MONEY- MAKING MONTHLY
Volume I Number 11 | December 2013 | $97
THE Monthly Magazine For Sharp Entrepreneurs
The Professor of Harsh Reality’s Lecture About Time By Dan Kennedy
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Are You Being Duped by These 3 Pervasive Business Lies? By MaryEllen Tribby
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A $1,000 INVESTMENT TO MILLIONS IN PROFITS: 4 KEY WAYS ENTREPRENEURS CAN USE FREELANCER TO PROFIT
By Peter Diamandis
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ABOUT STEVE | DECEMBER 2013
About the Publisher, Steve Sipress
If you want to grow your business slowly – or just maintain it as is, you’ll have to do that all on your own. But if you want dramatic growth in your income and lifestyle, then Steve’s out-of-the-box and time-tested strategies and tactics could be the keys to your dreams. You can benefit from Steve’s coaching experience and expertise to revolutionize your business – yes, even in this challenging economy – at one of the many in-person entrepreneur events he hosts, OR from the comfort of your own home anywhere in the world. You can also learn basic and advanced direct response marketing strategies and tactics from 150+ hours of video instruction, plus use any or all of Steve’s multi-million-dollar, proven “done-for-you” marketing materials when you take advantage of his 30-days-for-only-$1 trial offer at SSSMarketingUniversity.com. That website has been called The Single Most Powerful Client Attraction Program Available Anywhere, and you could be using it to skyrocket your income anytime you want, 24/7, along with hundreds of other sharp, successful business leaders. Steve is a successful and award-winning serial entrepreneur, who has created and built nearly a dozen successful companies of his own, and he can help you do the same – more quickly and easily than you’ve ever imagined. In fact, you can immediately use plenty of his simple and powerful strategies and tactics that work especially well in this current frustrating economy! Steve is a celebrated author, speaker and business coach who has established profitable businesses and helped thousands of ambitious and aggressive business owners, entrepreneurs, executives and sales professionals all around the world. He has written numerous newsletters and articles on sales and marketing for a wide range of publications and has appeared on radio and television, helping millions of people along the way. If you want the very best, hard-hitting, no-nonsense, caring advice and help you can get, then “Straight-Talk Steve” could be exactly what you and your business need most. If you’re in the Midwest, you can meet other like-minded business people in person and learn from the world’s leading entrepreneur experts at one of Steve’s many “Chicagoland’s Sharpest Entrepreneurs” live events that he’s hosted since September 2008. You also have the chance to work with other entrepreneurs, business owners, executives and professionals like yourself who want to learn better, more effective ways to market their businesses and grow their in es, thanks to Steve’s online group and personal coaching programs. Whether you’re a current or future business superstar, Steve can help you get exactly where you want to go as quickly, easily and powerfully as YOU want – with massive results both short-term and long-term.
Pg II | Money-Making Monthly Magazine | www.SteveSipress.com
www.SteveSipress.com www.RhinoDaily.com www.SSSMarketingUniversity.com www.Facebook.com/SmallBizHelp
www.Twitter.com/SteveSipress
“An Incredible Experience!” "When we first started, I was terribly in debt and we were just a few months away from bankruptcy. We started seeing a boost right away in our business, we took what Steve's given me and we just started implementing and implementing, and it's just totally transformed my business. Steve has helped me with my laser focus, he helps me implement, he's taken my business to a whole new level. We went from a half a million dollars to a million dollars in two years. It's just an incredible experience to know that where you think you're just dead and things are horrible, to now anything is possible. I can see taking this to a whole new three or four types of businesses -- it's going to be huge. Steve is all business, he is an unbelievably smart, brilliant man. I can't say enough about him. Everything he's told me, I've made so much money it doesn't matter what it costs. They don't make enough money in this world that somebody could pay me so I would stop listening to Steve. Steve is the exact reason why I have a retirement fund now. It's probably illegal how much fun I'm having!"
Jon Bockman Owner, Bockman's Auto Care Sycamore, Illinois
MANNY’S BLOG | DECEMBER 2013
Manny’s Blog
Manny’s North Pole Adventure
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ou are not going to believe this! I got to visit Santa’s workshop at the North Pole!
