* Highly
Recommended *
He'd
Have Called Them Crazy - Or Worse!
With
the Internet, it's now possible to spend no more than a few
dollars, write a couple of very basic ads, and have instant
access to millions of potential customers all in a matter of
minutes.
If
anyone had told Jim Sheridan he could bank thousands in just
24 hours. . . without any product of his own. . . without spending
a penny on getting it or promoting it, he'd have justifiably
said they were nuts.
But
Jim made a decision that he would overcome his skeptical nature
and give it a go. Boy, is he glad he did! That one deal alone
banked him $187,296 in one day.
The
great news is - you can copy Jim’s plan exactly. The
program is called Instant Internet Income and I guarantee it
does exactly what it says it does.
Take
a look at how Jim brought in over $175,000 in a single
day!
-
Patrick Coffey
An
Internet Tool to Help You Search for Properties
By
Marc Charles
Whether
you're looking for a new home or an investment property, you'll
be interested in checking out Trulia.com. Trulia enables you
to analyze millions of homes nationwide - and the range is
expanding as we speak.
My
favorite Trulia feature is Interactive Heat Maps, visual representations
of home prices - by neighborhood or ZIP code - in color. For
example, red could indicate areas with an average listing price
of $101,000 and up.
I
recently used Trulia to search for investment candidates around
Pinehurst, NC. I was amazed at the differences in valuation
between nearly identical homes within a half-mile of each other.
Is being on a fairway really worth $350,000 more than having
a home six blocks away?
Trulia
also allows you to compare average listing prices, average
sales prices, median sales prices, average prices per square
foot, as well as the user search popularity of particular areas.
This
site is a work in progress, so several parts of the country
are not yet available. But Trulia is a great way to "see" real
estate opportunities that you might be interested in buying.
[Ed.
Note: Marc Charles is the editor of ETR's Profit
Center Dispatch service. If you'd like
to know more about the hot new business opportunities he discovers
every week for his subscribers, look into it.]
"There
is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody
in the company from the chairman on down, simply
by spending his money somewhere else."
-
Sam Walton
Wal-Mart:
2 Ways of Looking at It
By
Michael Masterson
If
you wanted to build an economic model for the world, which
would you choose - a system based on survival of the fittest
... or one based on survival of the least fit?
That
seems to me to be the philosophical backdrop to the argument
that has been taking hold about Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart,
as you may know, is the world's biggest company, with sales
that dwarf those of its competitors.
Sam
Walton started with a very simple marketing idea: quality goods
for the lowest possible prices. He didn't actually always deliver
the lowest price for every item. What he did - and this was
very clever - was sell one product of each type (one brand
of garment, one brand of clock, one brand of sewing machine)
at a price that was cheaper than that of any of his competitors.
This
base-price tactic was heavily advertised and used as a lure
to get customers in the door. Once they got in and verified
that they could get a Halloween lantern for 78 cents, they
would look around at all the other Halloween stuff they could
buy, mistakenly assuming that all of it was also priced below
the competition.
Wal-Mart
doesn't say it beats every competitor on every price. It advertises
its lead products and lets the customers come to their own
conclusions about the rest.
To
keep prices low, it has become masterful at reducing costs
through efficient management and the use of technology (in
which Wal-Mart is a world leader), eliminating waste, and keeping
wages low.
This
strategy has worked amazingly well. The company has grown from
just a single store less than 100 years ago to thousands in
America and hundreds more overseas.
I
recently saw a two-year-old TV program about Wal-Mart that
was titled "Is Wal-Mart Good for America?"
The
reporter (Hedrick Smith) did a reasonably good job of presenting
his point of view - that Wal-Mart is changing the way business
is done in America for the worse. By developing the largest
retail market in the world (sales in 2005 were something like
$335 billion), it is in a position to dictate what manufacturers
should do.
Along
with Target and other huge retailers, Wal-Mart has been forcing
manufacturers to produce cheaper and cheaper products, often
by relocating their businesses overseas - primarily in China.
