Issue #2683
- WEALTHY: What’s your mortgage interest rate? (Ted Peroulakis)
- HEALTHY: When there’s no time to exercise… (Jon Benson)
- WISE: Matthew W. Ragas on cult brands
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- How to become a dominating presence in your market (Michael Masterson)
- Can you be too much of a “student” of copywriting? (Clayton Makepeace)
- It’s Good to Know… about software piracy
- Add “quintessential” to your vocabulary
== Highly Recommended ==
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The Time to Refinance Your Mortgage Is Now
Do you have a mortgage with a variable or high interest rate? If you do, it makes a lot of sense to refinance. Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages are currently only about 5 percent – and you want to lock in a low rate now, because inflation is on the horizon.
Inflation is coming due to the colossal amount of money that’s being created by the U.S. government to put toward the country’s economic problems. The country’s heavy debt load and deficit spending could also cause higher inflation. The government is on pace to spend $1.8 trillion more than it takes in this year, a record level of deficit spending. And the national debt is over $11 trillion.
Recently, the Fed has been cutting interest rates in an attempt to restart economic growth. But the Fed’s main job is to keep inflation at acceptable levels. So when inflation gets out of control (which it probably will when we finally emerge from this recession), they will have to increase interest rates. (You may remember that interest rates hit 18 percent in the 1970s under similar circumstances.)
Lock in that 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at today’s low 5 percent rate, before rates start to skyrocket. You’ll be glad you did.
[Ed. Note: Ted Peroulakis has dedicated his life to the study of finance, economics, and investments. You can read his take on the markets, natural resources, and more in ETR's sister publication, Investor's Daily Edge.
Meet Ted, as well as a half-dozen of the top minds in investment advising, in Miami in just a few days. Find out more about this exclusive financial conference here. ]
“Cult brands aren’t just companies with products or services to sell. To many of their followers, they are living, breathing surrogate family filled with like-minded individuals. They are a support group that just happens to sell products or services.”
Matthew W. Ragas
Turning Your Business Into a Micro-Brand
So you want to turn your business into a micro-brand? Or, better yet, a micro-cult? Here’s how to get started…
First, understand that it will take time – five to 10 years. To become a dominating presence in your market, you have to be in the game long enough to earn your customers’ loyalty.
Think LL Bean. Think BMW. Think Apple.
None of them became major brand names overnight, let alone cults. It took years and years of selling smart and over-delivering on their promises.
Apple, for example, has been around since 1976. Since then, the company has become the quintessential “cult brand.” And, aside from a couple of dips, Apple’s revenues have grown right along with its cult following.
So yes, it takes time. But while you are building your micro-brand – even to the status of micro-cult – you can make a ton of money. It requires three things:
1. a commitment to deliver the best products and customer service in your industry
2. the willingness to reinvest a significant share of your profits into continuing to improve the quality of your products and service
3. a unique selling proposition (LL Bean’s USP is about quality outdoor wear. BMW’s is about high-quality, sporty performance. Apple’s is about ease of use and reliability.)
Here’s an example from my personal experience.
About 20 years ago, my partner and I created a financial advisory service called The Oxford Club. I wrote the sales letter – and the response was through the roof. The Oxford Club was an immediate success. It made our business millions and millions of dollars.
In that sales letter, I made many claims about what the club would give its members. I promised a staff of investment advisors that was second to none. I promised seminars, conferences, tours… and a whole lot more.
Few of those things were in place when I wrote the letter. The club, after all, existed only in my mind. My partner and I made some preliminary arrangements to fulfill some of the promises, but we were not at all sure if the idea (since it was so new at the time) would work. So we tested it in the mail before the club was fully formed. (Ready. Fire. Aim.)
When the results came in, we set to work to try to make all those promises real. But because the concept was so new to the industry, our execution was imperfect. It was a good club – maybe even a great club – but it was not everything I had imagined.
Two years later, we sold the club to an industry colleague. (We had shifted our business plan and moved into merchandise sales, so the club was a duck out of water.) The company that bought it, Agora, Inc., had (and still has) a policy of reinvesting 90 percent of a business’s profits into the business, rather than distributing it to shareholders. So they used the club’s profits to continue to make improvements.
Under the leadership of Julia Guth, The Oxford Club developed its USP (”a private, international network of knowledgeable investors”), and made great gains in product quality and customer service. And the marketplace noticed. Today, The Oxford Club is the most successful financial advisory club in the world. It is a brand name in its market, and its members zealously promote the club to their friends, families, and colleagues.
As I said, the club was enormously profitable from the get-go. But it didn’t become a micro-brand – and then a micro-cult – until it had spent five or six years getting better and better. There was never any conflict between building the brand and making profits. But the owners had to be willing to reinvest those profits to make the long-term value of the business greater.
Over the last six years, I’ve seen Matt Furey do the same thing with his business. It began as a two-man shop selling a single fitness product. Today, it is a multimillion-dollar powerhouse selling dozens of great products.
Matt’s business is based on his unique approach to health and fitness – a blend of Chinese martial arts, old-fashioned American wrestling techniques, and Irish-American toughness. His point of view is well communicated in everything he does, and fervently bought into by his customers.
In Matt’s market, his business is a name brand. It didn’t happen overnight. But the business has always been profitable and seems to get better and attract more followers as each year passes.
So those are three things you must have if you want to turn your business into a micro-brand: a commitment to high-quality products and customer service, a willingness to reinvest the lion’s share of your profits into your business year after year, and a unique selling proposition.
