The Scarcity Mentality is the zero-sum paradigm of life. People with a Scarcity Mentality have a very difficult time sharing recognition and credit, power or profit – even with those who help in the production. The also have a a very hard time being genuinely happy for the success of other people.

The Abundance Mentality, on the other hand, flow out of a deep inner sense of personal worth and security. It is the paradigm that there is plenty out there and enough to spare for everybody. It results in sharing of prestige, of recognition, of profits, of decision making. It opens possibilities, options, alternatives, and creativity.

Utilities are great, aren’t they? Most of us across the globe have water on tap and electricity at a click of a switch – once dreaming of running water (the Romans) and fridges (our grandmothers) these little amenities have become readily abundant and used in our lives daily.

What next do we, humanity, need? With life’s amenities behind us and technology supporting us aren’t we in a terrifyingly beautiful position of being able to dream BIG? With a life span which has doubled over the generations, human beings, today have a unique opportunity to make a life of infinite possibilities.

Peter Diamandis in his recent TED Talks “Abundance is our future” discusses his confidence for the future. Isn’t that reassuring after all the news we have on the oil crisis, war, food stocks and changing climate patterns? Peter highlights the tools, the money and the 3 billion new minds which can make the dreams for humanity bigger, united and abundant.

Are you one of the 3 billion new minds who can participate and contribute to the global conversation on humanity? Are you up for the challenge? If so check out Peter’s Talk! and Peter’s Book.

As I describe in my book, No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs, I organize everything with start and pre-determined end times. If someone has a phone appointment with me, they know in advance when it ends, not just when it starts. And it does end as scheduled, even if in mid-sentence.

I have trained and conditioned myself to be hyper-sensitive to time, and I train my clients to respect my hyper-sensitivity. Why?

Because your bank balance and your satisfaction or dissatisfaction with it is more a reflection of how you invest your time than a reflection of anything else. This is the more dominant factor in wealth or relative poverty, success or failure, fulfillment or frustration than all externals combined.

Your ability to sell of goods, services, or concepts is sabotaged or supported by how much control you exercise over the investment, direction, and consumption of your time and, with it, your energy and creativity.

In reality, time is the asset the entrepreneur owns outright and has total control over. I don’t really need to follow you around and observe how you use your time to gauge how you’re doing in business. I only need hear about your philosophy of time. That is what governs your behavior and what you will tolerate or refuse to tolerate in the behavior of others.

For example, how do you determine which people you’re going to spend your time with? One of my litmus tests: If somebody can’t keep seemingly minor commitments, I know I can’t trust them to honor important ones either. And if I allow myself to hang around with them, soon they’ll be the cause of me failing to honor my commitments.

Another example: Do you actually handle time as money, not just give lip service to the idea? Can you tell me what your time must be worth per minute to achieve your income goal? The question I ask myself is: Will this use of my time move me measurably closer to my meaningful goals? Is there even a chance it will? If not, why do it?

The harsh reality is: Execute or be executed. It’s how business really works. Hardly anybody gets paid for their ideas. Not even the imagineers at Disney. We actually get paid for what we get done. To the ignorant, my area of marketing seems to be about ideas. The insiders know: It is about implementation.

The entrepreneur is in a situation that encourages poor productivity: He is his own boss. Often this produces an unproductive employee and a lenient, dysfunctional boss. A two-fer. That’s why you must create a success environment for yourself. You must impose strict deadlines on yourself and be ruthlessly resistant to wasting your time. Hold yourself accountable, hour by hour.

Source: Dan Kennedy – Early to Rise

It didn’t really matter too much whether their product or service was any good .. they simply convinced the market that it was, and the market bought it.

Fast forward to today — and there are

major shifts why this is all different.  In today’s business world, the entrepreneur has the ability to compete directly with “old business”, and these 2 key elements explain why.

The first shift has literally eliminated and created thousands of new industries and business models — the Internet.

This one goes without saying.  The Internet has levelled the playing field for entrepreneurs.  Because of social media, it’s impossible for bad companies to hide.  Consumers talk and share information at blistering speeds, and this benefits the small entrepreneur who really does have a better idea, but in the past would have struggled for the world to learn about it.

The Internet has made it possible to create a business online, all operating in a ‘virtual’ world with no employees or store, and allowed entrepreneurs to become financial independent.  More traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ businesses that have figured out how to thrive online have driven their growth and profits as a result of the Internet.

And of course, the old business models that refused to evolve and embrace the changes (and opportunities) caused by the Internet have been destroyed.

The Internet gives the entrepreneur incredible power and reach, allowing us all to compete with virtually any company, wherever it’s located.  This is good news for the entrepreneur!

The second shift, which isn’t as visible in the market but is equally powerful, is that our entire society is changing the way that it makes buying decisions. There was a day when high-pressure, over-the-top sales pitches would work.  But in today’s world, people are desperate for authenticity, transparency and honesty.

People do not buy the slick sales pitch and hyped up marketing copy any more, and this explains why so many business are getting CRUSHED right now. They may have seen the Internet shift, but they’ve missed this second powerful shift.

So — as an entrepreneur, how do YOU plug into this new trend, and ensure that you’re taking advantage of it .. instead of being destroyed?

The following video discuss the

key trends that have given entrepreneurs incredible power to dominate markets, and beat the ‘big guys’ at their own game.

These 2 elements are forcing a lot of companies out of business, and giving entrepreneurs like you and I a unique opportunity to build powerful, profitable businesses.

Source: Greg Habstritt and Michael Drew

Seriously. This is a real offer. In fact, you really can’t turn me down, as you’ll come to understand in a moment…

Here’s the deal. You’re going to start a business or expand the one you’ve got now. It doesn’t really matter what you do or what you’re going to do. I’ll partner with you no matter what business you’re in – as long as it’s legal.

But I can’t give you any capital – you have to come up with that on your own. I won’t give you any labor – that’s definitely up to you. What I will do, however, is demand you follow all sorts of rules about what products and services you can offer, how much (and how often) you pay your employees, and where and when you’re allowed to operate your business. That’s my role in the affair: to tell you what to do.

Now in return for my rules, I’m going to take roughly half of whatever you make in the business each year. Half seems fair, doesn’t it? I think so. Of course, that’s half of your profits.

You’re also going to have to pay me about 12% of whatever you decide to pay your employees because you’ve got to cover my expenses for promulgating all of the rules about who you can employ, when, where, and how. Come on, you’re my partner. It’s only “fair.”

Now… after you’ve put your hard-earned savings at risk to start this business, and after you’ve worked hard at it for a few decades (paying me my 50% or a bit more along the way each year), you might decide you’d like to cash out – to finally live the good life.

Whether or not this is “fair” – some people never can afford to retire – is a different argument. As your partner, I’m happy for you to sell whenever you’d like… because our agreement says, if you sell, you have to pay me an additional 20% of whatever the capitalized value of the business is at that time.

I know… I know… you put up all the original capital. You took all the risks. You put in all of the labor. That’s all true. But I’ve done my part, too. I’ve collected 50% of the profits each year. And I’ve always come up with more rules for you to follow each year. Therefore, I deserve another, final 20% slice of the business.

Oh… and one more thing…

Even after you’ve sold the business and paid all of my fees… I’d recommend buying lots of life insurance. You see, even after you’ve been retired for years, when you die, you’ll have to pay me 50% of whatever your estate is worth.

After all, I’ve got lots of partners and not all of them are as successful as you and your family. We don’t think it’s “fair” for your kids to have such a big advantage. But if you buy enough life insurance, you can finance this expense for your children.

All in all, if you’re a very successful entrepreneur… if you’re one of the rare, lucky, and hard-working people who can create a new company, employ lots of people, and satisfy the public… you’ll end up paying me more than 75% of your income over your life. Thanks so much.

I’m sure you’ll think my offer is reasonable and happily partner with me… but it doesn’t really matter how you feel about it because if you ever try to stiff me – or cheat me on any of my fees or rules – I’ll break down your door in the middle of the night, threaten you and your family with heavy, automatic weapons, and throw you in jail.

That’s how civil society is supposed to work, right? This is Amerika, isn’t it?

That’s the offer Amerika gives its entrepreneurs.

Source: Porter Stansberry´s Daily Wealth Newsletter

Mountains cannot meet, but people can

In dealing with complex give-and-take issues, I am reminded of the fable where a dog with a bone comes to a pond and sees its reflection in the water. It thinks it sees another dog with a bone and tries to grab that one too. In doing so, it drops its bone in the water and winds up with nothing.

No one side can have it all. Both sides in an issue can’t afford to come up empty — without a bone — on certain issues. However, with cooperation and compromise from all parties, most things can be worked out.

Compromise is often looked upon as weakness. When President Harry Truman was pushing to complete a difficult program, he was asked whether he would settle for half a loaf. He said he would be willing to settle for one slice at a time.

Politics involve constant compromise. Business does too: negotiating contracts, hiring, closing sales, to name a few.

Certainly, there are times when you cannot nor should not compromise: on your principles, for example. Never give in on ethics or potentially illegal activities. It’s unacceptable to be less than honest in your dealings.

You know what you need, what you are prepared to give up, what you will never budge on. Do you know whether the other party knows what they want, what they need and what they are willing to give on?

Fred Jandt, author of Win/Win Negotiating, says, “Keep in mind that the better you understand what you want and why you want it, the better your chances will be of acquiring it.”

Do you carry a Visa card? Its genesis was the result of a genuine compromise. Karl Weick shares the story in Managing as Designing.

In the early 1970s, National BankAmericard Incorporated turned around the Bank of America’s faltering credit card business in the United States. Soon after, BankAmericard licensees around the world wanted NBI’s help too. The problems were enormous: each licensee had different marketing, computer and operational systems, as well as different language, currency, culture and legal systems. Banks were using computer punch cards and tape, and there was no Internet. After nearly two years of tense negotiations, the organizing committee met to try to resolve three deal-breaking disagreements. Positions had hardened and compromise seemed unlikely.

Shortly before that meeting, committee chairman Dee Hock reflected on how much the international group had achieved. It dawned on him that “at critical moments, all participants had felt compelled to succeed . . . all had been willing to compromise. They had not thought of winning or losing but of a larger sense of purpose and concept of community that could transcend and enfold them.”

The final meeting was contentious. The Canadian banks refused to participate and withdrew, so Hock said they would reconvene the next morning in order to plan how to disband. Before adjourning, Hock invited everyone to a grand dinner that evening in recognition of their efforts to try to make the organization work.

After dinner, there was brief reminiscing about shared experiences and obstacles overcome. Then the servers placed a small wrapped gift in front of each person. Hock asked everyone to open them.

He said: “We wanted to give you something that you could keep … as a reminder of this day. On one cufflink is half of the world surrounded with the phrase ‘the will to succeed’ and the second cufflink is the other half of the world and the phrase ‘the grace to compromise.’ We meet tomorrow for the final time to disband the effort after two arduous years. I have one last request. Will you please wear the cufflinks to the meeting in the morning? When we part we will take with us a reminder for the rest of our lives that the world can never be united through us because we lack the will to succeed and the grace to compromise. But if by some miracle our differences dissolve before morning, this gift will remind us that the world was united because we did have the will to succeed and the grace to compromise.”