Trade
with China was opened up during the Nixon years. And when Bill
Clinton signed an expanded agreement with that country, he
suggested that China's 1.2 billion population would become
a big market for American manufacturers. What has happened
instead is that the U.S. is now buying something like $40 billion
a year in retail goods and exporting only about $4 billion
in raw goods to China. "We've become like a third-world
nation," Smith said.
The
program highlighted the fate of Rubbermaid, a company that
refused to cooperate with Wal-Mart's price demands and eventually
went out of business, laying off thousands of people.
If
you like lower prices, you have to like what Wal-Mart is doing,
Smith concluded. But if you don't want to see America's manufacturing
jobs continue to disappear to Chinese competition, you must
see what it is doing as evil.
Of
course, there is another way of looking at this - which the
program hinted at in two very brief interviews with a spokesman
for the Cato Institute (a libertarian think tank headquartered
in Washington, D.C.). He readily admitted that it's impossible
for U.S. labor to compete with lower-priced labor in China.
But he also pointed out that lower-priced labor results in
lower-priced goods ... which leaves more money for consumers
to spend elsewhere. The extra money spent elsewhere increases
the size of other industries, which must, in turn, hire more
people. So, in theory, the net labor force should be the same.
But
it will be the same only if U.S. entrepreneurs are fast enough
and smart enough to create new businesses that can capture
that saved money. Since we can no longer compete in the manufacturing
world, we have to compete in other areas where we do have advantages
(or at least don't suffer disadvantages). And it seems to me
those are primarily areas that tap into our intellectual resources:
research, patents, marketing, entertainment, and information
publishing.
Nobody
is better suited to service the intellectual needs and desires
of the American public than American marketers. In fact, America's
ability to market ideas (and by "ideas," I mean everything
from Tom Cruise to McDonald's) has a global reach. It works
as well in Xian as it does in Baltimore.
If
Wal-Mart's pricing strategy is doing something bad for the
U.S., the simple solution is to restrict free trade and force
Americans to "buy American." But this kind of centralized
control of the market has never worked. Think of what happened
in the USSR and Cuba, for example. They may have been able
to keep unemployment low - but, at the same time, wages, per-capita
income, and their standard of living declined compared to the
rest of the world.
By
forcing lower prices, the quality of manufactured goods drops.
Consumer goods (especially brand-name items) become scarce.
A black market develops. Taxes go unpaid. And, eventually,
the economy collapses.
The
other way of looking at lower prices is to say that they are
good because they create better values for the consumer - and
that forces all manufacturers to improve or go out of business.
The
world moves forward. Yes, the less fit are penalized ... but
isn't that better than penalizing the more fit?
[Ed.
Note: What do you think? Is Michael right? Or way off base?
Voice your opinion on Speak
Out, ETR's readers' forum. Include your name
and hometown ... and we might include your comments in a future
issue.]
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Fat
Is Not the Enemy
By
Al Sears, MD
People
often refer to the "French Paradox." This is the
notion that French people eat foods high in saturated fat,
but never get fat. To me, that's not a paradox. There's no
convincing evidence that saturated fats pack on the pounds.
It's more useful to think about the "American Paradox" -
a nation full of unhealthy people obsessed with healthy eating.
At
the root of this disorder is the guilt Americans feel when
they eat foods they really love - like steak, eggs, and bacon.
All the favorites that we've been conditioned to fear with
the dreaded word "cholesterol."
Most
sources tell you to avoid fat in favor of low-fat, vegetarian,
or whole-grain artificial diets. But if you take a closer look
(and avoid the commercial interests), you'll discover that
the secret to reducing bad cholesterol isn't avoiding fat.
Studies show that if you combine the right nutritional elements
you can reduce your bad cholesterol (LDL) as much as, and in
many cases more than, the low-fat junk diets or even prescription
statin drugs.
Avoidance
of fat in favor of grains will increase your risk
of heart disease, because diets that are high in grains promote
high insulin levels. And high insulin levels have been shown
to have a direct correlation to heart disease. So here's the
key: Choose the right fats (rich in omega-3 fatty acids) and
healthy proteins (rich in essential amino acids).
