Making Ripples
Issue #2085
- WEALTHY: When to break a tried-and-true marketing principle (Bob Bly) .
- HEALTHY: If you’re overweight, could your paycheck suffer? (Craig Ballantyne)
- WISE: Carlos Delgado on standing up for what you believe
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- Why I don’t care if I offend you (Robert Ringer)
- How a single good idea can change your life… if you let it (Michael Masterson)
- It’s Good to Know… about cleaning out the pantry
- Add "tergiversation" 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…
Your 25th Year in Business - but Does Your Customer Care?
By Bob Bly.
Marketers often talk about how you should always stress the benefits of your product (what it can do for the customer) in your promotional materials and never talk about its features (its specific attributes). And about how you should always focus on your customer, and never on you or your company.
But you and I know that this isn’t always true.
For instance, the number of years you’ve been in business is a feature - a fact about your company. Yet customers do care about it.
Why is it that mentioning your longevity can help close the sale?
According to an NBC poll, more than 70 percent of Americans are losing their trust in business. And as bad as that may sound for most companies, those that have been around a long time, with a track record of success, "are suddenly at a tremendous advantage," says Stephen G. Fossler of Stephen Fossler Company (a printer specializing in corporate anniversary seals).
"Your years of customer satisfaction act to build trust in your company and give people a good reason to do business with you," Fossler explains.
Makes sense, doesn’t it?
[Ed. Note: Master copywriter and best-selling author Bob Bly is the editor of ETR’s ETR’s Direct Marketing Masters Edition a program to help you start your own successful direct-mail business. Sign up for Bob’s free monthly e-zine, The Direct Response Letter, and get more than $100 in free bonuses.]
"It takes a man to stand up for what he believes… Especially in a society where everything is supposed to be politically correct."
Carlos Delgado
Making Ripples
A few weeks ago, one of the readers of my e-letter sent me an "unsubscribe" e-mail that read:
"I am unsubscribing. I really enjoyed reading your letters, until you decided to bring your politics into it. I’m sorry, but I’m with the 70 percent of the country that disagrees with you. You are a very smart man and a gifted writer. I will take that with me. You can keep the rest." - Greg H.
I was kind of perplexed as to why Greg expressed a high regard for my writing but opted to cancel because he didn’t like my "politics." I wondered how long he had been reading me, because anyone familiar with my work knows that my ideological beliefs run through virtually everything I write. Always have and always will. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I try to learn from every experience, whether it be positive or negative, and I certainly learned a lot from Greg’s e-mail.
First, it reminded me once again just how rigidly divided we are as a society. When I use the word rigidly,I mean that not only are we divided in our thinking, we don’t even want to hear what the other side has to say.
‘Twas not always so. When I was growing up, before the coming of the PC Monster, people actually engaged in civil dialog and had civil disagreements. Today, however, the objective is to silence those who don’t agree with one’s point of view.
The second important point I mined from Greg’s e-mail can be summed up in an old but all-too-true cliche: You can’t please everyone. The problem with trying to please all the people all the time is that it turns you into a big chunk of mush disguised as a human being. No one hates you, but no one loves you either.
I’ve always felt that the saddest way to go through life would be to never even make a ripple. Whether it’s Al Gore or George Bush, Michael Moore or Jerry Falwell, the Dalai Lama or Rupert Murdoch, they all have one thing in common: They make ripples. In fact, they make big ripples.
And so should you if you want to live life as opposed to just passing through on your way to the grave. When you get up every morning, the first thing you should do is ask yourself if you did anything yesterday to make a ripple. Even more important, ask yourself what you can do to make a ripple today.
All great achievements begin in the mind. Thinking about ripples leads to making ripples. Don’t fear being different. Don’t fear offending people who get their noses out of joint because they don’t like what you say or do. Don’t fear downside consequences to the point where you can’t bring yourself to take action.Above all, don’t fear making big ripples. Do things that no one has ever done before. Shock your competitors. Leapfrog over the pack.
The ever-quotable 17th century Jesuit priest Baltasar Gracian said it eloquently: "Have stomach for the large morsels of fortune…. Great accomplishments are built on great capacity…. There are many who cannot enjoy highly seasoned dishes because of their natural limitations, neither having been born to, or having been accustomed to, such high fare."
I guess it’s true that some people simply don’t have the stomach to think big thoughts, let alone take big actions. The ultimate nightmare for such people is waking up some fine morning only to discover that they’re going in the opposite direction from where the mainstream is headed. To people with a lemming mentality, acceptance is more important than money, dignity, or purpose. Which is unfortunate, because success and the desire for acceptance are mutually exclusive objectives.
