February 11, 2008

Three Things That Could Get You an Extra $380 a Month...
Practice Before Diving Right in... Find What You're Looking
for... What Would You Do if You Were a Millionaire?...
and More.

** Three Things That Could Get You an Extra $380 a Month
By Adrian Newman, Founder of e-Wealth Daily

Here are three things you can do that could put an extra $380 in your pocket per month — plus stop any impulsive shopping habits you might have.

1) Have a Shopping Plan

Grocery store marketers have a plan — to get as much money out of your pockets as possible. It's actually a science that is well known in the retail industry. Starting from the store entrance, the whole store layout is rigged so that you will shop in one direction and see all the "impulse buy" display traps. On average, most people spend $25 to $50 per month on impulse buys.

So, how can you avoid these impulse traps? Try shopping in reverse. What I mean by doing things in reverse is to plan your shopping strategy by starting from the aisle farthest away from the entrance and working your way through the store from back to front. This will keep you away from appealing displays, as entrances and checkouts have the most impulse traps.

Remember also to keep your focus near the ends of aisles, as that's another place where impulse items are displayed. You might save $50 a week by avoiding impulse purchases, which amounts to $200 a month.

It also helps to make a list of the items you need to buy. Bring a pen along and check off everything on your list as you make your purchases. Then, to help control your impulse shopping, give yourself an "impulse budget" of $10. That's all you can spend on anything outside of the list of necessities. You'll find that limiting your impulse shopping, as opposed to stopping cold turkey, will result in less money spent on frivolities.

2) Keep Your Plastic in Your Wallet

Did you know that 61% of all credit card owners spend an average of $40 a week on things they don't need? I'm sure you've been here before — you want to buy an item (or items) that you want but really don't need, which costs $40. For example, you might be going to the drug store to buy some toothpaste, but wind up with a bottle of soda, a magazine, a bag of potato chips, a couple of lottery tickets, and maybe a cool gadget for your cell phone.

You get to the checkout and the total comes to $20, but you only have, say, $11 on you. So you put the whole amount on your credit card. It's not hard to see this happening twice a week, which means an extra $40 is going on to your credit card bill each month.

Now, imagine if you left your credit card at home. Instead of buying those frivolous items, you would keep walking and think about saving up for them instead. So, if you were to eliminate those $40-a-week credit card purchases, then just like that, you'd be $160 richer every month.

3) Stop Making the Phone Company Rich

Look at your phone bill. Take the long-distance numbers you call the most and see how much you're spending by dialing to them. Even worse, look at your cell phone bill and consider the inflated charges you are stuck with for having called long distance while mobile. I know it's great to stay in touch with friends and family who live far away, but you may be bleeding your bank account dry in the process.

There are other ways to communicate with people. E-mail is a great way to stay in touch. Heck, even regular mail, where you just have to pay for a stamp, is a nice alternative and it really shows the person you care

Also, take advantage of all the great deals out there. There are collect-call deals, prepaid long-distance deals — plus the new wave of VoIP is really taking off, and taking advantage of it might save you money.

Never make long-distance calls from your cell phone. You pay a premium for the service. Instead, if you need to call long distance, use your home phone or call collect. All in all, this could save you $20 a month in long-distance charges.

So, if you add up the impulse-buying savings, the frivolous- spending savings, and the long-distance savings, you could have an extra $380 in your pocket every month. Over a year, that's $4,560, which could be used for a down payment on a car, a vacation, or start-up capital for your new business.

Sports teams practice, actors rehearse their lines, and pilots go to flight school. If you're serious about getting what you want, then you must practice your new skills, too. You can practice your communication skills just about anywhere, with anyone you encounter during your day. You can get people to be more cooperative and productive if you can discover their needs and help to fulfill them. Allowing others to speak and demonstrating a genuine interest in how they feel are also key.

Here are a few exercises that will help you to change your style of communicating in order to get different results than what you've gotten in the past.

Try being direct with someone, without being demanding. Take an instance where you would normally back down, perhaps with a family member, and don't be obscure about your position. Speak deliberately, use concise phrases to describe how you are feeling, and don't use a tone of voice that will soften your message's impact. Be polite and take some time to think before you speak. Think about the emotions you can express that will get you ahead — and control the ones that will put you at a disadvantage. Praise — don't criticize — if the discussion becomes heated. Choose the right time to approach the subject and make sure that the other person is in a reasonable and receptive mood. Also take stock of your body language. Does it show that you mean business?

