I felt confident I could do it. But, whenever possible, I ask for the runway that makes landing my plane as safe and easy as possible.

I called the controller and made the request, but it was denied. So I went ahead and landed on the other runway.

Before I did, though, I called the controller again and asked for a “time check.” That told him I was not happy and would be speaking with a supervisor. Among other things, the “time check” provides the supervisor with a way to review on-air exchanges between a particular controller and pilot. (Those exchanges are recorded, and I know to be careful to say only what can be used for me and not against me.)

My gut feeling was that the controller didn’t want to do the work involved in switching runways for me. It was late afternoon, right around time for a shift change. But since I couldn’t be sure of his reason for denying my request, I decided to hold off judgment until I had spoken with his supervisor. The supervisor called me the next morning. Long story short, I got an apology from the controller on duty for not having given me the okay. More important, I established a relationship with the supervisor — an articulate, intelligent, savvy guy. He recognized the unique qualities of my plane, and understood why I preferred to land with its nose into the wind. He also agreed with me that a pilot coming in to his home airport should get special consideration.

Had I let my emotions get in the way, I would not have achieved this larger goal.

I didn’t radio the control tower and yell, “You lazy sons of guns, get off your duffs and make it happen!” Alienating controllers, even if I am in the right, diminishes my stature as being reasonable and in control. (A must for pilots.)

By using my philosophy of “If you don’t know, don’t say,” I set myself up for success!

***

How to Keep the Cash Flowing INTO Your Bank Account

Instead of spending money 4, 5, even 10 times a day… imagine if you could start collecting cash that often.

If you could receive $300,000+ to help further your dreams…

Or pick up a $75,000 “bonus” to buy a home or make home improvements…

Or even snag $1,200 a month to get a higher paying job (This is not a loan!)…

Can you say, “Ka-Ching!”???

Now, Early to Rise presents hundreds of ways you could stockpile valuable resources… one “Jumbo Ka-Ching Reward” at a time!

Get all the cash-generating details right here.

***

It works the same in business and your personal life. Don’t fly off the handle and “push their buttons.” Wait for the appropriate time and opportunity to take control.

Escalating emotions are goal-killers. It pays in both the short and long run never to allow it to happen. You will only drain your energy and go off your goal track.

Here are a few techniques that will help you stay calm in any tense situation:

• When the other person is upset with you, ask questions. Ask, “Can you tell me why you are upset?” or “What can I do to fix this?” This sets up a bridge to resolution.
• When something is bothering you, let your emotions speak. Don’t expect others to read your mind. Give your distress a voice instead of holding it in and allowing it to fester and intensify. Say, “I am very apprehensive about this” or “I am becoming annoyed and angry.”
• Make resolving the problem a team effort. Instead of putting yourself and the other person on opposite sides, say, “We can work this out.”

These tactics become easier the more you use them.

We like to think of ourselves as mature adults, yet maturity goes out the window — along with self-control — when a person or problem “pushes our buttons.”

Hold on to your goal power by staying levelheaded and centered. Ask questions. Give voice to your emotions. And promote a “We are in this together” atmosphere. Your goals will not only stay on track … they will advance much faster.

P.S. Keeping my emotions in check and waiting for the right opportunity to take control of a situation is one of the success skills I learned while working with some of the richest and most successful men in the world. These men weren’t born wealthy. Yet, they learned the formula for achieving all they wanted out of life. I reveal dozens more of their unexpected, effective, and easy-to-implement success “secrets” in my program, The Billionaire in You.

***

The Perfect Business Literally in Your Pocket Flick through a step-by-step set of simple 1-2-3 instructions. Follow them (should take about 20 minutes). The next conversation you have, simply say the “Magic Words” per the instructions. The next thing you know, your bank account could start filling up. Read more…

More from Masterson…

How Ordinary Guarantees Can Be Extraordinarily Effective

I saw an advert in a NYC cab for a six-week “combat training” course. The program was run by a woman. She wore fatigues. So did her students. Maybe not entirely unique. Still, it distinguished her from the crowd.

What was more interesting was that she offered a 100 percent money-back guarantee.

A money-back guarantee is standard for most products and services. But it occurred to me that I hadn’t seen any guarantees for fitness or martial arts programs. They may offer a few free introductory lessons. But once you sign up, there are no refunds.

I suggested to several of my fitness and martial arts instructor friends that they try it. About half pointed out that they have fixed overheads and have to struggle to make a profit. They said they were afraid people would take advantage of them.

I don’t think they would. It’s tough to ask for a refund face-to-face if you know you’ve been getting good service. If I had to guess, I’d say the bad debt would be less than five percent.

That’s a small price to pay for a considerably higher rate of response to your ads.

***

Making Money Online Is Not Complicated Most Internet marketing programs sound exciting at first. But soon you are totally confused and/or overwhelmed with complex terms and strategies. But the best way to make money online is actually the simplest. People predominantly use the Internet to check their email. And you can leverage that fact to make as much as $250 per day. Read more…

***

Energy and Healing

Eastern medicine is old, very old. Some ancient Indian therapies date back almost 6,000 years.

Some people I know seem to feel that any system that has survived for that long must be right. Others believe that only the latest scientific breakthroughs are worthwhile.

My own position is in between. I don’t believe in any cure that has the word mystical attached to it. But I do believe human beings are clustered energy systems. Therefore, the old therapies that sought to unlock or redirect energy might have some validity.

I tried acupuncture once. I experienced a noticeable physical reaction from it. I regularly get deep tissue massage. I can feel the energy effect in that. I also practice yoga, perhaps the oldest energy-based exercise in the world.

As I said, I don’t believe these therapies are mystical. But I do think they stimulate blood and oxygen flow throughout the body. In blood and oxygen there is energy.

One 2,000-year-old energy therapy – something called Chakra exercises – was recommended to me by our own Paul Lawrence. He has been experimenting with it for about a month. He’s excited about the results. To read about Paul’s experience, click here.

***

Stop Playing Standard Stock Market Games Spend just 30 minutes a day in front of your computer – using “tactical surgical strikes” to hit the market where it hurts. You could be making $5,000, $10,000, or more per week – whether the market falls, soars, or goes sideways. Read more…

You’re invited to a lobster bake at the yacht club by a friend who has four marinas in the area.

A half-hour into the party, you meet a guy who imports boating supplies and sells them to retailers. During your conversation, you find out he’s looking to expand. You ask your new acquaintance if he would be open to paying a small commission for any new business you might generate for him. He eagerly accepts your offer, and you reach an agreement. Over beer and lobsters, mind you!

Then you introduce your marina-owning friend to the boating supplies importer.

They hit it off immediately. Before long, they are discussing prices. In other words, negotiating. Within a few minutes, they have a deal. Your friend will buy some of the importer’s products wholesale and sell them at all four of his marinas.

The best part? You get a cut of the deal for making the introduction.

But that’s not all. Going forward, you get a percentage of each and every sale the importer makes to your friend!

My first year as a “connector” (also known as a “finder’s agent”), I made $22,000. I made it by introducing high-profile advertisers to trade publishers … and by introducing business sellers to business buyers. When they struck their deals, I received my “fee.”

Before long, I was making $50,000 a year … simply by making phone calls and sending e-mails. It took only a couple of hours a week of my time. I was still making nice commissions by introducing business sellers to business buyers and advertisers to publishers. Meanwhile, I had started helping print publishers slash production costs by outsourcing to India.

I stumbled into the “connecting” game. But I found I was perfect for the job because of my background as a successful entrepreneur. I’ve launched, bought, sold, and managed dozens of small businesses over the past 19 years. What’s more, I’m a former commodities futures trader. I learned a great deal about human psychology by monitoring and trading financial markets. (Not to mention how to steward large sums of money.)

Actually, anybody can be a “connector,” even with a very limited business background. It requires almost no capital to get started. You’ll be providing a service that’s in high demand. And you can run the whole thing from your home office.

You’ll have to test the waters to find the best way to structure your compensation. You can charge clients a flat fee, or you can charge a percentage of a transaction made as a result of bringing people together. If ongoing sales are involved (like the deal between my friend and the boat supplies importer), you can receive “residual” payments.

Either way, you can make good money.

Not only that, but sometimes clients will ask you to assist them in other ways — negotiating, setting up escrow accounts, developing sales agreements, and more. If you have the skills, you can, of course, charge additional fees for that extra work.

Basically, here is how the “connector” service works …

Let’s say you hear about someone who is interested in buying a large parcel of land, a business, a commercial building, surplus merchandise … or any of the thousands of other products, services, or properties that are bought and sold every day.

Then let’s say you find someone who has that item or service or property for sale at a reasonable price.

You inform the prospective buyer that you’ve found an eager seller. You tell the prospective buyer that if a deal is made, and both parties are satisfied, you will be entitled to a finder’s fee or commission.

When you and the prospective buyer have an agreement, you introduce him to the prospective seller.

A buyer and seller will sometimes (rarely, in my experience) try to negotiate a deal without your help, even though you introduced them. Not to worry. You can keep this from happening by putting your agreement with the buyer in writing.

