Saw A Million

7 Habits of Business Success

http://sawstop.com/

Power tools aren't exactly a hot industry. And when Business 2.0profiled Stephen Gass's company SawStop, not even his competitors took him seriously.

A table saw that instantly stops when a finger touches the blade? "Safety doesn't sell," they said. At the time, Gass had sold 1,000 of his $2,800 saws and had revenues of $4 million in 2005; now, with 6,000 sold, SawStop is a $12-million-a-year company and has moved out of Gass's barn into a new headquarters in Tualatin, Ore. $1,000 hobbyist model is scheduled for delivery in late 2007.

[Via - Business 2.0]

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Robert Kiyosaki On The Coming Stock Market Crash.

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When my book "Rich Dad's Prophecy" was released in 2002, most financial newspapers and magazines trashed it because I discussed a looming stock market crash. Ironically, much of what I predicted in the book is coming true earlier than I expected.

On Feb. 27 of this year, a 9 percent market sell-off in China sent ripples of fear through stocks markets across the world. In the United States, the Dow's one-day plunge of 416 points was the steepest decline since the market opened after Sept. 11, 2001.

So the question is: Should stock investors be worried? As you might expect, some say yes and some say no.

Correction or Crash?

Personally, if I were counting on the stock market for my retirement or to put my kids through college, I'd be worried. Why? Because from my perspective, even if the Dow were to miraculously soar through 15,000, the stock market has been experiencing a long, slow crash for years.

This February, investors witnessed a drop of $583 billion in U.S. market wealth. Many experts are quick to point out that this loss of wealth is a mere drop in the bucket when you take into account that the stock market has been going up for four years. Most market experts say that the market was due for a correction, which is true.

In fact, the recent 3.5 percent drop is miniscule when compared to the 21 percent drop of the S&P 500 back in 1987. By definition, such a small drop isn't even classified as a true correction. According to BusinessWeek, a full-fledged correction is defined as a 10 percent drop, and a bear market is defined as a 20 percent drop.

Comparing Apples to Oranges

So how can I say that the market is crashing even if it continues to go up? To see the true crash, educated investors need to compare apples to oranges, not apples to apples.

When you compare the Dow to the Dow, or the S&P 500 to the S&P 500, that's comparing apples to apples. The Dow at 12,000 appears better than the Dow at 9,000, just as an apple at $1 a pound looks better than at $1.50 a pound, even though it's still the same apple. All that's happened is the price per pound of the apple has gone up -- the apple hasn't changed.

Years ago, my rich dad taught me to be a comparison shopper, especially when it comes to investments. He said, "You need to understand value more than price. Just because the price of something goes up doesn't necessarily mean the value has gone up."

He also told me, "If prices go up without a corresponding increase in value, it means the value of the asset has actually gone down." This holds true for all assets, including stocks, bonds, and real estate.

For example, when the price of a house goes up it doesn't mean that the house is more valuable. And prices going up may mean that something else is going down in value. In today's global markets, what's going down is the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar.

The Dow vs. Gold

To get a truer picture of comparative values, compare the Dow to the price of gold. When the purchasing power of gold is compared to the purchasing power of the Dow, the Dow appears to be crashing.

That means the average investor will need at least a 15 percent annual return on their stocks or mutual funds just to stay ahead of the U.S. dollar's purchasing power erosion -- that is, just to break even.

In my earlier Yahoo! Finance columns, I used history to forecast the future by comparing the dollar to gold and oil over a 10-year period. Here's the data:

	1996	2006	Percent Increase
Oil	$10/barrel	$60/barrel	500
Gold	$275/ounce	$600/ounce	118

Table updated 3/21/07.

What Next?

What this means for you depends upon your bullish or bearish outlook, your financial education, and financial experience. For example, I hear many young people today saying that the price of real estate doesn't go down. This is a naive opinion due to lack of financial education and experience. I heard similar misguided opinions about stocks in the dotcom era, just before the market crashed.

Personally, I tend to heed former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's caution about a possible recession ahead. I predict that if there is a recession, current Fed chairman Ben Bernanke (and, in an attempt to hold onto the White House, the Republicans) will flood the market with more money at lower interest rates.

