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Series
Y2K+5
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If you have
a voice, use it and speak out.
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August 17,
2005
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Intro From Jeff
Glaze
Jeff Glaze
Editor
"Buy my
eye-opening ebook!" from Jeff Glaze, The editor of
AtlantaEvent.com
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Greetings,
At least 3 weeks since the last NewsFlash and so
much has happened. You might be wondering why I have not gotten
one out and the reason involves being very busy combined with a
bit of writer's block. Although I have had several ideas for
articles, each time I sat down to write, I got interrupted by a
call or a meeting to go to.
If this is your first NewsFlash, I always start with a greeting
message. If you want to skip to real articles, scroll down.
it is nice to be busy, but at the same time it is nice to be able
to get everything done that I want to do.
Here is a quick update on things.
I spoke for the Young Bucks group to about 50 people which went
very well. My stepdaughter came from Delaware for a 4 day visit.
My wife went to Sweden on Business ( disrupting my daily routines
) and I had a bunch of projects to finish up all at the same
time. My back has recovered from my fall at the mall.
Enough about me, what have you been up to? Email me here with questions
or comments.
The topic of my main article this week is the "Get Rich Quick"
Phenomenon. If you have been a victim of this I would like to
hear your story.
Check out the articles this week, there are a few nuggets
included. Stay safe and see you next week!
If your business event or organization is not listed on AtlantaEvent.com, add
it by clicking on the links. Submit articles here
and feedback here. Please remember that
we only feature business events and organizations.
Thanks for
subscribing and be sure to tell others about AtlantaEvent.com!
Jeff Glaze - Editor
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Feature
Article
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The Get Rich
Quick Phenomenon
By Jeff Glaze
You Got The
FR*EE DOWNLOAD
Now Get The WorkBook
ONLY $4.95
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If it
sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Isn't that what they
say? Yet every day millions of dollars are spent on programs and
products advertised to help us get rich - quick!
Are these products for real?
According to the Federal Trade Commission report on get rich quick
schemes - "In the largest ever international law enforcement
project to fight fraud on the Internet, 150 organizations in 28
countries, including seven U.S. Federal agencies, 49 state and
local consumer protection agencies, including 34 Attorneys General,
and 39 Better Business Bureaus have swept the Internet targeting
phony get-rich-quick schemes". Click
here to read the full report.
This report from the FTC only covers online scams and does not
address the issues of seminars, workshops, books and
person-to-person contacts that promise to show you how to get
rich.
The truth about most of these operations is that someone is
actually getting rich - the person that is selling the programs.
Most of them promise success with little or no work on your part
when in reality the perpetrator of the scam is working very hard to
get you to buy from them.
In most cases they lure you with the promise of revealing the
secrets to instant wealth. In some cases they will actually tell
you what they have done to "get rich" which may or may not be
something that your own moral values would allow you to pursue.
While they will tell you that they are doing very well ( from the
couple of hundred or thousands of dollars you just paid them ) they
may not tell you that they were broke and starving before they
decided to start telling people how to get rich.
The point of saying this is that they actually never got rich from
any kind of business. But they are getting rich
from the desire of others looking for a quick solution.
To help you make your decision to give them your money, often they
will offer a 100% money back guarantee and in some cases it may
even be 110% that they are so sure this program will work for you
if you simply follow the plan.
I call this the shame on me syndrome. This means that when you pay
for something that you can not implement or does not work and you
think of asking for the refund, you think "shame on me for
believing that, it is my fault that I ordered it".
In the event that you actually do ask for a refund, they will ask
you a series of questions about how you used the plan, suggest
other ideas, or actually try to sell you something else. If all
else fails, they will tell you that they will give you a refund.
Then the waiting begins.
Most credit cards give you a set period of time to request a charge
back. While you wait for your refund the clock is ticking. After
the allotted time, the only recourse is to file a complaint, but
let's be honest with ourselves, it is sometimes more work to do
that than it is to admit to ourselves that we made a mistake.
So what can you do to avoid the pitfall of the scam that promises
you that you will get rich?
1. Remember that usually something that sounds too easy or too good
to be true, usually is.
2. Check with the Better Business Bureau before you buy. They now
list web sites as well as physical businesses. This method may not
provide you with the info because if the business has not yet been
reported, they will not be in the database.
3. Avoid making quick buying decisions based on limited time
offers, hype, excitement in the presentation, or bogus claims about
how easy it is or how rich the person (seller) or other people are
getting.
