Issue #1983
- WEALTHY: Know 20 people? They may have $300,000 for you (Justin Ford)
- HEALTHY: How 20 minutes can help you lose fat (Craig Ballantyne)
- WISE: Famous Amos on e-mail
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- Are you "a bad e-mail sender"? (Bob Bly)
- 4 ways to put a bully in his place (Michael Masterson)
- It’s Good to Know… about the Internet
- Add "cohort" to your vocabulary
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Private Money Bootcamp Update: It Pays to Do Your Homework
By Justin Ford
Alan Cowgill wrapped up Day One of his Private Money Bootcamp in Dallas by giving attendees some homework. Our task was to list 20 potential private lenders among our friends, family, and associates. Then we were to call them – using a simple outline and talking points that Alan provided.
The goal for was for us to inform our potential lenders of the benefits of our "program" (namely, high-interest loans secured by real estate). Then we were supposed to find out how much each interested person might have available to lend.
Now, I have to admit: I didn’t do my homework. But I have two excuses. I had to go back to my hotel room to write my article for ETR. Also, since I first began to learn about private money a few years ago, I’ve already developed a pretty good network of private lenders and investors.
Still, I should have done at least some of my homework. After all, you can never have too much money available to you – especially when you’re moving up to bigger, undervalued, cash-flow properties in value markets, as I am. And when my fellow attendees "turned in their homework," the results were pretty impressive.
Overall, the nearly 200 attendees reported commitments from family, friends, and associates of just over $61 million. It ranged from the $10,500 raised by Tom from Anchorage to the $6 million raised by Bill from South Carolina.
This was a new record for an Alan Cowgill Bootcamp. And while it may seem like a lot, it’s not that much when you break down the numbers. If 200 investors get a total of $60 million in pre-commitments, that’s an average of $300,000 per investor. And if each investor talks to 20 potential private lenders, that’s an average of just $15,000 per lender.
Obviously, lenders may range from having just $5,000 or $10,000 available… to having a few million. At the same time, this was a first contact. More work will have to be done to get money to the closing table when needed. But the point of the exercise – and a major theme of the Bootcamp – is to get attendees to move a bit out of their comfort zones and take action… so they can build up a reliable, steady source of funds for their real estate deals.
As the day went on, Alan got into more detail about making presentations to potential investors – how to host luncheons, how to create an effective "credibility kit" (even if you’re new at real estate), how to determine the interest rate to offer to your investors, and more. He also began to cover advanced private money sourcing techniques.
The advanced stage is when you go beyond friends, family, and associates and begin to advertise to people you don’t know. At that level, there are SEC and state rules and regulations you have to follow. They’re not many of them, and they’re not very complicated – but you must follow them to make sure you’re in compliance.
Once you do, and once you learn effective marketing and presentation techniques, your potential sources of funds become almost unlimited. But at that point – as at every point along your real estate investment career – you must never forget that the single most important thing is to buy right in the first place.
When you are consistently a patient, deep-value investor – and you combine that with a well-developed network of private lenders – your success in real estate is limited only by the amount of time and energy you choose to devote to it.
[Ed Note: Just because you couldn't make it to Alan Cowgill's Private Money Bootcamp doesn't mean you can't learn his most effective private money sourcing techniques. Click here.]
"E-mail is the greatest thing."
Wally "Famous" Amos
3 Easy Ways to Write Money-Making E-Mails
By Bob Bly
In a recent Dilbert cartoon, the pointy-haired boss chastised Dilbert for forgetting to tell him about an important meeting. When Dilbert replied that he HAD notified him by e-mail, the boss replied: "Well, obviously you chose an uninteresting subject line; otherwise I would have opened it."
He concluded by telling Dilbert, "You’re a bad e-mail sender."
What about you? Are you a good e-mail sender or a bad e-mail sender?
Do people on your opt-in e-list actually look forward to getting your e-mails… and order the products you recommend in them? Or do they view you as a spammer – and unsubscribe in droves?
In my own start-up Internet marketing business, CTC Publishing, I’ve found three tactics that work particularly well in the e-mails sent to our subscriber list:
1. Tell a Story.
A "story" e-mail is just that – an e-mail that tells an amusing story or anecdote.
For instance, to promote our PR course to my subscribers, I sent out an e-mail that told a humorous – and true – story. It was about what happened when my then-7-year-old son dropped his new gigapet – the latest electronic fad at the time – in the toilet. The copy read:
"Alex took the gigapet with him to the bathroom… and promptly dropped it in the toilet.