Santa needed a well-respected journalist who could help him get some good PR, since several of his elves were threatening to strike because their wages are FROZEN. (Well, DUH, guys. What isn’t frozen at the North Pole?) How did I make it to the North Pole? I formed an uneasy alliance with the mail carrier who hauls kids’ letters to Santa. I told him I was on my best behavior because of the Christmas spirit; but frankly, I’ve heard that thermal pants taste awful anyway. It took me a while to figure out how to address Santa – whether as Saint Nick or Father Christmas or Kris Kringle or…His medical records must be a mess! I’ll bet his vaccination tag is as big as a manhole cover! Santa gave me the VIP (Very Important Pooch) treatment. I used to be proud that I was considered a VIP in my youth, but then I learned that Steve meant Voluminously Incontinent Puppy! Santa made me feel at home by playing canine Christmas tunes, such as “Go Bury It On The Mountain” and “Have Yourself A Merry Little Flea Dip.” I’m still humming “City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in pooper-scooper style…” It was breathtaking to watch the elves assemble toys such as Silly Putty, Raggedy Ann, and Mr. Potato Head. They didn’t seem to appreciate my ideas for updates, such as replacing G.I. Joe’s Kung Fu Grip with a Can Opener
Grip, changing Barbie’s Dream House to Barbie’s Dream About Chasing Rabbits House, and transforming Candy Land into Roadkill Land. Some of the remote control toys were discarded because they were unresponsive and useless. Of course, I like to refer to those as “cats.” I had a great bedroom, but I was still disappointed. I figured Rudolph would provide the night light with his nose, but I learned that he has started selling all his power to the electric company. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, and Donner were all very friendly – but one reindeer who shall remain nameless spent the whole time sulking because the SyFy channel turned down his idea for a “Blitzenado”TV movie. While Santa was distracted, I snuck a peek at his “Naughty or Nice” list. I’m not worried about the kids who fibbed or beat up their little sister; I’m working up a class action defamation lawsuit against all the little brats who pulled that old “my dog ate my homework” scam. I had the singular honor of sitting in Santa’s lap AT THE NORTH POLE. But it was a harrowing experience after I cracked a few jokes. When Santa asked what I wanted for Christmas, I whimpered, “Gastric bypass surgery or a personal trainer or ANYTHING that will keep my stomach from ever shaking like a bowlful of jelly!” Still, all in all, it was a positive experience. I hope your own holiday season leaves your tail wagging – at least metaphorically.
Manny (full name “Emanuel” or “Dog With Us”) is Steve and Michele Sipress’ crazy, rambunctious cocker spaniel. He has a weak leg (despite a mostlysuccessful back surgery), grey hair, is totally deaf and partially blind. But he still enjoys barking at the mailman and landscapers, pulling dead frogs out of nearby ponds and chasing after his beloved squeaker toy. He loves everyone (even the mailman and landscapers), and everyone loves him.
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ARE YOU TAKING ADVANTAGE OF EVERY OPPORTUNITY FOR SALES? | DECEMBER 2013
Are You Taking Advantage of EVERY Opportunity for Sales? By Felicia Slattery ecently I had the opportunity to speak at a women’s symposium event in beautiful Galena, Illinois. My client, Brian Basilico, author of It’s Not About You, It’s About Bacon, introduced me to the meeting planner because he was going to be speaking at the same event and was booked before I was. In a typical turn of events where another speaker had cancelled (sadly this happens all the time), the meeting planner called me in a panic; would I be willing to fill in at the last minute with less than two weeks’ notice? Sure. Of COURSE I would; I was planning to be there anyway! One of the sponsors of the event, the beautiful and serene Aldrich Guest House Bed & Breakfast, was host to the speakers the night before the event. So there I was, sitting around the dining room table with Brian, an expert in social media, and Traci D. Ellis, an attorney who works with professional women handling their business and personal needs. Smart people. Yet, as we chatted about our presentations (and they both put finishing touches on their slides), I quickly learned that neither had planned to offer anything for sale to the audience, except for Brian’s book. Big mistake.
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As I explained to them, there will be people in any audience who are ready to buy something from you RIGHT AT THE MOMENT YOU ARE ON STAGE. Unless it was in the speaker’s agreement with the event that you would not be permitted to sell any products or services, then by all means you should. And here’s why: If you firmly believe in your heart of hearts that what you do for people with your services or the results that using your product can truly enhance the lives of those who invest, then it is wrong to withhold that from people you know you can help and who need it. All that’s left to do is to make sure they know what it is you offer. Plain and simple. Beyond that, you deserve to make a living. Yes, I know you love speaking. And yes, I know it’s a joy just to be able to share your information with an audience. And yes, of course you get plenty of benefits from speaking even if you don’t make a dime. But as one of my mentors, Jeff Herring has always said, if you go out of business because you’re not making enough money to support yourself, then you’re doing the world a disservice, robbing them of your unique gifts. So get paid when the opportunity presents itself.
