if you cannot click the above link, please copy and paste this link in your browser:
http://www.mb01.com/lnk.asp?o=125&c=47798&a=83695
Sunday, 29 May 2011
Share your opinions and be rewarded
if you cannot click the above link, please copy and paste this link in your browser:
http://www.mb01.com/lnk.asp?o=125&c=47798&a=83695
Friday, 27 May 2011
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
A Free Thing
You are among a select few that have an opportunity
to get in to this brand new online business before the
masses join. And the best part is that YOU can profit
directly when they do get started.
Get started right now:
Click Here
You are one of a very small number of lucky people to
be on a randomly selected pre-launch list for That
Free Thing. This means that you are hearing about this
before it gets released to over 10,000,000 million
contacts.
CLICK HERE
Would you like to be near the top receiving spillover? Yes, then join in my
downline. Joining
now has HUGE benefits for you!
Here's where it gets really exciting for you:
That Free Thing has a NO SPONSORING REQUIRED forced
matrix compensation plan, which means that you can
qualify for a check if you get started right now and
potentially get 1,000's if not 10,000's of people
filling up the forced matrix under you and
contributing to your paycheck.
This is a NO LOSE opportunity. If you decide to share
it with 1, 10, 100, or nobody, there is one essential
thing you need to do right now: get started right now
and lock in your position in the forced matrix.
You are at the very beginning of something very big.
Don't let another person that gets this email take
your spot.
Click Here
Join now and watch this business explode!
Yours in success
Chris Ludlam
The Lincoln Lawyer: A Novel
to get in to this brand new online business before the
masses join. And the best part is that YOU can profit
directly when they do get started.
Get started right now:
Click Here
You are one of a very small number of lucky people to
be on a randomly selected pre-launch list for That
Free Thing. This means that you are hearing about this
before it gets released to over 10,000,000 million
contacts.
CLICK HERE
Would you like to be near the top receiving spillover? Yes, then join in my
downline. Joining
now has HUGE benefits for you!
Here's where it gets really exciting for you:
That Free Thing has a NO SPONSORING REQUIRED forced
matrix compensation plan, which means that you can
qualify for a check if you get started right now and
potentially get 1,000's if not 10,000's of people
filling up the forced matrix under you and
contributing to your paycheck.
This is a NO LOSE opportunity. If you decide to share
it with 1, 10, 100, or nobody, there is one essential
thing you need to do right now: get started right now
and lock in your position in the forced matrix.
You are at the very beginning of something very big.
Don't let another person that gets this email take
your spot.
Click Here
Join now and watch this business explode!
Yours in success
Chris Ludlam
The Lincoln Lawyer: A Novel
Friday, 15 April 2011
Five Things You Don't Know About Closing Sales Which Are Eviscerating Your Profits
It isn't just that most people are lousy at sales... far more shocking is the fact that most SALES PEOPLE are lousy at sales.
If you're one of them, this article is for YOU!
The plain fact of the matter is that the overwhelming majority of sales people rely on their charm, gift of gab, and ability to "wing it" to make sales... instead of being prepared to make sale after sale. STOP IT! Following these sensible steps means more money:
1) Closing sales is not a matter of motivation or pressure. Instead, it's a question of having the right information readily at hand, so you can answer customer questions quickly, easily, thoroughly.
Thus, consider what you have readily available when you are talking to a customer.
2) Do you have (readily available, mind) a sheet of "you gets", that is a list of PRECISELY what your customer gets when using your product/service?
Dollars to doughnuts, neither you nor any member of your business has sat down and written out the features of what you're selling; then converted each and every feature into a benefit that the customer gets. Treat each and every benefit like scoops on an ice-cream cone; the higher you stack 'em, the more enticing to the customer!
3) Do you have a sheet of offers?
Products do not sell themselves; a sales person bragging "Our product sells itself" is wrong, naive or both. What sells products is offers; the better the offer the faster the sale.
Thus, have you got a sheet of offers; "add-ons" you can use to motivate immediate customer action? This list should make it very clear just what the customer gets for fast action. AND when the customer must act, for ALL offers must be limited by time, quantity, etc.
4) Do you have a sheet of results testimonials?
People what to be assured and re-assured about what they will get when using your product. Here's where "results" testimonials come in. These not only provide a happy customer's experience in using your product ("I loved it"), but the specific results that customer achieved. The greater the specificity and the benefits, the better and more effective the testimonial.
Note: whenever possible ALL testimonials must include full customer and such relevant details as title, location, etc. In short, testimonials must be detailed and complete to be completely credible.
5) A page of objection responses and rebuttals
Face it, not every customer will leap for joy upon hearing of what you are selling. That's why you must be prepared for the nay-sayers, the procrastinators, the cautious, and the merely foolish. For these folks, a list of every possible objection and your strongest response is required.
Commmon objections include:
"I must ask my spouse."
"I'm on vacation for the next 2 weeks."
"I have to check you out."
"I don't have the money."
Now hear this: there isn't an objection under the sun which cannot be effectively answered, only not by "winging it." EVERY successful sales person knows that preparation here is mandatory; the rebuttals may seem spontaneous... but they must ALWAYS be rehearsed. Brainstorm all objections; then work on the responses. As new objections surface, add them to your list... and, again, perfect the perfect, objection- demolishing response.
Last Words
The key to sales success is NEVER a "wing and a prayer." It is ALWAYS a matter of total, complete, deliberate effort. Such effort can turn a mediocre sales person into a stellar performer. That, of course, is precisely what your goal must be, and now you know how to achieve it!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Chris Ludlam http://EarnAtHomeExperts.com.
Check out Mass Traffic Leak -> http://luds41.massleak.hop.clickbank.net
If you're one of them, this article is for YOU!
The plain fact of the matter is that the overwhelming majority of sales people rely on their charm, gift of gab, and ability to "wing it" to make sales... instead of being prepared to make sale after sale. STOP IT! Following these sensible steps means more money:
1) Closing sales is not a matter of motivation or pressure. Instead, it's a question of having the right information readily at hand, so you can answer customer questions quickly, easily, thoroughly.
Thus, consider what you have readily available when you are talking to a customer.
2) Do you have (readily available, mind) a sheet of "you gets", that is a list of PRECISELY what your customer gets when using your product/service?
Dollars to doughnuts, neither you nor any member of your business has sat down and written out the features of what you're selling; then converted each and every feature into a benefit that the customer gets. Treat each and every benefit like scoops on an ice-cream cone; the higher you stack 'em, the more enticing to the customer!
3) Do you have a sheet of offers?
Products do not sell themselves; a sales person bragging "Our product sells itself" is wrong, naive or both. What sells products is offers; the better the offer the faster the sale.
Thus, have you got a sheet of offers; "add-ons" you can use to motivate immediate customer action? This list should make it very clear just what the customer gets for fast action. AND when the customer must act, for ALL offers must be limited by time, quantity, etc.
4) Do you have a sheet of results testimonials?
People what to be assured and re-assured about what they will get when using your product. Here's where "results" testimonials come in. These not only provide a happy customer's experience in using your product ("I loved it"), but the specific results that customer achieved. The greater the specificity and the benefits, the better and more effective the testimonial.
Note: whenever possible ALL testimonials must include full customer and such relevant details as title, location, etc. In short, testimonials must be detailed and complete to be completely credible.
5) A page of objection responses and rebuttals
Face it, not every customer will leap for joy upon hearing of what you are selling. That's why you must be prepared for the nay-sayers, the procrastinators, the cautious, and the merely foolish. For these folks, a list of every possible objection and your strongest response is required.
Commmon objections include:
"I must ask my spouse."
"I'm on vacation for the next 2 weeks."
"I have to check you out."
"I don't have the money."
Now hear this: there isn't an objection under the sun which cannot be effectively answered, only not by "winging it." EVERY successful sales person knows that preparation here is mandatory; the rebuttals may seem spontaneous... but they must ALWAYS be rehearsed. Brainstorm all objections; then work on the responses. As new objections surface, add them to your list... and, again, perfect the perfect, objection- demolishing response.