4. Beware of the written or verbal testimonial. Often the scam
artist will post testimonials from their scam artist friends or
even people who do not exist. Sometimes the teleseminar is used to
generate the sale in which one scam artist interviews another and
they close the interview with multiple sales pitches for products,
services or events at "deep discounts" if you BUY
NOW. Believe me, if you wait a day or two they will not
refuse to give you the special price. Take time, do some research
and think before you buy.
5. Check references on the internet or by making a call. Ask them
for a phone number of someone in your area who has been successful
with the program ( be cautious of this as they may give you their
friend's phone number). Use Google™. You can enter any
phrase into Google™
and see if there is anything there.
Lastly I would like to mention phishing scams.
You get the emails from banks, online auction sites, bogus
lotteries, dying people, relatives of dead people, and all kinds of
other sources. They often inform you that you have won or are the
chosen beneficiary of a large sum of money.
Once I got an email from someone who claimed to be a dying woman
looking for a "Samaritan" to leave 5 million dollars to. 5 Days
later I got an email from someone claiming to be her attorney who
had been instructed to contact me.
I played along. It was a very elaborate process as far as I played
the game. Finally I grew weary of it ( I had used
Google™ for research
on this one and found others who had received the same email) and
wrote an email to them telling them that I had reported them to the
FBI and Interpol. The game ended.
Never update any account info from clicking a link in an email.
Always enter the site through the regular home page. Never give
bank account info to anyone but a legitimate researched
business.
When buying or selling large price items online, use Escrow.com
to broker the transaction. I once used it to sell a web domain to a
man in England for a large sum of money. They take a percentage,
but their process is very safe.
If you listen to your heart and your head when dealing with buying
online or over the phone or even at a seminar, you can keep your
finances pretty safe. Especially if your heart and your head are
telling you that it sounds too good to be true. It probably
is.
Jeff Glaze is the editor of this newsletter and
www.AtlantaEvent.com and the author of "The Six Xtremes of Power
Business Networking".
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Feature
Article
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Nine Things More
Important Than Capital
by Jim Rohn
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When
starting any enterprise or business, whether it is full-time or
part-time, we all know the value of having plenty of capital
(money). But I bet we both know or at least have heard of people
who started with no capital who went on to make fortunes. How? You
may ask.
Well, I believe there are actually some things that are more
valuable than capital that can lead to your entrepreneurial
success. Let me give you the list.
1. Time.
Time is more valuable than capital. The time you set aside not to
be wasted, not to be given away. Time you set aside to invest in an
enterprise that brings value to the marketplace with the hope of
making a profit. Now we have capital time.
How valuable is time? Time properly invested is worth a fortune.
Time wasted can be devastation. Time invested can perform miracles,
so you invest your time.
2. Desperation.
I have a friend Lydia, whose first major investment in her new
enterprise was desperation. She said, "My kids are hungry, I gotta
make this work. If this doesn't work, what will I do?" So she
invested $1 in her enterprise selling a product she believed in.
The $1 was to buy a few fliers so she could make a sale at retail,
collect the money and then buy the product wholesale to deliver
back to the customer.
My friend Bill Bailey went to Chicago as a teenager after he got
out of high school. And the first job he got was as a night
janitor. Someone said, "Bill, why would you settle for night
janitor?" He said, "Malnutrition." You work at whatever you can
possibly get when you get hungry. You go to work somewhere -- night
janitor, it doesn't matter where it is. Years later, now Bill is a
recipient of the Horatio Alger award, rich and powerful and one of
the great examples of lifestyle that I know. But, his first job --
night janitor. Desperation can be a powerful incentive. When you
say - I must.
3. Determination.
Determination says I will. First Lydia said, "I must find a
customer." Desperation. Second, she said, "I will find someone
before this first day is over." Sure enough, she found someone. She
said, "If it works once, it will work again." But then the next
person said, "No." Now what must you invest?
4. Courage.
Courage is more valuable than capital. If you've only got $1 and a
lot of courage, I'm telling you, you've got a good future ahead of
you. Courage in spite of the circumstances. Humans can do the most
incredible things no matter what happens. Haven't we heard the
stories?
There are some recent ones from Kosovo that are some of the most
classic, unbelievable stories of being in the depths of hell and
finally making it out. It's humans. You can't sell humans short.
Courage in spite of, not because of, but in spite of. Now once
Lydia has made 3 or 4 sales and gotten going, here's what now takes
over.