Then the purchasing power of the dollar will once again drop, asset prices may rise, and the financially naive will actually believe that the value of their assets -- houses, stocks, and mutual funds -- have gone up in value.

[Via Robert Kiyosaki]

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The Single Greatest Copywriting Success Secret

Simple Truth About Million Dollar Business Ideas

Why Trying To Use The Same One Road To Get Everywhere Is Plain Stupid

When we hear of million dollar business ideas, we often hear of the proverbial light bulb over the head or eureka moment as the catalyst to creativity. Scientists have recently mapped the part of the brain where the "Aha" effect takes place. In less than .3 milliseconds, the intensified neural activity triggers the proverbial light bulb. However, million dollar ideas aren't the stuff of MBA problem solving.

Read more on Simple Truth About Million Dollar Business Ideas.
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Routine vital for work-at-home set

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If you think everybody who works from home wears PJ's and sneaks in housework, Jeff Korona and Cynthia Kidder are here to prove you wrong. These home-based workers make it a point to look and act professional -- even though there's no one around to judge.

It takes some discipline, but Korona and Kidder say it's doable if you follow a few rules:

Dress for work. There's no time to be a slob. Take a shower and look like you're going somewhere.

"I rarely wear blue jeans to work in my house," said Kidder, 51, founder of the nonprofit Band of Angels, which advocates for people with Down syndrome. "There's something about being in jeans and a T-shirt that makes it too easy to throw in a load of laundry."

Set a routine and stick to it. Just like in the office, there should be a certain time of day when things get done.

"Every morning, I clear my e-mail," said Korona, 46, president of re.Source Partners, a computer hardware asset management company. "I contact my partner with a morning call and then contact clients who need attention. I stick with the same routines as if I were in the office."

Keep work and fun on separate computers. Don't allow family on the work computer.

"My kids can't do homework on it," said Korona, of Novi, Mich. "You can't get on the Internet because I don't want unauthorized Web sites. It gets very unproductive if you're trying to work and you click on the wrong thing and suddenly you have 15 pop-ups on your screen."

Interact with other professionals. It's hard to be motivated when you don't have co-workers nearby. You have to make it a point to stay in the loop.

"Every now and again, I e-mail other professionals who I know work from home," said Kidder, of Rochester Hills, Mich. "I'll ask if they have five minutes to talk and then we discuss projects."

On the flip side, be careful about having too much social interaction at home.

"It's easy for girlfriends and family to stop by," Kidder said.

Stay on top of your taxes. "I use an accounting service that does payroll for us," Kidder said. "It costs me $50 a month and it saves me a lot in terms of mental anguish."

[via courierpostonline.com]

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Mobile Bandits

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http://www.mobilebandits.com/

Have you ever mistaken somebody else’s cell phone for your own? It’s not difficult to do with the proliferation of the handy little gadgets in our busy lives, which is why the Wagner family came up with Mobile Bandits.

“It’s a great, simple concept,” says John Wagner, 54, describing the small plastic bands that come in six different colors and fit neatly onto almost any cell phone antenna. In late 2004, his daughter, Alison, now 25, told him about the family plans she was selling while working at a Verizon retail store. “People kept asking her how they could tell the cell phones apart,” John says. So she came up with the idea of putting tiny, easily recognizable and brightly colored bands on the phone antennas.

Using his own money, John hired a local plastic manufacturer in Denver who was able to produce their designs using parts available in the shop. “I just looked at whatever existing inventory he had,” John says. While John was busy with the first batch of Mobile Bandits and filing a patent, his son, Andrew, 20, designed a logo and created a website (www.mobilebandits.com). By searching online, the Wagners were able to find a packaging company that fit their budget.

“It went really fast,” John says. “I looked at is as we either go quickly with it or we don’t go at all, because it could have easily been copied.”

The Mobile Bandits are currently distributed in Phones Plus stores around Denver, with 2007 sales projected at $100,000. The Wagners have big plans for the little plastic bands and are looking to sell them wholesale to major phone companies like Cingular and Verizon to be packaged with family plans.
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Sometimes all it takes is a clever little twist on a simple idea to bring publicity to your doorstep.

