Don’t Be a One-Hit Wonder
Archives: Daily Issues
- WEALTHY: What would Buffett do? (Andrew Gordon)
- HEALTHY: Stay away from this food group if you’re trying to conceive (Kelley Herring)
- WISE: Anita Roddick on entrepreneurship
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- Is your business destined for extinction? (Michael Masterson)
- Mr. Ed was a zebra, right? (Jason Holland)
- It’s Fun to Know … do you LOL or laugh out loud?
- Add “concision” to your vocabulary
== Highly Recommended ==
The Missing Piece of the Internet-Riches Jigsaw Finally Revealed…
All this time, so many of the “gurus” kept this a secret, while they use it to make themselves big online profits.
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To discover the truth and get started on the road to making real money, click here…
When the Sky Is Falling, Should You Invest?
The good news: The market is offering bargain-basement sale prices on many stocks.
The bad news: Prices got that way from falling these last several months.
Should you invest in falling stocks or not?
Fast-falling share prices didn’t prevent legendary investor Warren Buffett from taking big stakes in Goldman Sachs and GE. And Buffett is a cautious investor who loves undervalued companies with a penchant for generating consistent profits year after year.
But it’s risky investing in falling stocks unless you have a very good idea of what you’re getting into. With a portfolio loaded with financial and industrial companies, Buffett was treading on very familiar ground with his latest investments. And don’t think that he wasn’t aware that these companies were also leaders in their respective sectors. He invested in the cream of the crop.
In a falling market, you have to be extra careful. Cheap value isn’t always good value. Invest in companies with outstanding track records of growing profits and leading their industry. And don’t stray outside your expertise and experience. By doing these things, you can greatly reduce risk and end up with some great stocks in your portfolio.
[Ed. Note: The economy may look bleak right now. But you still have opportunities to prosper - if you look in the right places. ETR Investment Director Andrew Gordon has pinpointed a method - which has been accurate 92% of the time - that you can use to make money on stocks as they fall. It all begins with a "red flag announcement." Learn what this "red flag" means, and how it can make you money, right here.]
“Nobody talks of entrepreneurship as survival, but that’s exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking.”
Anita Roddick
Don’t Be a One-Hit Wonder
In 1982, members of the pop band Tommy Tutone wrote “867-5309/Jenny,” a song about a guy desperately trying to get in touch with a girl named, of course, Jenny. It was at the top of the music charts for 40 weeks and made the band members rich and famous. At least for a while.
A couple of years – and a failed follow-up album – later, the lead singer was making a living as a software engineer, while his band mates were relegated to playing in bars. The band’s problem? They never wrote another hit song – not even a reasonably popular one. In musical history terms, Tommy Tutone was a one-hit wonder.
In the world of entrepreneurship, we have one-hit wonders too. In fact, they are probably more common among entrepreneurs than they are in the music industry. Tomima Edmark, a Dallas entrepreneur, released the Topsy Tail hairstyling gadget to widespread acclaim in 1992, but never produced another hit product (despite several attempts). Steven Wozniak co-founded Apple, but failed to make a mark (except in techie circles) with other ventures after leaving the company. Roy Raymond made millions with Victoria’s Secret, but when he sold it and tried his hand at children’s fashions, the business went bankrupt within a couple of years.
Are You a One-Hit Wonder?
The thing about being a one-hit-wonder is that you don’t feel like you are one while it’s happening. You feel like a big success. You’ve created or sold a product and it’s doing really well. Your business is growing. You are making plenty of money. It feels like you are living the American Dream. But then, suddenly, you lose everything.
Often, one-hit wonders fail because they put all their eggs in one basket. They have the wrong idea about how businesses are built. They’ve seen movies and read books that depict one-hit-wonders – people getting rich and living happily ever after because of a single invention or product – and they buy into it.
