One Cyber Brick at a Time
Issue #2229
- WEALTHY: Say goodbye to expensive holiday gifts (Bob Cox)
- HEALTHY: For prostate protection, get wild (Kelley Herring)
- WISE: Bruce Barton on making changes
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
- Because of this, you can reach millions at a very low cost (Robert Ringer)
- 10 little things Nicole loves about the holidays
- It’s Good to Know… about the first commercially produced Christmas cards
- Add "ken" to your vocabulary
Welcome to the Turning Point in Your Life
How can it be a group of people in the same city, with the same education, upbringing, bank balance and opportunity make riches beyond their dreams, and others don’t?
Answer: They used a system… a set "proven" process which set them apart.
Want to know what this system is?
They followed a set of simple instructions which made money automatically come their way… money was attracted to them like metal to a magnet long BEFORE they became wealthy.
It was following these simple instructions I now call "The Billionaire Way" which gave ME an unbelievable ‘piggy-back ride’ from a simple insurance sales guy to founder of the world’s first TV shopping network.
Living Rich: It Really IS the Thought That Counts
By Bob Cox
Many years ago, I would rush through the holiday season. I ended up buying gifts in a hurry and spending far too much. In a way, I thought this was a chance to "make up" for being so busy with work all year. I figured that lavishing my loved ones with expensive gifts would show them how much I appreciated them.
Wrong! Expensive does not always mean better. You could spend thousands on earrings for your wife… when a CD of the band that played at your wedding would be much more meaningful.
No one expects you to shell out a week’s salary on a gift. Your loved ones will welcome a less-than-lavish gift. Especially if it is a thoughtful gift that they need or will actually use.
In my experience, the more time I give to thinking about the person… the less money I end up spending. My formula: The right gift = the best value (in even more ways than dollars).
Here are some ideas that it’s not too late to implement:
- Think about your gift recipients’ hobbies. Golfers are fun to shop for. They are always happy with new golf balls or gift cards from their club’s pro shop.
- Give a gift certificate for a few movie tickets or a meal at a nice restaurant. With all the hustle and bustle at this time of year, a night out on a gift giver’s dime is a welcome relief AND an enjoyable experience.
- Give a friend or family member who loves to read a recently published novel or a first-edition copy of their favorite book.
- Be creative. Custom-make 2008 calendars for everyone on your list. Use pictures of your friend’s children… photos taken during company events for your coworker… sunsets for the nature lover… city skylines for the travel buff. You get the idea.
Schedule an appointment with yourself to think about your gift-giving strategy. Make a list of everyone you still need to buy for. Write out a realistic budget. (Don’t use "ghost dollars" that you’ll get back from a tax refund in April.) Then give some serious thought to what you want to buy for each person. The more thought you put into a gift, the less you’ll spend.
[Ed. Note: Bob Cox is the creator of The Billionaire Way and the voice of ETR’s Total Success Achievement Program. Members get weekly motivational Power Surge Messages packed with advice on how to accomplish their goals… twice-monthly teleseminars with Bob and Patrick Coffey… and personal coaching calls. Click here to learn how you can achieve all your goals in 2008.]
"When you are through changing, you are through."
Bruce Barton
One Cyber Brick at a Time
At any given point in time, most people assume, at least subconsciously, that the world is static. Big mistake. Remember when it seemed as though…
- No one could possibly rival Sears… until Wal-Mart came along.
- No one could possibly rival Waldenbooks… until Barnes & Noble came along.
- No one could possibly rival CNN… until Fox News came along.
- Nothing could possibly rival the fax machine… until e-mail came along.
- Nothing could possibly rival the Palm Pilot… until the Blackberry came along.
- Nothing could possibly rival the Walkman… until the iPod came along.
One of the most common effects of change is that it displaces people and businesses at breakneck speed. But change is a necessity. If a company becomes self-satisfied and too comfortable with its main products and services, it is certain to lose market share to competitors.
