Issue #2522
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
An “epicure” (EP-ih-kyur) is a person who enjoys eating and drinking fine food and beverages. The word is from Epicouros, a Greek philosopher who taught that pleasure is the highest good.
Example (as used by Robert V. Camuto in the Washington Post): “As a confirmed epicure, I have eaten just about every meat acceptable in the Western world.”
[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.]
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008
[Ed. Note: What is your #1 favorite thing about Thanksgiving? Let us know right here.]
This time of year, family dinners, cocktail parties, and get-togethers pack our calendars and fill us with festive fare. But while the season is a welcome and joyous time, it is all too easy to overindulge.
Along with sticking to your exercise regimen and taking time to rest and de-stress, a little planning and the following simple nutritional strategies can help you stay healthy and maintain your weight.
Holiday Health Strategy #1: Beware of Hidden Hydrogenation
Buttery pies and flaky-crusted appetizers, piping hot from the oven, are oh-so-alluring. That is, until you find out they are loaded with trans-fats. Unless you are hosting the party or made the dish yourself, it’s safe to assume the baked goods being passed around are of the store-bought variety, which are typically packed with partially hydrogenated oils. If you’re going to avoid any food during the holidays, you should skip the puff pastries and pies. Reach, instead, for whole foods like shrimp cocktail, crudites, and baked sweet potatoes.
Holiday Health Strategy #2: Don’t Fall Victim to the Drink Dilemma
Most cocktails have around 150 calories, but many festive sips can pack a whopping 300 calories and more than 20 grams of sugar (like traditional egg nog). Because your body doesn’t register liquid calories the same way it does calories from food, this can easily equate to an extra pound of fat on your body. And it’s not only the calories, but also the way in which we process alcohol. When you drink alcohol, your body will burn through acetate – a byproduct of alcohol metabolism – instead of body fat.
To ensure that you don’t fall victim to the drink dilemma, consume in moderation. To reduce sugar and calories, choose light, non-sweet cocktails and “cut” fruit juices with sparkling mineral water. (And if you drink, be sure to see Strategy #7 below on folate.)
Holiday Health Strategy #3: Stay Off the Hormone Roller Coaster
Foods rich in refined carbohydrates spike your blood sugar and put your body on a hormone roller coaster, triggering more hunger and more eating.
To avoid this destructive cycle, focus your holiday plate on lean proteins (including organic poultry, wild fish, and grass-fed meats), healthy fats (like nuts and olive oil), and nutrient-dense veggies (especially leafy greens and crucifers). Beware of the refined carbs lurking in not-so-obvious places – like sauces and gravies made with white flour.
Holiday Health Strategy #4: Choose a Smaller Plate for Less Weight
With a large spread, it’s tempting to grab a big plate and try everything the host has to offer. A good strategy is to scope out the buffet line first and choose the items you’ll be having (opting for the roasted Brussels sprouts instead of the creamy casserole, of course). Then, when it’s time to dine, use a small plate to help keep portions (i.e., calories) under control. And remember… nothing tastes as good as thin feels!
Holiday Health Strategy #5: Makeover Your Old Desserts
Did you know that one piece of pecan pie has more than 500 calories, 65 carbohydrates, and 32 grams of sugar? And that eating 100 grams of sugar can reduce your immune system’s ability to kill germs by a whopping 40 percent! Not only does sugar depress your immune system, it meddles with your endocrine machinery, encourages fat storage, promotes cancer, and physically ages you through the production of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs).
The good news is that now you have a sweeter option – erythritol. This “almost sugar” is all-natural, has no calories, and has a glycemic index of zero. Use it cup for cup in all of your favorite recipes to safely sweeten and delight your guests. (They’ll never know the difference!)
Holiday Health Strategy #6: Chew on This
Have you ever been “done” eating, only to make your way back to the buffet line one last time? Here’s a surefire way to send your body the message that the kitchen’s closed: Chew a piece of all-natural, sugar-free gum. Not only does peppermint taste terrible with mashed potatoes, but chewing gum has been found to reduce hunger and specifically stave off cravings for sweets (according to recent research published in the journal Appetite).
Holiday Health Strategy #7: Bolster Your Immune Arsenal
We often don’t think of our immune system – until it fails us. And stress, alcohol, sugar, and lack of sound sleep and sunshine – known immune wreckers – are par for the course during the holidays.
The good news is that you can strengthen your defenses and get your immune system in tip-top shape to guard against many common winter woes. Along with a high-quality whole-foods multivitamin/mineral and a fish oil supplement (both of which you should be taking every day), here are some of the best-known immunity boosters to keep on hand:
Following these simple nutritional strategies can help you stay healthy now, so you don’t pay a big price later. But don’t be afraid to savor a taste of your favorite holiday food and splurge a bit. Remember, wellness is all about balance!
[Ed. Note: As nutrition expert Kelley Herring points out, you can find plenty of all-natural methods for staying healthy throughout the holidays and beyond. For a twice-weekly dose of the latest breakthroughs in weight-loss programs... healthful recipes... and other ideas for achieving optimal health, sign up for ETR's free natural health newsletter.
Survive the holidays with Kelley's brand-new recipe e-books, Guilt-Free Desserts and Healthy Holiday Hors d'Oeuvres. You'll find 60+ healthy recipes you can easily make at home.]
“Connubial” (kuh-NOO-bee-ul) – from the Latin – means of or pertaining to marriage.
Example (as used by Larry Gelbart in Laughing Matters): “Wed as teenagers in Chicago, my parents’ connubial collaboration had a second result: me and, seven years after my birth, a spectacularly beautiful sequel, my sister, Marcia.”
