* Advertisement *
COMING TOMORROW: Build a Multi-million Dollar Fortune without Ever Paying a Penny in Taxes— then Pass It onto Your Heirs Tax-free.
This is what the “Queen of Mean,” Real Estate heiress Leona Helmsley, meant when she said “only the little people pay taxes.” For the details, catch Tom Phelan’s article tomorrow, September 14th.
Click below to read more.
http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/700S1031/E700FB21/
Does the Sun Set on Your Portfolio?
It might be a good idea to start looking overseas for the next addition to your investment portfolio. It's getting harder and harder to find bargain stocks in the U.S. On the other hand, there are plenty of cheap stocks in developing countries.
If you use Price to Earnings (P/E) as a guide - which is one of the common measures of value that I've been telling you about - stocks in these emerging markets are about half as expensive as stocks here.
Problem is, those companies are pretty far away. So how do you pick the best ones? And how do you buy their stock?
There are lots of emerging-market mutual funds to choose from. You can find most of them at Morningstar.com. Normally, I'm not a big fan of mutual funds, because fees can be high and the returns are too often disappointing. But one such fund that's gotten pretty good returns recently is the $1.5 billion Sanford C. Bernstein Emerging Markets Value Portfolio. It has returned 15% so far in 2005. That's on top of gains of 77% in 2003 and 39% last year. Its largest commitments are spread among South Korea, Brazil, Taiwan, South Africa, and India.
- Andrew Gordon
"The advice of the elders to young men is very apt to be as unreal as a list of the hundred best books."
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Beware the Discouragement Fraternity, Part I
By Robert Ringer
I recently read an interesting article in Entrepreneur
magazine about women who have inherited their fathers' businesses. One of the women mentioned in the article was Julie Smolyansky, 30-year-old president of a publicly traded company, Lifeway Foods Inc. The company manufactures cultured dairy, natural, and organic "probiotic foods." (Don't ask.)
Smolyanksi took over the reins of the company when her father was struck down by a heart attack in 2002. She recalls overhearing people, at her father's funeral no less, expressing doubts that the company could survive with a 27-year-old "girl" running the show.
A few weeks after she had taken over the helm, one of her father's top advisors bluntly told her that she simply wasn't up to the challenge. He opined that she would need some older and wiser "gray hair" on the board.
Her response: "I told him I didn't agree and I'd handle things a little differently." I love it! A real-life female tortoise. What a dignified way to say "Get stuffed!"
It gets better. Smolyanksi says, "We were under the gun, and I didn't have time to monkey around with people who didn't believe in me. I wasn't going to spend my energy being diplomatic and political."
In the spirit of Martha "Get Out of My Way If You Don't Want to Be Stepped On" Stewart, Julie Smolyansky is definitely another one of those women with whom you wouldn't want to slow dance. Lifeway Foods has prospered under her, with sales now approaching $20 million.
Maybe this no-nonsense female executive read Dan Kennedy's book No B.S. Sales Success: The Ultimate No Holds Barred, Kick Butt, Take No Prisoners & Make Tons of Money Guide
. Like all of Kennedy's works, it's a classic.
Perhaps the most important section of Kennedy's book is where he talks about avoiding being "contaminated" by the words of old pros who give you involuntary advice. Or what I refer to in To Be or Not to Be Intimidated?
as being intimidated by the "Discouragement Fraternity."
First, let's take a look at what Kennedy has to say in his book.
In Chapter 4, he warns about the dangers of a fresh and enthusiastic salesperson listening to the unsolicited advice of "grizzled veterans" - people who have managed to make a decent living in their chosen professions through a combination of longevity, seniority, and accumulated customers or clients.
In other words, they succeed, to one extent or another, just by following Woody Allen's advice to just show up every day. It is Kennedy's (and my) contention that these seasoned vets can negatively impact the attitude of a person entering their field. Among other things that Kennedy offers as reasons for their bad advice:
- They resent hotshots who might make them look lazy, ineffective, or over the hill, and will pull out all stops to put such upstarts in their place.
- They are cynical about their customers.
- They are complainers and blamers who don't take responsibility for their own failures.
He further explains that you can find these naysayers in virtually every kind of business or organization - "on the showroom floor at the car dealership, gathered around the coffee machine in the real estate office, in the hall, or at the sales meeting."
It is absolutely critical that you not allow these know-it-alls to contaminate your thought processes. Which means you must exercise discretion when it comes to the people you allow to influence you.
In To Be or Not to Be Intimidated?
(first published in the seventies as Winning through Intimidation
), I give similar warnings to my readers in Chapter 2. I begin by admitting how ignorant and naive I was when I entered the real estate brokerage business.
I was devastated by the discouraging remarks that were gleefully directed at me by virtually every real estate agent with whom I spoke. More often than not, when I would talk to a real estate agent about my plans to obtain a real estate license, he would drone on and on about how difficult it was to be a success in the real estate brokerage business, and why a newcomer would find it almost impossible to get started ... let alone succeed.
Fortunately, I had already reached a psychological maturation point in my business life that allowed me to ignore most of the negative grenades tossed at me. I had long ago concluded that all members of the Discouragement Fraternity had two things in common: (1) Because they were insecure, they feared competition, and (2) they were ferocious about protecting their turf.