5. Ambition.
"Wow! If I can sell 3, I can sell 33. If I can sell 33, I can sell
103." Wow. Lydia is now dazzled by her own dreams of the
future.
6. Faith.
Now she begins to believe she's got a good product. This is
probably a good company. And she then starts to believe in herself.
Lydia, single mother, 2 kids, no job. "My gosh, I'm going to pull
it off!" Her self-esteem starts to soar. These are investments that
are unmatched. Money can't touch it. What if you had a million
dollars and no faith? You'd be poor. You wouldn't be rich. Now here
is the next one, the reason why she's a millionaire today.
7. Ingenuity.
Putting your brains to work. Probably up until now, you've put
about 1/10 of your brainpower to work. What if you employed the
other 9/10? You can't believe what can happen. Humans can come up
with the most intriguing things to do. Ingenuity. What's ingenuity
worth? A fortune. It is more valuable than money. All you need is a
$1 and plenty of ingenuity. Figuring out a way to make it work,
make it work, make it work.
8. Heart and Soul.
What is a substitute for heart and soul? It's not money. Money
can't buy heart and soul. Heart and soul is more valuable than a
million dollars. A million dollars without heart and soul, you have
no life. You are ineffective. But, heart and soul is like the
unseen magic that moves people, moves people to buy, moves people
to make decisions, moves people to act, moves people to
respond.
9. Personality.
You've just got to spruce up and sharpen up your own personality.
You've got plenty of personality. Just get it developed to where it
is effective every day, it's effective no matter who you talk to -
whether it is a child or whether it is a business person - whether
it is a rich person or a poor person. A unique personality that is
at home anywhere.
One of my mentors, Bill Bailey, taught me, "You've got to learn to
be just as comfortable, Mr. Rohn, whether it is in a little shack
in Kentucky having a beer and watching the fights with Winfred, my
old friend or in a Georgian mansion in Washington, DC as the
Senator's guest." Move with ease whether it is with the rich or
whether it is with the poor. And it makes no difference to you who
is rich or who is poor. A chance to have a unique relationship with
whomever. The kind of personality that's comfortable. The kind of
personality that's not bent out of shape.
And lastly, let's not forget charisma and sophistication. Charisma
with a touch of humility. This entire list is more valuable than
money. With one dollar and the list I just gave you, the world is
yours. It belongs to you, whatever piece of it you desire whatever
development you wish for your life. I've given you the secret.
Capital. The kind of capital that is more valuable than money and
that can secure your future and fortune. Remember that you lack not
the resources.
To Your Success,
Jim Rohn
This
article was submitted by Jim Rohn, America's Foremost Business
Philosopher. To subscribe to the Free Jim Rohn Weekly E-zine go
to www.jimrohn.com or send a blank email to
subscribe@jimrohn.com
Copyright © 2005 Jim Rohn International. All rights reserved
worldwide.
This article was
submitted by Jim Rohn, America's Foremost Business Philosopher.
To subscribe to the Free Jim Rohn Weekly E-zine go to
www.jimrohn.com or send a blank email to subscribe@jimrohn.com
Copyright © 2005 Jim Rohn International. All rights reserved
worldwide.
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Their response
was..
"My niece just took a class in web
design, we like are going to
give her a shot at it."
They never found their
site in the search engines after it was completed and neither
did anyone else.
Would you let a person with no experience run
your business?
Why would you let them build your web site?
Well,
maybe not that extreme, but you need to be skilled to be
successful on the web!
What can Mostcool
Media, Inc. do for you?
Click
Here
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Feature
Article
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Seven Secret
Spells for Exhibiting Success
by Susan Friedmann
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JK Rowling has done it
again. With her latest volume, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood
Prince, she’s got fans lining up in the bookstores,
vying for the chance to be the very first to grab a copy of the
600-page tome. That in itself is a type of magic –
she’s created a product so good that children who would
otherwise entertain themselves with a world of electronic media
choose to curl up with a good book.
What’s the secret? Well, Harry Potter lives in a world
of magic, spells, and secrets. It’s an addictive
combination, one that keeps readers constantly coming back for
more.
Trade shows have their own magical secrets as well. Just as there
are seven planned volumes to the Harry Potter series, there are
seven secret spells you absolutely have to know in order to
succeed at your next trade show. Luckily, they’re all
outlined right here. You don’t even have to hop the
train at station 13 ½ for a quick jaunt to Hogwarts!
