From Bits And Chips To Cash And Checks!
From Bits And Chips To Cash And Checks!
From Bits And Chips To Cash And Checks!
From Bits And Chips To Cash And Checks!
Table Of Contents
 

How You Can Pay Your Customers Up To $1,000 To Do Business With You - And It Won’t Cost You A Cent!

How You Can Figure Out If You're Making The Most Money!

Supporters And Would-Be Attendants Get To Bid In The Comfort Of Their Own Home!

Here's One Type Of Advertising That Will Always Lose You Money!

The $5-MILLION Secret! How The Internet Pushed One Low-Tech Company (With No Internet Experience) To More Than $5 MILLION A Year In Sales!

A Shocking Way To Make More Profits Every 30 Days-By Putting A Unique Item On Your Side!

How To Give Your Customers More Ways To Contact You And Order More Products!

With Consistency and Persistency, You Can Purchase A Business – With Little Or No Money Down!

This Is One Auction That People Will Always Pay More To Win! Get Top Cash By Holding This Kind Of Auction!

Some People NEVER Have To Worry About Making Huge Amounts Of Money!

This Insider Secret Increases Response! The One Thing You Can Say To Make People Know They Are Getting Private, Exclusive Benefits!

Some Tips On What To Look For When You Buy A Business

How To Become An Invaluable Copywriter For Every Local Merchant In Town!

Why Many Website Owners Don’t Make Enough Money…And What You Can Easily Do About It!

 
How You Can Pay Your
Customers Up To $1,000
To Do Business With You -
And It Won’t Cost
You A Cent!
 

In this article we’re going to cover how you can pay your customers up to $1,000.00 to do business with you - and it won’t cost you a cent! Newsletters - there has been no better beneficiary of the e-mail explosion than the newsletter!

It used to cost loads of money to generate a newsletter. Even a small eight pager - which was the standard size of the industry type or insider type newsletter - was expensive. You still had the cost of printing and mailing that newsletter, so in the end it always cost you a lot of money.

Using e-mail, on the other hand, doesn’t cost you anything! There is no printing, there is no postage, there is no mailing, there is very little time involved except for the time to write out your newsletter, which can generally be a letter to your customers.

You can also spice it up with articles, clippings, or news items you have found that you reword and make your own. You don’t want to steal material from other people!

The exciting thing about newsletters is that you can interview people by e-mail - a technique we use quite often. You contact someone who has a web site that’s exciting, and that might be of interest to your customers. It might have a product or service.

 
'Only a stomach that
rarely feels hungry scorns
common things.'
-Horace
'If you can’t be thankful
for what you receive,
be thankful for what
you escape'
-Anon.
 

They generally have e-mail. You can get their e-mail address and e-mail them some questions, get their answers, e-mail them a couple of follow-up questions, and, like magic, you’ve got your article written for you. All you have to do now is cut and paste with your word processor, put it in an e-mail, and send it to your list of e-mail subscribers.

Putting it together is almost a no-brainer. It is very easy, thanks to the Internet itself. We recommend you use all of these techniques if you can, because it will make your newsletter much better!

You want to publish this newsletter monthly, at least. Weekly is better. The more often you hit your customers, the better it is. You also want to remember that you are putting yourself on a deadline here, so maybe monthly is best for you.

You want to set a price. This is the important aspect of this little article. You want to set a dollar value on that newsletter. We’ve learned this through years of publishing. We’ve published newspapers that said, “FREE” across the top. We’ve published newsletters that said, “$2.95" across the top and, invariably, the one that says, “$2.95" gets read. The one that says, “FREE” gets thrown away.

 
'That which does not kill
me makes me stronger.'
-Friedrich Nietzsche
'To every disadvantage
there is a corresponding
advantage.'
-W. Clement Stone
 

You want to set a price for your newsletter. If you have the capability, it is also good to set up a web page that literally promotes and sells subscriptions to your newsletter. We published a newsletter that we priced at $195.00 a year. It was a weekly newsletter. We received subscriptions all the time, so you can actually get a little revenue off of it - but don’t count on that.

You want to set the newsletter up and establish its value. Then, give this newsletter away with every purchase, or if you want to you can actually give it away in exchange for a visitor or someone responding to an e-mail. It could be a person who agrees to receive other e-mail from other people. If they are willing to opt-in, give you their e-mail address, and allow you to sell, rent, lease, etc., their name and e-mail address to other people that’s well worth the price of a subscription.

