A Free Internet Tool That Can Add Thousands to Your Bottom Line
Issue #2082
- WEALTHY: Why some people should not invest in stocks (Michael Masterson)
- HEALTHY: It pays to take the high road (Jon Herring)
- WISE: The founder of CraigsList on needs and values
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- 5 steps to harnessing the power of CraigsList (Larry Fredericks)
- How to disengage yourself from the "disengaged" (Suzanne Richardson)
- It’s Fun to Know… about the highest-scoring Scrabble words
- Add "hector" to your vocabulary
He’d Have Called Them Crazy - Or Worse!
With the Internet, it’s now possible to spend no more than a few dollars, write a couple of very basic ads, and have instant access to millions of potential customers all in a matter of minutes.
If anyone had told Jim Sheridan he could bank thousands in just 24 hours. . . without any product of his own. . . without spending a penny on getting it or promoting it, he’d have justifiably said they were nuts.
But Jim made a decision that he would overcome his skeptical nature and give it a go. Boy, is he glad he did! That one deal alone banked him $187,296 in one day.
Take a look at how Jim brought in over $187,000 in a single day!
- Patrick Coffey
Do You Have Enough Money to Invest?
Unless you have at least $50,000 to invest, you shouldn’t be putting your money in individual stocks. Without a doubt, the most important thing you can do if you have less than that in savings is to earn more income.
Put your money into a no-load mutual fund that tracks one of the major market indexes… and forget about it. Then spend your time looking at ways to radically increase your income in order to be able to save enough to play with.
There are many ways to increase your income. Start by looking into developing a side business. At the same time, work at making yourself a more valuable employee by learning how to market and sell your company’s products. And learn how to manage the company’s profits. Sales, marketing, and managing profits are three essential skills that always command high salaries.
Once you’ve built up a nice little nest egg, that’s when you’ll be able to take full advantage of the kind of investing advice you read about regularly in ETR from Andrew Gordon, Rick Pendergraft, and Charles Delvalle.
"People everywhere have the same needs and values. They need a place to live and a job. Beyond that, they may need to sell stuff or get a mate."
Craig Newmark
A Free Internet Tool That Can Add Thousands to Your Bottom Line
Imagine a "magic" well that you could tap into any time you wanted - one that would make it possible for you to simply drop a bucket into it and pull up any of the following:
- New customers for your company
- Excellent employees
- Skilled consultants in almost any field
- People with cash who want to invest in your business
- Buyers or renters for your real estate
Well, this is not a fairy tale. With the CraigsList website, you can do all of the above and a lot more. And you can do it for free!
CraigsList was founded in 1995 by self-described "computer geek" Craig Newmark when he started using a list server to post notices about events in the San Francisco area. People eventually began using his site to post notices for job openings, cars for sale, apartments for rent, and even personal ads.
The site grew by word of mouth, and now serves 450 cities worldwide, gets more than seven billion page views each month, and ranks with Google, Yahoo, eBay, AOL, and Microsoft as one of the top 10 most-heavily trafficked English-language websites.
Here’s how to harness the power of CraigsList:
CraigsList Is a Fantastic Place to Find Job Seekers in Practically Any Industry
If you’re looking for someone to do just about any kind of job - mow your lawn or refinish your cabinets, for example - you will probably find a qualified candidate on this site. I posted an ad for a Web page builder in the Miami area. Within 24 hours, I was inundated by over 50 applicants, most of whom were offering their services at very reasonable rates.
With a little effort, I was able to find a qualified individual who was willing to do the work from thousands of miles away for $12 an hour. And he built a site for me that had quite a few complicated features, such as:
- An automated shopping cart for my customers to place credit card orders
- An automated product-delivery system that instantly delivers my product (a book) as a PDF file to the customer
- A number of links and pages that incorporate quotes, photos, and other graphics
This very sophisticated website cost me approximately $120 - total - to construct.
But CraigsList can offer you much more than access to Internet webmasters. You can use it to recruit full-time or temporary employees for any business. It costs nothing to post job-recruitment ads for all but a few cities (including New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Boston, Seattle, San Diego, and San Francisco).
You Can Create Income With CraigsList, Too!
There are several ways to generate income with CraigsList.
If you are seeking new clients, you can place your own advertisements in the Services section. You can also scan various forums on the site for people who are looking for the kind of services you provide.
If you have something to sell, you can do it on CraigsList via its Classified section. This is a great way to make a few extra bucks the next time you clean out the attic. And you could conceivably make substantial profits by selling high-ticket items like houses, cars, or furniture, just to name a few.
5 Steps to Getting Started:
- Go to CraigsList.org and select the city where you’ll be conducting your buying/selling/hiring/etc.
- Choose an appropriate category. For example, if you wanted to sell a computer, you’d go to the For Sale section of the site. Then, within that section, you’d click on the Computers category.
- Write a catchy headline and copy for your advertisement. (You can choose to let people see your e-mail address or have CraigsList forward all the responses to you… anonymously and for free.)
- Post your ad by clicking on the button in your selected category that says "Post."
- Your ad will run for 30 days before it automatically terminates, but you can have it removed at any time. (When you place the ad, you’ll get a confirmation via e-mail with instructions how to edit or pull your ad.)
A word of caution: As with all classified-style advertising, keep in mind that you’re dealing with strangers on CraigsList. So protect yourself by thoroughly checking references for the people who respond to your job offers. And if you’re selling something - especially a high-priced item - ask for payment via a cashier’s check or money order made out to you.
