Issue #2326

• WEALTHY: 3 ways to pick the duds from the studs (Andrew Gordon)
• HEALTHY: A calorie-free alternative to soda (Dr. Ray Sahelian)
• WISE: Johnny Rotten on rules

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

• Greatness doesn’t matter when you’re starting out (David Cross)
• Searching for help in the boonies (Michael Masterson)
• It’s Fun to Know… about subway construction and treasure hunting
• Add "extempore" to your vocabulary

== Highly Recommended ==

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…

Exporters’ Spins Cover Company Sins

By Andrew Gordon

You didn’t read it here first. The companies that now look the most attractive are those that can take advantage of the falling dollar. And they’re the big exporters. Their products are selling for less and less in overseas markets. And the cheaper they are, the better they sell.

But not all big exporters are good investments. Here are three easy steps to tell the duds from the studs.

1. Go into the company’s last quarterly report (always listed on its website).
2. Find the breakdown of sales between domestic and international. Is it 50-50? Probably not. One will be more than the other, and you need to know if it’s domestic or international.
3. But, say it is 50-50. And the company is growing international sales by 15 percent but domestic sales are falling by 15 percent. Where’s the growth? Sales growth would be 0. Of course, if international sales were 70 percent of overall sales and domestic sales were falling by only two percent, then you’d have pretty good growth.

With exporters, the devil is in the details. Companies that export will highlight their overseas sales growth in their public announcements. (That’s one of the few bright spots in the economy these days.) But it doesn’t necessarily mean the company is riding strong overall sales growth. It could be a spin job. You read that here first.

[Ed. Note: ETR's Investment Director, Andrew Gordon, 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.]

Click to comment on this article.

"Ignore the rules. There are no rules. There are no regulations. You get out and you do what you need to do because you believe in what you’re doing." 

John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten), punk rock musician 

Don’t Wait Until You’re Great

By David Cross

David Howell Evans is not known for being a technically accomplished guitarist – although few people really care. He developed a trademark sound that contributed to the success of the band in which he plays – a band that has sold over 170 million albums worldwide. Rolling Stone magazine proclaimed him #24 on their list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

The Edge – as Evans is better known – is the guitarist for U2, one of the greatest rock bands ever. Did he wait until he was a virtuoso on the guitar before joining U2? Nope.

The Clash – a pioneer of punk music – didn’t care a lick about being "great" either. When they started, only two of the band’s four members could even play an instrument. Despite that, The Clash produced one of the top-selling albums of all time ("London Calling") and wound up as #30 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. And they went on to kick-start thousands of other bands… including U2.

The world is packed with thousands of successful people who leapt right in. People who became great because they were willing to take a risk.

Still, I often hear of people who say the reason they have not started their business is that they’re not good enough. They feel they need to wait to acquire more information, deeper knowledge, or more specific skills.

The simple fact is that you can get much better at doing almost anything by doing that thing. Another important thing to note is that you never really know – until you get out there and do it – whether or not you’re good.

Until you actually start your business, it’s all theory. You don’t know how well your idea will succeed until you put it into practice. But the last thing you want to do is wait around until you’re sure. For one thing, you run the risk that your idea will become obsolete. By waiting, you allow the quick and the brave to one-up you in the marketplace. Plus, no matter how long you tinker or research, you STILL won’t know if your idea is good until you put it out there.

Start marketing your widget today, and you’ll know in a few weeks or months whether it’s a big success or a stinker. Keep planning for decades, and you could find out it’s a flop… after having wasted too many years of your life banking on its success. Michael Masterson calls this approach "accelerated failure." Pick up his best-selling book Ready, Fire, Aim and learn more about it.

This advice holds true for practically any business I can think of. Internet marketing is no different.

We’ve been urging you to get a little Internet side business started for some time in ETR. If you’ve been waiting to do it, here are four things you can do immediately to jump right in:

1. Launch a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Ad Campaign

Google, Yahoo, and other major search engines allow you to display your ads by bidding on keywords relevant to your business. When someone clicks on one of your ads, you pay a pre-set fee of a few cents. You can set a daily budget of a few dollars so you can ease into PPC advertising and perfect your technique before upping your budget.

Agora Inc. brought in hundreds of thousands of new customers last year alone through effective PPC campaigns.