You’d be surprised how many people are willing to give that up and opt-in to a mailing list that you’re going to knowingly provide and sell to other people in return for your e-mail newsletter.

You have to give that newsletter content and value. This can be your own knowledge, interviews with other people, what you’ve found on the Internet that is of use - you can do all kinds of things. You could use tips, tricks, and information provided by the manufacturers of the products you sell. That can make great newsletter content. As long as it is valuable content, people will happily give you their e-mail address to send it to them, and allow you to give their name to other people.

 
'One is never fortunate
or as unfortunate as
one imagines.'
-Francois de La Rochefoucauld
'Tell me whom you
frequent, and I will tell
you who you are.'
-French proverb
 

We’ve talked about opt-in lists being a quarter a name. Can you imagine if you’ve got a list of 1,000 subscribers to your e-mail newsletter who are willing to let you sell or rent those names to others at a quarter apiece, time and time again? You can get paid very well for this newsletter.

Plus, if you’re also giving that newsletter free to people who buy from you, you’re being paid well for that newsletter. You are adding a valuable bonus, and if you’ve priced the newsletter you have a value you can place on that bonus. Our newsletter was a $195.00 value clearly because we priced it at that. And believe us, insider newsletters can be priced as high as $1,000.00 a year. The value of your newsletter is what you would pay for it, or what you would expect someone to pay for it. Up to $1,000.00 a year if it’s a good weekly with a lot of content.

Always tie the subject matter of your newsletter you are producing to your products and services, and then wrap it up with a limited time special. Either deliver these people to your URL or to a web address of a page you’ve got set up for them to go visit as subscribers to your newsletter. It should be available to them only.

 
'If you always live
with those who are
lame, you will yourself
learn to limp.'
-Latin proverb
'Every horse thinks his
own pack heaviest.'
-Thomas Fuller
 

Give them a little special - a price on a subject, or maybe a product that is only available to your newsletter readers. Collect the names and build your mailing list.

You’ve created a valuable bonus you can provide to people that gives them an incentive to buy from you instead of someone else. You’ve also got a profit generator that can actually sell subscriptions and gather revenue from people who do subscribe and willingly pay. You’re also building a valuable mailing list that you can sell and rent to generate income. You’ve got three revenue strains from one newsletter, and in the newsletter you are generating more sales!

Many people play this down or ignore the whole topic, but make the newsletter sell. A friend of ours used to produce a newsletter for a software publisher He put together the newsletter for them, which they actually printed and mailed to their customers on a monthly basis.

The owner of the software company told him that every time they dropped that newsletter in the mail their sales went up 30%. In the back of that newsletter there were always special prices, close-outs, offers on upgrading services, and extended service warranties on their software. They always had these sorts of offers in the back of the newsletter that were reasons to call and buy, and they also sold the newsletter! It becomes one of the most inviting sales letters you could possibly create.

 
'I have gout, asthma,
and seven other maladies,
but am otherwise very well.'
-Sydney Smith
'I seek the utmost pleasure
and the least pain.'
-Plautus
 
How You Can Figure
Out If You’re Making
The Most Money!
 

Do you know how to quantify ad costs? In other words, do you know if you’re making the most money you possibly can? Do this, and you can easily build a business strategy that will make you maximum amounts of money!

What does it cost you to get an inquiry? Of those who inquire, how many will buy? What will a customer’s average order be? Will they buy again? How many will buy a month from now or a year from now?

Until you know those dynamics, you have no basis on which to build your business strategy. How will you determine if it is going to be profitable or not to spend $2,000? How will you know what your results will be when you do a mailing campaign or run an ad?

You should always test to find out what is making you the most money. Test slowly. Build a simple marketing strategy by deciding where you should test your ads, and then focus on the places that make you the most money.

Test small, find out what works the best, and then find out how many ways you can capitalize on the promotion and make that successful test bring you more money.

 
‘Contemplation often makes
life miserable. We should
act more, think less,
and stop watching
ourselves live.’
-Nicolas de Chamfort
‘The opportunity is often
lost by deliberating.’
-Publilius Syrus
 

Through quantifying this way, you can always make your maximum profits. You can use quantification to get rich.

Most marketers do not understand the advantage of doing things like this. Still, it is advertising testing that will give you an overwhelming advantage over your competition. Before people will appreciate what you have to offer them, you must articulate it. If you sort through 50 products from 50 sources before you select a product worth offering, customers will not know unless you inform them. People will not know what you are doing unless you tell them. Tell them and make an irresistible offer. You have to get your product placed. Get someone to buy it and try it. If it does not work, allow them to send it back for a refund.

