Issue #2018
- WEALTHY: Should you base your investments on the presidency? (Andrew Gordon)
- HEALTHY: 6 health dangers of a genetically modified diet (Jon Herring)
- WISE: Camus on inner strength
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- Reach your goals by stepping into the boxing ring (Paul Lawrence)
- 5 ways to keep your hotel stay within your budget (Michael Masterson)
- It’s Fun to Know… about stamps
- Add "davening" to your vocabulary
You Already Know Fortunes Are Made from Trading. The Question is: WHAT Are ‘They’ Trading Most? (And it’s not Shares or Commodities!)
… Thirty times more trading going on than the stock market and mostly investment banks doing it.Ummm… Maybe ‘they’ know something you don’t?
- Patrick Coffey
The Year of Investing Dangerously
By Andrew Gordon
The stock market almost always does well in the third year of the four-year presidential term. But "year three" believers need to watch out. 2007 may not turn out to be the great year they’re expecting – for four reasons:
- The market’s rise in year three is historically preceded by a market bottom in year two. That didn’t happen last year.
- Printing money is the fastest way to jack up the economy. But it could backfire this year and roil inflation.
- The government’s ability to affect the economy is eroding. What we pay for petrol… China’s massive purchases of U.S. Treasury bonds… the decline of the dollar… our huge trade deficit – all this is mostly out of the government’s control.
- Bringing our troops home from Iraq could give the economy a lift… but it’s not going to happen.
Don’t count on the S&P 500 coming close to hitting its "year three" average of 22 percent gains. Investing heavily in the market this year could be a mistake. But when you do invest, your safest choice is blue-chip dividend-paying stocks. While they won’t give you big returns, they promise a lot more safety than the rest of the market.
[Ed. Note: Andrew Gordon, ETR's financial expert, is the editor of INCOME. Each month, he uncovers income-generating stocks that promise safety (first and foremost), along with much higher-than-average profit potential.]
"What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger."
Albert Camus
Are You Willing to Get Your Nose Bloodied?
By Paul Lawrence
If you want to win a boxing match, you must be willing to go after your opponent and risk getting your nose bloodied. I know from experience that this is true. I spent a couple of years boxing in a professional gym. (Although I could last three rounds with some of the guys, I wasn’t close to being ready to be a professional.) What I learned was that no matter how formidable your challenger seemed, if you weren’t willing to face him and take a chance that you’d get hit while throwing your own punches, you had NO CHANCE.
Getting a bloody nose isn’t fun. But you know what’s worse? Letting life pass you by because you’re afraid. They say that some of the saddest words on earth are "what could’ve been." The world is filled with people who look back and are sorry they didn’t take a chance. It’s time to make sure you aren’t one of them.
I’m not talking, here, about literally getting your nose bloodied. I’m talking about something I refer to in my Dare to Live Your Dreams program as "The Bloody Nose"principle, which works in almost every business or social situation. For example, if you are starting a new business and trying to find a supplier who will give you credit, you may encounter some who just tell you, flat out, "no." And a "no" can be just as discouraging as a punch in the face.
Lots of people are afraid to put themselves out there – afraid to get that bloody nose. If you’re letting fear of that pain get in the way of achieving your dreams, remember this:
Although a bloody nose initially hurts, the pain subsides. And before you know it, you’re ready to try again!
Before I got married, the usual method my friends and I used to meet women was to go to nightclubs. Back then, we were all terrible at it – and I was the worst. When I saw someone I would like to meet, I would hover nearby for a long time, hoping to get a sign of encouragement from her. My guess is that, most of the time, the object of my interest was either completely unaware of me or not terribly impressed with my lack of assertiveness. Anyway, I would finally summon up enough courage to go over and blurt out some kind of opening line. Every now and then, I lucked into a positive response, but it was mostly all quick rejections.
At one point, I had an epiphany of sorts: The major reason I had so much trouble in the dating department was that I wasn’t really trying. And I wasn’t really trying because I wasn’t willing to take the chance of rejection (a bloody nose).
Once I realized that I could tolerate the pain of a rejection – that though it would sting for a few moments, I would soon feel okay and be ready to try again – I was no longer afraid of it. And from then on, I was able to commit myself 100 percent to each one of my attempts.
I actually became very adept at meeting women in nightclubs. (In fact, that’s how I met my wife!) And my friends were mystified. Some of them were arguably better looking, yet they continued to strike out, night after night.
The reason these guys were failing is simple. They were so afraid of getting bloodied that even when they did muster up the guts to approach a woman, they did it without any self-confidence. They’d make a half-hearted effort… and would get shot down. The fear of getting hurt, coupled with a lack of enthusiasm and commitment, was preventing them from meeting the woman of their dreams.
Fear of getting rejected is common in the business world, too. And it’s the same story: You have to face up to that rejection in order to find success.
Take me, for instance. When people hear that I’ve sold or optioned about half a dozen screenplays and that I’ve signed a deal to executive-produce a comedy television show with one of the largest producers in Los Angeles, it sounds like I’ve had a lot of success. And it’s true. I have been blessed with more success than many people see in a lifetime. But I’ve pitched my screenplays at least 800 times. And if I’ve had six successes out of 800 pitches, that means 794 people told me "no."
Okay, I admit it. Even after hearing "no" 794 times, I still didn’t like it. But hearing "no" 794 times was most definitely worth the six times I heard "yes"!
Every time someone passed on one of my scripts, it hurt. It didn’t matter to me if they said they liked my writing … or if they explained that they couldn’t produce my script because it was too much like something else they were doing. It felt the same as if I had approached a woman at a nightclub and she politely explained that she couldn’t dance with me because she had a boyfriend. The "no" never feels good.