Learn more about setting up a PPC account by reading Patrick Coffey ’s article, "Mastering Google AdWords in 3 Easy Steps."

2. Start Collecting E-Mail Addresses

A huge factor in the success of many online businesses is e-mail marketing. Establishing regular, relevant, and timely contact with your customers and prospects is a proven way to generate more sales and to turn prospects into customers. Offering a free report, useful advice, or information that you deliver by e-mail will help you do it.

For more details about collecting names online, take a look at Patrick’s article "How to Build Your E-Mail Subscriber List Quickly and Easily."

3. Start an E-Mail Newsletter

Start to regularly send out useful information to the people on your e-mail list. Don’t know what to write? Not to worry. Write about what you know. If you have a music store, send out tips and advice for playing or caring for instruments. Garden store? Timely, seasonal, local advice on what to plant and when and how to tend a garden. Try to remember some of the meetings or phone calls you’ve had with your customers and recount them. Voila! You’ve started an e-mail newsletter. Spice up the articles with some relevant product or service information – and don’t be afraid to ask for an order!

For more about how to create an e-newsletter, read my article "The 3 Basics You Need to Start an E-Mail Newsletter."

4. Start a Blog

One thing that takes longer to master with an online business is search engine marketing. That is, creating content and copy that is both attractive to search engines and readable by humans (your customers and prospects). With a blog, you can quickly amass a plethora of information that will attract search engines… and customers. As with an e-newsletter, just write about what you know and offer advice and tips that will be useful to your readers.

Starting something new is both exciting and scary. But sometimes the fear of getting started can stop you right in your tracks. If you don’t start, you can’t fail. But then again, you cannot succeed either. There is no better time than right now to get up there, plug in your guitar (or laptop!) and start strumming away. Do not wait until you are great. Start small. Start now.

[Ed. Note: David Cross is Senior Internet Consultant to Agora Inc. in Baltimore. People from all over the country have already experienced the power of managing their destinies through motivation, determination, and goal setting. Discover the secrets that have made them successful. Click here now to learn more.]

Click to comment on this article.

== Highly Recommended ==

The Billionaire Way

I just wanted to say thank you for putting The Billionaire Way together for others to learn from as well as myself. I have made it a mission in my life to learn from the greatest minds in history and business.

I came from a humble beginning… searching. I found what I needed to know in The Billionaire Way. My most important lesson was they are all human just like you and me. They had special skills which anyone can develop to attract that bit of luck we all need in life… that extra edge.

These lessons can be learned in The Billionaire Way and you don’t have to spend your whole life as a mission, as I have, to find what I found here in The Billionaire Way.

I enjoyed our call. It put the final touches together that I have needed. If I do happen to get stuck on something thanks for saying I can contact you again. People look to me for advice. It is reassuring to ask and receive advice and have an enriching conversation… I find it is rare.

Thank you

- Aaron Kaggie

President. of Kaggie Holdings, Inc.

Kearns, Utah

Please click here for all the details on this unique program.

How Do You Find a Mentor When You Are Stuck in the Boondocks?

By Michael Masterson

JB, a young man I met at AWAI’s Copywriting Bootcamp last year, wrote to ask me about finding a mentor. "Due partially to the fact that I live in a sparsely populated, rural area, I am almost entirely devoid of personal contacts. That obviously makes it hard for business, but I also need someone whom I can occasionally bounce ideas off of."

He wondered if I knew anyone who could answer questions occasionally. "Not even necessarily a mentor. Just someone knowledgeable and able to spare a bit of time here and there."

If JB were sitting in my office right now, I’d ask him what he has done so far to find the help he’s looking for. Has, he, for instance…

• Gone on the AWAI and ETR online forums and asked for help?
• Done the same thing on my blog?
• What about all the other business websites, blogs, and Internet networks out there? Has he searched them for help?
• And if he has made some attempts, how many has he made? Hundreds? Or just a few?

Nothing worth having in business is likely to be easy to get. And it’s certainly not going to fall in your lap. JB deserves credit for writing to me for advice. But he is perfectly aware that I don’t have time to mentor him. (I tell conference attendees that every time I speak.) He’d be better off investing his time in asking for help from people who are closer to his age and/or situation. Such people are all over the World Wide Web. If he tries to find them, he will.