You must understand that the public cannot appreciate something unless you explain it to them. If you tell people that your product is one of a kind, that you spent hours researching it, and that the world’s wealthiest entrepreneur shared wealth-building secrets with you exclusively, you can build a perception of value by educating people. Do not think that people automatically understand anything about your product or service. You have to educate them.

 
'The greatest wealth is
contentment with a little.'
-Anon.
'The world is full of
people looking for spectacular
happiness while they
snub contentment.'
-Doug Larson
 
Supporters And Would-Be
Attendants Get To Bid
In The Comfort Of
Their Own Home!
 

Next you tell the local supporters of your local charity how to bid on-line. You show them how to get on E-Bay, for example, if that’s the auction you’ve chosen to post this charity auction on. You tell them to search for the key word, which of course, would be the name of the charity. Now they’ll bring up a list of all the items that are in that charity auction.

This makes it convenient for local supporters because they can sit at home in the evening and bid. They don’t have to give up a night to go to the charity auction and actually be there to place bids. And, it attracts national bidders because they see that it’s a charity and there’s no reserve.

People that are looking for antique baby carriages, to keep with that same example, could be looking through the auction site for them and up a message or page that says “Charity Auction” - and there’s no reserve. In their minds, this plants the idea they’re going to get it pretty cheap. They can probably bid less than they normally would, but it still would bid that item up higher than it might in a local auction.

This is your selling point to the local charity - “I’m going to get you a lot more bidders. I’m going to have the items bid up a lot higher and get you some more money for your charity auction, for less trouble. You don’t even have to take an evening away to come in and host this whole thing, and actually raise more money for the charity.” And all you want is a small percentage.

 
'Friendship is one
mind in two bodies.'
-Menclus
'A friend is, as it were,
a second self.'
-Cicero
 
Here’s One Type Of
Advertising That Will
Always Lose You Money!
 

Many marketers try to create “cutesy” type institutional ads that tell readers how great and wonderful they are, but do nothing to sell products.

If you want people to know your name, maybe that is the way to go. But, if you want to sell products via the mail, then institutional advertising is a total waste of time and money.

Remember, people do not care about how great, wonderful, or successful you are personally. What they do care about is what unique benefit, advantage, service, or personal enhancement you can offer to their self-interest that the “other guy” does not. They want to know how you are going to improve their life.

 
'Success is counted
sweetest by those who
never succeed.'
-Johann L. von Mosheim
'My crown is called content;
a crown it is that
seldom kings enjoy.'
-William Shakespeare
 
The $5-MILLION Secret!
How The Internet Pushed One
Low-Tech Company (With
No Internet Experience)
To More Than $5 MILLION
A Year In Sales!
 

We just want to just say a little bit briefly for those readers who don’t know anything about our company, M.O.R.E., Inc. We started our Mail Order company in 1988 - a traditional Mail Order company. And we started researching different business opportunities and then reporting our findings to our clients and customers. Over the years we developed our company. It’s been a continual process of development trying many different things.

At the time of this writing, we just finished up the best year we’ve ever had in the history of our company. And not to brag or anything - we’ve worked very hard and we tried as hard as we could to provide a lot of great services and products - we just had our first year that we’ve actually done over 5 million in sales.

When we tell people that don’t understand the Mail Order/Direct Response industry how much we’ve made, though, they get a false idea. They don’t realize that, had we utilized direct mail as we always had, over half of that 5 million that we made last year (and it’s so sad, but it’s true) would have gone for printing and postage . . . then there was the mailing house . . . and the list broker . . . and all the expenses that we had to incur to earn that income - half of the money went just for those expenses.

 
'Men are all the same.
They always think that
something they are
going to get is better
than what they have got.'
-John Oliver Hobbes
'I look forward to being
older, when what you
look like becomes less
and less an issue and
what you are is
the point.'
-Susan Sarandon
 

So you can imagine, the thing that excites us the most about Internet marketing is the fact that we would like to keep more of that money for ourselves! To bring in millions of dollars in direct response is one thing but then to have those huge expenses that just eat up your profits . . .

Last year we first really started seriously getting involved in Internet marketing, though. And it didn’t take us long to enjoy some real changes . . .

