* Highly
Recommended *
The
Billionaire Way
I
would recommend "The
Billionaire Way" program to anyone who is
contemplating a new enterprise or business start-up, or is
already in business for themselves. It enabled me to look at
my life, attributes, and habits in a refreshing new way. I
was delighted to discover that I too have a number of the traits
and qualities that many who are successful in business possess,
which I hadn't realized. I am very excited to apply the principles
that were presented in the program to my new business ventures.
A
tremendous benefit was to be able to talk with the author of
the program, Bob Cox, about my own business strategies and
ideas. Bob spent an hour on the phone with me after I finished
the program, and his personal insights and suggestions were
very helpful and inspiring.
I
know that I will often refer back to the information provided
in "The
Billionaire Way"
-
Catherine McNeil, Monte Vista, Colorado
"In
the final analysis, the one quality that all successful
people have ... is the ability to take on responsibility."
-
Michael Korda
An
Easy Way to Start Your Home-Based Business
By
Michael Masterson
Jim
Fleck and Jeff Paul, cofounders of Instant Profits Marketing
Inc., met at a marketing conference. "We hit it off right
away," Jim told me. "We had many similar skills and
experiences, but we were also very complementary. I liked what
Jeff had to offer me in terms of building the kind of business
I was looking for, and he saw in me someone who could add depth
and substance to his business."
I
was talking to Jim and Jeff so I could learn more about them
before they spoke at this year's Info Marketing Bootcamp.
Their
company is one of the most successful online businesses of
its kind. "We have developed a business model that includes
both online and offline sales, direct marketing, telemarketing,
and infomercials," Jeff explained. "We've learned
so much about how to integrate all these different marketing
forms. As far as I know, nobody else in the online information
industry has a business quite like ours. It's been a challenge
to find business models to emulate."
The
two men got to Instant Profits Marketing in different ways
- and both have interesting success stories to tell. I told
you Jeff's story on Monday].
Now, here's Jim's ...
By
the time he got to college, Jim had already started several
businesses, including a painting company with 12 employees
(all older than him) when he was just 19 to help fund his education.
That gave him a taste for entrepreneurship. Before finishing
college, he dropped out and headed for the corporate world
to give it a try. He was immediately successful, inching his
way up the corporate ladder for seven years, and eventually
focusing on corporate intranets.
"It
was an area I was particularly well suited for," Jim
told me. "I was able to figure out new ways to automate
a lot of the menial tasks performed by people in the companies
I worked for, reducing costs and ensuring quality."
He
developed so much expertise in this area that he was offered
consulting jobs on the side with other companies, including
the software vendors he had been buying from. He quit his job
and went solo, earning $150,000 more per year than he had as
a salaried employee.
But
the travel involved in the consulting business eventually did
Jim in. Being on the road months at a time "became a drag," he
lamented.
"I
was working more, but enjoying it less," he said about
that phase of his career. "The one good thing that came
out of it, though, was that in my efforts to sell my own consulting
services, I learned a lot about direct marketing."
As
Jim's enthusiasm for technical consulting waned, his interest
in becoming an entrepreneur and having his own home-based business
soared. One day he saw an ad for a work-from-home seminar.
It turned out the ad had been written by none other than Jeff
Paul, his future partner.
The
seminar inspired Jim to get started on his home-based business.
So he looked through the Yellow Pages to see which industries
were taking out most of the ads.
Based
on his Yellow Pages survey, he composed a list of the 10 most
popular businesses. Then he went to the library and began researching
them, one at a time. "I would read books about them and
then I'd read their trade journals, trying to discover what
made them tick."
If
an industry was buying lots of ads and was represented by several
trade journals, it must be viable, he figured.
He
put together a marketing program that could be adapted to several
of the popular businesses he had identified. His program included
a lot of general techniques (such as how to write a USP), but
it also included samples (both good and bad) of Yellow Pages
ads, direct-response ads, and sales letters, as well as a section
where he revised the bad ads to turn them into effective sellers.
"People
loved that section," he said.
Jim
created two versions of his product: a basic marketing program
that he sold for $797, and a deluxe version that went for $997.