But to quote Arnold Schwarzenegger, "If you want to succeed, you must decide how much pain you are willing to endure to achieve that success." Because I will tell you this: Whenever I got a "yes" from a woman who agreed to dance with me, I forgot about every previous "no" I’d heard that night. And because of the handful of producers who signed contracts with me and paid me money for my screenplays, I don’t have the slightest bit of pain regarding my 794 rejections.
So if you want to start moving ahead and living your dreams, here is what you have to do:
1. Create a schedule to execute your plan.
For a plan to work, you need to break it down into specific actions. You also need to create a deadline for completing each one of those actions – and to mark those deadlines on a calendar.
2. Mentally prepare yourself for the "bloody noses" you may endure along the way.
Just like all successful people in history – including Thomas Edison, who reportedly made 10,000 failed attempts before finally inventing the light bulb – you’ll likely have a few setbacks on your journey to living your dreams. By accepting in advance that those setbacks will come, you will be prepared to endure the emotional pain.
When a boxer gets into the ring, no matter how sure he is that he’s going to win, he knows he’s going to take some punches. The reason he steps into that ring is that he wants the victory so much he doesn’t care if he gets hit a few times to get it. Regardless of what your dream is, you’ve got to feel the same way.
3. Have a recuperation strategy.
When I get a pass on script, I take a few minutes to relax and congratulate myself for being one rejection closer to my next sale. By the time I’m finished with this little ritual, the sting is gone and I am more determined than ever to succeed.
You can use any approach that works for you while you’re "licking your wounds." The important thing is to have a way to reinvigorate yourself and give you the strength to press on. Most important, get out there and do SOMETHING to achieve your goals. Don’t let fear of rejection or pain or failure stand in your way.
By being willing to get your "nose bloodied," you’ll have the edge over those who want to live their dreams but aren’t ready to pay the price. And that edge is what will make you successful.
[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 here.]
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Notes From Michael Masterson’s Blog: Get a Better Rate at Your Next Hotel
In ETR #2009, I described my distasteful experience with the Hotel Park City. They refused to give me the lower room rate I found published online, and even threatened me with cancellation penalties if I went to another hotel. Fortunately, most hotels are much more reasonable and will accommodate your request for the lower rate in such a situation.
Here are five additional tactics (recommended by Frommer’s Guidebook Series) you can use to save money when booking your next hotel:
- Dialing the individual hotel rather than the corporate reservation line can often get you a better price. You have more room to bargain and you can also make any special needs known to the staff (non-smoking room, room with a view, etc.).
- If you are making a reservation over the phone and you don’t like the quoted rate, hang up and call back. You might have better luck with the second reservation agent.
- When quoted a price, always ask if there is a room that is less expensive.
- When making a reservation, always ask if you qualify for a special rate in one of the following categories: corporate, student, military, senior. Membership in AAA, AARP, and frequent-flier programs may also get you a deal.
- Keep an eye on additional or hidden charges, which can include parking fees, added costs for room amenities (such as the mini-bar or bottled water), a resort fee for hotel amenities, and tourist taxes. Some of these fees can be disputed successfully.
[Ed. Note: To read more of Michael's unedited, uncensored (and sometimes unexpected) ruminations, check out his blog here.]
3 Reasons to Go Organic
By Jon Herring
Most people who eat naturally raised meats and organic produce do so to avoid pesticides and antibiotics and because these foods are more nutrient-rich than conventional meat and produce. But there is another important reason: to avoid genetically modified organisms (GMO).
If you eat processed food – particularly foods that contain corn, soy, canola, or their derivatives – you are almost certainly consuming genetically modified ingredients. Not surprisingly, the industry behind these products claims that the technology offers vast benefits, poses no health risk, and has never been shown to contaminate the environment. The record suggests anything but.
In numerous cases, modified genes from genetically modified crops have mixed with wild plants and created herbicide-resistant "superweeds." But that’s not all. At least seven independent studies have shown that genetically engineered food can cause skin lesions, allergic reactions, cancers, altered blood chemistry, and diminished organ size. And in a recent animal study, published in the Archives of Environmental Contamination and Technology,rats developed liver and kidney toxicity when they were fed a genetically modified type of corn (one that has been approved for human consumption).
There is certainly the potential for benefits to come from the scientific innovations associated with genetic modification. But there is also significant potential for risk. So don’t be a guinea pig. Whenever possible, choose whole foods, organic produce, naturally raised meats, and wild fish.
It’s Fun to Know: About Stamps
The rarest stamp in the world (one copy is known to exist) is the Treskilling Banco Yellow. The stamp, printed in error (it was supposed to be green) in Sweden in 1855 and quickly discontinued, was sold for $2.3 million in 1996.
(Source: American Philatelic Society)
The IRS Only Wants One Thing – Everything You Own…
So wouldn’t you like to tell your boss – and all the others…
“Get Your Stinkin’ Hand Out Of My Wallet!”
If you’re serious about getting out from under the 9 to 5 daily grind, I’d like to introduce you to a man who’s been helping people…
He’ll tell you exactly what to do… so you can tell all of them to shove it!
- Patrick Coffey
Word to the Wise: Davening
"Davening" (DAH-vuhn-ing) – an Anglicized version of the Yiddish word "daven" – is a swaying/rocking motion made by Jews when they pray. The word’s origin is unknown, but it has been connected to a Slavic word for "give" and the Latinate "divine."
Example (as used by Nicole Krauss in Man Walks Into a Room): "He took Samson to synagogue, and it was while davening among old men who smelled of menthol and wool that Max told him there was no such thing as God."
[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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