With the Internet, we were able to reach a lot of customers through e-mail rather than through the post office. We were able to save money on mailings. Now, every two weeks we are systematically e-mailing 2,000 of our customers every two weeks . . . and it doesn’t cost us a single penny!

We just had to format the list, we had to pay somebody to push the button, and every 2 weeks we market to 2,000 of our customers whose e-mail addresses we’ve obtained . . . and it doesn’t cost us a single dime! It’s all profit! Every penny that we make is pure profit.

We didn’t have any Internet experience when we started our Internet marketing programs last year, and we were probably as low-tech as you could get . . . we were totally depending on mail to keep our business going. But adding Internet marketing to our plethora of campaigns has allowed us to save a lot of money and eliminate a good chunk of cost . . . in fact, our Internet marketing is one of the factors behind our most successful year yet, the $5 MILLION dollar year!

The $5-MILLION Secret! This is how the Internet pushed one low-tech company (with no Internet experience) . . . namely, us . . . to more than $5 MILLION a year in sales!

 
'A man wrapped up in
himself makes a very
small bundle.'
-Benjamin Franklin
'We are made kind
by being kind.'
-Eric Hoffer
 
A Shocking Way To
Make More Profits Every
30 Days - By Putting A
Unique Item On Your Side!
 

When we speak with many people starting into business for themselves and bring up the topic of starting a newsletter, many of them invariably say, “Oh, I don’t know if I can publish a newsletter.” Don’t let yourself fall into that mind trap - you really can! A great number of successful marketers - including us - find newsletters to be great ways to build business.

We publish newsletters both online and offline (for years we published off-line only) for one main reason - to keep in touch with our customers. Any profits we make from the newsletter are just icing on the cake. With newsletters you can be in touch with your customers maybe six, ten, or twelve times a year. If you’re going to try and have more online content that’s of a higher quality, there’s no better way for you to do this than to publish a newsletter weekly, monthly, or whatever schedule you decide on. People will come back to the site to see it.

We think it might be a good idea to make your prospects and customers come to your website to see the newsletter rather than e-mail it to them. Let them download it from the site or read it on site. Don’t get us wrong, e-mailing your newsletter to them can be good –

 
'Instead of comparing our
lot with that of those
who are more fortunate than
we are, we should compare it with
the lot of the great majority
of our fellow men. It then
appears that we are among
the privileged.'
-Helen Keller
'Have no friends not
equal to yourself.'
-Confucius
 

There’s nothing wrong with it - but it doesn’t get your prospects and customers to visit your web site on a frequent, regular basis. Newsletters are a shocking way to make more profits every 30 days - by putting a unique item on your side!

Now let’s go over how you do a newsletter. Many of you are highly qualified - you don’t have to be a great writer or a famous author. You just have to be able to piece together different information to publish a newsletter. It really isn’t very difficult, guys and gals!! You should consider doing it. You could get someone to write it for you. You could scour the Internet where there’s just literally thousands upon thousands of pages worth of free information and pick out the best of it that relates to the subject that you’re trying to promote and put together a newsletter that way, along with some original stuff of your own.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again - seriously consider a newsletter! It is a great way to get Free Advertising and build your business because, in addition to having the newsletter on your site, you can offer that newsletter for free on so many other sites and related websites. Then, in the newsletter, there’s information on how to subscribe, and you can go a step further - you can sell advertisement space on your newsletter.

We believe the best way to make money on the Internet unless you’re Dell Computer a great software company, is to sell advertising.

 
'Envy is a kind of praise.'
-John Gray
'The entire population of
the universe, with one
trifling exception, is
composed of others.'
-John Andrew Holmes
 

We’ve made more money selling advertising on the Internet and websites than we’ve ever made selling books and other products and services.

We’re sure some people could say that they’ve sold more products than many of the advertisers, but advertising is probably the best way to make money on the Internet. If you have an E-zine or a newsletter and you take in advertising, that is a great way to make money.

There are so many sites on the Internet where there are many, many ads. You surf your way there and find that there’s something like 1,000 classified ads - maybe even 10,000! Most people, we believe, will not wade through all those ads. If the ads are stuck here and stuck there in a very interesting E-zine or a newsletter, then people will read the ads as they read the content.

We’re telling you that there are two ways to make money. You can sell your products and services with the newsletter. You can get your newsletter on related sites. You also can make money by selling advertising. Consider publishing an on-line newsletter!