[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.]
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008
The average Israeli eats more than 34 pounds of turkey each year, about two times more than the average person in the United States. Turkey was introduced to Israel about 50 years ago, and became popular because it is kosher (unlike pork) and less expensive than beef or lamb.
1. Having a day that’s specially set aside for all of us to focus on what is right in our world and to thank God (or whatever you believe in) for all our blessings
2. Fried turkey
3. Being near family
4. Cooking a big, fattening meal
5. Feeing like the holiday season has really begun
6. Pumpkin pie
7. Black Friday
8. The long weekend
9. Roasted turkey
10. Smoked turkey
[Ed. Note: What is your #1 favorite thing about Thanksgiving? Let us know right here.]
Believe it or not, one of my favorite ab exercises uses one of those cheap infomercial gadgets, the “Ab Wheel.”
You can pick one up at Amazon.com or Wal-Mart for under 20 bucks, and it works your abs hard without having to do crunches.
But what about the other ab gadgets you see advertised on TV?
Researchers (from the Mayo Clinic, of all places) tested the “Ab-Slide”
(a contraption that’s similar to the Ab Wheel), and compared using it to doing ab crunches, supine double-leg thrusts (seated knee tuck-ins), and side planks.
Ten young men and 12 young women did all the exercises. And the researchers found that the Ab-Slide worked the abs the hardest. On the other hand, the seated knee tuck-ins required a lot of hip flexion, and they believed it could cause problems in people prone to low-back injury.
Personally, I’m going to stick with the Ab Wheel. As always, I’m going to keep crunches out of my program… and now I’m going to add the seated knee tuck-in to my list of ab exercises to avoid.
[Ed. Note: If you think sit-ups and crunches are the best way to get a flat stomach, you've fallen victim to one of the most common fitness myths around. Discover 5 more myths about exercise - and how to combat them - right here.
And for a free source of fitness ideas, nutrition tips, and motivation, sign up for ETR's natural health newsletter.]
Let’s say you are organizing your company’s big end-of-year conference. You’ve invited 50 of your company’s best clients and 25 prospective clients. If all goes well, the conference could bring in millions of dollars in sales.
You put together a team of people to help you with preparations. And you interview a dozen more before choosing “Jeff” to handle all the event details. He makes a very compelling pitch. He knows the best audio-visual teams in town. He has contacts with the best caterers. And he knows the perfect designer to create your banners and signs and brochures.
You check in with Jeff every week – and each time, he assures you that the planning is right on schedule…
But you start to get worried when you aren’t seeing results. Turns out, Jeff is swamped with other events he has to plan… and he’s pushed yours to the bottom of his pile. With only a few weeks left, you fire Jeff and find someone new. Of course, there’s no way you’ll hire him again – or recommend him to anyone else.
Building a solid reputation (in business or personally) requires diligent and consistent action. It can blow up in an instant. No matter your past accomplishments, one unfortunate incident can ruin it all.
And it doesn’t take a major violation – stealing, embezzlement, or fraud – to call your integrity into question. Distrust raises its ugly head in small ways, too. And breaking a promise – whether it’s failing to follow through on a project or canceling a lunch meeting at the last minute – is dishonorable in its own way.
MaryEllen Tribby, Publisher and CEO of Early to Rise, recently wrote about a lunch meeting she’d set up with a former protege who had moved on to start her own consulting business. MaryEllen made time in her busy schedule for the appointment. Yet, while making a routine follow-up call to confirm the date, she found that the young woman had forgotten about it completely. She’d never even put it on her schedule. Needless to say, MaryEllen’s opinion of her took a nosedive.
A scheduled appointment is an obligation to be taken seriously. You cannot build a solid reputation if you honor only the commitments that are convenient for you… yet expect others to honor all of theirs.
Promises mean a lot. They suggest appreciation, value, empathy – and, when fulfilled, give pleasure. In a very real sense, promises are a time-debt to be paid. If you create the obligation (promise), it is a debt you must honor.
Here are some techniques for keeping yours…
Promise-Keeping Technique #1: Make your promises sparingly.
Think twice before making too many promises.
Promise-Keeping Technique #2: Make realistic promises – promises that you are capable of completing.
It is easier to keep a promise when it involves doing a small task. But even if the task is larger and harder to finish… it’s still a promise.
Promise-Keeping Technique #3: Make promises that are important – to you.
Ask yourself, “Will this promise keep me on track for completing my goals? Will honoring this promise advance my career?” If there is no value in the promise for you, it will be easier to break.
Promise-Keeping Technique #4: Make your promises honestly.
If you are making promises simply to please people… you will end up over-scheduling yourself and slowing your progress in achieving your goals.
Be honest. Know that breaking promises will erode your trust in yourself. Get in the habit of keeping promises, especially the ones you make to yourself.
Broken promises result in missed opportunities, resentment, and anxiety. Furthermore, broken promises can lead to damaged friendships and loss of business. Everyone loses when you break a promise that the other person was relying on before they can take action.
Most people don’t mind the occasional broken promise, with a reasonable explanation or heartfelt apology. However, the most successful people I know value the promises they make and keep their promises faithfully. It is a matter of integrity and personal honor.
We are all busy. And with time being so limited, nothing is more important than quickly building solid relationships with your coworkers, partners, friends, family, customers, and vendors. Broken promises will destroy your credibility with them.
Promise-Keeping Technique #5: Make and keep ONE promise a day.
