Sleeping With the Enemy
Issue #1980
- WEALTHY: Picking up the pieces of a shattered life (Michael Masterson)
- HEALTHY: Is sugar by any other name as sweet? (Jon Herring)
- WISE: Rodney King on cooperation
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- The challenges - and rewards - of working with competitors (Jenny Thompson)
- Say "Eggplant!" (Suzanne Richardson)
- It’s Fun to Know… about body piercing
- Add "bromide" to your vocabulary
Nine Ways To Explode Your Profits
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Dear Michael Masterson: "I don’t know what’s wrong or where to go from here."
"This is more than a business problem; it’s a life problem. I feel depressed and I’m not sure how to pull out of it. I own a business - an outdoor restaurant. When the weather is good, as it often is here in San Diego, business is good. Three years ago, I discovered my husband, whom I trusted and loved, embezzling money from it, to the point that we could barely pay the utility bills.
"We had a traumatic divorce and I am now buying him out of the business. It’s supposed to be at $2,500 per month, but I just can’t make the payments right now and my lawyer says the payment amounts can’t be changed. Plus, I have other personal loans to pay off. I work as much as I can - 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. - to save on payroll, but the administrative duties are endless and my life is out of balance. I live alone. My daughter (not his daughter) works and supports herself, but she’s applying to graduate school, so she needs my financial assistance.
"I work so much, there’s not much time or money for a social life or travel or anything else. I’ve been reading Automatic Wealth and Seven Years to Seven Figures, plus ETR every day, and you have helped me focus and keep myself together emotionally.
"Do you have any suggestions? My life and my future feel so empty right now, and I don’t know what’s wrong or where to go from here."
Tasha Evans
San Diego, CA
Dear Tasha,
Don’t give up now that you have weathered the storm.
Your husband was a thief and you got rid of him. Good for you. You’ve put that bad part of your life behind you - which means you are free to have new and better relationships in the future. I wouldn’t rush into another personal relationship any time soon, though. Give yourself another year or so. Develop friendships by joining a book club or a charitable organization - something that meets once a month.
Don’t worry about your daughter. She can send herself to school the way I did - by working and taking out student loans. It will make her a stronger person. You just give her your love and guidance. That’s all she really needs from you and all she should expect from you. (Actually, she should be helping you out at this point in time.)
Give yourself a year to figure out if your restaurant is worth keeping. Maybe you should explore the idea of going with a different restaurant - one that offers indoor dining. Or maybe you would be better off getting out of the restaurant business altogether and working for someone else. (You are working 14 hours a day managing your restaurant - and you could be making at least $70,000 a year as a profit manager of a growing business in your area.)
But don’t do anything yet. This shouldn’t be a moving-on year for you. It should be a year for consolidating and figuring out exactly what you will start doing next year.
Meanwhile, keep in touch with us. You have friends here at ETR.
- Michael Masterson
[Ed. Note: Learn how you can be part of an exclusive group of 25 to 50 ambitious businesspeople that Michael will be leading through an elite 5-day program that can help you dramatically increase the profitability of your business here.]
"Can’t we all just get along?"
Rodney King
Sleeping With the Enemy
By Jenny Thompson
Most people think of "the competition" as the enemy. In reality, as Michael Masterson has been telling you for years, your competitors can be some of the most important allies you have in business. Plain and simple, your competition has the most access to your prospective customers, and you to theirs.
Conventional wisdom says that if a customer is buying from your competitor, he can’t be buying from you. And vice versa. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.
Perhaps the greatest hurdle is overcoming the idea that the customer has a finite amount of money to spend or a finite need to be filled. But think, for a minute, about yourself as the consumer. How many television sets are in your house? (It’s okay, I won’t tell Michael Masterson.) Are they all the same brand? Did you buy them all from the same store?
Decades ago, there was one television set per house, if you were lucky, and it was considered a luxury. Today, most people consider TV to be a necessity. In the typical middle-class home, there’s a set in almost every room. It’s the same story with computers. I remember getting our first home computer in 1995. Now we have three of them - for two of us!
So forget the idea that the customer can’t buy from - or even be loyal to - you and your competition at the same time.
A Win-Win…Win
Now that you’ve wrapped your head around the idea that there are plenty of consumers out there for you and the other guy, you can start thinking of ways to actually work with your competition - ways that will benefit both of you… as well as your customers.
