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Thinking Like a Millionaire: Part 2

2/24/2016

Welcome Back to the Second Part of Our Series “Thinking Like a Millionaire”.

Today we delve further into the mind of an investor and learn how the investor thinks differently about money than most people do. As most people feel money is a dispensable item and are too easy to give it away for things they want or value. While an investor uses the same money as a tool.

For example,

A normal consumer uses money to purchase a vehicle. Some even believe that it’s an investment. However, a car is not an investment because you will never be able to use it to make the money back that you spent. You will never be able to resell it for more than you paid and most likely will get next to nothing when you finally do resell it.

Even worse, is when people see a car as an investment. They take out a loan on it, and make a promise to give away their future wealth for a vehicle that will never pay for itself let alone the interest their going to pay on it. (Click here to learn how to avoid Shark Loans)

A consumer views a vehicle as an asset and investment.

In the same vein but with an investor,

A normal investor purchases a vehicle with cash. They consider the gas mileage, reliability, reviews, and resale value of the car to ensure if it’s the best deal for their money and ultimately meets their needs. On top of that, they usually never purchase from a NEW car dealer and instead get it from a certified-used dealer, craigslist with proper inspections, or my personal favorite EBay.

In comparison to a consumer, an investor views a vehicle as an expense and liability that can eat money quickly and leave you in financial stress if it isn’t properly purchased.

Therefore it’s time to get started and think about money like an investor.

Because when you think of money as tool, you begin to understand how to use it to better position yourself in life. If you don’t, even when you make more money as a consumer, you ultimately just spend more money as a consumer. You don’t really change your habits, you simply have more and you spend more like a bigger house, better car, or the NEW ITEM YOU JUST NEED NOW.

Instead of consuming with your money, here are some common investments that are offered by the government that are available to you right now. That most don’t even know.

Government Offerings

U.S. Government Bills or Notes

Also known as Treasuries, they are government notes that are backed by the U.S. government. And there are two types, Treasury Bills which are short term-loans that mature in less than a year. While Treasury Notes are longer term and mature after a year and can go up to 10 years. In simple terms, you are giving a loan to the government and they pay interest to you on the loan.

Pros:

·         Safe – Unless the U.S. Government defaults and goes bankrupt (Not very probable)
·         Commission Free – unlike a lot of investment vehicles they can be purchased directly, without the need of a broker
·         Tax Exempt – treasuries are exempt from state and local taxes which can help the savvy investor save a lot of money in the long-run

Cons:

·         Better Interest Elsewhere – Good returns, but if you shop around, you may find higher yielding investments that are just as safe such as CD’s, Money Market Funds, and bonds.

·         Hefty Penalties for Cashing out Early - If you need your money before the security matures, you may not get back all of your original investment.

I-Bonds

I-Bonds are a Government Backed Bond that gives you protection from inflation by changing the interest rate on the bond semi-annually. They began offering this as many people who buy bonds don’t want to have to keep up with the macroeconomics of the US Economy.

Pros:

·         Backed by U.S. Government - makes it one of the safest bets on Earth

·         Inflation Protection - Protects your investment against inflation risk by adjusting the payout interest

·         Manageable Denomination – you can buy I-Bonds ranging from $50 to $10,000.

·         Tax Exempt/Tax Deferrable – are exempt/deferrable from state and local taxes which can help the savvy investor save a lot of money in the long-run.

Cons:

·         Penalty for Cashing-Out Early - must hold for at least 12 months before redeeming, but if you redeem it before five years, you have to pay a 3 month Returns Penalty.

Municipal Bonds

Municipal bonds are similar to federal bonds but are issued by state and local governments. They use the money you give them to fund the building of schools, highways, and other projects for the city and state. Used mostly by high-income investors to reduce their tax liability.

Pros:

·         Safe – almost as safe as U.S. Government backed securities
·         Tax Exempt/Tax Deferrable – are exempt/deferrable from federal taxes and sometimes state and local taxes which can help the savvy investor save a lot of money in the long-run.

Cons:

·         Low Interest Rate – because the taxes are low on municipal bonds, they have much lower interest rates. Which might not make sense unless you’re in a high tax bracket and looking to avoid taxes
·         Commission–Based - you may have to pay a commission to buy municipal bonds
·         Hefty Penalties for Cashing out Early - If you need your money before the security matures, you may not get back all of your original investment.

If your interested in more, please check out the entire series.

4 Comments

Million Dollar Thinking: Part 1

2/18/2016

6 Comments

Do you think like a Millionaire?

Well welcome back to “Your Life as a Business”. Where we introduce the First Part of a 5 Part Series on how to make your money work for you and to your first Million.

Today we will change your viewpoint of money. Showing you the different ways to make it work for you. By simply summarizing the positives and negatives of each. First off, let’s go over the two worldviews of money and how they differ from each other.

The first one is the one most people know because they enact it every day, the Consumer. The consumer views money as a dispensable item that comes and goes, but ultimately is made to be spent. The consumer sees the value of a dollar as a means to get things they want, but not for its other values such as tool to protect yourself and your family or a means to build wealth. Instead, they use it to consume things. The pros of being a consumer is to get what you want when you want it and experience the things you always wanted. However, many times the consumer buys things they can’t afford, are constantly broke, and spend money faster than they can make it. When seeing money as dispensable, it’s easy to fall into the mindset of easy comes and easy go.

The other worldview is the Investor. The investor views money as a tool. They don’t see it as a dispensable item to buy things they don’t need, but as a way to make things happen. Such as make more money or as a weapon and shield against the world to protect yourself, your family, and your interests. With this way of thinking, people use money not as a way to consume the “next best thing” but instead think strategically how they can better their lives with money rather than have it control them.

Therefore it’s time to get started in “Your Life as a Business’ and start thinking about money like an investor.

When thinking of money as tool, you have to imagine the different things you can do with money. Its many facets and uses. Of the many things you can do, here are the most common that most people never know about even though they are available to them every day.

Bank Offerings

Checking accounts

Everyone knows what a checking account is. It’s a transactional account where most of the money that graces its presence it’s swiftly spent to bills, consumables, or any other immediate expenses.

