* Highly Recommended *
You Can Import Goods From Overseas For Pennies On the Dollar!
It may have been hard in the past for small entrepreneurs to import cheap products from countries like China, but things have drastically changed.
For example, In 1986, total trade between the United States and China was $7.9 billion. By 2005, this total has reached over $170 billion, making China the United States' third largest trading partner.
You can't believe how easy this is. With the right information, you just find products that cost a couple of dollars each and sell them for 1000%+ mark-ups by the thousands with your own Internet sites.
Please click here to read this urgent report.
- Patrick Coffey
ETR Insider Report: Lost Souls Online
By Kam Weiler
As I browsed The Wall Street Journal online, a discussion group caught my attention with this question: "How has the housing bubble affected your plans to buy or sell a home?" Even though I'm not generally one to join online discussion groups, I gave this one a go.
Boy, are there some confused people out there! Not that I blame them. I read comments from gung-ho real estate buyers ... deeply skeptical people waiting on the sidelines ... and the completely lost. A couple of posts from "lost souls" struck me:
Said one, "I am in a total state of confusion as to what to do."
Lamented another, "I am a high-tech guy, and the fear of suffering a second crash in my life is terrifying. I am looking to buy a house but worry that the prices have already started falling."
My first thought was, "What part of the country do these folks live in?" - because that makes a HUGE difference as to whether or not the time is right to buy. I was about to post something to that effect when it occurred to me: The real question here is, "Why are people looking to total strangers, devoid of any substantiated credentials, for real estate advice?"
They're not wrong to be nervous, but they are wrong if they're hoping to get dependable answers from an online discussion group. So I chimed in that perhaps, rather than spending time seeking consolation from strangers, some targeted research might be a little more useful.
There are proven ways to estimate the true value of an individual property. Tying a property's earnings potential to its value is one. (In other words, if you were to rent out the property, would it cash flow?) Comparing the price per square foot to other properties, with the aim of buying well below market averages, is another way to safeguard your investment. In addition, there are ways to evaluate individual markets, to see if you should purchase in your hometown or consider another area for safer, stronger returns. Considering outside markets provides a viable alternative to "bubble dwellers" who want take advantage of the wealth-building power of real estate.
I should have also suggested that they check out our "Guide to America's Best Value Real Estate Markets." It provides evaluations - including home price to rent ratios, income to price ratios, population trends, and quality of life standards - for over 100 U.S. cities. That's a one-of-a-kind resource for discovering great value markets and unearthing the best value properties in any market.
[Ed. Note: Kam Weiler is a contributing editor for Main Street Millionaire, ETR's real estate investment success program.]
"If what you are doing is not moving you toward your goals, then it's moving you away from your goals."
-
Brian Tracy
So Many Goals ... So Little Time
I recently received the following e-mail from TH ...
Dear Michael Masterson,
I'm writing you because I have a concern. I own or have paid for access to the following ETR and AWAI information:
1. American Consultants League
2. Michael Masterson's Six Figure Copywriting Program
3. Direct Marketing Quick Start Kit
4. Quick & Easy Microbusiness System
5. Instant Internet Income
6. Profit Center Dispatch
7. Monthly Copywriting Genius
8. The Writer's Tax Guide for Freelancers
9. Secrets of Writing for the Fundraising Market
10. Secrets of Writing for the Internet
Plus all of your latest books and an assortment of copywriting CDs containing interviews.
I've studied or listened to all the material at least once. The problem is, I am still not the six-figure copywriter I set out to be when I began buying it. It is all good, but I just haven't figured out the best way get my business/efforts off the ground.
I was thinking about buying one last program, AWAI's "Self Publishing: Your Complete Business Plan for Creating a Life Without Borders." Still ... if I do, I need to set off on a course of action to dramatically skyrocket my income ... quickly.
Can you please recommend a course of action?
TH has a problem that's very common with ambitious, goal-oriented people - one that you may have too. It's a problem I had during the first part of my career when, like TH, I worked very hard, studied very hard, tried many things, yet was never successful at any of them.
