Your lousy communication skills are hurting yourself and others. Here's what you need to do at once.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

It's time to call a spade a spade. We are members of the most communications savvy and personally wired generation ever. Even the tiniest mite has her cell phone with camera. Yet the truth is, the explosion of communications tools has produced less real communication than ever; you and your poor communications skills are one of the culprits. Listen up! After all, it's time your communication skills improved to the level of your communications tools.

The quality of communications is not strained...

You, being an educated soul, are no doubt familiar with Portia's famous speech:

The quality of mercy is not strain'd, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

(The Merchant of Venice. Act 4, scene 1.)

Bold and even impious, I now advise you (while great Shakespeare rolls in his grave) to change the word "mercy" to "communications," thus:

The quality of communications is not strain'd... it is twice blessed..."

And so it is. Good communications are good for the recipient and for the sender too.

You know this... but you do not act accordingly. Which is why this (shall we say) motivating article is so necessary and why you should take every single word to heart and make radical adjustments in your lamentable behavior.

Poor communicators (with the probability strong that you are one of them) exhibit these traits:

Arrogance. The human animal is a selfish animal, conceived in selfishness and nurtured in the belief that the Great Me, the universe-centered I Am is the most important animal anywhere at any time. As a result, this animal well and truly believes that she is so important that others must feel grateful, even when the communication is not returned. Oh, my!

People (like you?) who do not communicate effectively are people who are telling others, clear as crystal, that they are superior to you; that their time is more valuable than yours... and that these lesser folk need wait (and happily so) and wait and wait some more until you condescend to respond.

Such people by their behavior and non responsiveness clearly indicate that you and your concerns are, by definition, of infinitely less consideration than theirs. And that you'd best be glad for the little you get, for it is infinitely more than you deserve.

Poor communicators are slothful.

Good communicators, effective communicators realize that the business of communicating is like a tennis match. The ball must always be in motion between the communicator and those he wishes to communicate with. When the ball stops moving, the communication stops with it. The person who has stopped the communicating process is , by definition, the lazy, inhibiting one.

All too often the communication stops and is not extended because of unadulterated sloth. It takes work to communicate... it takes work to conceive a message and deliver that message. It takes work to be prepared and move matters to their next stage. However the slothful communicator can and does think of a myriad of "reasons" why he can obliterate the communications process without remorse. Thus he goes blithely on with his affairs while others, fuming, apply language which is ever more blue as time passes and their legitimate reasons for communicating go without any response whatsoever. Oh, my!

A special cycle of hell

For the intractable, for the miscreants arrogant and slothful who will not change, an idea: for them: a special cycle of hell wherein they are asked such questions as "are you hungry?" or "are you feeling hot and uncomfortable?" These hungry and uncomfortable miscreants answer and answer and answer. But response comes there none, ever. Delicious.

Help for the socially challenged and shy johns and janes everywhere.

Yet is the world of the non communicators made up solely and exclusively of the arrogant and slothful? Certainly not. It is also, and in significant numbers, the preserve of the shy, the timid, the socially malaprop, and untutored.

For them a single word: study.

There is one thing and only one thing which sets us apart and elevated from animals of every kind and place... and that one thing is communicating. So, if you truly wish to learn, improve and foster rather than retard communications, here is what you must learn and do.

1) Learn empathy, that crucial ability to enter into the minds and hearts of the people you are to communicate with. What is it they are expecting from you? Deliver that, to the furthest extent possible, and you have the essential element of success.

2) Be prompt about responding. In an age of instant communications, there can be absolutely no reason for delayed or no response at all except your own failure to provide it. The means are at hand; use them "as quick as boiled asparagus." And that's very fast!

3) Be clear on where you can be reached. Assume the person you are communicating with does not have this vital intelligence. State it clearly, thoroughly... and reiterate to avoid any confusion whatsoever.

4) Be willing to try again if the person you are trying to reach (even if that person initiated the communication) fails to respond. Remember, empathy is the basis for successful communications.

5) Above all else, never stop improving your knowledge of communication and its techniques. In this golden age of communications, the overwhelming majority of loaves and fishes will go to the communicating elite... those who make it a point to master communications and steadily enhance their knowledge and expertise. Make that person you!

Give this article to the communicating challenged. They need it so.

Your last task for today is to give a copy of this article to every substandard and inadequate communicator you can. The task at hand, training communicators and enhancing their skills, is a lifetime affair. Start it now. There is so very much to do and so many who need the help.

About The Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Jeffrey Lant is the author of 18 best-selling business books, as well as being an internationally recognized marketer. Republished with author's permission by Christopher Ninnis http://NoRiskHomeBiz.com.

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Trader Joe's co-founder Theo Albrecht dead at 88. His golden formula lives on to help YOU profit!

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Try, if you can, to imagine Germany in 1945, particularly the industrial Ruhr basin. It was, as a result of relentless Allied bombings, pulverized, a scene of complete chaos and confusion. A less likely locale for the birthplace of one of Europe's greatest fortunes could hardly be imagined. However, ex-German soldiers Karl and Theo Albrecht made it so. Just how they did not only makes for riveting reading... but presents you with one insight after another that will help you bring their golden touch to your business.

Aldi, co-owner of Trader Joe's, triumphed by delivering no-frills but super-cheap retail offers.

The formula worked like this: Aldi (Trader Joe's parent company) "concentrated on the basics: a limited selection of goods for daily needs."

Aldi carries a limited selection of fastest-selling, nonperishable consumer items, a strategy that allowed them to increase order volume, cut handling costs and waste, and buy their goods cheap -- savings immediately passed on to the delighted consumer.

The formula delivered one golden result after another. Immediately following World War II, the brothers took over the single grocery store owned by their parents. By 1950, they were running 13 stores. Five years later they had expanded throughout the Ruhr. Rapid Pan-European and U.S. growth (as Trader Joe's) followed.... as did the multi-billion dollar fortune shared by the brothers.

A closer look inside Trader Joe's success formula

1) Limited Choice

Unlike today's giant supermarkets where are, say, 50 different spaghetti sauces, at Trader Joe's you find just a couple. You want spaghetti sauce... you get (excellent) spaghetti sauce... just not every one in creation.

2) "Different" brands you may not have seen before.

Trader Joe leaves the well-known national brands we all know to the "big guys." Instead it specializes in brands you probably didn't know (before becoming a Trader Joe's regular) and won't see on television.

3) Simple, simple, simple

Trader Joe stores are smaller than the giant supermarkets. It's easy to get the lay of the land and, in a jiffy, see where everything lives. By contrast, mega stores can leave you breathless and feeling like an exolorer.

4) Fresh (flowers), fresh (bakery) and the best priced wine around (but, as always), limited to a few suppliers

Per the formula, you get the goodies you want... at prices you'll enthusiastically embrace... but (get the picture?) you won't get choice. You rely on the buyers at Trader Joe's to wrestle for good prices on good things on your behalf. Because they succeed, you quickly learn to let them do what they do so well. Who needs 50 spaghetti sauces anyway?