Nothing fancy. Don’t get tied in knots over paperwork and contracts. Keep it simple. My first agreements were less than a page long, and were sent by e-mail or fax. Just outline the terms of the deal (including your commission). Then have it signed by the prospective buyer before any introductions, negotiations, or transactions take place.

For the most part, you can trust people to live up to their end of the bargain. After all, you’re making money for them. So they’ll probably want to do business with you again in the future.

Here’s another example of a deal I completed as a “connector”:

I read about a man who was looking to purchase websites. Specifically, he was looking for travel websites with significant traffic that were also fully functional with e-commerce.

I contacted him by e-mail, introduced myself, and gave him a brief rundown of my business background. Then I told him about two travel websites I thought might interest him.

I explained my “connector” service, and presented my fee proposal. He agreed to the terms.

I then introduced the prospective buyer to the principals of both travel websites. One of the websites was a perfect fit, and he made an offer. The final sale price was negotiated in about a week.

When the sale was completed, $2,250 was electronically transferred to my bank account. That was 3 percent of the deal. My “connector” fee.

It’s that easy.

On top of that, this particular deal took less than 60 minutes of my time, from beginning to end.

Where do you find potential deals? The sources are almost unlimited.

• You can find people and companies looking for products, businesses, real estate, surplus inventory, bankrupt companies, capital, etc. in all the national business papers. That includes The Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, The New York Times (especially the Sunday Edition), Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, and the Los Angeles Times.
• There are hundreds of websites for finding deals, too. Alibaba.com, in particular, is an excellent source of clients looking for specific products.
• International Wealth Success (IWS) publishes newsletters with an abundance of leads. IWS also publishes a comprehensive course on becoming a “finder’s agent.” Contact them for details.
• Three resources for finding clients and deals overseas are the South China Morning Post, the London Times, and the Gulf Times.
• For smaller-scale deals, you’ll find a boatload of leads on CraigsList (under the Items Wanted category) and Crain.com Classifieds.

Whatever niche you work in, this is a fun sideline business for anyone who enjoys putting deals together and introducing prospective buyers and sellers.

P.S. “Connecting” is just one of the “under-the-radar” opportunities I talk about in my service, Ka-Ching. Mostly, I reveal unheard of deals, HUGE discounts, and how to get free stuff. That includes everything from everyday expenses to vacations to big purchases like cars and homes. Find out more about Ka-Ching here.

More from Masterson…

Watch Out for Stocks Next Month

Research from Georgia Tech: Over a 200-year period, 15 out of 18 stock markets studied posted negative returns in September. From 1970 to 2007, all 18 posted negative returns.

Consider these facts:

• The last bear market for U.S. stocks began in September of 2000.
• That market hit its lows in September of 2002.
• The Lehman Brothers collapse happened in September.
• The crash of 1987 happened in October, but the decline began in September.
• And the worst month of the great depression? September 1931, when the market fell 30 percent.

With stock prices so much higher than they should be, Bob Irish, IDE’s Investment Director, asks, “Do you really want to be fully exposed right now?”

Is Salt the Culprit When It Comes to High Blood Pressure?

My grandfather once told me he saw a chef shoot a man for salting his food before tasting it. That’s not something I worry about nowadays. But I do get shouted at. K doesn’t like me salting my food. Before or after I taste it. She says I should be concerned about my blood pressure. I say my blood pressure is fine.

Damn it, I like salt. So I was pleased to read about a study reported in the January issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. According to the researchers, the amount of salt you take in isn’t nearly as important as your ratio of sodium to potassium. Take in more potassium and you can safely eat more salt.

ETR Health Tsar Melanie Segala wants me to cut down on salt and increase my potassium. I’m thinking I’ll just take in more potassium. In Total Health Breakthroughs, Dr. Joseph McCaffrey suggests some good ways to do that.

“Thank you for your interest in our real estate investment service. As of this writing, housing starts in Harrin County rose 50 percent last year to 1,200, up from 800 the previous year. That 2008 figure was an increase of 33 percent over the 2007 figure of 600 housing starts, which itself was up 50 percent over 2006’s 400 starts. In 2005, housing starts increased 33 percent over the 2004 figure of 300.”

OY! By the time you’ve slogged through that puppy you feel your eyelids twitching and your temples thumping. You toss the packet aside for later. Unfortunately, the chances that you’ll pick it up again are next to none. And that company just lost a sale.

Now, here’s the million-dollar question. Are you making the same mistake with your promos?

Let’s face it. Too many raw numbers can cause MEGO (My Eyes Glaze Over) Syndrome. And when that happens, readers have the perfect excuse to bail out.

Plus, numbers appeal to the analytical side of the brain — the left brain. And sales are made by appealing to the right brain — the part that  deals with emotions, intuition, symbolism, and art.

Still, numbers and statistics can add a great deal of credibility to your claims.

So how do you present them without bogging down your copy? You do it with right-brain friendly “infographics.”

Infographics are charts, graphs, and tables that present data in a simplified form. They help readers understand the information faster and remember it longer. They also help break up the copy and make it more visually appealing.

In his book Design to Sell, Roger C. Parker states, “Words alone do a poor job of communicating comparisons, hierarchy, and sequence. Consider this sentence: ‘East Coast sales are 20 percent lower than Midwest sales, which in turn are dwarfed by West Coast sales that are twice as large.’ Read as words, it’s difficult to obtain a mental picture of the differing sales from each territory. 

“The same comparison takes on a new life when visually communicated with charts and graphs.”

So, how do you decide which infographics to use in your promotions? And how can you “dress them up” to make them visually interesting?

Let’s take a look at the ones you’re most likely to use:

1. Pie Chart

The pie chart depicts the proportion of parts to the whole. It is circular (like a pie), with wedges cut in various sizes to illustrate percentages. For instance, you might use a pie chart to show how a business’s budget is distributed between salaries, supplies, building maintenance, and so on.

Design Tips: Avoid splitting a pie chart into more than eight pieces. More than eight, and the pieces become too small to recognize or label. You can use a screen tint or bold color on the most important piece of the pie, or pull that piece partially out to separate it. You can also tilt the pie, add a shadow, or try a three-dimensional effect.

2. Bar Chart

The bar chart displays the relative quantity, size, or frequency of data. You might use a bar chart to compare:

• opposites (e.g., income vs. expenses over a period of time)
• quantities (e.g., the number of active members in several organizations)
• averages (e.g., the average amount of money spent on direct-mail campaigns over a five-year period)

Design Tips: Avoid having too many bars or they’ll look too thin. You could add a drop shadow, a three-dimensional effect, or a screen tint to make them stand out from the graph behind them. Or you could replace the bars with illustrations — maybe stacks of coins, chimneys, or building silhouettes.

3. Line Graph

The line graph shows changes over time. You draw lines from point to point to show progress made. Line graphs are frequently used, for example, to chart the price of a stock.

Design Tips: Avoid using more than three lines in one graph, or it will become confusing. You can use different colors or screen tints to help separate the lines from each other. For added interest, you might put the graph inside an illustration.

4. Table

The table gives more precise information — and a larger amount of information — than a chart or graph. Tables are left-brain devices. Readers need to study a table rather than merely glance at it. So  use it:

• when readers need exact numbers, not just lines, bars, or pieces of a pie
• when you have too much information to condense into a chart
• when readers are already used to similar information being presented in tabular form (such as an expense report).

Design Tips: Use a different color, a screen tint, a wider border, or a double-rule to highlight rows or columns that should stand out.

When building your infographic, you’ll want to include a legend next to the graphic or labels within the graphic. To help readers understand what they’re looking at, add a caption, just as you’d add one to a photograph.

The infographic isn’t the only design element you can use in your promotions to increase sales. To learn more, see the American Writer’s & Artists Graphic Design Success program.  

[Ed. Note: Kammy Thurman is an AWAI-trained copywriter, designer, and SEO Web content consultant who combines powerful direct-response copy, SEO strategy, and social media marketing to help clients ramp up their online sales and visibility. To learn more about her services, visit www.anchorcreative.com.]

More from Masterson…

The Resource War Is Escalating. Now’s the Time to Take Shelter. 

The Chinese are buying up petroleum reserves like crazy. For many years they were cautious about doing so for fear of upsetting the U.S. Now they have decided they don’t need to worry about us. China’s state-owned Sinopec Group has just bought Addax Petroleum. It’s one of the largest independent oil producers in Africa and the Middle East, with sales of $4.6 billion in 2008 and 1.9 billion barrels of reserves. What will that mean to U.S. consumers? 

Andrew Gordon, value investing expert with Investor’s Daily Edge, has this to say: 

“This is what China does best. It looks far into the future and figures out what it needs to do TODAY. What China is seeing are resource shortages. The American government and companies stink at this sort of thing. 

“We better get used to stuff like this. China knows we’re in a resource war, a long period of fighting for scarce resources. The U.S. doesn’t seem to notice. With China in the mix, it’s going to cost more to acquire these properties and then cost more to produce oil from such remote locations. And the more successful China is at buying up these oil fields, the more oil it will siphon off for its own use. 

