* Highly
Recommended *
The
Only Three Ways to Grow a Business
Did
you know that there are only three ways to grow a business?
1. Increase
the number of customers.
2. Increase
the average transaction value.
3. Increase
the frequency of repurchase.
Find
a way to maximize each one, and your business will experience
an astonishing rate of growth.
In
his "9 Pillars of Business Growth" program, acclaimed
consultant Jay Abraham outlines hundreds of proven, frequently
unrecognized, and almost totally underutilized ways to grow
these three key areas of your business. If you own a business
(or would like to), be sure to take
a look at Jay's program.
-
Patrick Coffey
"Oh,
the Places You'll Go!"
By
Rick Pendergraft
Last
night, I read Oh,
the Places You'll Go! (my favorite Dr.
Seuss book) to my youngest son. One paragraph stuck in my mind
long after he had fallen asleep, because it struck me as good
advice for investors:
So
be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact.
And remember that Life's a great balancing act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.
- Stepping
with "care and great tact" is essential. You don't
want to go into an investment unless you've done your homework.
And even then, you want to be careful about entering the
trade. During earnings season (which has pretty much just
finished up), for example, you're usually better off waiting
until after earnings are announced before you enter the trade.
(Playing a stock ahead of earnings is a crapshoot.)
- You
must perform a "balancing act" between short-term
trades and your long-term views, and it's crucial that you
have some exposure to both sides of the market.
- It's
always good to be "dexterous and deft." I remember
one time when I had puts on Cognos (a maker of corporate
software), and the company came out with an earnings warning
on a Thursday night. On Friday morning, there were eight
downgrades, and I thought I was looking at a huge winner.
The stock gapped lower on the open, and traded down over
four percent ... but then it started rallying. The rally
turned out to be brief. But by being "dexterous and
deft" - and not waiting to see why it was rallying or
how long the rally would last - I managed a small gain in
a potentially bad situation.
- As
for "mixing up your right foot with your left," that
would be like buying the dollar and selling gold during times
of market uncertainty ... instead of selling the dollar and
buying gold.
Thank
you, Dr. Seuss!
[Ed.
Note: Rick Pendergraft is editor of ETR's new investment service,
the ETF Options Trader. To find out
how he can help you make money no matter what the market's
doing, click HERE.]
"I
once wanted to become an atheist, but I gave up. They have
no holidays."
-
Henny Youngman
Quick
Cash for the Holidays
By
Paul Lawrence
Although
my gift obligations weren't as extensive when I was in college
as they are today, there were people I wanted to buy gifts
for. And there were other things I wanted to spend money on
during the holiday season. So when December rolled around,
I needed to come up with a way to earn some cash.
Since
I just wanted to pick up some extra money, I wasn't looking
to start an ongoing business. (Of course, if a good enough
business opportunity had come along, I wasn't going to turn
it down.)
Advertised
everywhere were all sorts of temporary holiday jobs. But when
I investigated those jobs, they all paid next to minimum wage.
And pocket change wasn't what I was going for.
Then I came across a goldmine: selling gift items through a catalog.
With the Christmas season approaching, I didn't need to do more
than tell my friends and relatives that I had a cool catalog
... and ask if they would like to take a look.
I
collected the money, sent in the orders, and kept the profits.
(Several thousand dollars!) Their merchandise was drop-shipped
to them without me having to lift a finger.
The
holiday season presents a unique opportunity for making money,
because people need to make expenditures that they normally
wouldn't make on gift items that they usually wouldn't buy
for themselves. It turns out to be a win-win situation: They
need these items ... and you can provide them.
During
my college years, I also discovered that there are quite a
few seasonal services that you can profit from. For example,
according to Entrepreneur.com, Christmas light-hanging is now
an $800 million business!
The
possibilities for making money during the holidays are practically
endless.
A
relative of mine, MY, opened up a small kiosk at a local mall.
He didn't need much capital, because he rented the kiosk and
obtained his inventory on credit. And he started raking in
over $1,000 a day in profits each weekend during the month
of December.
If
you're thinking of trying to earn some money with a Christmas
season business, here are some of the basic steps to get started:
1.
Establish your budget.
Even
with a small budget, you could run:
- A
gift-wrapping business within an established retail shop,
where you operate as an independent contractor
- A
personal-shopping service, where you brave the long lines
and full parking lots for busy executives and other affluent
clients
If
you have a bigger budget and are willing to invest a little
capital, you could run:
- A
video and/or photography business, where you create holiday
portraits and record holiday parties
- A
Christmas tree delivery/installation service
2.
Select a business that fits with your schedule.
If
you're a student on break for the holidays, for example, you
could spend all day sitting in a retail store gift wrapping
presents. But if you have a regular nine-to-five job, you'll
have to choose a "nights and weekends" business,
like delivering Christmas trees or setting up Christmas lights.
3.
Do some market research.
One
of the most effective ways to quickly research a market is
to investigate your competitors. See what they're charging
and exactly what they're providing.
4.
Create a marketing plan.
Try
some simple direct-marketing approaches - like a flyer distribution
program or a focused local mailing. Placing classified and
display ads in local publications might be worth testing. Forming
an alliance with an existing business that complements your
product or service could also work for you. For example, you
could offer your home delivery service to a busy holiday retailer.