Then Hock sat down. Absolute silence, until one of Hock’s Canadian friends exclaimed, “You miserable bastard!” The room erupted in laughter.

The next morning everyone was wearing the cufflinks. By noon, agreement was reached on every issue and VISA International was born.

Mackay’s Moral: Compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that each party thinks they get a bigger piece.

. Never give up.
Almost nothing works the first time it’s attempted. Just because what you’re doing does not seem to be working, doesn’t mean it won’t work. It just means that it might not work the way you’re doing it. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you wouldn’t have an opportunity.

. When you’re ready to quit, you’re closer than you think.
There’s an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true. It goes like this: “The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.”

. With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be.
Very seldom will the worst consequence be anywhere near as bad as a cloud of “undefined consequences.” My father would tell me early on, when I was struggling and losing my shirt trying to get Parsons Technology going, “Well, Robert, if it doesn’t work, they can’t eat you.”

. Focus on what you want to have happen.
Remember that old saying, “As you think, so shall you be.”

. Always be moving forward.
Never stop investing. Never stop improving. Never stop doing something new. The moment you stop improving your organization, it starts to die. Make it your goal to be better each and every day, in some small way. Remember the Japanese concept of Kaizen. Small daily improvements eventually result in huge advantages.

. Be quick to decide.
Remember what General George S. Patton said: “A good plan violently executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow.”

. Measure everything of significance.
I swear this is true. Anything that is measured and watched, improves.

Source: Bob Parsons
“Copyright © 2004 Bob Parsons. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission.”

Could it be that what’s stopping you from making your next big business breakthrough is that you haven’t broken the right rule?

Most successful entrepreneurs I know are perpetual rule breakers. In fact, I find it hard to come up with even one who’s played by others’ rules and still managed to come out on top.

An acquaintance of mine in the music biz is a good example.

Stuart Davis is a quirky, talented musician who has developed a strong following with his blend of “Sex, God, and Rock ‘n’ Roll.” It’s an ear-catching mix, to be sure. But what I guarantee will be far more interesting to you is how he’s breaking the rules.

Stuart has been remarkably successful in the music business for over a decade, with no major label, no distribution, and no radio play. He’s done it by selling his music his way — including self-publishing his albums.

That created a bit of a problem, though. It’s expensive to produce albums.

Well, Stuart had a brilliant idea. He has a rabid, devoted fan base. So he decided to give them a chance to be his record label.

Here’s how Stuart’s fans-as-record-label system works:

* The budget for a new album is $100,000.
* 100 percent of album revenue rights are made available to fans. Fans can participate with micro-loans in $1,000 increments. Each $1,000 gives a fan/partner 1 percent of revenue rights.
* When the album is released, 100 percent of revenue goes to fan/partners until they double their money. After they double their money, profits are split 50/50 between Stuart and the fan/partners according to their percentage.
* Stuart retains all copyrights and creative control. (Fan/partners acquire the rights to profits, not to the music.)

As you can see, Stuart has completely rewritten the rules for funding the cost of producing an album. By structuring non-conventional loans from his fans, he gives them the opportunity to share the risks and rewards of the music business. And because he already has 15 successful albums under his belt, it’s not hard for his fans to make the decision to invest in the next one.

How can you take advantage of the “rule-breaking” approach in your business? To give you some ideas, let’s take a look at a few ways it has been successfully done.

1. Break the rules by adding VIP services.

Amazon.com started making waves in the online retail world a couple of years back with its Amazon Prime Membership service — which gives customers unlimited 2-day shipping for a flat annual fee. This rule-breaking VIP service has no doubt been part of Amazon’s rapid growth. I know my Prime Membership keeps me going back to Amazon over and over again.

Is there some way that you could offer a VIP service to your customers? Would they pay a premium for special treatment? Faster shipping? Exclusive offers? First access to new programs or merchandise?

2. Break the rules by using new technologies.

The “rule” that most traditional publishers follow is to sell their programs as complete packages and deliver them via the mail. It was always the most cost effective way to get the material to customers. But then the Internet — and digital delivery — came along.

One publisher I worked with took advantage of this new technology immediately and gave customers the option of getting the material via e-mail, as a monthly subscription service. Subscribers also had online access to their entire catalog, including all new releases and updates. The result? The subscription service now brings in 50 percent of their profits, giving them a steady stream of guaranteed revenue every month in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. And because subscribers have such easy access to their online catalog, but sales of additional products have doubled.

How can you use the Internet to give your customers more ways to spend money with you? What rules can you break in product delivery to change the way customers consume your products?

3. Break the rules by making your biz a big-time supporter of a cause.

Many businesses donate big chunks of money to charities in order to get a tax write-off. But it doesn’t have to cost you a penny to support a worthwhile cause — and get lots of attention and respect in the process.

Teleseminar guru Alex Mandossian, for example, is the single biggest fundraiser for Kiva.org. (Kiva provides microfinance loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries.) He does it through regular fundraising teleseminars that inspire many of his customers to donate. Each one may donate only a small amount, but it adds up to a significant sum. Alex also runs an annual event where all profits are automatically passed through to Kiva.

Do you have a favorite cause that you could support through your business? Could you offer services to them for free? Sponsor special events and donate all the profits? How can use get your customers enthusiastically involved in supporting the cause with you?

Now, to help you come up with your first rule-breaking business breakthrough, I’m going to give you a quick exercise. The whole thing should take about 15 minutes…

In general there are five rules that can be broken in any industry:

* How you source your products or services
* How you market and sell your products or services
* How you take payments
* How your business is financed
* How you communicate with your customers

So grab five sheets of paper. At the top of each, write one of the five rules listed above. Draw a line down the center of each sheet. On the left, write “How we do it.” On the right, write “Other ways to do it.”

Under “How we do it,” quickly jot down the rules you currently follow. On the “How you take payments” sheet, for example, you might write, “All orders paid in advance.”

Then give yourself one or two minutes per sheet to come up with ways to break the rules. On the “How you take payments” sheet, you might write “Bill in 30 days,” “Offer $1 trial,” and “Offer installments” under “Other ways to do it.”

Many of the ideas you come up with won’t be worth implementing. But all it takes is one good one to generate a profit and growth breakthrough that will astound you.

Source: Roy Furr

Changing conditions call for changing ways of doing business. The world has now entered a period of economic turbulence caused in part by global hyper-competition, skyrocketing energy costs, financial uncertainty, and waves of new technologies. This will most likely be a prolonged period during which the status quo will be upset by rapid changes in how business is conducted within your industry. The old business models and rules are being swept aside by new ones.

The Industry Aggregation model can best be explained by comparing it with the Japanese “keiretsu” model which was highly instrumental in that country’s post WW2 “Economic Miracle”. In the keiretsu model a number of publicly-owned industrials band together for mutual benefit along with a bank. The collaboration includes cross-ownership of stock, access to bank loans, joint ventures, and preferential treatment with the group.

The Industry Aggregation model is fine-tuned for small to medium sized privately held companies with revenues in the one to fifty million dollar range to deliver the same set of benefits. Replacing the bank is a public company which serves as both the group’s anchor and banker. The benefits of Industry Aggregation are:

* Member companies swap privately held stock for trading shares which sell at significantly higher multiples. This creates the liquidity for shareholders which is absent in private companies.
* Various forms of cross-marketing and joint ventures by group members help everyone to increase revenues.
* Operating costs are decreased through both group purchasing power and preferential intra-group pricing.
* Access to scare resources such as capital, human resources, and IT is improved substantially.

As is probably obvious, the goal of Industry Aggregation is to empower entrepreneurs and help them grow their companies further.

Industry Aggregation is not suitable for startups. However, some exceptional early-stage companies with bona fide revenues maybe considered.

To learn more about the benefits of Industry Aggregation for your own business, I recommend the original source: Gordon Bizar.

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2. Be genuine
3. Make Intros for other people to connect.
4. Be distinctive.

http://www.backpocketcoo.com/

Coolest business card ever designed by Cameron Herold.
5. Get Diverse: Some of my favorite connections have come out of charities I support or hobbies or different interests. There’s a different connection formed with a common interest first, and business second.
6. Become prolific and prominent: This probably isn’t that big of a secret but it’s worth mentioning. If you can get on stage, write a book, become an expert, etc. – you’ll have people seeking you out.
7. Follow-up: I admit I don’t do this as well as I could but I shoot quick texts, emails or clippings over to people when I know it’s something they’re interested in.
8. Get up close and personal
9. MasterMind Groups. “If you can grasp this principle and apply it you may have, for your efforts, whatever you want on this earth!”
10. Mentors & Thought Provokers

Creating the ‘BIG’ idea & Selling at premium prices

Maverick Rule #1 says: It’s got to be a BIG idea that you, your team and your customers can “get” in seconds.
“Uncrustables”
“100 Calorie Packs”
“8 Minute Abs”
“Time Shares”
“101 Nights of Grrreat Sex”
“The Real World”
“Club Med”
“24”

Maverick Rule #2: You must charge a premium price so you have a large margin to provide an extraordinary value & experience.

Sorce: Yanik Silver

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If you’re ready to start your own business, Mary Ellen Tribby gives the core ideas in her step-by-step guide.

Spend Most of Your Time on What You Know Best

You may be used to working as part of a team. Somebody does the graphics. Somebody writes promotional copy. Somebody else develops the marketing plan. But when you’re solo, you’re in charge of everything.

Some tasks you can just ditch. And some you can delegate. Establish your priorities. Should you spend time on the phone with your website hosting provider? No, you should delegate that. Should you spend time on content and offers geared toward your market, which you know better than anyone else? Yes.)

Make Technology Your Friend

You may be used to letting others handle the “tech” stuff in your workplace. But when you’re running your own business, you’re the tech guy. And, as MaryEllen discovered, it turns out much of it is pretty easy. For things you can’t figure out, take a class. If it’s really complicated, hire a freelancer.

You don’t have to know everything. But you need to know enough so you’re not at the mercy of your outsourced help. You don’t want to be overcharged or told something is impossible when they just don’t want to do it.

Don’t Ask for Favors, Ask for Advice

At meeting with the mega-successful entrepreneur Richard Branson, MaryEllen was invited to talk about her business. Instead of asking for help, she simply explained what her venture was about and asked for suggestions. Richard offered his support. And, already, his charitable organization, Virgin United, has been in touch with her.

You don’t have to know Richard Branson to take advantage of this approach. Just think about it. If you’re constantly asking people for favors… how long will they feel like granting them?

Create a Network You Can Brag About

Get the best people in your industry in your network. Not people you’ve only met once or see once a year. I’m talking about people you can call at any time. People who will do anything for you. (Of course, you have to be willing to do anything for them, too.)

When you’re starting out, you probably won’t be in touch with industry giants. But you can still make great contacts. Start with likeminded people who are as focused as you are on growing their businesses. As your businesses grow, you will be able to help each other.

Create Accountability Partners

You are 65 percent more likely to accomplish your goals if you have someone watching over your shoulder. As MaryEllen pointed out, it probably has a lot to do with not wanting to admit to not doing what you said you would do. That fear keeps you motivated.

So set up a time to speak with a colleague or business partner once a week. Talk to each other about what you’ve been doing with your businesses. Call them out if they’ve been slacking. Ask them to do the same for you.