“Bottom line? American consumers are going to pay through the nose for oil and gas.”

The Incredible Light-Headedness of Being a Health Scientist

A new study published in the British Medical Journal is recommending putting everyone over 40 on blood pressure drugs. Even if they don’t have high blood pressure!

This astonishing recommendation was reported by Al Sears, M.D., in last Friday’s Total Health Breakthroughs. It’s mind boggling. The study’s authors use a twisted logic: Rather than test people individually and give medication to those who “need” it, test no one and just give it to everyone.

How simple! How sensible! How profitable for Big Pharma!

“This is a sign of things to come,” Dr. Sears says. “Drug companies aren’t satisfied with controlling medical schools, the media, and the FDA. Now they want all of us to take a drug every day whether we need it or not!”

The truth is that many people taking beta blockers and ACE inhibitors could get healthy simply by eating better and exercising. If you are worried about high blood pressure, check out Dr. Sears’s article.

I find the rule for start-up money to be the same for an Internet business as it is for many home-based businesses. It’s a “time or money” equation. (Michael Masterson has written about it many times.) 

The “time or money” rule dictates that you need either time or money to succeed. 

If you have little money, you must put a lot of your time into the start-up. That’s what’s known as “sweat equity.” 

If you have little time but plenty of cash, you can pay others to do a lot of the work.

Time or money. Either one will do. 

It is extremely difficult to start a home business if you have no money and no spare time. 

However, with an Internet business, we have a big advantage.

You can’t run an Internet business with zero dollars. You need to buy domain names, pay for hosting, have Web pages designed, and so on. But it is much easier — and far less expensive — than an offline business. 

It’s also far less risky. 

As Gary Scott said at an American Writers & Artists Bootcamp, “The Internet is very forgiving of mistakes.”

For instance, if an e-mail marketing campaign to your subscribers bombs, you don’t make much money that day. But sending an e-mail promotion, even to thousands of subscribers, is so inexpensive, you don’t lose much either.

On the other hand, running a business offline … especially one selling a physical product … can cost a small fortune. And all of it is risk capital.

Take, for example, the business magazine — Portfolio. It was launched by Conde Nast in April 2007. Two years later, it was gone. According to the New York Post, the total loss for the publication’s two years of operation was $120 million.

In my little Internet information marketing business, I never spend much more than $1,000 to develop and test a product. Usually, I spend considerably less. My first product, an e-book, cost me a total of $263.

Since most of us have grand plans, ambitious dreams, and big ideas, but not much money, I suggest you start your Internet business with your own labor rather than begged or borrowed capital. 

Especially at the beginning, you’ll have to put in a lot of time. But that will give you an edge over your competitors. Most of them simply will not make the effort. 

“If you work more hours than somebody else, during those hours you learn more about your craft,” writes Randy Pausch in his book The Last Lecture. “That can make you more efficient, more able, even happier. Hard work is like compounded interest in the bank. The rewards build faster.” 

It takes a lot of hard work to start and build a profitable online business … much more than many “get rich quick on the Internet” promoters would lead you to believe. But once you get going, Internet marketing can generate a steady stream of passive income. That’s the “compound interest” part of it. You create a product once, and then sell it again and again. 

That’s not the case with a service business, such as freelance copywriting, coaching, consulting, or speaking. 

In a service business, the start-up is simpler. You just start advertising. But service businesses generate mostly active income. You have to keep working, with a high level of activity, to make a high level of income. 

A business that generates passive income pays bigger dividends down the line. And, as I said, you can start an Internet information marketing business with very little money. But not zero. 

Exactly how much do you need, then? 

If you do most of the work yourself at the beginning, you can get started with less than $1,000. 

Take a look at my budget for my first product on the Internet, an e-book titled “Write and Grow Rich”: 

• Writing the e-book — zero (I assembled it from previously published articles.) 
• Hiring a designer to put my Word file into a PDF format — $75
• Registering my domain name — $9
• Creating the landing page copy — zero (I wrote it myself.)
• Paying a company to design the landing page — $175 (I outsourced to an overseas firm.)
• Monthly shopping cart software subscription fee — $4 (The company I use — automateyouronlinebusinessnow.com — charges $49 to $99 a month, depending on the software you select. But they offered a one month trial for only four bucks. I started with that.)
• E-mail distribution — zero (I was already paying a flat monthly fee to have the e-zine I send to my copywriting clients distributed, and I never came close to the maximum number of e-mails I can send for that.)
• Total out-of-pocket, excluding my own labor: $263
• Total revenues: $2,958 (for 102 copies of the e-book, sold at $29 each)

As you can see, even with a budget of only a few hundred bucks, you should have enough to cover the initial start-up costs. That includes hosting … domain name registration … design of your landing page … creation of your first information product … setting up a merchant account … and shopping cart software.

The bottom line: If you have ambition, vision, and desire … and are willing to work hard, at least in the beginning … you can start a successful Internet marketing business for under $500.

To launch a business for under $500, however, you need to spend your money wisely — finding quality service providers that charge reasonable fees.

By patronizing the bargain suppliers and avoiding the rip-off artists, you can get started on a shoestring. And get hosting … website design … shopping cart software … and everything else you need … for pennies on the dollar.

By the way, figuring out how much time or money you are going to spend to start your Internet business is just the first step. To get it off the ground — and start making sales every day — you need to know the secrets to selling online. That is the main factor in determining your success.

My small Internet marketing business generates more than $25,000 a month in revenue.  And I can show you exactly how I do it.

More from Masterson…

I Like My New iPhone, but I’m Not So Sure About AT&T Stock

I love my new iPhone, but I don’t like the fact that I have to subscribe to AT&T to have one. AT&T service is okay, but I hate being forced to take it. I’m not the only one. Lots of my fellow iPhone users feel the same way.

That’s why I’ll be interested to see what happens when AT&T’s exclusive agreement with Apple expires in 2010. If Apple gives its customers what they want — which has been its pattern — this deal will no longer be exclusive.

Ralph de la Vega, head of the company’s wireless unit, said they are looking for “the next great set of devices that customers are going to want.”

The Investor’s Daily Edge editorial staff wondered what he meant. Upon asking, they found he meant “cameras, an electronic book-reader, and a dog-tracking collar.”

“Yes, a dog-tracking collar,” said Bob Irish, IDE’s investment director. ” If you own AT&T stock, consider this a warning.”

One of the questions I’m frequently asked is: “Do I need a lot of money to start and run a successful Internet marketing business?” 

Defeat the Top Three Fitness Problems With One Easy Exercise

Lower back pain? Painful shoulders and neck? Protruding belly?

America’s most common fitness complaints are all due to the same problem: a weak core. What the hell is a weak core?

It refers to the muscles in and around your waist and diaphragm. ETR’s own fitness coach, Yari Ferrao, is excited about a new method she’s found to build up core strength. It doesn’t require endless crunches or crazy ball exercises. It’s just a matter of learning to breathe. 

First, test your core strength. Stand in front of a mirror. Place one hand on your belly and one on your chest. Take a deep breath.

Does your belly rise or does your chest rise?

If your chest rises, she says, it means the muscles of your upper body are doing the lifting of the rib cage to bring oxygen into your lungs. And that would explain why you would have tension and knots surrounding your neck and rounded posture.

Yari’s solution — diaphragmatic breathing — not only fixes the three most common fitness problems, it provides a host of other health benefits. These include reduced stress, improved bowel movements, decreased anxiety, less insomnia, relief from asthma symptoms, and lower blood pressure … naturally!

Click here to watch Yari Ferrao show you the ultimate secret to a sexy, flat stomach, and a reduction in back pain!

How we use those hours determines our success. Today, I would like to get back to a discussion we’ve been having on this topic in ETR for years, most recently last April.

I want to cover the two most commonly asked questions on how to allocate time for maximum productivity:

•  How many hours, in total, should I work?
•  What sort of activities should those hours be devoted to?

In particular, I am interested in the number of hours that should be devoted to planning and preparation versus taking action.

I have always resented any time I’ve had to spend to get ready to do a job. I want to get to it immediately. I don’t want to sit around researching the task, assessing potential problems, and then figuring out the best way to approach it.

This is especially true when I am inspired. Driven by some vision of what could be, I feel maniacally compelled to realize that vision as fast as humanly possible. People who work with me are sometimes stressed by my eagerness to get going.

I believe this drive to action has been a big factor in my success as an entrepreneur. But, in my early career, my disdain for planning and preparation was a major waste of time — mine and that of those who worked for me.

I can’t tell you how many construction projects and marketing plans I had to trash and start.

As time passed, I begrudgingly accepted the necessity of getting ready. I still have the urge to get going on any new project immediately, but I’ve trained myself to take some time to assess the situation and make plans.

The balance between planning, preparation, and action I found was expressed perfectly in the title of a book on entrepreneurship I published in 2008: Ready, Fire, Aim.

