Things Change
Issue #2062
- WEALTHY: Which comes first, the customer or the business? (Michael Masterson)
- HEALTHY: What do vitamin C and omega-3s have to do with your breathing? (Dr. Al Sears)
- WISE: Robert C. Gallagher on change
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- If your plan doesn’t fly today, keep trying (Robert Ringer)
- 3 steps to superstar status and the job of your dreams (Suzanne Richardson)
- It’s Fun to Know… about performing Hindu rituals online
- Add "contentious" to your vocabulary
I Lost My Fear, Opened My Mind and Listened and I Cannot Believe the Result
Hello Bob,
I finished The Billionaire Way about 10 days ago. Now I promise you I did not cheat on this so hear me out.
I started the first two or three days I think and there was a transaction I was involved in that I was not comfortable with but had an emotional attachment to. I sat down one night and crunched the numbers and made some tough decisions, all emotion aside.
Then about two weeks into the program there was the day when we had to exclude our emotions and cut off dead baggage. Wow, I felt like yeah, OK I’m getting this because I just did that.
OK so now I’m tearing along the program, accepting things that I am already doing and working on the things I am not comfortable with. Vigilantly everyday, watching the DVD after the kids were in bed and working my work book.
Two days after I finished the program I saw an opportunity which I could assess very well given my clarity of vision, my assessments of my talents and the work I had accomplished.
It is my joy to tell you that I am founding executive of a new international network marketing company, the likes of which have never been seen and I have already built my team Australia wide within 10 days, using the billionaire way techniques.
I lost my fear, opened my mind and listened and I cannot believe the result. Thank you so much…
Regards,
Kathy
Learn more about The Billionaire Way program today…
The Best Way to Finance Your Side Business
By Michael Masterson
There are all sorts of ways to get money to start a side business. You can borrow from your family. You can dip into your savings. You can locate a wealthy investor (an "angel") to back you. Or you can form a partnership and find a collection of investors. You can also get money from the government. And, finally, you can sometimes get financing from a bank.
I’ve had experience raising money with all of these methods. Each has its advantages and disadvantages.
Using your own money is terrifying. If you go wrong, you may well go broke. Using OPM (other people’s money) seems like a much better way to go at first - but often ends up seeming like a miserable choice later.
When you borrow money or sell shares to start a business, you are putting yourself in a subordinate relationship vis-a-vis your financial backers. Because their money is at risk, they are going to hamstring you with all sorts of restrictions and reporting requirements. And if business goes badly, the very same people who believed so strongly in you can turn into your worst critics.
Getting public money is worse in many ways.
My usual preference has been to partner with old partners - people who have the money and the skills to help me make the new business work. That kind of arrangement has resulted in my greatest successes.
But there is an even better way to start a new business or venture: Get your customers to pay for your product or service in advance.
The great thing about customer financing is that the only debt you create is the obligation to produce the product - and producing the product puts you in business. It’s not every business that lends itself to customer financing, but it is possible much more often than you’d think.
If you don’t have existing customers - or if you don’t think the product you are launching will appeal to the ones you have - you need to be more creative. You have to think about how you can reach those customers without spending any money.
The simplest way to do it is to make contact with someone who does have an existing relationship with such customers. Make a deal with him to introduce your idea to them on a profit-splitting basis. You won’t make as much money from each of those initial customers, but after your business is up and running, you can market your product yourself, without his help, and keep all the profits.
Spend a few minutes today thinking about how this might be possible in your business or the side business you are launching.
[Ed. Note: Learn how to build your own Internet business at ETR's upcoming 5 Days in July Internet Conference. You'll walk in with nothing - no product, no marketing skills, no technical know-how - and you'll walk out with your own online business. If you even think you might be interested in this opportunity, you must sign-up for the Five Days in July Conference today.]
"Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine."
Robert C. Gallagher
Things Change
By Robert Ringer
Whenever you find yourself anxious or upset about a business or personal situation, it will be remarkably helpful to think about a reality of life that seems to escape people who are under stress: Things change!
This reality began to hit home with me in the late 70s, following a meeting with about a half-dozen of the top brass at Harper & Row Publishers (forerunner of today’s Harper Collins). Harper was a mainstream, 150-year-old company at the time, and neck-and-neck with other publishing giants such as Simon & Schuster and Random House.
My wife happened to have been with me at that meeting, a meeting that turned out to be a bit contentious. A couple of the big shots were being especially uncooperative regarding my proposal for a long-term relationship that involved my publishing other authors’ books, though the tone of the dialog was civil.
After about an hour, my wife and I said our goodbyes and departed. At lunch, we discussed what had transpired at the meeting, and she made a comment that has proven to be eminently insightful to this day. "You know," she said, "as I looked around the table, I thought to myself, ‘For all we know, most of these people won’t even be with Harper & Row a year from now.’"
I didn’t think much about it at the time, but within a few weeks my wife began to look like a prophet. The president of one of Harper’s top divisions, who had been at the meeting, left the company, and the vice president who had given me the most grief was fired.
Within a few months, two more executives who had been in attendance bit the dust, so only two were left standing. And, by applying a large dose of persistence, I was able to get one of the remaining two to support my plan. (The other one ended up retiring shortly after we launched the project.)
As result, I made publishing history with Harper & Row. With the company’s backing, I republished a book that had sold only about 10,000 copies before running out of steam. Through a full-page national advertising campaign, I marketed the book to No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller list for 15 straight weeks.
When the smoke had cleared, that once-dead book - Doug Casey’s Crisis Investing -had become the top-selling non-fiction book of 1980. And through my relationship with Harper & Row, I was able to publish a number of other New York Times best-sellers over the next couple of years.
