Teach a Man to Teach, and You’ll Feed Him for a Lifetime
Issue #1996
- WEALTHY: A no-cash-necessary home-based business in 6 steps (Paul Lawrence)
- HEALTHY: Picking "prescriptions" right off the trees (Jon Herring)
- WISE: Ben Sweetland on being a teacher
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- Make $193,380 in 24 hours with this early-bird technique (Yanik Silver)
- Michael Masterson on incremental degradation
- It’s Fun to Know… about ETR’s quotable quotes
- Add "regale" to your vocabulary
Email Logjam Puzzles Thousands of ETR Readers - MaryEllen Demands We Resume “FLASH” Sale for 24 Hours Only
Talk about Murphy’s Law in action!
Last week for the first time EVER, here at ETR we sent you an exciting offer with a limited-time “End of sale countdown timer”. Cool high tech stuff, and all that.
Well wouldn’t you know it… No sooner had we started the timer counting down from 24 hours, than we got the WORST POSSIBLE news from our technical nerds…
> —–Original Message—–
> From: Web Crew
> Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 6:32 AM
> Subject: Mailings issue>We have been working on a problem of mailings taking too long to
>go out and test mailings not coming through. Along those lines,
>we will have to temporarily stop all mailings from going out.
Bottom line is that thousands of ETR readers didn’t hear of the countdown sale until the next day - when the timer had expired! So in all fairness, our publisher MaryEllen says we are obligated to run the sale again.
So if you are interested in discovering how one man turned $10 into $514,000… and how you can duplicate his plan quickly, cheaply and easily… please visit our site immediately. .
The earnings potential is huge… the cost to get in is practically nothing… but the clock is ticking (once again)! This offer expires at 6:00 AM EDT SHARP on Friday March 23 when the price nearly doubles.
Right now, you can get what many consider the most underutilized system of creating almost instant wealth on the Internet today… and at a savings of over 40%! But hurry… this is the last chance to get in. Check it out today! .
"We cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without brightening our own."
Ben Sweetland
Teach a Man to Teach, and You’ll Feed Him for a Lifetime
By Paul Lawrence
Wouldn’t you like to make money doing something you love? And what if you could do that job on your own terms, with complete independence and control? Starting your own business giving private lessons is the perfect solution. I know that from experience, since I started mine about nine years ago.
You see, 10 years ago, I was training to be a ballroom dance instructor. Frankly, I’d gotten into ballroom dancing because I thought it’d be a good way to meet girls - but it turned out I had a knack for it. For close to a year, I worked as an apprentice without pay for about 40 hours a week. But the hard work and no pay seemed worthwhile because I enjoyed the teaching, I liked to dance, and I thought the job would eventually pay pretty well. (At that time, the studio got $60 an hour for a private lesson.)
Once I made it out of training, passed my teacher exams, and was deemed ready to be an instructor, I didn’t make nearly as much as I’d hoped. The studio only paid me $15 out of that 60 bucks. To make matters worse, I was only booking a few lessons a week.
It became clear to me that if I was going to make a living as a ballroom dance instructor, I needed to put out my own "shingle." But I had a problem: I didn’t have any capital to open a studio. I took a whack at seeking out some investors but, since I had no experience, I wasn’t able to find any takers.
That’s when I had a brainstorm! Maybe I could go into business without a studio. I suspected there were a lot of people out there who would like to have a teacher come to their home to give private lessons. And for those who didn’t like that idea, surely I could find some commercial space that I could rent by the hour.
Flash-forward one year to me driving home and listening to a Mariah Carey song - something about finally making it. I was really feeling those lyrics, because I’d just completed my first week of self-employment (and I was finally earning enough money to pay my bills).
If I told you it was a piece of cake to build my private-lesson business, that would be a lie. But I did build it - and with virtually no capital. It took a lot of trial and error, but I finally developed a system that worked reliably.
You’re probably not going to get rich just by operating your own private-lesson business. But if you want to be self-employed … if you want to do something you enjoy … if you want a job that gives you independence and pays decently … this type of venture is perfect for you.
Plus, working part-time at your own private-lesson business can be a steppingstone to even greater success. That’s how it worked for me. I was able to earn a modest living in a few hours each week, so I could spend time on other wealth-building activities that eventually greatly exceeded the earning power of my lesson business.
The private-lesson business is certainly not limited to ballroom dancing. You can create a business by teaching anything from martial arts to cooking to embroidery to day trading to yoga… or almost anything else you can think of. For example, my cousin used my system to build a business teaching clients how to speak Japanese. And a good friend used it to build a business teaching adults how to play the piano.