Last Words
The key to sales success is NEVER a "wing and a prayer." It is ALWAYS a matter of total, complete, deliberate effort. Such effort can turn a mediocre sales person into a stellar performer. That, of course, is precisely what your goal must be, and now you know how to achieve it!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Chris Ludlam http://EarnAtHomeExperts.com.
Check out Mass Traffic Leak -> http://luds41.massleak.hop.clickbank.net
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
The Truth On Steve Iser & His Commission Crusher Software
Lately there's been a lot of talk about this relatively unknown 24 year-old
online millionaire named Steve Iser who's exposing his software
program Commission Crusher, to the world for a very limited time...
So just who is Steve and what should you know about him?
Simply put, Steve is unlike any other marketer online. With nearly 5 years
of marketing online, Steve has gone from College dropout at 20 to millionaire
status in less than 3 years.
He's run the full gamut from promoting affiliate programs, creating info
products, software training, sold websites, spoken at marketing conferences,
created his own CPA offers and in the process of his career has already helped
thousands of people create successful businesses online.
You name it - he's probably done it. This young turk believes in "paying it
forward". In other wards, his goal with Commission Crusher is to help
his 500 new students utilize his new software to create a new group of rich.
His new software program, Commission Crusher, utilizes a simple method that
allows you to tap into any market or niche online and find out WHO exactly
has the traffic - so you can tap into it and get a piece of the pie for youself.
Needless to say, he's unlike most of these other "gurus" out there. He does
things differently. And he takes a personal interest in helping his customers
succeed.
If you want to know more about Commission Crusher and what Steve's got going
on right now, check it out below:
Republished with author's permission by Chris Ludlam
http://EarnAtHomeExperts.com.
Check out Commission Crusher -> http://www.EarnAtHomeExperts.com/?rd=yr6rMboX
online millionaire named Steve Iser who's exposing his software
program Commission Crusher, to the world for a very limited time...
So just who is Steve and what should you know about him?
Simply put, Steve is unlike any other marketer online. With nearly 5 years
of marketing online, Steve has gone from College dropout at 20 to millionaire
status in less than 3 years.
He's run the full gamut from promoting affiliate programs, creating info
products, software training, sold websites, spoken at marketing conferences,
created his own CPA offers and in the process of his career has already helped
thousands of people create successful businesses online.
You name it - he's probably done it. This young turk believes in "paying it
forward". In other wards, his goal with Commission Crusher is to help
his 500 new students utilize his new software to create a new group of rich.
His new software program, Commission Crusher, utilizes a simple method that
allows you to tap into any market or niche online and find out WHO exactly
has the traffic - so you can tap into it and get a piece of the pie for youself.
Needless to say, he's unlike most of these other "gurus" out there. He does
things differently. And he takes a personal interest in helping his customers
succeed.
If you want to know more about Commission Crusher and what Steve's got going
on right now, check it out below:
Republished with author's permission by Chris Ludlam
http://EarnAtHomeExperts.com.
Check out Commission Crusher -> http://www.EarnAtHomeExperts.com/?rd=yr6rMboX
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
For royal wedding guests of Prince William and his Kate, April 29, 2011 a list of does and don'ts, especially the latter.
By now I am sure you are aware that April 29, 2011 is a very special day in the prodigious annals of the British monarchy. H.R.H. Prince William, white hope of the dynasty, marries his Kate... and his grandmama The Sovereign is adamant that all be done just so -- or else.
Sadly, you have not been invited. Admittedly it is abashing, even humiliating. But you will be glad to know that the lot of the those precious few invited is not a bed of roses. The empire on which the sun never set is history, but protocol, the right thing done in the right way, is very much alive chez Windsor.
Let's take a look.
The Windsors are nothing if not keen on pageants that are meticulously planned and flawlessly carried out. They know that it was not always thus in royal ceremonial. One way they know this was by careful scrutiny of my first book "Insubstantial Pageant: Ceremony and Confusion at Queen Victoria's Court". (1979). I was the first American ever granted access to the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle... and it was part of the deal that The Queen and Prince Charles get advance copies to increase their knowledge of the hopeless mismanagement of ceremonies by their regal ancestors.
Confusions, muddles, and disorganizations were the order of the day. It was supremely frustrating, irritating, and inexcusable that the English made so many mistakes, even lethal, in presenting the monarchy to the nation. Ceremonies of the highest significance and importance -- coronations even -- were so lamentably organized and delivered that the English monarchy became a byword for ineptitude.
We owe improvement to Prince Albert.
Queen Victoria, only 18 when she ascended the throne in 1837 had far better things to do than worry about ceremonial derelictions. For openers she was free of the heavy thrall of the Duchess of Kent, her mother; perhaps the ultimate controlling Stage Mother of all time. The first thing the new queen did was order her bed to be taken out of the bedroom she had shared all her life with her mother... then order dinner to be served to her alone, the first time that had ever happened. She was free, free at last! She was queen, her every wish a command instantly carried out. A few glaring mistakes in court ceremonial counted for nothing.
But the German princeling she married, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was very, very different. The insidious culture of royal errors and tolerance for same made him nervous, dyspeptic, and determined to apply Teutonic efficiency to the problem. He fumed, he fretted, he even wept at the minuscule progress. But there was progress. Just not enough of it.
As the grasping English built the largest empire ever assembled on this planet, their royal pageants continued to be notable for all the wrong reasons: they were lackadaisical about the protocol that consumed other royal houses; thereby causing endless hurt feelings. Their planning was always of the too little, too late variety. And like clockwork, security arrangements were so lax that every ceremony produced a bumper crop of dead, the victims of English inability to get it right... and without fatalities.
All this is no doubt known to Elizabeth II and the princes of her house and their constant motto is "Never again!" Thus, they are fastidious in the business of Getting It Right. When the English were a great nation, the sovereigns themselves were scarcely punctilious about such matters; but with only the shadow of empire remaining, they are all adamant that the royal ceremonies, in which they so prominently feature, be the very essence of polished perfection.
Hence the list of do's and don'ts now circulating amongst the honored guests, be they princes of the blood royal or (that democratic touch the royals are close to perfecting) personnel from the various charities patronized by the bride and groom. In Windsor eyes there is really no difference between them. For them there are, after all, only two ranks: Sovereign... and the rest.
Now to the various admonitions, politely phrased of course as suggestions, recommendations. But they are in fact royal commands and must be treated as such.
1) Don't give the queen a friendly hug. Michelle Obama, First Lady of these United States did something akin to that and the royal reaction was a tad below frosty.
2) Don't tweet. You are attending an historic event. Curtail all distractions.
3) Be on time. On this of all days, there is no such thing as fashionably late, even by a minute. The Queen is the last person to take her place; to upstage her is lese majeste, intolerable.
4) Ladies, select an outfit that blends in. You should wear a dress -- not too short, not too skimpy, and certainly not white. Most British women will complete the unmistakable (rather frumpy) look that screams "We're English!" with a hat or a fascinator -- a small feathered or jewelled hairpiece attached to a clip or a comb.
More politely disguised commands.
5) Leave your cellphone in the car. No one wants your ring tone to the tune of "The Stripper" to be part of the record.
6) Make sure you have all necessary medications with you. You need to know that no one, absolutely no one, will facilitate your egress to get them... and you will not be allowed to return either.
7) Visit the facilities as often as necessary to ensure bladder control. This means limiting liquids, just as you'd do for a colonoscopy, a not inapt comparison. (Avoid the solution adopted by one ceremony attending gent. He brought a soft drink bottle and used it like a chamber pot. The name of the perpetrator and the incident itself was immediately classified.)
"I didn't really want to go anyway."
Upon reading these guidelines and rules, you may say, and actually believe, that you didn't really want to go to this critical event of "Rule Britannia."
