What Billy Blanks Can Teach You About Self-Help Programs
Issue #2188
- WEALTHY: How to invest in the next Google (Andrew Gordon)
- HEALTHY: The best way to lose weight while you work? (Craig Ballantyne)
- WISE: Benjamin Franklin on actions
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- An important lesson that can help you succeed (Bob Bly)
- How strong is a word-of-mouth commitment? (Michael Masterson)
- It’s Fun to Know… about redheads
- Add "voluble" to your vocabulary
Revealed: Probably the Biggest Red Herring in History!
While the world’s been stock watching (and losing!), the elite quietly play a different game with different rules…
Feeling cheated and disillusioned by the stock market? Sure, you may have made a good trade here… but then lost on another. The people dutifully pour their hard-earned cash into investment banks to put into the stock market for them… and those investment banks gladly oblige, for a fat fee… which they invest somewhere else! I’m no conspiracy theorist, but in my opinion the stock market is really a diversion for the masses… a distraction from where the BIG and consistent money is made… in the world’s money mountain. And when I say “Money Mountain,” I speak quite literally… the BIGGEST mountain of money on the planet. Click here to read more…
Back to the Future
Which company would you love to have invested in? Coke? McDonald’s? Google? Intel? Volkswagen?
All these companies rode the explosive growth in numbers and affluence of the U.S. middle class. Now the new global middle class is growing by the equivalent of Italy’s population every year.
I guarantee there’s going to be another Coke or, more likely, half a dozen Cokes sprouting up over the next decade. In fact, I already have my eye on the next Coke, Google, Intel, and Volkswagen. These companies come from all over the world, including the U.S. And the one thing they have in common is their determination to sell to the new global middle class.
To find companies like these, follow my three Golden Rules of Investing:
- Look for companies whose growth is tied to the increasing number and wealth of the global middle class.
- Look for companies that have specific plans to take advantage of the burgeoning global middle class.
- Look for companies like these that aren’t on anybody’s radar.
Stick to these guidelines and you’ll triple your chances of finding the next "legacy" company that could make your portfolio the envy of your friends.
[Ed. Note: Andrew Gordon, ETR’s Investment Director, is the editor of INCOME, a monthly financial advisory service that uncovers income-generating stocks that promise safety (first and foremost), along with much-higher-than-average profit potential.]
"Words may show a man’s wit, but actions his meaning."
Benjamin Franklin
What Billy Blanks Can Teach You About Self-Help Programs
By Bob Bly
Several months ago, I got home from work to find a box on the floor next to my wife’s nightstand in our bedroom.
"What’s this, honey?" I asked her.
"I ordered Tae Bo," she replied.
Tae Bo is an exercise program created by trainer Bill Blanks. The videos have generated millions of dollars in revenues through wildly successful infomercials.
Well, last week I noticed that same box still lying on the floor. It had been opened. I could see the videos inside, but they were still sealed in their shrink wrap.
I asked my wife if she thought she’d get fitter, trimmer, and stronger just by opening the box… and perhaps letting some of Billy’s energy seep into the air surrounding her as she slept. "Or maybe it’s like reverse kryptonite," I suggested helpfully. "The videos generate a positive radiation that gives you energy and strength instead of taking it away!"
I slept on the living room couch that night.
But I also learned an important lesson that can help you succeed. The lesson? Good intentions are nothing. Action and results are everything.
Even if my wife had unwrapped the Tae Bo videos and watched them, she would not have benefited in any way. The only way Tae Bo - or instruction in anything else - has any practical value is if you actually do what the teacher tells you to do… and put the ideas and strategies into practice.
Attend any Internet marketing seminar, and every speaker is selling an elaborate - and expensive - packaged course or program. These cost $300 to $1,000 or more, and typically include multiple workbooks, DVDs, and CDs.
Seminar attendees rush to the display table at the back of the room, checkbook or credit card in hand, to buy the speaker’s "package" - a huge box of how-to Internet marketing materials. What they do with it when they get home breaks down this way:
The first group feels great that they have invested in their marketing education. They pledge to dive into the materials as soon as they have time. But, of course, there is work… the kids… weekend barbecues… vacations… TV… yard work… taking the cat to the vet… painting the kitchen. Years later, they throw out the package, unopened, because the speaker has a new course and the one they own is now obsolete.
The second group opens the package, reads all the manuals, watches all the DVDs, and listens to all the audios. They then write the speaker a nice note about how much they enjoyed his program, and ask if he has anything else they can buy.
The third group is the only one that succeeds in starting and building their own Internet marketing business. That’s because they actually follow the steps - and do what the course they bought tells them to do.
Now, I am not against study… or research… or educating yourself on the business you want to pursue. In fact, I recommend it. But there comes a point where you have to stop studying and reading - and actually start doing.
Reading books others have written can help you avoid mistakes they made - and learn from their "expensive experience." But you can’t really master a skill or a business until you actually take the leap, create your first product, offer your first service, and make your first sale. Until then, it’s all theory, and you are just a fan or an observer - and not a participant.
My advice? When you buy a wealth-building or how-to business program from ETR or anywhere else, start going through it - and begin to implement the ideas - within 24 hours.
For instance, if you buy a how-to course on Internet marketing and Step One is to choose and reserve a domain name, go to godaddy.com or one of the other domain name sites and do it that same day.
In my experience, self-help and success programs are like the Sunday New York Times. You know that if you don’t read the Sunday paper by Tuesday, the whole thing goes in recycling.
Recommendation: If you have bought and read three or more programs on Internet marketing, copywriting, or any other business you want to pursue… do not buy any more material until you have taken concrete steps to create your product, write your sales copy, put up your website, and generate your first sale.
