Issue #2623

• WEALTHY: Even monopolies aren’t immune to this recession (Andrew Gordon)


• HEALTHY: How many pesticides do you absorb? (Kelley Herring)


• WISE: Robert Frost on the best way out of anything

• Has the economy got you down? (Michael Masterson)


• A 5-word tactic that can help you persuade… anyone (Suzanne Richardson)


• It’s Good to Know… if you’re paying too much for your cellphone service


• Add “catbird seat” to your vocabulary

Put More Money in Your Pocket with Step-by-Step Cash-Generating Secrets from “America’s Top Copywriter”

McGraw-Hill calls him “America’s top copywriter.” Joe Vitale calls him “a prolific advertising genius.” American Writers and Artists, Inc. calls him “a legend.”

Now’s your chance to call him “mentor.”

This past weekend, world-class copywriter and Internet marketing superstar Bob Bly revealed dozens of his top secrets for making money with the Internet.

Better yet, he gave step-by-step instructions for how each attendee could follow in his footsteps, including how to:

• Earn 20 times more per hour than you do now, starting almost instantly…

• Write an email in five minutes that could give you nearly 5 figures in profits in a week… 

• Generate online revenues of $20,000 a month “working” as little as 2 hours a week…

• Use a shockingly easy “hidden logic” method that can produce 25% – 50% more sales…

• And much MUCH more.

If you couldn’t take part in this intensive weekend seminar, I’m sorry. It was well worth every cent of the $5,000 cover charge.

But you can still get Bob’s specific, easy-to-follow advice for how you can make piles of cash selling information (or practically anything else) online.   

And you can get his top cash-generating secrets for a staggering 86% off the cost of the seminar! (But hurry – this massive fast-response discount ends at 5:00 p.m. Eastern today.)

If you’re looking for proven methods for putting cash in YOUR pocket, you need to read on here.

Why Utilities Are No Longer a Refuge for Safe Investors

By Andrew Gordon

About a month ago, I told subscribers to my INCOME service to sell the Virginia-based utility company Dominion Resources. I got them out with a double-digit profit.

Of all the utilities in the S&P 500, Dominion had the best earnings growth (38.5 percent) last quarter. So why did I tell my readers to get rid of the stock? When I recommended it in mid-2005, electricity consumption was still increasing and regulated rates were providing cover for rising energy costs. But now, that sector is heading in the wrong direction.

Hey, utilities have advantages – like fixed prices, monopoly-like markets, and a consistent revenue stream. But that revenue stream has sprung a few leaks. Listen to CEO Lewis Hay of Florida Power & Light (FPL)…

“A lot of people think demand for electricity is inelastic. It’s not. Our customers are cutting back, and they’re not paying their bills, either.”

The recession has finally caught up to the utilities. As a result, utilities are husbanding their cash along with all the other companies. Georgia Power is cutting back on spending. And in the strongest sign yet that the utility sector is no refuge for investors, two utilities cut their dividends last month: Ameren and Constellation Energy.

Investors made a lot of money shorting banks. I’m not ready to put utilities in the same camp as banking, but the weaker companies in the utility sector definitely present shorting opportunities.

[Ed. Note: Investment expert Andrew Gordon is just one of 14 masters of making money who will be giving you the inside scoop on some very hush-hush secrets for turning a nifty buck in the scary economic times we're all going through right now. Find out how to get your hands on these experts' SAFEST and most PROFITABLE income-generating and entrepreneurial opportunities right here.]

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“The best way out is always through.”

- Robert Frost

Defeating Depression Before It Defeats You

By Michael Masterson

Let me tell you a story…

About 30 years ago, I became friendly with a man who had a very successful printing business, as well as a significant personal fortune. He was a very charismatic guy – always good-natured, upbeat, full of fun, and easy to like.

Then – during the recession of the 1980s – his business collapsed. I don’t remember the details, but he had taken on a lot of debt and lost a few of his biggest clients. Then, suddenly, he was bankrupt.

When I heard about it, I called to console him and offer a helping hand. It was too late. Sobbing, his wife told me that he had killed himself.

I was shocked. Devastated. I couldn’t understand why he had done it. He had so much going for him. A beautiful family. Loving friends. Intelligence. Good looks. He was, in short, a person with great natural wealth. His financial wealth, as far as I was concerned, was just gravy.

Apparently, he didn’t see it that way.

Six months ago, another close friend lost his job due to our current recession. His income dropped from about half a million dollars a year to almost nothing. Within a few weeks, he had spiraled into a clinical depression. He would not leave the house. He would not look for work. He talked about suicide. I was afraid he would do it.

I visited him, hopeful I could talk him out of the hole he had dropped into. But all the support I gave him fell on deaf ears. He was consumed by his financial problems. He asked me to give him a job. I had nothing for him, but I told him I’d see what I could do. I wanted to buy some time.

