-----------------------------------------------------------
IdeasWIN Unique e-Zine
A Newsletter for the Thoughtful Internet Marketer
-----------------------------------------------------------
Issue 42 April 26, 2001
Editor: Christopher Stephenson, mailto:Chris at IdeasWIN.com
Publisher: http://www.IdeasWIN.com
-----------------------------------------------------------
By subscription only! If you wish to be removed from this
mailing list, please see the instructions at the end of
this e-mail. Our subscriber list is NOT made available to
other companies or individuals and is 100% Opt-In. We value
every subscriber and respect your privacy.
-----------------------------------------------------------
In This Issue
READ IT ONLINE at: http://www.IdeasWIN.com/issues/42.htm
-----------------------------------------------------------
1. Let's Get Started!
2. IdeasWIN RECOMMENDS: Web Hosting at it's Best
3. Feature Article: The Money-Go-Round
4. In the Spotlight: Legitimate No Investment Business
5. Guest Article: There's a Snake in the Barrel
6. Friends of the Business: Internet Marketer BARGAIN
7. Subscription Management
8. Contact Information
9. The Last Word: PONDER POINTS
-----------------------------------------------------------
1. Let's Get Started!
-----------------------------------------------------------
Got a bit of a longer issue for you all this time, but I
think you'll find it more than worth it. There was no winner
this week!
But you are all winners as our members. We are trying to
upgrade the site http://www.IdeasWIN.com every week. Check
it out - and there is much more to come. Shortly the Members
Only page will be done and require a password that ONLY you
subscribers will have. So be sure to read each issue to the
END. And now on with the show!
-----------------------------------------------------------
2. IdeasWIN RECOMMENDS
-----------------------------------------------------------
Most of us when we start on the Internet don't even know
what a Web Hosting company is. I know I didn't. Not until I
thought about having a web site with a domain name I owned.
Now if you aren't doing business, be happy with a free web
site offered by some company whose name will be most of the
URL. That's all you need. But if you want to be taken
seriously on the web that just won't do.
I've tried several companies. The one IdeasWIN recommends
is: http://www.HostSave.cjb.net/ Let me tell you why. They
have good prices, like everybody else. BUT what they have
that others don't is GENUINE TOP-OF-THE-LINE SERVICE. When I
had trouble with an account, customer service fixed it. And
when my bill didn't appear correct, the billing dept. went
out of their way to right things. I'm thrilled and I think
you will be too!
-----------------------------------------------------------
3. Today's Feature Article
-----------------------------------------------------------
Broke and In Debt on $75,000/year?
The biggest cause of people being broke is NOT having a low
income. This may sound TOO rudimentary but it is not at all
about how much your income is. It totally depends on how
much you are spending in relationship to that. How many
people NEED all the things they buy?
We in the USA at least live in a society that has us
convinced beyond any shadow of a doubt that we must have and
are even entitled to our little pleasures. When I sit down
with some family in financial crisis and one of the couple
say to me, "I simply can't give up any of my cable channels,
I need that particularly when I am down like this." Well,
let's face it....there is something wrong there.
We humans are great at rationalizing what we want. We don't
do this with things we genuinely need. We reserve it for our
wants, and BOY do we want our entertainment. What anyone
does is of course up to them but it is this kind of fuzzy
thinking that keeps people broke and in debt at $75,000/year
and $150,000/year and any other amount that you wish to
name.
Let me repeat this most important statement.
It is not about how much you make, it is about how much you
spend. It is not about how much you want or don't want
something, it is about how much sense & cents it makes in
the long run.
A lot of times when someone is making plenty of money (let's
place that at ANYTHING above the average) and is still in
trouble there is something below the surface draining off
money. There are many things that can do this. It could be
as sinister as some sort of addiction (drugs, alcohol,
gambling, etc.) or an illicit relationship. More often
though it is simply the unconscious nickle & dime wasting of
money, going on daily. Whatever it is, it must be controlled
if we are ever to get relaxed in life.
There is no sense of relief like the one that comes after
you have lived ONLY on what you have for, say, a year. At
that point you know that you will make it....period.
How to be Not Broke
Financial Planning. The most important thing you can give
your child, after Love & the knowledge that they ARE
important is financial security. How do you accomplish this?
Teach them this concept. I call it the 70/30 plan. After
receiving your paycheck or paying yourself, simply set aside
10% for saving, 10% for investing and 10% for giving, and
over time this will guarantee financial independence. This
simple plan, if started out when they are young and stressed
and even enforced will make sure your child will never HAVE
to be broke. Will they? Maybe. But if they are never taught
how easy it is NOT to be broke they most certainly WILL BE.
Let's face it, no-one HAS to be broke. If there are families
of 6 making under $25,000 a year and getting by, why can't
we all? Why do some politicians making $75,000 a year vote
themselves a 10% raise every year or so? Because they need
it? Do they really? No. The reason they do, is that they
CAN. Well, we won't get into that now.
