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WEALTH
Are
You Wearing Lawsuit Repellent?
Appearing
"broke" is the best lawsuit repellent money can buy.
That is why you may not want your real estate portfolio to be
in your name. Bill Bronchick, attorney and real estate investor,
suggests you hold title to your real estate in a "land
trust." A land trust is a revocable, living trust used
to title ownership of real estate. Title is held in the name
of a trustee, who is forbidden to reveal the name of the owner.
If a judgment is entered against you, a lien will not automatically
attach to the property, since it is not in your name.
(Source:
"Get
That Property Out of Your Name" by Bill
Bronchick)
UK
Food Standards Agency Presents a Formula for Dietary Disaster
The
Food Standards Agency (FSA) in the UK states on its website:
"Most people don't need to take vitamin supplements, because
they can get all the nutrients they need from a healthy balanced
diet."
Of
course, the FSA suggests fruits and vegetables - but what else
should that "healthy, balanced diet" consist of? According
to the website:
-
"We
should be eating lots of starchy foods every day. This means
foods such as rice, pasta, bread, cereals, and potatoes."
-
"Rather
than avoiding starchy foods, it's better to try and base
your meals on them, so they make up about a third of your
diet."
-
"Have
more rice and pasta and less sauce."
-
"If
you're having sausages and mash [mashed potatoes] - have
more of the mash, some vegetables, and one less sausage."
Brilliant!
Eat more of the foods with the highest glycemic load. Sounds
like the perfect recipe for obesity and diabetes. And it sounds
a lot like the FSA's website was written by a grain industry
trade group.
If
you're interested, here's a link to it: Click
here.
--
Jon Herring
WISDOM
Farewell
to the Wit and Wisdom of Dan Rather
When
Dan Rather retires on March 9th, many loyal viewers will miss
his colloquialisms. (See "Word to the Wise," below.)
For
example:
-
"Well,
we've said it many times - if a frog had side pockets, he'd
carry a handgun."
-
"Are
your fingernails beginning to sweat?"
-
"This
[race] is as tight as the rusted lug nuts on a '55 Ford."
-
"This
race is as hot and tight as a too-small bathing suit on
a too-long car ride home from the beach."
-
"Frankly,
we don't know whether to run, to watch, or to bark at the
moon."
-
"When
the going gets weird, anchormen punt."
(Source:
The Atlantic Monthly)
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TODAY'S
MESSAGE
Mario
and Me
by
Robert Ringer
I
happened to be going through some old files the other day, and
came across a 1978 article about blockbuster bestsellers. The
reason I saved the article was that it included a list of "Mario
Puzo's Godfatherly Rules for Writing a Bestselling Novel."
Puzo,
who passed away in 1999, wrote a number of bestselling novels,
including The Godfather, Fools Die, and The Last Don.
But what I really liked about Puzo was his legendary tongue-in-cheek
interviews. One of my favorite Puzo comments was when he warned
aspiring scriptwriters that the only way to get a fair deal
in Hollywood was to go into the studio with a mask and gun.
While
all my books to date have been nonfiction, I was amazed at how
many of Puzo's rules apply not only to nonfiction books as well,
but to life in general. In this article, I'm going to reveal
the five Puzo rules that I believe can best be applied to your
daily life.
Puzo
Rule No. 1: "Never show your stuff to anybody. You can
get inhibited."
Anyone
who is serious about writing - whether it's fiction, nonfiction,
or copywriting - should take this advice seriously. The most
dynamic writing is from the heart.
While
my first two books, from a writing standpoint, were not in a
class with my more current books, they grabbed people in a way
that publishers are incapable of understanding. There is no
question in my mind that the reason people have been so zealous
about them over the years is because I "let it all hang
out" in my storytelling.
In
other words, by volunteering my mistakes and downfalls, readers
can easily relate to my books. Yet, on those few occasions when
I showed my manuscript to others, they would usually volunteer
suggestions about taking out material that was too "disrobing."
Be
careful about who you show your work to, no matter what business
you're in. When you become inhibited, your creativity and genius
get suffocated in the process.
Puzo
Rule No. 2: "Rewriting is the whole secret to writing."
Actually,
I first learned this secret from the late Ayn Rand, who pointed
out that there's no such thing as writing; there's only rewriting.
I've based my whole career on this principle.
I
once asked an elderly friend of mine, who was Bob Hope's executive
producer for 25 years, if it was difficult to write a joke.
He replied, "It's no more difficult than writing a postcard,
and to write a postcard is easy. But to write a good
postcard is hard."
I
recall someone once saying to me, "It must be nice to be
able to knock out a book as quickly as you do." I asked
what made him think I could "knock out" a book quickly.
He
responded, "Because your books are written so simply, it's
obvious that you don't put a lot of time into them." Displaying
remarkable control over my emotions, I quickly reminded myself
that capital punishment had been reinstated.
So,
in lieu of going the homicide route, I smiled and said, "I
guess you're right. I'm lucky to have such an easy job."
I then calmly walked away.
All
quality products - not just books - are easy for the consumer
for only one reason: The people who create them put a ton of
work into making them easy. In my case, I do about
25 drafts of every book I write. The main purpose of doing all
those rewrites is to make it as clear and easy as possible for
the reader to understand what I'm saying.
Perhaps
advertising pioneer Claude Hopkins put it best when he said,
"Genius is the art of taking pains." Repetition, polishing,
relentlessly striving to make your product the best it can be
is what lifts you above the competition.
Puzo
Rule No. 3: "Never sell your book to the movies until after
it is published."