But we're kidding ourselves, aren't we? For the chance to see Prince William and be able to tell your non-invited neighbor that he's taller than he looks on telly is just too good to pass up. Not to mention the bride, and wasn't she lovely?
Indeed, to secure lifetime bragging rights because we were well and truly invited, we'd all, if ordered, go naked with a full body search to boot. Honi soit qui mal y pense.
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also an authority expert on the royal family and author of 18 best-selling books.
Republished with author's permission by Chris Ludlam http://EarnAtHomeExperts.com.
Check out Ultimate Cash Blueprint -> http://www.EarnAtHomeExperts.com/?rd=cb95cp2V
Sadly, you have not been invited. Admittedly it is abashing, even humiliating. But you will be glad to know that the lot of the those precious few invited is not a bed of roses. The empire on which the sun never set is history, but protocol, the right thing done in the right way, is very much alive chez Windsor.
Let's take a look.
The Windsors are nothing if not keen on pageants that are meticulously planned and flawlessly carried out. They know that it was not always thus in royal ceremonial. One way they know this was by careful scrutiny of my first book "Insubstantial Pageant: Ceremony and Confusion at Queen Victoria's Court". (1979). I was the first American ever granted access to the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle... and it was part of the deal that The Queen and Prince Charles get advance copies to increase their knowledge of the hopeless mismanagement of ceremonies by their regal ancestors.
Confusions, muddles, and disorganizations were the order of the day. It was supremely frustrating, irritating, and inexcusable that the English made so many mistakes, even lethal, in presenting the monarchy to the nation. Ceremonies of the highest significance and importance -- coronations even -- were so lamentably organized and delivered that the English monarchy became a byword for ineptitude.
We owe improvement to Prince Albert.
Queen Victoria, only 18 when she ascended the throne in 1837 had far better things to do than worry about ceremonial derelictions. For openers she was free of the heavy thrall of the Duchess of Kent, her mother; perhaps the ultimate controlling Stage Mother of all time. The first thing the new queen did was order her bed to be taken out of the bedroom she had shared all her life with her mother... then order dinner to be served to her alone, the first time that had ever happened. She was free, free at last! She was queen, her every wish a command instantly carried out. A few glaring mistakes in court ceremonial counted for nothing.
But the German princeling she married, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was very, very different. The insidious culture of royal errors and tolerance for same made him nervous, dyspeptic, and determined to apply Teutonic efficiency to the problem. He fumed, he fretted, he even wept at the minuscule progress. But there was progress. Just not enough of it.
As the grasping English built the largest empire ever assembled on this planet, their royal pageants continued to be notable for all the wrong reasons: they were lackadaisical about the protocol that consumed other royal houses; thereby causing endless hurt feelings. Their planning was always of the too little, too late variety. And like clockwork, security arrangements were so lax that every ceremony produced a bumper crop of dead, the victims of English inability to get it right... and without fatalities.
All this is no doubt known to Elizabeth II and the princes of her house and their constant motto is "Never again!" Thus, they are fastidious in the business of Getting It Right. When the English were a great nation, the sovereigns themselves were scarcely punctilious about such matters; but with only the shadow of empire remaining, they are all adamant that the royal ceremonies, in which they so prominently feature, be the very essence of polished perfection.
Hence the list of do's and don'ts now circulating amongst the honored guests, be they princes of the blood royal or (that democratic touch the royals are close to perfecting) personnel from the various charities patronized by the bride and groom. In Windsor eyes there is really no difference between them. For them there are, after all, only two ranks: Sovereign... and the rest.
Now to the various admonitions, politely phrased of course as suggestions, recommendations. But they are in fact royal commands and must be treated as such.
1) Don't give the queen a friendly hug. Michelle Obama, First Lady of these United States did something akin to that and the royal reaction was a tad below frosty.
2) Don't tweet. You are attending an historic event. Curtail all distractions.
3) Be on time. On this of all days, there is no such thing as fashionably late, even by a minute. The Queen is the last person to take her place; to upstage her is lese majeste, intolerable.
4) Ladies, select an outfit that blends in. You should wear a dress -- not too short, not too skimpy, and certainly not white. Most British women will complete the unmistakable (rather frumpy) look that screams "We're English!" with a hat or a fascinator -- a small feathered or jewelled hairpiece attached to a clip or a comb.
More politely disguised commands.
5) Leave your cellphone in the car. No one wants your ring tone to the tune of "The Stripper" to be part of the record.
6) Make sure you have all necessary medications with you. You need to know that no one, absolutely no one, will facilitate your egress to get them... and you will not be allowed to return either.
7) Visit the facilities as often as necessary to ensure bladder control. This means limiting liquids, just as you'd do for a colonoscopy, a not inapt comparison. (Avoid the solution adopted by one ceremony attending gent. He brought a soft drink bottle and used it like a chamber pot. The name of the perpetrator and the incident itself was immediately classified.)
"I didn't really want to go anyway."
Upon reading these guidelines and rules, you may say, and actually believe, that you didn't really want to go to this critical event of "Rule Britannia."
But we're kidding ourselves, aren't we? For the chance to see Prince William and be able to tell your non-invited neighbor that he's taller than he looks on telly is just too good to pass up. Not to mention the bride, and wasn't she lovely?
Indeed, to secure lifetime bragging rights because we were well and truly invited, we'd all, if ordered, go naked with a full body search to boot. Honi soit qui mal y pense.
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also an authority expert on the royal family and author of 18 best-selling books.
Republished with author's permission by Chris Ludlam http://EarnAtHomeExperts.com.
Check out Ultimate Cash Blueprint -> http://www.EarnAtHomeExperts.com/?rd=cb95cp2V
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Commission Crusher, Reviewed...
Lately there’s been a lot of talk about this new program that’s been coming in my email inbox and being wildly talked about online right now.
But you see, I got a sneak peak into what Commission Crusher is all about – and wanted to give you my review on it.
So… what is Commission Crusher exactly?
Commission Crusher is based on a simple marketing concept that anybody can duplicate online… and never have to compete against one another. This method allows anyone to find profitable affiliate campaigns online and swipe them for their profits.
The real beauty behind Commission Crusher is the software engine that drives the product… titled “Ad Assault”. This amazing piece of software will allow you with a flick of a switch find tons of hot websites in any market… any niche… and tell you everything you need to know to get tons of traffic from these websites.
Best of all… you don’t have to deal with Google, Yahoo, MSN or any of that crap. This method is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before online.
... and here’s the best part – Steve walks through every step of the process on video. And he’s got a great support team in place to help you with any questions you have.
Can you get any better than that?
So simply put – Commission Crusher works. It’s a fantastic product. If you’ve been looking for a way to make constant money online with something that’s not going to disappear tomorrow, this is it.
Grab a copy before they sell out. I highly recommend you get your hands on this software now!
Republished with author's permission by Chris Ludlam
http://EarnAtHomeExperts.com.
Check out Commission Crusher -> http://luds41.commcrush.hop.clickbank.net
But you see, I got a sneak peak into what Commission Crusher is all about – and wanted to give you my review on it.
So… what is Commission Crusher exactly?
Commission Crusher is based on a simple marketing concept that anybody can duplicate online… and never have to compete against one another. This method allows anyone to find profitable affiliate campaigns online and swipe them for their profits.
The real beauty behind Commission Crusher is the software engine that drives the product… titled “Ad Assault”. This amazing piece of software will allow you with a flick of a switch find tons of hot websites in any market… any niche… and tell you everything you need to know to get tons of traffic from these websites.
Best of all… you don’t have to deal with Google, Yahoo, MSN or any of that crap. This method is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before online.
... and here’s the best part – Steve walks through every step of the process on video. And he’s got a great support team in place to help you with any questions you have.
Can you get any better than that?
So simply put – Commission Crusher works. It’s a fantastic product. If you’ve been looking for a way to make constant money online with something that’s not going to disappear tomorrow, this is it.