I've told the story before in ETR of how I solved my problem when I enrolled in a Dale Carnegie program based on his book How to Win Friends and Influence People. For me, the pivotal session of the program was when we were required to write down all our goals ... and then narrow the list down to a single one.
I started out with several dozen - things like "be a prize winning journalist," "open up my own art gallery," "make a million dollars," and "become a black-belt martial artist." And I can't tell you how hard it was to make that final selection. In choosing any one, I was essentially giving up - at least for the time being - any hope of achieving the others. That seemed like a demand I simply couldn't bear.
But I did it. I finally decided that getting rich would be my ultimate and exclusive goal - that I would devote no time or energy to any of my other goals until I'd achieved that first one. The strategy obviously worked. And in looking back, I realized that narrowing down my many goals to just one was the key to achieving it.
So, based on my own experience, here's the advice I have for TH ...
You are clearly a motivated person who is not afraid to invest in your dreams - but I would not advise you to buy any more information products. You already own more than you can possibly put into action.
The problem you have (at least so far) is that you aren't managing your goals properly. First, you have too many of them. You say you want to be a copywriter, yet you have purchased all sorts of other products that have nothing to do with copywriting.
So what you have to do now is make your goal of becoming a six-figure copywriter your first and only goal. You must put away everything else that's running through your mind and heart. That includes any social goals (get married/divorced) ... health-related goals (lose/gain five pounds) ... or personal goals (learn to play the guitar). You must even put your current work-related goals on hold.
Your first and only obligation for the next 12 to 24 months has to be to become a six-figure copywriter.
Can you take this first step, TH? Can you make this sacred, personal promise to yourself? If so, this is what you do next ...
Get out your calendar and start marking off 20-hour (at a minimum) blocks of time during which you will do nothing besides (a) improving your copywriting skills, (b) promoting yourself as a copywriter, and (c) executing whatever copywriting assignments you get.
You must never, ever work less than 20 hours a week in this way. If you follow this simple formula faithfully and honestly for the next 50 weeks, you'll almost certainly be working at the rate of $100,000 (or more) per year.
You won't necessarily be earning a hundred grand by then, but you will be getting the $40 an hour you need to earn to make $100,000 by working 50 hours a week.
You must devote all your spare time and energy (physical, mental, and emotional) to this single objective. If you're willing to do this - and if you do it - I am 100 percent confident you will succeed.
Keep in mind that your "problem" of being overly ambitious and having too many goals is really a virtue in disguise. It means that you are a natural hard worker and a motivated person. These characteristics will help you enormously ... so long as you follow a plan that forces you to focus.
- Michael Masterson
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What Does the FDA Have Against Fish Oil?
By Al Sears, MD
If you're a regular ETR reader, you know that fish oil is one of the most effective ways of preventing a host of chronic diseases, especially heart disease.
In Italy, doctors prescribe fish oil to every patient who survives a heart attack. It's standard practice. They feel so strongly about it that most would consider it malpractice to omit fish oil from the diet of a recovering heart attack patient. And volumes of population studies, laboratory analyses, and clinical tests have shown its remarkable healing qualities.
Yet here in the U.S., doctors don't recommend the heart-healthy omega-3s found in fish oil. In fact, the FDA hasn't approved Omacor - the only prescription fish oil on the market - for use in heart patients. Of course, American cardiologists are only too happy to recommend more profitable technologies - everything from implantable defibrillators to statin drugs for lowering cholesterol.
Is the FDA suppressing the use of fish oil to protect Big Pharma's monopoly in the drug market ... or is it possible that they really still question its efficacy?
Don't let the FDA lead you astray. If you're not currently taking fish oil, you should consider it. It does more than improve heart health. It wipes out joint pain, eases depression, and protects your eyes.
[Ed. Note: Dr. Sears, a practicing physician and the author of The Doctor's Heart Cure and 12 Secrets to Virility, is a leading authority on longevity, physical fitness, and heart health.]
Feedback Friday: "Keeping the Service in Customer Service"
In Message #1839, Bob Bly wrote about how frustrated he gets when store managers and business owners fail to make serving their customers their number one priority. Said Bob, "You are telling them, 'I don't value you, and I don't want your business.'"