Give the other person time to respond and ask how he or she feels. Listen closely to their response. Empathize, sympathize, and put yourself in their shoes. Ask how you both can work toward some form of resolution. Give suggestions. Then leave the conversation with an affirmation, such as "I'm glad we were able to discuss this rationally and I got to know your point of view." Also provide an open invitation for further discussion, with a line such as "I know you are upset, but I want you to know that I am here to discuss this further whenever you need to."

Focus on a particular problem you have with someone and be solution-oriented in your approach. Be willing to take responsibility and do your best to apply the solution that you suggest. Ask the other person for their opinion. It will make them feel valuable and it will generate a greater commitment to a shared resolution on their part.

Create a script book. Write down a list of questions that prospects will ask you and the answers that will satisfy them. Whenever you hear a great sales question, conversation starter, or closing statement from someone who swears by it, write it down and add it to your book — if it works, it's worth noting. Keep your book handy when you make cold calls and refer to it often. These words have been proven to work. Use them and they could work for you.

** Find What You're Looking for
By John Hurd, Chief Wealth Researcher

When the customer service representative at my telephone company put me on hold, the song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by the band U2 came on the line.

This made me laugh out loud. Here I am, hoping to find the solution to my phone problem and playing on the line is a song about not being able to find an answer.

Thankfully, the representative was good at his job and took care of my concern quickly, with no wandering around in an aimless search for either of us.

However, this got me thinking about how to find useful information when there is just so much distracting and misleading stuff out there. On the Internet. A search engine is a powerful tool that, with the click of a button, can locate millions of web sites; all with the potential of holding that answer you're looking for.

However, there are also millions of web sites with the potential to send you off course and that can mean you forget about your problem until it's too late.

So, how do you sift through the bad to find the good?

Well, much like you would go to your doctor with a medical question, you should also go to the places online that have a greater expertise in what you're looking for.

Got a medical question? Look around for a web site that focuses on just medical articles. If you see something about the latest celebrity gossip, well, time to look elsewhere.

Many of us have also formed a relationship of trust with other news sources such as our daily paper or nightly newscast. Odds are, both your paper and your news show have a web site.

The Internet is a very, very big place. Finding what you want online can seem scary at first. But once you start finding a few trusted sources, you'll uncover the wealth of information that could hold the big answers you've been searching for.

I remember when I was going to school as a youngster and taking part in a class exercise that was supposed to help determine what kind of career path I was headed on. At the front of the class, the teacher wrote a question on the board that said, "What would you do if you were a millionaire?" Your answer had to be an occupation or a passion that showed what you truly wanted to do.

I was reminded of this assignment when I was reading the sports section of my newspaper the other day and came across an article about a young professional basketball player named TJ Ford. At 24 years old, Mr. Ford has already suffered two career-threatening injuries to his back and neck and has been forced to contemplate retirement to avoid further, perhaps severe, injury.

Last season, Ford signed himself a lucrative five-year contract with the NBA's Toronto Raptors, with $30 million in guaranteed salary. Not a bad retirement package by any means.

Knowing that he could walk away from his job and enjoy a long life of luxury, Ford decided to work as hard as he could to come back and play for his team. It wasn't the money that motivated him; it was his love of the game. He loves his job so much he would put his health at serious risk to do it. Now, after over two months of recovery Ford is back on the court, likely doing what he would have answered in my teacher's assignment.

We can all learn a valuable lesson from Mr. Ford, and that is to do what we love. After all, what is the point of being rich if it's making you miserable in the process?

Sure, having money is nice, but it isn't what life is all about. Life is about living and doing what makes you feel good day in and day out. If you're in a job you hate, develop a plan to leave. Start saving your money so that, when the time comes, you can quit your job and start the business you've always wanted. Even if times are tough financially in the beginning, you'll hardly notice because of the happiness you derive from your new life.

As for my answer to the assignment, it was to "build places for people to live." Well, it came partly true. Although I never physically constructed homes, I developed my own publicly traded real estate company!