So, here you are. You are bringing home $75K and not only
are broke but are in debt. What do you do?
The first thing I am going to recommend is basic, basic,
basic. As a matter of fact, if you had done this before you
would not be where you are now. Here it is: Learn to live on
what you make. That's the magic, if you don't have the cash
to buy something, you don't buy it. Get rid of all your
credit cards except the one with the lowest interest rate.
Destroy them. Take the last one and save it for two things,
and ONLY use it for these two things. Dire emergencies and
those things like renting a car which are almost impossible
to do without a credit card.
Get rid of MAC, ATM or similar cards unless that is what you
keep as the solo credit card. You know what I mean, a debit
card that looks like and function like a cc but debits your
checking account.
Create and live by a budget. If you ask any group of people
if they have a budget only about one third will say yes. The
truth is we ALL have a budget. It is simple, this much comes
in and that much goes out. That is all a budget is. What
they all mean by not having a budget is: I don't have a
controlling money system that I use so I am never in $$$
trouble.
OK so you have sat down and created a balance sheet (a
rudimentary budget) listing your income(s) on one side and
all KNOWN expenses on the other. Don't forget to add in
money for the Unexpected (Stuff Happens) and to replace
things like clothes that wear out or outgrown. If you do not
also include some sort of savings you are courting disaster.
If your Plus side is larger then your Minus side you are OK,
unless you have been broke all the time anyway. What do I
mean? If you SHOULD have enough money but don't....you need
to discover why or you are bound to ALWAYS be there.
Many will say OK it is time to increase your income to
combat the challenge. I am ALL in favor of making more money
but if you are out of money and shouldn't be - making more
will not fix it.
If your balance sheet came up in the negative from the get-
go you need to cut your expenses. See how simple that is?
Now I know that a lot of folks, when you make that
statement, jump up and down and say that they have already
cut down everything they could. But the difficulty remains.
You can NOT continue to spend more then you make. Unless you
are the Government, and even that crashes to a stop at some
point. One thing about that. The longer you go on spending
more then you bring in, the worse will be the comeuppance
when it all catches up with you.
Many people reading this are already in trouble. Change it
now. Many others are OK today, but could easily be pulled
down tomorrow UNLESS you think before you act. We need to
remember that thoughtfulness can save us much heartache.
Humans are after all, a brain with a body, NOT a body with a
brain.
Here is some recommended reading that can be a real help in
understanding how to think intelligently about money. If we
know enough about it we can control and use it rather then
being controlled by it. The books below and the prices
quoted are from Amazon. Click the link for a search box to
find these and other titles at Amazon.com:
http://www.ideaswin.com/membersonly.htm
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki Available as an e-
book for $8.95 or a paperback for $9.57
The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley, William D.
Danko in paperback from $4.79
How To Be Rich by J. Paul Getty in paperback for $5.39
Till next time. Good luck and God Bless.
Remember, IdeasWIN. Develop yours, Chris
-----------------------------------------------------------
4. In The Spotlight
-----------------------------------------------------------
Net Auctions are hotter than proverbial hotcakes and really
do offer a unique AND exciting e-biz opportunity.
How exciting? Just for starters, here are some interesting
stats...
o 76% of online shoppers have used eBay over a 6 month
period. (Source: eMarketer)
o The online auction market is currently worth in excess of
US$6.5 billion, up from US$650 million in 1998. (Source:
eMarketer)
o As a percentage of B2C (business to consumer) sales, the
online auction comprises over 17%. (Source: eMarketer)
o The future of e-commerce lies in the auction model.
(Source: Jupiter Communications)
Want to LEARN HOW to really succeed in the net auction
business? We'll teach you! The newest from Ken Evoy!
http://mynas.sitesell.com/IdeasWIN.html
-----------------------------------------------------------
5. Guest Article
-----------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Lassater was a fine old fella. He had once owned the
building I now rented for my first venture into business --
a little music store -- and now he was retired.
Still, he liked to visit with folks who would come by during
the day, and so he kept a little front corner of the store
to display television sets, which he and his elderly and
nearly blind wife would sit watching most of the day,
occasionally selling one and enjoying the visit with his
customer, usually someone he had known for years.
I was glad to have him there, as he would answer the phone
and more or less keep my part of the store for me when I
needed to be away on a sales call or a piano tuning. He
provided a great deal of emotional security for me, and he
watched me -- and watched me -- and watched me.
After I had been in business about six months, bill paying
time began coming too quickly, and I found myself doing a
lot of juggling of funds to keep the doors open. I robbed
Peter to pay Paul lots of times, and now it was getting
harder and harder to pay Peter back. I was getting myself
in trouble, and Mr. Lassater just watched, puffing on his
Sherlock Holmes type pipe, and never saying a word.
