Issue #2594
- WEALTHY: Can a number cruncher start a business? (Michael Masterson)
- HEALTHY: A one-two punch against aging (James LaValle)
- WISE: George Ross on trust
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- The ultimate competitive weapon (Robert Ringer)
- How NOT to get hired (Charlie Byrne)
- It’s Fun to Know… about the buying habits of the "stealthy wealthy"
- Add "aubade" to your vocabulary
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Dear ETR: "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 income or to transition into my own business. Most of your recommendations are for people with sales and marketing backgrounds. Do you have suggestions for someone with more quantitative skills and experience?"
Shane L.
Pittsburgh, PA
Dear Shane,
You are wrong about my suggestions. I am very much aware that many ETR readers are on the "wrong side of the ledger." By that I mean they’re in jobs that are necessary but don’t generate sales. They know their work is critical, but their bosses may see them as an expense, not a rainmaker.
The solution is not to find some business that doesn’t require sales and marketing skills. There is no such business. The solution is to learn sales and marketing while you do your job. This is not nearly as difficult as it seems. I explain exactly how to do it in Automatic Wealth and Automatic Wealth for Grads.
I suggest you buy a copy of each and study the relevant chapters very carefully.
The CEO of my largest client began as an outside auditor, worked his way up to CFO, and then made the lateral move. He made that move by devoting hundreds of hours to learning sales and marketing. The combination of his financial savvy and his newfound sales and marketing knowledge made him a very good candidate for CEO when the company moved from a Stage Two to a Stage Three business. (What I mean by that is explained in Ready, Fire, Aim… another book that you should own.)
Now he’s making a very nice multi-six-figure annual income. And he’s not the only one. I know at least half a dozen former number crunchers who have made this transition. You can too!
Here’s a quick set of goals for you.
1. Buy the books I recommended above – today – and start studying them.
2. Set up a meeting with your company’s owner. Tell him you want to take more responsibility for increasing profits. Tell him you don’t want to be paid to do so. Tell him you simply want to make yourself more valuable.
3. Find out the selling secrets of your business. Most important, find out how customers are acquired. Become an expert at your company’s optimum selling strategy. (This is explained in Chapter 5 of Ready, Fire, Aim.)
4. Make friends with the most successful marketer in your business. Ask him to be your mentor. Learn from him. Tell him you want to help him do his job better. Deliver on that promise.
5. Spend at least 10 hours a week doing all this. Within six months, you will be ready to start your own side business.
Let me know when you get to that point and I’ll give you advice on what to do next.
- Michael Masterson
[Ed.Note: Have a question for one of ETR's experts? Send it to AskETR@ETRFeedback.com and you may see a response in an upcoming issue of Early to Rise.]
"To be successful, you have to be able to relate to people; they have to be satisfied with your personality to be able to do business with you and to build a relationship with mutual trust."
George Ross
The High-Speed/Low-Cost Catalyst
Success – in all areas of life – loves speed.
Time is your ally when you take action. But time is a two-sided coin. If you hesitate or procrastinate, time becomes your worst enemy. As a general rule, I assume that if I take action perceived problems will tend to disappear – and that the more I hesitate, the more time I give new obstacles to come on the scene.
I don’t recall ever succeeding at something because I got there last.
In the Preface to Stephen M.R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust, his father, Stephen R. Covey (of Seven Habits fame), states: "My interactions with business leaders around the world have made it increasingly evident that ’speed to market’ is now the ultimate competitive weapon."
Just think about that for a minute. The ultimate competitive weapon. What a remarkable idea.
In The Speed of Trust, Covey takes a giant step beyond his father’s statement. He not only tells the reader what the greatest catalyst for speed is (trust), he explains how and why it produces speed.
Covey says that where there is a lack of trust, everything takes longer and costs more. And he’s absolutely right. Isn’t it a lot faster and less expensive if you trust someone enough to make a deal on a handshake rather than having to bring in a brigade of problem-finding, fee-building attorneys to cross the t’s and dot the i’s?
On a macro level, the greatest threat to America is not Islamic terrorists. Our greatest threat is loss of virtues – and at the top of the list of decaying virtues is trust. Americans don’t trust religious leaders, they don’t trust schools, they don’t trust corporate chieftains, and, above all, they don’t trust politicians. (I should add that all this distrust has been well earned.)
Covey points out that trust is based on a demonstration of both character (most commonly manifested as honesty) and competence (most commonly manifested in results). It’s possible to trust someone’s honesty but not trust him to deliver results – just as it’s possible to trust someone to deliver results but not trust his honesty. Either way, dealing with such people will slow you down.
I never cease to be amazed by people who repeatedly make adamant promises yet consistently fail to follow through on them. I’ve grown weary of listening to those who always speak in the future tense, saying that they’re going to take care of this or that tomorrow. As one tomorrow rolls into another, my trust in these folks declines at an accelerating pace.
At a minimum, I prefer to hear the present tense – a person telling me that he’s in the process of doing something. Even better is the past tense: "Yes, I’ve done it." The past tense promotes trust. Words like "Not yet, but…" arouse doubt.