I've
employed the essence of this strategy for more than two decades,
and one of the things I've found is that it's also a great mistake
- at least for a first-time author - to try to make a publishing
deal on the basis of an outline. And it's just as true of any
other industry when it comes to making a deal on the basis of
a business plan alone.
Why?
Because people either can't, or won't, stretch their imaginations
enough to share your vision. Regardless of what business you're
in, be sure to have something concrete to show the other person
if you're trying to raise money or make a deal of any kind.
I
attribute much of my early success as an author to the fact
that I not only wrote my books before showing them to a paperback
publisher, but promoted the hardcover editions into bestsellers
first. Once a book was a success in hardcover, I was then able
to command a huge advance from a paperback publisher.
Puzo
Rule No. 4: "Never let a domestic quarrel ruin a day's
writing. If you can't start the next day fresh, get rid of your
wife."
Vintage
Puzo - tongue-in-cheek, yet good advice. In my book Action!
Nothing Happens Until Something Moves, I advise readers:
"A
spouse who continually berates you for pursuing your dreams
is a classic example of someone close to you who can derail
your best-laid plans. It still amazes me how many letters I
have received throughout my career from people who have told
me that they parted ways with a spouse or domestic partner after
reading one of my books, almost always resulting in a better
life. This used to make me feel uncomfortable, but after rechecking
my premises I began to feel good about the fact that I had helped
so many people find happier, more fulfilling lives. Don't for
a second think that I'm making light of divorce, but spending
a lifetime with a person who makes every minute of your existence
unpleasant is a far worse alternative than enduring the pain
of a divorce."
I
emphasize that, unlike Puzo, I used the word "spouse,"
not "wife." In fact, most of the letters I've received
from people who got rid of their spouses have been from women.
Puzo
Rule No. 5: "Never trust anybody but yourself. That includes
critics, friends, and especially publishers."
This
is closely related to Rule No. 1, but it goes beyond the problem
of inhibition. It gets at the very heart of creating work that
represents your own skills and beliefs rather than what someone
else thinks your work should be.
When
it comes to writing, the late essayist E.B. White summed it
up perfectly when he wrote, "The whole duty of a writer
is to please and satisfy himself, and the true writer always
plays to an audience of one."
This
can sometimes create a sticky situation between an author and
an editor. So-called line editing, or proofreading, is one thing.
But content editing is quite another. Though editors, on the
whole, tend to be very bright people with excellent technical
skills, it takes a special kind of editor not to overreach.
But
at least editors are professionals. What's alarming is how easily
many would-be authors are influenced by the input of their nonprofessional
friends and associates. If you don't have enough confidence
in your writing - or whatever it is that you do for a living
- to follow your own instincts, you should change professions.
Note
that Puzo also stated "especially publishers." Non-authors
and first-time authors tend to believe that publishers are omniscient.
But, in truth, Puzo was right: Publishers are the worst possible
judges of your material.
Which
makes it kind of difficult, since most writers are looking to
those very publishers to anoint their work and publish it. I
have to admit that the easiest way to find out if your book
has potential is to ask a major publisher to evaluate it - but
not for the reasons you might assume.
Experience
has taught me that if a mainstream publisher says your book
is a surefire bestseller, you've probably written a dog. On
the other hand, if the publisher gives it a "thumbs down,"
it's an excellent sign that you have a great book on your hands.
How
can publishers - as well as experts in other fields - be so
consistently wrong? To oversimplify it, I'm convinced it's because
publishing is such an incestuous industry that those on the
inside become hopelessly myopic. To paraphrase Viktor Frankl,
an expert is nothing more than a person who no longer sees the
forest of truth for the trees of facts.
Finally,
a parting Mario Puzo bonus for you, straight out of The
Godfather: "He made him an offer he couldn't refuse."
Now,
I'm not suggesting that you start putting horse's heads in people's
beds when things don't work out your way. (Though I might have
enjoyed doing just that to the guy who told me how easy my job
was.) What I am suggesting is that when it comes to deal making,
your mindset should be to make the offer so good that the other
person can't resist taking you up on it. This is also a great
approach to writing ad copy. The perfect ad is one in which
the prospect feels that he literally can't refuse the offer.
Do
yourself a favor and make it a point to abide by Mario Puzo's
rules. If you fail to do so, don't be surprised if, one fine
day, some of the goodfellas drop around to pay you a visit.
And if that should happen, just remember that I tried to warn
you.
ACTION!
NOTHING HAPPENS UNTIL SOMETHING MOVES
Robert Ringer is the author of three
#1 best sellers, two of which have been listed by The
New York Times among the 15 best-selling motivational
books of all time. Now, in his latest and most eye-opening
work — Action!
Nothing Happens Until Something Moves
— he offers profound insights into why action
is the key element in determining how an individual’s
life plays out.
Action!
not only gives you the tools to instantly implement
Robert Ringer’s powerful strategies, but to make
positive changes that will permanently elevate
you to a new plateau in all areas of your life.
|
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TODAY'S
ACTION PLAN
Everyone
has unique talents and abilities. Some people I know have the
wonderful talent of making those around them feel appreciated.
Others are good thinkers or good talkers. What is your unique
talent?
Today,
think about how you can develop that skill to further your goals.
WORD
TO THE WISE
A
"colloquialism" (kuh-LOW-kwee-uh-liz-um)
is an expression that tries to imitate informal speech.
Example
(as used in today's Wisdom article, above): "When Dan Rather
retires on March 9th, we'll be among those who are going to
miss his colloquialisms."
