The Worst Marketing Mistake Bob Bly Ever Made – and How to Avoid It
Archives: Daily Issues
- WEALTHY: Roger’s transition to a new career (Michael Masterson)
- HEALTHY: How bad is that bucket of fried chicken? (Jon Herring)
- WISE: Goethe on taking precautions
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- 5 ways to avoid an Internet marketing disaster (Bob Bly)
- Say goodbye to Fido, hello to profits (Marc Charles)
- Add "attenuate" to your vocabulary
Nine Ways To Explode More Profits
This week my colleague Jay Abraham is practically giving away a revolutionary business growth system for pennies-on-the dollar.
Jay will send you a comprehensive business growth system, containing some of his best money-making ideas, methods and concepts to study, apply and prosper from… and he will only charge you a modest processing fee to get it produced, packed and shipped off to you.
Jay receives $5,000 per hour for his consulting… and that’s when you can get him. A full day would run you $40,000! His tape sets alone normally sell from $500 to $2,000, and live training programs range from $5,000 to as much as $25,000 for a single event.
If you want to start making a ton more money and have a clear, direct path to real prosperity and business wealth, you owe it to yourself to look into this program.!
Dear Michael Masterson: "What career would you recommend for me to pursue?"
"I read your book Seven Years to Seven Figures and it has really inspired me to go after what I’ve always wanted, financial independence.
"I’m 24 years old and currently an Air Traffic Controller with the U.S. Air Force. I only have one year left on my commitment to Uncle Sam, and then I’m getting out to pursue a career where I can make more money or possibly become a business owner.
"I have been researching two specific careers – mortgage broker and real estate agent – but I still have not fully decided. Do you think either of those careers has the potential to make me wealthy? What career would you recommend for me to pursue? I am outgoing and usually very good with people. Most of my coworkers say that I know everybody because everywhere I go, I meet up with people I know from somewhere.
"Hey Mr. Masterson, thank you for the great tips and advice you offered in your book. I’m reading it again for the second time, because I don’t want to miss anything."
SSgt. Roger T. Ledoux
American Samoa
Dear Roger,
Of the two, I would recommend being a mortgage broker – but there is no reason why you can’t do both. That way, you can work both sides of the table.
Based on what you said, I’m’ sure you have the basics of what it takes to be a good salesperson. You are outgoing. You enjoy people. And you are ambitious. Being successful as a real estate agent takes time, though. You will almost certainly have to start at the bottom and work your way up. In general, what you have to remember is this: When you begin your career, spend at least 80 percent of your time getting listings. But don’t take so many listings that you are too busy to service your clients.
Some agents look for the short money. They think only about getting listings. They are attentive and congenial with clients until they get the contract signed – then they forget about the client until the contract is up for renewal.
Your future depends on getting bigger and bigger listings, and that will happen naturally if you always treat your clients well. Don’t lie to them. Don’t cheat them. Keep your appointments. Give them what they want, not what’s best for you. As a mortgage broker, you have to do the same. You must resist the urge to sell clients the financing package that gives you the biggest return.
No matter which path you choose to take, recognize that you have two possessions that you must treat like gold. One is your time. There are only so many hours in the day, so make sure you are always "upgrading" their value by doing work that is increasingly more remunerative. Your second invaluable possession is your character. If you always act in your clients’ best interests, making money will become easier and easier as time goes by.
One final point. As you become more knowledgeable about real estate, you will have opportunities to invest in it. This may turn out to be the most important aspect of your wealth-building career.
I asked LL, a former protege who is a successful real estate agent, to offer a few additional remarks. This is what she said …
Real estate is a rewarding, wonderful, and potentially lucrative business. You can do the right thing, make a difference in people’s lives, and make a great living. It doesn’t get much better than that!
Here are six things to keep in mind when going into real estate (or any business):
- Your clients are your lifeblood. They feed you, clothe you, allow you to be successful and independent. Without them, nothing happens.
- You must roll up your sleeves and get in the trenches for your client. If getting a lower sales price reduces your commission but saves your client money, lose some money.
- Don’t ever get seduced by greed. Make every client – no matter how big or small – feel that he is important and that you will do everything in your power to help him achieve his dreams.
- Don’t ever prejudge a potential client. One afternoon when I was swamped with paperwork, a beat-up Ford Taurus parked in my lot. The humbly dressed people who came out of the car asked if I could help them. So I did. Three days later, they bought a home from me for $1.4 million in cash.
- Know your value. Confidence breeds success. Act like the person you want to become, and people will start seeing you as that person.
- Have a positive attitude! Every day is a fresh start with the potential for new and exciting possibilities. Clients want to be around people who exude good, positive energy!