The time for words is past. The time for action is now.
[Ed. Note: Master copywriter and best-selling author Bob Bly is a core contributor to ETR’s brand-new Internet Money Club, an Info Marketing program that gives you an all-inclusive, A-to-Z blueprint for starting your own powerhouse Internet business. Of course, to get the most out of this breakthrough program, you must take action. That means opening the package, using the easy-to-follow website building program to set up a website, following our experts’ instructions for creating your first product, using our marketing and copywriting secrets to make your first sale, and taking full advantage of the dozens of other goodies this program includes. Put the Internet Money Club strategies to work and you could wind up with a business that makes $100,000 to $25 million a year. We’ve limited the number of spots to 250, and, as of today, we’ve only got a few spots left. Make your first decisive action today by signing up now. Sign up for Bob’s free monthly e-zine, The Direct Response Letter, and get more than $100 in free bonuses.]
Are YOU Ready to Snatch YOUR Share From This $300 BILLION Cash-Pile Looking for a Home?
"They " thought they’d keep it all for themselves, but "they " were wrong…
Retire NOW by getting revenge… on Wall Street!
Here’s how the "mercenaries" ruthlessly cream off fat lump sums and monthly checks for doing NOTHING but following simple instructions…
Dear Michael Masterson: "What ethical obligation do I have?"
"First, thank you for all the wisdom and inspiration you have brought into my life via ETR and AWAI.
"Now, here’s my question (and it’s actually pretty urgent as I’m in the middle of this situation right now):
"I’m in the process of selling an apartment through an agent. (We have not signed an exclusive agreement.) He found a buyer, and we have verbally agreed on a price. (Nothing at all has been signed yet.)
"My lawyer is waiting for the buyer’s lawyer to contact him. In the meantime, I got a call today from another serious buyer (who saw the apartment independently through the current tenants), and he’s prepared to pay $5,000 more than the first guy.
"If I go with the second guy, I can save myself the agency fee and gain another $5,000, which works out to be an extra $8,000 or so. In pure money terms, that would be the obvious move. I understand that I have no legal obligation to either the agent or the first buyer, but the question is what ethical obligation do I have to the first buyer? How strong is that word-of-mouth commitment?"
- Danny Verbov
Michmas, Israel
Dear Danny,
I find it difficult to believe that your agreement with the agent isn’t exclusive. I’d double-check that. And I’m not sure that you are correct in thinking you have "no obligation" to the first buyer. I don’t know Israeli law, but in most places a verbal agreement is a binding agreement.
Legal issues aside, I do think you have a moral obligation to go with the first deal. When you agree to something, that should mean something. In the long run, you will be happier and more prosperous if your word is your bond.
So I think you should honor your verbal contract. The $8,000 you give up will be worth $8 million over your lifetime if you develop a reputation for being credible.
That said, you must consider the fact that either buyer can back out of the deal right now. So, to be practical, I would do this: Go to the first buyer and tell him you have another offer pending. Tell him you will honor the deal with him, but only if he can close it with financing immediately - while buyer number two is still on hold. If he is not serious, he will drop out and you will have your extra $8,000. If he is serious, you will have demonstrated your integrity.
- Michael Masterson
[Ed. Note: Have a question for Michael Masterson? Write to him at AskMichael@ETRfeedback.com.]
The Future of Weight Loss?
Thanks to a new invention, you can now lose weight by walking while you work.
Researchers from the Mayo Clinic hooked up subjects to a walking workstation - essentially, a treadmill at a stand-up desk - to determine how many calories they could burn while walking at a self-selected velocity (an average of 1.1 mph).
When they worked while sitting in a chair, the subjects burned 72 calories per hour. However, when using the walking workstation at 1.1 mph, they burned an average of 191 calories per hour.
The researchers concluded that using a walking workstation for as little as three hours per day could help people lose up to 60 pounds in a year.
However, let me add my professional opinion. To me, this is nothing more than wishful thinking. Why? Because, as I’ve reported previously in ETR, long, slow cardio exercise is a big waste of time. In fact, even six hours of hard cardio per week results in only an average of six pounds of fat loss in a year.
The bottom line is that aerobic exercise (a.k.a. cardio) is an inefficient way to burn fat. You need to focus on interval training and nutrition to lose that spare tire.
[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 Fun to Know: About Redheads
Red hair is the result of a mutation thousands of years ago in Northern Europe that created a special gene. The gene increases the body’s ability to make Vitamin D from sunlight, but also makes redheads more prone to skin cancer and more sensitive to heat- and cold-related pain.
Today, only 2 percent of the world’s population are natural redheads, with Scotland claiming 13 percent. Scientists predict that the number of redheads in the world will decrease over the next several hundred years as globalization allows populations to intermingle more and more.
(Source: National Geographic)
What If There Was A Way To Legally Beat A Traffic Ticket?
“When Attorneys Get Speeding Or Traffic Tickets, This Is What They Do… No Points, No Increased Premiums & Definitely No Stupid Driving School. These Tricks Work Like Magic.”
If you’re like me then the simple sight of a police car in your rear-view mirror is enough to send shivers down your spine, but…
When the lights start flashing…
There Goes That Safe Driver Discount… Right? Not anymore…
- Patrick Coffey
Word to the Wise: Voluble
"Voluble" (VOL-yuh-bul) - from the Latin for "to roll" - means fluent, characterized by a ready flow of speech.
Example (as used by Matthew Prior in his poem "Truth and Falsehood"): "Her tongue, so voluble and kind, / It always runs before her mind."
[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