Creating – And Sticking With – A Standard of Employee Excellence
“To me, one man is worth ten thousand if he is first-rate.” – Heraclitus (Fragments, c. 500 B.C.) In a memo to one of my clients, I recommended that he create a policy for promoting a standard of employee excellence that would include his eliminating the worst 15% of his…
READ MOREHow Big Should The Type Be In Your Advertising?
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, and the problem is that I don’t know which half.” – John Wanamaker One of the questions you will face when you review your direct-response advertising is “How large should the type be?” On the one hand, you want the type…
READ MOREA Starbucks Secret: How to Keep Good Employees
While I was traveling over the weekend, I picked up a copy of a good book in the Las Vegas airport called “Lessons from the Top: The 50 Most Successful Business Leaders in America — and What You Can Learn.” One of the profiles in the book is on Starbucks…
READ MOREPowercharging Your Networking
To solidify an acquaintanceship — that is, to get someone you admire to remember your name — you might want to try something brazen and calculating…such as sending a gift along with a personal letter. I was the subject of such a transparent and disreputable effort last week — and…
READ MOREDon’t Stop Just When Things Are Getting Good
In a recent e-mail essay, Gary North asks one of the most important questions of my generation: How does an older person get time back on his side? The answer, Gary says, is to give up the will-o’-the-wisp known as the retirement syndrome. You can keep working if you have…
READ MOREThe Problems With Starting And Growing Any Business
“In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three words: people, product, and profits.” – Lee Iacocca (Iacocca: An Autobiography, 1984) When you start a business, you have three concerns — one conceptual, one financial, and one personal: 1. Is your business model viable? 2. Do you have…
READ MOREResist The Temptation To Do Less As You Do Better
A crow sat in a tree, doing nothing. A rabbit saw the crow and asked, “Can I also sit and do nothing?” “Sure,” the crow answered. So the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow and rested. A few minutes later, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit, and…
READ MOREOne Of The Greatest Success Secrets I Know
JG is a very successful direct marketer. His business has soared while most of his competitors have foundered. About six months ago, I gave him — free — a marketing idea that he since said made him “more than several million dollars.” Yesterday, he invited me to tour his facilities…
READ MOREMake Big Bucks As A Copywriter
Honing your success skills — in my humble opinion — is the smartest thing you can do for yourself. The economy is always changing, every businessman I know is working scared, and cutbacks and layoffs are toping the news. It’s one thing to have your stock market portfolio collapse, it’s…
READ MOREMethod Marketing
“We believe what we want to believe, what we like to believe, what suits our prejudices and fuels our passions” – Sydney J. Harris (“Lies Are Not Easily Put to Rest,” Clearing the Ground, 1986) If you know anything about acting, you’ve probably heard of Lee Strasberg and Konstantin Stanislavski.…
READ MOREDeveloping A Second Income
Dear Early to Rise Reader, As we move into what my bones tell me will be a major and long-term recession, prudent Early Risers are quickly moving towards developing second incomes. While you have to work hard and well to keep the job you have (by making yourself indispensable …
READ MOREAre You A Good Leader?
Forget about what the best-selling books say. There is only one way to determine whether you are a good leader: Ask yourself, “Do I get good people to work hard for me?” If the answer is “yes,” you are a good leader. It doesn’t matter if the way you do…
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