Take, for example, the typical networking event. You come to a luncheon with a pocketful of business cards, then spend time meeting other business people with whom you might strike up a relationship. If I were a reporter, I'd take a pass on covering that kind of event. Too boring.

But what if, instead of a restaurant, you can meet other business people on the ski slopes?

That's what happens each year during Peak Pitch, an event that gives entrepreneurs and investors a chance to network on the slopes. And it's been so successful that Borealis Ventures, which created it, is now partnering with four other venture funds and expanding Peak Pitch 2007 to five ski resort locations in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont.

At Peak Pitch, a shared chair lift gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch their business plans to a variety of venture capitalists, angel investors and other experienced startup advisors as they ride up a mountain on a high-speed chair lift.

The entrepreneurs wear blue. The venture capitalists wear green. Last year, Peak Pitch attracted over 200 entrepreneurs and investors to the series.

Phil Ferneau of Borealis Ventures says Peak Pitch "emphasizes entrepreneurial passion, not PowerPoint" and helps entrepreneurs connect one-on-one with investors and mentors.

The event, he says, offers focused networking, informed feedback and plenty of fresh air.

Isn't that a fun idea?

The event generates lots of publicity and has the potential for numerous follow-up stories. You can learn more about it at PeakPitch.com

What routine event do you sponsor? And how can you tweak it so participants and the media flock to the event?

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Your Number One Weapon In Advertising

Many work at home, miss traffic jams

Your number one weapon in advertising, especially on-line, will always be superior salesmanship.

     This is the mostly-overlooked art of figuring out what your prospect desperately desires... earning his trust and establishing your credibility... and delivering your sales message in a way that nails his "passionate sweet spot of need".

     This should be common sense for all marketers... and yet it will be your secret weapon.  Because most of your competition will forever ignore the fundamentals of good salesmanship, or screw it up (since they've never bothered to pay attention to the lessons).

     It's relatively easy to create an ad that gets a prospect to say "Hey, that sounds like a great product".  But that doesn't mean they will become a customer. 

     No.  You want your prospect to say -- after experiencing your sales pitch -- "Wow!  How do I get one of those?"

     All buying decisions are made in an emotional part of your prospect's brain.  He may explain his purchase in rational terms, giving you reasons why he considered it a great deal.

     But getting someone to take money out of their wallet to pay for something is a much more complex process.  You don't have to understand the biology or chemistry that goes on... but you DO have to realize that closing any deal requires a little skill.

     It's not difficult.  But it's not something most people naturally learn to do. 

     There are a few key secrets to salesmanship that -- once you master them -- will guarantee that EVERY sales pitch you create is empowered to close the deal.

     That's how fortunes are made.  Most marketers "sell from their heels"... meaning, they blow it when it comes down to asking for money.  They mumble and stumble and often just blurt out the price, without helping the prospect position this purchase in his mind.

     The marketing graveyard is crammed with great products that failed because the advertising didn't elicit that all-important desire to buy RIGHT NOW.

     However, when you master the basics of great salesmanship, you can persuade a prospect to desperately desire a product he didn't even know existed before he came across your ad.

     Whatever results you're getting will instantly be multiplied many times, as soon as you apply the secrets of great salesmanship.

     Now, I was not a "born salesman".

     I had to learn the hard way, making embarrassing mistakes, blowing deals right and left... and going to outrageous extremes to find world-class salesmen who would teach me their tricks.

     I’m going to share one of those killer tricks with you now. A proven multiplier of sales to use on your web pages and emails is...

Personality!

     A good, solid sales page will bring you orders. Add some personality to your sales message, however... and sales go through the roof.

     I recently wrote a short note for a client who was emailing to his "inactive list", trying to stir something up. I insisted that the client personalize each note with the prospect’s name.

     Here is how the letter starts out to, say, Bob Jones:

Dear Bob,

     Just now, I was sitting at my desk going through some stuff, and I had a sudden thought. So I called out to my long-suffering secretary...

     "Hey Barb! What the heck happened to Bob Jones?"