Grab a copy before they sell out. I highly recommend you get your hands on this software now!
Republished with author's permission by Chris Ludlam
http://EarnAtHomeExperts.com.
Check out Commission Crusher -> http://luds41.commcrush.hop.clickbank.net
Friday, 25 March 2011
Easter Eggs.
The older I get, the less current holidays mean to me... and the more those from years, even decades ago. I see the vivid Easter displays; (these days pharmacies seem to have the most and largest.) But these festive aisles and windows, the bags of candy, and, of course, the seasonal cuddlies do not speak to me. They merely mark the calendar as just another day.
That was not always the case, but years and unrelenting death have so thinned the ranks of the significant players in these annual rites that the dead now significantly outnumber the living, of whom, graying, I am yet one.
I do not mind giving up this present holiday; there is little enough to lose.
But I would mind relinquishing my memories of Easter Days gone by, for there are my beloved ghosts, each and every one as vital in my mind's eye as quick, not long defunct.
And because these folks are even more precious to me now than then, I wish this Easter to remember them through the medium of eggs, colored eggs, hidden eggs, Easter eggs.
My mother's Easter eggs.
Without any effort whatsoever, I see her in the way the narrator in Thornton Wilder's play "Our Town" (1938) saw his characters and Granite state denizens. She was young and beautiful then, far, far younger than I am now. She worried, as so many women before and since, about whether she was a "good mother" because she had outside work responsibilities. When I was much older, she would ask me if I minded her being away when I came home from school. I was too young to know just what I should have said. .So, I stumbled through an answer I hope gave comfort, but must doubt. Perhaps it was some scintilla of this guilt (I cannot be sure) that drove the yearly Easter Egg Project, or perhaps it was simply that this messy business was sure to make her laugh. I was there but perceived little; today I see much more, all impressions secure in my mind's eye.
I quite recall we'd go to Woolworths, first, and then our local general store and post office, run by Mr. and Mrs. Mackey (I never called them anything other); folks who knew all, but were most times (gratefully) discrete.
Both places would have had the Eastern egg coloring kit (by PAAS?) that was de rigueur for this annual kitchen table rite. This kit had the necessary color pellets, special "swirl" colors, too, for advanced egg coloring.... and a host of decals with seasonal themes. We only used the secular ones. Some of these were certain to be later found in my brother's hair and clothes; he tried to do as much to me, but I was older and wise to his tactics. He can hardly laugh about it even now...
At first. there was strict order and efficiency. Uncolored eggs here; table spoons for these eggs for dipping. Hot water (mind it needed vinegar) on the stove... pellets here... decals there. This sensible ordering of the event was gone in an instant, submerged in uncouth behaviors, reachings around and over, and of course clever sibling sabotages.
And always and again, laughter that firmly established more than any query ever could, that yes she was the best of mothers, how could she even wonder? And so, some telltale signs of the battle still table top, the now colored eggs packed up (except a few) and driven purposefully to Grammie's house, where we rambunctious and much loved, visited most every day. Grammie had a task for these eggs... and we knew partly what it was, for these rituals were yearly done.
Each year, Grammie and Grampie, their four adult children and their spouses, would mastermind the family Easter Egg Hunt. There was never any question where it would be held. And while it was not so grand as the nation's Egg Rolling at the White House, it was as meticulously arranged and punctiliously celebrated.
All aunts contributed the necessary elements -- colored eggs of course (always the subject of high scrutiny and devastating comments sotto voce); home-made cookies (the honor of their sex ensured we never had others); and mountains of Easter candy that started with chocolate rabbits and ended with jelly beans. Then circled back to chocolate again. Excess was the order of the day.
Children were encouraged to play outside. Important doings were underway... in the kitchen and in the "rec" room below where the men had the task of determining the hiding places in and out... and carefully writing each location down. These men might grumble... but they never missed this crucial aspect of the affair. They would have been there anyway; we all ended each day in Grammie's house and kitchen perforce, no invitation ever needed.
At the appointed hour Easter Day, after church and a heavy, formal luncheon which lost nothing of our solid living Hanoverian ancestors, the grandchildren (and that meant every last one of us) were gathered at the starting point in the garage, where on ordinary days Grampie was not above showing off his latest Oldsmobile and his automated garage door. His children, as yet, had neither. The grandchildren's Easter eggs.
Grampie and his two sons and two sons-in-law including my father were in charge of Order and Efficiency. This year would surely not be a repeat of what happened last year. But it always was...
The children were all sternly and solemnly admonished to put what they found in their Easter basket and, Above All Else, to let one of the hovering adults know Where They Had Found It.
As always, the organizing theory was excellent... but the reality ensured the customary mass chaos (and much laughter).
The youngest grandchildren could never recall where they had found that chocolate bunny, which was already absent an ear. The oldest grandchildren (inspired by me, the oldest of all) were practised predators. We knew all the best hiding places and went to them like a bat from hell, erasing all order as we went.
Such perhaps was the truest indication that we were a family, each and every one of us.
Unwilling to end this giant game of hide and seek, the grandchildren hid and re-hid the eggs (now mostly broken and inedible) and candies, too. There were only to be found when one of the uncles was sure to find in humid July in the toe of his winter boots, a very jaundiced and pungent Easter egg artifact. So, that's where that one went....
No Easter, however, would have been complete without my father taking us to the feed store and reviewing the new colored chicks and ducks (red, blue, purple, green). We were allowed a half a dozen or so; before we left Grammie's we got to show our less fortunate cousins What We Got... pets all, none ever to be eaten.
Now all this exists only in my mind's eye... but, because I've summoned this story, it is all quite clear, so many fond details not lost, but here after all and after all these years.
And so I say to every parent, grandparent and distant aunts and uncles, too: this day, live this day and hug every memory close. Each one is yours... and precious, too; not one to lose. It all starts with a colored egg, my privilege too long forgot, to do this day, in remembrance of all , each one alive in me as I in them.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books.
Republished with author's permission by Chris Ludlam http://EarnAtHomeExperts.com.
Check out Local Mobile Monopoly -> http://luds41.localmobi.hop.clickbank.net
Thursday, 24 March 2011
Accept the New Online World Trend—Facebook Marketing
Did you know that Facebook now ranks second for traffic generation among all thewebsites on the Internet? It is second only to Google in terms of the traffic it gets.
Right now, there are approximately 500 million active users on Facebook, and the number is increasing with each passing day. Think about it. This kind of population ismore than most countries of the world. In fact, there are only three countries that have apopulation higher than that!
Online marketers have been quite quick to latch on to the immense popularity of Facebook. They know that if they make a presence here, they are opening their business out to the world—getting global exposure in a way that they cannot do by anything else. Studies show that the number of Facebook users have increased by one-fourth over the last year in 47 countries. Naturally, no online marketer worth their salt is going to let this opportunity pass. This has given rise to the concept of Facebook marketing.
Most of these online marketers who are making the most of Facebook marketing know the relevance of projecting their profiles in a particular way. That is evident because these people are looking beyond simple social networking. They are trying to build acreditable network, a fan base for their business that they can tap into for their business profits.
One of the things that they do is to create a professional business page for themselves instead of the routine profiles that people create on Facebook. These professional pages give out a no-nonsense impression of their business to their target niche. Infact, with the help of recent applications like FB Maxed, it is possible for Internet entrepreneurs to place their entire website onto their Facebook profile. This helps them create the right impression in their market and they can even make these websites with clickable URLs so that interested people can go and visit the real thing. These websites can embed videos right into the Facebook profile page itself. All these things do make a huge difference.
With the great popularity of Facebook, the concept of Facebook marketing has gained in strength as well. People are now coming to Facebook with the idea of finding a good product that they would like to invest in. It also gives them a chance to discover a new product and check out the reviews from fellow Facebookers. On the other hand, formarketers, applications like FB Maxed have created an immense potential to take their products out to the niche market.
Indeed, Facebook marketing is here to stay!