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If you go out of business because you’re not making enough money to support yourself, then you’re doing the world a disservice. Pg 2 | Money-Making Monthly Magazine | www.SteveSipress.com
ARE YOU TAKING ADVANTAGE OF EVERY OPPORTUNITY FOR SALES? | DECEMBER 2013
There are too many complex steps to “closing” on stage with audiences so you get the maximum results to discuss in a blog post. Even so, with some audiences, you don’t need a bunch of tricks and techniques; and they may not be appropriate for that audience anyway. Even if you never try a single “closing technique,” all you simply have to do is tell your audience members, “You might be wondering about how the details of what we’ve been talking about today can help you. I also do consulting in my business where I talk to my clients on the phone for an hour and we work out the details to [fill in the blank]. Normally I charge $250 for this hour. Today I’m offering a discount so you’ll get that hour for just $197. If [what you do] is something you’ve been struggling with, let me know today and I can help you.” You’re not hard selling. It might take you all of 30 seconds to say. You’re just sharing in a friendly, helpful way. Using that simple strategy, Brian was excited when he was approached by a couple people who wanted his offer and one ready to give him a check on the spot. Had he not offered it, the opportunity could easily have been lost, the moment past, and the cash left on the table. Instead, by simply offering a service, someone in the audience gets to benefit from Brian’s substantial brilliance. And I couldn’t be happier for him or his new client! Do you always offer something for sale when you speak? Your audience will appreciate it, and so will you!
About Felicia Slattery Felicia is the founder of “Profitable Speakers International,” where her mission is to enable speakers, trainers, teachers and experts to transcend technique and serve their audiences from the stage profitably by focusing on developing four aspects all about YOU and speaking: speech development, business development, communication & marketing development, and personal development. Watch her free video, “The #1 Reason Most ‘Experts’ Stink at Public Speaking - And Lose Money Because of It!” at: www.ProfitableSpeakersInternational.com
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WHAT CAN ENTREPRENEURS LEARN FROM CURVE’S FAILURES? | DECEMBER 2013
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THE PROFESSOR OF HARSH REALITY’S LECTURE ABOUT TIME | DECEMBER 2013
The Professor of Harsh Reality’s By Dan S. Kennedy Lecture About Time
H
aving recently had another birthday click over on the odometer, time is on my mind. It’s never far from it in my work-cave, because I have strategically placed more than a dozen clocks around the room and can’t look in any direction without seeing one. As I describe in my book, No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs, I organize everything with start and pre-determined end times; if someone has a phone appointment with me they know in advance when it ends, not just when it starts, and it does end as scheduled even if in midsentence. I have trained and conditioned myself to be hyper-sensitive to time, and I train my clients to respect my hyper-sensitivity about it. Why? Because your bank balance and your satisfaction or dissatisfaction with it is more a reflection of how you invest your time than reflection of anything else. This the more dominant factor in wealth or relative poverty, success or failure, fulfillment or frustration than all externals combined – whatever Obama and the Merry Band of Thieves in Washington DC may be up to, whatever European welfare state is in collapse, whatever volcano or oil spill is occurring, whether economy is booming or struggling, whether your particular industry is healthy or diseased. These external things are fluid. In my 40 years as serial entrepreneur, made-from-scratch multi-millionaire, and business advisor to thousands, I’ve seen all these things and worse come and go, occur and occur again, and I’ve seen some entrepreneurs surrender their attitudes and reality to them, while others defy them and thrive. My primary area of specialization is ‘marketing,’ and most of my articles for Early To Rise are laser-focused on that, but truth is, marketing and selling of goods, services or concepts is sabotaged or supported by how much control the individual or individuals who are the business’ driving force exercise over the investment, direction and consumption of their time, and with it, their energy and creativity.