Secret Spell Number One: Turn Back Time
Sadly, there’s no way to magically erase years from our
life, and exchange our forty-something bodies for those we had
twenty years ago. But we can free our minds from the stifling
constraints of adulthood and approach trade show exhibiting with
a child-like sense of wonder. Children spend very little time
thinking about what won’t work, and instead focus on
what wonderful things might happen.
Remember, inside every attendee is a child who is longing to see
magic. How can you delight that child? What can you do that
incorporates what we all loved as children – the fairy
tales, the epic stories, and the endless afternoons of make
believe? Spend some time with small children to reacquaint
yourselves with that sense of wonder. Then look at your show
critically. What would a five-year old do to add some magical
pizzazz to the exhibit?
Secret Spell Number Two: Break Some Rules
The most boring, staid exhibits are the ones that follow all of
the rules – the rules set out by design experts, sales
consultants, and the like. Do they know your product as well as
you do? Do they understand your vision? Oftentimes, to get what
you want, you have to bend and even break the rules. Most
advances in science, medicine, music, art and design came as a
result of some brave person challenging the norms and breaking
some rules. The same holds true for exhibiting. What rules can
you break to improve your show experience?
Secret Spell Number Three: Practice Magical Thinking
The two magic words you really need to know aren’t
“Abra Cadabra!” They’re
“What If?” Open every planning and
brainstorming session with a series of what if questions:
What if exhibit booths could fly around the show hall positioning
themselves right in front of your major prospects? What if ghosts
and goblins roamed the show floor alongside the booth babes? What
if the only people who could see your exhibit were the ones
wearing specially created magic glasses? No matter how far out
the questions get, they will lead to some real, tangible, useable
creative ideas.
Secret Spell Number Four: Pay attention to Teacher
Harry and the other fledgling wizards know they must pay special
attention to everything taught by their magical professors. They
don’t want to miss a trick, and you shouldn’t
either.
You don’t have to be in Hogwart’s –
or any other school, for that matter -- to be actively adding to
your knowledge base. There are countless people and situations to
learn from. Be open and receptive, and plan on being a lifelong
learner. Valuable knowledge can come from historical figures,
cutting edge inventors, and even your colleagues and
competitors.
Secret Spell Number Five: Make A Magic Map
Before you head for the trade show, take the time to plot what
you want to do. What is your exhibiting objective, what are you
trying to achieve, and what further planning is required? Draw
your answer using symbols and pictures rather than typing up a
series of notes on your laptop, and you’ll find your
subconscious mind stimulated to think in any number of startling
directions. As an added bonus, it adds a nice fun element to your
pre-show planning.
Secret Spell Number Six: Don’t be Afraid
Opening yourself to new ideas and strategies can be scary. What
if something goes wrong? What if the unexpected happens?
Problems will arise, and the unexpected always happens, usually
when you’re the least ready for it. But
that’s not always a bad thing. Ask yourself what type
of unexpected situations do you fear occurring. Perhaps some
advance planning would alleviate your worries.
It never hurts to remember that many of history’s
greatest discoveries and inventions had their genesis in
completely unexpected situations. Christopher Columbus was
looking for India, not North America, but he didn’t
throw up his hands in despair and abandon exploration forever.
Don’t let bumps in the trade show aisle throw you off
track..
Secret Spell Number Seven: Believe
Any idea, no matter how creative, is useless until you actually
use it. Combine your analytical skills and business savvy with
your personal courage, and try out some of your more magical
plans.
Doing something different and unexpected at the trade show takes
courage. You are taking a risk, with your company’s
image and your personal reputation. But fortune favors the bold.
With courage, a pioneering spirit, and a sense of adventure you
can overcome the scary turns along the way and take advantage of
previously unseen opportunities.
Believe that the creative ideas you conjure up will bring you
untold successes. Carefully create and implement plans centered
around your creative process, and you’ll find yourself
enjoying trade show success in no time. It’ll be just
like magic.
Written by Susan A. Friedmann,CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, Lake
Placid, NY, author: “Meeting & Event Planning for
Dummies,” working with companies to improve their
meeting and event success through coaching, consulting and
training. For a free copy of ExhibitSmart Tips of the Week,
e-mail: susan@thetradeshowcoach.com; website:
www.thetradeshowcoach.com
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Feature
Article
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Does Your
Business Need a Toll-Free 800 Number?
By Curtis Stevens
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Should your business have
a toll free number for customers to make sales, service and
billing inquirers? The industry began in the early
1970’s and today most customers expect you to have it.
