Issue #2566
- WEALTHY: Protect your cash with a hybrid investment (Andrew Gordon)
- HEALTHY: How losing weight is like saving money (Craig Ballantyne)
- WISE: Dan Kennedy on information marketing
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- What kind of business can give you 95% profits? (Paul Lawrence)
- Is it possible to simplify your life too much? (Judith Strauss)
- It’s Fun to Know… about bomb-sniffing rats
- Add “weather eye” to your vocabulary
== Highly Recommended ==
Why Get Your Hands Dirty When You Don’t Have to?
Where there’s a stampede, there’s an opportunity…
Thousands of wannabe entrepreneurs have jumped on a bandwagon to find, fix-up and flip foreclosures.
They thought they were being smart. They thought they were doing the opposite to the crowd and had the license to print money.
Little do they know… they ARE the crowd!
Now, please don’t misunderstand me. It’s a fact that many properties (sadly) are becoming available at rock bottom prices due to foreclosure. It’s also a fact that a few people are making money by flipping foreclosures…
And they’re earning every penny (when it all works out)!
Flipping foreclosures may sound great in principle, but stop and think about what you have to go through to achieve that…
Not my idea of easy money.
The Only No-Risk Way to Ride the Next Big Market Pop
Your next big investing dilemma is right around the corner. Should you – can you – take advantage of the next big stock market pop?
History (since WWII) tells us that when the S&P 500 bottoms, it’ll go up about 32 percent over the following nine months. That’s been the average climb following a bear market.
Here’s the problem. It usually happens in bursts. And if you’re not in the market for the initial burst, you’ve probably missed snagging the biggest gains.
The solution? Market Index Target-Term Securities (MITTS). The irresistible feature of these investments is that you can’t lose money. They’re hybrid securities – part bond and part options. They go for $10 per share (when first issued), and are traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ.
You can buy MITTS that cover the S&P 500. If the S&P goes up, you get 100 percent of the gains. If, for example, the S&P goes up 40 percent during the life of the MITTS, your gain would be 40 percent. (They last 3-7 years, but you can get them maturing as soon as May 2009.)
What if the S&P loses 40 percent? Your loss would be zero. You automatically get back the $10 per share at maturity. And, right now, all the active MITTS are trading at a discount – for as low as $8.84.
It’s a zero-risk way of playing the next big market bounce. MITTS are easy to look up, because The Wall Street Journal tracks them. They’re also highly liquid. So if you’re interested, your broker can buy them for you. No problem.
[Ed. Note: Thousands of Americans are cashing in on a loophole for collecting up to $8,881 a month, backed by an "explicit" U.S. Treasury guarantee... and the next batch of checks is going out on March 27, 2009. Learn how you can get your name on the list by reading on here.]
”There have never been greater opportunities in the field of Information Marketing – for everyone from very experienced, successful entrepreneurs to rank beginners.”
Dan Kennedy
Is This the World’s Most Profitable Business?
I’m an entrepreneur, and I’ve been involved in at least a dozen profitable enterprises over the years. But the business I’ve been in for the last five years is by far the best.
Let me give you an idea of just how powerful this business is. After the costs of creating and selling my products, I am still able to bring in a 95 percent profit. What’s more, this business has proven to be successful… even in a struggling economy. (In 2008, though the economy was crumbling, mine continued to bring in about $12,000 a month.)
I want you to imagine a business where you wake up in the morning, log onto the Internet, and find out how much money you made overnight. That’s my reality… and it can be yours, too.
Many Internet marketing giants are big fans of this business. Michael Masterson, MaryEllen Tribby, Clayton Makepeace, Bob Bly, Dan Kennedy… I could go on and on.
And this business could be perfect for you – especially these days, when start-up money is tight. You can get it up and running with a few dollars, in your spare time, in the back bedroom of your house.
Then, you watch the money pour in.
What is this amazing business?
Information publishing.
If you’re a regular reader of ETR, this should come as no surprise to you. Michael Masterson and the ETR team have been talking about the benefits of information publishing for years.
One of the best things about this business is that you can sell a wide variety of products. I currently market an instructional ballroom dancing DVD… a half-dozen instructional exercise videos… audio courses on subjects like earning money with public speaking and producing your own videos… and written courses on skills like mastering the art of persuasion.
The most common media for information publishing are:
- Video/DVD
- Audio CD
- Printed Text Courses
- E-books
I’ve used all of them and have found them all to be profitable.
Another thing about information publishing is that you can make sales via direct mail, e-mail marketing, or virtually any marketing channel you want to use.