5) (Reasonable) service but (characteristically) not lavish

Need help? You may expect (because of the relatively bare bones operation) to whistle for it, or go without. In my experience, the service at Trader Joe's is about the same as in the giant supermarkets. Particularly in the (awesomely priced) wine department, knowledgeable folk are at hand. (Or, is this just a function of the help at my local neighborhood Trader Joe's in Cambridge, Massachusetts?) In any case, no complaints here.

6) Quirky customer communications

I read the Trader Joe's newsletter for months before I ever visited. The copy (and being a professional copywriter I notice) was quirky, interesting, and so well written you could almost taste the never generally available specials they touted. It was one of the few newsletters I read religiously. And, of course, it worked: I went, I sampled, I was hooked.

7) Value, always value

At Trader Joe's, success all rests on value, value, value. You look at the price not with apprehension about impending "sticker-shock" but with gratitude. "Yeah, I can afford that!" And you do. As you carry your purchases to your car, you say a little prayer to keep Trader Joe's in the neighborhood... and smile inwardly at how much you got for so little. You are a clever shopper, aren't you?

And the late Mr. Theo Albrecht?

We must tip our hat to the dearly departed Theo Albrecht, magic merchandiser in the grand tradition, departed July 24, 2010. Unfortunately little is known of Mr. Theo or his elder brother. In fact, so averse were they from publicity that hardly a photograph is known. Let me venture to speculate a guess about this: they wanted your attention to be 100% on Aldi and its child, Trader Joe's. On your next purchase and not their latest profits. Bless him. I hope he finds an eternity of that unsurpassable Trader Joe's key lime tart... or whatever (rock-bottom priced) delicacy he fancies. He deserves it!

About The Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc.,where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Lant is the Author of 18 books, a consultant and well known marketer. Republished with author's permission by Christopher Ninnis http://NoRiskHomeBiz.com.

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What you MUST do to develop assets.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

What's your asset position like? If you're like most people you're getting older but you're not getting any richer. This is because you don't have an asset development plan in place. The money comes in, the money goes out... but your asset position doesn't improve. WHOA!

If that's you, this article couldn't come at a better time. Read it and reap!

1) Are you spending money... or are you using money to improve your life?

The average person gets money from a job, then uses this money to cover basic necessities and the occasional luxury. To develop assets you must see your position with new eyes, determined not just to spend money but use it to create assets. Money, you see, is nothing more than a commodity whose value is constantly shifting, thereby giving you the opportunity to grow assets daily. Here's what you can do to get into this exciting game:

2) Start by writing down and reviewing all expenses

Face it, when was the last time you actually wrote a list of all your ongoing expenses, then scrutinized each and every one to see where economies and improvements could be made?

BINGO!

Admit it, you've gone for months, maybe even years without systematically reviewing what you spend and how to improve your situation. But let's be frank: asset development starts with a clear and unblinking view of your current financial position. You MUST know what you spend and where cuts can be made.

3) Cut up your credit cards

Money is a commodity. And like all commodities it has a cost. Chances are the most expensive money you're buying is the interest charges on your credit card, 18% being commonplace. This is madness!

If you're using multiple credit cards and thereby incurring multiple credit card bills, your first task is to get rid of all cards but one.

Stop using these extra cards TODAY; then taking the savings you made from the review of your expenses, take what you saved and apply it to paying off the balance of at least one card. Continue to do this monthly until ALL credit card balances are a thing of the past.

4) Save daily

When you're just beginning to create assets, the development of good saving habits is crucial. Decide just how much you can save each month. Make the amount challenging, but not overwhelming. The amount should be reachable, not daunting.

Say you've selected $300 as your target monthly savings goal. Then put aside $10 daily. Open a passbook savings account at your bank; deposit $75 weekly. Doing this just once a month is NOT recommended; it's too easy to "forget" or skip, rationalizing that you can make it up tomorrow. Unfortunately, "tomorrow" never comes!

5) Empty your pockets, save it all

One very easy way to save is to empty the contents of you pocket or purse every few days... and put the money away.

If you're like most people, each year hundreds of dollars end up in purse or pocket. Treat these not as "change" but as the raw material for a successful saving plan.

6) Involve your family

One of the major reasons why most people fail to achieve their asset objectives is because they don't have support.

Right from the get-go, involve your family. Call a family meeting. Explain that in order to develop assets, you intend to review the family budget, including all expenses and all purchases from every family member, starting now; that you'll be looking for ways to save. And that to make this work, you will ask for and indeed require the support of EVERY family member. NO purchase is to be made by anyone until it is considered, reviewed and approved.

Believe me, it may take some "tough love" to get the full approval and working support of all, but it's worth it!

7) Get a financial advisor ASAP

Rich people, people with assets, have a financial advisor and you need one, too.

Even when you're emptying your pockets for spare change, you should be planning for the day when you need and have multiple advisors. Towards that end, start by doing the following:

i) ask your family and friends who provides them with professional investment advice

ii) ask your banker what options she has for you

iii) do an online search for "no load mutual funds". Giants like Vanguard, Fidelity, etc. provide solid advice and no-fee mutual funds. Talk to the representatives of at least two such funds.

Start today

No matter how poor your financial habits have been, no matter how self-destructive, you can turn things around. But you must start TODAY. The thousand mile journey starts with a single step. Get a pair of scissors, cut up your credit cards, empty your pockets, create a budget and review your expenses. It's all good... and all represents progress. Right now you're working for money, but by following these steps money will start working for you. You'll see!

About The Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice. Republished with author's permission by Christopher Ninnis http://NoRiskHomeBiz.com.

Check out Auto Traffic Monopoly -> http://www.NoRiskHomeBiz.com/?rd=tw1uD1AE

Seven things you must NEVER say to yourself if you want MAXIMUM business and personal success

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

You've heard it and said it since you were a kid: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." That's definitely true if you are the recipient of the words... but absolutely wrong if you are the sender. You see, language completely defines who you are, what you will do, and the level of success you can achieve. If "you are what you eat," it is also absolutely true "You are what you say."

That's why I've identified 7 key phrases that are holding you back, 7 phrases which you must IMMEDIATELY eradicate from your speech as they threaten your success!

1) "I'll do it tomorrow."

Want success? Then understand that "tomorrow" is the enemy of "today." How many people do you know who have a "manana" mentality, always willing to put off until tomorrow that which could so easily be done today.

People who succeed in life are people who do today what can be done today, never allowing themselves the luxury of postponement. These words, then, must be the first to expunge ... and never allow your brain to think. "Carpe diem" must forever be your guide.

2) "I'll make do."

Now hear this: successful people never "make do." Making do is for people who have convinced themselves that they will be happy with less. This, of course, is the direct opposite of what truly successful people think, say, and do.

To the successful, "making do" means imposing restrictions on who you are and what you could achieve if you made achievement, rather than its opposite, your objective. No great thing, no worthy thing, no meaningful or awesome thing has ever emerged when the person in charge said these words. So banish them at once from your vocabulary; if you keep them you will surely get the less you say satisfies and nothing more. Is that what you want?

3) "I'm a survivor."

Initially this may seem positive, but upon further thought you will come to see how invidious this phrase really is. No successful person is merely a survivor; such people do not merely continue to exist (which is what survival means). Instead, they ascend beyond mere existence to the superior state of flourishing.