If the private-lesson business sounds like something you’d like to get into, here are the basic steps in my quick-start system:
1. Gauge the market for your business by studying the competition.
My favorite way to do that is by "shopping" them. Seek out their advertisements in your local Yellow Pages, on the Internet, and in local newspapers and shopper’s guides. Then, pretending to be a prospective client, call to find out what kind of services they offer and what they charge.
2. Devise a marketing strategy.
Get started with small, inexpensive classified ads and space ads in local newspapers. Focused mailings to your target market can also work well. And, naturally, you should have a basic website so you can get listed in search engines (like Google) that prospective clients are likely to use. As your business grows, try the Yellow Pages and other more expensive advertising vehicles.
3. Create a strong USP (Unique Selling Proposition) that will give you a competitive edge.
In my case, I had three big advantages. First, I offered the convenience of going to the client’s home for the lesson … which none of my competitors offered. Second, instead of the packages and programs being sold by my competition, I took a "one lesson at a time, pay as you go" approach that made it easy for prospective clients to book a lesson and give me a try. And, finally, without the overhead of a studio, I was able to charge about half what my competition charged. So, my USP was: "Get convenient ballroom lessons in your home at half the price charged anywhere else … without any pressure to buy expensive packages."
4. Test your marketing plan to make sure you can get enough customers.
5. Determine how you’re going to do business by figuring out where you’ll give lessons, how you’ll take payment, what credentials/licenses you’ll need, the kind of accounting system you’ll use, etc.
For quite a few years, I didn’t take credit cards - and it worked okay. But these days it’s so easy to take them with online services that I recommend giving clients that option. As for any licensing requirements, check state and local regulations to find out what (if anything) you need. Many kinds of lesson businesses don’t require a license, but some do. In Florida, there is actually a rule that dance studios have to be registered with the state (and there is an annual fee to do so).
6. Find suitable places where you can rent space by the hour when you need it.
Depending on the kind of lessons you’re giving, it might not work to do it in the client’s home. And even if it does work, as I said before, not every client is going to like the idea. I found several good spots for my ballroom dance business just by calling up studios and asking if they’d like to make some extra money with no work or hassle. If an office environment would work better for your lessons, you could try executive suites, real estate agents, etc.
This quick-start system will help you quickly and easily build a private-lesson business that can provide you with a steady income by doing something you enjoy. My ballroom dance business really changed the direction of my life - and there’s a good chance you can find similar success.
[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence’s ballroom dance business got him started on the road to success. If you’ve been searching for something that can do the same for you, consider getting into the private-lesson business.]
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Since When Is a Cherry a Drug?
By Jon Herring
More than 2,000 years ago, Hippocrates, the "Father of Medicine," wrote, "Let food by thy medicine and medicine be thy food." This is wise advice, indeed. Just don’t try to market food as medicine. The FDA might not approve. Recently, I read that more than 20 companies that produce and market products made from tart cherries and cherry juice concentrate were issued warning letters from the government agency.
Tart cherries contain numerous antioxidants and flavonoids that are known to promote health and have been shown to improve certain conditions, including arthritis pain. But according to the FDA, advertising the healing properties of tart cherries causes them to be considered a "drug." And any company that sells a "drug" must have an approved "New Drug Application" on file, proving that its drug is safe and effective.
Do you really think this is about "proving" that cherries are safe? Of course not. This is Big Brother running interference for Big Pharma. It is especially telling that the FDA singled out several offending claims where customers of these companies "stopped taking drugs for arthritis pain" after consuming tart cherries.
Hippocrates was right. Food is medicine. But today’s medical profession barely works with diet, instead promoting the prescription of profitable chemicals to repair the damage done from decades of poor lifestyle choices. And the pharmaceutically compliant FDA ensures that foods (real medicine) cannot be advertised in any way that might compete with these profitable chemicals.
But you know better, dear reader. It takes research to discover what is good for you and what could prove harmful, and it takes vigilance to avoid deceptive marketing (whether by food and supplement manufacturers or the drug companies). When in doubt, follow the advice of Hippocrates. Eat whole, natural foods and generally avoid chemical "solutions" for health issues.
How to Create a "Buzz" When Launching a New Product
By Yanik Silver
Harry Potter mania is a worldwide phenomenon. Kids and grownups alike eagerly await the release of each book and movie. I’m one of them. I devoured the last book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, in less than a day. But even more interesting than the stories - from a business point of view, anyway - is the fact that 6.9 million copies of that book were sold in just 24 hours. Wow!
Actually, I had my own "big" release just a few days before J.K. Rowling’s. It was for the tapes of my "Underground Online Seminar," which raked in over six figures ($193,380, to be exact) in the first 24 hours.
