Issue #2183
- WEALTHY: Bad news for homeowners, good news for you? (Rick Pendergraft)
- HEALTHY: True or False: Cut 3,500 calories, lose a pound (Craig Ballantyne)
- WISE: Robert Burns on making plans
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- What to do when you can’t do what you want to do (Michael Masterson)
- A lousy – but common – business strategy claims another victim (Bob Bly)
- It’s Good to Know… about online video-borne viruses
- Add "sardonic" to your vocabulary
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Open Doors
The combination of this summer’s real estate market slowdown, the recent credit crunch, and the even-more-recent spike in foreclosures means that people aren’t buying houses, can’t buy houses, and are losing their homes. This makes apartment leasing managers smile – and it could benefit your portfolio.
After years of declining rental rates and profitability, things look better for owners of apartment buildings and rental units. Renters who are waiting for home values to continue to drop before buying a home will stay longer in their apartments. Homeowners who lose their homes aren’t likely to move back in with Mom and Dad – instead, they will rent an apartment. And those who hoped to buy a home have likely seen the days of 100 percent financing disappear, postponing the dream of homeownership until a larger down payment is saved.
All this means increasing profitability for apartment owners, and, specifically, residential REITs.
Look at Equity Residential (EQR), the largest residential REIT, once the Archstone-Smith buyout is complete. The company has "core markets" in traditionally high-rent parts of the country, such as the New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Seattle areas. These markets are poised to see increases in occupancy rates and rents as people continue to move there and homes remain unaffordable.
[Ed. Note: Rick Pendergraft is a market expert and two-time winner of the "Top Trader" award at Schaeffer's Investment Research. In ETR's free e-zine, Investor's Daily Edge, Rick and a select group of market specialists will give you to-the-point analyses and tell you how you should act TODAY to make the most money with the least risk.]
"The best laid schemes o’ mice and men/ Gang aft a-gley; / And leave us naught but grief and pain / For promised joy."
Robert Burns
When Your Life Suddenly Takes a Turn for the Worse
A new client who agreed to sign up with you suddenly cancels.
A promised promotion evaporates.
The deadline your plumber swore to passes without anything having been done.
The trick to dealing with disappointments like these is to have a "What if it doesn’t happen?" plan in place almost from the start.
The idea is to create a Plan B every time you create a Plan A. And if you create a good Plan B and spend some time visualizing it (after you have visualized Plan A), you won’t feel disappointed if Plan A falls through.
If, for example, you are hoping to be in London for Christmas this year, go ahead and book the arrangements – but spend a few minutes thinking about what you could do instead if, for whatever reason, the trip falls through. (A special Christmas at home – celebrated in some new and interesting way – may turn out to be even better.)
A fallback plan also works in the event of an unforeseen interruption in your routine. Always being prepared with a list of tasks you have wanted to accomplish for a long time is a good way to turn unexpected down time into a rich, rewarding experience.
A few years ago, for example, I tore up my knee and had to have surgery that put me on my back for two weeks and off the Jiu Jitsu mats for six months. For someone with my schedule (and addictive mentality), this could have been very bad. But since I’d had prior knee injuries and, therefore, knew that I was likely to undergo this operation some day, I had developed a fallback plan that made the recovery time bearable.
My fallback plan for the two weeks in bed (and on painkillers – which meant I couldn’t do any meaningful work) was to catch up on all the great movies I had never seen or seen only once. My fallback plan for the six months of Jiu Jitsu inactivity was to use the time to rest and restore my shoulders and back, which were seriously ailing.
The movie-watching plan went very well. I saw two or three great movies a day – more than 30 in all. I also managed, during the second week, to read a half-dozen business publications that had accumulated on the corner of my desk. Far from feeling blue and abused, I was in a very good mood during that early period of convalescence – and that was entirely due to the fact that I felt like I was finally getting to things I had long wanted to do.
My fallback plan for the six months of inactivity was more challenging. I still went into the Jiu Jitsu academy every free moment (and I occasionally helped out with a lesson), but, mostly, I was frustrated by not being able to train again – a feeling that intensified as my knee got better.
But because I used that time to have my shoulders and back worked on, after putting it off for more than three years, I felt that I was accomplishing something. And because of all the care I took in healing my body, when I finally began training again, I was able to compete for the first time in years with an injury-free (though age-addled) body. That felt good.
Spend five minutes today asking yourself:
- "What positive development in my career am I counting on right now?"
- "What will I do if it doesn’t happen?"
Then ask yourself the same questions about your personal life.
If you don’t have a fallback plan, develop one. When you do, make sure it’s something you can be happy with. If it isn’t, work on it some more. You’ll find that the more time you spend refining it, the more attractive it will become.
And in case you unexpectedly end up with time on your hands, prepare now by making a list of projects and/or tasks that you have always wanted to do. (Have you been thinking about writing a novel? Researching your family tree? Have you long been frustrated because you can’t speak a foreign language? Can’t dance the salsa?)
Spend some casual time thinking about your "dream" projects, refining them, and imagining how you can make them happen. The more time you spend doing this, the more excited you’ll be about it. And then, when the time comes (and it almost certainly will), you will move from disappointment to anticipation in no time flat.
[Ed. Note: ETR's Total Success Achievement program is designed to help you accomplish all your goals. Get weekly Power Surge Messages and twice-monthly teleseminars full of actionable advice and useful recommendations for achieving your dreams by signing up here.]
Only 72 Hours Left To Make A Fortune As Foreclosures Skyrocket 115%
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Next month, a select group of top investors from all over the country will get together and share their techniques for making 6- and 7-figure deals every month in today’s market.
