Message #1768
- WEALTHY: Dust off your piggy bank! (Charles Delvalle)
- HEALTHY: Help for asthma and COPD sufferers
- WISE: Gregory Bateson on perception
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- The difference between $30,000 and $30,800 (Larry Fredericks)
- Are the Chinese happy with their government? (Michael
Masterson) - Add “flaneur” to your vocabulary
Turn A Single $100 Investment Into A $2,000-A-Week Profit Machine
In the next seven days, 4,589 people will leave their jobs,
never go back… and have all the money they will ever need.
I would tell you that these people are “very lucky,” but
the fact of the matter is that there is no luck involved.
It s happening everywhere. Ordinary people — including people
who never finished school -– starting their own businesses…and
making in the neighborhood of $40,000…$60,000…even $100,000
or more a year.
Even though all these people are “ordinary” in some
ways, one thing is certainly “out of the ordinary” about
them:
Many used the same secret to start a business on less than $100.
You can do it, too. Here’s how.
-
Charlie Byrne
Keep Those Pennies
By
Charles Delvalle
It’s happened before. The price of metal goes up so much that
it becomes more valuable than the face value of the coin
minted with it. And it’s happening again, this time with
the penny.
In 1982, zinc began to make up 97.5 percent of the metal content
of pennies, replacing copper, which had grown too expensive.
Zinc, like all metals, has been going up steadily in price. Back
in 2002, zinc was about 35 cents per pound. But today, it
stands at about 63 cents per pound … putting the cost of
producing a penny at 1.4 cents.
So far, it’s not a big deal. But should the price of zinc double
again, the U.S. Mint might replace the zinc with something
else or eliminate the penny completely.
If you’re an inveterate collector anyway – or just hate empty
shelf space – those penny jars may be worth more than you
think one day. A penny a day may not pay for your children’s
(or grandchildren’s) college, but if its value merely keeps
up with the rising cost of tuition (which would be no small
feat), you’ve just found a small but enjoyable way to save
for your children’s future.
[Ed. Note: Charles Delvalle is the Managing Editor of ETR's free
investment newsletter, Money
Insight.]
“The
processes of perception are inaccessible; only the products
are conscious and, of course, it is the products that
are necessary.”
-
Gregory Bateson
Perceptual Contrasts
By
Larry Fredericks
Before Mitch walked into the car dealership, the one thing he would’ve
absolutely bet the farm on was that he would never spend
an extra $800 for some nice wheel rims. He had a budget,
and all he wanted was a decent car at an affordable price.
But as Mitch drove out of the dealership in his new car with
$800 wheel rims, he wasn’t sorry that he’d shelled out the
extra cash for them. In fact, he was happy he’d done it.
How did the car salesman convince Mitch to pay for a perk
he didn’t need? He used a persuasion technique called “Perceptual
Contrasting,” which involves convincing a subject to
view a proposal in a much more favorable light by contrasting
it with other facts.
Mitch’s visit to the car dealer went something like this:
The salesman showed Mitch a few cars until he found one he liked.
After taking it for a test drive, the time had come to crunch
the numbers … and Mitch was prepared to negotiate ferociously.
There was the typical haggling that goes on at a car dealer
… the back and forth where the salesman “checks with
the manager.” Finally, a price was agreed upon: $30,000.
It was slightly more than Mitch had been prepared to pay,
but the monthly payments worked out to be about $540 a month,
which he could handle.
Then… the salesman asked Mitch if he wanted those fancy wheel
rims. Mitch’s stomach dropped. The truth was, he really liked
those fancy rims, but he didn’t want to spend more money. “Well,
how much are they?” Mitch asked. “I don’t want
to drop a lot of money on something I don’t need.”
The salesman nodded with empathy. He proceeded to explain that
the rims weren’t cheap. In fact, they were about $800. But,
the salesman pointed out, that $800 was less than 3 percent
of the total price of the car.
“If you’re going to spend all this money, shouldn’t you get the
car you really want?” the salesman asked.
How could Mitch not agree?
In and of itself, the thought of spending $800 on rims – a luxury
he didn’t need – would’ve seemed crazy. Far too much money.
But, when the salesman had Mitch look at it differently -
as the difference between spending $30,000 (which he was
already doing) and $30,800 – it now seemed fairly nominal.
The key factor in the Perceptual Contrasting technique is that
it is entirely possible to alter a person’s perception of
the facts, even when those facts have not changed in the
slightest.
This persuasion technique can be highly effective during any kind
of negotiation … not only when negotiating the price of
a high-ticket item. For instance, Tom G. was able to use
it to secure an additional week’s vacation time when accepting
a position with a new employer.
In this case, the employer wanted to hire Tom, and Tom wanted
the job. The only issue on the table was compensation. If
Tom had come out right at the beginning and announced that
he wanted not two but three weeks of vacation his first year
on the job, his request may have sounded unreasonable. But
he didn’t do that.