"I quickly fished it out. But the water damaged the electronics, and the device was ruined.
"Upon seeing his digital pet was dead, Alex burst into tears.
"’C-c-can we b-b-bury this one?’ he asked me tearfully.
"Being a soft-hearted dad, I immediately took him to the backyard – and, with a shovel, we buried his dead electronic pet, using a brick for a headstone."
I went on to reveal how I had gotten on the front page of the leisure section of a major daily newspaper by sending out a press release on "Microchip Gardens" – the world’s first gigapet cemetery.
The e-mail was very profitable – and I learned that my list likes stories.
2. Give Them Valuable Content
An e-mail marketing message that actually presents an idea, tip, advice, or other content can often work better than one that is merely a sales pitch for a product.
In an e-mail promoting a program I sell on how to write a nonfiction book and get it published, I revealed a secret that many aspiring authors do not know:
"Do you want to write a nonfiction book and get it published?
"Then don’t write the book – at least not yet.
"Publishers don’t want to read an unsolicited book manuscript from an unknown author.
"If you send it, they’ll either mail it back unread… or toss your book in the trash.
"What you need to do is write a book proposal."
If the reader learns something useful just from reading your e-mail, he appreciates the value you are giving him… and clicks on the link to your site to learn more.
3. Entice With an Ultra-Short Teaser.
In this type of e-mail, the lead talks about a benefit, a solution to a problem, or something else highly desired by the reader. And the next paragraph promises to deliver this benefit or solution when the reader clicks on the hyperlink to your landing page.
"A recent survey revealed that writers who earn more than $60,000 a year consistently do 22 things that writers who earn less money don’t.
"To get your hands on this list of 22 habits of highly profitable writers… and master dozens of additional strategies for earning six-figures as a freelance writer… click below now."
This teaser e-mail generated a 2.5 percent click-through rate (which is about average) with a 10 percent conversion (the high end of average) to orders for a $29 e-book.
The best part of the teaser technique is that it has results that are as good as – or better than – long-copy e-mails, but takes two minutes to write.
Tell a story… give valuable free content… use a teaser. These three approaches to e-mail marketing have worked for me.
[Ed. Note: Bob Bly is a popular Early to Rise columnist, self-made multi-millionaire, and the author of more than 60 books. He is also the editor of ETR's Direct Marketing University: The Masters Edition - a program to help you start your own successful direct-mail business.
Do you have additional e-mail marketing techniques that have been successful for you? Share them with your fellow ETR readers? Send your ideas to ReaderFeedback@gmail.com. Include your name and home town, and we may pass them along in a future issue of ETR.]
How America’s Wealthiest Families Can Beat the Market By 422%
Until now, you needed a minimum of $10 Million in your brokerage account to take advantage of the Alpha Generator. But thanks to the evolution of ETFs, even regular investors can beat the market with this approach. Find out how.
Notes From Michael Masterson’s Blog: More on Handling Persistent Bullies
"Bullies are all around you – at the office, in the parking lot, on the phone, and in line at the cash register," I wrote in a recent blog entry. Which means you have to learn how to deal with bullies just to get through an ordinary day.
"What does our personal experience teach us?" I wondered. "And can we apply the lessons we learn in our personal lives to making sense out of the aggressive actions people and countries around the world continue to take against each other?"
I heard from several readers in response to what I said in that article, including this one:
My approach, "anonymous" bullies should be given wide berth, let them pass by and get on with your life. Repeat offenders who you deal with again and again are the ones that are more of a challenge as far as what to do.
Mr. Masterson, you posed the key questions at the end with hopes of a dialogue, I think. So how do you handle this common problem?
How do I handle the "bully" problem? Fair question.
First you have to assess the situation. What kind of bully are you dealing with? A psycho who might come at you with an M-16? Or the more common variety – the kind of person who will push you around until you stop him, and then back down with his tail between his legs?
If he is the first kind, quit your job and move to another city.
If he is the more typical bully, you have to stand up to him as soon as you can, preferably the second time he comes at you.
It’s not easy to back down a bully, so none of what I am about to recommend will be done easily. But if you plan out what you are going to say beforehand and practice a little, you will be able to pull it off. And when you do stand up to the bully, you may be very gratified to see how quickly he collapses.