Understand Your Market Intimately

One of the first things MaryEllen did was research her market and her competitors. Using keyword research tools from Google, she found that 43 million people a month search terms related to “working moms.” She visited every site in the organic results and pay-per-click ads.

She looked in depth at their site layouts, sales letters, offers, products, and marketing strategies. She figured out what other companies were doing right. And what they were doing wrong. (For example, many didn’t have sign-up boxes on their home pages to build their e-mail lists.)

Work on Your Business Every Day

You can’t just work on the weekends. You have to do something every single day to advance your business. If it’s important to you, you’ll do it. Get up extra early if you have to.

If you want to sell supplements online, for example, you could start researching which products are hot right now. You could contact some suppliers. Buy a domain name. Build your website.

Learn, Understand, and Strive to Master Direct-Response Marketing

Direct marketing is the key to online success. An e-commerce site like Amazon may work. But you’re not Amazon. You can’t wait for customers to find your site. You must reach out to them, get their contact information, and start building relationships that lead to sales.

Don’t Fall Victim to the Biggest Entrepreneurial Curse

Four projects halfway done yields ZERO revenue. One project 100 percent finished brings cash in the door.

Focus on one thing at a time — the one most important thing — and complete it before you start another project.

Ready, Fire, Aim

You have an idea for a business — and six to nine months later, you’re still working on getting your site together. And you’re still working on your marketing copy. Know this: Everything doesn’t have to be perfect before you launch.

As MaryEllen pointed out, most of what you learn about business comes from doing it. You’ll find out what people will buy and for how much. You’ll discover the best way to reach your customers and build your list.

Turning Someday Into Payday

These days, MaryEllen is working toward her dream: to start her own online business aimed at working mothers. And she’ll help kids in need at the same time. Her venture will allow her to work from home, spend time with her family, and make enough money to live the lifestyle she wants to live.

After years of putting off her dream until “someday”… it’s finally happening.

What are you doing to make your “dream” business a reality?

Maybe you’re waiting ’til after the holidays… or for the kids to get a little older… or for that big project at work to be finished… or for the economy to pick up again.

If that’s the case, now’s the time for a little MaryEllen-style tough love: Those are just excuses. Sure, they are real obstacles — but they’re still excuses. And you can always find more of them if you want to.

Stop trying to come up with rationalizations for not taking action. The truth is, now is always the best time to start a business.

Step-By-Step Guide To Starting a Small Business

1. Are You the Entrepreneurial Type?
2. Small Business FAQ
3. Introduction
4. Deciding What You Want To Do
5. Viability Of Your Idea
6. New Learning
7. Writing a Business Plan
8. Financing Your Business
9. Effective Partnering
10. Mentors and Resources
11. Business Structure
12. Licenses, Regulations and Permits
13. Small Business Insurance
14. Employment Issues
15. Hiring/Managing/Firing Employees
16. Accounting System/Internal Controls
17. Implement Your Marketing Plan/Selling Product
18. Creating Your Product
19. Refining Your Marketing Plan
20. Modifying Your Product, Creating New Products
21. Reevaluating Your Company
22. Growing Your Company
23. Contemplating Your Exit Strategy
24. Further Small Business Resources

Source: “Ready. Fire. Aim” by Michael Masterson
Small-Business-Book

Is your business idea viable?

Take a look to this checklist for every entrepreneur, the essential acid test to determine the viability of any new business you’re considering:
1. Inventory Cost Relative to Capital On-Hand, and Inventory Rotation
2. Margins
3. Start-Up and Promotional Expense Relative to Capital On-Hand:
4. Compatibility with Push Marketing and Customer Funnel Strategy:
5. Competition
6. Uniqueness of product

The, rate each category from 1 (low) to 4 (high).
* Between 19 and 24, there’s an excellent chance you could be the next entrepreneurial legend – a Richard Branson in the making!
* Between 13 and 18, look for new wrinkles that would allow you to assign a higher score in one or more of these categories.
* Between 4 and 12, your business idea needs intensive care. Either find ways to improve its score in EVERY category or simply walk away.

What would be the perfect business?
* Inventory cost is next to nothing …
* Instead of margins of 50% or less, keep between 90% and 100% of every revenue dollar earned …
* Instead of having to spend five or even six figures creating a huge website and catalog, the start-up expenses should be next to nothing …
* The new model might be 100% compatible with the push marketing/customer funnel model and also take advantage of search engine optimization to pull prospects and customers to the company.
* And have zero competitors and products that are absolutely unique – the only place in the world you can get them is from this company.

Does this business exist? This could be the Information Business like selling: E-books, courses, videos and maybe even live workshops to people who want to maintain, build and customize their own business.

What does WCS stand for?
It stands for “Worst-Case Scenario”.

Just as technology companies around the world have people working in IT departments specifically to design disaster recovery plans, business owners will be designing their own disaster preparedness and recovery plans.

Figuring out your worst-case scenario now, before it happens, and coming up with a solid plan with the steps you’d take to survive and thrive during your own WCS is just smart business.

Because if a business disaster strikes and leaves you blindsided, you’re apt to make quick decisions that may or may not be the right moves. You could be just a few decisions away from your business surviving a disaster – or crashing and burning like
many of the businesses before you who were faced with similar disasters.

What is your WCS?
What could happen tomorrow that would put you into total emergency mode?
What if a key supplier goes out of business?
What would happen if your top employees quit tomorrow?
What would happen if your computers or servers crash?
What would you do if you couldn’t make payroll?
What would you do if your #1 and #2 customers went out of business or went to your competitor?
How do you recover from a failed product launch or a failed marketing campaign?

You need a plan. Because when spit hits the fan and you’re smack dab in the middle of a business emergency or full-fledged business disaster, you’re thinking and reasoning will not be as clear as it is today.

The chance you may make the wrong move, the wrong decision, the wrong phone call, etc. is at an all-time high.

Now coming up with your WCS (or several of them) is not easy. Often we’re blindsided by an emergency or disaster that we never saw coming. But there is something you can do.

There is something that can prepare you better than anything else out there.

And that’s learning about the top 28 worst-case business scenarios that can happen to nearly all types of businesses.

Once you’re armed with this information, it’ll be much easier for you to take a step back and figure out your WCS – and come up with a plan on how to deal with it when it happens.

On top of that – and this is the most important and most profound sentence here…

By educating yourself on the most common worst-case business scenarios, you can take the steps needed to STOP business emergencies or disasters BEFORE they happen.

Being prepared is just smart business. Having backup plans is just smart business.

And Owning “The Worst Case Scenario Business Survival Guide” that just hit the bookshelves is what will
prepare you for your own WCS.

Claim your copy today and get ahead of the curve.

http://www.WorstCaseBusiness.com
by Mark Joyner

First, they acknowledged that there had been a problem and let their customers know that they understood how much it affected them:

“Gmail’s Web interface had a widespread outage earlier today, lasting about 100 minutes. We know how many people rely on Gmail for personal and professional communications, and we take it very seriously when there’s a problem with the service.”

Next, they apologized for the outage — and did NOT try to minimize its impact:

“Thus, right up front, I’d like to apologize to all of you — today’s outage was a Big Deal, and we’re treating it as such.”

Then, they assured their customers that they had looked into the cause of the outage and were taking action based on what they’d learned:

“We’ve already thoroughly investigated what happened, and we’re currently compiling a list of things we intend to fix or improve as a result of the investigation.”

And they provided some details that demonstrated their ability and commitment to resolve any technical glitch quickly:

“The Gmail engineering team was alerted to the failures within seconds (we take monitoring very seriously).

“We brought a LOT of additional request routers online (flexible capacity is one of the advantages of Google’s architecture), distributed the traffic across the request routers, and the Gmail Web interface came back online.”

Finally, they explained what they were doing to prevent an outage in the future:

“We’ve turned our full attention to helping ensure this kind of event doesn’t happen again. Some of the actions are straightforward and are already done — for example, increasing request router capacity well beyond peak demand to provide headroom. Some of the actions are more subtle — for example, we have concluded that request routers don’t have sufficient failure isolation.

“We’ll be hard at work over the next few weeks implementing these and other Gmail reliability improvements — Gmail remains more than 99.9% available to all users, and we’re committed to keeping events like today’s notable for their rarity.”

This is a pretty good template for any business to use. It begins with a quick acknowledgement of the problem and its seriousness. It includes enough information to make the customer feel confident the business understands the problem and can fix it. Then it provides reassuring evidence that it won’t happen again.

Every business makes mistakes. Fair-minded customers know that.

If you respond to problems responsibly, the way Google did in this case, your customers will stick by you. But if you try to bury or minimize your mistakes, you will lose their faith in you. And that is the most valuable asset you have.

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Mark Joyner, the author of The Great Formula is one of my favorite experts and he has a gift for taking complex ideas, which may seem too formidable to do, stripping them down to the essentials and helping you to take action.

If you are looking for a book to give you deep insights into how you can develop your backend (the technical phrase for repeat business) you may be left wanting more.

If you want a book to inspire you to build a successful business, then The Great Formula could be just what you are looking for.

And now you can get a free pdf version of The Great Formula.

What is The Great Formula?

* Step 1 – Create the irresistible offer
* Step 2 – Present it to a thirsty crowd
* Step 3 – Sell them a second glass

“Is that it?” do I hear you ask?
Yes, that’s it.
Nice and simple – a business philosophy for success in 14 words.

Mark Joyner uses the example of a man in a desert desperate for water. You make your offer, he snatches the glass out of your hand and then you offer a second glass.

It couldn’t be simpler could it but that is the beauty of Mark Joyner’s work with his training company Simpleology.

On pages 49 through to 72 you will see the Great Formula in history with companies like Gillette, Holiday Inn and Avon. This is very useful as Mark Joyner breaks down each example into the three stages of the Great Formula – including the irresistible offer into its three stages.

After that The Great Formula book features guest authors – many of whom are master marketers who explain how they have applied these ideas in their own business. Some of them are:
- The Picasso Illusion by Joe Sugarman
- The Boron Letters by Gary Halbert
- Personal emails from BBDO Vice President Ben Mack
- Gold Standard by Paul Galloway
- Nasa Scientist Files by Harry Johnson
- Marketing Domination by Brad Callen

Before the success of this book, there was prior Amazon Bestseller called “The Irresistible Offer” which can be download for free as well as an ebook.

You simply plug into one of these detailed maps… follow along from point “A” to point “B” all the way to “Z” and beyond… and your business just continues to grow.

It’s quick and easy, which means you spend less time reading, and can begin implementing these winning strategies right away!”

Simpleology Cashmaps by Mark Joyner

Simpleology Cashmaps are developed for several internal processes that face any entrepreneur and business owner to systematize and automate procedures that can be delegated or outsourced with simple steps to follow.

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But what about Apple as a company? What sets it so far apart from others in the consumer electronics sector? More importantly, how is it as an investment? Is it far ahead there as well? The short answer is a resounding “yes.”

The company rarely fails to disappoint, both on the design side and especially when it comes to revenues and earnings. The company takes a lot of heat from analysts due to its conservative stance when it comes to forecasting revenues and earnings.

Apple’s balance sheet is the envy of Wall Street: It’s sitting on a mountain of cash – north of $31 billion – and not one shred of debt. An enviable position anytime, but even more so in the current recessionary climate.