The idea, in a nutshell, is this:

• Action is the most important thing. Careers and projects are killed much more often by a reluctance to act than by acting too soon.
• Still, some planning and preparation is helpful.
• Get it roughly right as soon as you can, and then start. You can work out the kinks later.

Thus, Ready, Fire, Aim.

That is a good general guide for how to organize your time. But it doesn’t tell you how much time you should spend getting ready.

Earlier this year, I asked more than a dozen successful businesspeople how much preparation and planning they did each day. I was also curious to know how many hours they worked.

Here are the results of my little survey:

Seventy-six percent said they work more than eight hours a day. The range was wide — four to 12 hours. But the average was 9.3.

Most of them considered “planning” to be a vital part of their day. In fact, as a group, they spend an average of an hour doing just that. But all of them felt that “taking action” was the most important part.

For nearly all of them, the workday begins early — before 9 a.m. About half begin at or before 8 a.m.

Many begin working before they get to the office by reading e-mail or gathering information for from newspapers or online publications.

Not many — only about 20 percent — take work home with them at night. But a majority put in at least a few hours on the weekend.

• Many took pains to say they “make family a priority after work” and “spend time with the kids during dinner or at bedtime.” I couldn’t help but be suspicious of these responses. I didn’t ask if they were neglecting their families, but they seemed to want to assure me they were not. Maybe there was a little guilt going on there.

I thought it would be interesting to compare the results of my survey with my own practices, as well as with the work habits of Ben Franklin (ETR’s muse) and Donald Trump, America’s most visible entrepreneur.

A typical day for me looks like this:

Part One: Early Morning

• 6:30 Wake up, smile, think positively.
• 7:00 Walk or run on the beach, then yoga.
• 7:30 Eat a high-protein breakfast while reading the newspaper.
• 8:00 Read poetry, philosophy, etc., looking for one good idea.
• 8:30 Write/edit poetry or fiction.
• 10:00 Write/edit non-fiction book.

Part Two: Mid-Day

• 11:30 Go to office, meet with G, go over day’s schedule.
• 12:00 Do one important business task.
• 12:30 Jiu Jitsu
• 1:00 Have a protein shake while reading.
• 1:30 Business (Action!)
• 4:00 Two 15-minute meetings
• 4:30 Respond to e-mails.
• 5:00 Plan the next day.

Part Three: Late Afternoon

• 5:30 Go to Joe’s for espresso, and finish all priority tasks.

Part Four: Evening

• 7:30 Home, enjoying a glass of wine and a crossword on the porch
• 8:00 Dinner and conversation with K
• 9:00 Mindless entertainment
• 10:00 In bed reading
• 11:30 Lights out

Add it up and you have the following 24-hour breakdown:

• 7 hours of sleep
• 4.5 hours of planning, preparing, and reading
• 8.5 hours of action
• 4 hours of socializing and relaxation

How does this compare to Ben Franklin’s schedule?

Here’s how he recorded it in his autobiography:

• 4:00 Wake up and wash, breakfast.
• 5:00 (He didn’t say.)
• 8:00 Work.
• 12:00 Read while eating lunch.
• 2:00 Work.
• 6:00 Think about “What good have I done today?”
• 6:30 Relax and recreate.
• 9:00 Sleep.

Because Ben left three morning hours unaccounted for, it’s difficult to estimate his time blocks precisely. But assuming those three hours were equally divided between leisure (he was devoted to it), reading, and work, his 24-hour breakdown would look like this:

• 7 hours of sleep
• 3.5 hours of planning, preparation, and reading
• 9 hours of action
• 3.5 hours of relaxation and recreation

That’s remarkably close to my schedule. Being a fan of Ben, I’m happy about that.

What about Donald Trump?

He gets up early too — usually at 5:30. He spends several hours reading newspapers. (He reads half a dozen at a time.) He arrives at the office at 8:30 and works till dinnertime — or, if he has no dinner plans, till about 10:00 p.m. He’s usually in bed by 11:00 or 11:30.

His workday consists of non-stop meetings and phone calls. Being in the construction and development business, it’s safe to assume that one-third of that time is spent on planning and preparation.

So, roughly speaking, his 24 hours would be broken down as follows:

• 6.5 hours of sleep
• 5.5 hours of planning, preparation, and reading
• 9.5 hours of action
• 2.5 hours of relaxation and recreation

Interesting, don’t you think?

Do this right now. Take a look at yesterday’s calendar and figure out how your workday compares.

Remember, these are typical hours for entrepreneurs. If you are a doctor or a dishwasher, you might have a very different schedule.

Nevertheless, my guess is that — despite what we wanted to believe when we bought and enjoyed Timothy Ferriss’s book The Four-Hour Work Week — being successful in life requires three or four hours of getting ready every day and eight or nine hours of taking action.

Jason Holland, ETR’s editor, did some additional research on this topic. Here’s some of what he found:

• The results of one study done by psychologists Linda Stroh and Jeanne Brett indicated that managers who work longer hours are more satisfied with their work lives. Those who work the longest hours also make more money.
• Twenty CEOs and executives surveyed about their daily routines for Yahoo! Finance are, without exception, early risers. They wake up before 6:00 a.m. and spend their first few hours exercising or “gathering information” from newspapers and online sources. Some of them also check their e-mail. Lou D’Ambrosio, chief executive officer at Avaya Communications, for example, is “on e-mail literally within one minute after waking up.” He says he spends an hour at home in the morning doing e-mail to jumpstart his day.

Longtime ETR readers know that I believe e-mail is the wrong way to start your day. It will besiege you with dozens, if not hundreds, of OPPs (other people’s problems). It will drain your energy and waste your time. If you can possibly avoid it, it is much, much better to do your e-mail once a day, in the late afternoon, before you leave the office.

None of what I’ve said so far should astound you. It’s all good common sense. It’s what we’ve been saying at ETR for years.

But it’s one thing to recognize a good practice and quite another thing to use it.

Most people who read this essay will think to themselves, “I should do that. I should wake up early and spend that extra time working on my long-term goals.” They’ll think it, but they won’t do it.

To maximize your productivity, try it for a few weeks and see how it works for you. And since how the way you begin your day has a major effect on how productive you will be in the afternoon and evening, follow these four easy rules:

• Begin with a high-protein meal for long-term energy production without a mid-morning crash. For me, it’s two eggs on a slice of high-fiber toast, several glasses of water, and a cup of coffee.
• Do something physical to wake up your body. For me, it’s a combination of walking or sprinting and 15 minutes of stretching (usually yoga).
• Make your first task a meaningful one. By meaningful, I mean an important-but-not-urgent task, something that will move you along toward a long-term, life-changing goal. For me right now, that involves writing poetry or fiction. For you, it could be something related to making money or advancing your career.
• Do something to stimulate your mind. I like to read poetry or philosophy. I know it sounds pretentious, but it works for me.

By the way, my informal survey produced a number of very interesting comments and suggestions, some of which I’m incorporating into my own workday.

One of my respondents, for example, said, “My whole day is determined by the first hour. If that is spent well then I know the day will be good. If something interferes and I don’t get that good hour in, I find myself fighting to get meaningful work done. Nowadays I do that meaningful work at home. And I do it on a yellow pad. I’ve been pushing back the hour I come into the office. Now I’m coming in about 11:00 a.m.”

If you’d like to read other comments from my survey, go here.

More from Masterson…

More Bad News for the Housing Market … but I’m Buying

Regular readers know I’ve started buying real estate again. But I’m not doing it because I think the market is about to rebound. On the contrary, I don’t think we will see 2004 prices for another 10 years … at least. In the meantime, you can still make plenty of money.

The reason the market will stay weak is because of economic fundamentals. I’ve mentioned them before: failing businesses, growing unemployment, pent up credit card debt, etc., etc. 

By the first quarter of 2011, Deutsche Bank tells us nearly 50 percent of Americans with home mortgages (about 25 million) will be “under water.” That is about double the current rate. A third of those (8 million) will owe more than 125 percent of their home’s value.

If that proves true, buyers can expect plenty of good bargains in the coming years. But, as I said, I’m not waiting around till some big bank tells me what to do. I’m buying now when the numbers are good. If I can put down 20 percent and get positive net cash flow out of a residential property, I’m going for it. The time to make big profits is, and always has been, when blood is running in the streets.

[Ed. Note: For more "blood in the streets" profit opportunities in real estate, check out the Bandwagon Raiding Machine.]

A New, More Natural Treatment for Cancer May Make Chemotherapy Obsolete

Traditional chemotherapy treatments are usually horrible. Often, they are more painful than the cancer itself. Even worse, there is insufficient proof that they do any real good. Keeping you alive an extra six months while you lose your hair and get sicker and weaker is hardly worth doing.

ETR’s sister publication, Total Health Breakthroughs, takes a skeptical view of the widespread and automatic use of chemotherapy. If you are not reading it, you should.