 
'Jealousy, that dragon
which slays lover
under the pretense
of keeping it alive.'
-Havelock Ellis
'Envy and fear are the
only passions to which no
pleasure is attached.'
-John Churton Collins
 
How To Give Your
Customers More Ways
To Contact You And
Order More Products!
 

Oftentimes when we have seminars or other events our customers attend, we ask them if they’ve ever bought from companies other than us. Most of them say yes, but that they don’t anymore.

We ask them why they don’t buy from those other companies anymore, and we almost always get the same answer . . . “It didn’t seem I could ever get ahold of someone at their company. And when I finally would get someone they wouldn’t know what was going on. It was frustrating.”

It’s sad to say, but it’s true - as many companies become more successful and larger, it becomes more and more difficult for customers to contact them and communicate efficiently. The company bureaucracy grows, messages have to travel through more levels, and it can become very frustrating for customers.

Eventually the customer gets tired of the aggravation of only talking to machines or waiting for calls that never come or speaking to employees that have nothing to do with their particular situation . . . and that company will lose a customer.

We cannot stress to you enough how important it is that you give you customers good access to communication to you and your company. It is through communication that the customer will get what he or she wants, and will remain satisfied with you.

So give them plenty of ways to get in contact with you! Telephone, Fax machines, e-mail, voice mail, postal service . . . this is how to give your customers more ways to contact you and order more products!

Keep the lines of communication open, and you’ll keep a lot more customers happy - and therefore receive more orders!

 
'Laugh, and the world
laughs with you; weep
and you weep alone.'
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
'Prosperity makes
few friends.'
-Vauvenargues
 
With Consistency And
Persistency, You Can
Purchase A Business – With
Little Or No Money Down!
 

Specifically know what you’re looking for. This is the secret to getting started for pennies on the dollar! If you don’t have much money at your disposal, then you for a business that is distressed. Look for someone wanting to get out of business. You’re looking for a business you can get into without putting up a large amount of your own money.

Find the right deal at the right time - find a business whose owner is sick and tired of running it and is willing to practically hand you the keys.

Many times, you can find owners that just want out of the business. You have to have the right situation at the right time.

Let the business owner know you don’t have the money, but you can turn that business around. Tell them how you can turn that business around. Stay in touch with them.

At first, most owners will be really confident and overprice their businesses. They think that the business will easily sell for a lot of money, but six months later they don’t have any serious inquiries. They may get desperate and if they realize that you’re just a person without the money who really stands a chance to turn the business around, they will eventually let you in.

 
‘Courage to start and
willingness to keep
everlasting at it are
the requisites for success.’
Alonzo Newton Benn
‘To the timid and hesitating
everything is impossible
because it seems so.’
Sir Walter Scott
 

You will be seen as a last resort. As long as you make good rapport with that business owner all along, you will eventually catch their interest. At first they won’t consider it, but, as time passes and they still have a business no one wants to buy, the owner will soften up to what you have to say. This is how you can buy almost any business without spending a penny of your own money!

Keep your files. Keep your contacts. Let those business owners know why you you’re sincere and why you think you can turn that business around for the better. This is how the buyer/seller game of “wait and see” can make you hundreds of thousands of dollars!

Sell them on the concept that, although you won’t be able to give them all the money right away, they can retain part of the ownership until you’ve paid off. Sooner or later, you will erode the apprehensions of the business owner. The key is to be consistent and persistent.

 
'When a person is down
in the world, an ounce
of help is better than
a pound of preaching.'
-Edward Bulwer
'An unshared life is not
living. He who shares
does not lessen, but
greatens, his life.'
-Stephen S. Wise
 
This Is One Auction
That People Will Always
Pay More To Win! Get Top
Cash By Holding This Kind
Of Auction!
 

Another sort of auction that is really taking off over the Internet is charity auctions - the one type of auction that people will always pay more to win!

Charity auctions, be they on the Internet or on the street corner, always tend to bring in more money than typical auctions. Why? Because a charity auction is obviously serving a good cause.

It might be helping find a church or school activity. It might be raising money for a person with a particular illness or problem that comes with high expenses. It may be going to fund research into various diseases. There is a nearly limitless number of charities - on local, national, or even worldwide scales - that you can base an Internet auction around!

Charity auctions are great publicity for whoever is sponsoring them - and they can be incredibly profitable, potentially even more profitable than regular auctions!