Thus, instead of touting the mere ability to get by, give yourself a better objective by saying: "I am not merely a survivor. Instead I flourish." (Note: Floreat Etona is the motto of England's most prestigious and influential school, the school that has provided generations of leaders. Let the slogan work its magic for you, too.)

4) "I'm fixing to do it."

Take a close look at these words.

They do not say "I am doing it."

They say "I'm thinking about getting around to doing it."

Now, it should be obvious that truly successful people don't brag about how they are "about" to do something. No, indeed. These people, the people we want to be like and emulate, are people who are masters of "do". And you must be, too. Drop "fixin" from your vocabulary forthwith.

5) "Working on it."

Here's another deceptive phrase which makes non English speakers scratch their heads in bafflement. The phrase, you see, seems to mean one thing, but actually means quite another.

"Working on it" means the complete reverse. It does not mean that a thing is being attended to, completion in sight. It means, instead, that the thing in question is not being attended to, has not been started, and that no completion date can be seen because none has been set. Oh, my!

"Working on it" is a phrase beloved of procrastinators, the slothful and slow-walkers worldwide because it gives them cover for the work they are assuredly are not doing and the success they will not achieve because of it.

6) "It's good enough for me."

This potent phrase has destroyed success for millions worldwide, generation after generation. Success means constant application, work, a vivid striving after success and the thrill that comes from having achieved it.

By contrast, the minute you utter the word "enough" you have signalled an end to absolutely everything necessary to achieve success, including success itself.

"It's good enough" could hardly be worse for your aspirations, strangling success in its cradle and leaving you with crumbs. "There is nothing quite so bad," wrote the insightful Oscar Wilde, "as that which is good enough." This is why you must banish this corrosive phrase at once. Only the good can be good enough for you!

*7) "I could never do that."

Are you one of the legions of people who use these killer words? Be advised: success cannot flourish in this inhospitable terrain.

People who demand success empower themselves by creating an environment where the goal of success is never undercut by the words they use and the thoughts they think. For such people, the keynote is positive potential, not instantaneous death by your own hand.

You see, if you say you cannot do the thing in question, then most assuredly you will not achieve that thing. As Henry Ford, master of the practical, the richest man of his time, rightly said: "You think you can. You think you can't. Either way you're right."

Last Words

Success at the best of times is generally difficult to achieve. Why, then, make it even more difficult by sabotaging yourself, diminishing success by empowering failure? Your thoughts, your words are your realities. Negative words, restricting words, words that sabotage rather than improve and inspire must be rooted out and destroyed.

YOU must create for yourself an environment where the total focus, including every word you utter, facilitates achievement and does not handicap it. Start by eradicating these 7 invidious phrases, replacing them with those that enrich, improve... and never impede. At once, your trek to success becomes decidedly easier. Yes, you are on your way!

This astonishing phrase is dynamite, a sure-fire indicator that the person who thinks and utters it will have the most meager portion of success. In short, it undermines, sabotages and otherwise strangles the very possibility of success.

What stimulates success is the keen desire to be better, to have better, to live better.

About The Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc.,

where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice. Dr. Lant is the author of 18 best-selling books. Republished with author's permission by Christopher Ninnis http://NoRiskHomeBiz.com.

Check out Auto Blog Samurai -> http://www.NoRiskHomeBiz.com/?rd=vo06juKx

Do you REALLY want to be rich?

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

One day years ago when I was having dinner with her in New York City, the celebrated entertainer Pearl Bailey told me in her inimitable way: "I've been rich. And I've been poor. Rich is better!" We laughed... and the conversation went on, but the comment reverberated: "Rich IS better!"

EVERYBODY wants to be rich, of course; that's a given.. However, being rich is not a condition; it's a process that each and every wealthy person must master. If not, this is what happens: "A fool and his money are soon parted." That will never do.

"The rich are different than you and me."

The writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, who wanted so very desperately to be rich, knew whereof he spoke. It's not just that they have money.. it's that they know how to use it for maximum comfort and convenience. You probably don't.

The average un-rich person thinks that being rich is like a fairy tale; once you're rich you simply live happily ever after. Nothing could be further from the truth. The business of being rich takes constant work, dedication, knowledge, and professional assistance. Being rich is a job, and like all jobs there are those who can do it successfully and there are those who cannot.

Rich people have help. You don't.

The "silver fork" novels of the early 19th century deal endlessly with "the servant problem." It's easy to see why. When you have the means, you want the help; but this help needs constant management.

Do you know how to select, manage and maintain

* house cleaners * chauffeur * cook * people to run your errands * and those to take care of clothes and personal effects?

Rich people have the luxury of being waited on. However, such assistance comes at a price. People who serve you have substantial access... and they can use this access for good or will. There is an old saying: "No man is a hero to his valet." As a wealthy person, you will want an enhanced level of service... but will you be ready for the diminished privacy this brings?

You must have financial representatives and ensure they produce for you

Money cannot simply be earned and left to itself; its increase must be your constant objective and goal. That's why each and every rich person on earth has one or (more likely) more financial representatives. It is only in fairy tales where "the king is in the counting house...." In real life, that's where his "people" hang out... preparing reports showing escalating wealth or grounds for concern.

Rich people understand that money, properly handled, begets more money. Thus, selecting and working with smart people who can take your fortune and increase is key.

Who have you got advising you these days and are they proving by tangible results that they are worthy of assisting you grasp and maintain the lifestyle you truly want?

These representatives must deal with

* your current income requirements

* tax issues

* estate issues.

Because of their pivotal importance in your life, you must be prepared not just to select them, but oversee and manage them too. This is one of the crucial aspects of your new life as a rich person. It's not all champagne and yachts, you see, and only the uninitiated are so naive to think so.

Prepare for the exigent, the wheedling and those who feel you should support them because YOU are rich!

People without means have the enduring belief that the rich are here for their benefit, with the result that rich people find themselves the focus of constant, annoying wheedling by the down-at-heel.

Count on it: your riches will draw forth a legion of beggars, distant family, long-ago friends... and never-ending solicitations from endless "worthy" causes and organizations. Be prepared to learn how to hear with attention but refuse without regret.

Last Words

Being rich will change you in ways subtle and substantial.

* You will not have to dream. Instead, you can plan.

* You will have at your disposal the most important thing in life: choice

* You will know deference, an enchanting thing the poorer never receive.

What's more, as compound interest, time, and financial growth work for you, you will surely know the best is yet to be!

About The Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice. Republished with author's permission by Christopher Ninnis http://NoRiskHomeBiz.com.

Check out Auto Traffic Monopoly -> http://www.NoRiskHomeBiz.com/?rd=tw1uD1AE

The 4 MOST Important Words In Business Success

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

There is a secret to success in marketing and business and that success in contained in just 4 words...

YOU

GET

BENEFIT

NOW!

They are the Philosopher's Stone delivering one sale after another... and profit even in the worst of times.

YOU!

One of the worst mistakes you can make in business is to create marketing communications that speak to no one in particular. WRONG! Successful marketing is about talking to and never deviating from a focus on the EXACT person you are determined to motivate.