In that same chapter, I tell one of my favorite stories about an experience I had in an organic chemistry class in college. The story is far too long to tell here, but the gist of it is that I came smack up against a "Court Holder" in that very difficult course.
Basically, a Court Holder is just an average guy who makes a career out of holding court. He's the jerk at every cocktail party explaining how utterly simple it all is - the one poised with one elbow on the mantel, a drink in his hand, and a group of information‑starved puppies flocking around him in a semicircle.
More to the point, a Court Holder is a master intimidator. And To Be or Not to Be Intimidated?
is all about refusing to allow others to intimidate you.
As I write in the book, "Don't allow yourself to be intimidated by know‑it‑alls who thrive on bestowing their knowledge on insecure people. Mentally close your ears and put blinders on your eyes, and move relentlessly forward with the knowledge that what someone else knows is not relevant. In the final analysis, what is relevant to your success is what you know and what you do."
Later, in Chapter 9 of the same book, I discuss a theory that is a natural extension of the Court Holder phenomenon - the Leapfrog Theory. The Leapfrog Theory states: No one has an obligation - moral, legal, or otherwise - to "work his way up through the ranks." Every human being possesses an inalienable right to make a unilateral decision to redirect his career and begin operating on a higher level at any time he believes he is prepared to do so.
In other words, ignore the "words of wisdom" of the established hotshots in your profession and go for the gold without asking anyone's permission. If you aspire to great accomplishments, you must recognize that the quickest way to the top is not by fighting your way through
the pack but by leapfrogging over
it.
As with a pig, make it a point never to wrestle with a Court Holder. When you, and you alone, feel ready to move up in class, simply jump over the swarm of Court Holders in front of you and ignore their warnings of imminent disaster on the horizon.
Oh, and just so you know, once you make it to the top of the ladder, be prepared to be disliked. Your success is a hard pill to swallow for those who warned you that what you were contemplating was all but impossible.
But here's the good news. Of those who dislike you, probably 50 percent will kiss up to you anyway, because they are shamelessly impressed by wealth. And probably another 40 percent will genuinely respect you for your accomplishments. Finally, figure about 10 percent will actually go through life mad and refuse to acknowledge your success.
On balance, not a very high price to pay for getting what you want out of life. Just smile and say to yourself, in the words of Emmett Smith (the midget among giants who broke the NFL's all-time rushing record): "Now tell me what else I can't do."
In Part II of this article, I'm going to share some specific examples of authors whose books became best-sellers despite their being told by insiders in the publishing industry that their efforts would be futile. For obvious reasons, these remarkable true stories are very dear to my heart.
Today's Action Plan
At this point in your career, you should know who you can trust to give you good advice. Keep in mind that not all good advice is positive. Often, the voice of experience can help you avoid serious mistakes by pointing out flaws in your plans. But be wary of unsolicited advice from naysayers whose only purpose seems to be to keep you from "leapfrogging" (to use Robert Ringer's word) over them.
* Advertisement *
You Are Just Three Hours Away From Getting Everything You Want in Life...
All It Requires Is That You Do Something...
NOW!
Click below to learn how to get your hands on the most inspirational CD set ever created.
http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/700SRRTC/E700FB48
Are You a "Light" Smoker? Don't Kid Yourself
I can't tell you how many people have told me, "I only smoke when I drink" or "I only smoke two or three a day." I guess that's better than a pack a day, but it's still more harmful than you might think.
Researchers in Norway recently published the results of a long-term study of 43,000 men and women. They found that even smoking fewer than five cigarettes a day tripled the risk for lung cancer and heart disease. This study sends a very clear message: If you want to live, you need to kick the habit - immediately and completely! Make today the first day of your healthy, smoke-free life.
(Reference: WebMD
)
- Jon Herring
Living Rich: Become an Expert in an Interesting or Arcane Subject
The people I most admire are usually very skillful and knowledgeable at their jobs. But they have a secondary skill or knowledge that they trot out of the barn from time to time - often unexpectedly but always impressively. One of my brothers, for example, is a first-rate expert on Greek poetry. And at weddings or casual drinking fests, he can quote appropriate verses of Tennyson, Auden, and Eliot. To me, this is an indication of a man who lives life a little bigger, broader, and more romantically than most others.
- Michael Masterson
* Advertisement *
Will a Management Position Give You the Success You Deserve?
Wow! Considering the fact that it takes an average of 5 years to work your way up through a company to a management position, and that you'll put in a good 60 hours a week on the job once you do ... that's a lot of time and responsibility for what amounts to very little pay.
Real success and freedom do not come from working for someone else. Find your path to real financial freedom in this free report:
http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/700SDMU/E700FB15
.
Word to the Wise: Lamia
A "lamia
" (LAY-mee-uh) is a female demon - a vampire. According to Greek mythology, Lamia was a queen of Libya, loved by Zeus. Hera, Zeus's wife, robbed her of her children from this union and turned her into a monster. Stories have also been told of a fiend named Lamia who, in the form of a beautiful woman, seduced young men in order to devour them. Such nightmarish legends compelled poet John Keats, and many other writers before and after him, to write their own tales of Lamia, which still haunt and terrify.
One way to use "lamia" in a sentence: "In his latest horror flick, a seductive lamia preys upon the young men of a suburban town, who, it turns out, were responsible for her brutal death."