It goes without saying that all this astonished the mainstream book-publishing industry. More important, it indelibly fixed in my mind the philosophy that you have to keep pressing forward when you believe in what you’re doing … because the landscape changes every day. Be patient, and many of the obstacles you face will simply disappear with the passage of time.
So if there’s something in your business or personal life that’s causing you a great deal of grief, be my guest and profit from my experience. Remember that what you see right now is only today’s circumstances, and those circumstances are not static.
People get fired… they change jobs… they die. Friends become enemies… enemies become friends… rivals go out of business. Irritating humanoids move away… teachers and coaches retire… nuts fly airplanes into tall buildings and change a thousand and one things about day-to-day life (even creating new opportunities for some). The Internet is invented… Amazons and Googles appear out of nowhere… the list is endless.
Since that historic meeting at Harper & Row, I can’t even count the number of times I have witnessed this phenomenon. As a result, whenever I’m feeling stressed over a situation, I try to take a deep breath, relax, and remind myself that things are going to change.
That, in turn, motivates me to keep moving forward each day. And, guess what? Things always change … putting me that much further ahead because I never stopped.
Time is going to pass anyway, so you may as well keep making progress. The one thing you never want to happen is to look back and think to yourself, "Gee, as it turned out, if I had just kept moving forward, things would be different today."
[Ed. Note: Take a gigantic step toward achieving all your personal and professional goals - faster than you ever imagined - with Robert Ringer's best-selling personal-development program. And sign up for his Voice of Sanity e-letter here.]
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Reader Feedback: "When I break a project into small bites, I accomplish much more."
"Three cheers for Robert Ringer and his article "The Peck-Away Theory of Getting Things Done."]
"I have found that when I break a project into small bites, I accomplish much more than if I had not multi-tasked my work schedule. And I do not get that feeling of being bored while working.
"I read a story years ago about a famous author who wrote several novels while ’sitting on the throne.’ She spent five or less minutes writing in her notebook each time she answered nature’s call. It only took her a couple of years to write some of her books.
"When I was an architect’s apprentice many years ago, I was overwhelmed by the volume of drawings and specifications required for final sets of construction documents. This feeling vanished when I learned to break the projects into small tasks.
"Again… three cheers for Robert Ringer’s article!"
Girard Frank Bolton III
- Mobile, AL
Beat Asthma Without Drugs
By Al Sears, MD
As we move into summer, you may start feeling the effects of asthma, an inflammation of the bronchial tubes, the pipes that deliver air to your lungs. Some 20 million Americans suffer from this allergic condition… and the problem is only getting worse. Many of my patients have been asking me for alternatives to their inhalers and prescription drugs.
When you’re exposed to large amounts of pollen, dander, and other allergens, your risk of having an asthma attack increases. If you’re especially sensitive, you may find that asthma is a constant problem - and it may surprise you to learn that this could be directly linked to your diet.
Processed foods, medicines, and pollutants in the environment are loaded with all sorts of chemicals that directly cause inflammation in our tissues. But the problem doesn’t end there. There are also nutrients missing from the typical American diet that help our bodies fight that inflammation.
Here are two recommendations that will help:
1. Ramp up the omega-3s.
Wild salmon, grass-fed beef, and organic brands of seeds, oils, and nuts should be making their way to your table on a regular basis. Omega-3s effectively reduce inflammation. And not only can they relieve your asthma, they can lower your risk of heart disease and stroke.
2. Reach for foods high in vitamin C.
Citrus fruits (like oranges, grapefruits, and lemons) all have high amounts of this powerful inflammation fighter. Red peppers are another good source. Supplementing with extra vitamin C is also a good idea. Take 2,000 to 4,000 mg a day in two doses, morning and night.
[Ed. Note: Dr. Sears, a practicing physician and the author of The Doctor's Heart Cure, is a leading authority on longevity, physical fitness, and heart health.]
The Unexpected Benefits of an Internship
By Suzanne Richardson
You just graduated college, re-entered the job market, or are changing careers - but now your lack of experience is keeping you from finding a good job.
What to do? Try asking a company you’re interested in if you can work for them as an unpaid intern.
Michael Masterson says, "An internship gives you an excellent opportunity to shine. Use your internship to show that you are hardworking and committed, and that you are avidly interested in the business."
In other words, if you become a superstar intern, there’s a good chance it could lead to a great job with a company that wouldn’t have considered hiring you before.
To become a superstar intern, you must:
- Work as hard as you can.
- Do everything you can, even tasks outside your "normal" responsibilities - and keep asking for more.
- Talk to people in the company who have the jobs you aspire to, and get them to tell you all about what they do. Offer to do their excess work in order to develop your skills.
Before long, you’ll attract the attention of someone in a position to give you your big break in an industry you already understand and enjoy.
[Ed. Note: Get Michael Masterson's in-depth insights and practical advice for how to earn more, save more, and get rich faster than you imagined by picking up a copy of Automatic Wealth for Grads… and Anyone Else Just Starting Out, one of Amazon's Top 10 Finance and Investing Books of 2006.]
It’s Fun to Know: Performing Hindu Rituals Online
At Saranam.com, Hindus are able to perform religious ceremonies (virtually, of course) at temples in India. They log in, browse the site’s menu of services - which range in price from $4 to $300 - and place an order. A Hindu priest who is a member of the site’s extensive network then performs the ceremony on their behalf.
(Source: BBC News)
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Word to the Wise: Contentious
Something that’s "contentious" (kun-TEN-shus) - causes, involves, or is characterized by argument or controversy.
Example (as Robert Ringer used it today): "My wife happened to have been with me at that meeting, a meeting that turned out to be a bit contentious."
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Michael Masterson
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2007