Why? Since the money is going for a good cause, people are willing to bid higher to get whatever’s for sale! It will satisfy their feeling that they’re doing something good and helpful - and they’ll want to win in the bidding, because that way, when they’ve defeated their other bidders, they’ll have gained a sense of righteousness - and they’ll have the proof they did something good, because they received whatever you were auctioning off! This is how you get top cash for this kind of auction!

 
'You cannot always
have happiness, but you
can always give happiness.'
-Anon.
'We cannot hold a torch
to light another’s path
without brightening
our own.'
-Ben Sweetland
 

Another factor to keep in mind is the fact that the Internet community is much closer knit than the physical global community. We’re not saying that people who communicate over the Internet are necessarily closer emotionally than those who might all live in the same town. With the Internet, people are able to have great friendships despite vast distances between them.

Friends might be on the other side of the world, or just next door. Because all of the communication is over the phone line, it’s all the same. There is no four-hour flight - there’s your friend, right there in a chat room ready to talk right now!

The perception of what close is changes when you’re dealing with the Internet community - and therefore, people over the net are much more willing to take part in a charity auction, even if it’s on the other side of the world!

 
'There is no exercise better
for the heart than reaching
down and lifting people up.'
-John Andrew Holmes
'Happiness. . .consist
in giving, and in
serving others.'
-Henry Drummond
 
Some People NEVER
Have TO Worry About
Making HUGE Amounts
Of Money!
 

Once you know how to use testing to its optimum ability, you will continue to improve. You will get something to work and make you money. Then you should focus it. Look for ways to make it better and better. You will find ways to make products that are already successful even more successful.

This is why some people never have to worry about making huge amounts of money. They are always testing and finding out what’s working the best, so they can focus on those things and make the most money possible with them.

You should also test new things. When you have something else that is really working well for you and is bringing in money, you should start testing some new things to have another winner ready to bring you more money.

Many people in business wait till business gets bad to bring out new things. They “fall asleep at the wheel.” When business gets bad they become keenly aware like an animal trapped in a corner. Their awareness is at an all-time high . . . and this awareness causes them to create a great new product. Sometimes this happens, but sometimes . . .

When you have something working, test some new ideas and find some new things that will make you money. If you don’t and you find business going bad, you could end up in a corner with no way out except to lose.

 
'All we need to make us
really happy is something
to be enthusiastic about.'
-Charles Kingsley
'Only passions, great
passions, can elevate
the soul to great things.'
-Denis Diderot
 
This Insider Secret
Increases Response! The
One Thing You Can Say To
Make People Know They
Are Getting Private,
Exclusive Benefits!
 

One of the biggest issues people tend to be insecure with is their own social standing. Everyone wants to be special; everyone wants to be someone important in this world in one way or another.

This is something you can capitalize on in your marketing - and use to your advantage to bring you more sales and more money!

One of the biggest ways clever marketers capitalize on this is through use of the word “Insiders.” You’ve seen it used - Insider strategies, insider secrets, insider information, etc. Using the word “Insider” is an “insider” secret that increases response! It’s power lies in the fact that it’s the one thing you can say to make people know they are getting private, exclusive benefits!

Using “Insider” in your sales copy gives prospects the impression that the benefits presented by your product are typically reserved for “special” people and not just the general populace.

You’re giving an impression that it’s used by the elite, by the skilled, by people who are SPECIAL - and that by purchasing the product, they too will join the ranks of the “insiders!”

Use of the word “insider” can also create a reverse psychology in prospects - a belief that, by not having these special “insider” secrets, they are estranged from success and from the “elite.” They don’t want to be left out, so they want your product!

No matter which of these two responses it causes in your prospects, the adjective “insider” still leads both to the same conclusion - that they should purchase your product!

 
'A helping word to
one in trouble is often
like a switch on a railroad
track. . .an inch between
wreck and smooth, rolling prosperity.'
-Henry Ward Beecher
 
Some Tips On What To
Look For When You
Buy A Business
 

1. How is the seller living? Do his/her claims of success appear compatible with his/her standard of living?

2. If the seller will not allow you to audit his/her books before making a purchase, you should think about doing business elsewhere.

3. You should ask what a seller has to hide if he/she will not let your accountant or lawyer review the company books or financial statement.

4. Make certain the office equipment (typewriters, copy machine, computers, office furniture inventory, etc.) is paid for. You do not want to buy a business and have part of it repossessed.

5. If the business owner claims to have been operating for years but has no tax returns to show you, you will have nothing to go by except the seller’s word. That may not be enough.