Here’s the bottom line on Apple as an investment: If you’d bought a few shares of Apple as a Christmas present for someone back in December 1980, they’d be your best friend. The stock has climbed 4,463% since then.

How Does Apple Do It?

Ok, I’ll forget the product comparisons, but just consider these incredible facts:

Forget the fact that its iPod has dominated the portable music player market, completely changing the way music is sold at the retail level…

Forget for a minute that its computers command a significant price premium over similarly configured Windows machines…

Forget that so many mobile phone companies came before it, with pricing plans cast in stone…

The company’s management is the proverbial outside-the-box thinkers: When Apple decides to enter a particular space, and introduce its initial product, it nearly always changes the ground rules, completely upsetting the apple cart for its competition.

And just when a competitor thinks it has Apple’s product strategy figured out and manages to introduce a “me-too” widget, Apple introduces a faster, better one with even more features that customers want.

Notice I didn’t say cheaper: There’s never been a company in modern history that’s monetized great consumer product ideas the way that Apple has. I defy you to name one that’s done it as well.

The best part about Apple is that every time a new would-be competitor comes along, the mainstream media hacks decry “the next iPod killer,” or “the iPhone has run out of steam.” Nervous investors sell, and long-time Apple shareholders just buy their shares.

Source: David Fessler

While he spends a lot of time outlining what he calls the “Five Stages of Decline”, I was particularly motivated by his thoughts on what those who fall, and then recover, have in common.

I certainly want to understand how to avoid a fall in the first place. (Or should I say, avoid any more “falls” than I’ve already experienced!) But since it’s a given that stumbling and falling down is a necessary and inevitable experience of life…I’m motivated by examples of those who get back up and recover.

Here are some excerpts from How the Mighty Fall that I found of particular interest:

Xerox. HP. Nucor. IBM. Merck. Texas Instruments. Pitney Bowes. Nordstrom. Disney. Boeing. What do these companies have in common? Each took at least one tremendous fall at some point in its history and recovered…in every case, leaders emerged who broke the trajectory of decline and simply refused to give up on the idea of not only survival but ultimate triumph, despite the most extreme odds.

The signature of the truly great vs. the merely successful is not the absence of difficulty. It’s the ability to come back from setbacks, even cataclysmic catastrophes, strongter than before. Great nations can decline and recover. Great companies can fall and recover. Great social institutions can fall and recover. And great individuals can fall and recover. As long as you never get entirely knocked out of the game, there remains hope.

The path out of darkness begins with those exasperatingly persistent individuals who are constitutionally incapable of capitulation. It’s one thing to suffer a staggering defeat–as will likely happen to every enduring business and social enterprise and (individual) at some point in its history–and entirely another to give up on the values and aspirations that make the protracted struggle worthwhile. Failure is not so much a physical state as a state of mind; success is falling down–and getting up one more time–without end.

He tells the New York Times, “History told me that you just keep working, and it is easy to make more money.”

McAfee then turned his attention to real estate – particularly real estate in the West and Southwest. And, here the story takes an interesting turn.

McAfee originally bought some of his real estate for fun. His 157-acre spread in New Mexico has a massive house, general store, 35-seat movie theatre and a cafe (click for photos). It was also the place he and his friends could fly “open cockpit planes with his friends.” At the height of the boom, in 2007, he also spent $25 million to buy a lot and built a 10,000 house in Vail, Colorado. And then there was the oceanfront estate in Molokai, Hawaii.

But as we all know, real estate prices aren’t what they used to be. McAfee recently sold the Vail property for $5.7 million. The Hawaii oceanfront estate fetched just $1.5 million. The New Mexico property, along with its cars (including 1923 Model T Center Door, a 1930 Model A Pickup Truck, a 1929 Model A 4-Door Sedan, a 1959 Buick, and a 1960 Chrysler Imperial), collectibles, outbuildings, and landing strips, is now up for absolute auction on August 30, meaning that McAfee will take whatever price is offered.

It’s not as if all of his $100 million dollar wealth was in real estate. The New York Times reports that McAfee lost millions in Lehman bonds, and more in the general stock market collapse.

But by his own reckoning, McAfee is now worth just $4 million. He flies coach and probably wonders how in the world someone worth $100 million could lose 96 percent of his wealth in just two short years.

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So much of what he covers is extremely relevant. Especially today.

In times of uncertainty it’s much more difficult for people to hide under the radar or just “skate by.”

Whether in a job, running a company, looking for new work, or starting a new business, those we deal with have a heightened awareness of what’s going on around them. Who can they trust? Who are the most valuable players? Who’s for real? Who’s genuine?

In times like these, one of the best ways to stand out in the crowd and rise to the top of the ladder is to have a solid, trustworthy foundation.

Those who are trusted have a massive advantage.

Here are some very powerful points Covey makes that stood out to me:

“There is one thing, if removed, will detroy the most powerful government, the most successful business, the most thriving economy, the most influential leadership, the greatest friendship, the strongest character, the deepest love.

“On the other hand, if developed and leveraged, that one thing has the potential to createe unparalleled success and prosperity in every dimension of life. Yet, it is the least understood, most neglected, and most underestimated possibility of our time.

“That one thing is trust.”

“Trust undergirds and affects the quality of every relationship, every communication, every work project, every business venture, every effort in which we are engaged. It changes the quality of every present moment and alters the trajectory and outcome of every future moment of our lives–both personally and professionally.

“While corporate scandals, terrorist threats, office politics, and broken relationships have created low trust on almost every front, I contend that the ability to establish, grow, extend and restore trust is not only vital to our personal and interpersonal well-being; it is the key leaedership competencey of the new global economy.

“I am also convinced that in every situation, nothing is as fast as the speed of trust. And, contrary to popular belief, trust is something you can do something about. In fact, you can get good at creating it!”

Mr. Covey’s message is powerful to me for two reasons. First, it’s simply an enlightened and timely truth (and his book goes on to explain exactly how trust can be built and restored). Second, I’m imperfect and have broken trust at times. So, knowing that trust can be restored, even rapidly, is encouraging to me as a leader, and as an individual.

Are your to be trusted?

In the 20th century, America grew to become the world’s greatest economy because of entrepreneurial innovations. From Henry Ford (cars) to Abraham Levitt (homes) to Steve Jobs (iPods, iPhones), entrepreneurs created new products and services so compelling that consumers had to have them. Moreover, each of these new products or services created entire industries of support products, such as gas stations, restaurants, furnishings, cell phones, etc. However, for entrepreneurs today, the last decade of innovation stagnation has created the greatest economic opportunity in history because there are so many ready-to-be-implemented advances in virtually every sector of our economy. The greatest personal fortunes of 2020 are about to be created by entrepreneurs who either lower the price of existing products or introduce new products and services to our economy.

Many people blame today’s financial crisis on Wall Street. However, once the crisis had begun, the crash on Main Street was caused by consumers realizing that the emperor had no clothes—that many of the products and services they were buying were simply not worth their cost.

As we assimilate the events that led to the great crash of 2008, as well as where we are now, it’s clear there is no better time to step up and be the entrepreneur or intrapreneur who has enough vision and courage to give consumers what they really want: innovation. How do you do this?

Consider these strategies:

Master your industry. Learn as much as you can about your industry. As you learn more, your functional skills will improve and you will build a network, adding value to your new idea.

Fix the world. Notice the problems your customers have and fix them in a new way or in a less expensive way than your competitors.

Focus on the solution. Instead of focusing on the struggling economy, focus on ingenuity. How can you separate yourself from the crowd?

Hold on to your dream. Don’t let past failures or dire economic forecasts make you a pessimist. Keep your youthful dreams alive and create your own opportunities.

10 Things Aspiring Entrepreneurs Should Do

Look for problems. Just pick up any newspaper or watch any news program and you
will see how many problems need to be solved. Finding problems to solve are the business opportunities for entrepreneurs. Our past and future success lies in human ingenuity.

Become a leader in your field. Accumulate knowledge. Pick an industry, focus on it, and master it.

Build your network. Become recognized in your industry as someone who is good at what he or she does. Build a solid reputation for expertise.

Schedule your time. Don’t waste your 168 hours in a week; schedule them. I schedule my time intensely.

Notice what could be improved. Businesses become rich because they find a way to serve others better.

Stay wide open in your thinking. When you’re 18, your world is wide open. But as each year passes, one more nail goes into the coffin, killing your dreams and inspirations. And by the time you reach 25, you’ve been beaten down and become a realist. And my advice is you can’t let these things get you down.

Hone your entrepreneurial instincts to make the world better. We have to take responsibility for making the world a better place, and when we do, we’ll create our own opportunities. All my businesses started the same way: I got rich by improving the world and making a lot of people happier in the process.

Deal with the slaps. Rebel against rejection. You can go out into the world and do anything you want.

Exhaust your existing skills. Utilize all of your existing skills—what you know and who you know.

Communicate well. Becoming a successful entrepreneur starts with accumulating knowledge about many topics. First you have to work on your generic skills: reading, writing, and basic math. If you cannot communicate effectively with people, you are in trouble.

Source: Paul Zane Pilzer

This kind of mistake is amazingly common, because nine out of 10 Internet marketers don’t know the first thing about the science of direct marketing.

The wonderful thing about direct marketing is that you can precisely measure response and predict — with statistical certainty — the outcome of your future efforts.

The Internet has made testing much easier and quicker. And that is one reason why Internet marketing is perfect for direct-response marketers.

But the Internet is also the reason why there is so much ignorance out there about how our business really works.

And that is why, if you don’t truly know the game, your business is in jeopardy.

The Illusion of Temporary Success
The Internet was such a hot medium for nearly a decade that almost anybody who stuck their hand into the World Wide Web bowl came out with a golden apple.

A Challenging New World
Gone are the days of easy pickings.
The bubble was huge. And now it is rapidly deflating.
Response rates are crashing Refunds are rising. Bad debt is soaring. Sell-through values are plummeting.

Problem is, everybody and his mother-in-law have gotten into Internet marketing. They learned how to knock off successful Internet businesses by taking courses proffered by those young “experts.” And Google (and a thousand companies that service Google) made the process easier by providing them with hundreds of tools for monitoring their competitors.

But what they learned were “outside” tricks and techniques that have nothing to do with the valuable “inside” knowledge necessary for long-term success — knowledge that can’t be gained by using the plethora of Google tools out there and the latest gimmicks touted by upstarts who never bothered to learn the fundamentals of direct marketing.

Those young whippersnappers don’t know the fundamentals. And what they don’t know, they can’t teach. As a result, their “students” have no idea of what really matters: how to build a strong relationship with your customers so they come back to buy from you again and again.

What You Need to Know Now!
To be successful from now on, you will have to develop expertise in direct marketing. And that means mastering the following skills:

* Statistically valid testing
* Creating “irresistible” offers
* Structuring price, term, refund, and premium tests
* Determining the true lifetime value of every new customer
* Calculating “allowable acquisition costs”
* Measuring responsiveness by media source
* Figuring the “doubling date” or “half-life” of new offers
* Creating “gauntlet” and “pummel” programs for new customers
* Purging unproductive prospects
* Discovering your “optimal selling strategy”
* Brainstorming for the “Aha!” idea
* Understanding the “architecture of persuasion”
* Using the “four-legged stool”
* Implementing the Rule of One
* Using archetypal leads
* Designing effective “peer reviews”
* Efficiently managing the “CUB” procedure

If you don’t have these skills — or if your key people don’t have them — consider your business to be in trouble. The market is tough now, and it will be much tougher as every month passes.