Depending on what business you’re in, how you can work with the competition will differ. In the world of publishing, for example, people frequently subscribe to multiple publications. So we frequently allow competitors to offer subscriptions to our Health Sciences Institute members, and they allow us the same access to their readers. Generally, we do this by "renting" our mailing list to them. (This is only for print subscribers. We never rent any e-mail names.) But we also look for additional ways to capitalize on our shared relationship with the customer.
Health Sciences Institute has done this successfully with the people at Boardroom publishing online. Recognizing that our customers enjoy both companies’ products, we’ve developed a program for swapping advertising space. Each company is guaranteed a certain number of advertising slots a month, and we share the revenue. So we are each rewarded financially by giving a competitor direct, frequent access to our customers.
Another idea we are testing is "trading" people who have canceled their Health Sciences Institute membership with a competitor for their canceled subscribers. Essentially, these are people who want information on natural health but may not have liked something about the product they chose. That could make them an ideal candidate for another health advisory.
You just need to find the opportunities that work for you.
There is one caveat: Make sure you work with a competitor you trust, and whose products and business practices you’re comfortable with. Your customers will associate your company with any products or services they buy through you or because of your recommendation.
How Much Pie Can You Eat?
In my experience, there are a few challenges you will face in trying to work with your competition. I already mentioned that your competitors probably think you’re the enemy, so you need to approach them prepared to show them the benefits of working together.
Trust is another challenge. In the publishing business, working with competitors often means handing them a copy of your subscriber list. That’s a valuable resource that most publishers aren’t comfortable losing control over. However, there are always solutions. In this case, there are independent third parties (list brokers) you can provide with the list. Plus, if you’re drawing up a contract, you can clearly define the ways the information can be used - and the penalties for misuse. (Again, it’s best to do business with people you trust so this will not be an issue.)
What I have found to be the biggest challenge is that most people negotiate a deal expecting that everyone will bring the exact same thing to the table and get a perfectly even share. I’ve found this to be almost impossible. It’s rare that you will find someone with a customer base the exact size as yours, or someone who will respond to an offer with an equal offer.
My philosophy has been that the pie is big enough for everyone to have a nice-sized serving. And even if you end up with a little more pie than I do, I can still enjoy my piece. So rather than spending a lot of time trying to cut perfectly even slices, I tend to go into a negotiation expecting to give a little more than I get. I see it this way: If I get what I want at the end, it’s a good deal for me.
I always know exactly what I hope to get out of a deal and exactly what I’m willing to "give up" to get it. Being focused on your success and not worrying about the other person "getting more" helps you get started working together. And if you find that the other side benefits substantially more than you do, you can renegotiate when the time comes to make another deal. If they did as well as you think they did, they’ll be happy to work with you to help you get what you want.
There’s Always a Gorilla
Even if you’ve been in business just one day, you’ve heard of - and probably encountered - the infamous 800-pound gorilla. It’s the party that holds the majority of the negotiating cards - typically, the larger of the two. But you can be the bigger company without going into a chest-beating routine.
Remember, anyone who feels bullied in a business deal will carry that feeling with them in all future negotiations. And business is a funny thing. It’s hard to be the big gorilla forever. Other businesses will grow and catch up. And they will remember how you acted when you had the power. So if you are the one in control, treat the company on the other side of the table with respect and show that you value the relationship.
And if you feel like you’re being bullied, walk away. If you feel you’re being forced into terms you don’t agree with, it’s a bad deal - even if you would have made money from it.
It’s interesting to see how quickly the other side stops bullying when you’re ready to leave the room. At this point, you’ll get to see something most people never do: a big gorilla cutting you a bigger piece of pie.
[Ed. Note: In addition to serving over 300,000 readers every day as the editor of the Health Sciences Institute e-Alert, Jenny Thompson manages the health subsidiaries of the Agora Publishing group of companies, overseeing the day-to-day operations of businesses that generate annual revenues of approximately $40 million and serve almost one million customers in more than 100 countries.]
One Proven Secret to Investing Success
It is rare thing to find an investment where everything lines up – where the technicals, the fundamentals and investor sentiment are all in your favor. When this happens, the probability is extremely high that you have a winner on your hands.