Pros:

1.       Liquid - They are extremely liquid as you can have available to you immediately through ATMs, checks, and debits cards.

2.       Services - Usually are a staple of big banks and come with branches so you can avoid pesky transaction fees from ATMs

3.       FDIC Insured - They are also insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp so if the bank fails, the government is supposed to step in and pay you out your funds

Cons:

1.       No Interest Paid - Because of the liquidity of your funds in a checking account and the benefits you receive such as access to branches, they use you’re your interest to provide those services

2.       High Required Minimum Balances – Many banks require minimum balances or they will charge you fees

3.       Nickel and Dime Fees – Many banks make their money by finding ways to make your money theirs. This is why they will nickel and dime you in any way possible with transaction fees, penalties, and services. (Remember – Banks need your Money to Function and they Must Be Reminded of that Fact)

Savings accounts

Savings accounts are a more illiquid form of checking accounts and that was why they gave higher interest rates as there were less services and benefits associated with it. That is why most have only a certain amount of transactions you can have per month or they will charge you a fee. However with the advent of online banking. They can be just as liquid as a checking account. As you can easily move your funds from your savings to your to you checking with just a few swipes.

Pros:

1.       Higher Interest than a Checking Account –less services and benefits equals more interest paid out

2.       Low Required Minimum Balances – don’t need as big of a required balance, but negates the purpose of a savings account, which is to make interest on Big Money

3.       FDIC Insured - They are also insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp so if the bank fails, the government is supposed to step in and pay you out your funds

Cons:

1.       Next to No Interest Paid – With the destruction of the financial system came the lowest interest rates the world has ever seen. This has created a new benchmark for savings accounts, which is next to nothing.

2.       Restricted Transactions – Can only use it for a few transactions a month before they start charging fees to keep you from using it like a checking account

3.       Illiquid/No Services – no debit cards, checks, or other ways to spend money out of the account

Online-Only Bank Offerings

High-yield bank accounts
High-yield bank accounts are the same as checking and savings accounts but give much better interest rates by eliminating all the frills of a normal bank such as ATMs, branches, and staff. This keeps overhead low so they can pay more out to their customers.

Pros

Better Rates – can be comparable in interest payments to illiquid assets such as CDs

2.       FDIC Insured - They are also insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp so if the bank fails, the government is supposed to step in and pay you out your funds

Cons

1.     No Frills Banking – can be hard to get to your cash fast with no ATMs, debit/checking services, or branches

2.     Money Coordination – can be troublesome when you need to transfer money back and forth from the online bank account to a normal account

3.     Teaser Rates – Beware of limited-time teaser rates that they get you to sign up for that reduce in half after only 6 months.

Money market deposit accounts

One of the most restricted accounts is the Money Market Deposit Account. They are usually offered by banks, but require a minimum balance and only permit a few transactions per month before they start charging fees.

Pros

Liquid Account - Money market deposit accounts are very liquid. Most allow for easy access through checks, transfers, and even ATMs.
Higher Interest than Other Accounts –More restrictions and higher minimum balances equate to higher interest rates
FDIC Insured - They are also insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp so if the bank fails, the government is supposed to step in and pay you out your funds

Cons

Pay for Liquidity – the more liquid the account the less interest that is usually paid out
The Restrictions – play by the rules and you will be fine, but if you allow your account to fall below the minimum required balance or use too many transactions, then you will given a fine.

Both Branch/Online Banks

Certificates of Deposit (CDs)
Certificate of Deposits are illiquid deposits in a bank or brokerage. They work by you promising to deposit your money and promise not to touch it for the time until it matures. Where you get it back in full with interest. If you take it out early, you have to pay a penalty that usually offsets any gains you have made so you don’t touch it.

Pros

1. FDIC Insured - They are also insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp so if the bank fails, the government is supposed to step in and pay you out your funds

Highest Interest Rates – Usually give the highest return depending on how long it is to maturity

Cons

Illiquid - Your money is off-limits until the CD matures. If you must, you can redeem the CD early, but you'll pay a penalty.

There you have it for this first part in the series of thinking like a millionaire.

Please check back each week as we unravel the investor's mind.

6 Comments

LT Copy is BACK!!!

2/17/2016

5 Comments

Welcome Back to the LT Copywriting Blog

I apologize for the long hiatus, but I needed it to build the next round of content to include even Video and Audio!

Where we will focus more on:

·         How to Become a Meta-Learner

·         How to Build Your Life as a Business

·         And the copywriting and marketing tips you have come to love

Please enjoy these series as they develop and help you become more than you are.

Thank you,

L. Thomas

5 Comments

Strong on the Weak-sauce

11/13/2015

20 Comments

*Content Coming Soon*

Hello everyone,

I apologize for my lapse in content for my blog, but I have been busy bringing wondrous things to the LT Copywriting Landscape. Such as Videos, Podcasts, and more.

These are very exciting times for my career and I'm overzealous to bring more content you love in the coming weeks.

So I do hope that this is not too big an inconvenience to those of us who live and die by the pen.

Please expect great things in the near future.

As Always,

L. Thomas

20 Comments

Techniques of the Week: Chronicle 8

10/9/2015

7 Comments

Ahoy,

This is my 8th iteration of “Techniques of the Week” which is an ode to simple writing and marketing techniques that can be used immediately with measurable results in the Before, During, and After of your sales process.

Before we get started, I’d like to thank you for being a Big Part of Techniques of the week as it’s the only time where my zany style of writing can be at the forefront of my blog. As always, I do hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

With that said, let’s be off…

The Before

Fact: No One Likes You

Fact: Especially in the Very Beginning of Your Sales Process

Fact: Which is why you need a Sales Funnel

A Sales Funnel

A sales Funnel is a series of contacts with a prospective client where you slowly build trust and ultimately have them use your product.

Within this funnel is different levels of the sales process that you must do to get them to like you and ultimately make a sale.

#1: Courtship

Don’t sell them anything.