In reality, time is the asset the entrepreneur owns outright and has total control over. I don’t really need to follow you around and observe how you use your time to gauge how you’re doing in business. I only need hear about your philosophy about time, that governs your behavior and what you will tolerate or refuse to tolerate in the behavior of those around you. For example, do you have litmus tests, and what are they? One of mine: if somebody can’t keep seemingly minor commitments, they can’t be trusted to honor important ones either. If they are allowed to hang around, soon they’ll be cause of you failing to honor your commitments to yourself and others. Or, for example, how do you relate time and goals? My hovering question is: will this use of my time move me measurably closer to my meaningful goals? Is there even a chance it will? If not, why do it? Volume I Number 11 | Pg 5
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As a matter of fact, I’ve seen fortunes manufactured from mediocre ideas, and great ideas still-born.
Or, a governing rule to safeguard your time and sanity. Mine: if I wake up three mornings in a row thinking about you, and we’re not having sex, you gotta go. Do you actually handle time as money, not just give lip service to the idea? Can you tell me what your time must be worth per minute to achieve your income goal? It’s difficult to find a clock in Las Vegas casinos, because those casinos are designed to separate you from as much of your money as possible; to make you a loser, and that is best done by dulling your sensitivity to the passing of time. The same principle applies to your business life. The surest way to be a loser is to be casual or insensitive about time. I’ve worked up close ‘n personal with many, many entrepreneurs who’ve converted ideas and grit into fortunes. The difference between them and the majority of also-rans is never the originality or even the quality of their ideas. As a matter of fact, I’ve seen fortunes manufactured from mediocre ideas, and great ideas still-born. This is important, because far too many entrepreneurs and, candidly, those who observe them, report on them, write about them, glorify their success stories, still hold up The Great Idea as the pedestalworthy holy grail. That is worship of a false god.
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THE PROFESSOR OF HARSH REALITY’S LECTURE ABOUT TIME | DECEMBER 2013
must create a success environment for yourself, impose strict deadlines on yourself and be ruthlessly resistant to waste of time by self and others, and hold yourself accountable hour by hour. If you aren’t willing to work under such selfimposed pressure, I suggest forgetting the idea of getting and staying rich as king of your own kingdom. Every great kingdom needs a ruler with an iron-fist.
About Dan S. Kennedy
When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were first added to the NFL as an expansion team, and setting records for consecutive losses and embarrassing performances, after one game, a reporter stuck a microphone in the head coach, John McKay’s face, and asked how he felt about his team’s execution that day. McKay quipped that he was in favor of it. There’s reality. Execute or be executed. It’s how business really works. Hardly anybody gets paid for their ideas. Not even the Imagineers at Disney. We actually get paid for what we get done. To the ignorant, my area of marketing seems to be about ideas. The insiders know: it is about implementation.
Dan S. Kennedy is a serial, multimillionaire entrepreneur; highly paid and sought after marketing and business strategist; adviser to countless first-generation, from-scratch multimillionaire and 7-figure income entrepreneurs and professionals; and, in his personal practice, one of the very highest paid direct-response copywriters in America. As a speaker, he has delivered over 2,000 compensated presentations, appearing repeatedly on programs with the likes of Donald Trump, Gene Simmons (KISS), Debbi Fields (Mrs. Fields Cookies), and many other celebrity-entrepreneurs, former U.S. Presidents and other world leaders, and other leading business speakers like Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy and Tom Hopkins, often addressing audiences of 1,000 to 10,000 and up. His popular books have been favorably recognized by Forbes, Business Week, Inc. and Entrepreneur Magazine.
The entrepreneur has a situation encouraging of poor productivity: he is his own boss.
Check out Dan’s Elite Gold Crown Program and receive his Look Over My Shoulder Newsletter by going to:
Often this produces an unproductive employee and a lenient, dysfunctional boss. A two-fer. This is why you
www.EliteGoldGrownProgram.com
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A $1,000 INVESTMENT TO MILLIONS IN PROFITS: 4 KEY WAYS ENTREPRENEURS CAN USE FREELANCER TO PROFIT | DECEMBER 2013
A $1,000 Investment to Millions in Profits: 4 Key Ways Entrepreneurs Can Use Freelancer to Profit By Peter Diamandis
M
att Barrie is the CEO of Freelancer.com, the global workforce site. I've been quite impressed by what Matt's been able to do with crowdsourcing, and specifically how his company enables you to start a company using the experience of a crowd. Here, Barrie looks at some of the ways an entrepreneur can kick off his or her next big, bold idea and quite literally become a global company by using the worldwide resources of Freelancer.com. Freelancer actually has 600 categories of work, everything from astrophysics to aerospace engineering, genetic engineering, biotechnology and even quantum mechanics. Not to mention, design, writing, editing and data entry. "The sophistication and complexity of work we see is going through the roof," Barrie said. As the tools we have to interact continue to improve, he predicts that Freelancer will see even more diversity in the work it offers. Barrie gave a few examples of recent projects: • Someone requested a design for the schematics of a dune buggy that can reach 30 kilometers an hour; some 40 people bid on it for $300.