Source: ETR 28/09/09

If you look at any of the great economic successes over the past two hundred years, you will usually find this combination. Likewise, most of the great failures have the converse: high (or rising) taxes, and unstable money.

Today, a rather energetic discussion of economic policy is taking place, but you will notice that almost nobody suggests anything that is in line with the Magic Formula. On the contrary, the trend is toward the opposite. Economic weakness begets heavy spending; heavy spending begets large deficits; large deficits beget a political trend toward higher taxes. They will eventually find out that higher taxes beget economic weakness.

President Obama has already outlined his preferences for a reversal of the Bush tax cuts, plus still higher taxes on upper-income earners, plus a removal of the upper-income cap on payroll taxes, plus additional increases in capital gains taxes. But this is just the beginning; there is serious talk of introducing a national VAT in the US.

What about the stable money part of the equation? The most stable money, historically, has always been produced by a gold standard. That is the gold standard’s purpose. However, beginning especially in the 1930s, a new ideology arose. We no longer wanted stable money. We wanted money we could manipulate, so we could fool people into doing things they would not otherwise do. Alas, this sort of thing has consequences, and they are usually not too pleasant. The US dollar has already fallen to 1/50th of its original value due to our belief in monetary manipulation. The next 50-fold decline might take place in a much shorter period.

Thus, we have higher taxes and, I expect, increasingly unstable money. On top of a dozen other things you could name. Do you see what I mean about an era of economic decline?

I know that many learned economists will say: “Yes, that is interesting, but we can’t afford a major tax cut at this time. Plus, we need all the help we can get from monetary policy.” This is what people always say in the early period of an era of economic decline.

The fact of the matter is that you can always reduce taxes. Some of the most brilliant tax cut strategies have come from governments in the direst situations imaginable.

Russia was a disaster zone when Vladmir Putin introduced a 13% flat income tax in 2000. Over the next seven years, the average worker’s salary (in US dollars) increased by an astonishing 30% per annum.

Germany was in even worse shape in 1949. In the years after the war, hyperinflation raged and millions died of starvation. Much the same was happening in Japan. Both enacted huge tax cuts in the early 1950s. Japan even went so far as to require a balanced budget by law. Both introduced gold-linked currencies at the same time.

This is the kind of thing that happens in the early stages of an era of economic success. The results were very much in line with Russia or China over the past few years. You’ll notice that Russia and China today have little interest in monetary manipulation, but are teaming up to establish an international currency regime that promises more stability than the mismanaged US dollar. Russian president Dmitry Medvedev even presented a 1/2 oz. gold bullion coin at the most recent G-8 meeting, as an example of the international currency of the future.

Why did Germany and Japan go this route? They did it because they finally got fed up. Once they got fed up enough, they started to look for answers. The answer was the Magic Formula, although they didn’t call it that in those days.

Politicians today, especially in the US, are nowhere near that point. They still think they can spend and tax and devalue their way… not to prosperity exactly… but to a continuation of the status quo. The status quo in which they are somewhere near the top.

Source: Gold: the Once and Future Money (2007) by Nathan Lewis

The old business models and rules are being swept aside by new ones. Can your business weather the storm by itself? Or would it benefit from collaboration with successful partners committed to one another’s success?

Global Aggregation Corporation creates an opportunity for entrepreneurs to band together and create great wealth the likes of which will reside outside their reach if they continue to operate separately.

Exponentially increasing their sales through cross-marketing,

Dramatically reducing their costs through resource sharing and accumulated purchasing power, and

Giving owners an exit at a time of their choosing

With publicly traded stock valued at a high multiple of their earnings.

In the process GAC helps businesses, and the people in them, to achieve their fullest potential.

The objective of GAC is nothing less than bringing each of its ten industry aggregations to worldwide domination of its market space.

If you’re a business owner or executive, you need to know about Industry Aggregation. Whether you join or not, aggregation will dramatically affect your business.

The Power of Aggregation is achieved through the merging of several like, similar or related businesses into a combined entity resulting in a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. An aggregation becomes strategic when its members are aggregated around a marketing theme which facilitates exponential growth driven via cross-marketing and shared costs.

Participation in an aggregation provides member companies with tremendous advantages over their non-aggregated competition.

Is Industry Aggregation Right For You?

Take a few moments to consider these important questions:

- Does your company have the potential to be an industry or segment leader if given access to additional resources?
- Is your company’s growth hampered by a lack of working capital?
- Is its competitiveness limited by an inability to attract top talent with competitive pay and benefits?
- Does your company suffer from a lack of access to the latest technology? Or, the sophistication to fully utilize it?
- Is it forced to pay small volume prices for practically everything?
- Is it penalized by an inability to achieve economies of scale in key areas?
- Are you a team player who understands and appreciates the net gains provided by collaboration with other companies?
- Do you see the benefit in belonging to a peer group of your industry’s leading companies?
- What is the likelihood of your being able to realize the full value for your equity when it comes time to leave or retire?
- When it comes time to exit would you prefer to sell your equity easily into a public market place at a price equa to 10 or 20 times its annual profit? Or, do yu accept the challenge of finding a private buyer at a price equal to 4 or 5 times its annual profit, paid in installments over five to seven years?

Global Aggregation Corporation Family of Solutions Companies

Most small and mid-size companies offer “me too” commodity type products and services in a heavily competitive marketplace. Profit margins are squeezed as they slog it out for market share. Customer loyalty is low as buyers move to suppliers offering a lower price.

GAC aggregates these companies around specific customer oriented marketing themes. GAC then integrates the offering of their products and services to provide high value-added seamless solutions and consumer markets. The result is high-margin sales with exponential growth driven by cross-marketing the customer bases of the aggregated companes. Customer loyalty is high since buyers cannot shop the total solution nor can they replicate the solution for the same cost by buying the elements piecemeal never mind hassling through assembling the solution for themselves.

GAC works through its family of ten industry aggregation companies helping to build each toward its goal of world domination of its industry. Each of the ten industries focuses on integrating horizontally and vertically otherwise commodity providing companies into providers of effective seamless solutions:

GAC’s aggregation model helps its industries to maximize cross-marketing and cost savings opportunities both within and between industries.

GAC’s aggregation model helps its industry aggregation to both maximize revenues and minimize costs and , in some, cases optimize owner liquidity through a stock swap with public company.

- B2B Unlimited – Business to business products and services become integrated solutions for a vast arrays of business challenges and opportunities
- Financial Services Unlimited – Financial products and services become integrated solutions for building and sustaining business and personal wealth
- Green Unlimited -Environmental products and services become integrated solutions for a healthy and sustainable personal and global environment
- Health & Longevity Unlimited – Health products and services become an integrated solution for a longer, healthier, feel great life
- Human Potentials Unlimited – Human potentials products and services become an integrated solution for a happier, more productive, more fulfilling life
- InfoCom Unlimited – Information and communication products and services become integrated solutions for human relations and business success
- Lifestyles Unlimited – Consumer products and services become an integrated solution for living the lifestyle of your dreams on budget of your reality
- Professional Service Unlimited – Professional service providers, prohibited from sharing ownrship with non-licensed parties, benefit from public ownership of their business enterprise and aggregation into any of the other nine indstries
- Safety & Security Unlimited – Safety and security products and services become an integrated solution for personal and business peace of mind
- Supply Chain Unlimited – Supply chain products and services become an integrated seamless solution for personal and business logistical challenges

If your business falls into one of these industries, contact us today for information on how it can benefit by partnering with GAC and its Solution Family. Don’t be left behind.

Our past and future picks are a provocative and comprehensive challenge to anyone who thinks the age of prosperity is behind us. But, as always, we value your views. Post them to our 85th Anniversary discussion forum.

As this is an anniversary event, we’ve drawn up an vintage Forbes covers to recall and classic cover stories to read.

Finally, try the When Was That Invented? quiz and see how you do against other readers.

What are the greatest breakthroughs of the last four score and five years? A collection of people, products, services and companies that have changed our lives in a profound way. This is not a list of the greatest business minds–that’s why you won’t find Bill Gates on it. It is not a roster of the deserving (Gandhi) or the powerful (Stalin) or the biggest empire builders (Kaiser). It is a history of lightbulbs that went off and changed the world. The transistor gave rise to a trillion-dollar piece of the economy and a potent deflationary force. The pill altered human behavior; the polio vaccine and protease inhibitors altered life spans; the discount brokerage changed our capital markets.
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1917 Sneakers
When U.S. Rubber introduced Keds, the first mass-marketed rubber-soled sneaker, the company used the reigning color scheme for men’s leather shoes: black soles and brown canvas uppers. Keds remained a big seller until the late 1960s, when sneakers got a face-lift from University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman, whose waffle-soled running shoe would form the foundation of Nike and trigger an explosion in the athletic shoe business.

1923 Business Management
Long before Steven Covey and Tom Peters, Alfred P. Sloan (1875-1966) created modern corporate management as he rescued an ailing General Motors and made it the most powerful corporation in the world. He reinvented governance with an independent board of directors and executive and finance committees–a balance of power that has slipped lately. He decentralized decision-making for divisions that met financial benchmarks, a style widely imitated.

1923 Multiplane Camera
With his brother Roy, Walt Disney (1901-1966) turned a small animated cartoon shop into an entertainment epic, first with silent Mickey Mouse strips, next with feature films (Fantasia, Cinderella, Peter Pan), then with theme parks, his playgrounds of fantasy. Though Disney will always be remembered for characters like Goofy and Donald Duck, his biggest contribution to filmmaking was developing the multiplane camera. Traditional animation stacked cells on top of each other, giving little sense of depth. The multiplane camera got around that by placing each cell at a different level, allowing elements of a scene to move independently, giving them more realistic dimension. Moviegoers first experienced the magic with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937.

1924 Frozen Food
1924 Mutual Fund
1925 Bell Telephone Laboratories
1926 Rocket Engine
1927 Television

1928 Penicillin
After working in field hospitals during World War I, Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) struggled to find a cure for the infections that killed more soldiers than bullets did. He came up empty–until one day, cleaning up his cluttered lab and sifting through old petri dishes, he discovered that a mold killed staph bacteria. Penicillin landed him a Nobel Prize in 1945.

1929 Synthetic Rubber
1930 Jet Engine
1933 Frequency Modulation
1933 Wallboard
1934 Value Investing
1934 Nylon
1935 United Auto Workers
1937 Blood Bank
1937 Pulse-Code Modulation
1938 Xerography
1939 Automatic Transmission
1939 Helicopter
1940 Radar
1942 Electronic Digital Computer
1945 Nuclear Power
1947 Cellular Phone
1947 Microwave Oven
1947 Instant Photos
1947 Transistor
1947 Tupperware
1948 LP long player
1949 Magnetic Core Memory
1950 Diners Club Card
1951 Levittown
1951 The Pill to prevent ovolation
1952 Thorazine to reduce shock suffered after anesthesia

1952 The Conglomerate
Seeking protection from the business cycles of the textile industry, Royal Little considered diversifying into nonrelated businesses in the 1920s. But it wasn’t until the early 1950s that the ailing textile business made the idea a necessity. Little’s Textron would go on to acquire 70 companies, including Bell Aircraft and golf cart maker E-Z-Go, becoming a template for modern conglomerates like GE, ITT and Tyco. The form survives, despite a crash in conglomerate stocks in the 1970s and the recent travails of Tyco.

