September 14, 2009

Major Newspaper Breaks Moneymaking Secret... Master the
Law of Reciprocal Attraction... When Paying a Bill Late Isn't
Going to Hurt You... The Importance of Spreadsheets to Info
Marketers... and More.

It's no secret. Working from home as an information marketer can be very profitable.

In an article in "The New York Times," an under-the-radar business, information marketing, was revealed. This article talked about Hungry Girl, a company that sends out daily newsletters with tips on healthy eating. The company also sells a dieting book.

In the years since the company started, it has grown into an amazing and profitable business. In fact, aside from offering information products, the company now lends its logo to food brands carried across the nation.

Do you see how this works? Readers of the newsletter and diet book see a new recipe they want to try out. They head over to the grocery store and start searching for ingredients. There on the shelf is a package marked with the logo of the diet book they just read. Do you think they'll pick it up? Of course they will!

And, behind the scenes, people are making money from these simple transactions.

Now, this is just one example of the success stories created with information marketing. It doesn't require a breakthrough invention and it doesn't require years of study. Anyone could find success as an information marketer.

So, how do you get started? Well, the first step is identifying what you know. What information is locked in your brain and who could benefit from it. Take a few minutes and start writing out ideas. Now, no one expects you to hold an entire encyclopedia's worth of information in your head. All you need is an idea and then it takes a little more research to build your information product.

From your one idea, you can create a web site, a newsletter or even a book. What you choose to sell is up to you.

What are you waiting for? Information marketing is probably right for you and could be the answer to your money prayers.

It is an old saying, but it still holds a strong message: what goes around comes around. It really could not be any truer. Despite this, most people in their climb to success focus only on their ultimate goal and ignore this simple truth.

That's why, if you can master what I call the law of reciprocity, you will continue to be unstoppable in the pursuit of your dreams. Like the power of appreciation, the law of reciprocal attraction works in the same way, yet on a much deeper level.

Simply put, when you do something nice for others, the desire to do something nice for you is also there. This means that if you help someone achieve their goal, the chances that they will help you or that they will do their best to help you are pretty good.

But, you must be truthful when helping someone else. If you are only aiding others for purely selfish reasons, people will immediately see right through you and will never help you out as a result. You must really want to help someone else in order for them to want to help you. And, never, ever make someone feel as though they owe you a favor in return because you gave them a helping hand.

In order to show people that you really are honest and sincere, you must continuously remind them of their true value. Show them both through your words and your actions that you value their time and that they matter to you.

The moment you begin to do this, a certain kind of magic will begin to occur both in your relationship and in the individual. Not only will they begin to see you in a favorable light, but they will also see for themselves the benefits you bring to them. As a result, they will reciprocate their own positive energy toward you.

These observations are not based solely on my thoughts and experiences, either. Numerous studies have shown that the more interest you show others, the more interest they will show you in return. It is extremely simple, really. However, oftentimes, we forget to let others know how important they are to us. And, one of the biggest mistakes we can make is not to show genuine interest in others. After all, if your actions show that you are not interested in others, then why should they be interested in you?

Mark my words: if you can make the law of reciprocity the foundation for your relationships, there is nobody that you won't be able to win over in the pursuit of your dreams.

If you've ever forgotten to pay a parking ticket, missed paying a utility bill or forgotten to pay for your cell phone once, you may be getting a bit of a break from the scorekeepers at the Fair Isaac Corporation.

After all, sometimes people miss payments. Perhaps you moved and didn't receive your gas bill one month. Maybe your cell phone bill got lost in the mail or you misplaced a parking ticket. These are all things that happen to millions of Americans every year. In the past, however, people were penalized for these little delinquencies from FICO. FICO, for those of you who don't know, is the company that developed the rules for your credit score.

FICO has recently released a new scoring method called "FICO 08," which has been recognized by the three credit bureaus -- Experian, Equifax and TransUnion -- as a new way to keep score. It will help boost scores of people with good credit histories that possess only a few minor blemishes.