So what does the success of these two releases have in common? One word: anticipation.
Here’s a good way to generate some serious buzz for your next product release. Start an "early-bird" list of your subscribers and customers. That’s what I did. I got people to raise their hands and say "Yes, I want to know when you’ll be releasing these DVDs." Then, once people were on this list, we started "dripping" on them.
We used a blog to post everything from "spy photos" of the product (which came in a very cool, individually numbered suitcase) to actual video clips from the event. Each communication was designed to whet their appetite for the upcoming release.
Please keep in mind that these updates were planned out before the start of the promotion. We didn’t just throw them together by the seat of our pants. And it worked - and 24 hours after the product release, I was nearly $200,000 richer.
[Ed. Note: Yanik Silver, an expert on creating moneymaking websites, reveals one of the most profitable "hidden" Internet income opportunities around in the Secrets of Easy Internet Money program. Check out his simple, fill-in-the-blank sales letter designed to sell any product or service here.]
Treasures From the ETR Archives: Michael Masterson on Incremental Degradation
[Ed. Note: Our mission at ETR is to help you reach all your goals - and to celebrate our upcoming Issue #2000, we are presenting you with some of Michael Masterson’s most powerful, life-changing messages to date. To read each full article, click the link embedded in the text.]
"You can eventually ruin your business by making many very small downgrades in the quality of the product or service you offer.
"These downgrades are usually implemented to cut costs. You might, for example, switch to a cheaper grade of paper stock for your business letters. Or reduce the number of screws you use per stud from six to five.
"These small reductions may go unnoticed by your customers and have no measurable impact on sales. And since they result in savings, they will produce short-term benefits to your bottom line.
* * * * *
"I discovered that AP has an internal mail sorter who doesn’t sort the mail properly - and this causes the mail-delivery people time and aggravation. I found out that the problem has been going on for a long time and that his manager has been made aware of it but has not corrected it. (Apparently, she sent out a general e-mail on the subject and considered the problem solved.)
"I also discovered that when the receptionist of one building is out on an errand, she asks the people in customer service to back her up. But the people in customer service can’t hear the doorbell ring. So if you ring the doorbell when the receptionist is gone, you are likely to stand there for a very long time.
* * * * *
"Consider the two most basic options companies have when they seek to grow their businesses: They can try to increase their market shares by sustaining innovations - by continually improving a product everyone is using - or they can use disruptive innovations to create a new market or take over the low end of an existing market.
"Sustaining innovations (a microprocessor that enables personal computers to operate faster, for example, or a laptop battery that lasts longer) are perhaps the easiest to produce because their need is apparent (just ask the users) and the technology to accomplish them comes usually from existing research. Improving your product and service incrementally will keep it fresh in the minds of your customers and thus sustain back-end and continued sales, but such innovations are unlikely to give you a quantum leap forward."
* * * * *
"If you don’t keep up with the changes your market is going through, you will gradually lose your share of it. If you maintain a consistency in what you do, the decline will be so gradual that you will likely attribute it to a weakening of the market. And that’s the problem with the ‘Don’t fix it’ philosophy: If you keep doing everything like you used to, your business will slowly but surely deteriorate. And you’ll never understand how and why it is falling apart."
[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.]
ETR Issue #2000 Celebration - It’s Fun to Know: About ETR’s Quotable Quotes
Over the past seven years, the most-quoted person in ETR has been Dale Carnegie, author of How to Win Friends and Influence People.
We Couldn’t Have Made it Without You!
I’m sorry to say that you are not invited to the office party celebrating ETR’s milestone 2000th issue. After all, we have our reputations to think of… and you never know when someone might break out the lampshades and digital camera!
But seriously, you will get something far better than hors de oeuvres and champagne…
Today, you get to change your life. Today you get to start the future you’ve daydreamed about. Today you get moving on the spur-of-the-moment weekend trips to Europe… the $99 bottles of Chardonnay instead of the house wine… the invite-the-whole-family-on-a cruise surprises. Today you get going on everything you want out of life.
ETR is here to give you the information, the tools and the encouragement you need to get going and reach every one of your dreams and each of your many aspirations.
Right now our programs that help you reach those goals are available at up to 65 percent off regular price.
Word to the Wise: Regale
To "regale" (rih-GAYL) - from the French for "entertain" - is to provide with great enjoyment.
Example (as used by Lucy Calkins in Raising Lifelong Learners: A Parent’s Guide): "If I’ve been away, and the boys do remember to ask about my trip, I remark on their thoughtfulness by saying, ‘Thanks for asking!’ and then regale them with stories about my journey."
[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, on-sale now through the 28th to celebrate the 2000th issue of ETR.]
Michael Masterson
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2007