1952 Holiday Inn
1954 Fortran
1954 Polio Vaccine

1955 Fast Food
Though he had a nice business selling commercial milkshake machines, Ray Kroc (1902-1984) figured he’d make more money flipping burgers. In 1955 he opened his first McDonald’s in Des Plaines, Ill. The Golden Arches changed the American landscape, doing to restaurants what Kemmons Wilson did to hotels: making them predictable. The franchise concept caught on, and Kroc went national with just a dollop of capital.

1956 Containerized Shipping
Trucking magnate Malcolm McLean (1913-2001) tired of the slow speed of transporting cargo across country and overseas. Adapting a truck-trailer design to railcars and ship cargo holds allowed quick loading. The first containerized cargo ship set sail from New Jersey in 1956–spawning a new industry that set a precedent for the likes of FedEx.

1956 Disk Drive
1956 Fiber Optics
1956 Ampex VRX-1000 for analogue video tape recording
1958 Implantable Pacemaker
1958 Laser
1959 Three-Point Seat Belt
1959 Integrated Circuit
1961 Pampers
1962 Telstar I satellite telecomunication
1962 Modem

1962 Point-of-Sales Data
Former J.C. Penney management trainee Sam Walton (1918-1992) opened his first Wal-Mart in Rogers, Ark. Four decades later the retailer has sales of $238 billion and 4,300 stores. He married a genius for efficient distribution and inventory with point-of-sales databases. In the mid-1980s Wal-Mart began sharing store-by-store sales info with vendors so they could tweak product lines–and let Wal-Mart leverage better prices from its biggest suppliers. If Walton were alive today, he’d be the richest man in the world.

1964 Mainframe Family
IBM’s System/360 product line was the first that consisted of a family of commercial computers using a common program language, so that customers moving up the scale in computer power could take their software with them. The creator of the 360 line, Gene M. Amdahl, left Big Blue to create a mainframe competitor in 1970. He later went on to found three additional computer companies.

1965 Consumerism
Long before he became a presidential election spoiler, Ralph Nader was America’s chief corporate scold. His Unsafe at Any Speed targeted GM’s Chevy Corvair. The book influenced Congress to pass the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act in 1966. Perhaps more important, it provided a template for “activists” looking to target corporations for a variety of ills–real or perceived–and bolstered the market for plaintiff lawyers.

1968 Mouse

1969 ATM Automated Teller Machine
Bankers talked about automated cash dispensers for years, but Donald Wetzel, a former minor league baseball player and IBM salesman, gets credit for the first working model. The vice president of product planning at Docutel, then an automated baggage-handling equipment maker, installed the first ATM at a Long Island branch of Chemical Bank. The first machines were offline, but today some 1.1 million units are linked together across the globe. Wetzel left Docutel to start his own companies that sold banking equipment like vault doors.

1969 Charge-Coupled Device

1969 The Internet
Who knew that the military-industrial complex would become the midwife for Web porn? Designed to let scientists working for the U.S. military communicate via computer, the Arpanet started small, connecting terminals at Stanford and UCLA. The National Science Foundation later took the technology and created a network that could handle greater traffic; it still helps support the Internet today. As it became less military and more commercial, the Arpanet morphed into the Internet.

1970 Compact Disc

1970 Relational Database
Oxford-trained mathematician Edgar F. (Ted) Codd developed the concept of the relational database while working as an IBM researcher in 1970. Earlier computer databases had fields of data arranged in a rigid way; Codd’s notion was that disparate data sets could be combined by linking fields they have in common (say, a customer number). Codd clashed with his bosses at IBM, who were pushing a more primitive system. But the relational database is now standard–and the basis for Larry Ellison’s Oracle fortune.

1971 Answering Machine
1971 Microprocessor
1972 Computed Tomography Imaging
1972 Ethernet to describe the system of wires and microchips that allow computers linked locally to talk to one another
1972 UNIX/C Programming

1972 E-Entertainment
Nolan Bushnell (b. 1943) gave geeks another reason to stay indoors by introducing Pong, a crude electronic tennis game, which was later miniaturized for the home. Bushnell’s Atari dominated the videogame market, but he eventually sold out and started the Chuck E. Cheese’s pizza parlor chain. The game brand he created is more visible today on hipster T shirts than on TV screens. But the industry he started, now dominated by Sony and Microsoft, generates more money in the U.S. than the movie business gets at the box office.

1973 Discount Brokerage
It’s unlikely taxi drivers would have turned into day traders had it not been for Charles Schwab (b.1937). He positioned his company as the anti-Wall Street firm, dumping all the trappings of a typical brokerage house–the commissions, front-end loads, markups and fees–in exchange for simple, low-priced, per-trade fees. Today his San Francisco-based outfit serves 8 million investors who control $800 billion in assets.

1974 Catalytic Converter
1974 Index Fund, a basket of stocks made up of the 500 largest companies.

1976 Personal Computer Chic
Apple cofounders Steven P. Jobs (b. 1955) and Stephen Wozniak (b. 1950) helped usher in the era of the PC by making their machines accessible and cool–as desirable, in their way, as sports cars. But because Apple never made a serious stab at the business market, it has always been a shrimp compared with larger outfits. Those same competitors, though, were always ready to adopt Apple’s innovations in user-friendly design and clever marketing. Wozniak retired in 1985; Jobs was forced out of the company in 1985, but returned in 1997 to lead Apple’s latest incarnations.

1976 Recombinant DNA
Robert Swanson, then a 29-year-old venture capitalist, teamed up with University of California, SanFrancisco professor Herbert Boyer to commercialize Boyer’s breakthroughs in “recombinant DNA” technology–splicing together strands of DNA to whip up marvels like human insulin for diabetics, growth hormones for children and antibodies for cancer patients. The two founded Genentech, the first in a wave of biotech companies. It went public in 1980, raising $35 million. Swanson died in 1999. Today his $17 billion (market cap) company does $2.2 billion in sales.

1977 Cash Management Accounts
After a meeting with members of the Stanford Research Institute, Merrill Lynch chief financial officer Thomas Chrystie came up with the idea of an all-in-one account that included check-writing, money-market benefits, a Visa card and brokerage services. The idea was slow to take off, and Merrill nearly abandoned it. But it eventually became copied to the point of ubiquity, giving inspiration to those who harbored dreams of creating megabanks.

1977 Original-Issue Junk Bonds. Michael Milken opened up the capital markets to fledgling firms by putting together a $30 million bond issue for a small oil company called Texas International. The bait for investors: a high yield of 11.5%.
1979 Spreadsheet
1984 Liquid Crystal Displays

1984 Customized Mass Retail
Michael Dell got into the disintermediation business–bypassing distributors–during his freshman year at the University of Texas at Austin. He bought overstocked IBM PCs at cost from local dealers, then sold them to consumers at 10% below list. He dropped out of school that year, and started selling his own homemade versions of the computers for $795–built to customer specs. Now Dell dominates the PC market, posting $31 billion in annual sales. More impressive, his customized retail strategy, once an anomaly in the computer business, is now standard practice. That’s good news for customers and for the mass distributors who parcel out the machines, but worrisome for conventional retail outlets.

1987 Mevacor
It took more than 35 years for scientists at Merck to conjure up Mevacor, the first widely used drug that reduced cholesterol. The pill worked by blocking an enzyme from creating mevalonic acid, thwarting the liver’s production of cholesterol. Under Chief Executive P. Roy Vagelos, Merck researchers developed Zocor, a second generation of the drug, and proved that it, as well as other cholesterol-lowering drugs, reduced the risk of heart attack. Zocor sales jumped in 1995 when the FDA approved it as a product to prevent heart disease in patients who already suffered a heart attack.

1987 Prozac
Ray Fuller, a researcher at Eli Lilly, developed a drug that blocks serotonin, a neurotransmitter thought to cause depression. Today Prozac is the world’s most widely prescribed antidepressant, with over 40 million users in 90 countries. The pill also challenged traditional concepts of psychology and identity, igniting a debate between enthusiastic advocates and those who believe that mental states are too complex to be treated like a common virus.

1991 World Wide Web
Software consultant Tim Berners-Lee developed Enquire, a program that linked documents from various computers around the world, effectively granting a visa to the masses to travel through cyberspace. Marc Andreessen brought further order in 1993 by creating Mosaic, a program that allowed people to view pictures as well as well as words. Two years later, Netscape: a point-and-click browser that made surfing an indoor sport, and ushered in the era of high-flying Internet public stock offerings. Yeah, and you think it hasn’t changed the world forever?

1995 Protease Inhibitors
In December pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche received approval for Invirase, the first protease inhibitor for patients suffering from HIV. The new class of drug disabled the protease enzyme from duplicating the HIV virus in cells, offering the first glimmer of hope for an AIDS cure after nearly two decades of searching. Years later doctors used the drug as part of a triple cocktail that includes AZT. When taken, the cocktail virtually wipes out signs of the HIV virus in most patients.

1995 Internet Business
Lured by the promise of a new business paradigm, Jeffrey Bezos started selling books online at Amazon.com, and Pierre Omidyar launched Ebay, an online marketplace. Hundreds of other entrepreneurs followed suit, selling everything from bicycles to bubble gum. Most flamed out, often in spectacular style, but Amazon and Ebay endured.

1998 Viagra
Working in Pfizer’s Sandwich, England office, researchers Peter Ellis and Nick Terrett noticed an uplifting, if unintended, side effect in test patients taking sildenafil citrate, a drug being developed to treat angina. They patented Viagra, making erectile dysfunction part of the national conversation and Bob Dole an unlikely celebrity spokesman. Approved by the FDA in March 1998, 3 million prescriptions were filled in the first three months. Since then some 16 million men have taken the drug and an average of nine tablets are dispensed every second. Sales to date: $5.8 billion. Viagra imitators and drugs for female sexual dysfunction are in the works.

2000 Automated Sequencing Machine
Using 300 high-speed DNA-sequencing machines, gene guru J. Craig Venter stunned the scientific world when his company, Celera Genomics, deciphered the entire human genetic code in just over two years and with a research budget of $270 million (it took Uncle Sam 13 years and $2.5 billion). By studying the genetic variations among humans, scientists will be better able to diagnose and ultimately cure diseases like diabetes and schizophrenia.

Source: Forbes
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What will the next 85 years bring?
The last century has seen only a few major display innovations, among them the move from black-and-white monitors to color and the introduction of flat, liquid crystal displays to replace cathode ray tubes. If Richard Friend’s discovery lives up to its promise, the LCD will someday be tossed aside in favor of the OLED–organic light-emitting display.

OLED could open new areas of art or, more prosaically, lead to a new kind of camouflage bodysuits, even constantly updated newspapers that look and feel like the original thing. “One always falls into the trap of going into the straight-replacement mode,” he says. “But with a revolutionary technology you should not simply map it on to existing products. Not if you are an optimist.”