I want you to try to honor just one promise a day. If you can do that, in just a year you will have positively impacted 365 people. That is far better than trying to please 10 people a day by making promises you can’t keep and end up pleasing none.
And I want you to make and honor one promise a day to yourself, too. Then watch how a week of seven promises kept… turns into a month of 30 promises kept… and then a year of 365 promises kept. Write them down in your daily planner and put a “star” next to each one kept. By the end of the year you will see a constellation of success… and will have developed a habit that will keep rewarding you throughout your life.
I pride myself on making promises sparingly and keeping them faithfully… including the promises I make to myself. For instance, about three and a half years ago, I set a goal to obtain my private pilot’s license. At the time, I had no idea it would be as hard as it was to accomplish, cost as much as it did, or take so much time to complete.
I had to keep reminding myself that this was a promise to me. I needed to honor that promise to maintain my own self-esteem, so I persevered. (And let me tell you, it was a very lonely and frustrating process.)
However, I did earn my private pilot’s license. Not only that, I purchased an airplane, and I have set two world airspeed records.
When I fly, the feeling of wonder and freedom is at times overwhelming. The joy is indescribable. In fact, my co-pilots and I often say to each other: “Don’t you wish everyone you know and love could have this incredible experience?”
You can achieve almost any goal, personal or professional, you set for yourself. It may take more time than you expect, cost more money, or even challenge your belief in yourself. But you can make it happen. I’ve done it. So can you!
Begin today by making and keeping one promise to another person… and one to yourself.
[Ed. Note: Success mentor Bob Cox - who has worked with four billionaires during his career - strongly believes that keeping promises, to yourself and others, is critical to the achievement of your goals. Learn 3 more powerful but surprisingly simple success strategies from Bob Cox right here.
Bob can also give you the "insider secrets" that helped four Average Joes become billionaires. Best of all, you can master these billionaire success techniques in just 30 days. Learn more here.]
I’ve never seen the market so ruthless and so volatile at the same time. Wall Street is pouncing on weaknesses in sectors and companies. And because of the huge swings the market is making on a daily basis, when it attacks it really ATTACKS. Companies that had been fairly stable are going down 5-10 percent in one day… 30-50 percent in one week.
Some investors like to swim in calm water but hate to swim when it gets choppy. Is that you? Then get out of the market. No need to put yourself through this if it’s ruining your sleep. But there are things you can do to protect your individual stock investments against all this white water.
• Independent due diligence. There’s more reason than ever for companies to hide the truth from you these days – because with the market falling on its face, the truth isn’t pretty. Instead of talking about dropping demand and lowering prices, companies talk about new and exciting products… or maybe upgrades they’ve made to their equipment… anything to distract you from the grim reality they’re facing. Rely only on your own research and the research of people/experts you’ve grown to trust.
• Periodic reviews. You need to review your portfolio not every spring… or every quarter… but every month. Are you invested in “dead-man-walking” sectors like the auto industry? Restaurants? Retailers (except Wal-Mart)? Even Google has lost its luster. Things are changing from month to month… not year to year. You have to adjust.
• Look before you buy. In the past, when you went into your portfolio to buy more of a company, you probably did so because its shares were rising. But if you want to buy more of a company now, you have to review its latest developments first. For example, most solar stocks had great quarters last go-around. This time, it promises to be a lot tougher. Again, markets are changing fast.
It all adds up to more work for you. That’s the price you pay for being in the stock market these days. Set aside one evening every month to review your portfolio. And pour yourself a glass of wine before you sit down. You may need it.
[Ed. Note: The corporate world is having a tough time, but you can still make money if you pay attention to the "red flags" - signals that can predict (with as much as 92 percent certainty) when a company's stock is going to tank. Know that, and you could make a bundle. Find out how to spot these red flags right here.]
Issue #2521
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
Remember dressing up as a Pilgrim for your grade school Thanksgiving play? Well, guess what? If your teacher really wanted you to look authentic, she wouldn’t have made you wear that goofy black and white outfit (set off by those ridiculously oversized buckles).
The truth is, those early colonists wore black and white only on Sundays and formal occasions. Pilgrim women typically wore red, green, brown, blue, violet, and gray. Men wore beige, green, and brown. And those buckles? They didn’t become popular until later in the century.
(Source: History.com)
In golf, when you are putting in the wind, you have to widen your stance.
In volatile markets, this rule can be adapted to apply to trading as well. It may seem like strange advice, but in times of extreme volatility, you need to widen your stop-loss points. Most people think you have to do the opposite and tighten them.
Let me explain: When the market is swinging back and forth wildly, movement within a day can knock you out of a position. Then, when the market swings back in the direction you were counting on, you will have been stopped out… and missed the gains you should have had.
It’s frustrating when a trade goes against you. But it is even more frustrating when you are in a trade, get stopped out, and then the trade turns around.
Take my advice and loosen up your stops a little. You still need to set stop-loss points, but when the market is volatile, you want your stops to be nearly impossible to reach within normal market activity. What constitutes “normal” activity keeps changing. What seems normal now would have been considered insane just a few months ago.
[Ed. Note: The market may be volatile, but it still offers plenty of ways to profit. Loosening up your stop-loss points could keep you ready to tackle opportunities as soon as they present themselves. Market analyst Rick Pendergraft has put together an educational program that lays out the simple steps you need to take advantage of these chances to prosper. Not only do you get three months of Rick's best recommendations, you also learn how to make good investment choices yourself. Get the details here.]
Traveling. You’re stuffed into a tiny metal cylinder for hours at a time. You’re cramped. You’re hungry. You’re slammed up against a stranger. So why make it any worse than it has to be?