Providing a toll free line can bring in a number of benefits to
your business.
From
the customer standpoint, it opens an opportunity to inquire about
your products or services at no expense. Not only does it show
you are established and successful, but it also shows that you
care about what is convenient for them. It creates a corporate
image of your company in their mind. Customers expect you to give
something back in return for their business.
Think
of it this way. Have you ever purchased from a company that
didn’t have a toll free number? Some companies may not
benefit from a toll free number, such as those with business to
business sales or companies with a limited local targeted market.
In other cases, such as catalog sales, Internet stores or
companies with a continuous demand for support will most
definitely need it. A toll free number allows you to advertise a
“local” number to anyone in the United
States. It is human nature to be attracted to anything free and
it entices the customer to act now.
When
was the last time you heard a toll free number in a radio or TV
commercial? Were you able to remember or write it down? Did the
number spell out any words? Having it spell a particular word is
called a vanity number. Vanity numbers can be crucial for any
business as they are easier to remember and promote. One company
spent millions to have 1-800-FLOWERS and it has affected their
sales in a positive manner.
When
considering activating a toll free number it is important to also
look at the drawbacks. Besides the fact of creating an extra
expense, you will receive more calls from customers that are not
necessarily serious about your offerings. Since the customer has
nothing to lose, they may be tempted to call even if they are not
interested anytime soon. Toll free lines also give them the
ability to inquire multiple companies at no expense, while
increasing your chance of losing the sale.
Whether you are a
home-based business or a large fortune 500 company, anyone can
get a toll free number and utilize a pbx phone system. If your
company has less than 16 phone lines, then an excellent product
to check out is called Talkswitch.com. It is a very affordable
pbx hardware system and is what Gotmerchant.com uses as well. It
is fully loaded with features such as auto greetings, multiple
extensions, on-hold music, different modes (closed & open),
etc.
Number Search –
ATT’s web site has a useful tool for searching toll
free numbers on any available prefix (800, 888, 877 & 866).
Take your time and find a good vanity number that is relevant to
your line of business. Avoid using words that are hard to
understand vocally, such as “swipe.” Asking a
few friends or family members to repeat the number will be a good
test.
Service Providers – doing a search on Google for
“toll free number” or “800
number”, will come up with a number of service
providers. Be careful when choosing one as you may run into a few
flakey companies. Major carriers such as, ATT, SBC, Sprint and
Verizon offer the service, but are normally higher for low usage
clients. Other carriers that specialize in this line of product,
such as Telcan, also provide a reliable service at an affordable
price.
Tracking System
– most providers offer an online management system that
logs your call data in real-time among other features. One common
feature is the ability for the provider to place a 1 or 0 in
front of the caller’s phone number. You can use the
call data to improve employee productivity and per call
profitability.
Personalized Auto
Greetings – for a personalized auto greeting, look into
the pbx phone system previously mentioned. An example of a such
greeting would be, “Thank you for calling
Gotmerchant.com, for sales press 1, billing press 2 and so
on.”
Live
Rep – the toll free number can also be setup to go
directly to your phone without any greetings. Having your
customers bypass a list full of menu options before speaking to
someone may have a positive affect.
Voice
Mail – You can retrieve your messages by calling your
toll free number or use an online account management system if
one is available. The voice mail service provided by your local
telephone company may also be used.
Number Portability
– a portable toll free number belongs to you and not
the carrier. You will have the ability to switch providers at
anytime.
Incremental Billing
– the long distance is billed in blocks of time and
typically come in 6, 30 or 60-second billing increments. A
shorter interval will result in lower fees and can be significant
on a larger monthly volume. 6 second billing is the most popular
choice.
Call
to Ring Number – toll free numbers are pointed to any
phone number of your choosing. One helpful feature among
providers is the ability to instantly change this number.
Setup
Charges – there is normally no setup fees associated
with a new toll free number unless you are using a vanity number.
Even then, there are some carriers that do not charge a fee for
setting one up.
Interstate & State to
State – when researching providers, make sure the rates
you are quoted is for interstate (within your state) and state to
state calls.
Residential or Business
Line – not all carriers are able to provide service to
a business using a residential line.
Shared-Use Numbers
– some providers offer what they call a shared-use line
and allows more than one person to use the same number by
utilizing a pin number.
================
Curtis Stevens is the VP
of sales at http://www.gotmerchant.com, an online provider of
credit card processing services. They can provide you with the
ability to accept credit/debit cards, gift cards, check
guarantee, etc.
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