Meanwhile, Melanie Segala reports that there could be a new way to treat cancer that is significantly less toxic than traditional chemo. Scientists have known for some time that our own cells produce a cancer-killing protein called Par-4. It attaches itself to tumor cells and kills them, leaving healthy cells unharmed. This “selective cytotoxicity” is the holy grail of cancer research. Scientists are now trying to develop treatments using the Par-4 protein.

While the Par-4 cancer treatment may indeed prove to be useful, let’s not forget that prevention is the best medicine against cancer. When your defenses are strong, your body is able to extinguish rogue cancer cells, without ill effects. To boost your immunity to cancer, avoid chemicals and preservatives in your food and stick to a low-glycemic, antioxidant-rich diet.

Call it writer’s block or just plain old brain freeze, but finding topics to write about isn’t always easy. There is one type of article, though, that can pull you out of this creative quagmire. It will keep your readers happy and help boost your search engine traffic at the same time.

I’m talking about the “how to” article.

“How do I figure out what to tell them how to do?” you may ask.

Your customers can be your best guide on this. They are probably already asking you questions like “How do I use this TIG welder?” “How can I bake a vegan birthday cake?” Or “How can I cook ribs on my new BBQ?”

Simply listen to their questions and address them in your “how to” articles.

Here’s what you do:

Step 1. Choose your subject. Perhaps “How to plant potatoes.”

Step 2. Explain how to plant potatoes, giving examples and clear instructions.

“(1) Determine the recommended planting time for your climate, normally two weeks before your last frost. (2) If planting in the early season, about a week before your planting-out date, place the seed on a bright, warm windowsill for a few days. This will bring the potatoes out of their dormancy and help them germinate in the still-chilly spring ground. (3) A raised garden bed will warm quicker than the surrounding ground. This will help your potatoes germinate quickly. You can create a raised bed by cordoning off a 3-foot or 4-foot wide area. (Make it as long as you wish.)”

Step 3. Point out some of the potential problems, concerns, or setbacks your reader could face.

“Buy good quality, preferably organic, seed potatoes from a reliable supplier. Potatoes in supermarkets are treated to prevent them from sprouting and do not produce good crops.”

Step 4. Include professional tips, “gotchas,” and time-saving techniques.

“Once the potatoes sprout and are 3-4 inches above the ground, cover them completely with soil or straw. Repeat this about three weeks later. That way, you can trick the potato into a bigger harvest. The tuber will put down more shoots and you can quadruple the yield.”

Step 5. Include photographs of your potatoes. And, if you wish, insert customer testimonials on how YOUR seed potatoes or gardening supplies and/or customer service are the best.

You may also want to include a link to a free report on a related “how to” subject. This is a great way to provide further information in exchange for a site visitor’s e-mail address. You can then send them relevant, interesting, useful, and timely information on the topic of interest … or your newsletter on gardening techniques … or whatever else it is that you do or offer.

You may already have the basis for this free report. Perhaps it is something you give out as an information sheet. Maybe it’s a photocopied document your customer service reps refer to. This type of material can make great “how to” articles too.

Many online businesses use “how to” articles to get good search engine referral traffic. For example, my friend Nathan sells aromatherapy oils. He found that most people like the fragrance of these natural oils, but have no idea what to actually do with them. So he wrote an article on “How To Use Essential Oils.” The article explains how to use them in the bath and in massage. It even mentions which ones cannot be used with children or pregnant women. And there are links to his products throughout. So when, for instance, you’re reading that essential oils can be used for a chest rub to ease congestion, there are links to eucalyptus, rosemary, and fir essential oils.

Nathan’s article is about 1,700 words — four pages if printed out. That may sound like a lot. But if you asked any aromatherapist “How do I use essential oils?” you’d receive an equally enthusiastic and comprehensive response.

“How To Use Essential Oils” shows Nathan’s site visitors that his company knows its stuff when it comes to essential oils. And that they can teach you how to benefit from their products in a friendly, “non-pushy,” helpful way. This single “how to” article accounts for about 7 percent of Nathan’s overall website traffic. And it has generated tens of thousands of dollars in sales.

You probably get many questions from your customers and prospects about your products, services, and more. Your answers to them in the form of “how to” articles — interspersed with product and service links, suggestions and recommendations — make great content for your website and e-mail newsletter.

Just follow my five-step plan for developing your “how to” articles and you will have loads of ready-made content that will bring in prospects, turn them into customers, and keep them coming back.

P.S. “How to” articles are just one way to boost your business and create content for your website or e-mail newsletter quickly and easily. Members of my Internet Rant service have received hundreds of other strategies and techniques for e-mail marketing, search engine optimization, and more. To find out more about me and the Internet Rant, go here.

More from Masterson…

Uncle Sam: Subsidizing a Junk Food Nation, Part 2

Yesterday, I told you that the U.S. government plays a direct role in the rate of obesity among poor people. Subsidies for sugar, wheat, rice, corn, and soybeans ensure that junk food is cheap. So what about farmers of healthful fruits and vegetables? Don’t they get a share of government money?

According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, those farmers receive no subsidies at all. Is it any wonder, then, that we have become a junk food nation? In his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan comes to the same conclusion:

“When you go to the grocery store, you find that the cheapest calories are the ones that are going to make you the fattest — the added sugars and fats in processed foods. The correlation between poverty and obesity can be traced to agricultural policies and subsidies.”

The Ideal Recession-Era Car?

When K and I were in Rajasthan in 2007, our guide told us that India would soon be producing the world’s cheapest car. He said it would be less than $2,500. I remember thinking either he didn’t know what he was talking about or the car would be a piece of junk that would never pass U.S. import standards.

I was wrong. The Tata Nano is coming off the assembly line and will soon be selling worldwide. Its base price is an astonishing $2,200. That is what a Volkswagen cost back in the early 1960s. It’s amazing.

How can these cars not become a global phenomenon? Especially now that nearly everybody is getting poorer because of the Great Recession.

Andrew Gordon, value investing expert with Investor’s Daily Edge, recommended Tata to his readers in 2007. And he’s still very positive about the company:

“Only in India do you have the combination of experienced, low-cost engineers and low-wage labor,” says Andrew. “The Nano doesn’t give Tata the biggest profit margins in the world, but with no competition in its price range, sales should take off.”

If I were a gambling man, I’d invest in Tata. 

Maybe it’s a client’s product. Maybe it’s your own.

And because your discovery possesses the six qualities direct-response homeruns share, you suspect you just might be looking at a grand slam:

• This product delivers benefits your prospects already want.
• It conveys these rational and emotional benefits in superior ways.
• You’ve got proof elements out the wazzoo.
• It’s a screamin’ deal.
• The offer makes buying this product, from you, today a no-brainer.
• Downstream sales are a slam-dunk.

In fact, this product is so good, you’d feel guilty if you failed to nag your sweet, sainted old grammy until she bought it. Better yet, you’d joyfully buy it and give it to her yourself.

Congratulations, my friend. You’ve got a product that can make your reputation, your career, and your fortune.

… So where do you start?

Well, you’d sit right down and write the ultimate promotion for your ultimate product, right?

Well, not exactly. In fact, not by a long shot.

Instead of ETR’s “Ready, Fire, Aim” approach, that would be “Fire! Ready? Aim.”

First, you need to find a marketing model that’s the best fit for your product.

“So what the heck is a marketing model?” you ask.

Simple. Your marketing model describes the strategy – the step-by-step process – you’re going to use to:

1. Find your best prospects …

2. Turn those prospects into customers in the most cost-effective way…

3. And, ultimately, cause your customers to:

• Buy from you more often …
• Spend more with you on each purchase, and …
• Keep buying from you longer. Hopefully, forever.

Get that right and you’re on your way. But if you screw it up, the best product ever invented and the most brilliant sales copy ever written won’t save your sorry butt.

I can’t be there with you the whole way. But I will give you a great starting point for getting a great marketing model …

Steal it.

Find a company that’s marketing a product similar to yours … that sells at a price point similar to yours … to prospects like yours … and shamelessly duplicate THEIR marketing model.

I mean, why re-invent the wheel? There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of successful companies in every niche market you can name. The most successful ones have spent years and millions of dollars in slow, painful trial-and-error testing to find their optimal prospect/media/messaging/offer mix.

The conclusions they’ve drawn from all that priceless marketing data are easy to see. You just have to watch what they’re doing.

When I begin working with a new client in a new niche, the first thing I want to know is, “What are the names of the five most successful companies in this niche?”

Once I have those names, the questions come fast and furious: “What kinds of prospects are they targeting? What media are they using? What kinds of offers are they making? What price points am I seeing most often? What kinds of sales copy and formats are they using to attract new customers?”

I grab the appropriate SRDS publication (usually the latest Direct Marketing List Source) and look up my target companies. I search for clues on how fast they’re growing (by studying the number of hotline names they have available) … how they generate their customers … and what their price points are.

I check Target Marketing’s Who’s Mailing What to see if they have any samples of my targets’ promotions on file.

I buy something from the companies I’m studying, suspecting that they’ll be sending their new customer acquisition promos to their customer file. And I buy something from their main competitors, hoping my target companies will rent those lists and I’ll be able to see the promotions they use to attract new customers.