The new scoring system will overlook small delinquencies that are less than $100, while also overlooking larger delinquencies if they occurred two or more years ago to a person who otherwise has a relatively unblemished credit history. Basically, this new scoring method is throwing a lifeline to responsible credit holders if they had a slip-up.

The FICO 08 scoring system is yet to be used by all lenders, but roughly 400 lenders across the nation have begun to follow the new guidelines. It's likely that some lenders will be apprehensive to accept the new system, because they may feel that it doesn't give a full and accurate picture of a person's creditworthiness and risk.

To find out your FICO score, contact one of the three credit bureaus mentioned above. Although they all may have a slightly different score for you, it's likely they will all be relatively similar. Once you receive your report, check it very carefully for mistakes. It's not unusual to find mistakes on your credit report, and getting them fixed can have a big impact on your ability to secure the cash you want.

You can learn more about obtaining your credit score by visiting the following web sites:

www.experian.com
www.equifax.com
www.transunion.com
www.fico.com

** The Importance of Spreadsheets to Info Marketers
By James Burt, Online Marketing Expert

If any of you out there have any experience in accounting, you know you need to keep records. Lots of records. Most accountants have to keep detailed files on people's expenses, wages, investments, and tax information. It helps clients keep up with what they owe the government and what money they can keep for themselves.

It once took a certain person to be an accountant. Someone who had no problem with doing a lot of paperwork and who was more organized than a high-rise-building foreman. It often meant you had to shell out a lot of money for an accountant to organize all of your income information to do your tax return.

I am not against accountants at all. Actually, I think it's a pretty honorable profession. But when it comes to info marketing, I like to provide the advice that can make your job and record- keeping that much easier. And save you some dough. Thanks to the digital revolution, however, you can actually be your own accountant. That and much more. You just need to know how to utilize spreadsheets. 

A spreadsheet is any two- or three-axis graph with information being recorded over a period of time. Just like the graphs you did up in math class, a spreadsheet can show data over a period of time and help you with the decisions for your business as you begin to examine the data itself. It's that simple.

Never done up a spreadsheet or not familiar with the digital forums used to create them? Here's a good way to get started:

--- Start with pen and paper: You can't create spreadsheets without data and often the best way to collect data is to keep old-fashioned notes. I often keep a spiral bound notebook where I draw up a table with columns, recording the important information about something pertinent to my business. I make sure to include dates, money amounts, and special notes on the matter. I recommend this system to you -- it's easy to jot something down and you can refer back to it at any given moment.

--- Create specific spreadsheets: When I spoke about accountants above, you might have guessed I was implying that spreadsheets are solely for money. But you can create spreadsheets for anything. My colleague often creates a spreadsheet for new products. Along with spreadsheets detailing his earnings, he records the dates that he launches new or special products and keeps them on file as a reminder of when to re-launch them. It's a good habit that I can also recommend to you highly. You will be able to map your data and keep organized easily.

--- Go Digital: Most "Microsoft Office" programs come equipped with the program "Excel." I have used Excel for years for everything from doing invoices and income statements to digitizing old meeting minutes with their dates, times, and member attendances. It has a simple way of creating columns and inputting rows of data. You can do summations and even create pictorial graphs, while storing them in easy "Windows-friendly" files. It's something you can do right from your own computer and most computers nowadays come equipped with Excel. I am told that there are even better programs out there to use for similar tasks, so if you find it before me, go and use it. Either way, get digital. It'll save you time, money, and keep you organized.

--- Update and Save: It's one matter to go and create your own spreadsheets, but a lot of info marketers don't update them regularly and forget about them. Don't fall behind on your spreadsheets. Always take your raw, pen-and-paper data and input it into your digital format ASAP. Go over your records on a regular basis, keep them in well-labeled digital files, and do not destroy them. One thing about digital spreadsheets is that they don't occupy much physical (or digital) space in your life. You can keep your records right at your fingertips and update them at any given time.

Like I said being, being an accountant is actually a pretty good job, especially if you are good with numbers, information and, above all, organization. But as an info marketer, you probably have those qualities anyway and thus you can adapt the best aspects of being a highly organized professional into your own work habits. Creating your own spreadsheets is a way to become more organized and thus make your business that much more successful.