I visited him again the following day. We talked about his financial situation. I was surprised to learn that he had millions of dollars in property and hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank. He was in much better shape than 99 percent of the rest of the world. Yet he was in despair, on the verge of suicide.

His problem, I realized, wasn’t a financial one at all. His problem was that his ego had suffered a near fatal blow. Without a high-income job, he saw himself as worthless. He had attached his self worth to his income. When his income disappeared, so did his self-esteem.

The next time I visited, I brought him a copy of Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking. In this classic self-help book, Peale observes that depression is “one of the great problems besetting people.” He argues that the root of most depression is a lack of self-esteem. He points to a survey of college students which indicated that, for 75 percent of them, self-esteem was the thing most lacking in their lives.

If you’ve ever choked up in an interview, forgotten your lines in a play, or blown an easy lay-up, you know how your self-esteem can take a little dip when your actions don’t meet your expectations. And when you feel like you have failed in a big way, you can be crushed. It’s hard to recover from that kind of blow.

That’s what I think happened to my friend – actually, both of my friends. They had decided that their financial setbacks were huge, personal failings. In both cases, the trouble was the result of an economic downturn, not foolish actions. Both were smart, hardworking guys who had been successful for many years. Then, for whatever reason, they failed… and they were broken.

Instead of thinking, “Gee, this isn’t working anymore. How can I change to prosper in this new world?” they must have thought, “I always secretly knew I was a fraud. This proves it. Now the whole world will know what a failure I am.”

The lesson here is that you don’t want to link your self-esteem to your ability to make money. As billionaire businesswoman Oprah Winfrey says, “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”

We are all being affected by the Great Recession. If you are like most people, you have lost half your life savings. You may feel your job is in jeopardy. You may have lost your job. You may be without income. But the worst thing you can do right now is sink into a depressive state. You’ll be good for nothing. You’ll be unable to enjoy time with friends and family. And you’ll be incapable of making a comeback.

Being depressed, a good friend once explained, is like falling into quicksand. The more you struggle, the deeper you get.

To avoid that quicksand, you have to change your thinking while you are still mentally healthy. You must detach yourself from the idea – if you have it – that your self worth is measured by your money. You must recognize that what counts most in your life is the minutes you spend learning and helping and growing – the time you spend helping other people, not dwelling on yourself.

In The Power of Positive Thinking, Peale says: “The blows of life, the accumulation of difficulties, the multiplication of problems tend to sap energy and leave you spent and discouraged. [It] is easy to lose track of your abilities and powers” – but by re-appraising your personal assets, you can convince yourself that “you are less defeated than you think you are.”

As an example, he tells how he counseled a 52-year-old man who came to him “in great despondency.” Everything in his life, the man said, had been “swept away” by a recent business setback. “Everything I built up over a lifetime is gone.”

Peale recognized that although the man had indeed experienced a serious setback, his chief problem was the way he viewed it. “Suppose we take a piece of paper and write down the values you have left,” he suggested. And so they did. Among other things, the list included:

• a wonderful wife – and a 30-year marriage
  
• three devoted children
  
• admiring friends, happy to help
  
• good physical health
  
• integrity

Not bad.

Make your own list right now. If you have trouble making that list, try this – a little trick I’ve recommended before in ETR. Imagine yourself as an observer at your own funeral. Surely you wouldn’t want to hear your spouse, your children, your friends and colleagues say things like, “He was a jerk, but he sure made a lot of money.”

Think about what you would like them to say about you. Those are the things that really matter – positive personal assets that you don’t lose just because times are tough.

If you’re feeling down, focusing on those positive personal assets will help you overcome the worst feelings you could possibly have about yourself. And no matter what happens to your job or your income, you won’t despair. You’ll be able to use all your natural resources to start over again. And the money will come back – as it always does when you have the right work ethic.

If you think what I said here can help a friend, pass it along. As for what happened to my friend who lost his job six months ago… that’s a story for another time.

[Ed. Note: One of the best ways to feel better about yourself, to feel as though you have purpose in your life, is to pursue something you're passionate about. And there's no better way to pursue your passion than to start a business related to it. Get a step-by-step guide to starting and growing an Internet business right here.]

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* Highly Recommended *

You Could Be Just Hours Away From Instant Internet Income

All you have to do is watch a simple video, and I’ll show you one of the most startling ways I’ve ever seen to make money in the shortest amount of time… within a few short hours of watching the presentation.

You will learn the exact plan that banked $187,296 in 24 hours for one man.  And you can copy it step for step.  And the best part is, once you put in just a few hours, you need not do any additional work.  You could very quickly have an “automatic” monthly income stream flowing into your bank account.  

This program is appropriately called Instant Internet Income and I guarantee it does exactly what I promise.  Take a look and discover how Jim Sheridan made this money so quickly.

The Most Important Aspect of Your Writing

By Suzanne Richardson

You can make your writing more powerful, more interesting, and more persuasive just by including one thing.

Consider the following e-mail. (The identifying details have been changed.)