One
of the industries that met Jim's two criteria (by carrying
lots of Yellow Pages ads and being represented by many trade
journals) was the heating/ventilating/air-conditioning (HVAC)
business. Since his family was in that business, he decided
to market his programs to that industry first.
He
ran a $258 ad in a HVAC trade magazine for the marketing products
he had developed. That $258 ad brought in $5,000.
He
reinvested the $5,000 into more and bigger ads - and that $5,000
turned into $15,000. In 1997, he began marketing his HVAC programs
online. That added another $5,000 each month to his bottom
line.
When
sales flattened, he reinvented his business for a similar industry:
plumbing. It took him all of one week to convert the program
for his new target customers - and that one, too, was very
successful.
After
a few years, Jim was faced with the question of whether to
create a third product aimed at a third industry segment or
to launch something brand-new, something that could take him "up
to the next level." That's when he and Jeff began Instant
Profits Marketing ... which has skyrocketed them both into
multi-millions.
The
lessons to take away from Jim's experience are that it's always
better to start a small business in an industry that you're
familiar with - and to build it one step at a time.
Today's
Action Plan: If you're looking to start your own
home-based business, start the way Jim did - by identifying
a viable industry to market an information product to:
1. Look
through the Yellow Pages for businesses that have lots of
ads. Lots of ads indicates that there are probably a large
number of customers who will want to buy the information
that you have to offer.
2. Go
to the library and look through the SRDS to find industries
that have multiple trade journals. As with Yellow Pages ads,
multiple trade journals could indicate a strong demand for
your information product. This also gives you a list of places
to publish your own ads.
3. As
I said, it's best to start with an industry you're familiar
with ... if possible. After checking out the Yellow Pages
and the available trade journals, select an industry that
you already have some knowledge of.
4. To
pick a topic for your product, you need to find out what
kind of information people in your chosen industry are buying.
Search your library's database of recently published books,
and search Amazon.com for keywords connected to your field
of interest (forestry, ballet teachers). You'll come up with
a long list of the most popular and most recent books on
your subject.
That
will get you started on creating a good information product
that you can successfully market.
[Ed.
Note: Jim Fleck explained just how Instant Profits Marketing
Inc. works - and how you can imitate his success - at this
year's Info-Marketing Bootcamp. You can see his presentation
in full - as well as those of the many other info-marketing
experts who were there - on our DVD
recordings of the event.]
* Highly
Recommended *
"I
stumbled my way into a limitless source of cash - that was
virtually un-tapped!"
Real
estate investors are often surprised to find that mortgage
brokers, hard-money lenders and the typical "creative
financing" techniques used are actually the hard way to
go about financing their residential and commercial deals.
The
fact is, there’s a much easier way. It doesn’t
require good credit or employment history - you can get cold-hard
cash fast so you don’t lose deals, you don’t have
to make monthly payments, and you can actually get some of
your profits when you buy instead of having to wait until the
sale.
To
learn more about this inexhaustible source of cash, including
how you can be guaranteed $50,000 cash in 90 days or less - act
now.
Justin
Ford
Editor Main Street Millionaire
Tension-Free
Public Speaking
By
Virginia Avery
During
President George W. Bush's post-election press conference,
you couldn't miss the fact that he was uneasy. Why do I say
that? I watched his breathing. I saw his shoulders heave as
he sighed while being questioned by the press - a clear signal
that he didn't like the situation he was in.
To
release that kind of tension - the kind of tension that many
people feel when speaking in front of a crowd - learn to breathe
from your diaphragm. (This is also called belly breathing.)
Take
a deep breath. Do your shoulders go up toward your ears? If
they do, you're chest breathing - which means you're only using
a portion of your lung capacity.
When
you learn to breathe using your diaphragm, you take air deeper
into your lungs.
When you breathe deeper, you feel calmer and can think more clearly.
The
easiest way to teach yourself belly breathing is to practice
while lying on your back. (You naturally breathe from your
belly in this position.) Keep practicing until you're able
to belly breathe when you're standing up.
Say
a few words out loud while you are lying down. Notice how much
richer the sound is? How much more relaxed your throat is?
That's what you want to aim for whenever you're making a speech
or presentation.