6. Sometimes you will find a business that has brought in more money than shows on the books. This is done by “skimming” a percentage of sales off the top. Keep in mind that if the seller will defraud the government, he/she may feel quite comfortable in defrauding you as a buyer. Don’t get cheated when you buy your first business. There are many people who will mislead.

 
'The entire sum of existence
is the magic of being needed
by just one person.'
-Vi Putnam
'It is the individual who
is not interested in
his fellow men who has
the greatest difficulties
in life and provides the
greatest injury to others. It
is from among such individuals
that all human failures spring.'
-Alfred Adler
 

7. Remember, if you purchase a business and the seller owes back state sales taxes, you could be held liable.

8. Never let a seller rush you into a purchase, even if it means little or nothing down, unless you can verify all available records.

9. If there is a large inventory, either do the inventory yourself, or have an inventory firm do it for you. Never agree to the owner’s inventory of stock.

10. Never assume the lease on a business is assumable. Check it out. Many are not.

11. While a business loan may be assumable, interest rates may increase. It is important to keep interest rates as low as possible.

12. Banks may hesitate to provide financing if the seller is no twilling to carry any part of the financing. Banks will wonder why the seller wants all cash. Are the financial records accurate? Does the seller have some concerns that are not so apparent to everyone else?

13. Make certain that “net profit” on a seller’s books is really net profit. Sometimes, a seller will not draw any salary for him/herself, or pay any wages. Consequently, what shows on the books as a net profit, is not a net profit at all. In other words, the only real net profit that will be made is if he/she sells the business to you at retail.

 
'Success produces success,
just as money produces money.'
-Nicolas de Chamfort
'Once you begin to
believe there is help
“out there,” you will
know it to be true.'
-Saint Bartholomew
 
How To Become An
Invaluable Copywriter
For Every Local Merchant
In Town!
 

In this article I want to show you how to become an invaluable copywriter for every local merchant in town. This is actually a very simple technique. You don’t even have to have a web site!

All you need is e-mail!

One of the key secrets to successful business of any kind is finding a need and filling it. I run into countless local merchants who are starting to ask for e-mail addresses from their customers. They ask for e-mail addresses because they want to send their customers special offers, updates, and newsletters via e-mail.

Guess what I’ve found out? Of the 50% of businesses that are starting to ask for e-mail addresses, a good 87% of them haven’t done anything with them! This is because they are caught up in the day-to-day business of running their businesses, and they don’t ever get back to sending out those offers as they should!

This is where you come in! You can offer to send those coupons, special offers, sale announcements, and announcements of new product arrivals to local merchants’ customer e-mail lists for them!

 
'Goodwill to others. . .helps
build you up. It is good
for your body. It makes your
blood purer, your muscles
stronger, and your whole
form more symmetrical
in shape. It is the real
elixir of life.'
-Prentice Mulford
'Be brave enough to accept
the help of others.'
-Melba Colgrove, Harold H.
Bloomfield, Peter McWilliams
 

You’ll write the copy. All the merchants have to do is give you the latest sales items or whatever special they would like to offer.

Offer to e-mail to the merchants’ lists weekly. Set yourself a fee of $50 - $100, or perhaps even $200 a week depending on the size of the list. You then send out the e-mails to a list that you’ve created. You can just set up multiple mail boxes right on any standard browser with e-mail service will do that for you, and then you just send these out to their customers.

By taking up on this opportunity, you will become an invaluable resource for these people because you will also always make every offer a coupon. “Bring this in to take advantage of this special sales price.” Your clients will see the return almost immediately! I guarantee this - they will see a return almost immediately - and you will become an invaluable resource they will be calling on every week. They would never dare let one of their checks miss you!

 
‘Colors fade, temples
crumble, empires fall,
but wise words endure.’
-Thorndike
‘The man who gets the
most satisfactory results
is not the man with the
most brilliant single
mind, but rather the
man who can best
co-ordinate the brains
and talents of his success.’
-W. Alton Jones
 
Why Many Web Site
Owners Don’t Make Enough
Money ... And What You Can
Easily Do About It!
 

Now we’re going to cover why many web site owners don’t make enough money, and what you can easily do about it. This is very exciting, because it is a secret that many people don’t use simply due to their underestimating the power of the Internet.

Here’s the secret: A lot of people don’t make enough money on the Internet because they only advertise on the Internet!