website built, or you want to get an iPhone application so you can deliver orders, or you want a new logo, or you want some ideas for new recipes, or you need someone to write the business plan for your café—whatever it is, you're only limited now by your imagination. You can build a virtual multinational corporation on a shoestring budget at 4 a.m. in your underwear," he mused. Barrie shared one success story of an India-based user who transformed his startup into a booming business using Freelancer.com. "We have a guy on our site who started eight years ago with two guys in a room as a service provider in India doing $65 websites for cafes and small businesses," he explained. "He now makes a million dollars a year building these $65 websites. He has 120 people working for him and they just churn out these basic websites for your business, wherever or whatever it may be." As an entrepreneur with a vision and passion, you could use Freelancer to get every stage of your company executed to the point of starting revenue. Freelancer has users who specialize in everything from website building to business plans, copywriting and advertising.
• A researcher on assignment studying pygmy hippos in Africa needed a poster designed for $100; he got it done within a week. • Mobile phone applications can be created and delivered to the Apple store for an average of $650. (Barrie said that about 300 apps a day go through Freelancer.com.) These small entrepreneurs "are all basically becoming little economic engines of growth in these countries," said Barrie. Barrie explained that technical jobs in particular level the playing field in the developing world. "If you're a small business and you want to get things done – for example, you're in Kansas somewhere and you want to get a
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A $1,000 INVESTMENT TO MILLIONS IN PROFITS: 4 KEY WAYS ENTREPRENEURS CAN USE FREELANCER TO PROFIT | DECEMBER 2013
Barrie also shared the impressive story of his business partner Simon Coulson, who bootstrapped his antivirus startup PC Tools into a company with $40 million in annual revenue. Coulson, one of Australia's top technology entrepreneurs, began outsourcing his first program for $1,000 to an Indian company, which developed the application. "He was using a competitive site – before Freelancer started up – but his success with this other freelancing crowd-sourcing company gave him the impetus to support the growth of Freelancer," Barrie said. Why is crowdsourcing so effective? Barrie cites the 2 billion global Internet users in the marketplace. "Those 2 billion people are 2 billion potential customers," he explained. "So if you have a product or service that resonates, it can take off at astronomical speeds." Barrie offered four pieces of advice to an entrepreneur considering using Freelancer, and how best to use it. 1. Do your research – everything's available online. "If you're going to start a company, there's never been a better time," Barrie said. "It's never been easier and it's never been cheaper to do so. Every company today is basically an Internet company and all the things you need to build an internet company today are free — all the software is free Linux and MySQL, voice-over-Internet-protocol, Gmail and so on. And the great thing about all these Internet technologies is freelancers are available. We've got millions of freelancers to help you use these tools and get them built into a business." "The best thing I would suggest you do is, first of all, browse the projects on Freelancer.com," he advised. "Look at the mobile phone section or the Web development section, or whatever your area might be, and see what other people are doing and how they're wording their projects and what they're paying and so forth. We're at ground zero on the Internet for the forefront of innovation for entrepreneurs and technology and small business. There's an amazing resource there." 2. Start working with Freelancer. "Just give it a go," Barrie said. "It's free to sign up on Freelancer. It's free to post a project. People from all around the world
will start bidding on it. And once you start talking to the freelancers looking through their samples of work, they'll give you ideas. They'll tell you, 'Hey, I've done similar sort of projects. Why don't you do it like this or why don't you do it like that?' and so forth. Really, as with all things regarding entrepreneurship, it's really just a matter of giving it a go and proceeding through trial and error." 3. Communicate clearly and often with your freelance community. "The greater the description you can provide of what you want, the better outcome you'll have, because when you're working with someone on the other side of the world there is room for interpretation," Barrie explained. "If you just write a one-line sentence — 'I need a website' — that could mean anything. The more you put into your description, the better outcome you'll get in terms of the bids. Then the key after that is really communication with the freelancers." 4. Go for quality first, then price. "The way it works is, you put a budget range down," Barrie said. "The average project on Freelancer goes for $200. For that you get about $2,000 worth of work you would get locally if you have to hunt around and find someone in the West. Put a budget range down and then it's a free market: The freelancers will bid on the project and tell you what they want to be paid. It may be an hourly rate, if it's that sort of a model, or it may be a fixed price You can look through the bids but the most important thing is go for quality first, because the prize going to be so cheap anyway that you're going to have tremendous cost savings. That gives you tremendous leverage in terms of what you can do with your starting capital." How should entrepreneurs price their projects? Barrie recommends letting the crowd inform your final figure. "The freelancers will tell you the price discovery occurs in the market as you post the job, when you'll see the bids coming in," he said. "You'll be able to negotiate with the freelancers. They'll tell you what they can do and what they can't do and that's how you discover the price."
