* Highly
Recommended *
How
Much Money Can YOU Make By Copying This "Mistake"?
How
did Vicki Smith accidentally ‘hotwire’ the Internet
and turn it into the goose that laid the golden egg?
Well,
imagine a huge fortress with steep, heavily defended walls
and a great big, drawbridge to get through. Inside that fortress
is the huge pile of wealth there is to be made on the Internet.
Now imagine trying to scale those walls with no equipment and
never having done anything like it before. That is what many
people try to do...
But
what did Vicki do? By mistake, she got ‘lost’ and
wandered around the back of that fortress and found a ‘hidden’ door
which lead straight in. A solid gold door which opened up a
gateway to riches…
It’s
an opportunity which really does work, that anyone can follow
and put into practice quickly in just an hour of your spare
time from home.
Read
about Vicki’s good fortune...
-
Patrick Coffey
ETR
Insider Report: Work Less, Make More
By
Justin Ford
Reporting
From Dave Lindahl's Apartment House Riches Conference in
San Diego
Real
estate can be a time-consuming business.
You
have to find good potential deals, negotiate one into an actual
agreement, line up financing, shepherd the deal through closing,
spruce up the property a little (or totally rehab it), rent
it out, arrange for property management, and eventually arrange
for selling it.
Whew!
It's exhausting just thinking about it! And that was only a
thumbnail description. Each of those steps can be broken down
into many more specific steps.
So
how could a broke landscaper find the time to fix and flip
millions of dollars' worth of houses and small residential
properties ... and then move up to build a portfolio of large
multi-family properties with over 2,200 units (and another
3,000 in the pipeline)?
Well,
according to that former landscaper - Dave Lindahl - you do
it by letting other people sweat the small stuff.
First
identify all the steps in the process. Then figure out the
most efficient way to handle each step. Now you've got a system.
And now you can start assigning most of those steps to other
people.
A
good system makes all the difference. After all, as someone
once said, SYSTEM could stand for Saves You Sweat, Time, Energy,
and Money. The point is not to get caught up in things that
other people could do just as well or better. Once you learn
to delegate, you can spend your time doing what will make you
the most money: finding and negotiating good deals.
So
what are some of the things you can delegate in a real estate
deal?
Well,
here are a few tips we picked up today, during Day 3 of Dave's
Apartment House Riches Conference in San Diego ...
Let
the post office handle your mailing campaigns. That's right.
The U.S. Postal Service will run your mail-merge, stuff the
envelopes for you, and send out your letters to prospective
sellers (such as people in pre-foreclosure, in default, or
out of state owners).
In
some cases, the USPS will even do it for free! They make their
money from the postage. And they're automated, so they're glad
to do the work for you in an effort to keep you as a customer.
How
about answering the phone calls that come in? Some companies
screen prospects for you (charging by the call) according to
your script and criteria. Then you speak only to motivated
sellers who truly represent a potential deal.
Dave
also strongly recommended hiring a qualified property manager
instead of acting as landlord yourself. And he provided over
a dozen ways to find one that can handle your particular type
of property. Let other people handle the toilets, trash, and
tenants. You are the investor ... the owner. And that's the
job that pays the most money!
[Ed.
Note: During Justin's coverage of Dave Lindahl's Apartment
House Riches Conference, you can get Dave's proven real estate
wealth-building secrets at a great savings. To learn how to
develop your own highly efficient real estate buying and selling
system, go
here:]
"In
the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative,
original thinker unless you can also sell what you create."
-
David Ogilvy
The
Right End of the Long Tail
By
Michael Masterson
Last
week, I read an article in Advertising Age that I
didn't understand.
The
article, which talks about Chris Anderson's book The
Long Tail, was written by Steve Rubel,
senior VP at Edelman's Me2Revolution. Its title: "Three
Ways to Ride the Long Tail: What Marketers Should Know About
Reach, Niches, and Big Media in the New Landscape."
The
book's thesis, Rubel says, is that the future of creating consumer
demand lies in the "Long Tail" of niche markets.
He
adds that Anderson "does a wonderful job documenting
the Long Tail's impact on media and marketing. He makes plain
how the blogosphere and online communities are creating an
environment where a thousand points of light can outshine the
largest of media."