Let me put it this way. Let’s say JB started devoting two hours every day to searching the Internet, talking to people, posting advertisements, seeking what he wants. What is the likelihood that he wouldn’t find help if he did that for 50 days in a row? What, in other words, are the chances he would fail?

My guess is less than two percent. And I’m talking about an investment of only 100 hours. Devoting 100 hours to getting smart people to help you make good decisions is a very small investment. If JB isn’t willing to do that, then he’s got bigger problems than being stuck in the middle of a briar patch.

One little hint for JB: When requesting help, be sure to write your letter as you would a sales message. Don’t talk about yourself and what you need. Talk about the benefits your mentor will get from working with you.

[Ed. Note: Michael Masterson's New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Business Week best-selling book, Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat, offers dozens of insights into creating and growing a profitable business. Do you have your copy yet?]

Click to comment on this article.

Reader Feedback: "I am getting a brand-new perspective on business building."

"I just felt like dropping you an e-mail, Michael, to thank you for being so generous with your knowledge. Thanks to you and ETR, I am getting a brand-new perspective on business building. Stay healthy and keep sharing."

S. Downs

Leesburg, FL

[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.]

Delicious Stevia Drink

By Dr. Ray Sahelian, M.D.

We all know that soda even diet soda is a terrible choice when you’re thirsty. Fruit juice can have health benefits, but it’s usually high in fructose. And the majority of flavored drinks on the market have a lot of added sugar. So, how do you ingest more fluids if you find it difficult to drink enough water?

Try stevia drinks. My fluid intake increased dramatically since I started adding lime-flavored stevia drink packets to a quart of water. I love the taste, so I can easily drink an additional quart of water a day. Plus, it is calorie-free. I have served this drink to my friends and guests and almost everyone likes it.

Add a packet to a quart of water, then refrigerate it or add ice. Kids are likely to enjoy it so much that it will reduce their dependence on sodas and sugared beverages. If you substitute this calorie-free drink for sugared sodas, you may actually consume a few hundred less calories a day.

This stevia drink is available in some health food stores, and you can find a reliable source at PhysicianFormulas.com.

[Ed. Note: Ray Sahelian, M.D., the author of Mind Boosters, is internationally recognized as a moderate voice in the evaluation of natural supplements. Visit Dr. Sahelian's website at www.RaySahelian.com, and read more of his articles at ETR's free natural health e-letter.]

Click to comment on this article.

It’s Fun to Know: Subway Construction and Treasure Hunting

Building a new subway line is difficult, expensive work. Imagine how much more difficult and expensive it gets if you have to constantly stop construction so archaeologists can study the ancient remains you’ve dug up. Such is the case in Rome, where digging for a subway line has uncovered artifacts and structures from the Renaissance, medieval times, and, of course, the Roman Empire.

The finds often trigger disagreements between conservationists and developers eager to restart work. But the government has the final say as to how long the scientists have to study the material, as well as whether they can remove it for further study instead of allowing it to be destroyed by the new construction.

(Source: National Geographic )

Click to comment on this article.

== Highly Recommended ==

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…

Click here to read more.

Word to the Wise: Extempore

Something that’s "extempore" (ik-STEM-puh-ree) – Latin for "out of the time" – is done on the spur of the moment, without preparation.

Example (as used by Robert Harris in Archangel: "Kelso had already delivered his short paper… at the end of the previous day: delivered it in his trademark style – without notes, with one hand in his pocket, extempore, provocative."

Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008

Similar Articles:

• Don’t Wait Until You’re Great – David Howell Evans is not known for being a technically accomplished guitarist – although few people…
• Dear ETR: “Where do you suggest we start rebuilding?” – “Your ETR newsletter is great – but it seems to be for earners and those that are employed. My husba…
• Don’t Wait for the Job Market to Turn Before Investing – This morning, one of my co-workers asked me, “What turns around first – the economy or the job marke…
• I’m looking for ways to supplement my primary income – “I have a strong background in Corporate Finance, and I’m looking for ways to supplement my primary …
• Exporters’ Spins Cover Company Sins – You didn’t read it here first. The companies that now look the most attractive are those that can ta…
• A Fundamental Fact of Entrepreneurial Growth – Getting your business started is a matter of breaking into an existing market by selling some new pr…
• The Easiest Way to Start an Online Business – If you’ve caught the Internet entrepreneur bug, you probably can’t wait to get started making money …

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 5:10 am and is filed under Daily Issues .