Inform them of what you do.

Tell stories of people just like them.

Never, ever sell them.

Telling them what you do and the stories of people you have done it for will elicit a response from people who are actually interested in what you do without alienating those who aren’t. This way you’re not being a pushy salesman, but just someone telling others what you do for a living.

This is the key to courtship.

When doing this in copy, you use information. This can be a free E-Book, Video, or Audio. The key here is to give them free information to see if what you do is what will work for them.

How:

#1: Build Exposure

Step one is exposing your business to the world through any media format this can include both print, video/audio, and internet marketing. (Includes links to articles about each type of marketing.)

·         Direct Mail

·         Landing Pages

o   Landing pages are single web pages with sales letters that describe your offer, the free class, e-book, or other giveaway while asking for personal information through an online form.

·         1-800 #’s –

o Use 1-800 #’s to track people who call in from your advertising and allows you to call them back

o   The 1-800# should be a voice recorded message that tells people more about the product you sell and the offer your providing

o   Or should lead to a sales representative who can take care of the caller

o   The usefulness of an 1-800# is that it captures the phone number of your prospect so you can easily call them back to see if they would like a demo, e- book, or complete a sale

·         Email Database with Email Drip Campaigns

·         Marketing Materials – Brochures, E-Books, white papers, etc.

· Webinar –Education Series webinar using an online webinar program

·         Audio – Build a Podcast, Broadcast, or other audio based content

·         Video – Build YouTube videos, commercials, and other video based content

·         Internet Marketing

·    In-Person Sales (One-on-one, Group, and Event)

·         Phone Lists – Getting the numbers of potential prospects and calling them

#2: Build the Funnel

Using the different types of exposure you can build a sales funnel. The beauty here is that you can mix and match each exposure technique to best funnel you prospects through the sale.

Here are just a few examples:

Direct Mail Campaign:

·         Mail out a post card, sales letter, or other piece of marketing material with an offer, discount, or Marketing Materials (free E-book/Merchandise)

·         Track response with either a response sheet, 1-800# to call, or URL to your website/landing page.

·         Mail up to 4 times to the same address over 1 to 4 months depending how you want to stagger them. (1 every 2 weeks, 1 every month, etc.)

·         Do it by buying a mailing list of your perfect prospect ($0.49 per parcel unless you buy a Bulk Mail Insignia $0.24 per parcel) or douse the area with Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM – ($0.17 per parcel)

Pay-Per-Click/Display Advertising for Major Websites Funnel

·         Run Ad campaigns on Google, Facebook, Pinterest, or other major website that offers Pay-Per-Click / Display Advertising

·         Send them to your Website, Landing Page , or wherever you want them to go

·         Capture their information or get them to buy

Cold Calling Series:

·         Buy or scour the internet for a list of your perfect prospects

·         Call Prospects with a Survey or a Discounted Service/Product

·         Offer Free E-Book for their time

·         Call them back a few days later to see if they enjoyed the e-book and would be interested in more

·         Offer more free information and attempt an in person appointment

·         Call back a week later to see if they enjoyed new material

·         Repeat until rejected completely or complete sale

Content Marketing Funnel:

·         Have a Educational or Entertainment Series that keeps your prospect coming back

·         This can be videos, audios, or articles

·         Advertise your products and services to your audience as they consume your content

The Webinar:

·         Advertise for your webinar using internet marketing, email campaigns, etc.

·         Educate people with useful information

·         Ask them to pay you at the end for information, product, or service

*Sales Funnels – Funnel people into your business using internet, print, video, and audio. Anything to get them through the door.

The During

Sometimes people want what you sell, but don’t want to pay for it. Make them.

Negotiations.

Many times people want what you sell, but they will only buy if they feel like they win. This leaves you in a situation where you have to negotiate the price in the beginning so they will pay full price later. You can do this by giving built in concessions that allow the prospect to win while you still make money. Making it a win-win.

This can include price discounts, free merchandise/extras thrown in, and anything else that incentivizes your prospect to buy.

This works if the buyer has all the power.

Another good technique is to start the transaction with a seller and use the time, money, and energy that everyone has put into the process as a hostage. Essentially putting the seller in a position of take my demands or I will take my business elsewhere

*Negotiations – What will you have to do to make the sale?

The After

Follow-up Service

Sometimes people want to buy what you do, but are more than willing to pay more for what you do after.

This includes a warranty for your work, great customer service, technical support, as well as loyalty discounts, promotions or just updated information from a newsletter.

Warranty for Your Work

Be generous with making your client/customer happy after service. This includes replacing broken items for free or fixing any other issues.

Follow-up Customer Service

Ensure that you provide them with complimentary calls and have good customer service if they have any questions after the service and purchase.

Technical Support

If your product or service is technical in nature, ensure you have the support for any questions your customer/client may have after the purchase/service.

Loyalty Program

The best way to keep people coming back is with a loyalty program. This involves making them a member or part of the club that is your business. Have reward cards that give free product, discounts, and other incentives for members to keep coming back and shopping with your business.

Constant Contact

Some clients/customers just lover to stay up to date with your industry and service. This is especially true for investment type business like paper assets, real estate, and others that are based on the variable market.

Follow-up Service – business is built on long-term relationships. Don’t burn your bridges after you’ve just started.

And there you have it.

Three ways to get your prospects and clients to knock down your door for your products and services.

Let me know how you get people to knock down your door for everything you do in the comments.

7 Comments

Becoming a Salesman

9/17/2015

4 Comments

Sales is not the evil of the world.

Although many would have you believe it is.

It is, instead, one of the most important skills you can have in life.

Because many of the things you have to do in your life involves selling something in one way or another.

As sales is just the business word for persuasion.

And the reality is, you have to persuade people to do things for you every day.

You need to persuade employers to give you a job. You have to persuade your coworkers that they need to finish the work you need on time. You have persuade your boss you need a raise. You have to persuade your friends the idea to go check out a certain activity you enjoy will be fun for them. Every day you’re persuading others.

Now just for a little fun, let’s say that last paragraph again but replace persuading with selling.

