STEALTH INCOME

STRATEGIES FOR

INVESTORS

A CONFIDENTIAL REPORT BY MARK MORGAN FORD

11 Surprising Ways You Can Easily Boost Your Income by

$20,000 to $100,000 This Year

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Introduction

This Book Holds the Key to Your Financial Future

The purpose of this book is simple.

To show you ways to make more income. Beginning now.

If you follow Palm Beach Letter’s “Secret of the Golden Buckets” strategy you know that

income, not investing, is the key to becoming wealthy.

The more income you have, the faster you can fill up your savings and investment

buckets… and the wealthier you will become.

That’s it.

The financial industry won’t tell you that. Because you might then ask how you can increase

your income. And they will have no good answer. They’d prefer you to think only about stocks

and bonds and other products they sell… products that promise to offer high returns.

But there is a serious problem with chasing high returns. You get tempted to take more risk.

And when you take more risk you sometimes win. But mostly lose. At the end of 10 or 20

years, you are almost always poorer.

The wealthy people I know accumulated their wealth by avoiding risk, not taking it. They

focused their energies on low-risk, income-producing investments. By creating multiple streams

of income, they could live on one and devote the others to saving and investing safely. All that

extra cash flow appreciating with little or no risk made them wealthy over time.

Thirty years ago, like most people, I had a single income. And from that income I paid my living

expenses and put aside what I could for the future. But with three young kids there was not much

left at the end of the month. I could have continued working and hoping for good raises and

invested my money in the best-performing mutual funds of the year. But I instinctively knew that

wouldn’t change my financial future in any meaningful way.

So I decided to create additional streams of income that would be used exclusively to build

wealth.

The first thing I did was to take a side job as a freelance writer. I worked at it nights and

weekends. I saved every dollar from that job. When I had enough I bought my first rental real

estate property. At the same time I developed a new business idea that I sold to my boss for a

25% stake in it. This soon was bringing me lots more than my side business. So I quit that and

devoted 100% of my time to my primary business and real estate.

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Today, I have cash flow coming from half a dozen businesses and 50 real estate properties. I

also have income-producing stocks and bonds. My newest income stream – the one I’m most

excited about – is coming from Common Sense Publishing. I’m talking about the Palm Beach

Income strategy.

Having multiple income streams is an odd idea for most people. When they think of extra

income they think of athletes and actors who get endorsement and advertising deals.

But the truth is that anyone can create extra income streams. You don’t need well-placed

connections. You don’t even need to be especially smart.

All you need is the willingness to invest a little extra time in learning about your options

– and then invest a little more time and some money pursuing them.

If you believed the myth about getting a good education, finding a good job, and moving up the

company ladder, this is a good time to disabuse yourself of that notion. If it hasn’t worked for

you so far, it’s not likely to work for you in the future. Yes, you can live a comfortable and

perfectly satisfying life that way. (So long as the company you work for stays healthy.) But if

you are more ambitious then that, you should read this book.

I’m a big believer in financial independence. I don’t want to be dependent on anyone or any

institution to take care of my family or me in the future. Having one source of income feels

very scary to me. If that stream of cash dries up – for whatever reason – I want to know that I

have other cash streams I can tap into.

That’s why I wrote this book: to help you achieve financial independence the way I did – one

income stream at a time.

Ideally, all of your streams will grow steadily. And, at some point, each will be sufficient to

meet your needs. When that happens, you can have two or three financial setbacks and still be

financially independent.

In this book you’ll find 11 “income stream” ideas. These are techniques that I’ve used, am

using now… or are being successfully used by friends of mine. So I know they work. Some will

add hundreds or thousands of dollars a month to your income. Others can add tens of thousands.

They will all take effort and time. Some will require start-up capital. And some will require you

to learn a new skill. But they are skills you will benefit from throughout your life.

Choose the one that interests you most. Work at it until you have mastered it or until you decide

it’s not for you. Then start on another one.

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Since this is the first edition of this book, we were able to include only these 11. But we are

developing other ideas that we will include in the second edition (which will be published later

this year).

One more thing before you begin…

The easiest thing to do right now would be to set this book down and say you’ll get to it some

day. You and I both know what will happen if you do. You’ll get busy with other things and this

life-changing opportunity will pass you by. That would be a shame. Because between what’s

here in these pages… and the financial guidance you’ll get from Tom, Paul, me, and the entire

Palm Beach Letter team through your subscription – you have a unique chance to transform your

financial life in a very real and profound way.

Please don’t let it pass by.

Mark Ford

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PART ONE

The Millionaire Mindset

How to See Opportunity All Around You

By Mark Ford

A man observes evergreens growing along the road and thinks they look pretty. Another man

sees the same trees and thinks, “These trees would look good in people’s homes at Christmas. I

wonder what they would pay for them?”

The first man has an ordinary mind. The second, the mind of a moneymaker.

In The Prime Movers, Edwin A. Locke has some interesting insights into the way

moneymakers think:

He argues that an inquisitive mind is a hallmark of the most successful entrepreneurs in

history.

Thomas Edison: He was a “virtual thinking machine. Almost until the day he died, his

mind poured forth a torrent of ideas, and he might track as many as 60 experiments at a

time in his laboratory.”

Steve Jobs: He bombarded people with his ideas – his investors, his board of directors,

his customers, his subordinates, and his CEO.

Henry Ford: “He threw himself into every detail, insisting on getting small things

absolutely right…. But he never lost sight of the ultimate, overall objection. He had a vision

of what his new car [the Model T] should look like. From all the improvisation, hard

thought, and hard work came a machine that was at once the simplest and the most

sophisticated automobile built to date anywhere in the world.”

