Turn $1000 and a Weekend of Work Into $10,000
“With every project you do, you bring out a part of yourself, and it seems to be quite a good way of expanding a person.” – Kate Beckinsale If you’re considering putting your house on the market, make sure you know how to get the most bang for your…
How to Start a Profitable ETR Microbusiness in 30 Days, Part 1
“Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage.” – Niccolo Machiavelli Two years ago, Dan Domerofski was laid off as a financial analyst. After several weeks of unsuccessfully searching for a replacement job, he…
Does the Entrepreneurial Spirit Run in Your Family?
In 1910, Arthur Lacerte began his successful business career by opening a general store in central Canada. He enjoyed his experience so much that he never stopped talking about it — especially to his children and grandchildren, many of whom became entrepreneurs too. In fact, for four generations, almost all…
How to Sell ANYTHING — Including Your Ideas and Yourself
It doesn’t matter whether you are writing an invitation, an e-mail asking for something, a memo outlining a proposal, a speech presenting your ideas, or a note to your sweetheart asking for forgiveness, the basic rules apply: The message is about the reader and his interests, needs, and desires, not…
Your Local Real Estate Agent: Friend or Foe?
“Donald Trump made $375,000 for each of the 16 episodes of “The Apprentice” — a total of $6 million. Here’s what he had to say about it: “That may sound like a lot of money, but real estate is still better.” As a real-estate investor or a homebuyer, you want…
What Good Marketers Know About Choice, Part 2
“You and I are essentially infinite choice-makers. In every moment of our existence, we are in that field of all possibilities where we have access to an infinity of choices.” – Deepak Chopra One of the main points Dr. Barry Schwartz makes in his book, “The Paradox of Choice: Why…
Help More Search Engine Users Find Your Website
“Searching is half the fun: Life is much more manageable when thought of as a scavenger hunt as opposed to a surprise party.” – Jimmy Buffett Many ETR readers have asked me for advice on search-engine optimization — increasing your ranking in search engines so that when your prospect searches…
A Marketing Gambit That Almost Never Fails
“The basic rule of free enterprise: You must give in order to get.” – Scott Alexander In the late 1970s, when I worked at my first marketing job with Westinghouse, we had a secret marketing weapon we referred to as the “junk cabinet.” It was filled with all sorts of…
6 Ways to Get Rich
“A penny saved is a penny earned.” – Benjamin Franklin In his book The Automatic Millionaire, David Bach says there are six ways to get enough money to be rich: 1. Win it. Although playing the lottery is the “No. 1 way working people try to get rich,” it’s the…
Cash in on the Next Big Wealth Trend
“Unlimited economic growth has the marvelous quality of stilling discontent while maintaining privilege, a fact that has not gone unnoticed among liberal economists.” – Noam Chomsky If you had invested $10,000 in the U.S. economy 50 years ago, you’d be worth about 10 million dollars today. Maybe more. As compared…
Imitation Is Not Just a Form of Flattery, It’s Good Business
To Mark Pincus, a 37-year-old Silicon Valley entrepreneur profiled in a recent issue of Forbes Small Business, being a copycat can be a virtue. As the magazine puts it, Pincus has made a lucrative career out of “lurking behind the leaders in the hot high-tech sector.” Though a few of…
How to Impress the Heck Out of Potential Clients
In Message #1109, I told the story of a friend of mine who, in my opinion, blew her chance to promote her self-published book (which was not available in most bookstores) on Oprah’s show. She didn’t sell any books as a result of her appearance, because she never checked to…