You need to sell yourself to employers to give you a job. You have to sell to your coworkers that they need to finish the work you need on time. You have sell your boss you need a raise. You have to sell your friends the idea to go check out a certain activity you enjoy will be fun for them. Every day you’re selling to others.

Therefore you have to build this fundamental skill if you truly want to be successful. Because no one will give you anything without being sold on it. Because of this, here are the 12 steps to make a sale and in essence becoming a salesman.

Step One: Pre-Sale Prep – What gets you in zone?

·         Talk yourself up

·         Get Pumped up

·         Flush Toxins

In this step, you have to get yourself ready for the sale.

You have to get your mind right.

If you do not get your mind right and ready to sell to someone, it will be easily noticeable by your prospects. They will not feel comfortable being with you and will ultimately shoot you down. Therefore, talk yourself up in a mirror with compliments, get pumped up with a ritual of coffee, yoga, or jumping jacks, and flush toxins by trying to get rid of all the bad energy and thoughts you have that can affect your abilities.

Step Two: Meet and Greet – Set the Stage for a Good 1st Impression

·         Strong Handshake
·         Good Eye Contact
·         Establish rapport with compliments on their person and possessions

In the second stage, you have to have a good first impression as many times you can lose the sale in the first 10 seconds. Especially if they don’t like what they see and feel uncomfortable. Therefore, break the ice with a strong handshake and good eye contact. Don’t forget to wave a flag of peace by giving out a compliment and make them comfortable.

Step Three: Warm Up – Get them talking and warmed up

·         Mini-Bio – Give them a Quick Background that makes you relatable to your prospects
·         5Alive – The 5 things you need to know to sell to people

Activities – What you like to do?
Lifestyle – How do you like to live your life? What represents you?
Interests – What are your hobbies? What do you do for fun?
Employment – What do you do for a living?
Product Based – Ask a question that relates to the problem your product solves.

Stage 3 is when you get them talking and warmed up.

But first you have to give them a mini-bio of who you are so they have material to ask you questions about so there isn’t a lull in conversation. Once you’re done, you have to start work with the 5Alive Questions (The 5 Questions to Stay Alive in the Sale). Knowing this information is how you will quickly find commonalities between yourself and your prospect to build a relationship. Because the key in any sales transaction is to get your prospect to like you. Because no one wants to work with someone they hate. Especially in sales.

So ask questions based on their Activities, Lifestyle, Interests, and Employment. The Fifth-type of questions revolve around specifically on what you’re selling and will change based on what products you sell. For example, real estate agents will talk about where they live, if they rent or buy, and how they like that situation. A massage therapist will talk about their stresses in life and how it affects their everyday. And a software salesman will talk about how they feel about tech and the frustrations it may cause in their daily life.

Step Four: Set the Stage– Establish why you’re both here today

· Set the Bar– Tell them why your there and the problem your trying to solve

· Have them acknowledge that they need to give a yes or no at the end.

Establish Responsibility - Tell them you came out specifically just for them.
Establish Scarcity - say that this offer is for today only.
Establish Commitment – ask them if they see the benefit of your service or product.

After talking about their 5Alive, your prospect should be nice and comfortable and ready to talk business. You should also have all the information you need to sell them. Which is why stage 4 is to set the stage for the rest of the sales transaction. Essentially, you are going to establish why you’re both here today, to do business and solve a problem they have or not. No in-betweens.

While you set the stage, a use these techniques to help close the sale. One is to establish that they are responsible for the fact you are there now just for them. They asked to hear more about your service and they need to respect your time and business. Two is to offer only in-person offers that you only offer once to create scarcity and give them a deal that only they can take advantage of. Three is to establish commitment from your prospect about the value of your product and what you do.

Step 5: Buying motives – Discover their buying motives

Write all the answers down and repeat major points…

·         Ask questions to get the prospect to tell you more about the problems your product solves

·         Ask questions to get information on negatives of the experiences and problems they have had in the past

·         Ask questions that expose what objections they would have

Tell me about this… tell me about that…

· Rope Them In

Let’s see how much you think this will cost?
What do you think it would cost from start to finish?
So with or without my product you will spend this much money?

In stage 5, it’s time to ask specific product questions rather than the general one’s you asked in the 5Alive. Specifically about the problems your product solves, the negative experiences you may have had with those problems, and questions that expose any objections they may have later in the transaction.

A god technique to use here is a comparison technique of what they do now and how much more expensive it is to continue doing it that way or how inefficient it is compared to using your product.

Step Six: The Pitch – Show the product’s features and benefits and relate them to their buying motives

·         Give them the pitch of how your product and service will solve their problems

·         Appeal to the buying motives you have already discovered

·         Have them actively participate in what your selling

·         Use Stories of Others who have successfully used the product.

·         Get vocal commitment at the end that what you’re selling will in fact benefit them.

In the sixth stage, you give them the pitch using everything you have learned so far. The key here is to only talk about the issues and points that are important to the prospect. For example, if your prospect only cares about the cost savings of your product, why would you talk about how the product will look in their office or something else that you already know the prospect doesn’t care about.

The prospect should be actively participating throughout the entire transaction, but it’s most important during this stage. Because nothing is worse than talking “at” a prospect who is no longer interested because you’re doing all the talking.

The last thing to remember is to use stories of others who have successfully used the prospect. A good can be from your company your company, your personal experiences with clients, and even your family and friends.

Just don’t forget to finish the pitch with a vocal commitment that they see that your product will benefit them.

Step 7: Give them a Sample/Example -

·         Let them use the product / Let them see the product / Let them see themselves using it

·         Paint a picture of the future where their problem is solved by the product

·         Use Stories of Others again

In stage 7, its time to bring the product out and let them experience the product themselves. While they use it, paint a vision for your prospect using the product and solving that problem that has nagged them for years. Even use more stories form others who have used the product successfully to let them know they are not alone and it’s a proven product.

Step 8: Recap the Offer – Establish that this is once again a “One-Time Offer” they will never get again.