The retailer would then be able to give his customers added
value (free delivery) when they shop at his store - and the
additional sales that would generate for him would more than
make up for your fees.
5.
Establish operating procedures.
- Will
you take credit cards? While it's possible to run a business
without doing so, it can make a difference for many customers.
And if you have decent credit and no history of criminal
fraud, it's generally not hard to obtain a merchant account.
- Will
you need to hire help? If you do, you'll have to determine
if you'll be paying them as employees or as independent contractors.
If you pay them as employees, you'll have to acquire a tax
ID number from the IRS and withhold taxes from their pay.
It's certainly easier to pay them as independent contractors,
but you've got to check the IRS rules to be sure you can
go this route.
- Will
you be receiving phone calls from customers? If so, you've
got to decide where the phone calls will be received. If
you're just going to run the business for the holidays, you
may not need to establish a separate phone line - but you'll
still want to establish a protocol for answering the phone.
(When people think they're calling a business, they don't
want to hear someone answering with "Hello?")
6.
Decide on an exit strategy.
For
example, if your business will require you to have some kind
of inventory, you'll want to plan how you can liquidate any
remaining merchandise when the Christmas season is over ...
or how you'll store it until next year. And if you've opened
any accounts (such as a merchant account for credit cards),
you will likely want to close them. (Most of these accounts
have minimum monthly fees that accrue whether you do any business
or not.)
With
a little imagination - and some hard work - you can easily
get yourself a helpful infusion of cash whenever you need it
... not only during the holidays.
[Ed.
Note: Get more information on running your own "Quick
Cash for the Holidays" business HERE.]
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Build
Muscle to Reverse the Signs of Aging
By
Al Sears, MD
One
of my neighbors tells me he's 63 - but to look at him, you'd
think he was at least 80. I can see nothing but bones and fat
under his skin. He's so weak, he has trouble just walking to
his mailbox. I'll bet he has no idea that a few simple exercises
could have saved his muscle mass ... so I'm going to see if
I can talk him into working out a few days a week.
Here's
the problem: You lose about three pounds of muscle per decade.
This creates a chain reaction that can leave you sick, weak,
and physically incompetent.
You
may not notice that you're losing muscle, because your body
replaces it with fat. And you tend to forget how much you used
to have. But it's important to monitor. Here's just a partial
list of what muscle does for you:
- Supports
your bones and protects you from osteoporosis
- Reduces
your risk of osteoarthritis
- Promotes
thyroid hormone production
- Maintains
adrenal production
- Controls
your metabolic rate
- Stimulates
the production of human growth hormone
- Prevents
chronic aches (like back pain)
- Returns
blood to the lungs for oxygenation
Much
of the fatigue and lack of energy you may feel during the day
can be eliminated by working to build new muscle. And it's
not as hard as it sounds. You don't have to lift weights. Calisthenics
produces remarkable results. But to build muscle, you have
to focus your efforts where the muscle is.
Since
the biggest muscles in your body are in your thighs, here's
one of my favorite muscle-building exercises: alternating lunges.
With your hands on your hips, take a step forward with your
right leg until your front knee is bent 90 degrees and your
back knee almost touches the ground. Push off from your leading
foot and return to the starting position. Repeat with your
left leg.
This
exercise will build strong legs and a strong back. It will
even increase your lung capacity. (And as I told you Thursday,
there's a strong link between lung capacity and longevity.)
Try doing 10 alternating lunges in the morning when you get
up. Rest a minute and do it again.
[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.]
Notes
From Michael Masterson's Blog: New Internet Businesses -
Bits and Pieces in the News
The Wall
Street Journal reported on the fast rise of fantasy
betting - a clever new business that offers gamblers a
chance to play their favorite games in competition with
other players for prizes.
In
recent years, lots of these sorts of websites have sprung up,
the WSJ said, including Faniq.com, NBX.com, Fanlete.com,
Pickheads.com, and Wagerline.com. These sites "effectively
allow U.S. consumers to engage in legal online gambling." The
regular online gambling industry is said to be a $12 billion
industry and growing.
Another
interesting Internet "fantasy" phenomenon: Second
Life, an online service that allows users to create a parallel
world where their virtual selves can enjoy a better life. (This
is pretty scary and exciting.)
And
it's not just teenagers who are populating social networking
sites (like YouTube and MySpace). Younger children are rushing
to sites like Imbee.com and NeoPets.com, according to an article
by Sue Shellenbarger.
"The
under-16 sites pose few of the hazards linked to networking
sites for older people," she said. "The activities
range from chats and blogging to creating virtual pets or characters
and acting out roles in virtual cities."
[Ed.
Note: Read the rest of this article on Michael Masterson's
blog at http://www.michaelmasterson.net.]
-
Michael Masterson
* 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: Captious
"Captious" (KAP-shus)
- from the Latin for "to take, to seize" - describes
an excessive tendency to find fault or raise objections.
Example
(as used by M.R. James in The
Haunted Dolls' House and Other Stories): "Mr
Bowman had, I think, been keeping Christmas Eve, and was a
little inclined to be captious: at least, he was not on foot
very early, and to judge from what I could hear, neither men
nor maids could do anything to please him."