But some people seem to think that the world exists for them and them alone.
Take, for instance, the gentleman who sat down beside me on my flight home after Bootcamp, pulling on the seat in front of him as he eased into his. He proceeded to pick his nose, sneezed, and then kept creeping into my personal space. (Every time his arm touched mine, I’d squinch a little closer to the window. Only to feel his arm touching mine – again.)
The two hours I spent on that plane rank right up there with getting my wisdom teeth removed as one of my top-10 most uncomfortable experiences. (At least I was knocked out for the wisdom teeth!)
Travel – extra costs, constant delays, overworked airport personnel – is already high-stress. And with the holidays coming up, you’re probably going to see bigger crowds and feel even more frazzled.
Here are seven rules to make sure you never drive your seatmate as crazy as mine drove me. They’ll make you a lot more pleasant to travel with. And here’s hoping your good manners will rub off on those around you.
Travel Manners Rule #1. Keep it down.
iPods are super. Portable DVD players – great. But I don’t want to listen to the latest Jonas Brothers CD or listen to you guffaw at Steve Carell’s antics in Get Smart. Bring headphones with you – noise-canceling headphones. Because they keep outside noise to a minimum, you’ll be able to do your listening at a more reasonable volume. That’ll keep your seatmates happy and protect your hearing. Hold the headphones about a foot away from your body. If you can still hear something, it’s too loud.
Travel Manners Rule #2. Watch what you eat.
Yes, it’s annoying that most airlines have eliminated any sort of food service. But there’s nothing worse than getting my nose up-close-and-personal with my seatmate’s egg salad sandwich and side of Funyuns. Before you wrap up that garlic sausage hoagie to enjoy on the plane, remember – smells that make your mouth water just might curdle someone else’s stomach.
Helena Echlin of Chow.com offers a few suggestions: Bring cold food, which is less aromatic than hot food. (She recommends sushi, wraps, and sandwiches.) Avoid tuna. Skip “crumbly or slithery” foods like crackers and noodles. And give your trash to the flight attendant as soon as possible.
Travel Manners Rule #3. Watch your mouth.
For my last trip to Delray Beach, I’d printed out a stack of articles to edit. When my seatmate sat down, I smiled and agreed that the weather was delightful. But then I got back to reading and making notes. He, however, kept asking me questions and making comments about the weather. Hey – I’m fine with exchanging pleasantries and sharing a little small talk. You never know who you’ll meet on a plane, after all – a potential partner, customer, or future boss. But if I’m reading or sleeping or otherwise engaged, don’t try to strike up a conversation.
A Harris Interactive and Yahoo! FareChase poll found that 50 percent of people surveyed dread sitting next to an overly garrulous seatmate. And a CheapFlights.com survey found that Chatty Cathys are the most offensive violators of airplane etiquette.
Travel Manners Rule #4. Pay attention to boundaries.
• Armrests. I’m sorry if the armrest between us is uncomfortable. But we are already closer than I want to be, and that slim metal rectangle is the only thing separating my space from yours. So keep it down.
• Leg room. Yes, your carry-on is too big to really fit under your seat. But that doesn’t mean you can stretch out your legs under MY seat.
• Under the seat. Your carry-on luggage – that includes your purse, ladies – goes under the seat in front of you. NOT under the seat you’re sitting on. I don’t know why this is the rule, but it is. And if you shove your laptop under your seat, you’re robbing the person sitting behind you of leg room and a space for her own bag.
• Tray tables. I’m happy to keep your drink on my tray table when you head to the bathroom. (Not so much when you’re just sick of having your tray table down.) But ask first.
Travel Manners Rule #5. Keep your toys quiet.
I’m not a parent, so I’m sure there’s more to picking out toys than finding those that might be least annoying to other people on an airplane. But even if that beeping fire truck is Jimmy’s favorite, leave it at home.
Travel Manners Rule #6. Figure out which seat you’re in.
On one of my trips home from Florida, I overheard a conversation I’ve heard a dozen times:
“Oh, I think you’re in my seat.”
“What? I’m in 10C. That’s this one.”
“Um, no it isn’t. You’re sitting in 10D, not 10C. 10C is the aisle seat, not the window.”
“Oh, sorry, I thought it was the window.”
Even if it’s your first time flying – ever – it’s not hard to figure out where you’re sitting. First, look at your ticket. Prominently, under “seat,” you’ll see a number next to a letter. That’s your seat.
Now, take a look around the airplane. Turn (mentally, if you like) toward the front of the airplane. Starting on the left and moving right, the seats will be lettered A to D (or higher). So A is always the window seat. The highest letter (C on most Embraer planes, F on most Boeing 737s, L on Boeing 777s) will also be the window seat.
Once you know which seat you’re meant to be in, sit in it. (If there are empty seats on the plane, you may be able to switch – but only once the doors are closed.) On a flight from Atlanta, I went to sit down and found my seatmate in my window seat. When I smiled and told her she was in my seat, she wasn’t at all surprised. Hoping that I didn’t care enough to call her out? Too bad.
By the way, if you really want a window seat (or aisle), you can choose your seats on most airline websites when you buy your ticket. You can also try to switch your seat when you check in – either online or at the kiosk in the airport.
Travel Manners Rule #7. Be nice.
Traveling puts me on edge. And I’m betting it’s not your favorite thing either. But one way to make it more tolerable – for yourself and everyone around you – is to be friendly, polite, and just plain nice. If you have to ask someone to turn down her iPod or move her drink off your tray table, do so in a gentle, thoughtful manner. It doesn’t take a lot of effort. And it will make the trip a lot easier for everyone involved.