Republished with author's permission by Chris Ludlam http://EarnAtHomeExperts.com. Check out Facebook Maxed -> http://luds41.fbmax.hop.clickbank.net
Right now, there are approximately 500 million active users on Facebook, and the number is increasing with each passing day. Think about it. This kind of population ismore than most countries of the world. In fact, there are only three countries that have apopulation higher than that!
Online marketers have been quite quick to latch on to the immense popularity of Facebook. They know that if they make a presence here, they are opening their business out to the world—getting global exposure in a way that they cannot do by anything else. Studies show that the number of Facebook users have increased by one-fourth over the last year in 47 countries. Naturally, no online marketer worth their salt is going to let this opportunity pass. This has given rise to the concept of Facebook marketing.
Most of these online marketers who are making the most of Facebook marketing know the relevance of projecting their profiles in a particular way. That is evident because these people are looking beyond simple social networking. They are trying to build acreditable network, a fan base for their business that they can tap into for their business profits.
One of the things that they do is to create a professional business page for themselves instead of the routine profiles that people create on Facebook. These professional pages give out a no-nonsense impression of their business to their target niche. Infact, with the help of recent applications like FB Maxed, it is possible for Internet entrepreneurs to place their entire website onto their Facebook profile. This helps them create the right impression in their market and they can even make these websites with clickable URLs so that interested people can go and visit the real thing. These websites can embed videos right into the Facebook profile page itself. All these things do make a huge difference.
With the great popularity of Facebook, the concept of Facebook marketing has gained in strength as well. People are now coming to Facebook with the idea of finding a good product that they would like to invest in. It also gives them a chance to discover a new product and check out the reviews from fellow Facebookers. On the other hand, formarketers, applications like FB Maxed have created an immense potential to take their products out to the niche market.
Indeed, Facebook marketing is here to stay!
Republished with author's permission by Chris Ludlam http://EarnAtHomeExperts.com. Check out Facebook Maxed -> http://luds41.fbmax.hop.clickbank.net
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
How to research and write the cleanest, clearest, most persuasive blog copy on earth -- fast, too!
Millions of people worldwide are waking up to the fact that they are going to have a blog -- no ifs, ands, or buts. That a blog -- a personal marketing and communications device -- is no longer a luxury. If you expect to stay on the cutting edge of the 'net, you're going to be a blog publisher, or else.
If you've accepted this fact, you're on the right road. If you haven't, you're already a dinosaur... but let's, for purposes of today's discussion, suppose that you have decided to produce a blog... and want the results to be superb, meaning to create a blog that's timely, well-written, persuasive and that delivers the cash, too.
Here are some key recommendations to produce this necessary result:
1) The most effective blogs are published on a regular, announced schedule, not just when you feel like it.
This point should need no discussion... but it does. One of the major problems I see in my work with blog publishers (I write their articles for them) is that these folks still see the business of blogging as something casual, episodic, to be done when and if they have the time.
Whoa!
That's completely wrong. Blogs, like every other periodical on earth, must have a regular date and time they will be written and released This gives your readers something solid to hold on to, to look forward to. You want your readers to know that you are a person of deadlines and schedules; someone they can rely on.
Stop thinking of your blog as something you can do whenever you feel like it, catch as catch can. Is this how you want your customers, your readers to see you? Not if you value their business.
2) Resolve to say Something Important in every issue of your blog.
When you see most blogs, you have to wonder why their "publishers" ever got out of bed to do them. Trivia! Drivel! Published so that their publishers can say they have a blog... rather than to say something timely! Significant! Motivating!
Now hear this: if you're one of these myopic blogsters, you're sabotaging your success. Blogs work because they deliver useful information that informs, persuades, excites and enthuses your readers... just the way all great publishers have from the very first day of the very first publisher.
Publishers present stories that lift up the readers.... and do everything in their power to create, develop, and maintain the crucial link between publisher and reader, creating prosperity for both.
3) Create the all-important blog article idea file.
Visit my office in Cambridge, Massachusetts ,and you see an assembly line for the creation of intellectual property. The first crucial link in this production process is the article idea file. It's a must.
Start with a pair of good scissors and the most important newspaper in your area. Supplement this material with the most important newspaper(s) in your country. Add other specialty publications to this list, publications which follow developments in your given field.
Go through these publications regularly and cut out articles that contain information of value and interest to your readers. Make sure every one of these articles is dated... then file for future use. As you become more and more proficient at your essential blog business, you will realize the crucial significance of this article "compost heap"... and you will make it a key part of your day to add to it by wielding your scissors and cutting out the crucial story ideas and information you need.
4) Each Monday, brainstorm the articles you will need for the week.
Post your draft titles and the date you intend to do them. Remember, your blog should have a format; your articles should fit into this format. My articles, for instance, (including this one) are 3 single-spaced pages in length, about 1,500 words. A lively, timely article of this length and substance anchors your blog and gives it "heft", the feeling of importance and "must read" value.
5) Do a subject search in the major search engines.
To gather necessary background information and to see what others may have said on the topic, use the search engines assiduously. This is vital. Search engines not only post critical information on any given topic, but tell you when this information was posted. In tracking a developing story, such data are vital.
6) Always, always, always search Wikipedia (founded 2001).
Frankly, for blog publishers and researchers of every kind, Wikipedia takes the cake. As a very active blog content writer, I can confirm that I visit it every single day, and not once either. You will, too -- if you want your articles to be informative, grounded by fact and not just your opinions.
7) Write your article copy.
Articles,as noted above, should be of a particular length and format, just like various departments in other publications. These should be written in the second person ("you").
Paragraphs should be limited to 6-8 lines for easy readability; line length should be limited to 10-14 words, again for easy reading. If you bury your readers under a mountain of intimidating text, they will repay your efforts by.. skipping the arduous task you have assigned them.
8) Edit, proofread, post.
Your blog copy production line should chugging along nicely at this point. Now's the time to polish with the finishing touches that transform a good article into a great one.
Read your article aloud. This will help you determine whether your sentences are balanced, or not; your construction difficult to comprehend, or mellifluous.
Make sure you have checked your spelling and any facts of which you're uncertain. Proofreading is a must for your credibility and the value of what you've written and will present to the world.
To conclude the production process, post the article on your website and in your blog. You are not merely a blog publisher, you are, better, a publisher, part of the great tradition. Enjoy a moment of joyful reverie, but only a minute. After all, your next deadline already looms, and you must and shall be ready.
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc. providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is happy to give all readers, 50,00 free guaranteed visitors for attending his live webcast today. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Chris Ludlam http://EarnAtHomeExperts.com. Check out Facebook Maxed -> http://luds41.fbmax.hop.clickbank.net
If you've accepted this fact, you're on the right road. If you haven't, you're already a dinosaur... but let's, for purposes of today's discussion, suppose that you have decided to produce a blog... and want the results to be superb, meaning to create a blog that's timely, well-written, persuasive and that delivers the cash, too.
Here are some key recommendations to produce this necessary result:
1) The most effective blogs are published on a regular, announced schedule, not just when you feel like it.
This point should need no discussion... but it does. One of the major problems I see in my work with blog publishers (I write their articles for them) is that these folks still see the business of blogging as something casual, episodic, to be done when and if they have the time.
Whoa!
That's completely wrong. Blogs, like every other periodical on earth, must have a regular date and time they will be written and released This gives your readers something solid to hold on to, to look forward to. You want your readers to know that you are a person of deadlines and schedules; someone they can rely on.
Stop thinking of your blog as something you can do whenever you feel like it, catch as catch can. Is this how you want your customers, your readers to see you? Not if you value their business.
2) Resolve to say Something Important in every issue of your blog.
When you see most blogs, you have to wonder why their "publishers" ever got out of bed to do them. Trivia! Drivel! Published so that their publishers can say they have a blog... rather than to say something timely! Significant! Motivating!