———- Forwarded message ———-

From: Alice Todd

Date: Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 3:57 PM

Subject: advertising or having a column on ETR

To: AskETR@etrfeedback.com

Interested in advertising or having a column in ETR.

Talk to me, alice todd, 212-555-7717.

Here at ETR, we’re always looking for new joint venture partners and new contributors to our newsletter. But with this e-mail, “Alice” automatically puts herself on the bottom of our list.

Why? Because her message is missing a critical element – one that is important whether you’re sending an e-mail to a colleague, a sales letter to a customer, or a job application to a prospective boss.

With all but the most casual forms of writing (a quick note to your spouse, for instance), you’re trying to persuade your reader. To do something. To see something your way. At the very least, to keep reading. And you can’t do that unless you answer one question that’s going to be in his mind: “What’s in it for me?”

Your prospective customer doesn’t care that you have a stellar new product. Your potential boss doesn’t care that you need a job. Your reader really doesn’t care what you have to say. Unless you tell him, up front, how reading your e-mail/letter/ad is going to benefit him.

To do this, you have to put yourself in your reader’s shoes.

If, like Alice, you want to advertise your products in ETR, don’t just say “Talk to me” and include your phone number. Tell us how much money your top-selling product made last year. Tell us how many subscribers you have to your e-zine. Tell us how simple it will be to partner with you, because you’ll send us stacks of sales copy that has been proven to bring in new clients.

Answer your reader’s question – “What’s in it for me?” – and you’ll be well on your way to getting him to do what you want.

[Ed. Note: Writing persuasively is critical to making sales anywhere - especially on the Internet. Discover hundreds of proven strategies for making sales online from master copywriter Eugene Schwartz right here.]

Concerned About Diabetes? Go Organic

By Kelley Herring

Eating conventionally grown produce and meats and farm-raised fish? If so, you may be 38 times more likely to develop diabetes. A recent study published in Diabetes Care found a strong relationship between Type II diabetes and the body burden of six pollutants:

• a PCB: hexachlorobiphenyl
  
• 2 dioxins: heptadioxin and OCDdioxin
  
• 2 pesticides: oxychlordane and trans-nonachlor, and
  
• a pesticide metabolite: DDE, a metabolite of DDT

These contaminants were detectable in more than 80 percent of the study participants. And compared to participants in the lowest-exposure category, those in the highest-exposure category were almost 38 times more likely to have diabetes.

Don’t think you’re at risk? Think again. The average American takes in nearly a gallon of pesticides per year by eating conventionally grown fruits and vegetables.

Reduce your risk of diabetes (and many other chronic illnesses) by choosing only organic produce and meats and wild fish.

[Ed. Note: One of the best ways to stay healthy and live longer is to eat good foods. Nutrition expert Kelley Herring has collected dozens of her healthiest and most delicious recipes in her e-book Guilt Free Desserts. Pick up your copy today.]

For more advice on which foods you should – and shouldn’t – be eating to stay in top health, sign up for ETR’s free natural health newsletter.]

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It’s Good to Know: Are You Paying Too Much for Your Cellphone Service?

Are you getting the most out of your cellphone plan – or are you paying for minutes you never use?

The cost of a plan should come out to about 10 cents per minute if all the minutes are used each month. Instead, according to a recent study, most people use far fewer minutes than they’re eligible for – for an average cost of $3 per minute.

Take five minutes to look at your past six monthly bills. If you’re consistently not using all the minutes you’re paying for, look into a cheaper plan. You could save hundreds per year. But don’t go too low. If you use more than your allotted minutes, you’re going to pay a premium for them.

(Source: Consumerist and Los Angeles Times)

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* Highly Recommended *

Are You OK With (Smaller) Online Profits That Automatically Flow Into Your Bank Account Every Month?

Seems like everyone’s going for broke and trying to earn a million their first year online. In the meantime, a handful of people are happy as clams with automatic income streams – usually a few thousand dollars – fattening up their bank accounts each month.

Of course, you can set up as many of these income streams you want.  So if it’s more money you are after, then go for it!   Best part:  It only takes about an hour to set up and it’s easy to do. And then imagine yourself sitting back and watching the money roll in.

Sounds too easy, I know. But perhaps everyone is busy trying to make a killing online… and so they’ve overlooked this fast and easy way to make very nice (but not ridiculous) amounts of money. Why not take a peek today and see if this is right for you?

Word to the Wise: Catbird Seat

The “catbird seat” is a position of prominence or power. The expression is thought to refer to the habit of the catbird, a kind of mockingbird with a distinctive “mewing” call, to perch in high places.

Example (as used in The New York Times): “Colleges have been in the catbird seat for the past decade or so. As the number of high school students swelled, applications rose, allowing colleges to be more selective. And families benefiting from a flush stock market seemed willing to pay whatever tuition colleges charged. But all that has changed.”

[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker... build your self-confidence and intellect... increase your attractiveness to others... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's Words to the Wise CD Library.]

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