·         Summarize the major points of the Offer

·         Emphasizing what the prospect finds most valuable

After the pitch, it’s time to up the tempo of the encounter. Summarizing the offer to their specific points of interest. Emphasizing that you will only make this offer once. It’s the best deal they are going to get.

Step 9: The Talk – Discuss the different options and what the prospect would like to buy

·         Talk with the prospect to show the different packages and what fits their specific needs

·         Emphasize the benefits to their buying motives

·         Have an active conversation and let them lead it

Is there anything keeping you from being our customer today?

Once your prospect has interest, it’s time to go over the different packages, products, and services you offer, and find the one that fits their needs exactly. In this conversation, it ii imperative to let them lead the conversation and ask questions of you to find out which deal will be the best for them. Once they feel comfortable with one, tell them your recommendation from what you have learned and why. This will most likely be the one they have chosen for themselves or an option that you know from expertise will work better.

This is also the time where you answer any objections they would have. None of what they say should surprise you because with everything you have discussed, it should be fairly obvious what they don’t like about the product. Just don’t make it be ‘You”.

Step 10: Show Prices / Negotiate – See if they like what they see or need extra incentives

·         Push the package they like the most and fits their needs

·         If they aren’t liking what they hear and see, it’s time to throw some extras in

·         Last Ditch Effort – if all else fails, give them the best deal you have to get them through the door

You can reveal the prices to the packages long before this stage as long as when you do, they are comfortable enough to hear them. As many times, people reveal the prices too quickly and end up scaring off their prospect long before they get to this point.

If your prospect isn’t receptive to the prices, you have to emphasize again the value you will be creating for them. You are letting them see that the product will more than cover its cost through savings or cash flow creation. Otherwise start negotiating the price down until you hit a price they are happy with. If all else fails, give them your “Last Ditch Effort” and give them the best offer you can afford.

Step 11: Close the Deal – Get them to sign the documents for a fruitful relationship

·         Have them sign all the documents and keep them motivated and on a purchasing high

Once they say yes. It’s time to get the closing documents and finalize the deal. This is a great time to pump them up and get them excited for all the wonderful things they will experience with your product and service. Tell them you’re excited to be in their service.

Step 12: Follow-up – Don’t lose them when they get buyer’s remorse

·         Give them a congratulations note and gift basket

·         Have lunch with them within 24 hours to do a mini-sales / pep rally to keep their high going

·         Phone Call in 48 hours.

·         Ensure they are on your email list and maintain contact over the years

Ping once a year to see how everything is going

The worst part of any deal is when everything is going great. Documents are signed. Everyone is happy.

Then it happens…

The buyer call in the next few days that he would like to rescind the contract. He doesn’t know what he was thinking and doesn’t want to do business with you anymore. This is called buyer’s remorse. And it happens to everyone who doesn’t follow up with their new clients.

Don’t let it happen.

It’s your job to ensure that your new client feels comfortable before, during and especially after the sale. Therefore, congratulate them on their decision, give them thank you notes and gift baskets, have lunch with them within 24 hours to make them feel good about the decision. A phone call within 48. And a email every month for a lifetime.

Conclusion

Now you understand the Power of Becoming a Salesman.

The fundamentalism of it as a basic skill to live.

And exactly how to become one through the sales process.

It’s time to become one and go out there and practice.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

Because it is a skill you will only master through hours of rejection and failure.

But once you get past that, you will able to persuade people to give you what you want.

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Have You Ever had a Thought Experiment?

9/3/2015

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A Thought Experiment

A thought experiment is when you have an idea and take that idea to its logical end through rules and parameters that already exist or develop as the thought experiment matures.

Mostly through conversation and the use of verbal experimentation and arguments.

The purpose of having thought experiments is to expand your abilities to think, innovate, find patterns, plan, and imagine. Having this ability will allow you to break free from the influences of others, understand things quicker, learn faster, and develop better plans.

For Example:

                Fallacies (Common Sense) are a great example of Thought Experiments that are brought to their conclusion. Although these arguments themselves represent bad logic and unsound reasoning. How people came to the conclusions that these are fallacies is the essence of what a Thought Experiment is.

A deeper look at one of the fallacies and the thought experiment that created it:

Needling: simply attempting to make the other person angry, without trying to address the argument at hand. Sometimes this is a delaying tactic.

You are watching a political talk show. You realize that the talk show host isn’t actually presenting any counter arguments or evidence and is simply goading the politician to see if he can get a rise out of him. You begin to discuss with your friend about the tactic and he says that it is a viable argument technique where as you believe it’s not an argument at all, but just a tactic to disclaim someone whose beliefs you don’t believe in. You continue to talk it over until your friend agrees that it is a tactic and not an argument. Making it a fallacy because the logic and reasoning to think of it as such is bad. You then call the fallacy needling because you are trying to poke the other with verbal needles to frustrate and annoy.

For a look at more fallacies, check out this list. (A very good list to know for your next debate or negotiation as finding false logic is a lot easier than you’d think.)

Another Example:

Your friend has a great idea for a Television Show. You create the premise and the characters. You continue to develop it until the show takes on a mind of its own and the characters take such shape that you can no longer just make them do anything. Because the characters develop their own rules/personalities (as if out of nowhere) that if they were written to do an action out of character, people won’t believe it. Thus a thought experiment has been created with rules that guide where the show can go. Until it reaches its logical end of happy, sad, eventful, or uneventful ending.

Now that you understand the concept of a Thought Experiment… here is the nitty-gritty on how to create one.

Step #1: Throw out all your beliefs and biases to ensure the purity of your thought experiment.

This rule is important as any outside influence of your thought experiment can lead to fallacies and bad logic. This rule is less important for creative thought experiments as where the logical end goes is less based on reality and more based on one’s imagination.

Step #2: Decide to create rules for the Thought Experiment at the beginning or let them develop over time.

You can develop the rules for a thought experiment to be as outrageous to as realistic as possible. All depends on the end goal of the Thought Experiment.