But business in the real world doesn’t work that way. To develop a business that will thrive, you have to create a machine that will produce new products and advertising campaigns all the time. You have to put the people and processes in place to continuously produce more and more. You can’t stop or even rest just because you’ve had a single success. You have to recognize that things change as time passes. If you are still trying to sell yesterday’s products tomorrow, after things have changed, you will be slammed so hard you won’t know what hit you.
I’ve not done any formal research on this, but I’d bet that most “successful” businesspeople are one-hit-wonders, either actual or in waiting.
I can think of a half-dozen people I know – including a few friends of mine – who are running one-hit-wonder enterprises. They are happy as can be, because they are making money and keeping busy. But when I look at their businesses, even from the outside, I can see the writing on the wall: Sooner or later, their one product or one promotional scheme or one market will change and their businesses won’t have any way to adjust to it. At first, sales will slow gradually. And they will respond by cutting costs and laying off people. “Things will turn around soon,” they’ll tell themselves. But things won’t turn around and their profits will disappear. Eventually, they will close down their businesses and wonder what went wrong.
Are You a One-Hit Wonder in Waiting?
Your business may be working fine right now. But if you have too many business assets in one basket, you may be a one-hit-wonder in waiting. Ask yourself the following questions:
- How many products do I sell right now?
- How many new products have I sold since I began?
- How many new products have I sold per year since I began?
- How many new products have I sold in the last three years?
- How big was my production budget three years ago?
- How big is it today?
- How big was my marketing budget three years ago?
- How big is it today?
It should be easy to pinpoint where you’re at. The more products you have, the more growth you’ve experienced and the further you are from being a one-hit wonder.
The problem with the one-hit-wonder mentality is that it cannot imagine good things going bad. It has no capacity to understand the universal principle of entropy – which tells us that everything naturally disintegrates. The one-hit mind believes that any success enjoyed is somehow deserved, perhaps even divinely given, and therefore destined to last a lifetime. The one-hit mind refuses to accept the overwhelming likelihood that its great product or promotion will one day be a thing of the past, and so it will not prepare for that by inventing or creating another.
The one-hit wonder problem affects most businesses in Stage One and Stage Two of their growth. (If you’ve read Ready, Fire, Aim, you know that means when they’re making from zero to 10 million dollars in revenue.) To get beyond that threshold, and thus beyond the risk of being a one-hit wonder, you have to focus on two things: innovation and speed.
As I said in Ready, Fire, Aim:
“It probably took you several years to produce and market your first product. To take your company to the next level, you will have to move much faster – at least twice as fast as you are comfortable moving right now.
“I’m talking about increasing the velocity of innovation. This includes the time it takes to brainstorm, develop, test, and produce new products. In Chapter 10, I talked about how you can get better at coming up with good ideas. But I also pointed out that if you don’t execute good ideas quickly, they will degenerate over time.
“Innovation matters. And so does speed. Combined, they give your business extraordinary growing power.”
[Ed. Note: Coming up with good ideas is half the battle - and our Internet marketing experts will fill your head with more ideas than you could learn in 12 lifetimes at ETR's 2008 Info Marketing Bootcamp. Then it's up to you to put them into action. Get a sneak peek at our lineup of superstar speakers and find out how you can meet them in person right here.]
You Can Keep Your Current Job While You Quickly Transition Into Your New Business
How in the world do these money-making programs expect you to work tons of hours building up a new business while holding down your current job? Many just aren’t practical. But I’ve found a new program that is loaded with methods to get you into a new business while you are working at another job.
You can put in as little as 2 to 3 hours a week in your new business, and still bring in nice profits fairly quickly – often in just a week or two. And once your business is bringing in enough income, you can quit your current job and focus full-time on your new business. You get to choose which business to get into (there are 20 to choose from), there’s no limit on what you can make, and it is easier than ever to get started.
There is, however, a limit on how many people I am sharing this with. You’ll learn why when checking out all the exciting details here.
Reader Feedback: “I find very valuable information in most every issue.”
“I’ve been an ETR reader since January 2006, and find very valuable information in most every issue.