I visit the popular websites in my client’s market niche to see if my target companies are placing banner ads on those sites or sponsoring those e-zines. I click every link that I suspect may lead me to their squeeze pages, landing pages, or websites. If they have an e-zine, I subscribe. If their website invites me to register, I register.

In short, I do everything I can to make sure my target companies have my phone number … my street address … and my e-mail address so I can see as much of what they’re doing as possible.

Then, once I have a clear picture of how my target companies attract new customers, I simply “borrow” (okay, “steal”) a marketing model from the one that seems to be the most successful.

At this stage, I don’t want to innovate. I just want to help my client do things as well as the largest, most successful company in his niche. Once we’re doing that, it’s time to test new stuff. But initially, being as good as the best is good enough.

“Borrowing” marketing models from competitors is just one of the strategies I’ll be talking about at Early to Rise’s upcoming Info-Marketing Bootcamp this November. Also on the stage will be a dozen of the top Internet marketers working today. They’re not just respected in their fields – social media, search engine optimization, e-mail marketing, and more – they’re making millions for themselves and their clients each month.

You can find out all about who’ll be joining me at Bootcamp here.

P.S. Master copywriter Clayton Makepeace publishes the highly acclaimed e-zine The Total Package to help business owners and copywriters accelerate their sales and profits. Claim your 4 free moneymaking e-books – bursting with tips, tricks, and tactics that’ll skyrocket your response – at MakepeaceTotalPackage.com.

More from Michael Masterson…

Uncle Sam: Subsidizing a Junk Food Nation, Part 1

When I was in New York recently, I read in The Times that NYC’s poorest citizens are much fatter than those of means – with double the rate of obesity in the poorest neighborhoods.

I asked Jon Herring, one of ETR’s health experts, what he thought of this. Here’s what he said …

“The poorest New Yorkers, like those in the rest of the country, are fat because of what they eat. And what they eat is a direct result of government subsidies. The USDA subsidizes a select few food crops with more than $15 billion a year. Which crops get the money? Sugar, wheat, rice, corn, and soybeans. In other words, the government has made the main ingredients in junk food and sweetened drinks (corn syrup) artificially cheap.”

So how much government money goes to farmers who grow healthful fruits and vegetables? I’ll tell you tomorrow.

A One-Hit Wonder Falls Off the Charts

Crocs. Your grandma might have a pair. Maybe the nurse at your doctor’s office too. Seems these brightly colored shoes/sandals are on everyone’s feet. In fact, the company sold 100 million pairs in seven years. And they had to keep ramping up production to meet demand. They spent big time on manufacturing plants and distribution centers.

Then came the recession.

The company posted a $185.1 million loss last year. It had to cut nearly 2,000 jobs. Its stock price plummeted 76 percent. All this just two years after posting a $168.2 million profit. And just three years after selling $200 million in shares to the public.

The moral of the story? Be skeptical of one-hit wonder companies. If their plan for the future is to keep riding the same fad, they are doomed for a quick decline.

Then why does it work? Because elephants grow up believing it will. Maybe they tried pulling away when they were young with no success. Maybe they were injured by their action. After enough failures, they stop trying. They no longer test the restraint, and confine themselves when tethered to the rope.

During the course of my life and career I have run into many people (and no doubt will run into many more) who are holding themselves captive with their own “elephant tether.”

Cheryl, for example, one of my co-workers years ago, was limiting herself and her goals by always seeking approval from her mother before taking action. Cheryl was a grown woman with a husband, two children, and a nice career. However, she felt the need to filter every decision through her mother. She was still trying to play by her mother’s rules – instead of making her own.

I don’t think Cheryl realized her mother was the peg and rope preventing her from pursuing her own idea of a happy, fulfilling life. I mean, so what if Mom doesn’t approve of your kids eating hot dogs or staying up past 8:00 p.m. on a school night?

But following guidelines set by your parents isn’t the only “elephant tether” that could be keeping you from achieving what you want out of life. Maybe it’s one of these:

1. The Reactive Tether

The hustle and bustle of “normal” life often sets up the reactive tether. Your in-laws announce an unexpected visit, so you immediately change your plans to accommodate them. Your co-worker calls in sick on the day of an important client presentation, so you call the client and cancel. Whenever you notice that your car is down to a quarter tank of gas, you can’t concentrate on anything else until you get it filled.

These are just a few examples of situations that can make you fall victim to the reactive tether.

By panicking instead of taking control, you are sabotaging yourself. Is this a good time for the in-laws to visit? If it is not, simply tell them – and offer alternate dates. If your co-worker called in sick, decide whether you’d rather reschedule the presentation or handle it yourself. And if you’re always worried about running out of gas, all you have to do is implement a new routine of never letting the gas gauge go below half a tank.

2. The Full Disclosure Tether

It amazes me how often people feel they need to explain, in great detail, why they can’t do something or be somewhere. In both business and social environments, the person requesting an answer to an “Are you available?” question is really only looking for a Yes or No. If you give them more than that, what you’re really doing is making excuses to yourself.

The best response is either “Yes, count me in” or “No, I have a conflict.” And then go silent. If you can’t make it, the other person will likely suggest an alternate date and time … and everyone moves on.

3. The Shyness Tether

Business seems to be the one place where shy people can just as easily shake or shine. Many shy people (and we all have our shy moments) thrive in the business world because it gives them a “role” to play. As long as they are acting “on behalf of” or in the best interests of the company, they find the strength to do great things.

If the shyness tether is inhibiting your success, you can learn to push that discomfort aside. One way is to give yourself a mental cue – such as “It’s showtime!” – to legitimize the bold action you know you should be taking.

Test this self-imposed barrier. You might surprise yourself. Don’t retreat from any opportunity to discuss team projects or hold yourself back from networking at company events.

The power of “elephant tethers” to restrain you is only in your imagination. YOU have the power to free yourself from them to enjoy life and achieve your goals.

Of course, there will always be boundaries and rules that have to be followed. Judicial laws aside … most of the others are just guidelines. I mean, think about it. Is there a rule against singing too loud in church? Not really. Your spouse may nudge you to tone it down, but it is unlikely that you will be asked to leave.

Don’t get me wrong. I am actually a big follow-the-rules guy. Why? Because I like structure in my life, and most rules are those I would choose to follow anyway. Yet I don’t accept the notion that I have to follow all rules all the time.

Examine your life for self-imposed “rules” you are following that are holding you back. Test them. Think how to break free of them. Create better rules to live by and see your progress grow.

P.S. You control your own efforts at self-improvement. But there is no shame at all in getting a little help along the way. I want to share my personal success strategies with you, including a systematic way to adopt a “mindset” that will allow you to set and achieve all the goals that are most important to you.

These are the same strategies that allowed me to retire comfortably at 36 (although I couldn’t stay away from office, so now I’m “semi-retired”), indulge in my lifelong dream to be a pilot (I hold two world airspeed records), and dedicate my life to helping others follow my path.

Let me inspire you to find your own freedom to move forward.

Oil Is Getting Harder and More Expensive to Find

By Michael Masterson

Oil production is declining at double the rate previously estimated, the International Energy Agency just reported.

Oil fields have been drying up for years. And it’s good to see that we are getting more realistic numbers. But it doesn’t matter whether the rate is 3.7 or 6.7 percent right now. What matters is that nobody is doing anything about it.

Faced with low demand and low prices, oil companies have cut exploration. And development of alternative energy sources has been set aside.

Meanwhile demand for oil in India and China continues. Gradually Western demand will increase too. One of these days we will wake up to discover that we are “suddenly” short. Demand will soar. Prices will skyrocket. And recovery will sputter to a halt.

Much of the world may be shortsighted when it comes to oil. But you can take advantage of the coming crisis with help from Investor’s Daily Edge.

A New Weapon Against a Silent Killer

By Michael Masterson

The amino acid homocysteine is a natural part of your body’s system. But if you have too much of it, it can be damaging. Studies have linked to heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s, cancer, and even macular degeneration.

To keep homocysteine levels at a healthy level, Dr. Sears and the Total Health Breakthroughs team have been recommending B vitamins —especially folic acid. Now there is a new active form of folic acid called 5-MTHF. One study showed that it can raise folate levels in the blood an amazing 700 percent! That’s better, Melanie Segala says, than synthetic forms. In fact, she says it can be “a life saver.”

One in two Americans has a gene variant that makes it difficult to process synthetic folic acid. Using 5-MTHF might be a breakthrough for them. For updates keep your eye on Total Health Breakthroughs.

So when I found a business card on my windshield for a car washing service, I was interested. I looked around the parking lot. Only dirty cars had the card.

The card advertised a deal for an introductory wash. Better yet, they would come to the customer’s home or place of business and do the job there. Perfect for me. Couldn’t be more convenient.

I called and set up an appointment.

I used to do something similar with the lawn cutting business I had as a teenager. I would ride around on my bicycle and look for yards with grass that looked like it needed a mowing. When I found one, I’d knock on the door and ask if they would like to hire me.

