4 Steps to Getting a Small Business Off the Ground
Issue #2200
- WEALTHY: How I turned a $250 investment into $20,000 in 30 days (Paul Lawrence)
- HEALTHY: A new reason to drink more water (Craig Ballantyne)
- WISE: William James on opportunity
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- Why clever advertising is a big no-no (Charlie Byrne)
- 10 little things Wendy’s thankful for
- It’s Fun to Know… about the presidential turkey
- Add "execrable" to your vocabulary
Could Your Business Benefit From an “Annual Checkup”?
Today you may be eligible to receive an "annual checkup" on your existing business or even your new business idea.Our marketing experts will rip apart your current marketing plans and models, find the strengths and weaknesses, and show how you can bring your business up to the next higher level of profits.It all happens at The Internet Money Club’s Profit Acceleration Roundtable, an exclusive gathering held in conjunction with ETR’s Annual Info-Marketing Bootcamp. When you become a Charter Member of our new Internet Money Club, you’ll receive complimentary admission to next year’s Profit Acceleration Roundtable AND to the Early to Rise 2008 Info-Marketing Bootcamp.But here’s the catch…The Internet Money Club is now over 92% sold out. Fewer than twenty openings remain for our “Class of 2008”. Based on existing registration rates, it’s clear we will be closing this offer down within the next seven days.The Bootcamp WILL sell out next fall. But as an Internet Money Club member, you’re automatically guaranteed a complimentary, locked-in seat for next year’s event. And it’s the only way to get into the Profit Acceleration Roundtable.Those are just the beginning of your benefits as a Charter Member of the Internet Money Club… read on to see everything else you get.
"He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he had failed."
William James
4 Steps to Getting a Low-Cost, High-Profit Small Business Off the Ground
Imagine that you invest $250 into creating a video… and it makes you a $20,000 profit within 30 days! That actually happened to me and my partners earlier this year.And it wasn’t just a one-time thing. I’ve produced a number of videos - including an exercise program for men over 40, a back-stretching program, a ballroom dance instruction program, and several specialty sports videos - that have made a total of hundreds of thousands of dollars.You can make substantial profits quickly with this type of business. And it’s a fairly easy one to crack. Not only have I had a great deal of success with it, so have several people I know. You simply:
- Select a subject that would appeal to a number of people.
- Produce a good video with interesting and/or useful information.
- Market the video to your target audience.
Obviously, there’s more to it, but those are the basics.You can create an instructional video - with your own video camera - on almost any subject. But keep in mind that you have to sell a lot of videos to make a mass marketing campaign to a wide audience profitable. And it’s tough to come up with a subject that would appeal to that many people. It’s a lot easier (and cheaper) to sell one that appeals to a niche market.A niche is a narrow corner of a larger market. For example, the exercise video I mentioned above was aimed at middle-aged and senior men, a niche market in the larger market of male consumers. When you’re going after a niche market, you can reach your potential customers with highly targeted, inexpensive marketing efforts. This gives you a much better chance to reap quick profits.To read more about how to select a subject, take a look at my article, "Make $250,000 a Year With Your Video Camera." But even before you make your video, you need to spend some time thinking about how you’re going to sell it.Here’s what works for me:1. Identify your niche market.You have to know exactly who you’re making your video for. For my instructional exercise video, I targeted men over 40 who have an interest in improving their health and fitness.2. Identify several ways to reach your potential customers.Once you know the kind of people you’ll be marketing your video to, you’ll be able to make some educated guesses about how to reach them. For my exercise video, I decided to advertise in online and print health-oriented publications aimed at men over 40.Consider your online options first. Online advertising can be inexpensive, it’s highly targeted, and your results are quick. I recommend small ads in e-zines and pay-per-click (PPC) ads on a major search engine.To find e-zines with editorial content that would appeal to your target market, just do a few Web searches. In my case, I typed in keyword phrases that described my video ("exercise for senior males" and "exercises for men"), and came up with lots of possibilities.Ads in print media, such as magazines and newspapers, can work too. There are thousands of magazines with highly specialized readerships that can be very responsive. The downside to print (versus online) advertising is that it takes a lot longer to get your results. Sometimes months. Plus, anything other than classified advertising can be quite expensive.But many print magazines also have a Web presence. So if you find a magazine in a bookstore that would be a good fit for your ad, see if there’s an online version.3. Set up a promotional website.To profit from online advertising, you need to create a website where prospects can learn more about your video… and buy it.There’s a limit to how much you can say in a small online ad. So, the idea is to link your e-zine ads and your PPC ads to a "landing page" on your site. Then, when interested people click on the link, you’ll have plenty of room to give them your full sales pitch - and turn them into paying customers.4. Set up a system to capture and process your online orders. There are many online secure servers that cost very little to set up, and most of them work the same way. Your prospect clicks from your landing page to the secure server to place her order. Then you get an e-mail notification of the sale, and the money transfers into your bank account.Some people swear by PayPal, but I prefer to set up an actual merchant account. For most of my businesses, I use a company called Authorize.net. But check around. A Google search will turn up a slew of options.As your business grows and you start selling thousands of videos, you might consider outsourcing the fulfillment of them. But to get started, you can handle most of it yourself.You can find many vendors in any city who will make a small number of copies for you for a reasonable price. Then, when the orders come in, you package them up and drop them off at the post office.The best part of the business of producing and selling videos is that you can make lots of cash in a short period of time. Offer a video aimed at a narrow niche that is not being served very well, and you will quickly establish a customer base. Continue to produce videos that would appeal to these same people, and you’ll soon have a growing business with a built-in market.[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence is a produced screenwriter, direct-mail copywriter, and business author. He is also the creator of the Quick and Easy Microbusiness System, ETR’s program for starting a business for under $100.Learn more of Paul’s video-business secrets HERE.]