Realistic Rules (Black)

1.       Follows realities rules and order of operation

2.       Follows Logic and Reason (No Fallacies)

3.       No Biases or Assumptions

Creative Rules (White)

1.       Follows a set of rules not dictated by material facts

2.       Rules can develop laissez faire and become permanent as they develop

3.       Assumptions can be used to build the Thought Experiment to places reality won’t allow without proven facts.

Combination Rules (Gray)

1.       Follows a set of rules that are based in reality, but can change with current events.

2.       Rules follow logic and reason, but includes the actions with a probability of low success so nothing is ruled out.

3.       Assumptions are allowed, but must be proven throughout the thought experiment.

#3: Talk through your Thought Experiment

With the others in the Thought Experiment, talk through the thoughts you have or had. Ensuring to maintain the rules. Where the experimentation comes into play is having the idea be bounced, fleshed out, and redone to by many diverse people with different views, angles and experiences to meet the rules and logic of the thought experiment. The experimentation comes from the fact you don’t know where the thought process will go, what other rules will develop during the experiment, and the scenarios, scenes, or actors that develop.

#4: Take your Thought Experiments to their Logical End

An example on the creative side would be a storyline for a character. The more you flesh out the character and create a world around him, the easier it becomes to bring them to their logical end. Therefore a Tragic Character dies to redeem himself. A Happy Character wins the day. Or any combination of paths that the story may take. (Uses made-up rules and parameters to dictate the path of fictitious characters)

An example on the realistic side, is having a thought experiment on real life events and people. Such as finding the truth of the matter behind the actions of what others do, such as rivals, friends, and enemies. Finding the motives behind their actions or to build an idea of the interworking’s of what’s really going on. (Uses real world facts to develop theories about the real world)

A great example of a Combination is making a plan off the real world. Because plans make a lot of assumptions about how the real world will work according to the plan, but more than likely has to change before the end. This combination of the realistic to the creative side of thought experiments allows you to build your thoughts and bring them to fruition even if they don’t come to reality in any shape or form.

Think well. Be well.

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Do You Know How to Figure Things Out?

8/27/2015

17 Comments

What's Behind Your Mind's Door #1?

Learn-2-Learn Series (Part 4 – Sensing and Intuitive Learning Techniques)

Many people learn differently. Some learn by Sensing and others by Intuition. These are the most basic of the learning styles in that they are the ones people use most and find themselves using in almost every learning situation. Either through theory or real world application.

We will go over the techniques for these learning styles, but remember… to become a true meta-learner, you must learn to learn beyond the techniques that make you feel comfortable.

*Note – Techniques used by each style can work and be useful to the other styles. Just because one may statistically be better for one does not mean it won’t work for you. Try them all and experiment a little.

How to Use Sensing Techniques to Learn

Sensors learn through practical exercises. If it doesn’t have anything to do with the real world or be useful in a way they can use it in the real world. They will tune it out and consider it a waste of time to learn. Because of this, as a Sensing Learner, it is imperative to get exercises using methods, processes, formulas, and actual examples of its use in the real world. Therefore, when learning find how something you learn fits in the practical knowledge of what you do every day.

How?

Find Real World Professionals Using the Knowledge You’re Learning Today.

This can be done by interviewing, working with, or even just watching videos of how people do what they do in the real world. This allows you to see the practical knowledge in the mess of theory and concepts.

Find practical exercises you can do on how to physically do something like sew, program code, or anything else you’re trying to learn.

Look online or in person for practical exercises on how to learn a skill you want.

Want to learn to sew? Sew a blanket.

Want to learn to build a house? Build a dog house and learn the basics.

Want to learn to program? Develop a program, application, or tool that you can use.

The idea is to not learn something useless, but how to actually ‘DO” something. Not the concept of how to do something.

Figure out how to input the new information into what you do every day.

This is my favorite technique as it entails you to actually understand your life and how you work within it. Because if you know the inner workings of your life, you are easily able to input new information into your inner workings and instead of having to rebuild your life around it, you simply apply it into the grand scheme of what you’re already doing.

This can be easily done if you keep a Day Journal.

A day journal can be an important part of any person’s life by logging all your accomplishments, your botch-ups, and everything in-between.

Why is it so important?

Because a day journal helps you track the things you do. Letting you know which are helping you with what you want to do with your life, and those that aren’t. By identifying the things that went right. You can continue them and understand why they went right and how to keep them right.

For example, being able to get to the end of the day and seeing the things you actually accomplished is inspiring and gets you pumped up for tomorrow. For me, being able to see that I wrote my weekly blog post t as well as went to the gym inspires me to keep succeeding. It lets me sleep, knowing that I was productive and had many everyday victories.

Going in the opposite direction.

It allows you to see places in your life where you would like to improve. As it is more easy to see the patterns as they emerge and eliminate them before they become too much of a problem. This can go to understand your bad patterns such as sleeping-in too much. Allowing you to think up a solution such as moving your alarm clock out of arm’s length to get you out of bed and more likely to not sleep in as a result.

How to Use Intuitive Learning Techniques

Intuitive Learners learn through interpretations or theories that link to facts. This is helpful in establishing the way things can work and when combined in finding how they do. The key for Intuitives is to be able to easily learn the concepts and theories of how things work through connecting the information.

How?

Find out how to put Two and Two Together.

For every theory or concept, you need to be able to look and find connections from theories to real life. This entails being able to put two and two together by asking questions, being able to see how things connect in general, and following the trail of clues. This makes learning in this style a lot harder as many of the ways to learn this way comes from a general knowledge of how things work in universally and applying them to a multitude of situations. However, anyone can learn to harness its power in varying degrees, now let’s get started. How to Put Two and Two Together and Build Theories Yourself.

First: Asking Questions Will Lead to Answers

Asking questions is the best way to get answers. Which is why asking questions to professors, professionals, or anyone who has information you seek. Having all the information is the first step to being able to connect it.

Second: Find Clues

After you’re done asking questions, it’s time to find clues of how things work by looking at real life situations such as the methods, processes, and formulas of people, events, and scenarios. The more you know, the more dots you will have to connect. This can include research. To find the information, you can look at newspapers, reports, and other material to build information off. You can also experiment to verify information.