- Michael Masterson
[Ed. Note: Interested in learning more about the business end of real estate? Check out ETR's Main Street Millionaire program.]
"Precaution is better than cure."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The Worst Internet Marketing Mistake I Ever Made – and How to Avoid It
By Bob Bly
To say it wasn’t a great way to start the New Year would be putting it mildly.
I came into the office on January 2 at 7:00 a.m., my usual time. A few hours later, I clicked onto one of the two dozen or so product-specific micro-sites for my online business … only to find it gone.
I quickly clicked on the other micro-sites on the Products page of my website (bly.com). All gone.
Next, a panicked call to my Web-hosting service – with even worse results: a recorded message telling me the number had been disconnected.
Holy cow!
In essence, my entire Internet marketing business … a $200,000 a year passive income stream … had been shut down, in a single morning, without warning. And I had no idea how to fix it – or whether it could be fixed.
I dashed off an e-mail to my website designer telling him what had happened … and that he might need to reload back-up copies of the HTML code for all my micro-sites.
"What back-up copies?" he e-mailed back a few minutes later. "We don’t keep back-up copies. But you can transfer the HTML code from the actual live site to a new server," he continued, "as long as you have the access codes to each site."
Access codes? What the heck was that?
Of course, the only one with those access codes was my Web-hosting guy … who had mysteriously vanished from the face of the Earth.
Through sheer luck, everything worked out – and within 48 hours, my Internet marketing business was back online. My sites came back up. I found a new hosting service, and moved all the sites to their server.
Heed my advice …
I’ve taken steps to prevent a similar disaster from occurring in the future … and you should do the same.
- First, only deal with a Web-hosting service where you can reach a real, live person during business hours. In fact, the same advice goes for any service that’s "mission-critical" to your business. If a real person at the company won’t talk to you, don’t use them.
- Second, insist that your designer archive back-up copies for every website or page he creates for you.
- Third, have your designer give you a copy of the HTML code for all your sites and pages … and keep duplicate copies on your own PC.
- Fourth, make sure you – or someone in your office – keep a record of all user names, codes, and passwords needed to get into your existing websites. Don’t say, "My Webmaster has them" or "I can just call the Web-hosting company." That won’t do any good if you can’t reach them.
- Fifth, identify back-up vendors for all mission-critical services you use in your Internet marketing business. For me, these include Web-hosting … website design … the maintenance of my e-list … e-zine distribution … credit card processing … metrics tracking and measurement … shopping cart … and autoresponder. Reason: You don’t want to be at the mercy of a single supplier … no matter how much you like them.
The reliability of such services is of major importance for the small Internet marketing entrepreneur. A glitch in Web-hosting or your shopping cart, for example, effectively shuts down your entire operation. If your online sales are $7,000 a week, every day your sites are down costs you $1,000 in sales you can never get back.
You also have to be concerned with how the cost of these services figures into your ROMD (Return on Marketing Dollars) – a principle taught by Internet marketing guru Fred Gleeck. To maximize ROMD, it’s not enough to generate a high volume of sales – you have to do it at a reasonable cost. The lower your expenditures, the greater your ROMD for a given volume of sales.
And keep in mind that as your Internet business grows, you’re probably going to need to make some changes. A service that’s geared to the typical SOHO (small office/home office) may not make financial sense for you down the line.
Take Web-hosting.
There are plenty of reliable Web-hosting services that can host a site for fees ranging from $19 to $49 a month. But while that’s fine when you have just one website, it won’t work for you when you eventually have multiple product-specific micro-sites.
There are Internet marketers who have as many as 100 different websites, one for each product. If you were to pay $49 per site for hosting 100 sites, your annual hosting bill would be nearly 60 grand a year … eating up a huge share of your profits.
That’s why I now host my sites with a service that charges $49 per month total – for one site or over 100. For 100 sites, that works out to less than 50 cents to host each site per month … with annual hosting expenses of under $600.
And if you’re looking for reliable, affordable vendors to help you back up your mission-critical programs, here’s one I can personally recommend.
[Ed, Note: Bob Bly is the editor of ETR's Direct Marketing University: The Masters Edition - a program to help you start your own successful direct-mail business.]
Five Minute Real Estate “Day Trades” Yield Investor $90,000 In Two Months
Steve Cook literally buys and sells homes within five minutes while sitting at his desk.
In the last two months alone, Steve Cook made $30,000, $41,000 and $19,000 on three quick real estate deals – so simple he never even touched the keys.
The return on these “day trades” is infinite, because the initial investment required is Zero.
Find out the secrets to his real estate day trading strategy at no cost during an exclusive teleseminar. Space is limited.