Now, we’re not saying that Internet advertising is bad. In fact, Internet advertising is fantastic! Why? Because the people who are on the Internet to see your ad are already there on the Internet so they can get to your web site and they are very qualified people. They have the technology to get to your site. So Internet advertising is fantastic.

The challenge that some web site owners have is that they only focus on Internet advertising. We talked to a gentleman at a seminar not too long ago who came up to us and said, “Look, I’m on the Internet now. I’m only on the Internet. I’ve stopped doing all of my direct mail advertising, I’m not doing any more magazine advertising, I’ve stopped advertising in the card packs. I’m only advertising on the Internet. All other advertising is going to die out and the Internet is going to be it.”

 
'Flaming enthusiasm,
backed up by horse
sense and persistence,
is the quality that
most frequently
makes for success.'
-Dale Carnegie
'We can accomplish almost
anything within our
ability if we but
think that we can!'
-George Matthew Adams
 

We responded with hesitation. He continued, “Yeah, look at these computer companies, like Dell – they’re selling all of these computers, and Egghead Software. There are all these companies who are closing down their stores and they’re doing everything on the Internet.” And we had to stop him and say, “Look, they might be selling their products solely on the Internet, but look at how they’re advertising their web site.”

A lot of these huge, multimillion dollar corporations have started advertising very, very heavily on radio and television. They’re doing some direct mail, a lot of magazine and newspaper advertising, they’ve got cards going out in these card decks and card packs, and they’re sending out web cards.

They are not only doing Internet advertising. They may be only selling their products on the Internet, but they are spending a lot of money off-line doing regular old direct mail, direct response advertising.

So that is what we suggest YOU do! Don’t forget the regular types of advertising that have worked for so many decades and have been so effective. The Internet is a great technological advance, but to get people to your website, it is a good idea to use some of the tried and true advertising.

 
‘Fortune favors the audacious.’
-Erasmus
‘To find a career to which
you are adapted by nature,
and then to work hard at it,
is about as near to a formula
for success and happiness as the
world provides. One of the
fortunate aspects of this formula
is that, granted the right career
has been found, the hard work
takes care of itself. Then hard
work is not hard work at all.’
-Mark Sullivan
 

One of the things that really impresses us about these big Internet companies is that they are going back and using ideas that have been around before. They are using direct mail and magazines and are actually using, in some cases, billboards and advertising on park benches. They are using signs out in front of people where people are.

We recently went on vacation and every couple of towns we noticed another billboard, and all it had was a website address. So this isn’t a company that is just saying, “The Internet is it and we’re only advertising on the Internet.” They are advertising everywhere.

One of the key factors to success in Internet advertising is to follow the leaders. This is what we say to people who are interested in a very fast success, a way to make very fast cash and really to succeed quickly - follow the leaders. Find out what the people who are successful are doing.

In terms of web site owners, go out there and find out what the successful web site builders are doing, and model exactly what they are doing. Follow the leaders.

If you study a company like eBay, they don’t only do Internet advertising. In fact, recently eBay has had an incredible amount of radio advertising out there. The same with amazon.com – a lot of radio and print advertising. They’re doing a lot of advertising that is not solely focused on the Internet. Why?

 
‘The law of work does
seem utterly unfair – but there
it is, nothing can change it;
the higher the pay in enjoyment
the worker gets out of it, the
higher shall be his
pay in money also.’
-Mark Twain
‘All happiness depends
on courage and work.’
-Honore de Balzac
 

Because they want to get their message out and they realize the power of these direct response marketing methods that have worked for decades and decades. So, the challenge that a new web site owner has is not to only focus on the Internet. Even though there is that new excitement about being on the Internet and wanting to advertise there, our suggestion would be to - yes - advertise there.

Get on the search engines, do the links, that’s all very important. But don’t forget in your marketing mix to go back and do some of the regular direct response advertising like getting an ad in a card pack, maybe placing a magazine ad, maybe having an insert put into some outgoing product, maybe doing some direct mail, and maybe going so far as getting some radio and TV ads.

It’s very effective advertising to get people to your web site, especially as more and more web sites continually flood the Internet. That’s when you really do some advertising that makes you stand out. And the way you stand out is by doing some of these advertising techniques that have lasted for such a long time.

 
'Energy and persistence
conquer all things.'
-Benjamin Franklin
'The only thing that keeps
a man going is energy.
And what is energy
but liking life?'
-Louis Auchincloss

This eBook Brought To You By:


Warren Libbey
5252 Balfour Rd
Brentwood CA 94513-4011

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