Third: Connect the Dots

To connect the dots, you have to have a map of the information you’re trying to combine. Each piece of information has to be connected to see the big picture. This can be drawn out. Knowing the connections will allow you to remember the storyline of the concept or theory. These roads between information is the best way to lead one piece of information to another.

Fourth: Look for Patterns.

While looking over data and other information, learn to look for patterns as everything biological eventually starts to form patterns/habits. For example, DNA comes in patterns of 4 proteins, matter comes in patterns of atoms, and people create habits and rituals they do every day to every year. The ability to see patterns will allow you to see the general system that everything runs on. This will allow you to begin to become a meta-learner and general systems logician.

Learn more on how to become a Meta-Learner and General Systems Theorist?

Then contact me at [email protected].

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#3: Learn-2-Learn Series (Part 3 – Visual and Verbal Learning Techniques)

8/14/2015

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Many People Learn in many different ways. Sometimes people prefer to learn through actually seeing the process in action (Visual) while others prefer to have it explained to them in finer detail and ask questions for immediate feedback (Verbal). Most of the time people want and need both as redundancy affects their ability to retain it. Which is why you need to know these techniques to better your ability to learn as both a visual and verbal meta-learner.

*Note – Techniques used by each style can work and be useful to the other styles. Just because one may statistically be better for one does not mean it won’t work for you. Try them all and experiment a little.

Visual Learners have Two Options to Learn

#1: Find a Visual that helps you remember best.

Visual Learners learn by seeing.

For them, it is easier to actually see how the process works by seeing it done. This is similar being told ten thousand times how to tie a knot and you not understanding how to tie it, but if you were shown physically how to tie the knot, you would understand quickly how it’s done and be able to tie it yourself.

This translates to going out and finding try to find diagrams, sketches, schematics, photographs, flow charts, or any other visuals that help you understand the information you are trying to learn. You should be able to find videotapes or CD-ROM displays of anything you want to learn.

But if you can’t find what you’re looking for…

#2: Build Your Own

Can’t find a visual. It’s time to build your own using a myriad of different styles of visualization tools. Although there are a billion different ways to build diagrams, tables, and charts. Here are 3 commonly used ones that will help build your visuals from a general way to a specific until finally you’re lost in the details. They are…

1.      Mind Mapping – Spider Diagram (General)

Mind Maps are the very useful in summarizing information. They along with other diagrams can be used to build information in a non-sequential way and instead in the way your mind works so it’s personable to you and only you.

How to build a Mind Map

1.     Start in the center with an image or word of the topic at hand

2.     Build out multiple branches from the topic using words, images, symbols, and codes

3.     Branch out using Upper or lower case letters depending on how important they are to the topic and limit them to a word or phrase to keep it easily memorable

4.     Continue to branch from the central image using lines that become thinner as they radiate out from the center.

5.     Use multiple colors to help encode the information and grouping it together.

6.     Develop your own style of map your mind.

7.     Emphasize and associate the words, images, depictions, and concepts to each other.

8.     Maintain a hierarchy to your topic and its subjects to embrace the most important parts of your branches.

See 10 great pictures of mind maps here.

To see more about how mind mapping works, do it yourself with this free software: https://www.mindmup.com/#m:new

2.      Flow Charts – Order Charts (Specific)

Flow Charts are great for showing how one step in a process leads to another. It is great for visualizing the steps in a process by having them go from point to point in a chart chart. Most of the time the information is not detailed on the nitty-gritty of how one step leads to another, but can be. Instead, people use schematic drawings more so to explain to the finest detail.

Here are a few examples.

3.      Schematics Drawing – Inner Workings Diagram (Detailed)

Schematic Drawings show all significant components, parts, or tasks (and their interconnections) and are the most detailed of all these visualizations. Some Examples are blueprints, maps, and more.

Here are a few examples.

If you would like to know more about who a Visual Learner is follow the link: http://www.studygs.net/visual.htm

Verbal Learners – Find people to talk to who know what they’re talking about

Verbal Learners learn by being able to hear other people explain concepts and processes and then saying it themselves in their own words. Because of this, verbal learners learn best through other people. Because of this need for other people it’s imperative that you be able to find them and convince them to converse and discuss with you about the subjects and topics you want to learn.

1.      Find/Build a Group of Others that are trying to learn the same subject.

Therefore, find or build workgroups or study groups with coworkers, other students, professors, or any other subject matter expert. You can find like-minded people through meetup.com, going to school, or finding a mentor who is willing to take you on as a person to talk to and build on. Once you have a group, understand the material by hearing other’s explanations and discussing them to get the whole picture and getting the information to click.

2.      Build a list of Questions to Ask an Expert

When learning a new subject through classes, self-study, or any other medium. It’s important for a Verbal Learner to not write down notes, but to build a list of questions that you want clarified by a subject matter expert. This could be a professor, expert in the field you know, coworker or peer who knows more about the subject, or mentor. The key is to have someone who can answer all your questions when you get stuck.

3.      Using word association to remember facts and lines.

Another great technique for verbal learners is to use past stories, concepts, and thoughts in conversation that describe a very similar system to the new information. This gives the new information a framework you already know. Allowing you to learn faster by inputting new information into old information and building from your foundation of knowledge rather than creating a new foundation every time.

Therefore whenever someone is explaining how a process works. Explain the process back using an old system that you already use to remember information and let the concepts flow across the same frameworks.

For example:

Saving money when your broke is like saving water when you’re stranded.

If I save water each day, I will have emergency water to drink when the stream runs dry as I will have emergency money if my income runs dry. Therefore, saving and conserving money is the same as saving and conserving other materials that could become scarce.

Following this example lets you simply think that saving money follows the sames patterns and rules as saving other finite resources.

4. Recording lectures, watching videos, getting audio tapes, and any other means to hear the information

If you can’t get the real thing (Someone to Discuss with), it’s time to get secondary auditory sources like recordings of lectures, watching videos, and/or audio tapes. Having these available will let you listen and learn anywhere you can take an audio player such as the car, the gym, work, and anywhere else.