Business in the 21st century is not for those who fear change. There’s no need for such a fear, because most change - particularly technological change - is going to be in your favor. Fiber-optic wire… band-width technology… the Internet. These technologies - and endless others - didn’t just level the playing field, they gave the little guy huge advantages he didn’t have before.
Take the Internet, for example. Marketing used to be a prohibitive expense for an independent entrepreneur. Today, however, because of the Internet, a resourceful person can find a multitude of ways to market to millions of people at little or no cost.
How? After many years of trial and error, I can tell you with certainty that there are no magic bullets when it comes to Internet marketing. Marketing on the Internet, like anything else in life, is about grinding it out. Day by day… week by week… month by month… year by year.
But that doesn’t mean it’s a slow process. On the contrary, by utilizing the Internet, you can make infinitely more progress in a much shorter period of time than was ever possible in the horse-and-buggy days of direct mail.
It took me a while to get going in Internet marketing.
Ten years ago, a friend said to me, "The Internet was made for Robert Ringer. There’s an Internet train leaving every hour, and you’d be smart to catch one as quickly as possible."
I was involved in other matters at the time, and did not get on board. But, in my mind, I harbored the image of Internet trains leaving the station every hour, with Robert Ringer forlornly standing on the platform and watching them disappear out of sight. I became increasingly concerned that I might be too late - that everyone else had too big of a head start on me.
Finally, in 1999, I caught an Internet train. Unfortunately, once on board, I set a record for making embarrassing Internet mistakes. The train I caught turned out to be the Scam Express. It was filled with scam artists, all of whom seemed to be 32 years old and searching for the next Homer Simpson to take advantage of.
Yikes! It was me they were looking for! (Doh!) I gingerly handed over my hard-earned money to a couple of spam scammers who quickly disappeared. I also managed to lose two websites to guys who assured me that their companies were established concerns that had been in business since Guglielmo Marconi invented the radio.
It wasn’t until I settled down, rolled up my sleeves, connected with some legitimate operators, and focused on growing my business one cyber brick at a time that Internet marketing success started coming my way. And, to my delight, I discovered that not being on one of the earlier Internet trains didn’t matter. In fact, it gave me something of an advantage, because the Internet is like any other technology: Over time, it becomes easier and easier… and less and less expensive.
What this means is that it doesn’t matter when you jump on an Internet train. You don’t have to learn everything the Internet pioneers had to learn. Regardless of when you take the leap, you will land squarely on the shoulders of those who came before you.
Which is why modern technology - especially the Internet - gives the little guy such an advantage. In effect, he reaps the benefits of the heavyweight players who spend millions creating technologies that make it simpler, faster, and less expensive for everyone to compete. Better to follow the pioneers than to be one.
Nothing happens until something moves, which is why taking the first step is the only way you can begin your Internet journey. The most important step you will ever take is to get started today. Don’t worry about which Internet train you catch - just catch one. And, once on board, focus on building your Internet marketing business one cyber brick at a time.
[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.]
"If You Knew Which Companies Were About to Be Taken Over, How Rich Would YOU Be?"
The life of a “Merger-Mercenary” is simple: they’re given information (by me), then they can make a single phone call and receive monthly checks for doing nothing while they’re waiting for the big fat payout from a corporate takeover.
These lucky few just enjoyed gains of 101%… 81%… 54%… and a host of other double digit winners this year alone.
And that’s on top of the 3-8% yields they’re getting from each of these companies!
Read this special report to find out how YOU can become a “Merger-Mercenary.”
Reader Feedback: "A man who has made a career of entering food contests!"
"First, let me tell you how very much I enjoy ETR every day. There isn’t an issue I’ve received that I haven’t read with great interest. Robert Ringer’s article about how it takes almost no talent, skill, or brains to be famous was hilarious. In one portion he mentioned Takeru Kobayashi, and how his "athletic ability" to eat hot dogs precluded him from working for a living.
"It reminded me of a show I saw a while back about a man who has made a career of entering food contests. He travels all over the states, sometimes overseas, to enter contests measuring the ability to stuff everything from oysters to hot dogs to potato skins to who-knows-what into your pie hole. (Including pie!) And not only he, but a whole community of men and women do the same."