But
the book falls short, he asserts, in "giving marketers
a playbook."
Fair
enough. I'm with Rubel 100 percent at this point.
But
then he goes on to suggest "three ways marketers can thrive
in a Long Tail world":
1.
Rethink reach.
"Reach
metrics are the currency of the advertising community. We're
obsessed with eyeballs, gross ratings points, and page views.
But in a Long Tail world, reach has entirely new meaning. Many
niche sites, for example, can't hold a candle to the traffic
at the head of the media curve. However, what they do have
going for them is credibility. If your brand is mentioned five
times on a site that your 20 most influential customers trust,
that's gold. Word of mouth will only ripple from there."
2.
Fund niches.
"In
the last few years, some niches have crystallized nicely. For
example, it's easy to find thriving communities obsessed with
BlackBerries and other gadgetry. The same goes for political
blogs. Whether you're a Lefty or a Righty, you have a home.
However, sometimes the Long Tail doesn't flow down into the
niches you care about most. Marketers should play a role in
funding the development of communities that give these birds
of a feather places to flock together."
3.
Demand more from media.
"Big
Media has done a nice job adapting in the Long Tail environment
- editorially. For example, news sites regularly link to blog
posts, photos, or videos uploaded by citizens. However, where
they're just getting started is in the sales side of the house.
The Washington Post took a big step recently when
it launched a blog ad network. Demand that your media partners
help you find ways to build your brand through niches like
the Post does."
I
don't follow Rubel's thinking. And yet, as someone who is about
to write a book that deals with this idea of the Long Tail,
I should.
I
agree with his summation of the book's central idea and his
praise for Anderson's writing. I also agree that The
Long Tail lacks specific advice for marketers
or anyone else hoping to cash in on the phenomenon he describes.
But
I don't necessarily agree with his specific recommendations.
To wit:
1. Rubel
says we should "rethink reach." By that he seems
to mean that marketers should use PR to somehow try to get
their niche products mentioned by mainstream sites. Well,
okay. But what does that have to do with the Long Tail?
All
of Anderson's ideas and examples in the book were drawn from
businesses that were seeing Long Tail revenue increase on
the back end. And that's how it makes sense - as trickle-through
advertising that the marketer doesn't have to pay for. He
wasn't talking about PR-driven front-end sales. Using PR
to get your name mentioned doesn't put you on the Long Tail.
It creates sales for a brief period of time.
2. Rubel
also says marketers should fund "the development of
communities that give these birds of a feather places to
flock together." How, exactly, is that going to work?
And how are the marketers going to profit from it?
3. His
final suggestion is for marketers to demand that their "media
partners help [them] find ways to build [their] brands through
niches." Is he saying that Big Media should offer catalogs
that include the ads of their regular advertisers? If so,
why would they do that without charging for it? And why does
Rubel think such catalogs would be productive?
When
I spoke at ETR's Info Marketing Bootcamp, I explained why the
Long Tail is really only a back-end phenomenon. And why marketers
who are expecting to use the concept to generate front-end
sales are sadly mistaken.
You
can see my presentation in full on our Bootcamp
DVD recordings. But here's the gist of what
I said:
When
I was growing up, small towns like mine had something like
three newspapers, two movie theaters, and one bookstore. That's
where we got pretty much all of our information. But that's
changed. Now everyone can access millions of sources through
the Internet. When it comes to making choices about the kind
of information you're willing to pay for, that means you can
be extremely selective. And that's where the Long Tail comes
in.
Let's
say you own a conventional bookstore. You can only fit so many
books on your shelves, so you fill it with the ones that sell
best. When customers come in looking for information about
a particular subject, they have a handful of titles to choose
from. But in an online store, where the storage of digital
information products costs much less than the storage of "real" items,
you can offer a huge number of titles - including titles on
subjects that aren't important enough or popular enough to
keep in a brick-and-mortar store.
Sure,
not everyone buys those obscure titles, but some people do.
Then you continue to offer those people additional titles that
might interest them - and that steady little stream of back-end
sales can make up a significant part of your profits.
Of
course, you have to attract those customers to your online
store to begin with. You draw them in by making a strong front-end
offer for one of your most popular information products. Only
when you have a strong front end in place can you work the
Long Tail to its best advantage.