14 Comments

Do you have a Shark Loan?

8/6/2015

34 Comments

How to Build Your Life as a Business Series

You, whether you like it or not, are a business.

As a capitalist in a capitalist society, you must accept this one simple truth.

Because the fundamental block of our society is that whether you know it or not, you are a business and are treated as such.

For example:

You are taxed like a business. Your profits are taxed (Income Tax) as well as your actions (Sales Tax).

You have costs (Rent, Food, and Clothing) and revenue (Income, Dividends, and other ROIs) like a business.

You are invested in just like a business. (Parents and government put money into you for education.)

You have liabilities like a business. (Taking a Consumer Loan is the exact same as any Business Liability.)

You make business decisions every day like a business. (Should I do this or this to increase my net worth or value as labor?)

Because you are a business, you need to be run like one.

You need to know the nuances of business as they are how the world operates. No matter what creed, ideology, or background, everything about being human is essentially run like a business. Even the most basic of our societies always evolve into monetary systems. How else are we supposed to function if we can’t trade any goods?

Because of this truth, I am starting the How to Build Your Life as Business Series to teach the nuances of how the practices in the real world and business world meet on not just a fundamental level, but a primitive level. Primitive in that it is engrained in the very nature of man.

So welcome.

Welcome to Your Life as a Business.

How to Build Your Life as a Business Series:

Episode 1 - Shark Loans – Why you’re keeping yourself poor by giving away your future wealth.

Today is the day you come to find the reasons why many people stay poor. As a part of Building Your Life as a Business, you have to understand a fundamental truth. That no matter what you do with your money, there is and will always be someone who is more than willing to liberate you of the burden of weight keeping it in your wallet.

Because of this truth, you need to be just as wary of the opposite. Which is anyone who is willing to lend you money. As borrowing money is one of the easiest ways for you to keep yourself poor as you continuously give away your future wealth for something nice now.

This profession of giving money to people to buy things they don’t need or can’t afford has been around for ages and still exists today. These Lenders are called sharks and the loans they give are shark loans. They are given such a name because of their predatory nature. Because the loans have too high of interest rates and other bad terms that take advantage of you and your ability to pay.

Let’s go over two bad examples of people who give shark loans:

Shark Loan One: (Based off a true story.)

You need a car.

You need one as soon as possible.

You walk onto a Used Car Lot.

You walk away with a $12,000 loan and a Used Car.

                You have a 4 year loan at $400 dollars a month.

                Which means you will pay $4,800 dollars per year for 4 years.

                Coming out to $19,200 for a car that is only worth $12,000.

Even worse, you drive it off the lot and it immediately loses $3,000 dollars in value. (As most cars do.)

So if you ran into money trouble and couldn’t make your car payment, you couldn’t even sell the car to cover the original loan amount.

You pay your car off for 2 years, and then something expensive breaks in the car. You have to pay it off because if you don’t you can’t go to work so you can keep making payments.

The extra expense ultimately affects your ability to pay your car payments, and you miss a few.

Your car is then repossessed and they demand all your past car payments plus current ones to get it back.

But you don’t have the money and even worse you need the car to get to work.

Because you can’t get to work, you lose your job, and the loan company sells your car to someone else. However the amount they sell it for isn’t enough to cover the loan and they still demand that you pay the rest of the loan. Even though you will no longer have a car and have no job. You are still legally liable to pay the loan back.

Shark Loan Two: (Based off a true story.)

                You go to college for an education.

                You take out $100,000 for a degree that isn’t in high demand.

                You get out of college and can’t find work.

                You end up taking a job offering low pay and is far below your education level.

You still can’t make the extremely high payments of a $100,000 shark loan and get a second low paying job.

You work 80 hours a week and still can barely make ends meet.

Because you have conventional loans, the bank won’t let you consolidate your loans or lower your payments without charging high interest and fees.

Even worse, your parents co-signed on the loan. Because you have been missing payments, you have ruined their credit. They cannot get refinanced when they hit hard times and need to lower their monthly payments. This causes them to not be able to make their payments a few months down the road and they end up losing the house.

The house becomes the exact same situation as the car loan. And they are still liable for any leftover loan.

In both these situations, you have loans that were given without concern of whether what you were buying would actually help you pay back the loans. No consideration was given to see if this decision would benefit you in the future. It was simply made to take your future wealth from your current income with no thought about the risk of you losing your job, having money trouble because a big expense came up, or another one of life’s little reminders that she hates you.

What does this mean to you?

It means don’t go to college unless you know it is a valuable investment that will increase your income potential by 10x. That means researching to see that the job you want is in high demand and pays very, very well. The idea here is not that you go for your passion. The idea is to get work that pays, and once you’re financially sound, you pursue your passion.

DON’T PURSUE YOUR PASSION USING SHARK LOANS UNLESS YOU KNOW THE MONEY IS THERE.

It means don’t buy nicer things now if you can’t afford it. Don’t buy a $20,000 car and make $500 payments a month when you only make $1000 a month. You’re creating a situation where your finances can be easily stressed if you have even one bump in the road.

DON’T SACRIFICE YOUR FUTURE FOR A SHORT-TERM PLEASURE SUCH AS A NICE CAR, HOUSE, OR ANYTHING THAT SHARKS WILL LEND YOU MONEY FOR.

In the end, ensure that any money you’re borrowing is an investment that will pay for itself.

For example:

                Buy a $150,000, 4 bedroom house with a mortgage payment of $850.

                Live in one of the rooms and rent out the other 3 for $400 each.

                Pay off the mortgage with the $1200 and enjoy your extra $350 a month.

Knowing that not only are you saving thousands a year by not paying rent, your making money as well as paying into a house you can resell for much, much more.

Building Your Life as a Business is the Series that if you are interested in any way in being successful, you need to follow. Unlike other series that tell you the type of person you have to be to be successful, this series tells you how the world works and the techniques and tools you need in your tool belt to face and/or avoid its pitfalls.

As always, Welcome to Building Your Life as a Business.