KNOW THY CUSTOMER... and ALWAYS speak directly to her.

For example, if you were selling any gizmo your ad copy should NEVER begin with the name of your business. That's about YOU. Instead it should focus on the person who has the ability to make or break you: the all-important customer!

Have you considered the person you are speaking to? Have you visualized this person? Is he in your mind as you create EVERY marketing communication?

If you write marketing communications -- ANY marketing communications -- that focus on YOU, you will squander the opportunity to motivate action from "you, the customer." That is fatal.

GET

The whole of business is about a transfer of assets... about the person who offers and the person who accepts that offer.

Successful marketers remind themselves, over and over again, every single day that their success is completely centered on what the customer gets, NEVER on what you, the business owner, get.

Thus, when you sit down to create an offer you need to remind yourself: I can only be successful to the extent that my customer is heaped high with "you gets".

Visualize this process as an ice-cream cone. See yourself building an offer by adding one scoop after another. The more you add, the faster you can induce customer action... so add liberally.

BENEFIT

And just what are you adding?

BENEFITS!

The average business owner is so immersed in the mundane and prosaic details of running her business (what, another form from the government to complete!) that she loses sight of the purpose of it all: improving the life of your customer.

What does a customer want? Benefits!

Why does the customer come to you? To get those benefits!

Why does the customer give you her hard- earned money? Because you have made the strongest case that YOU have the benefits to confer!

Do you have a benefit file for EVERYTHING you want to sell? Probably not. You probably know what's in this thing... but have probably never systematically written down just what the customer gets from you when he uses it.

MISTAKE!

Take the time to brain storm each and every benefit your customer gets.

You get........this.

And you get........ this.

You also get this.

Get the picture?

Benefits motivate. More benefits motivate faster.

NOW!

There is only one time in marketing... and that time is NOW!

There is no past... there is no future.

There is only this particular moment!

Your TOTAL focus must be on motivating the prospect to act NOW. Have you offered enough to make this happen? When you make an offer you know. Either people are leaping to get it... or they are not. Bad offers NEVER get better over time, unlike a fine wine. Either they work AT ONCE... or they NEVER work. Your job is to experiment with your offers so that they generate response after immediate response!

Last Words

Serious about business success? Want as much as possible?

Then start out EVERY day by reciting the "You get benefit now" mantra. The more it becomes part of the fiber of your business life, the more successful you will become. Guaranteed.

About The Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice. Republished with author's permission by Christopher Ninnis http://NoRiskHomeBiz.com.

Check out Auto Traffic Monopoly -> http://www.NoRiskHomeBiz.com/?rd=tw1uD1AE

Abdicate? Not a chance. Here's why Charles will reign when his time comes.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

The engagement of Prince William of Wales and the comely commoner Kate Middleton has caused a long simmering question to flare up again. Will Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, stand down in favor of the lovely couple?

Those who advocate such an unprecedented event base their case on the following points:

* Charles is uninspiring, eccentric, even odd.

* Charles will be "too old" at his accession to have a meaningful, effective reign.

* By his caddish treatment of his wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, he forfeited the affection and respect of the nation... and should therefore lose the throne.

* His son William and his winsome Kate are young, popular, already national icons. As a result, it makes more sense for them to reign... than the shop-worn Charles and his frumpish Duchess Camilla.

What do the people think?

An October, 2010 poll of 2,012 adults by ComRes shows support for changing the order of succession. 25 percent of those polled say that Charles should make way for Wills and Kate. The younger the respondent, the more that person is likely to support such a change.

Let's take a look at all the "reasons" advanced for altering the line of succession for the world's most prestigious monarchy.

* Charles in uninspiring. True. Mention the Prince of Wales' name and the likely response will be tepid, at best. But this is hardly reason for revoking his right to reign. In World War I, Charles great grand father King George V was pilloried by H.G. Wells as "alien and uninspiring." George when he heard the comment was outaged: "I may be uninspiring," he said. "But I'm damned if I'm alien." His reign was successful (unlike those of the principal dynasties of Europe), and he lived long enough to see himself as respected, admired, even loved. Britain will never pull the rug on Charles because he lacks charisma.

* Too old. This, too, won't fly. Right now the queen is 84 years old. Her mother, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, lived to 101. She could live as long, or longer. Each second reduces the reign of Charles III.. But that is irrelevant.

He's prepared his entire life to be king and if he rules for just 5 minutes or less... he'll reign for those. There is no provision in the Constitution to remove the sovereign merely because of his age... and the righteous uproar from senior citizens would be mind boggling if a man were removed from his job because of age alone. Remember, centenarians are the fastest growing segment of the population... and they know how to make themselves heard. Charles will NEVER lose the throne because of his age alone, never.

Charles the cad doesn't deserve to reign. Here the ghost of Diana, Princess of Wales appears, accusing Charles of every crime in the calendar. For betraying his young wife, and for a frump at that, he deserves to pay the ultimate price, losing the throne. More rubbish.

Sovereigns are not chosen because they have (or have not) remained faithful to their marriage vows. If this were the case, there would be precious few sovereigns.... or presidents of republics either. Bedroom morality has no place in the succession of kings, randy or otherwise. And it should have no place here either, whatever fanatical partizans of Diana, Princess of Wales may say. They have it in for the hapless Charles... and always will have. By his duplicitous treatment of Diana, he certainly forfeited the affection and respect of a great nation... but he did not forfeit his long-recognized right to the throne. His right to that is secure.

Charles is not as popular as the winsome two-some. True... but, again, beside the point.. Advancing princes is not determined "American-Idol" like by the voting masses. It is a matter of established custom, rights, and the little matter of the Constitution. Charles has done nothing to forfeit his rights. Unimaginative, odd, eccentric, true... but hard-wording, dutiful, loyal... and patient.

Why abdication is unthinkable

Now hear this:

The queen will NEVER abdicate. The most conservative of all the Windsors, her majesty will fight tooth and nail for Charles to be king. She is a woman who has lived for the dynasty... and fought for its ever dwindling rights and privileges. Support for another over Charles is unthinkable, not merely because he is her first-born son... but because he is Prince of Wales, the recognized and acknowledged heir.

So, it comes down to this:

Charles will NEVER be removed from the succession; there is no reason or party sufficient to urge or persuade. He will never willingly give up his right to the throne, even for a reign of months, or even weeks. He cannot, for such an act diminishes the monarchy to which he had dedicated his life.

What's more can anyone, anyone at all, imagine Prince Wills and his newly minted princess broaching the topic with his father, the long-patient prince? Unthinkable. For Prince Wills to ascend the whole royal establishment would have to concur... starting with a father who never could or would agree.

Like it or not... in the fullness of time Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, that high and mighty princess, will by her passing transfer the throne to his gracious majesty King Charles III.... and he, in his time, will do the same to King William V.

Now for a radical prediction: Charles will reign. Camilla will become, in due course, queen consort. Their reign, very likely short, will be diligent, respectable, even popular. For you see, it is in the interest of all to have it so. Charles and Camilla cannot want it otherwise; they will work hard for this result.. The nation he has served responsibly owes it to him, if not to her, to deliver this result. What's more it will be better for their royal highnesses Wills and Kate to succeed to a well- run, respected institution than one marred by controversy and in tatters.