In the information publishing business, I like the number of new sales to be about 10 times greater than the number of back-end sales. In terms of dollars, the average back-end sale is usually much higher than the average front-end sale. In the investment newsletter business, for example, back-end sales range from $300 to $5,000. Front-end sales range from $20 to $100.

If your business made 1,000 back-end sales last year, you should have your marketers establish a goal of at least 10,000 front-end sales this year.

Achieving that goal will not be easy. Front-end sales are tough. But it has to be done. Front-end sales are the ones that grow your business.

So explain the importance of this to your employees. Then connect the compensation of your key creative and marketing people to those front-end targets.

Before we get to your wealth, health, and happiness, a word about our new format: As you have no doubt noticed, we are changing things up a bit. And some of you like the changes and some of you don’t.

We continue to read every note you send us and make adjustments as we go. We are also doing split tests to determine whether certain changes result in greater or less reader response.

Our goal is a newsletter format that is easy to read and yet delivers a higher level of quality advice. This process will take another week or so to complete, but you can expect to be 100 percent satisfied when we are finished.

Source: ETR

No? Why not? They don’t know him any better than they know you. You went to school. You have expertise. You know how to solve difficult problems. So what’s the difference?

The difference is positioning. The doctor is perceived to be an expert, so you seek his counsel. The medical industry knows things about marketing and positioning that most people in our industry just don’t know. Most companies just imitate their competitors, and everyone gets dumber every year.

I went on a mission to study the most brilliant minds in marketing today, across dozens of industries and professions. The system I’ve developed over the last three years delivers powerful results for corporate sales people, in a measurable and predictable way. I now produce training tools and consult with a select number of high tech clients.

Your experience as a business owner, marketing manager or sales person can radically change for the better in only a few months time, simply by learning my system.

Just fill out the contact form and my capable staff will make sure you get it right away.

Sincerely,

Octavio Urzua

P.S. How Would YOU Like To Be Privately Coached?
Do you prefer a Mastermind session with other business owners or non related industries or do you prefer one-on-one coaching to address your specific requirements faster?

“I’ve Taught Newbies And Multi-Millionaires How To Dominate The Search Engines… And I Can Teach You and your team Too!”

In this

Session 1:
1. Why your competitor is at the top of Google and you’re not.
2. Why it’s crucial to identify the right keywords for your site.
3. How to drive laser targeted traffic to your website without spending a dime on advertising.
4. How to get on the first page of Google in your niche, and stay there!
5. A legal but powerful way to spy on your competitors and steal their traffic.
6. My proven techniques and strategies for long-term results.
7. The fastest and easiest way to get your site indexed without submitting!
8. How to work around Googles new filters.
9. How to leverage the power of authority sites and use it to your advantage!
10. And much, much more!

If you do your own site optimization, stop guessing and let me show you step-by-step exactly what you need to do to get your site listed on the first page of Google, MSN/Live and Yahoo! and keep it there.

Session 2 to Session 7 will be revealed inside.

Thinking of starting a business? Before you start building your empire, Farnoosh Torabi, author of You’re So Money: Live Rich Even When You’re Not, urges you to ask yourself these questions:

1. What is my area of expertise? Assess the education and experience you have. Determine if you can use them to attract customers.

2. What is my niche? You must know what it is you can offer that customers will only get from you. It has to be a quality or a product that will set you apart from the competition.

3. Who are my competitors? This doesn’t mean that you should stop at knowing their names. You should take note of what they’re doing right or exceptionally well and learn from them.

4. What are my start-up costs? You have to estimate how much you will be spending to set up your business down to the last cent. In this case, it pays to overestimate rather than underestimate your expenses.

5. What are my goals? Come up with a realistic timetable and determine the milestones you want to see in the coming months. Know your strengths, weaknesses, and possible obstacles.

Bottom line: Even if you think you have enough money, you must not get carried away or you’ll end up with a business that has no staying power. Remember that an empire isn’t built in one day.

1. Everything that is watched improves.
One thing I learned early in my business career is that anything of significance that is measured and watched, improves.

2. John D. Rockefeller knew the importance of business intelligence.
Back before I started Parsons Technology I became impressed with something I read about John D. Rockefeller. In fact, I still think about it and use it to this very day. I learned that Mr. Rockefeller was one of the few people in his industry (perhaps the only one) who knew exactly how much it cost to extract, refine and deliver a barrel of oil. In fact, he was entirely aware of all his costs. Knowing this information (and acting on it) gave him a huge competitive advantage. He knew how much he could price a barrel of oil for and still turn a profit. He was always keenly aware of each area of revenue, cost and market share, and he worked on improving in every area. As a result, he did cost saving things like manufacture his own oil barrels, have his own cartage company, and on and on.

He eventually managed his way to where he could sell a barrel of oil, with impeccable customer service, and turn a profit at a price less than what it cost his competitors to deliver the very same product. By paying close attention to the things that mattered, Mr. Rockefeller made his Standard Oil Company so successful that he became the wealthiest man in the world!

I measured everything significant at Parsons Technology.
So when I started Parsons Technology, I began the habit of measuring everything that I felt was significant on a daily basis. I did this with unit sales cross referenced by the print advertising I purchased and direct mailings that I did throughout the month.

I worked to sharpen profits every day.
When I sold Parsons Technology, the company was snail mailing anywhere from 6 to 8 million offers each and every month. Because our monthly investment in printing, postage, and fulfillment systems was huge, it became imperative that we knew where we stood at all times. We developed a system that allowed us to project the success (or failure) with reasonable certainty of any mailing, after receiving just a few days of results. If the mailings appeared to be successful we planned more of them, and if the opposite was the case, we immediately cancelled anything similar we had in the works. This allowed us to sharpen our profitability each and every day. Also because we watched and constantly worked on improving each aspect of the cost of doing direct mail, our costs were just a fraction (often less than 50%) of what it costs our competitors to do the very same thing.

While our direct mail and advertising tracking systems at Parsons Technology became very sophisticated, they were very similar to the systems I developed and used much earlier when it was just my then wife and I trying to make the company succeed.

3. My staff and I try to watch everything important at Go Daddy.
I use the “measure and watch everything of significance” rule at The Go Daddy Group. We prepare a detailed daily profit and loss snapshot, of the prior day’s business, for each of our operating companies and for each of our significant products. We make major business decisions daily and do so as soon as the information appears (which may be only a few hours old) to warrant key decisions. To quote an overused cliché, “We are able to turn on a dime.”

4. Real-time information about your business is critical.
Real-time information that actually gets used is particularly helpful when launching a new product. It’s extremely handy for finding the right advertising and positioning that maximizes any new product’s sales. But the benefits don’t stop there. Current information can also provide an incredibly effective early warning system that lets you know if there is a problem that needs immediate attention.

5. Traditional financial reporting doesn’t cut it.
Traditional financial reporting is done monthly. In many businesses that’s when you’ll see the only financial statements showing how the company performed. Often these monthly “financials” are produced by the accounting department sometimes a few days after the end of the month, and often times much, much later. By the time the people in charge get their hands on this information and are able to digest it, small problems have become large problems, and many an opportunity is long gone.

6. You need to know how you’re doing on a daily basis.
I think business, particularly in today’s age of the internet, needs to be managed on a daily basis. On an overall basis, knowing how each key part of my business did the prior day tells me where I should focus my time. I also use other statistics which I get real-time to pinpoint opportunities and problems.

7. Old news has little value.
As you might already guess, one of the big points I’m trying to make here is that for business information to have any real value, it has to be current, and ideally real-time. Beyond that, someone needs to be paying attention to it, thinking about it, and making an effort to improve upon it.

8. You can start building your business intelligence systems in small steps.
There used to be a time, before the computers and the problem solving software we use (like spreadsheets, databases, etc.) today, when knowing how your business stood on a daily basis was quite a challenge (of course that didn’t get in the way of John D. Rockefeller). With the tools we have today, there is no reason why every company doesn’t have this type of information. If you don’t have daily performance information at your company, you can’t make it appear all at once. What you can do is to implement your information systems in small steps and improve them daily. Start with the stuff that really counts, and then as the ideas flow (and flow they will) build upon your systems. Before you know it, you’ll be in control like never before and you’ll marvel at your systems. The point is to get started. That’s how it’s always worked for me.

9. My rule even helps me stay in shape.
Measuring everything doesn’t just help with business systems. I also use this rule to help keep me in reasonable shape. I don’t track much but I track enough to keep me working out and building physical strength. Every time I work out, I keep track of the day, how many minutes of cardio exercise I’ve done and how many calories I think I’ve burned. I also track how many push ups I do. Just seeing this information (I keep it on a spreadsheet on my laptop) let’s me know if I’ve been lagging, and when I notice that I’ve been falling behind, I do something about it. This simple little system works well for me. In fact, I can tell you how often I’ve worked out every week for the past three years.

Source: Bob Parsons

The answer is simple if you know the basics:

* We are an economy that is 70 percent driven by consumer spending.
* To get the economy going again, spending must increase.
* But Americans are reluctant to spend.
* And banks are reluctant to lend.
* And even if banks did lend and people did spend, it would just get us all deeper into debt.

Is there any way out of this?

Yes, and it’s very simple. We can’t spend our way out of indebtedness. We can only work our way out.

You won’t hear this from our politicians. And you won’t hear it from media pundits either. It is politically incorrect to suggest that people have to work harder.

“We already work hard,” they say. “You can’t ask us to do more.”

But doing more work is the only way out. We have to work harder and make more money. And then we have to save some of that money and spend some too.

I made this point in Automatic Wealth. I said that most wealth-building books are flawed because they never say the truest thing: that the only way to get rich is to save a lot of money, and the only way to save a lot of money is to make more — much more than you are making now.

If our politicians really wanted to fix the economy, they would do everything they could to increase entrepreneurship in the U.S. Entrepreneurship, more than anything else, is responsible for the creation of jobs and wealth.

Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban says that the most patriotic thing you can do is start a business in America and become extremely rich. I agree. Starting a business is the best way to boost your income, increase your savings, accelerate your spending, and help America work its way out of this recession.

Source: ETR

Ever get a call or an email from a new client and, well, it just doesn’t feel right? I mean, red flags go up, your spider sense starts tingling, the hair on the back of your neck sticks up? You know something’s not quite right but you’re just not sure what it is.

1. How did you find me?
2. Have you ever worked with a _________ (fill in the profession) before?
3. Did you find it useful?
4. What did / didn’t work for you with that professional?

Source: Allthingsprivatepractice.com

Motivation: It’s Not About Carrots or Sticks
Daniel Pink, author of the book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, gives this fascinating 18-minute TED talk in which he declares that sweet carrots (for example, “if you do well, I’ll give you more money”) actually stress people out and often decrease productivity. So what does work to motivate workers? Forget extrinsic motivators like carrots and sticks for difficult tasks that involve problem solving or creative thinking. Instead, focus on intrinsic motivators like:

* Autonomy, the urge to direct our own lives
* Mastery, the desire to get better at something that matters
* Purpose, the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.

What are the implications for how managers should run their teams, and what sort of jobs will most motivate young people like you?

Dan focuses here only on Autonomy and gives a few good examples, and touches on the ROWE (Results Only Work Environment). People working under a ROWE system do not have fixed schedules per se and can work at any time. They can show up when they want, essentially. This would not work for all professions due to fixed schedules (teachers and airline pilots come to mind), but it works for a lot of folks in design and software and other creative fields.