Now hear this: if you're one of these myopic blogsters, you're sabotaging your success. Blogs work because they deliver useful information that informs, persuades, excites and enthuses your readers... just the way all great publishers have from the very first day of the very first publisher.
Publishers present stories that lift up the readers.... and do everything in their power to create, develop, and maintain the crucial link between publisher and reader, creating prosperity for both.
3) Create the all-important blog article idea file.
Visit my office in Cambridge, Massachusetts ,and you see an assembly line for the creation of intellectual property. The first crucial link in this production process is the article idea file. It's a must.
Start with a pair of good scissors and the most important newspaper in your area. Supplement this material with the most important newspaper(s) in your country. Add other specialty publications to this list, publications which follow developments in your given field.
Go through these publications regularly and cut out articles that contain information of value and interest to your readers. Make sure every one of these articles is dated... then file for future use. As you become more and more proficient at your essential blog business, you will realize the crucial significance of this article "compost heap"... and you will make it a key part of your day to add to it by wielding your scissors and cutting out the crucial story ideas and information you need.
4) Each Monday, brainstorm the articles you will need for the week.
Post your draft titles and the date you intend to do them. Remember, your blog should have a format; your articles should fit into this format. My articles, for instance, (including this one) are 3 single-spaced pages in length, about 1,500 words. A lively, timely article of this length and substance anchors your blog and gives it "heft", the feeling of importance and "must read" value.
5) Do a subject search in the major search engines.
To gather necessary background information and to see what others may have said on the topic, use the search engines assiduously. This is vital. Search engines not only post critical information on any given topic, but tell you when this information was posted. In tracking a developing story, such data are vital.
6) Always, always, always search Wikipedia (founded 2001).
Frankly, for blog publishers and researchers of every kind, Wikipedia takes the cake. As a very active blog content writer, I can confirm that I visit it every single day, and not once either. You will, too -- if you want your articles to be informative, grounded by fact and not just your opinions.
7) Write your article copy.
Articles,as noted above, should be of a particular length and format, just like various departments in other publications. These should be written in the second person ("you").
Paragraphs should be limited to 6-8 lines for easy readability; line length should be limited to 10-14 words, again for easy reading. If you bury your readers under a mountain of intimidating text, they will repay your efforts by.. skipping the arduous task you have assigned them.
8) Edit, proofread, post.
Your blog copy production line should chugging along nicely at this point. Now's the time to polish with the finishing touches that transform a good article into a great one.
Read your article aloud. This will help you determine whether your sentences are balanced, or not; your construction difficult to comprehend, or mellifluous.
Make sure you have checked your spelling and any facts of which you're uncertain. Proofreading is a must for your credibility and the value of what you've written and will present to the world.
To conclude the production process, post the article on your website and in your blog. You are not merely a blog publisher, you are, better, a publisher, part of the great tradition. Enjoy a moment of joyful reverie, but only a minute. After all, your next deadline already looms, and you must and shall be ready.
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc. providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is happy to give all readers, 50,00 free guaranteed visitors for attending his live webcast today. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Chris Ludlam http://EarnAtHomeExperts.com. Check out Facebook Maxed -> http://luds41.fbmax.hop.clickbank.net
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
The next great economic disruption is coming. Are you ready for it?
This title is sure to startle people who follow the ups and downs of the economy with care and perception. "Economic disruption," they might say. "Whaaat? It is my distinct impression that things economic are improving, slowly but surely. Am I wrong?"
No, you're right. Things ARE improving, the signs are unmistakable:
Item: Online 2010 Christmas sales rose 15% this holiday season from October 31 to December 23. Online retailers took in $36.5 billion during this period, compared to $31.5 billion the same period a year ago. (Note: apparel sales lead the way with $7.3 billion in sales, up 25.7 percent from a year ago.)
Item: Weekly unemployment applications of around 425,00 signal modest job growth. Such applications peaked at 651,000 in March, 2009.
Item: Companies increased their orders for long- lasting manufactured products by the sharpest increase in eight months, the Department of Commerce reported before Christmas, 2010. Demand rose for computers, appliances, and heavy machinery... with overall expected 2011 growth at 3.5 percent to 4 percent, up from 2.8 percent in 2010. Andante ma non troppo.
The rich are out and about buying things meretricious de rigueur for the country club set.
As retailers to the rich can unhappily confirm, wealthy shoppers, with their penchant for acquiring gaudy and overpriced items the rest of the world gets by quite happily without, were in short supply during the recession. This Christmas season of 2010 was very different. Mere bagatelles such as luxury automobiles and eye-popping ice were snapped up with alacrity -- and no buyer's remorse.
Said Michael J. Silverstein, a senior partner at the Boston Consulting Group in Chicago. "Many households with incomes above $100,000 don't believe the sky is falling anymore. And when they don't believe the sky is falling anymore, they want things." Amen.
For instance, some national chains and independent merchants expect double-digit increases in jewelry sales for 2010, a dramatic turn-around from the painful 40 percent drops the hardest hit jewelers experienced since 2008.
So, if things are getting better bit by bit, why is this article about the next great economic disruption?
Because, quite frankly, the ease and abundance of good times are like a drug obliterating the painful lessons and memories of bad times... which all contributes to creating the next, inevitable bad times. Instead of losing the lessons of the still clear and painful past, we need to make every effort to remember them.... while preparing for the next great economic disruption for which we must be better prepared than the one from which we're emerging from now.
The great English romantic poet Lord Byron can assist us. One day his lordship received a message from his demanding inamorata Lady Caroline Lamb to "remember" her. Tired to death of her incessant impositions, he sent her this message of unmistakable clarity:
"Remember thee! remember thee! Till Lethe quench life's burning stream. Remorse and shame shall cling to thee, And haunt thee like a feverish dream!
Lord Byron indeed would remember and rearrange matters accordingly ... and so must we all. After all, we all know that such disruptions occur at predictable intervals for which we must be ready.
Here are the preparatory steps to follow starting TODAY!
1) Start a "rainy day" fund. Build this fund by regular monthly additions until it represents at least 6 months of total home expenses and not a cent less. Building this fund in good times takes exceptional determination, not least because in such times you want to "make up" for the things you went without during the recession. At all times, therefore, you must remind yourself that the next bad times are on the way... and that you are determined to be ready for them. Save then as if your life depends upon it... for it does.
2) Survey all expenses. If you think you did so during the bad times, think again. Now you know how many of these things you can comfortably do without. Root them out now... and put the savings in the "rainy day" account. Turning current expenses into income-producing capital is a crucial part of how you'll get comfortably through the next bad times.
3) Review the damage the bad times made. Did you, for instance, borrow against an IRA account or life insurance policy? If so, you must replace these funds by regular monthly payments, not least because such borrowings are likely to have tax and high interest payment implications. These need to be taken care of ASAP.
4) Start your trek ahead with a clear understanding, with a precise, realistic appraisal of where you are today. Many people at this point in the economic cycle are deeply depressed by what they have lost. This is a mistake. Instead of fretting over what is gone from your asset balance, instead review what you have and consider just how you will improve your net worth.
Still more recommendations
5) If you are self-employed, as many people reading this article are, always make the maximum allowable contributions into your retirement account. Treat these as payments, as you would any invoice. And always pay these retirement payments first, before other bills.
6) Make the maximum charitable donations that you can. Your charitable contributions should begin in January of the new year... and not in December. You should set a dollar donation objective for the year (in conjunction, of course, with your accountant.) Start working towards it as the new year dawns and not as it exits.
7) Remove yourself from what I call the "squandering classes." Review each and every expenditure... not just for yourself but for any children still at home and old enough to have jobs. All have a responsibility to think first, determine whether this expense is in fact warranted, and reduce or go without whenever possible.
8) "Batten down the hatches" for 1 month. As a test of your system and habits, live one month in the good times as if it were one month in the bad. Cut expenses accordingly and see how easy (or difficult) your life would be in recessionary times. Such a drill should yield many good ideas as well as clarity on your spending habits.