God save the Queen! God save them all! And may they all reign happy if not glorious.

About The Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Lant's is the author of 18 best-selling business books, including 'Insubstantial Pageant: Ceremony and Confusion at Queen Victoria's Court.' This book was the result of Dr. Lant being the first American to gain access to the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle.

Republished with author's permission by Christopher Ninnis http://NoRiskHomeBiz.com.

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What your local school is NOT teaching your children that you must to ensure their lifetime success.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Have you considered lately just what your local school is -- or more importantly -- is not teaching your children? Probably not. Like most parents, you take the matter on faith; hoping they're teaching what your children most need to get ahead.

Unfortunately, in at least 4 key areas, your children are learning little or nothing of what they absolutely must know to get ahead and lead profitable, productive lives.

#1 Local schools don't teach necessary interview and job skills, leaving your children vulnerable particularly in tight job markets.

Here are just some of the items on which the school is letting you down:

* how to write a resume and cover letter * how to look for and find available jobs * how to follow up with prospective employers * how to dress for the interview * how to handle themselves during interviews.

Obviously obtaining employment is crucial. Sadly, your school is letting you down.

#2 Your school is not delivering detailed information on financial affairs.

Mastery of basic information about money, debt, investments, etc is crucial. However, here's what your school isn't teaching:

* how to open a bank account * how to use checks, including how to balance a check book * what a home mortgage is and how to get and keep one * how to do a home budget * understanding and benefiting from pensions * understanding mutual funds and other financial investments * how to complete a tax form.

We live in a "capitalist" culture, but the overwhelming majority of our citizens are clueless about how to benefit from it, because our schools teach nothing about it.

#3 How to be a good citizen. Your school isn't telling, leaving this to "catch as catch can" with disastrous results.

Election after election takes place with 40%, or more, of citizens failing to vote. No wonder. Here's just some of what our schools don't teach:

* what is a citizen? What are his/her rights and responsibilities * what is the Constitution? What is the Bill of Rights? * how to register to vote * how to read a ballot * how to understand referenda and other citizen initiatives * how to vote.

We decry low voter turn-out and participation yet fail to teach what is necessary for a healthy democracy.

#4 Basic human relations skills

Have you looked at your children lately? Have you actually listened to them?

EVERY civilization prior to ours was painstaking in teaching young people successfully how to interact with other people. They realized that such skills were absolutely crucial for a successful marriage and life generally. Instead of this sensible system, we let matters take their course with predictable results. Here's just some of what our schools don't teach:

* how to greet strangers and make them feel comfortable * how to look people in the eyes * how to handle a basic conversation * the meaning of courtesy and how to deliver it * how to express appreciation * how to reciprocate.

Get the picture? Without your school's interest or support, your children are left at sea with no assistance or insight whatsoever about necessary questions of human relations. Boorish and self-defeating behaviors are therefore inevitable.

Since The Schools Are Unable or Unwilling To Assist, These Things Are YOUR Responsibility

It is clear that leaving matters to your school is a bad mistake. Public educators are unable or unwilling to teach these matters. Thus, if you want the best for your children YOU must become their recognized, organized "life skills" teacher.

Don't treat this matter casually or lightly. It is far too important for that.

* Think what your children must know but are not getting in school. * Schedule regular meeting with your children. * Be clear on what you want them to know. * Encourage active participation and discussion. * Invite their friends to participate.

It is not the fault of the children that they are being short- changed in schools. Don't compound the problem by short-changing them at home. Start today. You'll be glad you did, and your children will reward you by maturing into better people, with suitable appreciation for all you did!

P.S. If your school district teaches at least some of these things, be glad.... then ask them to implement the rest!

About The Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice. Republished with author's permission by Christopher Ninnis http://NoRiskHomeBiz.com.

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Flower Power. You never need a special reason to use it. Now will do just fine

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

I was at the grocery store the other day; you know, the Shaw's Market at Porter Square, Cambridge. My helper Aime Joseph was doing his usual efficient job of unloading the groceries onto the conveyor belt. I was holding the flowers so they wouldn't get crushed.

A tired looking lady was at the cash register, a woman of a certain age. She never looked up to catch my eye... but when ringing up the flowers she brightened: "Someone's lucky today," she said.

And without missing a beat, I said: "You!", whereupon I took a fervent red rose from the bouquet and handed it to a now very surprised, rather embarrassed but thoroughly delighted, lady.

Flower power, a little bit of greenery, some blazing color, had done their work again. And they'll work as well for you, too.

Flower from the Latin flos, from the Old French flour

According to my ever useful dictionary, flower means "A blooming plant." It also means, and this I think more useful, "The brightest, finest, choicest part, period, or specimen of anything." Thus, when you give flowers, you give "the brightest, finest."

Flowers transform the mundane into the memorable.

We are living through difficult times. Millions are afflicted by a punk economy, by unemployment and job loss, by house foreclosures and pension shrinkage. If Charles Dickens were alive today, he could well and truly write, "These are the worst of times". He might well leave off the other half of his famous line, "These are the best of times" as being manifestly untrue.

However, we, the living, must do the best we can... and flowers undeniably help.

Don't wait for a "special" occasion.... call up the power of flowers now.

I am always amused when on such holidays as Valentine's Day and Christmas, I see the long lines at the florist shoppes. It is good, of course, that they are there; any time is a time that flowers brighten. But these are folks (usually male) who haven't quite glimpsed the power of the unexpected flower. They are there,in that never-ending line, to cover themselves, lest they be accused of forgetfulness and insensitivity!

Rather, I applaud the person who, quite clear on flower power, delivers flowers today simply because it is today, no further reason being needed. I think I saw such a person the other day walking down Massachusetts Avenue in my neighborhood. A bit sheepish, he held his bouquet high, a mixture of pride and embarrassment. I was hopeful there was no other reason for those flowers except to say "because you're you..."

Know thy florists

Personally,I make it a point to know and try all the florists in my neighborhood. I like to see their very different approaches to the business of brightening the world.

At Trader Joe's, for instance, there is always an eye-catching variety which in the Trader Joe's tradition is limited... but always good value. It is a pity they are rather inconveniently located for my visits.

Tommy at the Montrose Spa added flowers to his convenience store line about a year or so ago. They are not his priority and as such he lets them sit too long, petals and leaves falling off, woebegone and in need of caring homes quickly. But Tommy waits too long to bring the price down and so there are always moribund flowers in the corner, sad, their powers diminishing by the moment.

There are two florists in Harvard Square, both conveniently located. However, I don't patronize them unless it's an emergency. The folks at Brattle Street Florist always seem too rushed to help. I like to have a good look-see... and always appreciate the considered opinion of the proprietor. I also like to know when the roses came in, to be sure I am getting them at their prime. I'm a stickler for freshness.

John at Petali, handy in Forbes Plaza, tells me what I need to know, but he never quite focuses and though he waves to me on days when he bicycles past my house, I sense he is distracted, with other things on his mind. I feel like going into his shop and buying flowers for... him. He would smile then.