And you must sell those three things in every communication you have with the outside world: in your advertising, customer service literature, and relations with the media.
A fourth secret is to create several product lines (three to six is a good number) that – though different – all support the underlying philosophy of your business. The Oxford Club has VIP trading services and financial seminars. Matt has fitness products, spiritual products, and business products.
There are basically two ways to view your business:
• As a way to make yourself rich by identifying opportunities in the marketplace, selling into them, and then pulling out most of your profits.
* As a way to generate a legacy of wealth, one that can last for generations, by identifying core needs in your marketplace and continuing to create products that fill those needs.
Both “ways” can work. But the first one is likely to unravel after a few years, leaving you with just a vague understanding of what happened. Only the second way will allow your business to keep on growing stronger and provide a lifetime of security for you, your children, and the people who work for you.
[Ed. Note: What's your thought on "branding as religion"? Which brands do you swear by? Let us know right here.
Get 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.
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Overthinking: The Copywriter's Worst Enemy
By the time I met Wilma, she had studied literally thousands of pages of courses, books, and e-zine articles about copywriting. She had all the fundamentals down cold. She could recite Hopkins, Caples, Masterson, and Makepeace verbatim. But when I gave her her first paid assignment, she froze like a deer in the high beams of an oncoming Peterbilt.
Wilma's problem wasn't that she knew too much. Wilma's problem was that she couldn't stop thinking about all the stuff she'd learned - the techniques, formulas, and marketing philosophies.
My advice to Wilma: Forget everything you've learned about selling and especially about writing copy. Don't worry - it's still stored away in your brain.
Instead of strategy and tactics, try focusing on your prospect - his fears, frustrations, and desires. Think about how your product connects with his dominant emotions.
Then close your eyes and imagine that you're in a room with him.
If you had to make the sale, what would you say? How would you begin the conversation? What would you say next? What would you have to prove to him? How would you prove it? How would he challenge your claims? How would you defuse his objections?
You'll be astounded by how your brain feeds up dos and don'ts from your training to guide you as you work through the process.
[Ed. Note: Master copywriter Clayton Makepeace publishes the highly acclaimed e-zine The Total Package to help business owners and copywriters accelerate their sales and profits. Claim your 4 free moneymaking e-books - bursting with tips, tricks, and tactics that'll skyrocket your response - at MakepeaceTotalPackage.com
Learn how to overcome "overthinking" in all areas of your business with Michael Masterson's Wall Street Journal bestselling book, Ready, Fire, Aim .]
The 10-Minute Walk
By Jon Benson
If “finding time” is your main obstacle to getting enough exercise, try taking three brisk 10-minute walks five days a week. One in the morning before you do anything else. One in the afternoon after lunch. One at night after dinner.
Think about it: 10 minutes three times a day. Studies have shown that cardio done in 10-minute increments is as effective at increasing overall calorie-burning as long-duration cardio. So for those who say “I do not have the time,” give this a shot:
1. Get up a whopping 15 minutes early. Put on your shoes and sweats and head out the door. First 10 minutes… done.
2. Cut your lunch hour 20 minutes short. Again, not much of a sacrifice to make. Take five minutes to change into walking clothes, 10 minutes for the walk around your office building, and five minutes to change back into your work clothes.
3. 10 minutes at night? After the kiddos go to bed, just hook it out the door.
That’s it. You now have 30 minutes of brisk cardio under your belt.
[Ed. Note: Fitness expert Jon Benson just released his in-home fitness plan, The 7 Minute Muscle Body System. It requires only bands, a rubber ball, and your bodyweight to tone your body and help you burn fat. Try it for yourself
For effective strategies for burning fat, getting fit, and feeling better than ever, sign up for ETR's FREE natural health newsletter right here.]
== Highly Recommended ==
Don’t Get Mad at Wall Streeters… Get Rich Off Them
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It’s Good to Know: About Software Piracy
A new study from research firm IDC and the Business Software Alliance found that 41 percent of software on PCs worldwide was pirated last year (representing a loss of $53 billion for software manufacturers), up from 38 percent in 2007. The researchers blame lax copyright enforcement in developing countries for most of it, coupled with the fact that many people in those countries are unable to afford the genuine versions. The United States has the lowest software piracy rate in the world – 20 percent.
(Source: Download Squad and Business Software Alliance)
Word to the Wise: Quintessential
The word “quintessential” (kwin-tuh-SEN-shul) – from the Latin – is used to describe the most perfect embodiment of something.
Example (as used by Michael Masterson today): “Apple, for example, has been around since 1976. Since then, the company has become the quintessential ‘cult brand.’”
[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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Hello Folks,
Liked this article and it struck me it is unwise to draw capital out of a growing business except if it has other purposes for which the funds are required. We can withdraw percentages of profits in reasonable divisions so that growth is not significanly slowed and might be enhanced if the secondary projects are synergistic. Better to have one high quality business than a half dozen strugglers. This also bears on the resale value of a business. If the buyer thinks you are siphoning too much of the profits – s/he can redirect your budgeting upon the purchase of your branded business and your brand still commands a healthy premium over a similar but unbranded competitor.
In addition, if one wearies of their branded business, they can hire competent management by way of limited partnerships. This transfers all the labor but only part of the income. Now you have capital for the next project and a record which can help you raise more of it if needed. It is not a difficult decision with a few minutes of consideration. I am only brand sensitive with large purchases I seldom make. I buy generics and store brands just to protest TV advertising. But there are not many like me, I think.
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