Issue #2650
- WEALTHY: Today’s best currency play (Ted Peroulakis)
- HEALTHY: 5 steps to beating diabetes (James B. LaValle)
- WISE: John Dewey on the key to happiness
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- Joining a $172 billion market (Paul Lawrence)
- Don’t make the mistake of thinking this won’t happen to you (Michael Masterson)
- It’s Fun to Know… about the world’s smallest frog
- Add “vagary” to your vocabulary
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Is the Euro Heading Lower?
The euro just celebrated its tenth anniversary, and is now the national currency for 16 European countries. Shortly after being launched, it dropped down to a value of 90 cents compared to the dollar, and then hit a high of 1.60 euros per dollar. Currently, it is trading at 1.32 euros per dollar, and my indicators are pointing to it weakening further in the near term.
The European economy is in worse shape than America’s or Japan’s, as the European banks have much more exposure to all the toxic assets you’ve been hearing about. Much of Eastern Europe is already in a profound recession, and it is doubtful that they can repay the estimated $1.7 trillion they borrowed from Western European banks.
The euro is a currency without a country, which makes it vulnerable during times of economic stress. The general European monetary policy doesn’t give member countries the flexibility needed to stimulate their individual economies.
Interestingly, the American economist Milton Friedman predicted that the euro would collapse within 10 years of being put into circulation. Now I don’t think the euro will dissolve, but I do think it’s in for a downturn vs. the U.S. dollar.
The U.S. dollar benefits greatly from its world reserve currency status. People everywhere still see the dollar as the safest currency on the planet. If the global economic crisis worsens, more wealth will flow into the dollar and out of the euro. In general, I believe the purchasing power of all paper currencies will decline as a result of worldwide inflation – but I think the euro will drop further than the dollar in the near term.
One way to make money as the euro declines is to short the CurrencyShares Euro Trust (FXE). And start planning a European vacation now, because it could get a lot cheaper to travel abroad in the near future.
[Ed. Note: Ted Peroulakis has over 14 years of experience in the financial industry, and is a top options trader and financial analyst. You can read more of Ted's advice on the most profitable investments in Investor's Daily Edge. Sign up for free here.
Taking advantage of the decline of the euro isn't the only way to profit in 2009. This June, 9 investment experts will show you exactly how you can make a fortune in today's market. Find out how to get their top recommendations for making 2009 the best year ever for your portfolio right here.]
“To find out what one is fitted to do, and to secure an opportunity to do it, is the key to happiness.”
John Dewey
A Natural Way to Earn Huge Profits
“If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything.” Most people would agree with this statement. And that opens the door to a tremendous wealth-building opportunity.
You see, millions of Americans take dietary supplements every day, and their numbers are growing. In addition, more and more people are exercising and seeking out additional ways to improve their health with natural methods.
According to the Nutrition Business Journal, the natural health business will exceed $172 billion this year. Even in a depressed economy, people – and especially natural health enthusiasts – don’t skimp when it comes to taking care of themselves.
The natural health industry was born about 15 years ago when Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DHEA). It was an effort to stem rising health care costs and offer Americans more choices. It essentially legalized over-the-counter sales of a wide range of herbs and nutritional supplements, without requiring them to be approved by the FDA.
I stumbled across this business in my early days as a copywriter. The wheels in my head started turning when I met an entrepreneur who had a multimillion-dollar company that he ran with only two employees. (Most of the operations of the business were outsourced.) And after meeting more than a few other people who were making a fortune by marketing natural health products, I decided to get involved myself.
My first venture was a partnership, where we built a million-dollar business inside of a year. These days, I operate a low-six-figure business by myself. I do it on the side, spending only about five hours a week to run it.
If you want to start a natural health business, here are the basic steps:
Step 1: Identify the area you want to focus on.
In the natural health business, you can market everything from organic toothpaste and pet food to supplements that aid digestion, improve athletic performance, or increase the libido. You can also market information products to, for example, help people lose weight or exercise more effectively.
In my case, I market a range of natural supplements and instructional exercise DVDs.
The important thing is to choose products that you believe a fairly large number of people will be interested in.
Step 2: Find a source for your products.
You can sell someone else’s products or create your own.
The big advantage to creating your own products is that your profit margins stand to be huge. The disadvantage is that if you’re having a physical product (as opposed to an information product) manufactured for you, it requires substantial capital from the get-go. You might have to purchase thousands of units each time you order.
If you’re marketing information products – like books, “how-to” programs, or instructional videos – you have the same choice: Create your own or sell someone else’s. But in this case, the trade-off isn’t as extreme. Though it’s certainly a lot easier (at least when you’re just starting out) to sell someone else’s info products, you can usually produce your own fairly inexpensively.
Step 3: Create and implement a marketing strategy.
There are numerous ways to market natural health products. In the world of mail order, there are many excellent lists that can be rented for a direct-mail campaign. And thousands of people are successfully marketing natural health products via the Internet, through ads in newspapers and magazines, on television, and even with a direct personal sales force. Some simply wholesale their products to retailers.
Whichever marketing strategy you use, I think you’ll find that consumers have an insatiable appetite for natural health products. And with profit margins that are often as high as 90 percent, this could be the perfect business for you.
[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence is a successful entrepreneur and author who operates over half a dozen profitable enterprises, including a natural health business. For more information on his program, "Insider Secrets to the Natural Health Business," click right here.
Before you start creating a natural health product, you need to see if there's a market of people willing to buy it. You can learn how to do this quickly, cheaply, and easily right here.