By far the biggest benefit of information publishing is that it costs very little to produce and distribute your products. For example, my instructional ballroom dance DVD sells well at $49 plus shipping and handling. Even in the small wholesale quantities I usually order… maybe a few hundred at a time… the DVDs cost me $2.50 each. Since the shipping and handling charges cover the cost of postage and packaging, this leaves me with a profit of $46.50 – or a margin of 94.8 percent.
The best news is that although this is an extremely lucrative deal for me, my customers are also very happy with it. That’s because they receive a DVD with instructions for four different dances, which they would otherwise expect to pay about $20 each for. So they’re getting $80 worth of video instruction for close to half of the normal market price.
That’s the magic of information publishing: The value is in the information… not in the physical product.
If you want to get into information publishing, here are the basic steps:
• Choose a Marketable Subject
Your choices are almost limitless. I recommend exploring niche subjects so that you don’t have to compete against the biggest players. But make sure your niche isn’t so obscure that there won’t be a market for your products. For example, a video course on how to win at blackjack might have a big enough market of potential buyers to make you significant money. But a course on the best techniques for observing the North American spotted owl probably won’t attract enough customers to keep your business profitable.
• Select Your Medium
You want to choose the medium that will deliver the most effective presentation of your subject matter at a cost that will allow for profitability.
If I decide to hire an “A” list actor and a whole production crew and rent out a casino to film a slick video on how to win at blackjack, my initial expenditure would make it hard to recapture my investment and make a profit… no matter how high my profit margins are. A better medium for a subject like this might be a printed text course with some photos or an e-book.
In the case of my ballroom dancing product, the medium of video offers such a clear advantage that I really had to go with it. But I was able to produce the video for under $1,000, so I was still able to make a healthy profit.
• Identify Your Marketing Strategies
Marketing an information product on the Internet with a website is a great way to do it. But there are many other options. You can take advantage of all the other forms of direct marketing, including direct mail and telemarketing. Additionally, you might consider wholesaling your product to retailers, distributors, or anyone else who might be able to move it for you.
Bottom line: If you’re looking to start a profitable business with unlimited growth potential, huge profit margins, and very reasonable start-up costs, I know of nothing better than information publishing.
One of the easiest ways to start an info-publishing business is to do it online. Here are a few resources to help you get started:
• You don’t need to know much about computers or the Internet to build a business online. In his article “Overcoming the Technical Learning Curve,” Derek Gehl reveals all the technical knowledge you need to get your business up and running.
• Michael Masterson spoke with successful info-marketer Brad Antin about how to start an info-publishing business. Discover Brad’s best advice here.
• Exactly what kind of info-publishing business can you start? Dan Kennedy explores some of the narrow but profitable areas that could make you money in his article “Riches in Niches.”
• For a quick and easy way to get inexpensive traffic to your website, read Alexis Siemon’s article “Fast and Cheap Banner Testing with Google AdWords.”
• You don’t need an e-mail list of millions to start making money as an info-publisher. Learn how to monetize a small list of readers in Brian Edmondson’s article “Making Money with a Small, Responsive List.”
These are just a few of the articles on how to start and grow an info-publishing business that you can find in the ETR archives. Do a quick search on our home page – www.EarlytoRise.com – and you’ll find a wealth of information.
[Ed Note: Entrepreneurial expert Paul Lawrence has created a program that reveals how anyone can get started in the information publishing business with limited capital. For more information, follow this link.
Starting a business may be easy... but if you don't keep working at it, it will get you nowhere. Discover dozens of strategies that can help you stay on track with your business goals right here.]
Are You Embarrassed of What You Do for a Living – or Just Tired of Doing It?
One woman was both, and while her “acquaintances” at a dinner party snickered and poked fun, she had the last laugh. In as little as two weeks she started a new business for less than $99, soon had to hire additional employees to handle the work, and now lives a life without money worries of any kind.
nofollow>Here’s how you can do the same, even easier and faster than she did.
The “100 Thing Challenge”
At ETR, we’re all in favor of simplifying your life.
Michael Masterson has been encouraging ETR readers to simplify their business lives for years. “If you think it will mean making less money, enjoying less success, maybe even being less effective as a businessperson,” Michael told us, “think again. It’s about having more – not less – of the good things. More productivity. More passion. More meaning, love, friendship, and serenity.”
And in a two-part article for ETR, Charlie Byrne told us how he and his wife applied this concept to their personal lives – by not only finding a way to get rid of the “stuff” closing in on them, but also by figuring out a way to profit from it (in more ways than one).
Now Dave Bruno, a 37-year-old Web editor, has taken this idea to an extreme. He has challenged himself to live with no more than 100 personal possessions for an entire year – though he’s made a few exceptions. (Underwear and socks, for example. Each of these categories counts as one thing. And he’s keeping “one library” of books.)
