Whether you’re entering the full-time workforce for the first time or have years of experience, keep the following in mind when moving into any new job:
1. Spend the first several weeks taking everything in. Be eager and helpful, but don’t be too aggressive and don’t get into arguments, confrontations, or debates. Now is the time to learn everything you can about your new working environment. Much of what you need to learn will be hidden from you if you pose a threat.
2. Networking is extremely important to your career, but – for the same reasons stated above – you don’t want to go after the powerful and connected people in a pushy way. In the beginning weeks, make a strong effort to make friends with everybody. Making enemies early on – even with seemingly unimportant or impotent people – can cause you serious problems later on.
3. Come in early and stay late. But not too early or too late. You want to establish a reputation as an enthusiastic employee and a hard worker, but you don’t want to seem like a goody-two-shoes, either.
4. When you have firmly established good relationships with everyone, you should gradually increase your efforts – coming in earlier, volunteering for jobs, taking on extra assignments, and starting to set up information interviews with the movers and shakers.
5. As you improve your performance and accomplish goals, stay humble with your fellow workers, but make sure your boss (and your boss’s boss) knows that you are a superstar in the making.
[Ed. Note: For more of Michael's advice on how to succeed in a new job, get a copy of Automatic Wealth for Grads… and Anyone Else Just Starting Out.]
When my two partners and I agreed to pursue the venture, we thought of it as almost a hobby. We all enjoyed combat sports and thought it would be cool to sell related videos. And, if we made a few extra dollars by doing it … even better.
Fast-forward a few years and the enterprise we started is anything but a hobby. It now employs 10 people. People who now own it, it’s a very serious business that nets over $250,000 a year!
But what I find really incredible about this story is that we started this business with only a few hundred dollars.
For the first videos we produced, we just rented the lowest-level broadcast-quality camera for $50. And we hired a service to do some simple edits for about $100 more. After that, we placed some small ads and created a website. The rest, as they say, is history.
Naturally, if you’re financially able to purchase all the equipment, it makes the whole thing more convenient. Still, I recommend producing a video or two first. Then, once you’ve got some cash coming in, go ahead and buy a video camera, a computer, and the appropriate software. You should be able to get everything you need for about $6,000.
There is an almost unlimited opportunity to produce videos, because there’s a demand for them in just about every area of interest. Since my experience with that first partnership, I’ve created and produced a variety of other videos that have all been extremely profitable. (By the way, I eventually sold my share for a nice profit.)
Some of the best kinds to produce are instructional videos. Because people are buying information – not special effects or top-notch acting – your production doesn’t have to be perfectly polished. It shouldn’t look like you shot it in your garage with a camcorder, but it doesn’t have to look like a broadcast television show or blockbuster Hollywood movie.
You may already have the technical know-how to create your own instructional video, and you may even feel comfortable being on camera yourself. If not, no problem. All you have to do is hire people who have the skills or knowledge you lack.
In one instance, I became acquainted with a fitness instructor who had developed an awesome technique for stretching the back that really helped me. And because so many people suffer from back pain, I figured there might be a market for her system. So I hired her to host an instructional videotape that I produced.
The results were nothing short of fantastic. I made a $5,000 profit within days of putting the video up for sale. And I did it without having any personal expertise in videography.
And I’m definitely not the only one who’s been able to turn instructional videos into a profitable business. KH came across a man who, in his 60s, was in better shape than most 20-year-olds. His muscles were toned and he had amazing energy and vigor. The man agreed to turn his personal exercise regimen into an instructional video (with KH as the producer) – and within 30 days of shooting it, KH had made a $10,000 profit. The best part is that KH had started with a mere $250 investment.
If you have your own area of expertise that you can transform into an instructional video, so much the better.
As I’ve mentioned several times in ETR, I taught ballroom dancing for years. And I’ve earned a nice stream of income from an instructional dance video I created during that time. Because I featured my own skills in the video, my investment was even smaller than it would have been had I needed to hire an outside expert.
One of the best things about creating and selling videos is that they can provide a continuing income stream. Once you’ve made the video, all you have to do is fill orders. And if you have a topic that continues to interest people – and you continue to market it – the video can sell forever.
Here’s how to get started with your first “how-to” video:
1. Choose a subject.
2. Either plan to be in the video yourself or hire a qualified expert.
3. Rent or buy the camera and editing equipment.
4. Shoot and edit.
5. Using the direct-marketing techniques you read about in ETR all the time, sell the video to your target customer.
Producing and marketing your own videos is not only exciting and fun, it can also be very lucrative. Plus, this is a business where you can quickly get your foot in the door with a very small outlay of capital. Just take an inventory of subjects you know already or find interesting … and you could be a video producer in a matter of weeks.
[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence is a produced screenwriter, direct-mail copywriter, and business author. He is also the creator of the Quick and Easy Microbusiness System, ETR's program for starting a business for under $100.
Learn more of Paul's video-business secrets HERE]
The other day, one of my elderly patients said something curious: “Dr. Sears, my brain must be getting smaller – I just can’t remember things like I used to.” You should have seen the look on her face when I told her that she was right. Your brain actually does shrink as you get older!
The shrinking starts in adulthood and continues at an average rate of two percent per decade. That doesn’t sound like much – but by the time you’re 80, your brain will be 12 percent smaller than it was at 20. As you might imagine, that can cause all sorts of problems, including memory loss. But there are two supplements that can help you maintain your mental edge – even as you get older.
Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALC) is an exceptional brain supplement. ALC provides a range of brain protection, improving mood and memory. It protects the brain from damage due to poor circulation and helps repair injured nerve cells so they can function normally again. ALC also increases the release of the memory neurotransmitter acetylcholine.
Researchers have found that ALC protects brain cells from damage even when blood flow is temporarily blocked. And it keeps the cell energy going even when there is little or no blood flow for short amounts of time.
Vitamin B12 is another brain booster that plays a role in creating and maintaining the protective coating (myelin) around neurons. Not only does myelin protect the neurons, it also helps conduct messages to the brain. As vitamin B-12 levels drop, myelin’s effectiveness plummets. B-12 also lowers levels of homocysteine in the body. (Homocysteine is a toxic byproduct that destroys neurons and contributes to mental disorders. It is often seen in people with B-12 deficiencies.)
Both of these supplements are easy to take and available at your local nutrition store or on the Internet. I recommend taking 250 mg of ALC and 500 mcg of vitamin B-12 daily.
[Ed. Note: Dr. Sears, a practicing physician, is a leading authority on longevity, physical fitness, and heart health. Learn more of his anti-aging secrets here.]
You know why economists rarely get it right? Because you and I are constantly letting them down with the decisions we make. Every time we buy something on impulse, we drive them up a tree.
They’re beginning to get it, though.
Economists used to think we act rationally. That every time we save, spend, or invest, we dispassionately size up the pertinent information and circumstances and make a clear-headed decision.
What a hoot. Most of them now acknowledge we’re not as rational as their theories have made us out to be.
Now a new bunch is saying investors are greedy, stupid, fearful, emotional, and short-sighted. Don’t worry. I’m going to tell you what you can do about it. But first, let me tell you who these nervy economists are.
In 1997, a group of neuroscientists and psychologists held a two-day conference in Pittsburgh and gave presentations to about 20 economists. What came of this was a new way to look at economics. They called it "neuroeconomics."
My daughter is a neurology major at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. She studies how the brain works. Neuroeconomics goes a step further. Using the latest imaging technology, scientists look at the brainwaves we produce when we make economic decisions.
A recent article in The New Yorker examined some of the experiments conducted by these "neuroeconomists." In one study, a group of respondents were put in MRI machines and given "take-it-or-leave-it" ultimatums – offers to split various amounts of money between them and another party. Even though getting a little of something is better than getting nothing at all, the stingier offers ignited brain activity in the limbic structure (the part of the brain that’s responsible for anger and distress). The more activity in this part of the brain, the more likely it was that the offer would be rejected.
The conclusion? Emotion trumps reason.
Another experiment looked at what happens in our brains when we are faced with the choice between an immediate reward versus a delayed reward. Volunteers were given two choices: an Amazon.com gift card worth $15 for immediate use or a $20 gift card that couldn’t be used for another month. The scans showed brain activity in both the reasoning part of the brain (lateral prefrontal) as well as the part of the brain responsible for anger and distress (limbic). The greater the activity in the limbic areas, the greater the chances that the gift voucher for immediate use would be chosen.
Behavioral economists have known for a good 10 years that we act on preferences grounded in something other than reason. Now we know why. Different parts of the brain compete with each other. And when the emotional parts of the brain get stimulated (for whatever reason), our decisions are more likely to be emotional. And this can result in lower benefits or higher risk over the long run.
For example, when people are presented with a 50 percent chance of making $150 or losing $100, most don’t bite. But in an experiment with patients who had lesions on one of the three regions of the brain that are responsible for regulating emotions, these bets were accepted more than 80 percent of the time. Take away the fear of loss, and the brain usually makes the logical choice.
So what can you do to tame the emotional side of your brain?
1. Know thyself.
You don’t have to squeeze into an MRI machine to learn how emotional you are. If you are risk averse … if you are liable to lose sleep at night at the first sign of price slippage … don’t invest in volatile vehicles (like commodities, for example).
2. Make it as inconvenient as possible to allow your emotions to dictate your actions.
One way is to strictly follow sell-stop points.
The brain-scanning experiments I told you about indicate that the brain doesn’t like ambiguous situations. And what could be more uncertain than how much an investment will rise or fall? So we become fearful – which leads to selling our positions too early or too late.
That’s why I recommend setting 20 percent trailing sell-stops on your stock investments. This lets you ride your winners as long as reasonably possible, and provides a point at which you will exit, no questions asked.
A good way to do this is with TradeStops.com, an easy-to-use online service that will help you track your trailing stops (and a whole lot more).
3. Know thy investment.
Those experiments also show that the more you know about an investment, the less your emotions will drive decisions.
I hate it when investors put their money in something because of what they heard over cocktails. If you research the car you buy, shouldn’t you also do homework on your $200,000 portfolio? It’s your money. You need to know the risks, the upside, the growth drivers of your investment, etc. And if doing this research is yet another way to circumvent your emotional side, so much the better.
Investing isn’t about conquering your emotions. It’s about handling them. If you have a handle on your emotions without using any of the above tools (or other tools of your choosing), you’re the rare investor indeed. As for the rest of us, letting our money management and investment tools guide and control our financial decisions is a necessary step toward successful investing.
[Ed. Note: Andrew Gordon is Editor-in-Chief of ETR's investing services: Income and The Wealth Advantage He is also a regular contributor to our Investor's Daily Edge newsletter.]