This is what I call the “Sweet Spot” of investing. Trades like these don’t come along every day. But when they do, the gains can add up very quickly. And now there is a service that can help you uncover these rare gems in the market. It’s called Triple Wave Investor… click here to learn more.
Sweet Science: Sugar Is Sugar Is Sugar
By Jon Herring
Last week, two ETR readers wrote to me with questions about sugar. "You have written numerous times about refined sugar, but what about natural sugar? Is it okay?" asked one. The other reader asked, "What are your thoughts on using honey as a substitute for sugar?"
Here’s the answer to their questions…
ALL digestible food - not just carbohydrates - can be converted to glucose (sugar) to be used by your body as energy. But high-glycemic foods are converted to glucose very quickly, causing a sharp increase in blood sugar and a corresponding increase in the production of insulin. And when this happens chronically, it can be a recipe for weight gain and a substantial increase in 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 liquids that rapidly break down to glucose, you’re risking your waistline and your health.
That is why you should stick to foods that are low on the glycemic index, like above-ground vegetables, naturally raised meats, nuts, beans, seeds, berries, and most whole fruits. You should generally limit your consumption of grains and starches, white potatoes, most fruit juices, sweets, and desserts. And look out for hidden sugars (like evaporated cane juice) on nutrition labels.
To sweeten your food or drinks without the calories or glycemic load, consider using a sweetener such as stevia or lo han extract. And avoid artificial sweeteners. I don’t know of a single one that’s not associated with health risks.
What’s With This Cheesy Convention?
By Suzanne Richardson
Ever wonder why photographers make you say "cheese"? Why not "crackers" or "goofy" or "beer"? Well, according to Angus Trumble, author of A Brief History of the Smile], saying "cheese" is supposed to contort the photo subject’s face into a picture-worthy grin.
I tried it in front of a mirror and it didn’t seem to work. Maybe because I was in a sour mood.
In any event, Trumble traces the origin of this photographer’s convention to England in the 1920s. Interestingly, photographers in many other countries around the world also ask their subjects to say a face-altering word before snapping a picture - usually employing some type of food.
Here’s a brief list:
- In China: Qiezi or ch’ieh tzu (eggplant)
- In Denmark: Appelsin (orange)
- In Finland: Muikku (a type of fish)
- In Korea: Kim chi (cabbage)
- In Poland: Dzem (marmalade)
- In Spain: Patata (potato)
In Hungary, Norway, or Russia, though, you just say "cheese."
It’s Fun to Know: About Body Piercing
You’ve probably seen pierced ears, noses, lips, eyebrows, and tongues on teenagers at your local mall. However, body-piercing enthusiasts in search of a more "underground" look have found a truly cringe-inducing spot: the uvula, that knob of flesh that hangs in the back of your throat.
(Source: Answers.com)
Start Making Money Today
Interested in getting a nice little side-business going on the Internet? Or maybe even from your living-room table?
But you don’t have too much money, you don’t have too much time, and you’re not exactly Bill Gates when it comes to technology. Sound familiar?
A lot of people are in the same boat. The good news is that ETR has heard you. And now we’ve done something about it…
We’ve asked our colleague Marc Charles to be on the lookout for profit opportunities that can be run from a kitchen table, your desktop or out on the road.
Criteria? They’ve got to be inexpensive, easy to start, and still have great income potential, but without a lot of red tape.
They say when you’re first getting your feet wet with a side-business, the most important dollar to make is the first one. Well, Marc is an expert at taking beginning entrepreneurs and showing you how to make that first buck. He knows, because he’s done it dozens of times for himself, his family and his friends.
If you’ve been dreaming about starting your own business … now you can get started for about the price of 2 lattes.
And get this - you could be making money literally just hours from now. Imagine the feeling of finally getting a side business launched - TODAY!
- Patrick Coffey
Word to the Wise: Bromide
A "bromide" (BROH-mide) - from the Greek for "stench" - is a foul-smelling compound that was once used as a sedative but has now been replaced by safer drugs. In a figurative sense, the word is used for a dull, trite saying.
Example (as used by Daniel H. Pink in an article for Fast Company): "The next president could live up to that old political bromide ‘Let’s run the government like a business’ by staffing his cabinet with some leading figures from the new world of business."
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker … build your self-confidence and intellect … increase your attractiveness to others … just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR’s new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Michael Masterson
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2007