“The 100 Thing Challenge is a personal project,” says Dave, “a way for me to fight consumerism. What’s behind it? My belief that material possessions can be good when they serve a greater purpose than possession alone. We should make better use of our things than just owning them. My hope is that by living a year with 100 personal things, I’ll be able to show that an average American guy does not need tons of stuff to live the good life.”
To find out more about Dave’s “100 Thing Challenge,” check out his website (guynameddave.com).
And in case you’re wondering… yes, he is going to write a book about it.
But we’re more interested in you than in how Dave is going to make money from his “experiment.” We want to know what you’ve done to simplify your life as a result of what you’ve learned from ETR. How has it changed the way you think? How has it changed the way you work? How has it helped you reach your goals? Let us know by posting your comments here.
The Secret to Fat Loss
You want the secret to fat loss? Okay, but you’re not going to like it.
It has nothing to do with green tea, acai berry juice, or the Master Cleanse. Instead, the secret to fat loss is a state of mind. And once you’re in that state of mind, you can’t fail.
Here it is: “When you accept how HARD it is to lose fat, it becomes easy.”
It’s like saving money. When you accept how much discipline it requires to save money, it becomes second nature to put aside a few dollars each month. You understand the difficulty, but do it automatically.
It’s the same with fat loss. When you accept the fact that you must plan, shop, and prepare your meals in advance… do three high-intensity workouts per week… keep yourself active the other four days of the week and keep your butt off the couch… develop rituals that help you avoid nighttime eating… take the time to set goals and plan solutions for every obstacle that might get in your way… fat loss becomes second nature to you. So much so that you couldn’t get fat if you tried!
Adopt this secret mindset and you will succeed. You’ll lose as much body fat as you want. Heck, you can apply this to any aspect of your life and you’ll experience success beyond your wildest dreams.
[Ed. Note: Making the right choices can help you lose weight. But it can also help you accomplish anything you set your mind to. Discover dozens of tools that can help you get everything you want out of life right here.
Get a head start on your 2009 weight-loss goals with fitness expert Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training program. Learn how you can get fit with three 45-minute workouts a week right here.]
It’s Fun to Know: About Bomb-Sniffing Rats
Sixty million landmines dot 69 countries worldwide – the result of conflicts past and present. And an estimated 25,000 people are maimed and killed each year by these deadly explosives.
Clearing mines from old war zones can be a difficult and time-consuming task, usually involving metal detectors or trained dogs. But a Belgian researcher has come up with an alternative. He has trained African giant pouched rats to sniff out landmines. There are several advantages: They don’t explode the mines when they step on them, they stay healthy in tropical areas, and they’re cheap and easy to breed.
More than 30 HeroRATS have been deployed in Mozambique, where, so far, about a quarter square mile of minefield has been cleared.
(Source: National Geographic)
== Highly Recommended ==
Clever Solutions to Life’s Problems in Under 3 Minutes
What if you had an ingenious solution or answer to almost any of life’s little frustrations or major problems? Sound like a dream come true, but almost too good to believe? Maybe it’s time to start believing…
From gossip to liars to lousy credit ratings…to irritating neighbors, IRS audits, and bully bosses…to billing errors, back pain, and out of control in-laws…
We’ve got answers for you – tons of ’em - to these and hundreds more of life’s frustrations. You’ll be amazed at how quick and effective these clever solutions are for almost all of life’s problems. And they are all contained in a FREE book we want to give you.
Just flip through the index, find the page number that deals with that problem, and take a couple of minutes to read the answer. To claim your FREE copy, simply click here.
Word to the Wise: Weather Eye
“Weather eye” is a term used by mariners. It means to be vigilant – to be on the alert for signs of change in the weather, especially an approaching storm. The term is used figuratively to mean being on your guard, watching out for trouble.
Example (as used by Scott Eyman in a Palm Beach Post review of Lucky Billy by John Vernon): “Besides the shooting and the loving, Billy [the Kid] keeps a weather eye on his old compadre [Pat] Garrett.”
[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, 2009
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Interesting project . . .
For years my family has lived with less, we grow/raise most of our food and spend a lot of time enjoying the price-less riches around us – hiking, biking, etc. The things we purchase have meaning and use and it gives us a lot of freedom to not worry about money that much. Or taking care of lots of stuff, dusting, etc. for that matter.
As a copywriter who writes for the LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) market, I’m seeing this trend spread in an interesting way. People are willing to spend more money on things that are higher quality and have a deeper value attached. Even with the recession, for instance, the organic market is still pretty good. People feel like it’s a priority and a solid long term investment to spend more money on higher quality items and maybe get less volume in the end. And not only are people looking for solid products, but also ones that connect them to a larger improvement on their life – sustainable communities.
This is worth thinking about in your marketing – what greater value can you attach to your products that makes it worth having? That gives people satisfaction in a multi-dimensional way?