Should Making Money Online Be This Easy?
I hear stories of budding Internet entrepreneurs jumping through hoops to make a buck. And sure, many times building a solid, long term business does take real effort. But you can also quietly pocket some decent dough online for much less work.
In this case, you can copy the exact steps one man used to make $187,296 in one day. No, that’s not a misprint.
What’s stopping you from doing the same? The program is called Instant Internet Income and I guarantee it works exactly as it says.
Take a look and see just how easy making money online can be.
Always Have Plan B Ready When You Launch Plan A
Enthusiasm is a valuable emotion, and determination is a necessary trait for success. But neither or both of these qualities will make a bad idea work. I recommend that you develop the countervailing discipline of creating a Plan B.
Over the years, I have trained myself to recognize when an idea that I thought was good was actually bad. (There are plenty of signs - but unless you are looking for them, they are easy to ignore.)
So the first step is to see the writing on the wall. And the next step is to immediately switch to another course of action before you lose a ton of money and months (or even years) of time and energy.
You'll be much better at both of these critical business-survival skills (recognizing when your ideas are not working and reacting swiftly/smartly) if you establish a bailout scheme - a Plan B - at the outset of every project.
Don't make the mistake of thinking failure won't happen to you. I can tell you stories...
For example, there was a "brilliant" idea for a record club that cost me $125,000... a "can't-fail" celebrity health newsletter that sucked up an astonishing $780,000 before I gave up on it... and a perfume business that was "absolutely sure to work" that wasted $85,000 of my (and my partners') money.
When Ted Turner was planning to launch CNN, he found that he had done such a good job of promoting the idea that his partners weren't even willing to entertain the possibility that it might fail. Since Turner knew full well the value of being prepared for failure, he kept asking the question "What if it fails?" until they finally agreed to put together a fallback plan.
CNN started off terrifically, and when it ran into financial problems seven years later, they already had a solution. In this case, it was to sell a portion of the business to cable operators. Because of Turner's early insistence on a Plan B, crisis was averted without anyone breaking a sweat.
What is the most important project you're working on right now? Do you have a Plan B... just in case?
[Ed. Note: Maybe you've got a good job. Or lots of money to invest. Or a bunch of real estate holdings. But if all your eggs are in one basket, you REALLY need a backup plan. Let ETR give you a recession-proof Plan B that can help you secure your financial future. Get the details here.
Get more of Michael's surefire strategies for getting ahead in business and in life in True Path to Profits: A Master Entrepreneur's Guide to Business Success. Find out more - including how you can get a bonus subscription to Michael's VIP newsletter, Ready Fire Aim - right here ]
Diabetes: How to Avoid the Odds
The rate of Type II diabetes has almost doubled in the past 10 years, according to the results of a recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Alarmingly, the actual number of people with diabetes is probably higher, because the survey relied on people to self-report – and many are diabetic and don’t even know it!
These results should not surprise us. The rate of Type II diabetes is bound to increase as Americans continue to gain weight and tip the scales toward obesity.
The scary truth is that by the time you reach age 60, you have a 1 in 3 chance of being diabetic. But you can avoid becoming a statistic by being aware of the warning signs and taking preventive action.
• Take a look at your belly.
If your waist is bigger than your hips, you are insulin resistant and at increased risk, whether you are overweight or not. Losing weight is critical. But many times, stress is the biggest culprit in weight that is gained in the abdomen. So learn how to reduce or counteract the stress in your life.
• Get your fasting blood sugar level checked.
Even levels below 100 mg/dL, once thought harmless, can forecast diabetes. For years, I have noticed that as blood sugar levels start to rise and no action is taken, it is usually a matter of WHEN, not IF, the person reaches the diabetic glucose level. Recent scientific research validates this observation. According to a landmark Kaiser-Permanente health plan study, blood glucose levels of 86 to 90 indicate an increased diabetes risk, levels of 90 to 94 indicate a 49 percent increased risk, and people with levels between 95 and 99 are 233 percent more likely to develop diabetes.
• If your blood sugar is in an increased risk range, and especially if your waistline is growing, switch to a healthy low-carb diet.
Reduce sweets, grains, and other starches. And increase high-antioxidant, non-starchy vegetables, along with adequate protein and healthy fats.
• Increase your intake of zinc, chromium, and magnesium.
These minerals can improve the effectiveness of insulin.
• Start exercising.
[Ed. Note: Keeping your stress under control is one key to good health. For expert advice on how to stay stress-free, what to eat to stay fit, how to lose weight, and much more, sign up for ETR's free natural health e-newsletter.
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. Learn how to feel better and live longer right here]
It’s Fun to Know: The World’s Smallest Frog
Researchers working in the Andes Mountains of Peru have discovered a species of frog that, at its biggest, measures only a half-inch, making it the smallest frog in the world.
It’s not only its size that makes the tiny critter interesting to scientists, but also the fact that it lives at a high altitude – 10,000 feet above sea level – where only larger animals are usually found.
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Word to the Wise: Vagary
A “vagary” (VAY-guh-ree) – from the Latin for “wandering” – is an extravagant, erratic, or unpredictable notion, action, or occurrence.
Example (as used by Jane Alexander in Command Performance: “This thing called love was a total mystery to me, but the vagaries of passion and despair that accompanied each devotion kept my life in high drama.”
[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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I just received your ETR in the new format and I love it – much better than the old format. It’s much easier to follow and I can scan through it quicker. Good work!
I agree 99% from what I see happening. I think you’ll see things tightening up a lot more the later half of this year