     As far as we know, Bob, you’re still alive and kicking. But we haven’t heard from you...

     Now, let’s dwell on this opening for a second. Most advertisers - if they had the sense to email inactive former customers at all - would have adopted a holier-than-thou tone that reads like the warning label on a bottle of medicine:

Dear Mr. Smith,

     It has come to our attention that your account has become inactive blah blah blah...

     Yeah, I wonder why that customer stopped paying attention.

     Now go back to what I did. Created a scene, complete with some drama and script and - very important-excellent use of the guy’s name.

     It’s lighthearted, yet still brutally-effective salesmanship. It also doesn’t go on and on. Just a brief, personalized little dash of slang-driven personality.

     Now here’s the kicker:

     If you can inject some personality into your emails and web pages, you’ll be light years ahead of the competition.

     The client above took the leash off me years ago, and I have created a personality in his copy that keep readership at astonishingly high levels.

     He’s a funny guy anyway, but he’s not a writer, and has never attempted to translate his own personality to his marketing. So he pays me a fortune to do it for him.

     When people on his list get an email or letter from him the response is not "Oh, yuck, another sales pitch", but...

"Hey! Let’s see what outrageous story
he’s got to tell me today."

     Personality works. It will multiply your sales.

     People are inundated with SPAM and boring websites and bad radio, TV and print ads all day long.

     It's good salesmanship to put yourself in the shoes of your prospect.  Most people live lives of quiet desperation.  They don't get to do anything interesting, go anywhere interesting, or hang out with interesting people.

     Yawn.

     So that's your opening: Be the ONE thing he reads today that really gets his blood moving.

     Be the one marketer who says something worthwhile and exciting... and your customers will reward you handsomely.

     This gives you the opportunity to become the "go to" guy in your niche -- the dude who knows what he's talking about, and talks about it in interesting ways.

     People don't want to deal with anonymous corporations, or marketers who sound like they have a bug up their butt.

     Trust is a hard thing to manufacture -- but it's a heck of a lot easier when you allow your prospect to see that he's dealing with someone who shares his passions, understands his situation, and communicates without nonsense.

     People like to deal with people.

     Especially people who have a little personality.  Think of the emails you get each day -- there are surely some people in your world whose emails you open immediately, happy to see them in your inbox.

     And probably, it's because you enjoy reading email from those people.  They have something to say, and you enjoy hearing from them.

     This is personality in action.

[Via - MarketingRebelRant.Com] 

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Stay at Home Mom Looking For Work Targeted by Online Thieves

IRS Warns of Cybersquatters

ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- Donna Gonzalez wants to work at home for the sake of her daughter Leah.

She recently posted her resume on websites like Career Builder.Com and quickly got a reply, "They just need people who already had bank accounts set up, so we could cash the checks for them."

According to Donna, a company called Global Healthcare Inc.,out of London, sent her a contract asking her to cash checks and wire them the money. It was supposedly quicker than doing it overseas.

Donna was promised 10-percent of the money cashed, "It looked legitimate I mean I went to paralegal school and I knew some contractual law and so the contract looked legitimate, but it wasn't evidentially."

After Donna cashed a check from a "so called" customer and wired the company more than 25-hundred dollars,she later found out the check was fake and she was the one who was stuck paying, "I was so devastated I cried so hard."

Sgt. Kevin Smith of the St. Petersburg Police Department says, he gets calls like this one at least two times a week, "It's heartbreaking because you really hate to see people out there trying to work, trying to sell something to be taken advantage of."

Sgt. Kevin Smith says websites like Career Builder.Com are safe, but people need to be more aware of who they're dealing with, "Unfortunately anybody has a right to log in and look at those resumes so you really don't know who's actually offering you a job."

He says thieves are also targeting victims through the mail and even fax machines. . Sgt. Smith says it's difficult to catch the thieves because of trying to coordinate with other countries.

He says banks don't take responsibility for these incidents, because it's the account holder who's cashing the checks, even though they're not aware they're fake.

Donna now believes if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, "I'm really afraid to go on line anymore and even answer emails from companies." While she paid an expensive price, she hopes others learn from her experience
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