And
belly breathing does even more than calm you when you're tense:
1. It
lets you project your voice and increase your volume without
yelling.
2. It
gives your voice more authority and power.
3. It
keeps you from advertising your nervousness.
4. It
delivers more oxygen to your body and brain, helping you
stay clear-minded.
[Ed.
Note: Virginia Avery (Virginia@AveryPresentations.com) is a
communications specialist who trains and coaches businesspeople
to make more profitable presentations.]
Tryptophan:
For a Drug-Free Good Night's Sleep
By
Al Sears, MD
Last
week, as we were helping to clean up after Thanksgiving dinner,
my brother mentioned that his boss had developed an addiction
to sleeping pills. It was getting to the point where he couldn't
even get an hour of shuteye without the pills.
There's
a reliable alternative to those drugs - but very few people
know about it. When my patients complain of insomnia, the first
thing I tell them to try is a natural sleep aid - the nutrient tryptophan.
Tryptophan is an amino acid that your body produces. In supplement
form, it works very well and is extremely safe. It doesn't "drug
you," it's not addicting, and it won't make you feel drowsy
the next morning.
I
have used tryptophan for years to successfully treat sleep
problems. Unfortunately, the FDA has made it difficult to get.
If you can't find tryptophan over the counter, ask your doctor
to write you a prescription. If he is like most, he probably
won't know much about tryptophan. You will have to take the
initiative. An effective dose is 500 mg at bedtime.
[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: "So Many Goals ... So Little Time"
In Message
#1871, Michael advised ETR reader TH
to focus all her energy on her top goal in order to achieve
success. Many readers wrote in response to that article.
Here's some of what they had to say ...
"Michael,
thank you! I finally understand the real reason I haven't
achieved the success I really want and know that I'm capable
of achieving. After reading your response to TH, I see how
scattered I've been in my own approach. I am trying to do
way too many ambitious things at the same time. I need to
drop everything I'm doing except for the one thing I really
want to achieve. And then I need to put all my efforts and
energy in back of that one goal until I've made it a reality.
"For
me, that's the difficult part. Which one do I choose? I like
them all. But in any case, I plan on making my decision before
this weekend is over.
"Thanks
for the continuing guidance, advice, and long-distance mentorship."
-
Erik Brassell
Chino, CA
"The
advice Michael Masterson gave to TH also applies to me -
and it hit me like a hammer to the head. The advice was so
clear and concise, it was a door opening to the future. I
was very impressed that Michael advised TH to not buy any
more information products, since she already has plenty to
work with. I was starting to follow that same path.
"I
really enjoy reading Early to Rise daily, and appreciate
the quality of information presented."
-
Dean Mullis
Richfield, NC
"Michael
Masterson's article in Message
#1871 was very timely for me. I too am working
on AWAI's
Six-Figure Copywriting program. However,
I have been undisciplined with my time and have not made
copywriting my main goal. Thank you, and many thanks to everyone
at ETR."
-
Greg Jernigan
Snellville, GA
* Highly
Recommended *
How
to Write a Winning Sales Letter
Is
it possible to go from a blank sheet of paper to a completed
sales letter in 48 hours? There's a good chance ... if
you use what's called the Filet of Soul technique.
You
start with the most successful promotion that your company
(or your competitor) is running for a similar product. No,
you don't steal the copy - you "filet" it, cutting
down to it's backbone ... the "architecture" that
makes it work.
Analyze
the copy, section by section. What emotions does it evoke?
How does each paragraph make you feel? Write it all down ...
and that's it. You now have a rough outline for your own successful
sales letter!
I
discovered this technique in the "75 Secrets for Writing
Winning Copy" report included with ETR's
Direct Marketing University program. I keep
it on my desk, right next to my computer, so it’s always
handy whenever I need a fresh shot of inspiration.
-
Charlie Byrne
Word
to the Wise: Pugnacious
Someone
who's "pugnacious" (pug-NAY-shus) - from the Latin
for "fist" - is combative or quarrelsome.
Example
(as used by Tag Gallagher in The
Adventures of Roberto Rossellini): "Roberto's
pugnacious grandmother lived across the meadow and would yell
threats and curses helplessly from her balcony."