Then there's the Central Square Florist. I never go there in person. (Central Square is another world for me. Denizens call it "between the brains", because Harvard is one subway stop further on and MIT is one subway stop before.) But I have ordered so regularly over time they sent me a special "frequent flower" card. I keep it in my wallet, but always forget to use it. However, they seem to know me when I call... and perhaps they give me a discount since I am a member of their club. I never ask.

This brings us back to the flowers from Shaw's Market. They always seem a tad brash, bold. But they are handy, reasonably priced, and employees are happy, when I ask, to give me extra plant food, which I never hesitate to thank them for and take, sometimes forgetting to use it after all.

Don't forget the card

Flowers, despite the power of plant food, do die in due course, despite my many ministrations. But the card that accompanies them can last forever.

After my mother died, I found amongst her many effects, a few of the cards she found meaningful, from long-ago events. Often she had taped or stapled one of the flowers from that bouquet to the card. In her copper-plate hand she annotated the back of the card... which touched and reminded me how much I missed her. Even long-dead flowers and their cards can do that. This is why I shall never stop buying flowers and giving them to the people I care about... or even total strangers who seem to need them and always smile at the gift.

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online through automation. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Republished with author's permission by Christopher Ninnis http://NoRiskHomeBiz.com.

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What you want your customers to say over and over again.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Have you ever consciously considered just what you want your customers to say to you? Probably not. Yet the exercise is important. The clearer you are about what you want your customers to say to you... the more likely you will do what is necessary to hear it.

1) 'Thanks for getting back to me so fast!'

When was the last time you heard this? When was the last time you deserved to hear it?

The plain fact is, too many businesses these slothful days don't have fast customer response as a priority. If they respond to the customer promptly, fine; if they don't respond to the customer promptly, no problem. It doesn't seem to faze them either way. WRONG! It matters! Customers use your response time as an indication of whether you are customer-centered, or not. Buying decisions and long-term relationships are thereby determined. Prompt response is good... prompter response is even better. Remember, if you're not hearing compliments from your customer about what you do... it's quite clearly because you don't deserve to!

2) 'Your staff was so helpful and pro-active!'

When was the last time you needed some help at a particular establishment -- and didn't get it? To tell the truth, it happens to all of us all the time, right? We either can't find a staffer. Or wait while that staffer finishes text-messaging his lady love. Or, even worse, we get a staffer who doesn't know his job or what he has available. You know what I'm talking about because it happens to all of us all the time.

Instead of leaving this important matter to sort itself out, be clear on what you want your customers to say to you -- each and EVERY customer, mind -- and do what's necessary to hear it over and over again!

3) 'Thanks for working with me!'

Start from this proposition: if you want long-term customer relationships, working with your customers cannot be something episodic and casual; it must be the essence of what you do and what your business is all about.

Like it or not (and you'd better like it), all customers are not the same; they all do not have the same situations. People who thrive in business, customer-centered people, understand there is no cookie-cutter approach to customers. Approaching them that way is just like one of Cinderella's sisters stuffing her foot into the glass slipper. It ain't gonna happen!

Customers need you to see their situation not as a problem to be solved, but as an opportunity demanding sense and sensibility. Do that and you will have earned their business, now and later. Fail to do that and you will deserve a customer's ultimate punishment: 'I'll take my business to someone who values it.' Ouch.

4) 'What a great offer! I'll take it.'

Haven't heard this lately? Then you're not making offers which are good enough... or frequent enough. As such, you're leaving money on the table.

To be in business is to be in the business of making offers, lots of offers, constant offers, daily offers; to understand that a day that goes by without a motivating offer is a money-making day gone forever and ever.

Is that the kind of business person you are? Casual? Neglectful? Lazy?

Yikes!

If you want people to compliment offers (and put money in your pocket), do what's necessary... today!

5) 'You didn't have to do that! I really appreciate it!'

Okay, customers can be a drag. They can be and often are rude, demanding, insistent, egotistically out of control and a total nuisance to boot. Yep, that sounds like customers we know.

They are also crucial to your business, profits, and your wealth and comfort.

The plain fact is, customers can and often do need extra help. They may need you to go the extra mile or two. To do this is often inconvenient for you. That's absolutely true but also absolutely irrelevant. The customer needs... you must help. If you don't, you have set the limits of your business, your profits, and your growth.

6) 'I thought service like that was gone forever!'

In olden days some of us are still young enough to remember, there was a thing called customer service. It was embodied by a young man at a filling station who hopped to it when you pulled in, filled the tank, cleaned your wind shield, checked the pressure in your tires... and did it all with a bona fide all-American smile that wouldn't quit.

Where has this lad and all he represented gone?

If you aim for success and for customers to sing your praises, we'de better find him (or her) in your establishment!

Think about the service you have enjoyed from others. What made it good? What made it memorable? What made it obsolete in so many businesses, (perhaps including yours)... until now.

To offer 'wow' service is a decision. It is something you choose to do, or not. If it isn't present in a business, it's because that business decided to get by doing less. If everybody offers mediocre, entirely forgettable service it doesn't matter very much. But the minute a get-ahead business person does more that person gets a terrific advantage. Now that you've considered the matter, that person better be YOU!

7) 'I could tell you really cared!'

There may be, as P.T. Barnum famously said, 'a sucker born every minute', but most people can tell a phoney from the real thing. Which means they can tell without difficulty someone who is insincere, disinterested, and going through the motions without energy or conviction. That better not be you and yours.

Set the goal: getting compliment after compliment from customers who are staggered by your service, your conviction and sincerity worth telling their friends about.

Why did this happen? Because you determined it would happen. Because you understood that having the kind of business people would stop in their tracks about was the only kind of business worth having. Congratulations! You are now not only a better business person, you are a better person, too. And that's just the person we want to do business with.

A Dedication

I dedicate this article to my long-term colleague and friend, Sandi Hunter of Worldprofit, Inc. Sandi 'gets' service. She understands it cannot be episodic and irregular. Instead, it must start in commitment and radiate through all customer contacts, on days when you feel like it... and, more importantly, on days when you don't. You probably wondered, Sandi, whether we noticed what you do. We do... and the customers do, too!

About The Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Lant is the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Christopher Ninnis http://NoRiskHomeBiz.com.

Check out Auto Traffic Monopoly -> http://www.NoRiskHomeBiz.com/?rd=tw1uD1AE

Is Your Business REALLY Customer Centered?

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Ok, we all know that getting and keeping customers is the lifeblood of any business. I mean, we do all know this, right? Then you've got to treat these essential beings with all the care and consideration they need and require.

So, why don't you?

Here are some of the bone head things any customer can easily experience from businesses like yours on any given day:

1) Telephone calls that aren't returned

This is a constant lamentation from customers: "Why can't I get my calls returned?"

The plain fact is, most businesses are supremely careless about returning calls. Indeed, we seem to have reached the point where the returned call is the exception, not the rule.

This means that businesses are actually willing to throw business away and antagonize customers, rather than implement and adhere to a "calls must be returned promptly" policy. Incredible!

Don't let this be you. Make it a point to return ALL calls every day before you leave, earlier if possible. And do the same for all e-mail messages, too.