Death, taxes, bad economic times
When I was growing up people said there were 2 great inevitabilities of life: death and taxes. However, there is in fact at least 1 more: bad economic times. Count on it. They will recur in your life over and over again.
Will you be ready for them?
You certainly will be if you treat them as the certainties they are and prepare accordingly, along the lines of this article. Doing so, when they arrive you will have nothing to fear, and that places you amongst the very smartest and best prepared, the ones destined to ride out the next great economic storm in comfort and with quiet satisfaction.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online.
Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice!
Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books.
Republished with author's permission by Chris Ludlam
http://EarnAtHomeExperts.com
Check out Blog Cash -> http://www.EarnAtHomeExperts.com/?rd=iv57vZM2
No, you're right. Things ARE improving, the signs are unmistakable:
Item: Online 2010 Christmas sales rose 15% this holiday season from October 31 to December 23. Online retailers took in $36.5 billion during this period, compared to $31.5 billion the same period a year ago. (Note: apparel sales lead the way with $7.3 billion in sales, up 25.7 percent from a year ago.)
Item: Weekly unemployment applications of around 425,00 signal modest job growth. Such applications peaked at 651,000 in March, 2009.
Item: Companies increased their orders for long- lasting manufactured products by the sharpest increase in eight months, the Department of Commerce reported before Christmas, 2010. Demand rose for computers, appliances, and heavy machinery... with overall expected 2011 growth at 3.5 percent to 4 percent, up from 2.8 percent in 2010. Andante ma non troppo.
The rich are out and about buying things meretricious de rigueur for the country club set.
As retailers to the rich can unhappily confirm, wealthy shoppers, with their penchant for acquiring gaudy and overpriced items the rest of the world gets by quite happily without, were in short supply during the recession. This Christmas season of 2010 was very different. Mere bagatelles such as luxury automobiles and eye-popping ice were snapped up with alacrity -- and no buyer's remorse.
Said Michael J. Silverstein, a senior partner at the Boston Consulting Group in Chicago. "Many households with incomes above $100,000 don't believe the sky is falling anymore. And when they don't believe the sky is falling anymore, they want things." Amen.
For instance, some national chains and independent merchants expect double-digit increases in jewelry sales for 2010, a dramatic turn-around from the painful 40 percent drops the hardest hit jewelers experienced since 2008.
So, if things are getting better bit by bit, why is this article about the next great economic disruption?
Because, quite frankly, the ease and abundance of good times are like a drug obliterating the painful lessons and memories of bad times... which all contributes to creating the next, inevitable bad times. Instead of losing the lessons of the still clear and painful past, we need to make every effort to remember them.... while preparing for the next great economic disruption for which we must be better prepared than the one from which we're emerging from now.
The great English romantic poet Lord Byron can assist us. One day his lordship received a message from his demanding inamorata Lady Caroline Lamb to "remember" her. Tired to death of her incessant impositions, he sent her this message of unmistakable clarity:
"Remember thee! remember thee! Till Lethe quench life's burning stream. Remorse and shame shall cling to thee, And haunt thee like a feverish dream!
Lord Byron indeed would remember and rearrange matters accordingly ... and so must we all. After all, we all know that such disruptions occur at predictable intervals for which we must be ready.
Here are the preparatory steps to follow starting TODAY!
1) Start a "rainy day" fund. Build this fund by regular monthly additions until it represents at least 6 months of total home expenses and not a cent less. Building this fund in good times takes exceptional determination, not least because in such times you want to "make up" for the things you went without during the recession. At all times, therefore, you must remind yourself that the next bad times are on the way... and that you are determined to be ready for them. Save then as if your life depends upon it... for it does.
2) Survey all expenses. If you think you did so during the bad times, think again. Now you know how many of these things you can comfortably do without. Root them out now... and put the savings in the "rainy day" account. Turning current expenses into income-producing capital is a crucial part of how you'll get comfortably through the next bad times.
3) Review the damage the bad times made. Did you, for instance, borrow against an IRA account or life insurance policy? If so, you must replace these funds by regular monthly payments, not least because such borrowings are likely to have tax and high interest payment implications. These need to be taken care of ASAP.
4) Start your trek ahead with a clear understanding, with a precise, realistic appraisal of where you are today. Many people at this point in the economic cycle are deeply depressed by what they have lost. This is a mistake. Instead of fretting over what is gone from your asset balance, instead review what you have and consider just how you will improve your net worth.
Still more recommendations
5) If you are self-employed, as many people reading this article are, always make the maximum allowable contributions into your retirement account. Treat these as payments, as you would any invoice. And always pay these retirement payments first, before other bills.
6) Make the maximum charitable donations that you can. Your charitable contributions should begin in January of the new year... and not in December. You should set a dollar donation objective for the year (in conjunction, of course, with your accountant.) Start working towards it as the new year dawns and not as it exits.
7) Remove yourself from what I call the "squandering classes." Review each and every expenditure... not just for yourself but for any children still at home and old enough to have jobs. All have a responsibility to think first, determine whether this expense is in fact warranted, and reduce or go without whenever possible.
8) "Batten down the hatches" for 1 month. As a test of your system and habits, live one month in the good times as if it were one month in the bad. Cut expenses accordingly and see how easy (or difficult) your life would be in recessionary times. Such a drill should yield many good ideas as well as clarity on your spending habits.
Death, taxes, bad economic times
When I was growing up people said there were 2 great inevitabilities of life: death and taxes. However, there is in fact at least 1 more: bad economic times. Count on it. They will recur in your life over and over again.
Will you be ready for them?
You certainly will be if you treat them as the certainties they are and prepare accordingly, along the lines of this article. Doing so, when they arrive you will have nothing to fear, and that places you amongst the very smartest and best prepared, the ones destined to ride out the next great economic storm in comfort and with quiet satisfaction.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online.
Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice!
Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books.
Republished with author's permission by Chris Ludlam
http://EarnAtHomeExperts.com
Check out Blog Cash -> http://www.EarnAtHomeExperts.com/?rd=iv57vZM2
Don't make New Year's resolutions for yourself... make them for others. It's easier, more fun, less trouble.
It's the time of the year for the obligatory New Year's resolutions. You know, what I mean:
I plan to go on a diet and become chic and svelte by Valentine's Day.
I will go to the gym every other day, so help me Hannah. Muscles and enticing curves, or bust.
I will eschew the delights of eating one sugar-soaked Little Debbie after another.
I will... but you get the idea.
There is something abhorrent about admitting that you are imperfect. I don't like it at all.
New Year's resolutions imply that you have somehow fallen beneath the high standard of perfection, that there is something not quite right about you, a nagging something that needs instant attention.
But what could that be?
Like you, I look in the mirror of a morning and, despite advancing age, I see nothing but the spitting image of one who is, indeed, the fairest of them all. It affronts me to think otherwise.
Thus, while wishing to do my bit to uphold the traditions of Auld Lang Syne and making resolutions, I find it hard to do so... as I have nothing to improve and everything to enjoy.
Hence this modest idea: give up resolution making for yourself... and focus your full attention upon the others, lamentable, imperfect, with a pressing need for overhauls small and large.
Draw up a list of persons known to you with glaring, jarring imperfections.
Do not stint. Remember, you are performing a useful act, a noble act, and act of kindness and empathy. As such, let yourself go... think of your aging peers and their shocking habits... of your relatives who have outlived the excuse of "puppy fat."
Think of your loud, too boisterous, ear-splitting friends... and the motor-mouths whose decided opinions on everything under the sun are, perhaps, de trop.
Think of the always-late delivery boy and those with too many unattended felines in a confined space and the olfactory discomfort thereby occurring.
Think, I say, think of prevaricating politicians... and those with nookie on their minds and an acute inability to contain it. Look around you and weigh in with a will...for you have many resolutions to craft and far too little time in which to offer them. Timing is everything, after all, and New Year's resolutions in March seem, well, tardy. Act now.
Now write the New Year's resolutions -- for others.