I had all the work I could handle.

Even in today’s economic environment, you can have a thriving business.

All you need to do is use this “Dirty Car Secret.” You target people who have a strong need for your product or service. If they need it, they won’t be able to do without it. And they will pay you to provide it.

For example, when I was starting my ballroom dance instruction business, I found that couples who were about to be married often needed lessons. After all, that first dance as “Mr. and Mrs.” in front of all of the wedding guests is a tradition. And with all eyes upon them, nobody wants to stumble around the dance floor.

Before I discovered my “dirty cars,” I had been mailing postcards promoting my business to the general public. Using mailing lists based on income and geographical area, I’d get a response rate of about 1 percent. But, when I started mailing to couples about to be married, the average response rate was 12 percent. A 1,200 percent increase!

Years later, I used the Dirty Car Secret when I was in the swimming pool service business. Any time my pool cleaners spotted a pool that was less than sparkling clean, they left a flyer with a discount coupon on the door. More than 10 percent of the recipients called to take advantage of the offer.

Ten percent! Twelve percent! To give you an idea of how impressive those response rates are, one seven-figure mail order company I know considers a 2 percent response rate to be huge. If they were to get 10 percent, they’d be uncorking Champagne.

Smart direct mailers have used the Dirty Car Secret for years. What they do is rent other mailers’ “buyer lists.” These lists are made up of the names of people who have bought a product that’s similar to the one the marketer is selling. The assumption is that if those folks bought that product before, they needed (or wanted) it. And, chances are, they will need (or want) it again.

But there are many other ways to apply the Dirty Car Secret.

For instance, if you wanted to sell cold beverages with vending machines, you would put your machines where many thirsty people would see them. (When I owned a vending machine business, our machines in hot auto garages were our top performers.) And if you wanted to teach English to people who speak Spanish, a good place to post your flyers would be in grocery stores specializing in Latin-American foods.

The idea is to find a way to identify people who are likely to have a strong need or desire for your product or service. You’d be surprised by how many entrepreneurs spend vast amounts of time and money getting their marketing message into the wrong hands.

Here are some tips to help you find the “dirty cars” that could jumpstart your business in as little as a few days:

Identify your ideal prospects.

If you’ve ever gotten a traffic ticket, you’ve probably been barraged with mailings from lawyers who specialize in traffic tickets – because there’s a good chance a lawyer can help you. Likewise, if you have a dirty car, you might need someone to wash it. If you have an overgrown lawn, you might need someone to cut it. If you’re planning to get married, you might need ballroom dance lessons.

So your first step with this marketing strategy is to pick up on the clues that reveal the ideal customers for your product or service.

Figure out how to reach them.

Once you know who you want to target, you’ve got to determine the best way to get your marketing message to them.

Direct mail is a great way to reach prospects, but it’s only one option. You can pass out business cards or post flyers. You can sell your product or service on the Internet with pay-per-click ads. Use your imagination! One method I used to promote my ballroom dance business was to advertise in the bridal section of the local metropolitan newspaper.

Find a way to separate yourself from the pack.

Reaching your prospects isn’t enough. You have to get their attention and land their business. No matter which advertising method you use, the basics are the same:

1. Grab them with a headline that makes a promise or claim that will interest them.

2. Prove to them that you can deliver on that promise or claim.

3. Ask for the order.

You can use the Dirty Car Secret to pump up the profits of any small business – or start a new one that will deliver enough cash for you to be secure … to pay your bills, put some money away for the future, and have a decent lifestyle for yourself and your family.

If you’re worried about losing your job or having a business that’s failing, that’s good news for you!

P.S. I’ll tell you exactly how to start and grow a profitable small business with my program dedicated to teaching aspiring entrepreneurs. To find out more about it, just click right here.

If you’re a municipal-bond investor, you need to know what you’re buying and be careful.
Recently, Standard & Poor’s (late to the party as ever) placed $67.1 billion of California’s general obligation bonds on watch for a downgrade. California faces a $19.5 billion budget deficit and says it’ll be out of cash by the end of July if the fiscal 2010 budget isn’t changed.

S&P seems truly concerned that California might actually miss an interest payment. Missing interest payments on general obligation bonds must be about the worst thing that can happen in the munibonds world. General obligation bonds are backed by the full faith, credit, and taxing power of the issuer. California is the seventh-biggest economy in the world. If it can’t service its debts … wow!

True to form, Standard & Poor’s still rates California’s general obligation debt “A,” and it delicately mentions “the state’s impending liquidity shortfall,” instead of just saying California is going broke. Remember, S&P said AIG wasn’t insolvent, just illiquid. “Illiquid” is financial speak for flat broke.

I wonder if Warren Buffett is buying California GO bonds. He nearly doubled his munibonds holdings from $2.05 billion to $4.05 billion from last summer through the first quarter of 2009. They’ve appreciated to $4.35 billion recently.

But Buffett is also scaling back on insuring municipal bonds because he thinks city and state governments might choose to default rather than raise taxes.

It turns out that the institution she is in has dozens of kids with the same problem. In case you haven’t heard about it, Adderall is commonly used to treat ADHD. It’s an amphetamine. And, of course, it has plenty of potential for abuse and addiction. It can also kill you suddenly if you have a heart condition.

It’s amazing. Adderall is infinitely more dangerous than marijuana, yet it is promoted – not just sold but promoted – by the Big Pharma/big medicine industry to millions of American kids.

In my father’s time, this concept was best understood by David Ogilvy, one of the most successful commercial advertising men who ever lived.

In our time, that position is held by Bill. He’s widely recognized as the man who brought the big idea into consumer direct marketing and sold more than a billion dollars’ worth of publications by doing so. I know. I saw him do it.

I want to share Bill’s secret with you today.

I won’t be able to show you everything about it and exactly how to execute it. But I will tell you why and how his concept of the big idea is unique, powerful, and profitable.

It may be the best direct-marketing technique of them all.

When I started consulting with Agora in the early 1990s, I came equipped with half a dozen theories about direct marketing that I had used to start a bunch of successful businesses (including one that hit $135 million).

We applied some of these to the Agora product line, and did very well. But when I worked directly with Bill, I discovered an entirely new way to create blockbuster promotions.

I had never heard of the big idea. But when Bill told me about it, I went directly to Ogilvy’s book, Ogilvy on Advertising, and studied it from cover to cover. I remember being particularly struck by the following:

“You will never win fame and fortune unless you invent big ideas. It takes a big idea to attract the attention of consumers and get them to buy your product. Unless your advertising contains a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night.

“Big ideas come from the unconscious. This is true in art, in science, and in advertising. But your unconscious has to be well informed, or your idea will be irrelevant. Stuff your conscious mind with information, then unhook your rational thought process.”

Ogilvy also explains how to recognize the big ideas of others.

(This is a great way to figure out if your big ideas pass muster too.) Just ask yourself these five questions:

1. Did it make me gasp when I first saw it?
2. Do I wish I had thought of it myself?
3. Is it unique?
4. Does it fit the strategy to perfection?
5. Could it be used for 30 years?

The first package that came over my desk my first week with Agora was a prime example of a big idea promotion. It was written by Lee Euler for a newsletter called Strategic Investing. The copy was formatted as a “bookalog” (a direct-mail format, new at the time, that looks like a paperback book) and titled “Plague of the Black Debt.” It was a huge success.

If memory serves, we mailed more than 14 million of those bookalogs and generated more than $7 million in revenues. The novelty of the format was an important part of the promotion’s success. Just as important was the copy itself.

It opened with this:

“You don’t have to be a conservative, a liberal, or anything at all to understand that America is about to be flattened by a tidal wave …

“That’s right, folks. Now that Clinton’s budget bill has passed – and if his economic projections are on target – we’re going to add $1 trillion to the federal debt in the next four years. That’s more than George Bush added in his four years. And it’s almost as much as Reagan added in eight years.

“It doesn’t matter whether you prefer my figures or Bill Clinton’s. We’re merely talking about different shades of disaster. When you’re dead, you’re dead. There aren’t some people who are ‘more dead’ than others.”

This wasn’t the first big idea package Agora had mailed. The very first promotion Bill wrote for the International Living newsletter was based on a big idea. It was the “control package” for almost 20 years. Thirty million pieces must have been mailed. (If Bill had gotten two cents per piece – standard for copywriters – he would have made $600,000 in royalties!)

The big idea of the International Living package was presented this way:

“You look out your window, past your gardener, who is busily pruning the lemon, cherry, and fig trees … amidst the splendor of gardenias, hibiscus, and hollyhocks.

“The sky is clear blue. The sea is a deeper blue, sparkling with sunlight.

“A gentle breeze comes drifting in from the ocean, clean and refreshing, as your maid brings you breakfast in bed.

“For a moment, you think you have died and gone to heaven.

“But this paradise is real. And affordable. In fact, it costs only half as much to live this dream lifestyle … as it would to stay in your own home!”

