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…
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…
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…
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…