[Ed. Note: These seven "rules of travel" barely scratch the surface of irritating in-flight behavior. What's your biggest airplane etiquette pet peeve? Let us know right here.]
Some experts say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day because it “boosts your metabolism.” I’m not one of those people. But I do believe you should eat breakfast.
Here’s why:
1. Breakfast starts you out on the right foot. Bill Phillips, author of Body For Life, believes that if you don’t start your day with a good breakfast, it sets a poor precedent. Your mind starts down that dreaded path of, “Oh well, I’ve already blown it, I may as well keep eating whatever I want.”
So wake up on time. Eat the breakfast that is on your meal plan, and you’ll have a better chance of sticking to your daily plan.
2. Folks who eat breakfast tend to maintain their weight loss better than folks who don’t. The research I’ve read has never really explained why – but, hey, it does seem to help.
3. Eating breakfast can help you eat less. Researchers from Toronto have found that folks who eat a high-fiber breakfast tend to reduce the amount of food they eat the rest of the day. They call it the “first meal effect.”
So there you have it. Three good reasons to start your day right with breakfast.
[Ed. Note: Extending your life and living out your years in tip-top health is really a matter of making simple lifestyle choices - like eating a high-protein, low-carb breakfast. For more easy-to-implement ideas about how to live longer and feel better, click here.
In addition to eating right, you can burn fat by following Craig's Turbulence Training exercise program.]
To “conflate” (kun-FLATE) – from the Latin for “fuse together” – is to combine different elements.
Example (as used by Don Hauptman today): “Recently, a friend of mine, attempting to convey the idea that someone was naive, referred in an article to ‘a babe in the manger.’ She had, I suspect, conflated the image of an innocent infant (from the story of the birth of Jesus) with the expression ‘a dog in the manger’ (from one of Aesop’s fables).”
[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.]
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008
Recently, a friend of mine, attempting to convey the idea that someone was naive, referred in an article to “a babe in the manger.”
She had, I suspect, conflated the image of an innocent infant (from the story of the birth of Jesus) with the phrase “a dog in the manger” (from one of Aesop’s fables). “A dog in the manger” has an entirely different meaning and moral: You shouldn’t senselessly hoard an item, denying it to someone else even though it’s of no value to you.
Such garbled phrases are called “malapropisms” or “malaphors.” Like the one above, the cause is usually the grafting of one recollected proverb or expression onto another. Examples: “He has a mind like a steel sieve.” “Now I’ve given the cat away.” “It’s not rocket surgery.”
Here are a few more of my favorites:
• Listening to a radio program, I heard a report on an embattled jury deliberation that included this colorful phrase: “It’s the pink elephant in the room.”
• A business colleague overheard this description of something that occurred quickly: “It happened in the blink of a click.”
• In a newspaper article, a clinical psychologist was quoted as saying, “The idea that there is some normal level of sexual functioning drives me up the creek.”
These gaffes are often amusing, although the joke is usually at the expense of the hapless writer or speaker. Don’t be the target of this sort of embarrassing humor. Always review your writing to ensure that it’s free of inadvertent malapropisms.
[Ed Note: For more than three decades, Don Hauptman was an award-winning independent direct-response copywriter and creative consultant. He is author of The Versatile Freelancer, an e-book recently published by AWAI that shows writers and other creative professionals how to diversify their careers into speaking, consulting, training, and critiquing.]
Issue #2520
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
When you hear investment people talk about the big three, they are usually talking about GM, Ford, and Chrysler. But what about the other big three?
As children, most of us dreamed of having three things when we grew up: a nice house, a nice car, and a nice job. Right now, the outlook for this big three is about as optimistic as the outlook for GM, Ford, and Chrysler.
Over the past year, home values have dropped sharply, auto sales have sunk like a rock, and unemployment has gone through the roof. Before the U.S. economy can turn around, at least one of these markets is going to have to turn higher.
Now that October payroll numbers have been released, it isn’t looking like it’s going to be the job market. October auto sales were just as dismal. The one area that is showing some improvement is housing.
Three recent reports – the August Pending Homes Sales Report, the September Existing Home Sales, and the September New Home Sales – were all slightly better than expected. While the housing market still has a long way to go, the sector could be forming a base.
If you are looking to add to your long-term stock holdings, the Spyders Home Builders ETF (XHB) could be a good buy at this time. Housing may not start shooting up as it did in the early part of this decade, but the homebuilders have reduced their inventory drastically and they look ready to start a nice slow path to the upside.
[Ed. Note: The market may not look so hot right now. But you should be ready to take action when the moment strikes. Some incredible opportunities are headed your way, and market analyst Rick Pendergraft has put together an educational program that lays out the simple steps you need to take advantage of them. Not only do you get three months of Rick's best recommendations, you also learn how to make good investment choices yourself. Get the details here.]
Something that’s “louche” (LOOSH) – literally French for “cross-eyed” – is of questionable taste or morality.
Example (as used by Liesl Schillinger in The New York Times): “The rebuild [Moscow hotel] is home to the flashy, louche, Western disco Manhattan Express.”
[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.]
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008
Is your blood pressure a little high? Digging into some pumpkin – the season’s festive gourd – may offer tasty relief.
Why? Two reasons. First, pumpkin flesh is packed with phenols – antioxidant nutrients that fight free radicals and dangerous inflammation. What’s more, researchers found that phenols from pumpkin put a damper on the enzyme that many blood pressure drugs target to reduce vascular tension. And keeping blood vessels relaxed means better blood pressure… and better heart health.
