I Wouldn’t Want To Do Business With Him
Do you know someone who will never tell you what he is thinking? Someone who is circumspect when discussing business? Someone who avoids any conversation about personal feelings? I do. In fact, I can think of several as I write this. They are parsimonious in their language and their speech.…
READ MOREWho Is It That Reads ETR, Anyway?
You know how bad I think most small-business periodicals are. Fortune Small Business might be the worst. Staffed by a boatload of (I’m sure) very smart and capable (mostly) young women, it is full of feel-good stories and equal opportunity reporting. There is also an inexcusable level of innocence when…
READ MORETwo Ways to Innovate
“Continual improvement is an unending journey.” – Lloyd Dobens and Clare Crawford-Mason (“Thinking About Quality”) Consider the two most basic options companies have when they seek to grow their businesses: They can try to increase their market shares by sustaining innovations — by continually improving a product everyone is…
READ MOREThe Best Way to Finance Your Business
I’ve had experience raising money in many ways. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Using your own money is terrifying. If you go wrong, you may well go broke. Using OPM (other people’s money) seems like a much better way to go at first — but often ends up seeming…
READ MOREDeal or No Deal
Dear Early to Rise reader, Imagine walking into a room where a very important business deal is about to take place. This deal could make or break your business. Or having an important talk with a family member – one in which you really need to convince the other person…
READ MOREWhat to Do at Networking Events
Each time you attend a meeting, conference, convention, or even an after-hours cocktail party, you should be prepared to network. Before you walk out the door, get into your car, and start driving to the event, you should know what it is you want to accomplish. Your job is to…
READ MOREUse These 4 “P’s” To Sell Your Ideas
There are four “P’s” that will help you get people to buy into any big idea you have — say, for example, an idea for a new product or a strategy to improve your business. They are: 1. Problem 2. Promise 3. Picture 4. Pitch 1. Describe the PROBLEM. Start…
READ MORETips for Launching A New Product
It took me years and millions of dollars to disabuse myself from the following: 1. “The customer is interested in me, my product, or what I have to say.” * The customer doesn’t care about you. * The customer cares about himself. * If you talk about anything other than…
READ MOREHow ETR Can Make You Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise
Dear Andrew, First, pay attention to the messages you get during the first two weeks of service. Those are “evergreen” issues of ETR that focus on core ideas that we come back to again and again. Any one of those ideas can change your life if you follow the…
READ MOREDirect-Mail Debate: Disguise The Envelope — Or Not?
On the disguise side of the direct-mail-envelope argument are such DM luminaries as Herschell Gordon Lewis (“The only purpose of the carrier envelope is to get itself opened.”) and Gary Halbert (“Remember, people sort their mail into two piles: the A pile and the B pile. Your goal is…
READ MOREWhat If You Were On The Bottom Looking Up?
I was fortunate in being born into a family that believed in education. But we were not rich … far from it. We were 10 people living in a small, $12,000 house. Throughout my childhood and adolescence, I wore hand-me-down clothes … drank powdered (instead of real) milk ……
READ MOREAre You Pampering Your Best Customers? Really?
As the world becomes more of a giant supermarket (propelled forward by the likes of Costco and the Internet), privileged treatment will become more and more rare. Most businesses, having for the first time access to the larger markets, will appeal to the least common denominator by lowering prices and…
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