As for demonstrating character, Covey emphasizes that it’s not so much how people act in the presence of others, it’s what they do behind the scenes. (Anyone who doesn’t understand why this is so probably isn’t curable.) But if they have a hidden agenda, a shrewd person will see it right through the facade they’re hiding behind. You don’t even have to know them to detect the truth.
Do you have a hidden agenda? If so, either trash it or bring it out in the open. If you want to be trusted, you have to play every card face up. Strive for consistency between what you say and do behind closed doors and how you present yourself in public. You simply can’t afford the cost of not doing that.
Finally, there’s that tired cliche about "a level playing field." I am convinced that nothing does more to level the twenty-first century playing field than trust. Because in today’s world, it’s speed, not size, that carries the day. Trust pays off in high speed and low costs, which gives David the best chance he’s had against Goliath since he aimed a slingshot at him.
[Ed. Note: One of the best ways to build trust with your potential customers is to communicate with them regularly. Learn how to set up an e-mail newsletter and get your Internet business up and running with help from ETR's Internet marketing mentors. Get the details here.
For a treasure chest of proven ideas, strategies, and techniques for increasing your income many times over, check out Robert Ringer's bestselling dealmaking audio series.
And be sure to sign up for his Voice of Sanity e-letter.]
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Don’t Send Mixed Messages
Overheard in our offices at Early to Rise this week…
Actual interview for a Customer Service Telephone Representative position!
Consider this the new Poster Child for how not to interview for a job…
ETR: Hi, thanks for coming. So, first of all, tell me… why are you leaving your current job?
Applicant: The calls. They are so stressful.
ETR: What do you find stressful about them?
Applicant: There are so many. And the people, they’re all unhappy.
As Dave Barry sometimes says, "I’m not making this up."
Talk about sending the WRONG message.
NEXT!
Words do matter.
Make sure you’re sending the right message about yourself… your products… and your company.
[Ed. Note: Learn how to present yourself in the best light, and you'll double your chances of getting the job, making the sale, or impressing the customer. Discover how to command respect from your peers and take control of your own destiny right here.
Get more of Charlie's offbeat but useful ruminations and discussions on copywriting, marketing, new technology, and business process improvement right here.]
A Little-Known Hero in the Battle Against Aging
One of the primary causes of problems related to aging – not just the outward signs of aging but also cataracts, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, atherosclerosis, etc. – is oxidative stress, where the immune system has more free radicals than it can handle.
You probably know that the battle against health-stealing and wrinkle-causing free radicals is best fought from the inside – with a low-sugar diet, for example, to reduce the damaging effects of AGEs (Advanced Glycation End products) on the tissues. However, another huge source of oxidative stress, our polluted environment, is harder to fight.
One of the most important – but rarely mentioned – defenses against environmental toxins is glutathione peroxidase, a.k.a. glutathione.
Glutathione is manufactured in the liver, and is often referred to as the most powerful antioxidant in the body. According to a 2003 article in Redox Report: Communications in Free Radical Research, glutathione not only instantly neutralizes free radicals, it is a key way for the body to detoxify chemicals in pollutants like fuel exhaust and cigarette smoke. Glutathione is also a powerful detoxifier of heavy metals, a known cause of rampant free radical activity. In other words, glutathione provides a powerful one-two punch against aging by helping to reduce the damage from free radicals and helping to eliminate toxins from the body.
Aging is associated with significant declines in glutathione. In addition, glutathione is depleted by many drugs, including acetaminophen and ibuprofen. It also becomes depleted simply because, due to increased demands by the environment, it can be used up about as fast as our bodies can make it.
So, what can you do to build up your glutathione levels?
Unfortunately, glutathione itself cannot be absorbed via the digestive tract, so it cannot be taken in supplement form. But cysteine is an amino acid that the body uses to make glutathione, and you can get cysteine from some foods – including most animal proteins, especially whey protein isolates and eggs – as well as from N-acetyl cysteine and SAMe. (I use both of these supplements extensively in my practice.)
[Ed. Note: It truly is possible to improve your health just by making wise choices when it comes to diet and lifestyle. James B. LaValle, RPh, ND, CCN - founder of the LaValle Metabolic Institute and a nationally recognized expert on natural therapies - can give you easy-to-understand directions for living the healthy life you've always wanted. To learn more about how to stop aging in its tracks and add more life to your years, click here.]
It’s Fun to Know: Buying Habits of the "Stealthy Wealthy"
Yes, retail sales are down across the board. But there’s still a big market for high-end designer handbags, shoes, and the like. It’s just gone a bit "underground."
Retailers call it "stealth wealth" – consumers going to great lengths to avoid displays of big spending in these lean times.
Shoppers at luxury stores ask for purchases to be delivered to their homes so they can leave the store without bags. Or they ask for plain bags instead of those bearing logos. Some even ask for pricey items to be wrapped as gifts – when they intend to keep them for themselves.
There has also been a rise in personal shoppers and in-home "shopping parties," where the goods are brought to customers for perusal in private.
(Source: Associated Press)
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Word to the Wise: Aubade
An "aubade" (oh-BAHD) – from the Latin for "pale/light" – is a song or poem greeting the dawn.
Example (as used by Christopher Buckley in the National Review): "He was usually still awake when the birds began to warble their aubade."
[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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