Pumpkin can be used in a myriad of taste-tempting ways. Buy it fresh, slice it, and roast it for a delicious side dish or fall salad topper. Short on time? Pick up canned pumpkin – not sugar-laden pumpkin pie filling – to whirl into a smoothie, whisk into a creamy soup, or bake into your favorite low-glycemic breads and desserts.
[Ed. Note: As nutrition expert Kelley Herring points out, you can find plenty of all-natural methods for staying healthy. Now, you can access the latest breakthroughs in weight-loss programs... healthful recipes... and other ideas for achieving optimal health - all from one of the largest integrative-medicine practices in the country. Learn more here.
Survive the holidays with Kelley's brand-new recipe e-books, Guilt-Free Desserts and Healthy Holiday Hors d'Oeuvres. You'll find 60+ healthy recipes you can easily make at home.]
One of the most profound business books I ever read was Permission Marketing by Seth Godin.
The ideas in the book were very innovative at the time. The Internet and e-mail marketing were still young, and, like the Wild Wild West, most marketers and business owners were still trying to “wrangle it in” and figure out how to leverage the Web’s possibilities… and, more important, turn those possibilities into profits.
In a nutshell, the book explained “how to turn strangers into friends and friends into customers.” The principle behind this is to first understand the difference between cold (or interruption) marketing - like those annoying phone calls you always seem to get during dinner asking you to subscribe to the local newspaper… and permission marketing – where the prospect is actually giving you permission to contact them by “opting in” to receive your messages.
To help you get the most out of your Internet marketing, I have expanded on Mr. Godin’s “stranger/friend/customer” concept and added two key components: multi-buyer and advocate. And I’ll show you how you can leverage each of these segments to help grow your business.
Leveraging Your Customers Throughout Their Life Cycle
You may think that a customer is someone who buys from you – period. But that’s a very limited view. From the instant you “meet” your customer… until he’s become a VIP buyer who’s spent hundreds or thousands of dollars with your company… you should be interacting with him in different ways. Treating him properly every step of the way will create a true win/win situation. Your customer will continue to enjoy satisfying experiences with your company, and your company will enjoy the positive effect this relationship will have on its bottom line.
Here are the five stages a customer can go through during his life cycle, and how you can make the most of each one…
Stage 1: Stranger
The stranger or “prospect” doesn’t know you. Your job is to get her attention. You have only a few seconds to get her to react – whether it’s by asking her to click on your ad or open your e-mail message. Which means that your copy for the ad headline or e-mail subject line is critical.
Once you’ve captured her attention, your #1 goal is to have this stranger “opt in” to receive your messages, giving you a chance to continue to bond with her. This is also the time to start to build trust. Show your creditability. And explain what you can do for her (fill a desire, answer a need).
Stage 2: Friend
The friend has demonstrated an interest in your initial promotion and has opted in to receive more information from you. This gives you an outstanding opportunity to introduce him to your philosophy, your company, and your mission, and to re-enforce how you can help him.
During this stage, it’s best to send a series of introduction e-mails (anywhere from 5 to 7) and withhold your new friends from your general mailing list. You don’t want them (the newest names on your list) to start receiving promotional messages BEFORE they receive some of your editorial messages.
We send six introductory e-mails to new Early to Rise subscribers. Each e-mail is a special issue of ETR that’s composed of articles that present our core philosophies. This gives our new subscribers a chance to “warm up” to our expert contributors, the format of our newsletter, and the topics we typically address. Only after they are warmed up do we start sending them ETR as usual – including our promotional e-mails.
Stage 3: Customer/Client
The customer (or client) is someone who has bought into your philosophy and purchased a product (or service) from you.
Many companies make the mistake of ending the customer relationship at this point. But after reading this article, you’ll know better… you’ll know that getting the customer is only the beginning. Keeping him is another story.
You don’t want to put all your eggs into one acquisition basket while having few or no retention efforts. Good retention strategies entail ongoing communication (both promotional and editorial), outstanding customer service, quality products, and fulfilling your promises. Of course there will always be things outside of your control (like losing customers to market conditions). But the idea is to be proactive and not reactive. Keep the “80/20 rule” in mind – which states that 80 percent of your sales come from 20 percent of your customers.
Stage 4: Multi-Buyer
The multi-buyer is a customer who is tied into your brand and demonstrates product loyalty with your company. Multi-buyers have purchased several products from you, and are not afraid to spend money. These folks are your best list to roll out new products to or test higher price points. If you are thinking about creating a “VIP” or “Lifetime” product, you’re going to want to advertise to this list. Multi-buyers will have a high lifetime value (LTV) for you, and will likely purchase cross-channel. In other words, they will buy from you no matter how you contact them – whether via banner ads, e-mail marketing, direct mail, or telemarketing.
Stage 5: Advocate
This segment of your customer database is your holy grail. Your list of advocates is made up of the most satisfied and loyal of your customers – and contains your best “unpaid” employees. Advocates will do your advertising for you by telling friends, family, colleagues, and acquaintances about your products and services. And in today’s Net-based environment, advocates are a major force in getting your name in the blogsphere and social communities… and spreading your marketing message virally.
So how do you create advocates? Well, advocates are not created, they’re cultivated over time. The advocate must, of course, believe in your products and services. But for this special group, the customer experience goes deeper… to an emotional level. The advocate feels personally touched by your service, product, or guru. Because of you, her life is changed – and she’s busting at the seams to help others as she has been helped.