This part could be troublesome and demands your full attention and craft. Resolutions must be simple, straightforward, honest and at least potentially do-able. Thus, calling your insufficiently loved and abundantly padded brother-in-law fat just won't do. Try this instead:
New Year's resolution of brother-in-law Bob:
To lose 15 pounds by month's end.
And then your signature and the date.
Keeping your resolutions short, sweet, and to the point is de rigueur.
Mail the resolution... email the resolution. Only ensure that your kind thought for their betterment and perfection reaches them early in January.
Imagine how grateful, how pleased the recipient will be when he of pronounced embonpoint receives this missive and its kind and thoughtful message becomes apparent.
Send your New Year's resolutions even to those near and dear who share your abode and are bosom buddies and dear companions on your earthly journey.
The temptation, even for those expert and experienced in providing life enhancing New Year's resolutions for others, will be to personally deliver, message upon hallmarked silver salver, your resolutions to the people near at hand, spouse, children, impecunious sons in law, etc. You will think of their profoundly grateful responses, you will think of the affection and love in their eyes. You will hear with delight words so lavish and abject that even that practised purveyor of the obsequious Uriah Heep would be put to shame. No, you do not want to miss a moment.
But you must.
For your recipient will need a moment or two to compose himself and, no doubt, let fall the grateful tear, that you should care so much and have gone to so much bother on their behalf. Allow them a moment of reflection in privacy, as they think how grateful, how very grateful, they are to have such a one as you in their (otherwise imperfect) life.
Savor this moment, glass of grog at hand for you have done the very best of deeds. Sing under your breath this little-remembered chorus from Robert Burns' immortal annual anthem of maudlin sentimentality, Auld Lang Syne:
"We two have run about the slopes, and picked the daisies fine ; But we've wandered many a weary foot, since auld lang syne."
And now, gratitude, indeed.
As I was finishing up this practical report, there was a knock at the door... then the telephone rang... then I noticed a decided up tick in my email. I was not surprised... I was expecting such a deluge. After all, I had contacted many with a hearty abundance of resolutions, necessary, specific, in depth, all resoundingly honest to a fault. Now, no doubt, the expected responses, the epistles of gratitude and fulsome thanks were at hand.
Ou la la!
Imagine my surprise upon reading the first of these messages:
New Year's Resolution of Dr. Jeffrey Lant...:
signed
your loving sister
Then the one signed by my (concerned) brother, my (worried) father, one jointly signed by my (still affectionate) niece and nephew, my (who-else-could-tell-you?) best friend, my (long suffering) partners... even my (silent-until-now) driver and his wife.. .and all the very many others.
It was jolting to be sure to learn that so many felt so strongly there was so much of me to enhance and correct. But these messages, profoundly honest, stimulated the only New Year's resolution I shall make this year: to love them all, warts and all, and be profoundly glad I have them in my life.
Happy New Year, 2011!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online.
Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice!
Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling books.
Republished with author's permission by Chris Ludlam
http://EarnAtHomeExperts.com
Check out Blog Cash -> http://www.EarnAtHomeExperts.com/?rd=iv57vZM2
I plan to go on a diet and become chic and svelte by Valentine's Day.
I will go to the gym every other day, so help me Hannah. Muscles and enticing curves, or bust.
I will eschew the delights of eating one sugar-soaked Little Debbie after another.
I will... but you get the idea.
There is something abhorrent about admitting that you are imperfect. I don't like it at all.
New Year's resolutions imply that you have somehow fallen beneath the high standard of perfection, that there is something not quite right about you, a nagging something that needs instant attention.
But what could that be?
Like you, I look in the mirror of a morning and, despite advancing age, I see nothing but the spitting image of one who is, indeed, the fairest of them all. It affronts me to think otherwise.
Thus, while wishing to do my bit to uphold the traditions of Auld Lang Syne and making resolutions, I find it hard to do so... as I have nothing to improve and everything to enjoy.
Hence this modest idea: give up resolution making for yourself... and focus your full attention upon the others, lamentable, imperfect, with a pressing need for overhauls small and large.
Draw up a list of persons known to you with glaring, jarring imperfections.
Do not stint. Remember, you are performing a useful act, a noble act, and act of kindness and empathy. As such, let yourself go... think of your aging peers and their shocking habits... of your relatives who have outlived the excuse of "puppy fat."
Think of your loud, too boisterous, ear-splitting friends... and the motor-mouths whose decided opinions on everything under the sun are, perhaps, de trop.
Think of the always-late delivery boy and those with too many unattended felines in a confined space and the olfactory discomfort thereby occurring.
Think, I say, think of prevaricating politicians... and those with nookie on their minds and an acute inability to contain it. Look around you and weigh in with a will...for you have many resolutions to craft and far too little time in which to offer them. Timing is everything, after all, and New Year's resolutions in March seem, well, tardy. Act now.
Now write the New Year's resolutions -- for others.
This part could be troublesome and demands your full attention and craft. Resolutions must be simple, straightforward, honest and at least potentially do-able. Thus, calling your insufficiently loved and abundantly padded brother-in-law fat just won't do. Try this instead:
New Year's resolution of brother-in-law Bob:
To lose 15 pounds by month's end.
And then your signature and the date.
Keeping your resolutions short, sweet, and to the point is de rigueur.
Mail the resolution... email the resolution. Only ensure that your kind thought for their betterment and perfection reaches them early in January.
Imagine how grateful, how pleased the recipient will be when he of pronounced embonpoint receives this missive and its kind and thoughtful message becomes apparent.
Send your New Year's resolutions even to those near and dear who share your abode and are bosom buddies and dear companions on your earthly journey.
The temptation, even for those expert and experienced in providing life enhancing New Year's resolutions for others, will be to personally deliver, message upon hallmarked silver salver, your resolutions to the people near at hand, spouse, children, impecunious sons in law, etc. You will think of their profoundly grateful responses, you will think of the affection and love in their eyes. You will hear with delight words so lavish and abject that even that practised purveyor of the obsequious Uriah Heep would be put to shame. No, you do not want to miss a moment.
But you must.
For your recipient will need a moment or two to compose himself and, no doubt, let fall the grateful tear, that you should care so much and have gone to so much bother on their behalf. Allow them a moment of reflection in privacy, as they think how grateful, how very grateful, they are to have such a one as you in their (otherwise imperfect) life.
Savor this moment, glass of grog at hand for you have done the very best of deeds. Sing under your breath this little-remembered chorus from Robert Burns' immortal annual anthem of maudlin sentimentality, Auld Lang Syne:
"We two have run about the slopes, and picked the daisies fine ; But we've wandered many a weary foot, since auld lang syne."
And now, gratitude, indeed.
As I was finishing up this practical report, there was a knock at the door... then the telephone rang... then I noticed a decided up tick in my email. I was not surprised... I was expecting such a deluge. After all, I had contacted many with a hearty abundance of resolutions, necessary, specific, in depth, all resoundingly honest to a fault. Now, no doubt, the expected responses, the epistles of gratitude and fulsome thanks were at hand.
Ou la la!
Imagine my surprise upon reading the first of these messages:
New Year's Resolution of Dr. Jeffrey Lant...:
signed
your loving sister
Then the one signed by my (concerned) brother, my (worried) father, one jointly signed by my (still affectionate) niece and nephew, my (who-else-could-tell-you?) best friend, my (long suffering) partners... even my (silent-until-now) driver and his wife.. .and all the very many others.
It was jolting to be sure to learn that so many felt so strongly there was so much of me to enhance and correct. But these messages, profoundly honest, stimulated the only New Year's resolution I shall make this year: to love them all, warts and all, and be profoundly glad I have them in my life.
Happy New Year, 2011!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online.
Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice!
Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling books.
Republished with author's permission by Chris Ludlam
http://EarnAtHomeExperts.com
Check out Blog Cash -> http://www.EarnAtHomeExperts.com/?rd=iv57vZM2
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