Behind Closed Doors
Issue #2193
- WEALTHY: 3 companies that could protect your portfolio against the falling dollar (Rick Pendergraft)
- HEALTHY: The big impact of 2,000 steps a day (Craig Ballantyne)
- WISE: B.B. King on idols
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- The life lessons you can learn from Britney Spears and Lisa Nowak (Robert Ringer)
- 7 steps to get a fledgling Internet business off the ground (Michael Masterson)
- It’s Good to Know… about the left-handed gene
- Add "recalcitrant" to your vocabulary
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
Multinationals Will Continue to Benefit From the Sagging Dollar
The dollar will continue to fall against other currencies as long as the Fed continues to lower rates. This scenario will bode poorly for importers, but exporters have a good chance to gain.
As the Fed lowers interest rates, the demand for dollar-denominated assets declines and the demand for assets based in other currencies rises. This makes the dollar go down in value against other currencies, making products sold in dollars cheaper for foreign buyers. So large cap multinational companies will benefit from a weaker dollar.
On the other hand, retailers that import foreign goods and then sell them to U.S. consumers will pay a higher price for their inventory and will likely see a decline in demand.
My advice is to avoid investing in retailers. Instead, look to invest in companies like Merck Pharmaceuticals, Boeing, and Caterpillar that produce most of their revenues from overseas customers. These companies will fare much better than those that import products for re-sale in the United States.
[Ed. Note: Rick Pendergraft, a two-time winner of the "Top Trader" award at Schaeffer’s Investment Research, is a contributor to ETR’s free investment e-zine, Investor’s Daily Edge. Learn how to protect your portfolio and multiply your money - in any market - by clicking here.]
"We all have idols. Play like anyone you care about but try to be yourself while you’re doing so."
B.B. King
Behind Closed Doors
There is much truth to the axiom "No one knows what goes on behind closed doors." Why do we assume that people in high positions don’t have realproblems? Lacking perfection ourselves, I believe we have a psychic need for perfection in important people.
From OJ to Robert Blake… from Britney to Lindsay… from Rep. Mark Foley to Senator Larry Craig… it’s amazing the things we plebians are discovering about what goes on behind the closed doors of the rich and famous.
The topper for me in this regard was the revelation that Tom Wolfe’s "right stuff" people - our astronauts - aren’t perfect after all. That door opened to the whole world when astronaut Lisa Nowak was arrested last February and charged with the attempted kidnapping of U.S. Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman, the girlfriend of astronaut William Oefelein.
When Tom Wolfe wrote The Right Stuff, I don’t think he had valedictorian/astronaut-turned-stalker Lisa Nowak in mind. And he certainly didn’t have wigs, diapers, rubber tubing, and serrated knives in mind.
What would cause such an all-American woman to flip her wig? (Pun intended.) The first thing that comes to mind is Buddha’s admonition that "all unhappiness is caused by attachment."
It’s healthy and wonderful to fall in love… no argument on that point. But when a person’s love is so desperate - so irrationally based - that she is willing to commit acts of violence in order to keep the object of her affection in her clutches (which, of course, wouldn’t work anyway), her psyche is definitely in outer space.
It is somewhat self-evident that anyone who would go to such extremes is lacking in self-confidence and self-esteem. Again, love is wonderful. But when it becomes a life-or-death matter, I believe it reveals a neurotic - and possibly psychotic - insecurity.
Your happiness should never depend on how another person feels about you. Happiness results from feeling good about yourself. You cannot hold anyone emotionally captive, and you should never allow anyone to do it to you.
But, lack of self-confidence and self-esteem aside, Lisa Nowak’s antics should again remind us how true it is that "no one knows what goes on behind closed doors." In this vein, I recall being on a national talk show in the late seventies, hosted by a well-known television personality ("Mike"). We subsequently became good friends, and often socialized together.
Mike and his wife ("Barbara") were portrayed as the ultimate glamour couple, often appearing on magazine covers together. They were the poster couple for the media’s idea of "beautiful people," and were frequent guests themselves on other major television shows. Their specialty? Giving advice on how to sustain a healthy marriage.
On one occasion, my wife and I went with Mike and Barbara to a concert at the Greek Theater. I remember the evening vividly. After getting out of the car, Barbara and my wife walked ahead of Mike and me, giving us an opportunity to chat privately.
At one point, I made a comment about what a lucky guy he was to be married to such a beautiful and nice woman as Barbara, and how happy they seemed to be. I was stunned when he replied, "Robert, I’m not happy at all. In fact, I’m miserable. I thought when I built the house for her (a little $5 million+ extravaganza in Beverly Hills), it would improve our marriage. But, instead, things are totally unraveling."
Soon after that evening, rumors began flying around Tinseltown about Mike’s catching Barbara in bed with a ski instructor on a vacation in Aspen - followed shortly thereafter by his finding her in bed with their gardener! Pretty ugly stuff.
Mike and Barbara have been divorced for many years now, but their sad situation still has an impact on my thinking. I’ve long taken media hype with a grain of salt, and I’m not overly impressed with titles, awards, commendations, and the like. (Remember, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Yasser Arafat and Kofi Annan!)
But it’s not just famous people whose personal realities are often far different from the perceptions they convey. There are many people in everyone’s micro-world who are perceived to be important - civic leaders, church bigwigs, school officials, wealthy individuals, and those with impressive titles (e.g., "doctor," "lawyer," "judge," "director").