Your advocates are people you want testimonials from. People you can invite to be in BETA test or focus groups. And people to get feedback from to help develop future products. Even better, this group can help you make more money in the future. At ETR, some of our best JV (joint venture) partnerships have been with our advocates – people who understand our core values, respect our business, and have a company or product that’s synergistic to our own.
You want to treat these folks like the VIPs they are and invite them to special events or let them be the first to receive discounted offers. You may even consider creating affiliate marketing or referral programs to “formalize” this group’s verbal recommendations.
Always keep in mind that the effort does not stop at the sale. Since it costs more to obtain new leads than to retain existing customers – now, more than ever – you have to know how to optimize the five stages of the customer life cycle.
[Ed. Note: Treating your customers right - no matter where they are in their life cycle - will ensure that your business prospers.
To get a clear and easy-to-follow model for building your own information marketing powerhouse, order ETR's 2008 Info Marketing Bootcamp DVD Library. It's your chance to learn dozens of additional strategies for treating your customers well, marketing your products, and helping your business grow. Get your copy today.]
1. Watching B- and C-level pop stars doing a terrible job of lip syncing from tacky-fantastic parade floats in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Bonus points if they are “playing” an unplugged electric guitar.
2. Another thing about the Thanksgiving parade, which happens only when the weather is extremely cold in New York… watching the “girls” in skimpy costumes shiver while I bask in the mild Florida winter.
3. Pretending to like football so I can fit in with my extended family… and then dropping the facade halfway through and playing video games with the kids instead.
4. No plain old pumpkin pie in my house. My wife and I love coming up with new twists on the old favorite. Last year it was a pumpkin trifle, the year before it was pumpkin maple walnut cheesecake, and this year we’re going to try pumpkin gingersnap tiramisu.
5. Taking a nap after dinner… and I don’t blame the tryptophan. I just always eat too much!
6. Trying to convince my wife not to go shopping the next day. She’s not one for standing in line at Best Buy at 2:00 a.m., but I really can’t see the point of facing the crowds at any time on Black Friday.
7. Heading to the movie theater in the evening. My brother-in-law is a theater manager – so we get in free!
8. Sometimes we just skip the big meal and use the time off to take a short vacation. Let me tell you, turkey (or jerk chicken, as the case may be) tastes just as good on the beach in Jamaica.
9. The dark meat. Most people seem to prefer white… so more for me – including leftovers.
10. Putting together a perfect music mix for dinner. I usually throw together some old school jazz, 70’s soul, acoustic rock, and world music.
[Ed. Note: What is your #1 favorite thing about Thanksgiving? Let us know right here.]
Issue #2519
• Turkey is a type of pheasant, and the only poultry native to the western hemisphere.
• The bird on your Turkey Day table is probably going to be a hen. The females are slaughtered starting at about 15 pounds. The males (toms) are allowed grow to 40 pounds and are usually used to produce deli meat.
• Male turkeys gobble. Female turkeys make a clicking noise.
• The wrinkly, fleshy bit of skin that hangs off a male turkey’s beak is called the snood. The flap under the chin is called the wattle.
(Source: University of Illinois Extension Service, New York Daily News)
1. The colors… burnt orange, squash yellow, brick red, shades of brown and dark green… make me think of Thanksgiving and fall in general.
2. Pumpkins! The traditions of roasting pumpkin seeds and making delicious pie.
3. Working so hard all day to create a masterpiece of a meal… just to eat it in less than 30 minutes and then feel uncomfortably stuffed.
4. Visiting with family and friends and reminiscing about good times while you make new ones.
5. Laughing at the ridiculous decorative blow-up lawn turkeys and orange twinkle lights that emerge in my neighborhood.
6. Actually getting to use our good china, crystal, and silver for a meal. (Tell me, again, why I registered for all that stuff.)
7. Eating together at the dining room table.
8. Lingering over laughs, drinks, food, and fun instead of feeling rushed to clear the table and do the dishes.
9. Giving yourself “permission” to eat a huge meal at whatever time of the day you want. 1:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m. … or all three!
10. Taking a moment to reflect back on the past year and really appreciate all the joy, warmth, and wealth that we have in our lives.
[Ed. Note: What is your #1 favorite thing about Thanksgiving? Let us know right here.]
If you read the advice of many “small-business experts,” you’ll be told that you should expect to wait at least a year – possibly more – before your start-up can begin to see a profit. That’s what I was taught when I studied business administration in college – and it turns off a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs. “I can’t afford to wait that long,” they think. “I need to make money NOW.”
If the prospect of unpaid bills, astronomical credit card balances, and endless meals of ramen noodles is keeping you from starting a business, read on. Because today, I’m going to tell you how you can have a profitable business in as little as 30 days.
As Michael Masterson and MaryEllen Tribby point out in their book, Changing the Channel: 12 Easy Ways to Make Millions for Your Business, the Internet has changed the way everyone does business. But, they remind us, anyone who thinks that the Internet has made traditional direct mail obsolete is quite mistaken. They note: “In fact, in 2007 direct mail spending grew 5 percent. That translates to $58.4 billion dollars being spent on direct mail.”
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that if this kind of money is being spent, the profits from direct mail can be enormous. And as someone who has spent his entrepreneurial career focusing on small businesses, I’ve had quite a bit of experience with this marketing channel. I’ve proven firsthand that it’s a way to create a profitable business without a ton of capital – and to do so almost instantly.
I’ve used direct mail to start small local businesses with only a few hundred dollars, and I’ve operated larger businesses that mailed hundreds of thousands of pieces each calendar quarter. What I’ve discovered is that, regardless of the size of your business, you can use direct mail to win customers and make sales.
