powerful idea over and over again until the reader sees no alternative but to subscribe to the newsletter. But even with these rules for writing successful sales letters, you may still have some questions. For example: - How do you get someone to pay attention and start reading your sales letter?
- Once they're reading, how do you hook them into reading the whole thing?
- As you tell your "story," how can you introduce your product and get your reader excited about it?
- Once your reader is excited about your product, how can you present the offer in a way that makes them want to respond to it?
- How do you get the reader to go from excited about responding to actually placing the order?
If you're asking these questions, you're on the right track. Soon you'll be writing letters that will grow your business quickly. Maybe some day you'll even surpass Bill Bonner's nine-figure business success! [Ed. Note: You can learn the answers to these questions -- and how to write sales letters that turn $1 into $3 -- in AWAI's Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting. In it, master copywriters Michael Masterson, Don Mahoney, and Bob Bly, among others, reveal the real secrets to writing copy that sells.] -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended ----------------------------------------------------- Spinning Your Wheels With Your Internet Business? Eighty percent of what most people do is a total waste of time. It's the other 20 percent that really gets the job done. Brian Edmondson, Director of the Internet Money Club, realized that this holds true with building and launching online businesses. Eighty percent of what most people think is really important when it comes to making money online actually gets you nowhere. But in IMC, they make that top 20 percent their primary focus. And they go even further. Brian knows that even in that top 20 percent, not all money-making tasks are created equal. So he has boiled it down and uncovered the top 5 percent! Find out what that kind of "laser focus" can do for you...
By their very nature, growing companies tend to change direction frequently. This is especially true of information-publishing companies whose success depends on quickly developing new ideas. When your business is growing fast, it is easy to ignore the inevitable chaos that ensues, thinking that cash flow will take care of everything down the line. There is a lot of truth to that. But if you let the chaos go on too long, you will end up with a business that has high revenues but fast-decreasing profits. And things will be so complicated by then that it will be hard to tell exactly what is wrong. The solution is to get rid of the mediocre people, products, and procedures as you add new ones. I have one client whose company has gone from zero to 10 million in four years. The guy who runs it is a master at this winnowing process. Every time he launches a successful new product, he puts one of his poorer products on the back burner. He does the same thing with employees. Each time a superstar emerges, the weakest member of the team is let go. If you are in that situation now, I recommend you read Ready, Fire, Aim immediately. Pay special attention to the chapters devoted to Stage Two businesses.
What Does Cholesterol Have to Do With Cholesterol?
By Michael Masterson
Like me, SL is fighting the inevitable. At 55, he's working out vigorously at least once a day. "I feel a hell of a lot better," he tells me. Working out not only makes him feel better, it has reduced his risk of heart disease. His cholesterol counts are better than before, but not as good as he'd like them to be. He's still taking statin drugs and he doesn't like it. I asked about his diet and was surprised to hear that he is following an old-fashioned, low-animal-fat, high-carbohydrate plan. "Eating a lot of cholesterol doesn't give you high cholesterol," I told him. He looked at me like I was nuts. It's amazing how little most people know about nutrition. On a recent plane ride, I sat next to a young filmmaker who'd just completed a documentary about dieting. "I really bashed Dr. Atkins," he said proudly. I told him that I'd been Atkins's publisher and asked him what was so objectionable about the Atkins diet. Turns out that he, too, believed that eating cholesterol leads to high cholesterol. If you want to keep your cholesterol low and avoid statin drugs, Dr. Al Sears provides a complete plan of action in his book, "The Doctor's Heart Cure." Here are some of his recommendations: - Engage in interval exercise to raise your levels of beneficial HDL cholesterol.
- Eat plenty of protein, the right kinds of fat, and keep your carbohydrate intake low.
- Eat a diet high in plant sterols, fiber, garlic, and omega-3 fatty acids.
- Supplement your diet with policosanol, niacin, vitamins C and E, CoQ10, and L-carnitine.
Make Your Promises Honestly
By Bob Cox
Building a solid reputation (in business or personally) requires diligent and consistent action. It can blow up in an instant. No matter your past accomplishments, one unfortunate incident can ruin it all. And it doesn't take a major incident to call your integrity into question. Breaking a promise -- small or large -- is dishonorable in its own way. Get in the habit of keeping promises. Don't make promises just to please people or avoid discussing an issue. And certainly don't make a promise you know you will break. Be honest with yourself and others before you commit to anything. Broken promises result in missed opportunities, resentment, and anxiety. Furthermore, broken promises can lead to damaged friendships and loss of business. Most people don't mind the occasional broken promise. As long as it comes with a reasonable explanation or heartfelt apology. However, the most successful people I know value the commitments they make. They keep their promises faithfully. It is a matter of honor. We are all busy. And with time being so limited, nothing is more important than quickly building solid relationships with your coworkers, partners, friends, family, customers, and vendors. Broken promises will destroy your credibility with them. And that will stop your success in its tracks. [Ed. Note: Making and keeping promises is just one Success Technique Bob Cox shares in his Total Success Achievement Program. As a mentor to four men who became billionaires, Bob could be your "missing link" to achieving all you want out of life. He's taking new students now. Find out more here...]
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The Language Perfectionist: Always Avoid Ambiguity
By Don Hauptman
Some problems with the written word don't qualify as formal mistakes but rather are issues of style and expression. That doesn't make them any less serious. One of these problems is the sentence so poorly worded that it's ambiguous and confusing. It forces the reader to stop and wonder: What is the writer trying to say? What does he mean? Here are a few examples I caught recently in major newspapers: - "Although Mr. Bush has given several speeches since leaving office... this is the first event where he has invited reporters to announce a new venture."
Of course, the former president didn't suggest to reporters that they announce their own new venture. Better: "... this is the first event where he announced a new venture to invited reporters." - "But while it may seem to be bad form, in some cases, it is legal for a credit-card issuer to close an active account...."
It's not the "bad form" that "in some cases" refers to, but rather the legality of the account terminations. Omitting the comma after "cases" would clarify matters. - "Our survey of consumers in five large country markets found a range of reasons why people opt for counterfeits."
Are we talking about rural flea markets that aren't small? Nope. A subsequent paragraph makes it clear that the reference is to Brazil, Russia, India, China, and America. The problem can be fixed via hyphenation: "large-country markets." [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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