- Don’t get angry – because when you are angry, you are not in control. And you need to be in control to back him down. To control your anger and make the bully feel uneasy, look him directly in the eye and don’t say anything for a full count. Use that moment to take a breath and pull yourself together.
- Speaking slowly and deliberately, as if the bully were a child, make a one- or two-sentence statement that you have already rehearsed beforehand so you don’t mess it up. Your prepared statement might be something like, "John, you won’t have any success at all in dealing with me if you adopt that tone of voice / use that kind of language / employ that sort of humor. Would you like to restate that more politely / reword your statement / make the same point without the attempted humor?"
- If he doesn’t back down – and makes yet another attempt to bully you – catch the eye of one of his cohorts and say something like, "Is this guy always like this? How do you put up with it?"
- If that doesn’t work, you need to be more aggressive. Smile, pause, and then give him a challenge. The challenge can be something as benign as going into the conference room and hashing this out person-to person or in front of someone in authority. Or you might challenge him so some sort of physical or mental contest. The point of the challenge is not to defeat him. It doesn’t really matter if the challenge actually takes place. Challenging him puts you at his level, even above him. The bully sees that you are willing to fight with him… but on your terms.
This isn’t an ironclad system but, applied with preparation and ingenuity, it should work very well in most cases.
For more ideas on handling bullies, read ETR #1145, ETR #443, and ETR #354. And here are a few books you might find helpful:
- Bullies: From the Playground to the Boardroom – Strategies for Survival by Jane Middelton-Moz, Mary Lee Zawadski.
- Bully in Sight: How to Predict, Resist, Challenge, and Combat Workplace Bullies by Tim Field
- Take the Bully by the Horns: Stop Unethical, Uncooperative, or Unpleasant People From Running and Ruining Your Life by Sam Horn
- Michael Masterson
[Ed. Note: To read more of Michael's unedited, uncensored (and sometimes unexpected) ruminations, check out his blog here.
And 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.]
Why Cardio Fails for Fat Loss
By Craig Ballantyne
One of the biggest fat-loss myths is that you must do long aerobic cardio workouts to lose fat. The truth? Long, slow-cardio sessions are not only boring but a waste of time. As you’ve already learned from Jon Herring and Dr. Sears, to quickly lose fat you need to focus on your nutrition and on boosting your metabolism with more intense exercise methods.
Based on my experience with hundreds of personal clients who have used interval training and high-intensity exercise to help them lose more fat, I can tell you that Jon and Dr. Sears are right. And now scientific studies are supporting the superiority of the interval approach.
Australian researchers from the University of New South Wales recently compared interval training to slow, steady aerobic training in a 15-week study. Two groups participating in the study exercised three times per week – but the interval training group only worked out for 20 minutes per session, while the slow-cardio group trained for up to 40 minutes.
Not surprising, at least not to me, the interval training group lost the most weight by the end of the 15 weeks. This backs up earlier research from Canada (from the mid-90s) that interval training is a better way to burn body fat.
If you are a beginner, start slowly. Increase your exercise intensity by 10 or 20 percent for two-minute intervals, and alternate with two-minute intervals at a lower-than-normal intensity.
[Ed. Note: Craig Ballantyne is an expert consultant for Men's Health magazine. If you're looking to burn fat, build muscle, and quickly step into the body you have always wanted - with just three workouts each week- check out his fat-loss system, Turbulence Training for Fat Loss.]
It’s Good to Know: About the Internet
According to the latest data available, with 69.4 percent of its population online, North America has the highest rate of Internet usage in the world. Africa has the lowest penetration rate, at 3.5 percent, however the continent has experienced a 625.8 percent growth in usage since 2000. Overall, 16.6 percent of the world population is online.
(Source: Internet World Stats)
Do You Need To Start Out Small?
If you don’t have an Internet business yet, or if your company is smaller than $1 million then you need something different… something that lets you start off small.
One man I know turned $10 into over $500,000. How’s that for starting small!
Let me show you how to get a similar Internet income stream running for almost nothing.
- Patrick Coffey
Word to the Wise: Cohort
A "cohort" (KOH-hawrt) – originally the name of a division of Caesar’s Roman army – is a companion or associate (usually with a negative connotation).
Example (as I used it today): "If [the bully] doesn’t back down – and makes yet another attempt to bully you – catch the eye of one of his cohorts and say something like, ‘Is this guy always like this? How do you put up with it?’"
[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
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