In my business, I’ve become convinced that the sooner a writer learns this, the sooner he is in a position to tap into his true genius. The great 20th century novelist E. B. White put it succinctly when he said, "The whole duty of a writer is to please and satisfy himself, and the true writer always plays to an audience of one."
From time to time, a reader will call me to task for being too "touchy-feely" in some article I’ve written. And when I go back and reread the offending article, I almost always end up agreeing with him. Touchy-feely doesn’t make ripples… and it doesn’t result in an avid readership.
So when ex-loyal reader Greg complains about my daring to show my "politics," it sends a very different signal than a complaint about my being too touchy-feely. On the contrary, it tells me that I’m on the right track. Why? Because if you strive to be loved by everyone, you will end up being loved by no one.
Remember this well: Whatever your occupation, if you say or do something that gets half the world angry - or at last indignant - the other half is almost certain to love you. And guess what? You don’t need half the people in the world loving you in order to get everything you want in life. One-tenth of one percent will do just fine, thank you.
[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. ]
Cross Training for Billionaires
What do Donald Bren, Steven Ross, Sam Zell, and George Akyros have in common? For starters they’re examples of the 33 billionaires on the most recent Forbes Richest 400 list who made their fortunes from real estate. For another, they’ve all made fortunes in more than one type of property investing. Find out how cross training in real estate-from commercial to apartments to flipping homes, tax liens and more-can help you achieve your wealth goals faster...
Open Your Mind to New Ideas
I try to keep my mind open to new ideas - even when they are expressed as criticism or when they come from someone who knows much less about the subject than I do, and even when I’m sure the comment is dead wrong.
My reason for staying open is this: The idea can’t possibly hurt me, and there’s a chance it can help me. So why not listen?
Are you open to new ideas? Do you encourage suggestions? Do you thank people for criticism? Do your employees, friends, and colleagues feel comfortable telling you exactly what they think about what you are doing?
Good ideas - ideas that can change your life - are all around you. The question is: Are you paying attention?
Most people go through their careers with blinders on. There is only a very narrow channel of information they are willing to tune into. Everything else is tuned out. Sometimes, we shut our minds because we don’t want to think that what we are doing now could stand any improvement. Sometimes, we close up because we are stressed or distracted.
You can spend $150 on a pair of shoes, $1,500 on a new air-conditioner, or $75,000 on a Mercedes - and that may improve the quality of your life for a little while. (Although it is highly unlikely that it will improve by as much as you paid.) A single good idea, though, can make you healthier, wealthier, and/or happier - and not just for a little while but for the rest of your life.
Fat, Sick, and Underpaid Is No Way to Go Through Life
What’s worse: Getting paid less because you are overweight? Or not getting paid at all because you’re sick as a result of being overweight and can’t make it into the office? Unfortunately, many people have to deal with one or both of these problems every day.
A European study, published in the journal Obesity, found that being overweight or obese is an accurate predictor of the number of sick days an employee will take. Obese individuals - even young men and women - were found to have more sickness-related absences from work than their normal-weight colleagues. Chronic obesity also resulted in the longest sick leaves, particularly in men.
This gives you one more good reason to control your weight with exercise and nutrition. And I truly believe that nutrition, even more than exercise, is the most important factor in terms of fat loss and improving your health.
It’s easy to eat for fat loss and good health:
* Stick to whole, natural foods, avoiding any processed foods that come in a bag or a box.
* Eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day.
* Eat healthy fats, found in almonds, walnuts, fish, grass-fed beef, and olive oil.
* Substitute green tea and water for sodas, juices, and other high-calorie beverages.
Following these simple guidelines will help keep you lean and healthy - and help you avoid missing workdays due to weight-related illness.
[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 Craig’s fat-loss system, Turbulence Training for Fat Loss.]
It’s Good to Know: Cleaning Out the Pantry
How long will a jar of mayonnaise last? If it’s sealed, it will last indefinitely, but the color and flavor of an opened jar in the refrigerator will be affected three months from its "purchase by" date. Maple syrup lasts about a year, while honey never expires. A refrigerated bottle of salad dressing shouldn’t be used past nine months, while olive oil is good up to two years from the manufactured date. Tabasco sauce will last five years if stored in a cool, dry place, but the quality of an opened bottle of soy sauce will start deteriorating after three months.
(Source: Real Simple)
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: Tergiversation
"Tergiversation" (tur-jiv-ur-SAY-shun) - from the Latin for "to turn back" - is the act of (1) practicing evasion or (2) abandoning a cause.
Example (as used by Michael Norman in The New York Times): "Like most writers, I have always championed thrift…. Not long ago, however, I experienced an extraordinary tergiversation. Now I’m an ally of excess, a proponent of redundancy."
[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