It’s fine to show respect to those who have earned their way to top positions in society, but it’s a mistake to assume that they live pristine, automaton-like lives when out of public view.
Whenever I hear a sordid tale - like that of an astronaut’s psyche being stranded in outer space - it confirms my long-held belief that many people in the highest stations (e.g., those who have the authority to press the nuclear button!) may very possibly have less emotional stability than you or I.
Not much you can do about that. But you can do a lot about your own psyche by not being overly impressed with the elites around you. And by never losing sight of the reality that no one knows what goes on behind closed doors.
[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.]
How to Buy a Passive Income Stream With Other People’s Money
All investments carry risk, whether they’re stocks, bonds, gold, or even oil. But if you know what you’re doing, there’s one investment that earns you money from the moment you buy it almost every time. In fact, you’ll know exactly how much you can expect to make before you buy.
Best of all, it’s one of the easiest ways to catapult your income to six or seven figures without putting down any of your own cash. That’s why more of the world’s super-rich have made their fortunes with this investment than any other…
Dear Michael Masterson: "My lack of capital and overwhelming to-do list keeps me on the edge."
"I am a single parent of a 13-year-old boy. I left Pepperdine Law school a couple of years ago to start a career in public speaking and writing. Great! Except I am not making enough to survive.
"My lack of capital and overwhelming to-do list keep me on the edge day after day. Do you know of anyone who would like to partner with me and help me with some step-by-step in return for some profits?
"I now have 10 signed up for my free (non-existent yet) newsletter, and I am going to make one of my products into an e-book as soon as I go back and look through your past ETR newsletters to find out how to do it. I have been getting ETR for a year, and without it I might have given up. However! My health is amazing, and I know I will be making millions soon and be able to help others - my dream. So I keep plugging.
"How could I make a newsletter like ETR? What is the best way to do an e-book?
"Thanks a bunch! Forever Grateful."
- Laura Mitchell
Malibu, CA
Dear Laura,
You are a true entrepreneur - trying to start a full-time business all alone. I admire you for it. But I advise you to take a different path - the path I took, which I call the path of the "chicken entrepreneur."
I intend to write and publish a book about this method in the next 12 to 24 months. In the meantime, let me give you some suggestions to consider:
- Get a job. You need the income. Your primary responsibility is to provide a good, nurturing environment for your child. You can’t do that if you are poor.
- Find a job, if you can, in the information publishing or public speaking world. That way you will get paid to learn more about the industry that you will eventually be competing in.
- Spend your evenings and weekends (when your child is otherwise occupied) learning as much as you can about information publishing, marketing, public speaking, and so on.
- Continue making the public speaking appearances you are making. Take on new work, but only if it fits into your new, busy schedule.
- Start your website and e-newsletter as soon as you have learned enough to have something valuable to say. Let the circulation grow slowly and organically at first until you have created lots of editorial material and have given yourself the chance to experience your new life - to make sure you like what you are doing.
- When you have lots of material, repurpose it into reports, seminars, teleseminars, CDs, etc. Sell some of those products and give some away. Your main goal should be to create a "critical mass of prospective customers." (This is something I explain in detail in my new book Ready, Fire, Aim.) My guess is that it will be about 10,000 addresses to which you can continue to send your e-mail newsletter and your sales promotions.
- Once you have reached that critical mass, focus most of your time and energy on selling new products to new customers.
Good luck… and let us know how you do!
- Michael Masterson
[Ed. Note: Have a question for Michael Masterson? Write to him at AskMichael@ETRfeedback.com.]
The Simplest Way to Start Weight Loss
In a world where there is an overwhelming amount of fat-loss information available, it is still the little things that can mean a lot to a beginner.
Australian researchers confirmed what almost everyone has known all along: To lose weight, you must get moving (keeping in mind that "getting moving" doesn’t require you to run marathons). By monitoring a group of sedentary individuals, they found that when those folks simply added 2,000 steps to the number of steps they normally took each day (about 2,000), they could lose just over an inch from their waistlines.
At the rate of one to two steps per second, that extra 2,000 steps will take you only 17 to 34 minutes of walking per day. If you’re relatively inactive, that will make a big difference. But take it easy. If you try to do too much too fast or are very overweight, even walking can lead to overuse injuries.
By the way, the researchers also found that if you’re already active (meaning you walk more than 10,000 steps a day), adding an extra 2,000 steps won’t do much for you. To shed that excess weight, you’ll need to increase the intensity of your workout by adding interval training and resistance training to your program.
[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: The Left-Handed Gene
Oxford University scientists believe they have found the gene most closely linked to left-handedness.
In left-handers, who make up 10 percent of the world’s population, the left side of the brain controls emotion, while the right side controls speech and language. This is the opposite of right-handed people. The change in symmetry of the brain, scientists believe, is the result of the recently discovered gene. The gene could also possibly be responsible for some left-handers’ slightly increased risk of developing mental disorders such as schizophrenia.
(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: Recalcitrant
"Recalcitrant" (rih-KAL-sih-trunt) - from the Latin for "to kick back" - is stubbornly resistant to and defiant of authority or restraint.
Example (as used by Kaye Gibbons in On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon): "If they lingered too long, Clarice hurried them along in the same annoyed way she rushed recalcitrant goats through the gate."
[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