Jumpstarting Your Dreams
- WEALTHY: The best of two of my books (Michael Masterson)
- HEALTHY: The surprising results of a study on childhood obesity (Jon Herring)
- WISE: Thomas Jefferson on looking to the future
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- Dare to follow your dreams this year (Paul Lawrence)
- Freeze, cork, or down the sink? (Suzanne Richardson)
- Add "inkhorn" to your vocabulary
How Much Money Can YOU Make By Copying This "Mistake"?
How did Vicki Smith accidentally ‘hotwire’ the Internet and turn it into the goose that laid the golden egg?
Well, imagine a huge fortress with steep, heavily defended walls and a great big, drawbridge to get through. Inside that fortress is the huge pile of wealth there is to be made on the Internet. Now imagine trying to scale those walls with no equipment and never having done anything like it before. That is what many people try to do…
But what did Vicki do? By mistake, she got ‘lost’ and wandered around the back of that fortress and found a ‘hidden’ door which lead straight in. A solid gold door which opened up a gateway to riches…
It’s an opportunity which really does work, that anyone can follow and put into practice quickly in just an hour of your spare time from home.
Read about Vicki’s good fortune…
- Patrick Coffey
Talking About What I Know
By Michael Masterson
I recently spent two days in a studio recording a program for Nightingale-Conant called Seven Years to Seven Figures.
The program shares a title with my newest book, but it’s a different product. The NC people wanted me to include a lot of material from Automatic Wealth too.
At first, I resisted the idea of using material from both books. But when I reread Automatic Wealth, I changed my mind. If I do say so myself, that’s a pretty damn good book.
Seven Years to Seven Figures is based on a very exciting concept, because most people want to get rich as fast as possible. And in writing the book, I came up with some pretty exciting ideas about how quick wealth is actually acquired. The book is brief on theory and heavy on stories of people who have created millions in a few short years.
But Automatic Wealth is very solid and very clear about how anybody who wants to get wealthy can do so, simply by:
- facing certain harsh realities
- following a proven wealth-building plan
- developing habits that wealth builders practice
- taking steps to dramatically increase their income
- getting equity in fast-growing businesses for equity growth
- reallocating their portfolio according to their position on the wealth-building scale
By incorporating some of the best parts of Automatic Wealth and Seven Years to Seven Figures into my audio presentation, the NC people and I believe we have created something entirely new and extremely useful.
[Ed. Note: The audio program Michael recorded for Nightingale-Conant will be released soon. We’ll let you know as soon as it’s available.]
"I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past."
Thomas Jefferson
Kicking Off the New Year With ETR: Jumpstarting Your Dreams
By Paul Lawrence
Around this time of year, like most people, I tend to reflect upon how my life went during the past 12 months and where I think it’s going.
As I consider the changes I experienced this year, I’m really overwhelmed. You see, I’m writing this article from my hotel room in Hollywood, California. I’m here (far from my home in South Florida) for a slew of show business meetings. And this reminds me of how proud I was when I took a much earlier trip to Hollywood for just a handful of meetings. Those meetings were with my agent and an independent producer who had no credits to his name. But even that was a huge leap up from where I began - with no knowledge of how show business really works, no contacts of any sort, and no formal education in that field.
This trip is so different, it’s hard for me to believe it. I now have two produced film credits with known stars. And I’m about to meet with a "name" Hollywood producer to work on a television show that I have a contract to executive-produce along with his company. (This is a company that produces major broadcast network television programs and major theatrical release films.)
Now, this, alone, is an outstanding accomplishment … something for me to be proud of. But, amazingly, it’s only the beginning.
This week, I am also scheduled to sign a contract on another feature film that I wrote, meet with another major production company on a script that I’m developing with them, and attend three pitch meetings with three other well-established producers who are interested in developing a new idea that I’ve created for a television program.
I’m not sharing all this with you to try and impress you or to boost my own ego. I’m telling you this to prove to you that anyone with a dream … even a dream that might seem impossible … can make that dream come true.
Of course, amazing dreams don’t just "happen" to come true. If you want to change the course of your life in 2007, here’s how you get started:
1. Make a bold decision to make your dream a reality.
You can’t just say to yourself, "Well, I’ll give it a go - and if it works out, that will be awesome." A half-hearted pursuit of your dream won’t work. You have got to be 100 percent committed to it - so committed that nothing will make you waver from your goal.