“Being reminded by ETR to remain ‘focused’ has been very helpful to me. My brain seems to see patterns, connections, links, and similarities in a wide variety of topics. This oftentimes tends to influence me into drifting from the main subject.
“I learned long ago when writing a letter or e-mail … focus on only one question per letter, or something tends to get lost. ETR reminds me not to forget this in my day-to-day business activities.
“Thank you ETR!”
Girard Frank Bolton III
Mobile, AL
[Ed. Note: What's the best way to get more of the information and advice you want the most? Let us know what you like! Write to ETR at ReaderFeedback@gmail.com and tell us what's helped you, what you love, and what you want to see more of.]
The False Power of Authority
In the sixties, there was a black and white TV show about a talking horse. Recently, a friend told me she read that the horse – Mr. Ed – was really played by a zebra.
I told my friend it couldn’t possibly be true. I pointed out to her that unless they covered the horse in makeup, the stripes would still show up on black and white TV.
Her reply: “But I read it on Snopes, so it must be true!”
Uh-oh.
I love Snopes as much as the next person, but I recognize a dangerous statement when I hear one. If you don’t know, Snopes.com is a site that debunks myths and popular legends. Because of its stance as a truth-seeking resource, it is fact-based and considered trustworthy.
I thanked my friend for the call, and said I’d get back to her later. I had to get online and see for myself.
At the Snopes site, I found the “Mr. Ed was a zebra” story under “Popular Myths.” As I read it, I started to get a cold chill. Had Snopes been untrustworthy all along? Because this story was definitely bogus.
At the end of the story, there was a link to “Additional Information About This Page.” And there I got a big surprise … and breathed a sigh of relief.
It seems Snopes published an entire section of false stories to prove a point. They all link to an article explaining the False Power of Authority. In other words, just because Snopes is a “trusted” news source, you still shouldn’t blindly trust the information they provide. You should always be thinking critically. And that goes for everything you hear or read in the media.
As Michael Masterson says: “When the rational answers are in, you must compare them to your gut instinct.”
Want a Baby? Avoid This Bean
If you are trying to conceive, avoiding some foods may enhance your odds.
Soy foods contain an estrogenic compound called genistein. And according to recent research, even small doses of genistein can cause human sperm to “burn out.” What’s more, the researchers found that when both partners avoid soy around the woman’s most fertile days of the month, it might actually aid conception.
Read labels carefully. In addition to the obvious – like soy milk, soy beans, tofu, and soy vegetarian foods – soy is found in numerous pre-packaged foods, pizzas, “energy” bars, smoothie mixes, and much more.
If you’re having difficulty conceiving (like 6 million other Americans), try to stay away from soy foods. You just might get a joyful surprise.
[Ed. Note: Some foods - like soy - are touted as healthy when they could really be damaging your health. For advice on which foods to eat and which to avoid ... as well as unbiased information on critical health issues and the latest breakthroughs in fitness and nutrition, sign up for ETR's free natural health newsletter. Start receiving your roadmap to a healthier life right here.
And for a healthy, all-natural dessert that tastes devilishly delicious, try a slice of nutrition expert Kelley Herring's chocolate cake.]
It’s Fun to Know: Do You LOL or Laugh Out Loud?
Using your cellphone just to talk to people? Well, you’re in the minority. According to a Nielsen report, text messaging has become the primary function of cellphones. The average mobile user receives 350 texts per month, versus 200 voice calls.
The report cites teenagers as the main drivers of this trend. The typical teen receives an average of 1,700 texts a month! But businesspeople are also avid texters. They’ve taken advantage of the widespread availability of the QWERTY keyboard (similar to your computer’s keyboard) on cellphones, which makes texting quick and easy.
(Source: Nielsen and The New York Times)
== Highly Recommended ==
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Word to the Wise: Concision
“Concision” (kun-SIZH-un) is terseness and economy in writing and speaking – expressing a great deal in just a few words.
Example (as used by Victor Hugo): “Concision in style, precision in thought, decision in life.”
[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 new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008
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