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A $1,000 INVESTMENT TO MILLIONS IN PROFITS: 4 KEY WAYS ENTREPRENEURS CAN USE FREELANCER TO PROFIT | DECEMBER 2013
With the right blend of clear communication, high quality and free online tools, the possibilities are endless -- and exciting. "The other day I was in London and I met a financial analyst working from home doing financial models for pension funds on things like infrastructure projects. He needed a mathematician to develop these models in mathematics lab to be able to do his research and present his findings," Barrie said. "He hired a guy in a PhD student in Pakistan who was doing these mathematical models," he continued. "They set up a chat on Skype. The streaming video quality now to somewhere like Pakistan is unbelievable. It was just like the guy was in the room with him. He'd get up in the morning, have his cup of tea, sit down, put the iPad there, do the video call and then they'd sit there and talk all day like as if were in the same room together. The ability to communicate now with anyone on the planet is getting better and better and better and better." But the implications of Freelancer are far greater than just replicating an office model virtually, as Barrie pointed out. "You get someone to analyze the data, put together beautiful figures and graphs, crunch the numbers, do mathematical modeling. It's as sophisticated as you think. I want to say I've seen actually jobs in quantum mechanics. I've seen Pakistani quantum physicists bid on jobs from people in the U.S. I've seen aerospace jobs go through. And people are moonlighting. The information space now it's really frictionless, seamless… it's virtual, it can be anywhere."
“The information space now it's really frictionless, seamless… it's virtual, it can be anywhere."
About Peter Diamandis Dr. Peter H. Diamandis is Chairman and CEO of XPRIZE, which leads the world in designing and operating large incentive prizes to drive radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. Diamandis is also the CoFounder and Executive Chairman of Singularity University, the Co-Founder/ Co-Chairman of Planetary Resources, the Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of Space Adventures, the only company to have brokered the launches of private citizens to the International Space Station; and co-Founder, pastCEO of Zero Gravity Corporation, which provides weightless parabolic flights. Diamandis is the New York Times bestselling author of Abundance – The Future Is Better Than You Think. Abundance was #1 on Amazon and #2 on New York Times. His next book, “BOLD – How to Make Your Dreams Come True and Solve the World’s Grand Challenges,” is set for publication by S&S in May 2014. For more information on his one-ofa-kind program for entrepreneurs that provides a shortcut to the two most powerful unfair competitive advantages, go to www.Abudance360summit.com
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UNAFFORDABLE HEATH CARE | DECEMBER 2013
Unaffordable Heath Care I like my healthcare plan. But I can’t keep it. Period. I remember the process well… My beautiful wife Michele and I sat down with an insurance agent several years ago, poured over all kinds of different options regarding cost, coverage, deductibles, etc. from several different insurance companies, asked lots of questions, did lots of thinking and finally decided on a healthcare plan we liked. We’ve been very happy with that decision ever since, and haven’t even had to waste 30 seconds thinking about it, since it renewed automatically every year. We also had zero fear that Blue Cross/Blue Shield would ever cancel it and make us go through the whole agonizing “choosing a healthcare plan” process again. And then along came Obamacare. And along with it, this letter:
By Steve Sipress
Now, I’m no healthcare expert. But when I read that our new “Option 1” would be “most similar in benefits to what you have today,” and would cost us 63% more than what we’re paying now, something tells me that I’ve been had. *NOTE: We also have “Option 2” where our deductible would rise by 43%, and our cost would go up by 9% as well. Not too bad – as long as we never need to use it, I guess. Our President repeatedly insisted that his signature piece of legislation would be all things to all people – that it would result in better insurance, for more people, at lower costs. And because it was our President making all of those outrageous claims, I believed them. Wow. Was I an idiot. After all, the guy’s a politician – and a brilliant one, at that. That means that virtually everything he says and does serves one person and one person only: himself. In this case, he duped millions of Americans into paying higher insurance costs in order to subsidize coverage for others. A noble cause – but one this nation can ill afford (no pun intended) while still mired in the worst economic “recovery” in our history, still owing China (of all countries!) trillions upon trillions of dollars. Shouldn’t we as Americans be able to choose whether or not we want to support this “noble cause” – and not simply be lied to and railroaded into it under false pretenses? Our fearless leader lied about what Obamacare would really do, jammed it into law, single-handedly changed it in many fundamental ways (including opting his cronies out of having to participate in it) and then rolled it out via an embarrassingly dysfunctional and overpriced website. The entire fiasco has become an historically outrageous example of the mindset that “the end justifies the means.” When Obama was first elected, I wrote an email to my followers pointing out how bad his “wealth redistribution” policies would be for small business owners.