Listen, not that many years back, nobody thought I could become successful in show business. Even, my good friend Michael Masterson, who surely is a big thinker, had his doubts.
Still, he respected my determination, and I believe he thought it was possible. That’s about the best you can expect from the folks around you. The most positive of them will think there’s a chance you will succeed, although the odds are against you. And the rest of them will be sure you’re going to fail.
If you want to accomplish big dreams, you have got to believe with every fiber of your being that this dream of yours is your destiny. There is no question of "if" - only "when."
2. Create a strategy.
Believing that your dream will happen isn’t enough. You’ve got to have an intelligent, well-thought-out, realistic plan. In my case, I got started by studying screenwriting books, hooking up with mentors, and traveling to screenwriting seminars in Los Angeles as often as I could afford it. In addition, I began a program of querying a minimum number of producers each week. (I realized that if I did one query a day, five days a week, at the end of one year I’d have queried 260 producers. And with that many queries, how could I not attract a potential producer?)
Naturally, your strategy will be made up of specific tasks that are tailored to your specific goal. But establishing and implementing those tasks - especially the ones you can quantify - will help you measure your efforts.
3. Implement the strategy.
For a lot of people, this is the hardest part. It’s not only the work, but the fear of failing that keeps them from taking action.
I can tell you firsthand that there’s a good chance you’ll suffer some disappointments along the way. I’ve been told "no" by so many producers that I lost track a long time ago. I endured the smirks from those who didn’t have generous hearts and took pleasure in my setbacks. And even the well-meaning people who said, "Well, at least you gave it a try," hurt.
But I continued to press forward. I had to learn a lot. I had to work on my screenwriting craftsmanship because, although I had some natural talent, it turned out that my first screenplays weren’t close to a professional level.
Like me, you will likely have to work very hard and repeatedly risk getting your feelings hurt. But if you want to make your dreams a reality, you have no choice.
Life is short. If you aren’t yet living your dreams, I strongly urge you to stop letting time pass you by. Follow my three-part formula, and make 2007 the year you’re finally on your way to success.
[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence truly is living his dreams. He is a produced screenwriter who has written a multimillion-dollar film. He’s signed a development deal with one of the entertainment industry’s largest producers to executive-produce a television show, has sold another feature film script slated for a 2007 theatrical release, and is the president of a successful direct-mail company.
Learn about Paul’s "Dare to Live Your Dreams" program on his website .]
Why Are Most Real Estate ‘Investors’ Still Going to Work Every Morning?
If you want to collect an automatic monthly income of $10,000 or more - without having to get up every morning and "go to work" - most real estate experts are giving you the wrong advice. They rave about buying and selling single family homes. But… they don’t admit that single family homes are difficult investments for instant passive income… for attaining real financial freedom by not having to get up and go to work every morning.
Dave Lindahl makes $27,000+ in passive income month after month… and can easily show you how to reap huge positive cash flows from real estate - with less risk and less money down than single family homes.
Kam Weiler
Contributing Editor, Main Street Millionaire
Reader Feedback: "Thank you and your staff for providing the tools and the opportunities for success."
"I just re-read ‘Taking Personal Inventory’ by Paul Lawrence … because I am in a similar position as JL was before his success. A while back, I lost my job and collected unemployment, but I had savings that helped. Then, in April of last year, I had an accident which required surgery. Fortunately, as a Vietnam veteran, I was able to secure the medical procedure. However, I was also diagnosed with PTSD.
"This is a critical time for me, because my disability will run out soon. I purchased ETR’s Info-Marketing Bootcamp DVD Library and will also purchase Mr. Lawrence’s ‘Dare to Live Your Dreams’ program. The events in my life in this past year awakened me. For most of my life, I have worked in the non-profit sector and I have nothing to show for it. Now is my time. It’s just going to take effort on my part.
"Thank you and your staff for providing the tools and the opportunities for success."
Sincerely,
John Martinez
Los Angeles, CA
Keep Your Kids Fit, Not Fat
By Jon Herring
In a recent study, Australian researchers sampled 560 families to determine why their children (aged five to six years old) were overweight. As expected, they found that the more time the children spent watching TV, the more likely they were to consume more sweet snacks and fewer vegetables.