Kam Weiler
Contributing Editor, Main Street Millionaire
The Effect of Trans-Fats on Fertility
By Jon Herring
I have a cousin in her late 20s who has been trying unsuccessfully for over a year to become pregnant. If you – or someone you know – have ever been in a similar situation, you understand how frustrating – even heartbreaking – this struggle can be. Unfortunately, many people don’t recognize the role that diet can play in both male and female infertility.
In one long-term study, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health monitored more than 18,000 healthy women who were trying to conceive. They found that their chances of becoming pregnant dropped by 73 percent for every two percent increase in their calories from trans-fats. That equated to only four grams of trans-fats per day – less than the amount in a fast-food fried chicken dinner.
Trans-fats are found primarily in baked goods and fried foods, although they are also in a wide range of processed foods. And they do far more damage than increasing the risk of infertility. They are known to boost the risk of heart attack, diabetes, and stroke as well. So read the label. If you see the words "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated" on the label, put the box/can/jar back on the shelf.
Business Opportunity: All Pets Go to Heaven
By Marc Charles
Want to break into the pet industry – a business opportunity that Michael Masterson introduced you to in ETR #1663? You can do it by getting involved in a little-known niche that brought in an estimated $150 million in revenues in 2005.
The niche I’m talking about is providing pet funerary services.
I’ve talked about the profit potential and magnitude of the pet market several times in Profit Center Dispatch. But only after reading a New York Times article called "Building a Stairway to Paradise, for Your Beloved Pet" did I consider pet funerary services to be a viable business opportunity.
This business opportunity has three things that I always look for: (1) Low overhead, (2) little or no start-up capital required, and (3) potential for growth.
What kind of money are we talking about? You can make thousands on the various services and products you could offer. For example, Angel View Pet Cemetery in Marlboro, MA sells urns that range from $10 to $700, caskets that range from $60 to $725, and a variety of cremation jewelry for about $100. Whispering Pines Pet Cemetery in Ypsilanti, MI, offers caskets ranging from $211 to $553, and will cremate your pet for $145 to $325 and bury the ashes for $290. Then there’s the Gateway Pet Cemetery and Crematory in San Bernardino, CA, which offers urns and burial markers from $35 to $325, and caskets ranging from $14 (for a cloth burial bag or cardboard coffin) to $1,300 (for solid cherry).
If you’re interested in entering this potentially lucrative field, make sure you’re a pet lover. You’ll need plenty of compassion to help bereaved owners deal with the loss of their four-legged companions. Many states don’t regulate pet cemeteries, so check your local laws before deciding to open up your own burial ground or crematorium. The International Association of Pet Cemeteries & Crematories recommends that you make sure the land you’ve purchased for your burial site is deeded in such a way that land development and other issues won’t disturb the remains of pets buried there. You should also set up a Perpetual Care Fund, an irrevocable trust that will provide for the upkeep and maintenance of your pet cemetery indefinitely. (Many pet cemeteries and crematories charge a care fee to each client that goes toward this fund.)
In addition, it would be advantageous to partner with a professional who is already familiar with the industry to show you the ropes and give your fledgling business more credibility.
Consider this: There is a pet in over 69 million U.S. households, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, and only about 1,000 pet cemeteries across the country. If pet parents are willing to spend $70 on a rhinestone collar or $300 on a four-poster doggy bed, it’s safe to say they’d be happy to pay to put their pets to rest in style.
[Ed. Note: Marc Charles, the "King of Business Opportunities," promises to cover the pet funerary services market in detail in upcoming issues of Profit Center Dispatch.]
I would recommend "The Billionaire Way" program to anyone who is contemplating a new enterprise or business start-up, or is already in business for themselves. It enabled me to look at my life, attributes, and habits in a refreshing new way. I was delighted to discover that I too have a number of the traits and qualities that many who are successful in business possess, which I hadn’t realized. I am very excited to apply the principles that were presented in the program to my new business ventures.
A tremendous benefit was to be able to talk with the author of the program, Bob Cox, about my own business strategies and ideas. Bob spent an hour on the phone with me after I finished the program, and his personal insights and suggestions were very helpful and inspiring.
I know that I will often refer back to the information provided in "The Billionaire Way" to enhance my chances for success!
- Catherine McNeil, Monte Vista, Colorado
Word to the Wise: Attenuate
To "attenuate" (uh-TEN-yoo-ate) – from the Latin for "to make thin" – is to weaken or reduce in force, value, or virulence.
Example (as used by Wayne Curtis in an article about Iceland in The Atlantic): "… during the long twilights of late morning and midafternoon, the city [Reykjavik] takes on a pleasingly attenuated blue glow, as if lit by a large television just over the southern horizon."
[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.]
Michael Masterson
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2007
Comments