I was eager to learn how to write big idea promotions myself. But it wasn’t easy. My first few attempts fell flat. I asked Bill about it and, as I remember, he gave me a Yoda-like answer that I didn’t really understand.

Bill’s protege at the time was John Forde, a bright young man with a classical education. John had developed an intuitive way of decoding Bill’s cryptic way of answering questions. He was very helpful in getting me closer to mastering the big idea.

Writing about it some years later in his Copywriter’s Roundtable e-newsletter, John had this to say about the big idea:

“Think about it.

“When you have a ‘great’ conversation … read a ‘great’ book … or see a ‘great’ documentary … what grabs you? Is it the litany of small details? Or the golden thread that unites them?

“More often, for most of us, it’s the latter.

“And the more you ‘get’ the core idea behind a story, a speech, a revelation … the more memorable that one core message becomes.

“This is just as true in sales copy.

“One message, well developed, just has more impact than ads – short or long – that are overloaded with competing ideas.”

When I finally figure out how to apply David Ogilvy’s concept of the big idea to direct marketing, I was able to teach it to some of Agora’s young marketing bucks. One of them, Porter Stansberry, soon wrote one of the biggest big idea packages in Agora’s history.

His big idea, in a nutshell, was that the Internet was going to have as big an impact on the 21st century as the railroad had had on the 20th century. Here’s how he expressed it in his lead:

“Imagine yourself wearing a top hat and tails, on the balcony of a private rail car, the wind whistling past as you sip the finest French champagne …

“It’s 1850; the railroad is growing like a vine towards the west. And, although you don’t know it yet, the same rail that you are riding on today will soon more than triple your wealth, making you and your family into one of the great American dynasties …

“America’s economic history is illuminated by such stories of quick fortunes made by daring entrepreneurs with new technologies – railroads, motorcars, and more recently, computers. I’ve spent nearly my entire professional life studying exactly how great entrepreneurs made their fortunes – both in the past and today. What I’ve learned contradicts what most people believe about wealth building – and explains why 95% of mutual fund managers can’t beat the market’s average return.

“I’m writing to you today to show you what I’ve found. This year, four out of the six stocks I’ve picked for a well-known investment club have more than doubled the S&P 500’s return for all of last year. Meanwhile the other stocks are poised to earn more than my first recommendations combined by the end of this year. I’ll show you exactly how I did it. But for now, flash back again – it’s 1908 …

“You’re an urban banker in Detroit, living a life of country clubs and summer ballroom parties …”

Throughout its history Agora has published hundreds of big idea packages. And they have been a big part of the company’s growth – from an $8 million business when I started working with them to one with revenues in excess of $300 million today.

The big idea is now widely known and talked about. But most direct-response marketers who attempt to use this technique fail miserably because they don’t’ really understand how to do it.

Recently, Bill and I met with the writers from one of Agora’s financial advisory divisions. They presented us with a number of leads that they thought contained big ideas. In almost every case, they were wrong. One of these leads predicted that China and the USA were going to be battling it out over the dollar, and this was going to have a major effect on investing in the next 10 or 15 years.

“Well, that’s not really a big idea,” Bill said.

They all looked at us wide-eyed. “How could that not be a big idea?” the writer of the lead said. “Our two economies combined dwarf most of the rest of the world. If we get into a major fight with one another, it will affect every investment everywhere.”

“That’s a big concept,” I chimed in. “But it’s not a big idea.”

“Isn’t that just semantics?” someone else asked. “Big idea, big concept. Don’t they both mean the same thing?”

The answer was no. A big and definite no. But try as we did, we were not able to get them to understand exactly what we meant by a big idea.

“It’s ironic,” I remember thinking. “I’ve become a Yoda too!”

Obviously, there was a gulf between our understanding of this important technique and the definition that was being given to this third generation of copywriters who were producing the promotions Agora was relying on.

So I set to work writing this – an attempt to explain, in the clearest terms, just what the big idea is and what it isn’t.

Let’s start with a definition that borrows from Ogilvy: A big idea is an idea that is instantly comprehended as important, exciting, and beneficial. It also leads to an inevitable conclusion, a conclusion that makes it easy to sell your product. Furthermore, it is an idea that will continue to be important and exciting for a long time.

That’s a mouthful. So let’s break it down.

A big idea is important.

By important, I mean important to the customer – not the copywriter – and relevant to the product being sold. The devaluation of the dollar may be important to American investors, in general. But it won’t be important to a customer who is being asked to buy a newsletter about a type of investment that won’t be affected by the dollar’s decline. The swine flu may be important to this same customer – but it cannot possibly be relevant in a sales letter that is selling investment advice.

A big idea is exciting.

You are not going to excite your customer by repeating the predictions or promises that the rest of the media is publishing. They have already been exposed to those ideas. To provoke real excitement, you need to go beyond the conventional. You need to find some new angle that makes your customer sit up and pay attention.

A big idea is beneficial.

The excitement created must benefit the customer. Put differently, it should make the customer want to buy the product being sold. Let’s say you’re selling grass-fed beef. You can get your customer excited by telling him about how quickly people in this country are becoming poor. But that kind of excitement will make him less – not more – likely to buy the expensive type of meat you’re selling.

A big idea leads to an inevitable conclusion.

The big idea must contain some internal logic that is fundamentally simple. It must be easy to grasp and easy to see how the product you are selling solves a particular problem or delivers on a stated promise. The best big ideas tie into something that makes the product unique. As soon as the customer hears the idea, he begins to feel the need for the product, even before it is mentioned in the copy.

The best big ideas do all of that work with a very few words. The sale is half-made in the headline or by the end of the first paragraph.

Let me give you three examples.

In this first example, the big idea is aimed at readers concerned with their health:

How the French Live Longer Than Everyone Else …

Even though they eat like kings and smoke like chimneys!

This headline offers to answer a riddle that has puzzled the reader for many years: why the French – who eat cheese, meat, and rich sauces – stay so thin. And another riddle the reader just discovered: why the French – who smoke like chimneys – outlive everyone else too!

Implicit, here, is a promise that will appeal to almost anyone: You can eat like the French eat … and lose weight … and live longer.

This next example is a big idea that would interest avid golfers:

Want to slash strokes from your game almost overnight?

Amazing Secret Discovered By
One-Legged Golfer Adds 50 Yards
To Your Drives, Eliminates Hooks and Slices …
And Can Slash Up To 10 Strokes From Your Game
Almost Overnight!

The idea that there’s a secret discovered by a one-legged golfer is exciting.It implies that if the reader has two legs, he’ll have an even greater advantage. Plus, the promise that this secret could add 50 yards to his drives and slash up to 10 strokes from his game is both VERY important and beneficial.

The reader can’t help but come to the conclusion that he needs this secret.

Finally, here’s an example geared toward savvy investors:

Outlawed for 41 years, now legal again,
This investment launched the largest
family fortune the world has ever seen …
and could return 665% in the next 12 months.

The big idea is that this secret investment was once illegal. It’s exciting, because it’s the same investment that launched the largest family fortune in history. What’s more, once the reader learns what this investment is, he could stand to make a 665% return on his money in a year or less. That makes it important and beneficial.

The inevitable conclusion: “I’ve got to read this and find out what this investment is.”

If you would like to become a master of the big idea, you can get step-by-step instruction – with plenty of examples and expert guidance – from American Writers & Artists Inc. (AWAI). They’ve got the best course on copywriting available today, one that I first created 12 years ago with several fellow master copywriters. The Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting has been improved and added to regularly since then. And it really is the best way to learn the skills you need to break into this lucrative field.

You didn’t really believe those fat-skinny wussies who told you that caffeine was evil? Early to Rise’s natural health researcher, Melanie Segala, reports that caffeine can prevent, reduce, and even reverse memory loss.

In a test conducted by University of South Florida researchers, aged lab mice bred to develop Alzheimer’s had their memories restored when they consumed the equivalent of five cups of java a day. The same study found that when coffee was given to young mice bred for the disease, it never developed.

So enjoy your morning joe – all five cups of it, if you like – and tsk tsk the next supercilious simpleton who says, “Oh, I don’t drink coffee!” as if it were something to brag about.

Oh, and Melanie wants to remind you to make sure you use “healthy organic coffee beans.” She says commercially grown beans are sprayed with toxic pesticides.

“Not true,” says Andrew Gordon, editor of our beloved INCOME newsletter. Andy wrote, “Remember, Michael, July is always a strong month for closings. This is a seasonal blip. Moreover, companies in the business of building and selling homes are still very pessimistic and for good reasons:

• Foreclosures are still climbing
• Inventory levels are still high
• Unemployment is increasing
• Bank credit is still tight

All that’s very true, but there are good buys out there, Andy says. I agree. Just this past week I bought two rental units:

• A three-bedroom house for $160,000 that sold three years ago for $380,000
• A two-bedroom starter house that sold for $300,000 in 2005 for $110,000.

It’s a buyer’s market out there if you know what and how to buy. I’ll be filling you in on what my partners and I are doing in the coming months.