But the researchers also found something they didn’t expect: Many of the parents mistakenly believed their children’s diets were healthy. In fact, the more a parent believed the child’s diet was healthy, the more likely it was that the child ate more sweets and fewer vegetables.
Here are three tips to help you protect your children from this threat to their health:
- If your child is overweight, yet you believe he or she is eating a healthy diet, consult with a professional nutritionist or registered dietician for an independent review of your family’s eating habits. You might be surprised by the amount of fat, sugar, and calories you’re all consuming.
- Turn off the TV. Give your children interesting toys that will keep their minds as well as their hands busy with something other than snack food.
- Keep your children active. If they don’t have many friends in the neighborhood, enroll them in after-school activities to improve their fitness and co-ordination (and let them have fun).
Living Rich: Saving Leftover Wine
By Suzanne Richardson
I like white wine; my fiance prefers red. So that means we never finish a full bottle at a meal. And more than once, our leftover wine has gone bad … and we ended up pouring it down the drain.
Once you uncork a bottle of wine, you’re fighting a losing battle against oxidation. The longer the wine is exposed to oxygen, the more quickly it will deteriorate. And you can’t ever really stop that degrading process.
You could shop for a vacuum device that sucks the air from opened bottles, or a tool that fills the empty space above the wine with inert gases. But many experts agree that these wine-preservation systems aren’t foolproof, and can often be expensive and more time consuming than they’re worth.
My usual method is to recork the bottle - either with its own cork or with a wine stopper - and stick it in the fridge. Refrigeration slows the wine’s deterioration … but it doesn’t stop it. A refrigerated open bottle will last about three days (although a richer wine - like a robust Cabernet - could last for a week).
To keep your leftover wine longer, try these tricks.
- Freeze it.
According to the 30 Second Wine Advisor, wine that’s frozen "will keep for six months with little degradation of quality, although it may throw a tartrate sediment [solidified tartaric acid] and lose a little acidity."
- Transfer the wine to a smaller bottle.
"The more wine in the bottle, the longer it will last," says St. Petersburg Times writer Chris Sherman. Since lengthy exposure to oxygen is the problem, you can save a wine just by pouring it into a clean 375 ml bottle and adding a cork. Since the goal is to leave as little open space in the bottle as possible, some wine connoisseurs suggest filling the smaller bottle to overflowing before corking. Depending on who you’re talking to, wine stored in this way can keep for between five days and several weeks or even months.
- Put it to another use.
Let the wine sit out long enough to turn to vinegar. Or use it in sauces or marinades. Here are two tasty tips from Charlie Byrne, ETR’s Editorial Director: "I often add leftover wine to jarred pasta sauce to give it some extra boldness. Or I reduce it, add butter and sautéed mushrooms, and pour it over a burger or steak for a quick, easy, and delicious wine mushroom gravy."
Your best bet? Avoid having leftovers. If it’s a good bottle, invite a few friends over to share it with you. And if it’s a really good bottle, do as Michael Masterson recommends: "Stay up late and finish it. It is a sin NOT to finish a good bottle in one sitting."
The Only Three Ways to Grow a Business
Did you know that there are only three ways to grow a business?
- Increase the number of customers.
- Increase the average transaction value.
- Increase the frequency of repurchase.
Find a way to maximize each one, and your business will experience an astonishing rate of growth.
In his "9 Pillars of Business Growth" program, acclaimed consultant Jay Abraham outlines hundreds of proven, frequently unrecognized, and almost totally underutilized ways to grow these three key areas of your business. If you own a business (or would like to), be sure to take a look at Jay’s program.
- Patrick Coffey
Word to the Wise: Inkhorn
An "inkhorn" (INK-horn) is the small container - originally made from a real horn - that was once used to hold ink. The meaning of the word evolved to refer to language that was used by learned writers and scholars … and, eventually, to refer to language that is excessively pedantic.
Example (as used in The Oxford Companion to English Literature): "In prison he [Boethius] wrote the De Consolatione Philosophiae, his most celebrated work and one of the most translated works, it was translated … by Elizabeth I into florid, inkhorn language."
Michael Masterson
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2007