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UNAFFORDABLE HEATH CARE | DECEMBER 2013
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DO NOT try to force people into something they don’t want, just because you think it’s better for them.
What I didn’t foresee was that he would lie so easily and often about his true intentions, thereby jeopardizing his legacy and creating tens of millions of enemies – including many former supporters who are finally seeing him for who he really is. Bottom-line… I now need to go through the entire painstaking “choosing an insurance plan” process all over again, and will likely be paying significantly more to boot – both in our monthly premium and annual deductible. In other words… I liked my healthcare plan, but I can’t keep it. Period. Here are two business lessons all entrepreneurs can learn from this disaster: A.
Often in business we are tempted to lie – in order to make a sale, land a contract, avoid a PR disaster, etc. But as we are learning through our president’s colossal mistake (some would say hubris), we must always look at the bigger picture and avoid that temptation. Because business owners don’t get to ‘stay in office’ for years after they compromise their integrity. The marketplace is much less forgiving and and swifter to exact justice than our painfully slow government.
B.
We should always remember the simplest way to ensure your business success: 1.
Find a group of people with a problem that you can solve
2.
Offer them your solution
* DO NOT try to force people into something they don’t want, just because you think it’s better for them. (Unless you’re The Government.)
To find out more about Steve Sipress and how he can help you have more fun and make more money with your business, see the Inside Cover Page. To get new money-making strategies and tips every weekday from Steve and other top business-building experts from around the world, and to read over two dozen comments in response to this article, visit his highly acclaimed blog: www.RhinoDaily.com
Volume I Number 11 | Pg 11
ARE YOU BEING DUPED BY THESE 3 PERVASIVE BUSINESS LIES? | DECEMBER 2013
Are You Being Duped by These 3 Pervasive Business Lies? By MaryEllen Tribby Let’s start with the biggest falsehood of all. Critical Business Lie #1: You can make millions instantly. Have you ever heard the following? “I just made $5 million this week on my killer launch. So now I am going to hop in my Lamborghini, drive down to the pier, board my yacht, cruise down to the Island, and bury my money.” ~ Infamous Internet Marketer This is not real life or real business. This example, unfortunately, is from one Internet Marketer who took his results from the first 10 minutes of a launch and extrapolated them over 12 months. Most of these numbers are exaggerated in order to get inexperienced entrepreneurs excited… and ready to spend money. In fact, most of these numbers are distorted… or they’re straight-out untruths. This is simply irresponsible behavior. I call this IMM or Internet Marketer Math. Reality #1: You can NOT run your business with IMM. You must run your business with real math. Real dollars in the door minus expenses/items such as: • Refunds • Product hard costs • Travel expenses • Affiliate payouts • Content development • Consulting fees • Copywriting advances and royalties • Employees’ salaries and benefits • Office rent and utilities Bottom line: You do not put IMM in the bank. You do not even put gross revenue in the bank. You put profits in the bank and invest them back into your business. And when planning and launching your business, this is more important than ever. Critical Business Lie #2: Planning a business begins the second you decide to start a business. Most of the entrepreneurs I know didn’t get their start in Internet marketing. I sure didn’t! But if you think that the planning stage begins with simply waking up one day and saying, “Well, I guess I’ll start a business today!”… you’re dead wrong. Reality #2: The planning stage of business begins long before you ever dream of starting your own business. Years before “entrepreneurship” is even a part of your vocabulary. And this stage lasts every single day of your professional career. Because the planning stage of business is also known as the… “Relationship and reputation building, competitive intelligence gathering, industry knowledge gaining, technology learning, and humble-ization phase.” Every relationship you make… Every client you meet… Every project you undertake… All of it affects your business even before your business exists. This means that everything you do counts. And I mean everything! I have written about how relationships are your most important asset in business and how relationship building is the most important skill you can master in business (and in every other area of your life). At the end of the day, business is so much easier when you have people who want to help you – people who have excellent contacts and dependable resources. And you want these people to be glad to offer to help. Pg 12 | Money-Making Monthly Magazine | www.SteveSipress.com
