Get Over Your Fear of Venturing Out of Your Comfort Zone
You may remember Frank McKinney’s story from Message #1194 . How, having little experience with real estate and almost no money, he started small, buying, renovating, and selling foreclosures in the poor parts of town . . . and eventually became the most renowned creator of luxury oceanfront homes in…
READ MOREWhat the World’s Most Successful Marketers Do
I recently listened to a talk given by Joseph Sugarman, founder of JS&A and widely recognized as one of the greatest mail-order marketers of all time. JS&A is the company that sells those Blue Blocker sunglasses you see advertised on TV and in magazines. And, by the way, the glasses…
READ MOREWhat’s a Woman to Do?
The disparity between the incomes of working men and woman got bigger in 2003, the first time in four years that the gap widened. For every dollar men made in 2003, the Census Bureau reported, women made 75.5 cents. That was down from 76.6 cents in 2002. The median income…
READ MOREThe Beauty of Barter
When you hear the word “barter,” you may conjure up images of ancient primitive societies where the only means of exchanging goods and services was through direct trade. But now, barter represents an interesting business opportunity for modern entrepreneurs. The most basic form of barter is when you make a…
READ MOREI Now Believe in Job Descriptions
After resisting them for most of my career, I’ve changed my feelings about job descriptions. I think they are useful. Useful, but sometimes dangerous. Job descriptions are dangerous because of their tendency to limit an employee’s work, responsibility, and — most important of all — his imagination. In an environment…
READ MOREBill Bonner Remembers 1958
“Back in 1958, America was a not only a net exporter . . . but the largest net exporter in the world. Now, it is the largest importer. “Back in 1958, America was the world’s largest creditor. Now it is its largest debtor — with a net financial deficit…
READ MOREThe Solution to High Gas Prices
You’ve been working hard at a blue-collar job for years and, suddenly, you’ve got a big problem: You just had a heart attack. What do you do now? For Peter P., the answer was real estate. Peter closed his business in New York, sold his house, and headed south with…
READ MOREWhat You Can Learn From Kilwin’s Ice Cream Shop About Attracting Customers
The place: ETR’s hometown, beautiful Delray Beach, Florida. The time: A Saturday night in August, 8 p.m. The scene: The town’s main drag, Atlantic Avenue. Hip shops and restaurants line the street. The sounds of live music emanate from Elwood’s BBQ and the City Limits club. Mobs of tourists and…
READ MOREWhy So Many Business Meetings Fail
A successful meeting — one in which good decisions get made and are then implemented — has four characteristics: 1. Openness: The outcome is not predetermined. The person running the meeting does not hog the podium. Everyone feels free to speak. 2. Candor: There is a willingness to discuss the…
READ MORECreate a Powerful, Memorable “Unique Selling Proposition”
‘Rosser Reeves introduced and defined the USP and its three components in his 1970 book “Reality in Advertising” . . . and the book is long out of print. I remember reading the three-point definition of a USP in Reeves’ book years ago, but when I went back to check…
READ MOREThe Customer Is – And Always Will Be – King
Leadership Strategies used the following story as an example to try to make a case that customers “aren’t always right”: “When Citizens Financial Group CEO Larry Fish heard that a customer had treated one of his tellers poorly, he called the customer and suggested that she close her account. Although…
READ MOREThree Things That Separate World-Class Investors
I have earned a reputation for being a good stock researcher — and a good stock picker. But I have told people for as long as I have been doing investment research that 90% of the money I actually make in the market is generated by how I buy stocks,…
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