So
that's where you concentrate your efforts first: on the front
end. This means, for example, developing a great 12-page report
that includes some of the very best information you have to
offer. You sell the report inexpensively ... or even give it
away for free. Your goal is to bring in new customers and add
their names to your customer list. Then you market your many
back-end information products to that list.
It's
a simple process - and the Internet makes it extremely cost-effective:
- You
get an e-mail address from every customer who shows an interest
in your front-end product - even if they don't buy it.
- You
immediately send the customer a "bounce-back" e-mail
that suggests other, similar products he might enjoy (the
way Amazon.com does after you've bought a book or CD). Then,
a few days later, you send him an e-mail catalog.
Hold
as many products as you can in your electronic storehouse.
Create new ones, whenever possible. The more products you have,
the more you'll sell - and the more money you'll make on an
ongoing basis.
[Ed.
Note: To hear more of Michael's insights into the opportunities
presented by the "Info-Net" revolution, invite him
and his League of Extraordinary Entrepreneurs into your living
room. Get all the benefits of their wealth-building expertise
with our collection of Bootcamp
DVDs.]
* Highly
Recommended *
Increase
your salary by more than 50% in a year…
Within
a year, I increased my salary by more than 50%. Then, last
year, I earned approximately three times my original starting
salary. Amazing…but absolutely true.
Can
the same approach work for you?
-Patrick
Coffey
The
Connection Between Diet Soda and Overeating
By
Jon Herring
I'm
sure you've heard this line before: "I'll have a double
cheeseburger, a large order of fries, a hot fudge sundae ...
oh, and a DIET soda."
I
expect many people use ordering a diet soda as an excuse to
overindulge. The thinking must go something like, "I'm
saving so many calories on my drink, so I'm going to go ahead
and order dessert too."
But
it turns out there's also a physiological connection between
overeating and diet sodas. Several studies have shown that
they actually make you feel hungrier and prompt you to eat
even more.
Peter
Dingle - a nutritional toxicologist at Murdoch University in
Australia - found that diet products don't satisfy the way
real food does.
Consequently,
your brain never gets the "I'm full" message. Purdue
University researchers came to the same conclusion. Even worse,
they found that the artificial sweetener in diet soda is a
neuro-stimulant that actually fires up your appetite.
I'm
not aware of any research proving that "diet" foods
sweetened with artificial sweeteners have any benefit for long-term
weight control. If you want to avoid overeating, you have to
eat foods that give your body the "I'm full" signal.
That's why you should base your meals on protein and healthy
fats. These foods are satisfying and nutritious, and your best
bet for staying lean and trim.
It's
Good to Know: The Cost of Owning a Car
As
Michael Masterson has pointed out several times in ETR (in Message
#1830, for example), it makes economic sense
to buy a used car instead of a new car. Of course, it's even
more cost-effective to buy no car.
Though
it's highly impractical for most people, Chris Balish, author
of How
to Live Well Without Owning a Car, claims
he's saved almost $37,000 in three years by doing without.
He breaks down his savings this way:
- $5,054
in car insurance premiums
- $3,600
in parking (at home and at work)
- $250
in car washes and oil changes
Balish
gets where he wants to go by taking public transportation,
taxis, rental cars, or his bike.
Something
for you to consider?
(Source:
Michelle Singletary in her syndicated "Your Money" column)
* Highly
Recommended *
Americans
Slip Through "Secret Backdoor" to Plunder China's
Explosive IPO Market!
While
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Citibank fight for control
of China's sizzling new IPO sector... a small group of conservative
investors have discovered a secret backdoor that could make
them overnight millionaires.
Here's
a safe, simple (and ultra-exciting!) way for you to get a piece
of the action... without risking one dime overseas!
Read
on...
Word
to the Wise: Rusticate
To "rusticate" (RUS-tih-kate)
is to send to or live in the country.
Example
(as used by Stephen Hunter in the Washington Post): "For
the longest time, we're stuck in a cabin hewn out of the ground
in a parcel of woods as the boys hide and mend; for another,
we rusticate on a farm bounded by fields that must be tilled
by the hard labor of man and beast."