What’s more, as soon as you find a direct-mail formula that works for you, you will have a profitable business in less than 30 days.
Let’s say your business idea is to sell and install generators that work on solar power. Considering current concerns about energy and the environment, you’re confident that it is a very marketable idea. So now, if you can come up with the right direct-mail formula … you’ll have an instant business.
Here’s how to do it:
Instant-Business Step 1: Choose Your List
As MaryEllen has pointed out time and again, the list of names you mail your promotion to is your most important asset. You can have a top-notch product (a high-quality solar-powered generator) and an incredible offer (a low price and tons of bonuses)… but if you send that offer to a sub-par list, you won’t make a dime. On the other hand, if you have the right list, you don’t even need good copy. Mediocre copy to a great list will always out-pull great copy to a bad list.
If, for example, you mail your promotion for your solar-powered generator to a list of people who have recently lost their homes to foreclosure, you’re probably not going to find many buyers. But if you send it to a list of homeowners who have recently requested information on environmentally friendly energy devices, you could easily make a healthy profit.
To get a good list, you’re going to need a skilled and reputable list broker. If you don’t know someone who can give you a referral, you’ll find many possibilities listed in direct-mail trade publications.
Instant-Business Step 2: Create Your Offer
Your offer is another important part of your direct-mail formula. Even if you have a skillfully written promotion and you send it to the perfect list, if the offer doesn’t appeal to your prospective customers, you won’t be successful.
No matter how many impressive features your solar-powered generator has, it won’t sell if you price it too high or you fail to position it as a good deal (by adding value with your bonuses). So make sure you study your competition to see what’s working for them… and make your offer even better than their best.
Instant-Business Step 3: Come Up With a Blockbuster Sales Promotion
A strong direct-mail promotion can be as simple as a well-written postcard or as complicated as a 30-page sales letter.
Again, study what your competitors are doing… what’s working for them. To get your hands on their promotions, just get yourself “seeded” on their mailing lists. Contact a few of them and ask for information. Or go to their websites and “opt in” to receive information from them. (If it’s not too expensive, you might even want to buy one or two of their products online.) Before you know it, you’ll be added to dozens of related mailing lists and inundated with good (and bad) sales copy that you can learn from.
Instant-Business Step 4: Test
The golden rule of testing marketing copy is to spend the least amount of money possible to determine if the formula works. Most well-capitalized marketers will do a test of 25,000-50,000 names (compiled from an assortment of 5,000-name lists).
If you are that well-capitalized, good for you! Go for it! If you’re not, don’t sweat it. You can test with a lot less.
Some years ago, I was a partner in a mortgage-brokering business. I created an offer and a promotion. And I chose one list of 5,000 local names that were in the income bracket I felt would be most receptive to the offer.
To mail to all 5,000 names on that list would’ve cost $2,500 – which I was reluctant to spend until I knew that the formula worked. So I tested the list by mailing to 500 of the names – at a cost of $250. Well, there was a good response to that test – and we made a thousand-dollar profit. So I mailed to all 5,000 names – which, again, made a profit. Eventually, I sold my share to my partner so I could focus on other interests. But I had established a formula that worked for that business. And he was then able to use that formula to keep expanding it.
Because it is so easy, and inexpensive, to test every element of a direct-mail package (the list as well as the copy), this gives you a mechanism to quickly start a direct-mail business with minimal risk and capital.
And once the formula proves successful, there is no other business I know that can be expanded as easily.
[Ed Note: Starting - and growing - a direct-mail business doesn't require tens of thousands of dollars. Entrepreneurial expert Paul Lawrence has created a program that reveals how anyone can get started in direct mail with limited capital. For more information, follow this link.
For dozens of other ways to reach your customers, and for expert advice on how to write super-strong direct-mail copy, pick up a copy of ETR's 2008 Info Marketing Bootcamp DVD Library. Our panel of world-class Internet marketers will share their inside secrets to making big money online.] [link] ETRmarketing
(Source: Guinness Book of World Records and Macy’s)
To be “fey” (FAY) – from the Old English for “fated to die” – is (1) to possess or display a strange and otherworldly aspect or quality, or (2) to appear to be slightly crazy, as if under a spell.
Example (as used by Evan Thomas in The Very Best Man ): “Beneath a fey manner, his mother was highly competitive.”
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008
Question: What fruit appears at the holidays, stains your hands red, and may stop crow’s feet, fine lines, and sagging skin?
Answer: Pomegranates!
You probably already know that pomegranates are packed with antioxidants. In fact, they rank a high 10,500 on the ORAC scale. And new research shows this juicy fruit can keep you looking younger too.
That’s because compounds in pomegranate called punicalagins actually stop the enzymes (collagenases) that break down collagen. And collagen is essential for keeping skin looking firm, smooth, and youthful. What’s more, punicalagins promote healthy DNA repair, which isn’t just important for your appearance, but also your health.
Make a wrinkle-reducing cocktail using 1 ounce of pomegranate juice and 7 ounces of sparkling mineral water. Or try the seeds fresh over a big salad of winter greens to make the most of this age-defying fruit.
[Ed. Note: As nutrition expert Kelley Herring points out, you can find plenty of all-natural methods for staying healthy. Now, you can access the latest breakthroughs in weight-loss programs... healthful recipes... and other ideas for achieving optimal health - all from one of the largest integrative-medicine practices in the country. Learn more here.
Survive the holidays with Kelley's brand-new recipe e-books, Guilt-Free Desserts and Healthy Holiday Hors d'Oeuvres. You'll find 60+ healthy recipes you can easily make at home.]