2) Keep customers up-to-date on their business

What customers (rightly) resent is being kept in the dark about their affairs. They expect, and are right to expect, that people they employ are empathetic. This means keeping customers fully up-to-date on what is happening with their account.

Either a phone call or an e-mail message can do nicely. The important thing is ensuring you give the customer a clear and detailed report, focusing on what that customer wants to know to be kept fully informed and anxiety free.

3) Do what you say you're going to do

When you were courting your customer, making a pitch for their business, you made promises. Are you keeping them, now that you got the business?

Customers rightly complain that there is a gap between what was promised and what is delivered. Solving this problem is not so very difficult. Keep a clear list of what you promised, and check off these items as you do them. Be sure to inform the customer, so there is no confusion. "I promised this; I have done this." That's the thing!

4) Provide easy customer support

If you provide a service requiring customer support, make it clear what you provide and when you supply it. Customers rightly complain when promised support is not available, and they have to chase you to get assistance. This very quickly goes stale and results in deteriorating relations.

Again, be clear on the support you provide... then deliver exactly what you said you would!

5) Don't gossip or chat in front of waiting customers

This one gets customers hot under the collar real fast.

The plain, unvarnished truth is that far too many business people regard customers as either a) invisible or b) pesky distractions from the thrilling task of keeping their co-workers current on the vicissitudes of their roller-coaster life.

Unless your object is to make customers see red, STOP the chatter, now and for evermore.

6) Stick to business

Just yesterday I called a local business to get details on a possible purchase and instead of focused, professional service... I got an earful about the life and times of an unstoppable loquacious business owner.

WHOA!

On the whole customers do not need to have either a current report on your health issues past, present and future, or the ins and outs of your business for the last quarter century, or so.

The K.I.S.S. principle applies here: Keep it simple, Sam. Don't overwhelm the customer with your personal trivia. It is a real turn-off for most.

6) Say thank-you for the business, and smile when you say it.

Quite simply, you cannot thank a customer enough for her business. Further, you cannot smile enough as you look that customer in the eye while delivering heartfelt words of appreciation.

Thank-you's must NEVER be perfunctory. They must be warm, sincere, radiant and frequent. Remember, the customer ALWAYS knows when they're genuine and bestows future business accordingly!

About The Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice. Republished with author's permission by Christopher Ninnis http://NoRiskHomeBiz.com.

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Thinking about raiding your 401(k)? In a word, DON'T!

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Need money for college tuition? To stave off eviction or foreclosure? To buy a home? If so, you may look longingly at the funds currently residing in your 401(k) program. These funds are needed, you reckon, and are near, so temptingly near. Should you use them now... or hold off?

The best advice is look, but don't touch. Leave them alone... let them get on with the job of securing your comfortable future.

Unfortunately millions of people will disregard this advice.

Record early withdrawals

According to Fidelity Investments of Boston, Massachusetts, one of the world's largest retirement plan administrators, 62,000 plan participants took out so-called hardship withdrawals in the second quarter of 2010, up from 45,000 in the previous quarter. To make a hardship withdrawal, people must demonstrate an immediate and heavy financial need.

What's more, the number of people taking loans from their 401(k) is at a 10-year high, again according to Fidelity. Of the over 11 million people with retirement funds analyzed by Fidelity, 22 percent had loans outstanding. These numbers are consistent across the retirement plan industry and indicate a whole lotta raidin' going on.

"It's the economy, stupid!"

Why all the retirement plan withdrawals and loans? In former president Bill Clinton's famous phrase: "It's the economy, stupid!" People are doing it because they have to... not because they want to. Right? Right?

Not so fast!

The truth is, people need money, see money in their retirement accounts, and tap it without thinking too long or deeply about what they're doing... and the long-term implications for their golden years comfort and security.

Now hear this: before you raid retirement accounts, do everything -- and I do mean EVERYTHING -- to avoid doing so. Robbing Peter to pay Paul may be easy... but you won't like the results when you're aged and really need the money.

Rule 1: Don't touch your retirement money.

If you're lucky you get old. If you're luckier you get old without financial worries. In short, you get a stretch of truly golden years. But to make this happen, you'll need the money. That's why you cannot afford to raid your retirement accounts. They are there for an inviolable purpose and must be treated accordingly.

So, what's a money-needing person to do?

Start looking at, really perceiving and minutely scrutinizing your current financial situation.

* Hold a family meeting. Be clear that everyone in the family understands the situation and the job at hand: minimize expenses, maximize savings, save the retirement accounts.

* slash credit cards. Keep one, scissor the rest.

* defer purchases. Make do with what you've got.

* make sure that every family member who is old enough to have a job, has one. Teen-agers should be at the mall all right.... but with a job!

* clean out basements, garages, attics. Give the stuff away to get charitable donations... or have a garage sale!

Remember, the goal is to maximize cash, minimize and rigidly control spending... and keep your mitts off the retirement funds.

When you still need more. Borrow against your retirement account. Don't cash in.

If you have honestly made the effort to maximize cash and control spending and it still isn't enough, move on to this stage and borrow.

Take this step only after due deliberation and sober reflection because it can put you on a very slippery slope. The key is whether you will be able to pay back any loan within the time permitted by the retirement plan company.

Be honest with yourself. Be very honest!

If you are clear about your ability to pay back the loan, then proceed accordingly. But don't deceive yourself. What you are doing may be necessary, but it is only desirable when compared to your other, even less desirable options. Like this one...

Consider bankruptcy

These days there is hardly any stigma (if any) when you go bankrupt. It's a straight forward business decision. One reason for considering it is that all retirement fund assets are protected by law when you do so. Thus, protecting retirement funds becomes one important factor in the decision to use bankruptcy. This is exactly the reverse of what most people do. They use retirement funds to stave off bankruptcy, when they should do just the opposite!

Still need money? Really need money?

You've now reached the point where tapping those retirement funds may be an option, regrettable though it is. Hold your nose and proceed. Do this because you must; do this because you have run out of other alternatives. Every dollar you remove may be necessary, but it is not desirable. But at least by following the recommendations in this article you retain the greatest number of dollars in your plan. For that your older self years ahead will thank you and be grateful that you were as conservative as possible in this difficult situation. Amen!

About The Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling books. Republished with author's permission by Christopher Ninnis http://NoRiskHomeBiz.com.

Check out Auto Traffic Monopoly -> http://www.NoRiskHomeBiz.com/?rd=tw1uD1AE

An Appreciation of Dr. Robert Butler, Advocate for the Aging

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Do you intend to live to a ripe old age? To enjoy "the last of life for which the first was made," as Robert Browning wrote?

If so, you need to pause a moment and tip your hat to Dr. Robert Butler, who passed July 3, 2010 in New York City. He was 83 years old., full of honors and of years.

I knew Dr. Butler professionally and worked with him as a consultant to The National Caucus and Center on Black Aged. He was a much respected and even revered member of the Board of Directors. His fellow directors realized that they, along with so many other elder services, might not even exist without his pioneering work on aging.

Dr. Butler And The Invisible Aged

Until Dr. Butler and his ground breaking work, it is hardly too much to say that the aged, while everywhere among us, were not seen and were but rarely considered.

