The Richest Man in Babylon, Part 5
“A bag heavy with gold or a clay tablet carved with words of wisdom: If thou hadst thy choice, which wouldst thou choose?” That was the question Old Kalabab asked his students, wealth seekers who had come to ask his advice in George S. Clason’s classic parable “The Richest Man…
The Four-Letter Word That Gets EVERYBODY’S Attention
“I saw the word ‘free’ used effectively in an ad recently,” ETR’s editor Charlie Byrne told me. “Jimmy Buffett is coming to town, and there are MANY tickets for his concert being offered on eBay. If you look at the listings, you’ll see ‘Buffett Tickets for Sale!’ . . .…
How to Start a Successful Small Business – Right Now
Looking for another stream of income? How about a little business that you can start — almost instantly — for less than $100 and with 100 million customers ready and waiting? Ten years ago, it would have been an ignis fatuus; today, however, it’s a very real possibility. The breakthrough…
You Trust Your Employees? Why…or Why Not?
A certain Wharton Business School professor used to lecture students about trust. “People are basically trustworthy, honest, and loyal,” he argued. “If you treat them as such, they will act accordingly.” He retired from academe in 1993 and six years later entered the “real” world of business for the first…
Test Your Copywriting Genius
Which is the better headline? “Tension Headache?” Or . . . “When Doctors Have Headaches, What Do They Do?” The answer, of course, is the second one. Why? Because it conveys not only an implied promise (I’ll cure your headache) but also proof that the promise can be delivered (because…
How to Dramatically Increase Your E-Mail Marketing Revenues by Becoming Part of Your Prospect’s “E-Mail Inner Circle”
When you get 100 or 200 e-mail messages a day, just getting through them becomes a drain on your time and productivity. To protect themselves, many people simply delete e-mails from anyone they don’t know. They assume it is spam — or don’t want to risk a virus infection. So…
The Magic of “Other People’s Money”
“When a man says money can do anything, that settles it: He hasn’t got any.” – George Bernard Shaw Have you ever had a great idea for a business but brushed it off as a crazy dream because you didn’t have enough money to get it started? Well, guess what?…
How to Avoid the Three Biggest Mistakes Stock-Market Investors Make
When dealing with stock-market gurus, I’ve met a lot of characters – some brilliant men without a trace of honesty and some honest men without a trace of intelligence.
The Awful Truth About Unsolicited Advice, Part II: How To Score Points With A Client (Or Potential Client) By Criticizing What He’s Doing
In her book “The 7th Sense”, Doris Wild Helmering makes a distinction between constructive criticism and “inappropriate” (petty, denigrating, and useless) criticism. According to Helmering, constructive criticism has three components: 1. There is a contract between the people involved. The person who is making the critical comment is involved…
The Awful Truth About Unsolicited Advice, Part I: A Big Mistake You Don’t Want To Make
The other day I got the following unsolicited e-mail from a Web designer: “I just visited your site to check your copywriting service. You have a very good portfolio, but one thing that your website lacks is powerful design that would reflect such quality service. It just happens that I…
Get Valuable Free Publicity
“News, news, news — that is what we want. You cannot beat news in a newspaper.” – Arthur Christiansen Years ago, when I was just starting out as a ballroom-dance instructor, there was an article about me in a major local newspaper. It was on the front cover of the…
5 Ways to Convince Your Boss that He Made a Big Mistake By Not Giving You A Raise
Most of the people I’ve ever turned down for a raise simply sulked and disappeared. But a few of them took the experience as a wake-up call and fought back. They didn’t see themselves as losers, and they weren’t going to let me view them that way either. Arguing with…