Many of our readers reacted strongly to Bob's article. Here's what a few had to say.
"Don't assume the person manning the cash register is too stupid to see that people are waiting, too short-sighted to think of something like opening another register, or too timid to try to get help.
"My challenge to you is this: Stand behind that counter in those shoes for one day. See what happens when the cash drawer count of the shift before yours is off and you have to recount it to see if you can find the error. Notice how you feel when you are standing around with no customers for 45 minutes, restocking shelves (or whatever your fill-in tasks are), then suddenly have five people in line waiting to check out, each of whom values their time more than the average Joe. Do it for six hours without a chair, for no health coverage, PTO, or retirement, and for minimum wage. Go home and do your homework, tend your children, and head off to your next job that is just the same as the last one.
"Then please consider the $15-an-hour manager. While his overworked clerk is trying to check out testy customers, the manager is trying to sort out a jumbled order from a supplier, filing payroll, interviewing potential hires because the attrition rates are so high, firing the clerk he caught stealing diapers, cleaning the bathroom where a kid puked (because the guy who usually does it called in sick ... with his girlfriend giggling in the background), and working a second job so his kids can have some nice things and maybe go to college.
"From the other side of the counter, the differences between Bob Bly's polite suggestions and a foot-stamping tantrum are very minor.
"I would suggest that if his schedule is so tight there isn't enough wiggle room to tolerate an extra 10 minutes at the drugstore, he might want to consider the possibility that he is over-committed. If something like waiting behind a pokey customer can irritate him so much that he has to write an article dressing them down, he might want to consider why he is so stressed. And if finding a place of compassion inside himself for a dithery customer and an under-paid, under-staffed, under-appreciated manager is so far beyond his reach, he might want to consider what terrible emotional scars he is trying to ignore. At the very least, he might want to consider shopping at Drugstore.com instead."
Pam Guthrie
St. Paul, MN
"Bob Bly is correct that a manager/owner needs to be actively involved in satisfying customer needs to the point of doing the 'grunt' work if necessary. However, in the case of the drugstore he cited, he is misguided. Most likely he, like other impatient and self-important people, doesn't understand the reasoning behind the procedures of most retail stores when it comes to issues like division of labor, overlapping responsibilities for monetary accountability, etc. I could write a short essay on this subject for his edification, but my guess is he doesn't have time to read between his important business appointments."
Michael B.
Easton, PA
"Obviously, Bob, you have never lived in Texas. People there hold up virtually every checkout line. The 10-items-or-less and 20-items-or-less lines are jammed with people with carts overflowing with items. The clerks, fearing loss of their jobs, don't complain. The managers want to move things along, so they don't complain.
"I've seen many of these customers arguing over discount coupons they cut from the local paper. One penny is enough to initiate an argument.
"I've simply learned the art of tolerance. Even though I have a very full schedule, I don't let these things upset me. I just read a magazine or study the items on the impulse rack. Since I also write fiction, I like to people-watch for ideas for characters in my stories.
"But there is one thing that really bugs me when people want to pay by check. If I am paying by check, I have it filled out, except for the amount, before I reach the checkout line. Some people, on the other hand, will watch all their items being checked out (for fear someone is overcharging them), and then and only then pull out the checkbook. The real topper is, after writing the check, they take the time to fill out their check register. I would think I was pretty much senile if I couldn't remember to jot down the $35 worth of groceries I bought when I got to the car or at home."
Jean Lawrence
Gardendale, TX
* Highly Recommended *
Do You Need To Start Out Small?
If you don't have an Internet business yet, or if your company is smaller than $1 million then you need something different... something that lets you start off small.
One man I know turned $10 into over $500,000. How's that for starting small!
Let me show you how to get a similar Internet income stream running for almost nothing.
- Patrick Coffey
Word to the Wise: Fructuous
"Fructuous" (FRUK-choo-us) - from the Latin for "fruit" - is another way of saying "productive."
Example (as used by Sheila McNamee and Kenneth J. Gergen in Relational Responsibility): "Theory does not provide us worthy marching orders for a fructuous future, for theory in itself tells us nothing about how and when it is applicable."