Top Investors Are Missing 70% of the Best Deals!
Foreclosures are up as much as 500% in some markets compared to 2 years ago, yet even seasoned real estate investors are missing 70 percent of the best deals available. Why aren’t they snapping up these plums that could hand them $20,000 to $50,000 every month? Because the process of tracking them down can be frustrating and time-consuming.But that’s not a problem for one investor who’s using these hidden gems to make as much as $1.3 million a year, spending no more than a couple of hours on each deal! And you can use his “secret weapon” to find hundreds of these opportunities in seconds… while your competitors spend hours tracking down just a few.Click here to learn how you can land the deals the pros never see… and beat them to the punch when they do!
IKEA Takes Florida by Storm; Immediately Blows It
By Charlie Byrne
I’d heard about them on the net, from my kids, in the newspaper. They already had good "buzz"… a fan club of devout followers. (Think Apple or Volkswagen.)And so Swedish furniture retailer IKEA finally arrived in South Florida to much fanfare. Thousands lining up for opening day. Tons of media coverage. The works.But just a few days later, they lost at least one potential customer - me - with an advertisement that, worst case, was arrogant or, best case, just stupid.I’m driving down I-95 with my wife Patti when I see the huge billboard:"IKEA Is to South Florida as Sunburn Is to Tourists."Hmm.So I’m thinking, "Maybe my brain isn’t working very fast today." I’m pondering what I just read and wondering why I can’t figure out what the heck it means.Is IKEA some kind of annoyance? A nasty surprise? Something that ruins your plans?"Patti, did you see that sign? What does that mean?""You’ve got me."Maybe I’m dense. but I still can’t figure it out. And I’m not the only one. When I passed a draft of this article around the office, Alexis said, "I swear I had the same reaction to that ad. I think my last interpretation as we drove by was that it was inevitable. There is a second billboard that was even more confusing, but I can’t even remember what that one said."And here’s the problem. An ad like that makes me wonder: If IKEA uses such poor judgment in their advertising, what other mistakes do they make? Don’t try making your ads too clever. You just might "outsmart" your customers.
Weight-Loss Trick
When it comes to losing weight, we often need to use every trick in the book. And according to researchers from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, one of those tricks might be having a little H2O before you eat.Researchers had young (ages 21-35) and old (ages 60-80) subjects drink 1.5 to 2 cups of water 30 minutes before a meal. They were then allowed to eat as much food as they wanted. The researchers compared the results to the amount they ate during a meal without the water.Drinking the water did not affect how much food the younger subjects ate, but it reduced the older subjects’ food intake by about 10 percent. And it worked particularly well to curb the appetites of older men.If you’re over 35, grab a glass of water before you sit down to eat. It won’t replace the need for a good diet and exercise. But it might help you control your appetite.[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.]
10 Little Things I’m Thankful For
By Wendy Montes de Oca, ETR’s Vice President of Marketing and Business Development
1. That I look younger than my age.2. That ballet flats are in. I’m tall, and it’s nice to wear stylish shoes that don’t make me look like an Amazon.3. That I speak Spanish and my family doesn’t. On occasion, my husband and I speak privately in front of them … and they have no idea what we’re talking about.4. Mexican food. I can seriously eat it at least twice a week.5. Spell-check.6. That bangs made a comeback.7. My accent. You can take the girl out of New York, but you can’t take New York out of the girl.8. Hair spray. Did I mention I’m from New York?9. The color black. Little black dress. Black slacks. Black jacket. It’s the staple color of my wardrobe.10. Designer handbags. It’s my one vice.
It’s Fun to Know: The Presidential Turkey
Each year before Thanksgiving, the president ceremonially pardons a turkey. He thus saves the gobbler from the dinner table and bestows upon it the privilege to live out its life.For many years, the lucky bird went to Kidwell Farm in Herndon, VA, a suburb of Washington, D.C. There, it became one of the star attractions of a petting zoo. For the past two years, however, the pardoned turkey served as Grand Marshal of the Thanksgiving Day parade at Disneyland in California before being sent to a local ranch.It’s unclear where this tradition started. Most historians believe Harry Truman started it in 1947. Others claim that Abraham Lincoln issued the first pardon for his son Tad’s pet turkey.(Source: Infoplease)
The IRS Only Wants One Thing - Everything You Own…
So wouldn’t you like to tell your boss - and all the others…’Get Your Stinkin’ Hand Out Of My Wallet!’If you’re serious about getting out from under the 9 to 5 daily grind, I’d like to introduce you to a man who’s been helping people…He’ll tell you exactly what to do… so you can tell all of them to shove it!- Patrick Coffey
Word to the Wise: Execrable
Something that’s "execrable" (EK-sih-kruh-bul) is really bad. The word is derived from the Latin for "to curse."Example (as used by Marilyn Stasio in a New York Times theater review): "Any theatergoer who has ever felt the urge to murder an actor for an execrable performance should get a kick out of two backstage mysteries that do the deed with a nice theatrical flourish."[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 MastersonCopyright ETR, LLC, 2007