There are only 72 hours left to take advantage of our very best deal… and receive over $2,000 in gifts and training FREE.
Reader Feedback: "Michael Masterson remains a lighthouse, keeping me clear of the rocks."
"Thanks, as always, for your consistent output of quality information and ideas for getting ahead. Your sage advice is like a touchstone that anchors me back to what is really valuable, important, and worth focusing on. I get sidetracked so frequently that your column is like coming up for air after being submerged and overwhelmed by all the gunk and goo that passes for marketing/business/life info out there.
"I have copied Michael’s fitness workouts to great effect, finding them fast and effective ways to stay in great shape. And while I can’t say that I have used Michael’s advice to achieve particular business goals, in my own slow way of learning (being submerged in a sea of information from various sources), he remains a standout lighthouse of a figure, keeping me clear of the rocks. Through his example, I am learning to make better distinctions, and I’m confident that, with repeated exposure to his clearer way of thinking, my own thinking is gradually improving in the specific areas that he is expert in."
- Sean Cook
Moreton in Marsh,UK
[Ed. Note: Want to get your name and opinions published in ETR? Let us know how reading ETR has 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.]
Ding, Dong, Foxtons’ Dead
By Bob Bly
After eight years, Foxtons, the NJ-based discount real estate company, is planning to shut its doors forever, and is filing for bankruptcy. I couldn’t be happier.
Glenn Cohen made a splash when he founded Foxtons in 1999, promising to save home buyers and sellers money. How? By cutting the company’s commission for its agents from the traditional 5 or 6 percent to just 2 percent. And its collapse is a much-needed reminder that discounting – competing based on price – is a lousy long-term business strategy.
The average real estate agent working at a brokerage that charges a traditional commission has a modest income – around $47,000 a year. So what kind of professional do you think you can hire by paying him just one-third of the commission his colleagues are getting?
Discounting stinks as a business strategy, because the more you lower your price, the less money you make. Eventually, you end up working for peanuts – a terrible way to live – for customers that don’t value your service, experience, or knowledge.
Also, if low price is your only selling point, what happens when the guy across the street undercuts you in a price war?
Low-priced vendors and their employees resent working for so little, which translates into crappy service for the customer.
Nobody wins.
So instead of being the low-priced bidder, think about how you can add value to your service – and, by doing so, command premium rates. You’ll make more money and attract a better class of clientele that will respect you more and be happier with what you’re doing for them.
Everyone wins.
Ironically, Glenn Cohen was honored in 2002 as one of 10 New Jersey Entrepreneurs of the Year – apparently by a committee that doesn’t know squat about business in the real world.
(Source: The Record)
[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.]
Everything You Know About Weight Loss Is Wrong
Ask most personal trainers or nutritionists how to lose weight, and they will tell you that for every 3,500 calories you burn off or cut from your diet, you will lose one pound, guaranteed.
If only it were so simple. Researcher Kevin Hall from the National Institutes of Health challenged this notion and came to the incredible conclusion that the fatter someone is, the more calories they have to burn to lose that pound.
If this sounds confusing, don’t worry. I have a very simple solution for you.
- Visit Fitday.com and set up a free diet and weight-loss journal. It’s important to know how many calories you’re eating now in order to determine how many calories you should be eating for fat loss. Plus, this is a great educational tool, because many people have no idea how many calories are in common foods.
- Decrease your food intake by 250 to 500 calories per day and improve the quality of the foods you eat. By eating more whole, natural fruits and vegetables and fewer processed carbohydrates, you automatically decrease your calorie intake.
- To burn calories in addition to decreasing the calories you eat, focus on two things: (a) short, intense workouts of total-body strength training and interval training done up to three times per week, and (b) an increase in your general activity – going for after-dinner walks with the family, joining a sports league – anything that removes your butt from the couch.
With this approach, you don’t need to get obsessive about counting calories. Eating properly will fill you up naturally, and staying active will help you shed the fat while you have fun.
[Ed. Note: Fitness expert Craig Ballantyne is the creator of the Turbulence Training for Fat Loss system. If you want a free online source of information, motivation, and social support to help you improve your health, lose weight, and get fit, sign up for ETR's free natural health e-letter.]
It’s Good to Know: Online Video-Borne Viruses
You already know not to click on attachments to suspicious e-mails – but what about online videos? Security experts at a recent industry conference in Atlanta brought attention to this new threat from hackers, who are increasingly embedding malicious codes, including viruses and spyware, in online video players and video files. (When an Internet user opens the file for the first time, the code activates.)
They advise users to download only videos and video players from well-known sources they trust. And how do you know who you can trust? You probably don’t. So your real defense is the same best-practice for all computer security issues: Be absolutely relentless about keeping your computer’s anti-virus software up to date.
(Source: Associated Press)
The Only Three Ways to Grow a Business
Did you know that there are only three ways to grow a business?
1. Increase the number of customers.
2. Increase the average transaction value.
3. Increase the frequency of repurchase.
Find a way to maximize each one, and your business will experience an astonishing rate of growth.
In his "9 Pillars of Business Growth" program, acclaimed consultant Jay Abraham outlines hundreds of proven, frequently unrecognized, and almost totally underutilized ways to grow these three key areas of your business. If you own a business (or would like to), be sure to take a look at Jay’s program.
- Patrick Coffey
Word to the Wise: Sardonic
Something that’s "sardonic" (sar-DON-ik) – from the Greek for "derisive" – is scornful or disdainfully humorous.
Example (as used by Ian McEwan in Amsterdam): "Clive [Linley] gave a sardonic account of a publicly subsidized ‘concert’ in a nearly deserted church hall, in which the legs of a piano were repeatedly struck with the broken neck of a violin for over an hour."
[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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