ARE YOU BEING DUPED BY THESE 3 PERVASIVE BUSINESS LIES? | DECEMBER 2013
This was a tremendous asset to me when starting Working Moms Only. I had built my Braggable Network long before I ever dreamed of starting Working Moms Only. And I built it by becoming a braggable asset to my network. Critical Business Lie #3: All it takes to have a Braggable Network is meeting or speaking with the industry Big Guns. Period. Reality #3: A Braggable Network does not develop because you meet someone at a conference, take a photo with that person, and post that photo on Facebook. It does not develop because you attend a teleseminar and ask an expert a question on the phone. Nor does it develop when you send an expert an email praising her work. When people claim that an expert they met once or spoke to in passing is part of their network… it drives me crazy! This practice is no different than name-dropping: Using someone’s accomplishments for your own gain without EVER delivering value to that person. Because at that point all you have done is gained an introduction to that person. You have not delivered value at any level. A Braggable Network is a group of people for whom you have CONSISTENTLY supplied extraordinary results. These are the people who talk about you when they talk about greatness. The people you’d gladly speak to anytime, night or day. Your goal every single day is to add to your Braggable Network. The easiest place to start is simply by operating from a place of respect. Then strive to deliver extraordinary results. Sometimes people are scared off when I speak of extraordinary results. But here’s the deal… Ninety-five percent of people are ordinary. If you’re trying to be ordinary, you’ve got a lot of competition. But when you strive for extraordinary, you actually have less competition. This gives you the opportunity to not only achieve better results, but to stand out and become recognized for your contribution. Take a look at the Critical Business Lies we’ve uncovered today. You’ll notice that all of them have something in common: The lies make success as an Internet entrepreneur seem effortless.
The reality is that you must expend effort to succeed. And why wouldn’t you want to? This is, after all, your dream. Your name. Your reputation. If those things aren’t worth working for… what is?
About MaryEllen Tribby If you are ready to follow your passion, obtain financial and personal freedom as well as live the life you have always dreamed, pick up a copy of MaryEllen’s new book, Reinventing the Entrepreneur: Turning Your Dream Business into a Reality to gain a step-by-step blueprint and discover the entrepreneur within. Here’s what Steve Sipress had to say about this instant best-seller: “This is not just the typical “ivory tower” stuff you find in books, articles, videos, etc. all-too-often these days. This is real, actionable advice from an inthe-trenches master strategist who has experienced multiple business successes and helped countless others to do the same. Make sure you don’t just READ this book. Take ACTION and profit! I’m so proud to know you, MaryEllen. Bravo!” Get your copy on www.Amazon. com, and get her special report with the exact strategies she uses to build multi-million dollar companies again and again by going to: www.MaryEllenFreeGift.com
Volume I Number 11 | Pg 13
MONEY-MAKING MONTHLY Volume I Number 11 | DECEMBER 2013
www.SteveSipress.com/magazine
This Month’s Money-Making Info
1
Manny’s North Pole Adventure
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By Dan Kennedy
Manny’s Blog
2
Are You Taking Advantage of EVERY Opportunity for Sales? By Felicia Slattery
FEATURE ARTICLE
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The Professor of Harsh Reality’s Lecture About Time
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Unaffordable Health Care By Steve Sipress
Are You Being Duped by These 3 Pervasive Business Lies? By MaryEllen Tribby
A $1,000 Investment to Millions in Profits: 4 Key Ways Entrepreneurs Can Use Freelancer to Profit By Peter Diamandis
Publisher Steve Sipress Successful Selling Systems, Inc. 869 E Schaumburg Rd #237 Schaumburg, IL 60194 (p) 773-236-8134 (f ) 847-232-1535 Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
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Editor Jewels Phraner
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