CraigsList is an enormously popular website that offers many ways for you to benefit - both in business and in your personal life. Taking advantage of free Internet websites like this is just one of many "street smart" tactics every small-business entrepreneur should be engaging in.
[Ed. Note: Larry Fredericks has owned and operated over half a dozen highly successful small businesses. Learn more money-making strategies for your small business with his "Street Smart Business" program.]
One Simple Step To Make 2007 Your Wealthiest Year Yet
More than any other activity you can do, investing in your ability to achieve your personal dreams is the greatest gift you can give yourself this year.
As we approach Independence Day, ETR has compiled its best products and put them into a blowout Fourth of July Celebration SALE. These are our lowest prices ever, guaranteed, so there’s not better time for you to begin working on your goals than now.
Whether your goal is to flip homes, make passive monthly income through rentals, or maximizing the benefits of IRAs- these are the programs to help you get there faster.
Take a moment to give yourself a distinct advantage NOW!
- Justin Ford
Reader Feedback: "Thanks for being there."
"Having never met Michael Masterson in person, I nonetheless regard him as a good friend and trusted advisor in my life. Thanks for being there."
- Lou Schuyler
Tampa, FL
[Ed. Note: How has reading ETR helped you - maybe even changed your life? Send your comments to ReaderFeedback@gmail.com. Include your name and hometown... and we may print your e-mail in a future issue.]
Are You Slacking Off at Work?
If you find yourself playing Mine Sweeper instead of preparing that cost-benefit analysis of your team’s new project, you could be one of a staggering number of workers who aren’t actually working.
According to a Gallup poll, a shocking 71 percent of U.S. workers are either "not engaged" or "actively disengaged" in their jobs. Being "not engaged" means not committing to the work - sitting back and doing the least possible amount of it. Employees who take that one step further by being "actively disengaged" are not only unhappy at work, they thrive on being part of the problem.
"At best, these folks are clock-watchers and break-takers. At worst, they mock their bosses and undermine the companies where they work," Curt Coffman, Global Practice Leader for Q12 Management Consulting, told the Denver Post.
So what separates an employee who’s "not engaged" from one who’s "engaged"? In an interview with the Gallup Management Journal, Coffman said that workers who are engaged are "passionate about their work" and "have a visceral connection to what they do."
If you spend too much of your workday checking the clock and taking yet another unnecessary trip to the water cooler, maybe it’s time to think about making a change. Not sure what you want to do? I have three suggestions:
- Do some volunteer work for a cause you care about… and see where it leads.
- Check out the many career-changing programs offered on the ETR and AWAI websites.
- Consider attending ETR’s 5 Days in July Conference to learn how to start your own Internet business based on something you love.
Find work that gets you excited, riled up, energized… and you’ll never have to count yourself among the millions of slackers crowding the U.S. workforce.
The Fastest Way to Get in Shape: Take to the Hills
By Jon Herring
If you want to get in shape fast, improve the health of your heart, and accelerate your physical conditioning, there are few better ways to do it than sprinting uphill. Unfortunately, there aren’t any hills in Delray Beach, where the ETR offices are located. But this week, I’m visiting my family in Tennessee, and there’s a long, steep hill in front of the house. So I began this morning by challenging myself to do some hill sprinting.
Whew! What a workout!
I warmed up by jogging most of the way up and then sprinting for the last hundred feet. After that, I ran about 10 sprints of a few hundred feet each. (Although I’m not sure if you would call it a "sprint," considering how slowly I was chugging near the top.)
One great thing about running on hills: It is much safer than sprinting on flat ground. And because the difficulty is increased, you can get a far more strenuous workout in a lot less time. After 15 minutes of really pushing myself this morning, I was done. Who doesn’t have the time for that?
If you enjoy exercise and you live near hills, I strongly suggest that you include hill sprinting in your routine. Nothing will get you in better condition quicker, especially if the hills are steep. If you don’t live near hills, here are some other ways to run with resistance:
- If you live near the beach, run in the sand or in thigh-deep water.
- Set the treadmill on a steep incline when you’re at the gym.
- Buy a weighted sled and take it out to a local field.
- If you’re adventurous and don’t mind people staring at you, use a Power Fitness Chute (EverythingTrackAndField.com) - which is basically a small parachute that you tie to your waist to help increase resistance as you run.
It’s Fun to Know: The Highest Scoring Scrabble Words
Bigger isn’t always better, even in Scrabble. Here are nine of the highest-scoring two-letter words you can use to kick butt on your next game night.
AX - 9 points
EX - 9 points
JO - 9 points
OX - 9 points
XI - 9 points
XU - 9 points
BY - 7 points
HM - 7 points
MY - 7 points
Check out the Hasbro website for a complete list of the highest-scoring Scrabble words - from three letters to seven.
How a “Dumb Blonde Moment” Led to a Secret Golden Backdoor That Earned Me $3,012 in Only 48 Hours… I Tripped Over This by Mistake!
I thought I was following the DVD down to a tee. But I guess I was having another “blonde” moment.
I did the exact opposite… Hey, what did I know? Oops!
Then it happened: $3,012.00 in 48 hours doing the opposite of what everyone else is doing.
Read on to learn how you can have your own “blonde” moment.
Word to the Wise: Hector
To "hector" (HEK-tur) - derived from the name of the chief Trojan warrior in Greek mythology - is to intimidate, harass, or bully.
Example (as used by Jeffrey Taylor in The Atlantic): "At both ends of the escalators, attendants … hector and berate any passenger who steps out of line."
[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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