Competing With Business Giants
I can’t sell my house if I can’t move my piano!” the man with swollen red eyes barked at MW. MW had been in the real estate business, selling houses successfully, for the last four years. He’d encountered many objections from possible clients. But never before had a piano been…
READ MOREBob’s Bad Week in Las Vegas
Bob came by Sunday to smoke a cigar. I asked him how his week in Las Vegas went. “I gave two speeches on Thursday,” he said. “The second one, I killed. But the first one – I don’t know. I was off.” I was surprised to hear Bob confess to…
READ MOREThree Secrets to Business Success
The Internet has changed the way we do business. However, here’s something to keep in mind: The Internet is nothing but a medium (actually, a media toolbox). It is no more than that. It is not a panacea. Not an end-all-be-all for the entrepreneur seeking real, solid financial independence. There’s…
READ MOREMy Anti-Business-Card Approach to Self-Promotion
Michael Masterson has often pointed out in ETR how much of the conventional wisdom you read about business and entrepreneurship is pure nonsense. Much of this pap, as Michael has noted, is produced by misguided consultants, ignorant marketing advisors, and business journalists who have never run a successful business in…
READ MOREMoney Madness
According to the February 13 issue of Newsweek, couples fight about money more than any other subject. The magazine didn’t cite a study. I suppose it’s one of those generally agreed upon “facts.” I don’t think K and I have ever fought about money. As far as I can tell…
READ MOREHow Does Your Company Stack Up?
There are at least four critical aspects to any business – four areas of activity in which success and failure are worked out. 1. Product/Service Over the long haul, nothing matters more than the usefulness of your product. There are all kinds of products for all kinds of customers. Making…
READ MOREThe Gold Collar Worker
If you want to become wealthy, one thing is certain: You need to radically increase your income. Michael Masterson has said it before, and he spends a lot of time on this concept in Automatic Wealth. It’s that important. In short, it’s all about becoming a valuable employee – what…
READ MORECreating a Power-Packed Headline
Every part of your sales message is important. Your opening is crucial. Your presentation of product benefits … of proof and credibility elements … of the offer and premiums … of your guarantee … and of your closing “ask-for-the-sale” copy are all critical. But of all the things you do…
READ MOREA Growing Opportunity: Selling to Pet Parents
With BP’s two children off to work and college, she has directed her abundant love and energy to Zoey, a slightly overweight, nine-year-old golden retriever. “Zoey is just like a person,” BP told me. “Actually, he’s better than a person. I wish the people I know were as good as…
READ MORE“I remember the day I met Michael Masterson …”
I remember the day I met Michael Masterson for the first time. I was a young, rambunctious editor at the Taipan Research Department, not quite thirty. During my tenure, I had faced down a number of superiors, publishers, and consultants who had intended to meddle with what I considered “my…
READ MORECreative Financing for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
PS suddenly found himself with a great opportunity to get into the fish-wholesaling business. He had a friend who could supply him with the fresh fish on credit. And because PS was already working in a related field, he had a “built in” set of potential customers that he had…
READ MOREIf You’re in the Advice Business
A factory worker goes to a psychic and pays $25 (or $2.99 a minute by phone). A corporate CEO calls in a Faith Popcorn, Harry Dent, or highfalutin consulting firm and pays $25,000 or $250,000. Both of them are paying for predictions about the future. Everybody wants advice. The reasons…
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