- Juli Schatz
South Elgin, IL
Smarter Seafood Choices
Reducing the risk of prostate cancer may be as easy as making smarter seafood choices, new research suggests.
A recent study published in the journal Environmental Research examined the effects of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) - harmful compounds found mostly in farm-raised fish - and their role in prostate cancer. Serum samples were taken from healthy men and men with prostate cancer, and were evaluated for 30 PCBs. The researchers found that the odds of prostate cancer in men with the highest concentrations of PCBs were over two times higher than in the men with the lowest concentration of PCBs.
Catch the benefits without reeling in health-harming PCBs by going for wild-caught fish. Because most seafood in restaurants is "farm-raised," your best bet is to buy fresh, frozen, or canned seafood labeled "wild."
[Ed. Note: Kelley Herring is the founder and CEO of Healing Gourmet and the author of the new e-book, Guilt-Free Desserts: 20 All-Natural, Fail-Proof, Low-Glycemic Desserts Just in Time for the Holidays
Discover how simple lifestyle choices can improve your health by reading ETR’s free natural health e-letter.]
10 Little Things I Love About the Holidays
By Nicole Reynolds, ETR’s Marketing Associate
1. Going home to Jamaica. The excitement of the holidays is everywhere, and the airport is extra-crowded with people. Long lines of people plead with customs officers not to be charged for the gifts they have brought for their families.
2. Eating my favorite dish - the first thing I do when I arrive in Jamaica. A quarter-pound of our world-renowned extra-spicy jerk pork and jerk chicken, served with a slice of bread. The secret to our jerk chicken is that it is cooked in a steel drum and smoked with the key ingredient: Red Stripe Beer. It always seems to taste extra-nice during the holidays.
3. Christmas icicle lights hanging from the coconut trees.
4. Baking Jamaican Christmas Fruit Cake. Raisins, prunes, and spices soak in rum for months in preparation for Christmas baking. The best part is getting the leftover rummy cake batter once we fill all the baking tins.
5. Waking up day after Christmas (Boxing Day) and eating ham, turkey, and potato salad for breakfast.
6. Going to downtown Montego Bay on Christmas Eve to see people doing their last-minute shopping.
7. Seeing poinsettias everywhere.
8. Drinking sorrel, a delicious, intoxicating Jamaican beverage. It’s made from a species of hibiscus that flowers in December.
9. Enjoying parties with old friends and good music on the beach. Jamaica has the best parties during the holidays. When you get home from a long night of partying, relatives are still awake, the kitchen is warm with the aroma of good food. Dominos games from the night before have just come to an end.
10. When I was a child, my dad and I would hand out gifts to the less-fortunate children in the community during the holidays - and I still I look forward to getting the little goodie bags prepared for them. For some of the children, this is the only gift they will get.
It’s Good to Know: The First Commercially Produced Christmas Cards
People have been sending handwritten holiday greetings for centuries - but businessman Sir Henry Cole gave the world the first commercially produced card in London in 1843. It wasn’t until 1875 that American printers jumped on the bandwagon. Their cards featured pictures of floral arrangements instead of holiday themes.
Americans send nearly 1.9 billion Christmas cards each year - more cards than for any other occasion.
(Source: Ideafinder)
Are You Ready for a Thrilling, Positive Change In Your Life?
This may be the life-changing opportunity you’ve been waiting for. If you continue doing everything the same way, you’re going to get the same results. You must make a change TODAY to see a change in 2008.
I’d like to show you how to dramatically increase the chances of making all your dreams - whatever they may be - come true in 2008.
-Charlie Byrne
Word to the Wise: Ken
"Ken" (KEN) is another way of saying perception, understanding, or knowledge. The word is derived from the Old English for "to declare or make known."
Example (as used by Stephen Budiansky in If a Lion Could Talk): "So we are predisposed - if not preprogrammed - to accept tales of animals who display human motives, understanding, reason, and intentions. It takes a far greater imagination to conceive the possibility that a dog’s mental life may assume a form that is simply beyond our ken."
[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