First, Tom negotiated his basic salary and some standard perks (such
as health insurance). There was some give and take between
both parties before they finally reached an agreement. Although
Tom had hoped to get a little bit more money, he was fairly
satisfied. His new employer was satisfied too, and was pleased
by how flexible Tom had been. That’s why – with the deal
basically done – when Tom mentioned that he would be totally
happy if he could have a third week of vacation … the employer
quickly said yes.
At this point, the employer thought of Tom as a very reasonable
guy. And considering the concessions that Tom had made on
big issues like salary and health insurance, an extra week
of vacation seemed like a relatively small thing to give
in on.
Perceptual Contrasting is also used in marketing.
You see it all the time … advertising in newspapers, television
commercials, and direct-mail promotions where the product
being offered is said to have a certain value that seems
fairly expensive. A kitchen appliance with a value of $400,
for instance.
At that price, it’s unlikely that a prospective customer will
be convinced that it’s a good idea to purchase the pricey
appliance. But then the marketer pulls out Perceptual Contrasting
to make the sale. He’s already established the value of the
appliance as $400 – and now he says he’s selling it for only
$99.
Presented with the difference between that original $400 value and
the actual $99 price, the prospect now perceives the appliance
to be an exceptional bargain .
[Ed. Note: Larry Fredericks is an entrepreneur with a history
of successful business dealings in retail, direct mail, the
Internet, and real estate. He is also the creator of the Master
of Persuasion program.]
Today’s Action Plan
The Perceptual Contrasting technique can work for you in many
different situations. Whether you want to sell a premium
package, negotiate extra perks at work, make a great business
deal, or do almost anything else that’s important to you,
being able to persuade people often makes the difference
between success and failure. Learn more about Perceptual
Contrasting and other persuasive techniques with Larry Fredericks’s Master
of Persuasion program.
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Breathe Easy With Omega-3 Fatty Acids
By
Jon Herring
As a regular reader of Early to Rise, you already know
about the many health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids. This
essential fat – mostly found in fish – is critical for heart
and brain health. But there is also evidence that omega-3s
help with breathing and lung-related conditions like asthma
and COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).
Japanese researchers split COPD sufferers into two groups. One ate
a diet rich in omega-3s, the other an “average” diet.
After 15 months, the group that got the extra omega-3s not
only showed dramatic improvement in their ability to exercise,
their inflammation and shortness of breath dropped too.
For best results, an adult should consume about 3,200 mg of omega-3s
per day. If you take a liquid fish oil supplement (such as
Carlson’s), that would be about 2 teaspoons.
Reader Feedback: “Keep up the excellent work!”
“I simply love your new Sunday Week in Review edition of the
ETR e-newsletter. Keep up the excellent work!”
K.T.
Brown
San Antonio, TX
Notes From Asia: Economic Growth and Government Approval
By
Michael Masterson
While in China, we have asked each of our three tour guides whether
the Chinese people are happy with their government. All three
guides answered in the affirmative.
“We should be happy because everything has been getting better,” Billy,
our Beijing guide, said.
“The government is bringing in money from foreigners and spending
it on Chinese industry,” Patty, our Xian guide, told
us.
“The government has a policy: Do what is good for the Chinese
people,” Roger, our Shanghai guide, said.
In the United States – the world’s proudest democracy – our
presidents usually enjoy “approval ratings” of
between 40 percent and 70 percent. But in China – the world’s
largest centrally controlled economy – the sentiment of the
people is overwhelmingly positive. No doubt this is due largely
to more than two decades of economic growth. In the past
10 years, that growth has accelerated, fueled by the government’s
policy of investing most of its resources into infrastructural
development – roads, utilities, communication systems, warehouses,
and office buildings.
Until you see cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, you
can’t begin to understand the power and potential that China
has. Take the elevator to the executive lounge at the top
of the Peninsula hotel in Beijing or the Four Seasons in
Shanghai and look out on the city. You will be awed by an
expanse of skyscrapers vaster and denser and more modern
than any cityscape you have never seen. Even a proud New
Yorker (such as yours truly) has to be humbled when confronted
by the thousands of new towering residential towers and office
buildings that have sprung up like bamboo shoots in the past
few years.
All this building in such a short time … it’s almost unbelievable.
A Western traveler can’t help but feel overwhelmed.
In the U.S. and Europe, we’ve experienced a good deal of growth
in the past 10 years. But what we have been able to do by
private and public means pales in comparison to what’s going
on here.
Are the Chinese people happy with all this growth? Yes, our guides
tell us, they are. And based on what we’ve seen so far, we
have no reason to doubt them.
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Word to the Wise: Flaneur
A “flaneur” (flah-NUR) is an aimless idler. The word comes from the French for “to
saunter; to stroll; to lounge about.”
Example (as used by Ian Buruma in the New Republic): “Baudelaire
saw the writer as a detached flaneur, a
mocking dandy in the big-city crowd, alienated, isolated,
anonymous, aristocratic, melancholic.”
Michael Masterson
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2006
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