Name the Greatest Business Partnerships

Asked by Forbes.com to name his top five historical partnerships, Harvard Business School Dean Jay Light produced this unlikely list:

1. Marie and Pierre Curie
2. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
3. Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale
4. Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard
5. James D. Watson and Francis Crick
6. Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs

Lewis and Clark are highlighted, for example, because they are a fine example of complementary opposites. Writes Light:

“Lewis and Clark bonded over a shared love for the outdoors, but they had markedly different personalities. Lewis was a moody, introverted intellectual with a deep knowledge of cartography and natural science. Clark was the gregarious extrovert with a natural flair for leadership. Lewis needed Clark to keep up the esprit de corps through three arduous years while he focused on scientific discovery. Clark simply needed a job.”

Here’s my favorites: Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. At the dawn of the personal computer generation, Wozniak had the technical genius and Jobs had the marketing instincts to transform early attempts at a personal computer such as the Altair, which appealed to hobbyists, into an eventually mainstream consumer electronics device.

The Success Trap

Few businesses are able to avoid the “success ruins everything” syndrome. Some firms overexpand and fail to maintain consistent standards, a fate that has befallen numerous restaurants and celebrity chefs that have spread themselves too thin. Others lose sight of their quality and performance standards in the push to grow quickly. Toyota, which built its reputation and economic success on its quality and design processes, recently admitted that it had let those standards slip in its quest to become bigger than GM. Toyota’s newly appointed CEO promised to return the company to its roots, fixing its quality problems and reinvigorating its technical innovation.

Some companies respond to success by resting on their laurels and ceasing to innovate. Microsoft, with its dominant position in many software markets, failed to improve security and other features on its browser after it crippled Netscape. This lacuna in product development permitted Mozilla to rise from Netscape’s ashes, build a more user-friendly browser, and in the process, gain almost a quarter of the browser market.

The complacency that often comes with success provides a window of opportunity for underdogs and upstarts. Witness Apple’s recent dominance over former cell-phone kingpin Motorola and Ryanair’s profits in a European airline market where its larger competitors are losing money in the face of declining revenues.

And it’s not just companies that suffer from success. So, too, do personal relationships. When a group achieves great success, it can split apart with jealousy as individuals each seek credit and a disproportionate share of the resources from their collective accomplishments. Individuals in firms often come to feel that they could make it on their own and really don’t need their colleagues. “When you’re climbing up the mountain, that’s when you really need each other. Then, when you get near the top, it’s over.”

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- Figure out if your idea is “good enough” (a good enough idea with great marketing can make you a fortune)
- Why the “position” of your idea or product (in the marketplace) is WAY more important than marketing and sales
- How to raise funds to get your “idea” going
- AND, how to build out the proper “funnels” to drive a ton of sales consistently

We, as a team, BUILT a very cool business in 90 days from start to finish. As a matter of fact, Happy Blankie just officially launched 2 weeks ago.

We found a children’s orphanage in Uganda, a church in Thailand, and St. Jude’s Children’s hospital to work with. These are, as you know from St Jude’s, all amazing organizations
that directly and positively impact tens of thousands of children literally all over the world.

Go to www.happyblankie.com and purchase a Happy Blankie. Stomp the Happy Frog, Giggle the Happy Pig, Chase the Happy Dog, and Tumble the Happy Bear will make your kids an AWESOME Christmas or Holiday present. For every Happy Blankie you purchase we’ll be giving one away to a child in need.

Our Christmas cutoff means that we want to get as many Happy Blankies as possible in the hands of children less fortunate and in need of a smile before the holidays are over. They need it now. Use the word “FAMILY“ as your bonus code and you will actually save an additional 20% off.

And I’ll literally show you the ENTIRE system we used to build this business in less than 90 days.

We did some really cool things in building this business. Some key things that if you learned would help you become a better entrepreneur. I want to walk you through exactly what we did and why we did it. After the holidays are over I’ll do a webinar with our entire team on it that will show you… (take action now and you’ll be invited)…

- Why we set up 2 separate entities for Happy Blankie, one to hold the intellectual property and one to run the company. I’ll explain what we used and why there’s no other way to build a real business.

- How we came up with our USP “One to Love – One to Share” and how we’re building the technology to allow our customers to actually pick where they want their 2nd blankie to go.

- Why and how that idea above will engage our audience and singlehandedly push our growth 40% or more in year one.

- How we are already in “celebrity getting” mode and positioning our product for explosive growth. HINT: you should be all about explosive growth business models.

- How we “did the math” to make sure we weren’t going broke by giving one away for every one we sold AND why this idea will actually triple the speed of our company’s growth over the next 24 months.

- How we’re seeing the future and already coming up with ideas like our “Endangered Species” line that is environmentally friendly and has cool little animals like “Tobias the Tiger” and “Charge the Rhino.”

Basically how to take an IDEA, put it into swift ACTION, and how to drive PROFITS.

You’re going to love this blankie – I promise. They come with a “Lifetime Guarantee” and you’ll be getting the very first batch of a world class product, helping make a less fortunate child very happy, and get to see “behind the scenes” on how we are building this company out to be a socially conscious billion dollar brand.

Source: www.idontliketowork.com

I’m not just saying it because he signs my paychecks. Seriously, I mean it. He does things most bosses don’t do. It’s made him a wealthy man. And it’s made many of his employees more money than they’d ever dreamed of.

I have a unique perspective here… I hired him 13 years ago. We’ve known each other since we were kids. Now, rightly, he’s my boss.

He worked his way up from the bottom to the top. It wasn’t because of some sort of power-mad ambition. He didn’t have a master plan. He simply thought of better ways to do things.

What does he do that’s different? What does he do that’s made him more successful at what he does in a shorter period of time than anyone else? I’ll share a few of his secrets with you today…

He’s not afraid to be proven wrong. I’m not saying he likes being wrong… He’s a competitor. But he won’t hold stupidly to his original belief once it’s been discredited.

Ever since we were kids, he’s had a unique ability to lead the troops in one direction, full speed ahead… Then if he’s proven wrong, he’ll do a 180 immediately and lead the charge in the opposite direction.

If a business idea isn’t working, cut it. Don’t waste valuable time trying to make a wrong a right. Surprisingly, most smart people have a hard time with this.

In a business deal, he does an outstanding job explaining what’s in it for the other guy. In short, he doesn’t talk about himself, his wants, and his needs… at all. He talks about the benefits for the guy at the other side of the table.

Like everyone, the guy on the other side of the table is selfish. When you get down to it, he really doesn’t care what’s in it for you. But if you can convince him you’ll make him more successful at what he does, then you’ll get your deal.

He praises and constructively criticizes people equally. If you’re screwing up, my boss will call you out. So when the praise comes from him, everyone knows it’s legitimate. It’s valuable.

If you’re the boss, you know constant praise without constructive criticism is useless. (Unfortunately, that’s my management style. I’m too nice.)

He’s friendly with “rivals.” He even gives away most of our secrets. I didn’t understand this one at first. I’m sure our competitors still don’t…

Why would we happily give away our secrets? Well, after spending time with us, our competitors often end up wanting to partner up. That grows their business, which grows ours… And if a rival’s business folds, the employees know us and try to get a job. We end up with the best talent.

You might not like the idea of inviting your rivals over to share your secrets. But it makes great sense for both sides.

(My boss says “I don’t mind giving our secrets away… They’ll never execute them like we can.” That right there is the biggest insight of all.)

He hires people smarter than him. Wait, didn’t I say he’s the smartest guy I know? My friend is brilliant, yes. But he’s not that organized. So he hired a man “to run the business.” And when he decides to push our business into new areas, he hires the best guys he can find.

He pays his employees well – through pay incentives. He’s done a fantastic job tying his employees’ pay to the jobs he needs them to do.

In my own case, he’s always structured my pay in a way that should 1) increase my income and 2) push me to put my efforts behind the best opportunity he sees.

Lastly and most importantly… it’s not about the money. The money is simply one “scoreboard” of his success. A lot of it is about fun… about coming up with a business idea and seeing if it works.

If you took all his money away tomorrow and told him he had to move to a different country, pick a place where he didn’t speak the language, and find a different industry, he’d make all that money back again in the same short amount of time. He’d use all his secrets… like the handful I outlined above… and he’d do it. No question about it.

Some of these secrets might sound backward at first. But if one sounds “totally wrongheaded,” think long and hard about it… My boss is the smartest guy I know… and I’ve seen him do these things over and over again.

Source: Dr. Steve Sjuggerud

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I, like many, believed you needed natural talent to draw. That was before I met Jacque Fresco. He soon proved me wrong and changed that belief permanently …

He demonstrated to me that drawing can be quickly learned by anyone whether you are 9 or 90. What I saw impressed me so much I asked if he would be willing for me to share his technique with you. He happily agreed.

Maybe you’ve been envious of those who appear artistically gifted. Perhaps you would just like to improve your current ability to draw. Either way Jacque Fresco can help you.

Imagine how surprised and impressed your friends and family will be when you learn how to draw almost overnight. Not to mention the feeling of personal satisfaction.

If you are thinking “no, you don’t understand, I could never do that, I don’t have an artistic bone in my body,” then worry not. Jacque Fresco’s revolutionary teaching method works even for people who can barely draw stick figures.

If you are worried you will not have time, then never fear. Each lesson is only a few minutes long and only takes a few minutes to master. This is true no matter what your age or ability.
Of course you don’t need to believe me. Just try it for yourself.
Enter here and you will get 5 free lessons sent to you, starting immediately.

With the right Outsourcing strategy, you can reduce overhead costs (up to 40% savings according to a recent study), get more done in a shorter amount of time, and grow your business faster.

In fact, since it’s become easier to communicate over long distances and online collaboration tools are abundant, many businesses are tapping into the available pool of highly talented and skilled providers.

But while the Internet has certainly made Outsourcing more manageable, few people really know how to harness the full potential of Outsourcing to benefit their business.

The Outsource Cashmap package reveals those secrets and will guide you, step-by-step, in this process- from developing an Outsourcing strategy, to placing your advertisement, to assessing potential hires, all the way to keeping track of project progress and more. As you continuously apply your Outsourcing strategy, you’ll start seeing your profits rise and your business goals achieved in a much shorter time.

TIME SAVING GRAPH
Outsourcing vs Non- Outsourcing

WORK LESS, EARN MORE. The long-term benefit of outsourcing is a greatly reduced workload as your business continues to grow.

In this set of Cashmaps you’ll discover …

* The eight proven benefits of outsourcing your business projects or processes (cost reduction is not even the first advantage)

* The top three outsourcing sites and how to quickly and easily set-up your account in each of them (You could be tapping into their vast pool of experienced providers in under a day)

* How to write a job ad that will attract the right people for your project (this alone can cut down the time spent in the entire outsourcing process by half)

* How to tell the difference between someone with”true talent or expertise” and someone who has a “well-crafted (and padded) resume” (you’ll learn a simple formula that works in evaluating a candidate for any position you’re looking to fill)

* How to avoid the most common cause of failed outsourced projects (It’s so easy to prevent but if you don’t get it right, your outsourcing strategy can backfire and do more harm than good)

* and much more…