In a very real way, therefore, Dr. Butler discovered the aged and turned the spotlight on their deplorable situation. His 1976 book "Why Survive: Growing Old in America" won the Pulitzer Prize for its unflinching look at the how the elderly were systematically ignored, mistreated, forgotten, treated with contempt, neglect, and just plain cruelty.

This book made a great nation squirm with embarrassment and ensured that the aged would never be forgotten again, a finding which brought hope as well as some beneficial change to millions. It was but one in a lifetime of accomplishments.

To read Dr. Butler's accolades is to understand how one informed, persistent person can alter the course of human events and assist the process of amelioration and systematic improvement for millions, including every one now alive and aging.

Item: Dr. Butler was a founding director of the National Institute on Aging, one of the National Institutes of Health.

Item: In 1968, Dr. Butler coined the term "ageism", or age discrimination and lead a pioneering task force on the impact of age prejudice.

Item: Dr. Butler was instrumental in research that established that senility was not inevitable with aging, but rather a consequence of disease.

Item: In 2006 Dr. Butler lead another study that addressed age discrimination in the workplace, elder abuse, and the media's role in perpetuating and even condoning such abuse.

Item: at the time of his death, from leukemia, he was leading a committee on aging for the World Economic Forum.

Dr. Butler Understood The Power of Institutions

Unlike certain prophets unable to work within the system, Dr. Butler, a trained gerontologist and psychiatrist, understood the necessity to create institutions. He

* was founding chairman of the nation's first department of geriatrics, at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine

* was founding president of the International Longevity Center-USA in New York City, a research, policy, and education center dedicated to the field of longevity and ageism.

to name but two. He understood that permanent change required permanent institutions to foster and deliver that change.

What We Need To Recall About Dr. Robert Butler

* He saw what others either would not or could not see. Hard though it may be to believe, when he started his work the aged were largely invisible; their deterioration thought to be inevitable and assistance limited and powerless to present wide spread abuse. We thank him for seeing.

* He knew that public outrage could fuel widespread action. And so he piled fact on fact until had what was necessary to call up the outrage of a hitherto uninformed America. He knew we had the resources, once we had the facts and the desire to change the deplorable situation. We thank him for summoning the moral power of outrage and the best within us.

* He had the grit and determination to stay on course, continuing his research and institution-building skills. He, as Robert Frost wrote, knew he had "miles to go and promises to keep." We thank him for continuing, long after others, secure in their fame, would have stopped, literally up to the day he died.

I recall Dr. Butler as quiet, courteous, informed of course, always informed, but never pushy or arrogant, truly a gentle man. And ALWAYS fierce in his advocacy for the aging.

As you become one of them, you, like me, should be grateful for what he did to make your senior years as comfortable and productive as possible.

About The Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc.,

where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice. Republished with author's permission by Christopher Ninnis http://NoRiskHomeBiz.com.

Check out Auto Traffic Monopoly -> http://www.NoRiskHomeBiz.com/?rd=tw1uD1AE

How to get your business profitably through the economic uncertainty and confusion around us

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

It doesn't take a Wall Street prognosticator to tell us things are difficult on Main Street. Small businesses nation- and worldwide are experiencing tough times that just won't quit. Pessimists run rampant... and business people ponder their (often painful) options.

There's an old New England expression for such a situation. Mariners say, "Batten down the hatches. Get ready for rough weather!" This saying has helped generations of hardy fishermen get through even the most difficult circumstances, emerging intact when the storm eventually ends, fit and trim.

Let's put this long-established saying to work for your business, so that you emerge stronger than ever from the economic challenges you're facing now:

1) Tough times mean tough decisions.

During good times when funds are plentiful and there's no immediate necessity to review the situation, many matters are postponed and put off. This strategy doesn't work in bad times... when decisions postponed are like so many barnacles on your hull, a drag on your speed and maneuverability.

The first thing you should do in difficult times is be honest with yourself about your business. Make a list (and don't stint) of all the decisions you're been putting off, all the matters which must be addressed, and the hard decisions you must make. The most important thing in difficult times is seeing things as they are and making often hard decisions which the bounty of good times allowed you to put off.

2) Review ALL your expenses.

"Cash is king" in bad times. Have you done what is necessary to maximize it? This means reviewing every expense and asking: "Do we really need this? Is this absolutely necessary? Can we get along without some or even all of this?"

The plain truth is, it's probably been a good long time since you've sat down and scrutinized each and every expense to determine what can be cut or abandoned, to the benefit of your cash position.

3) Review and upgrade your product line.

When was the last time you took a good, close look at what you're selling? Since the last blue moon?

As with your expenses, so with your product line. Look at each and every item with stark clarity. Does it make you money... or is it a drag on your time and profits?

Turn lemons into lemonade: discard products that aren't making you money and make a concerted effort to add new products which, in your professional opinion, are hot.

Too, systematically contact your suppliers and ask them what's selling well these days; use their expertise to bulk up your product line and profits. It's time to tap into what others are doing and benefit accordingly.

4) Review and upgrade your offers.

The purpose of offers is to get people to buy more and faster, in other words to maximize the amount of money in your hand and the speed with which you get it.

If you want your customers to buy more and buy sooner in difficult times, you must become the master of offers. This means, first, reviewing the offers you currently make; then listing all the ways you can improve them. Then, once you are certain your offers are stellar, start using them with a will.

Now hear this: offers either produce immediate results... or they don't. Winning offers product fast results. If they don't, go back to the drawing board at once and improve what you've got. Offers don't "mature" like fine wines. They either work at once... or they NEVER work at all. Act accordingly.

5) Use the phone.

For many people, the advent of email obscured the significance of the telephone. MISTAKE! When you want to make a sale, use the phone.

Email is terrific for sending information promptly and thoroughly to your customers. However, email is not effective for closing sales. For that, the telephone is unrivalled.

Draw up a telephone call list. This list should include existing customers (who need incentives to buy more), past customers who have not purchased lately, and new customers who haven't yet bought.

Calls should be made only on days you want to make money. This means every day! No exceptions!

6) Improve your follow-up.

Good times foster bad habits. Bad times must do the reverse! That's why you must use the telephone (as well as email) to follow up, follow up, follow up. The game here goes to the business which implements a rigorous system of customer follow-up.

Thus, call a customer.

If the customer isn't available, leave a detailed message.

Then promptly follow-up and call again.

Let the customer know you are efficient, customer- centered and ready, willing, and able to assist.

7) When customers buy, make them an immediate offer to buy more!

Remember, the key to making money in bad times is good offers. One essential is making such an offer when your customer has purchased.

Remember, people who have purchased are candidates for another, immediate purchase so long as the offer is sufficiently motivating. Make sure yours are... by constant experimentation and endless searching through offers made by others, not merely your competitors either.

This, Too, Shall Pass

Bad times, like the good times we remember so fondly, shall pass. But, if you've worked smart through these times, you will have planted the seeds for the next season of milk and honey and survived to reap all the benefits. Your bon voyage is assured.

About The Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Lant is the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Christopher Ninnis http://NoRiskHomeBiz.com.

Check out Auto Traffic Monopoly -> http://www.NoRiskHomeBiz.com/?rd=tw1uD1AE