Finally, just before Christmas of that first year, it came
to be reckoning time. Mr. Lassater watched me juggle
figures on my desk for hours, with no good results. I owed
money to the bank, the rent was past due, I had sold pianos
for which I had not yet paid my suppliers, the telephone was
about to be cut off and I could see no way I could generate
enough income to save the business. I was in despair, and
Mr. Lassater could see it.
Just before closing time, the fine old man pulled his chair
over in front of my desk, and said, "I want to tell you a
story." Well, anything was better than just sitting there in
gloom, and so I told him to go ahead.
"One time in my back yard," he said, "there was a barrel
under a tree limb. One day a frog fell off the limb down
into the barrel. He tried and tried to jump out, but no
matter how hard he jumped, he couldn't get out. He just
couldn't jump high enough to reach the rim. He thought he
was going to die, and was about to give up, when a snake
crawled into the barrel through a tiny hole in the bottom,
and you know what?"
"What?", I said, knowing what he would say.
"That frog jumped clear out of that barrel in one giant
leap."
I sat there and watched him as he and his dear old wife
gathered up their things and left the store for the evening.
After a few minutes I picked up the phone to call my only
salesman who had already gone home. "Al," I said, "I need
for you to come back down to the store for a little bit."
"What for?" asked Al, who was probably at supper.
"There's a snake in the barrel," I said.
Al appeared in a little while, and we planned our strategy.
There were nine pianos in the warehouse, and somehow we
would sell them all by Saturday, only three days away. Of
course that was an impossible task in that little town, but
there was a snake in the barrel, after all, and we had to.
Early the next morning we went out to see Floyd Stewart, the
owner of and the only announcer in the little radio station,
KRMO. We told Floyd the problem, and told him we could
afford to pay him only if we sold the pianos, but we were
asking for his help.
Then I told him what Mr. Lassater had said about the snake
in the barrel. Floyd, who was an old friend of Mr.
Lassater, agreed, and he pushed those pianos many times a
day for the next three days, always beginning the commercial
in his big booming voice, "THERE'S A SNAKE IN THE BARREL".
By Saturday, the pianos were all sold, and I paid the bank,
the phone company, the rent, and sent the money for the two
pianos I had sold but not yet paid for. Of course it was
costly, because I had to discount the pianos considerably,
but it kept me in business, and I never let the frog fall
into the barrel again.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Joe Edwards
This article was passed to me by a friend. Unfortunately I
have no information about the author. But the message was
simply TOO good not to pass on to you.
-----------------------------------------------------------
6. Friends of the Business
-----------------------------------------------------------
There aren't that many real bargains on the web when it
comes to the subject of Internet Marketing. I have found one
that is staggering!
Larry Dotson has been around long enough so most 'netters'
know the name. Well, he has really done it! His site offers
thousands of pages of training and tips. Not to mention
dozens of e-books and articles to download. In addition
there is reprint rights to several pieces that could turn a
tidy profit.
Is it free? no, but right now.....LIFETEME MEMBERSHIP is
being offered for $11.95. And that is not a misprint. Get
all the details and sign up at:
http://hop.clickbank.net/hop.cgi?ideaswin/bizreport
-----------------------------------------------------------
7. Subscription Management
-----------------------------------------------------------
To SUBSCRIBE or join this E-Zine List:
To subscribe to IdeasWIN simply send an e-mail to:
mailto:subscribe at IdeasWIN.com
To UNSUBSCRIBE or be removed from this E-Zine List:
To unsubscribe to IdeasWIN simply send an e-mail to:
mailto:unsubscribe at IdeasWIN.com
Tell all your friends to 'huury on down' and subscribe.
All NEW subscribers AND the person who referred
them WILL be entered in our weekly contest to
WIN a FREE VACATION
CHOOSE from 20 GREAT RESORT SPOTS WORLDWIDE
-----------------------------------------------------------
8. Contact Information
-----------------------------------------------------------
comments at IdeasWIN.com
Editor: Chris at IdeasWIN.com
Tech: Eric at IdeasWIN.com
For more information on starting and running your own
successful online business (the password is the name of
the e-zine) Visit: http://marketingconcept.cjb.net
What sets you apart from the crowd? Anything?
Surely, it is what you read.
-----------------------------------------------------------
9. The Last Word: PONDER POINTS
-----------------------------------------------------------
If you spend five minutes complaining, you have just wasted
five minutes. If you continue complaining, it won't be long
before they haul you out to a financial desert and there let
you choke on the dust of your own regret.
From THE TREASURY OF QUOTES by Jim Rohn
http://www.jimrohn.com/ps.dll?a=petsc3189
Copyright © 2001 by Marketing Concepts Unlimited