Choosing
the right fats means eating more fish and the right kind of
red meat. Fish is high in omega-3s. It also has a complete
mixture of all the essential amino acids in a bio-available,
rapidly absorbable protein. And, yes, you can still eat red
meat, even steak. But, as Jon Herring advised on Tuesday,
choose cuts of meat from naturally raised, hormone-free, grass-fed
animals. That's the important caveat. Studies show that grass-fed
beef has more omega-3s than most fish.
[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.]
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Wrong Link for Dr. Sears Essay
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you tried to get a copy of Dr. Sears’ latest book from
his essay yesterday, you were sent to the wrong website. Sorry… PACE:
Rediscover Your Native Fitness is now available
right HERE.
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the long-awaited release from one of the nation’s leading
authorities on fitness. His revolutionary - and patented -
PACE® program prevents heart attacks, pumps up your lung
volume and burns fat like nothing else in the world. And it
only takes minutes a day!
Feedback
Friday: Matching Mentors to Proteges
In Message
#1873, Michael Masterson talked about
the great mentors who contributed to his success. He
also wondered whether some people fail to succeed just
because they haven't made the right personal connections.
Many readers responded to the article. Here's what some
of them had to say...
"I
agree with Michael that choosing the correct partners in
your network makes all the difference in the world. At the
very least, a person will always learn something valuable
that he or she may not have known otherwise. I find it interesting
that he has been able to get along with several different
personality types. It's a testament to his nature, and shows
how important mutual respect is in any kind of relationship.
Thanks for the thoughtful article! Keep up the good work."
-
Paul McFadden
Ravensdale, WA
"I
read ETR daily and enjoy it. Your request for info on my
mentors, their personalities, and how they intrigued and
challenged me... I really had to think about it, because
I have had many more negative experiences than positive ones.
"My
first business mentor was RJ, who taught me how to analyze,
plan, implement, celebrate, and retain knowledge on every
project. Thanks to him, I doubled my base salary in five
years and my bonuses, awards, and positive learning experiences
went through the roof.
"SK
taught me how to turn lemons into lemonade. She taught me
that long-term business relationships are based on mutual
benefit - a win-win ideology. She always had high expectations
for me and watched to make sure I was on the right track
to achieving my goals. Our frequent conversations kept me
focused. She expected me to use the knowledge I already had,
and taught me what I needed to keep growing. In my analysis,
she is the best manager I ever had.
"The
greatest mentor of my life was my dad. He was quiet yet calmly
charismatic. He had an inner, yet visible, air of self-confidence.
He taught me how to weather the storms of life and never
buckle under pressure.
"I
now know that I clicked with each of these mentors because
they could teach me something I didn't know. And I helped
them hit their goals by implementing their teachings."
-
Tom Ross
Springfield, MO
"I
think you've hit the nail on the head with this one. For
as many ideas as I've had through the years and interests
in making something work, the one connection I haven't been
able to make is with a partner or mentor to work with. I
would gladly have volunteered my time to work with someone
on their own projects in order to learn. However, the right
connections have eluded me so far."
-
Rosa K
Oak Ridge, TN
* Highly
Recommended *
Give
Yourself a Nice Pay Raise - And A Three Day Weekend, Every
Weekend
By
the end of this week, you can give yourself a pay raise. How
does an extra $20/hr sound... and schedule a few days vacation
while you're at it!
After
a month or two, how about another raise... to $2,000 a week.
It's
happening everywhere. Ordinary people -- including folks who
never finished school -- starting their own businesses... and
making side incomes in the neighborhood of $40,000... $60,000...
even $100,000 or more a year.
They're
living the American Dream. Now it's time for you to start living
it too. Read
on...
-
Patrick Coffey
Word
to the Wise: Perspicacity
"Perspicacity" -
from the Latin for "sharp-sighted" - means clearness
of understanding or insight.
Example
(as used by Jonathan Keates in Stendhal): "Doubtless
these thumbnail sketches, like everything else Stendhal wrote,
were intended ultimately to relate to his own notion of himself
as a creature of invincible perspicacity and sophistication."