Bernard’s Secret

My friend Bernard has this kind of mind. I have known him for more than 20 years. During

that time he has started at least a dozen successful companies. He has become a wealthy man,

but his interest in making money has never waned.

He makes his money effortlessly. Or so it seems. I admire that about him. I like talking to him

about his recent deals. His excitement gets me excited.

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He makes money by starting successful businesses and investing in real estate. (Those are my

primary vehicles, too.) But also by buying and selling exotic cars, boats, antiques and watches.

Every time I see him he is driving a new car. One month it’s a Bentley. The next month it’s a

Ferrari. He buys slightly used cars and enjoys them and then turns them over for a profit.

Bernard has become an expert in barter and countertrade. He never pays full price for

anything. He knows how to get the best price for everything. And he loves the game.

That, by the way, was always the case. Even before he became wealthy, he enjoyed the best

that life has to offer for pennies on the dollar.

I call what Bernard has the millionaire mindset.

Raw intelligence is not the issue. If it were merely a matter of intelligence, every genius would

become a wealthy man.

So what is it?

Here are some observations I’ve made from studying Bernard and reading about great

wealth builders like Jobs and Ford.

1. A “normal” person is concerned with his ego. When dealing with a problem he doesn’t really

understand, he pretends he understands. He doesn’t try to find out what anyone else thinks. A

person with a millionaire mindset asks questions incessantly. He has no ego when it comes to learning. He knows that knowledge is power.

2. A “normal” person has a consumer mentality. He looks at a hot new product and thinks he

would like to own one. A person with a millionaire mindset thinks “How can I produce

something similar?”

3. A “normal” person is wish-focused. He daydreams about making gobs of money. A person with a millionaire mindset is reality-based.

4. A “normal” person, when confronted with a challenging idea, thinks of all the reasons it

might not work. A person with a millionaire mindset disregards the problems until he has a

clear vision of how it might succeed.

5. A “normal” person resists change. A person with a millionaire mindset embraces it.

6. A “normal” person accepts the status quo. A person with a millionaire mindset is always looking to make things – even good things – better.

7. A “normal” person reacts. A person with a millionaire mindset is proactive.

8. A “normal” person looks at a successful business owner and thinks “That guy’s lucky.” Or

“That guy’s a shyster.” A person with a millionaire mindset thinks “What’s his secret?” And

“How can I do that?”

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Most importantly, a person with a millionaire mindset likes living like a millionaire. He doesn’t

shortchange himself when it comes to comfort and luxury. He thinks, “I can have my cake and

eat it too.”

You can start your transformation by assessing your own thought processes. Be honest.

Identify the millionaire mindset qualities you don’t have and try to develop them.

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How Every Decision You Make Can Make You Richer –

or Poorer

By Mark Ford

You go to lunch with a colleague. Everything is good. When the waiter puts the bill on the

table, the total is $26.

Do you pick it up? Do you wait and hope he does? Or do you suggest you split it?

On the surface, this is a minor decision. But in truth, it is one of a million chances you’ve had,

have, and will have to become wealthier.

A cheapskate might look at it this way:

If we split the bill, I’ll be $13 poorer. If I can get him to pay it, I’ll be $13 richer. If I pay the

whole bill, I’ll be $26 poorer.

To the cheapskate, the best decision is obvious. So when the bill arrives, he gets up to “go to the

bathroom,” hoping he’ll be $13 richer when he returns.

But I have a different view. For wealth building, like quantum mechanics, often operates

according to laws that seem contrary to what is “obvious.”

Paying the tab, in other words, might actually make you richer. Because the $13 you spend

on your lunch partner might give you a return of much more than $13.

Your generosity might signal to him that you are the kind of person he can trust. It might tell him

that you are someone who is willing to give first without demanding recompense. If he sees you

in that light, a relationship might be seeded by this small investment on your part. A year later –

it is possible to imagine – he might recommend you for a promotion when he himself gets

promoted to head up your department.

It depends on your assessment of his character.

If he impresses you as a person who believes – as you do – in reciprocity, you will know that

the $13 is a wise investment. If, on the other hand, he shows you that he is a person who

believes in exploiting others, the wise move might be to pay only your share of the bill and not

develop the relationship any further.

In either case, you are richer.

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In the first case, you are richer in a potentially lucrative business relationship. In the second case,

you are richer in knowledge – knowledge about him that can help you avoid trouble or seize

opportunity in the future.

What Would You Do?

I am making two points:

Almost every event in your life is an opportunity for you to become richer.

By seeing every situation as a wealth-building opportunity, you can take the

actions that will gradually make you very rich.

I am sitting at a cigar bar as I am writing this. I am wondering if I should take a break from the

writing and have a drink. On the face of it, this is a very ordinary situation. But I am going to

view it as a wealth-building opportunity.

Here is how:

If I have a drink, several predictable things will happen:

It will give me a warm feeling.

It will make me think the writing I am doing right now is better than it actually is.

I will leave the bartender an oversized tip.

Only the first of those things will make me richer. And that will be a fleeting richness that will

require a second drink to sustain itself. But that second drink will amplify the other two

outcomes. And both of them will leave me poorer.

So I decide to pass on the drink and continue to write.

That will give me an immediate return, because I will feel good about my decision. And I’ll be

engaged in thinking again.

It will also give me a long-term benefit. Finishing my work on this book will motivate me to

write another book. When it is completed, I’ll send it to my publisher. He will write me an

advance for at least $50,000. And if the book sells well, it might make me 10 times that much.

It all begins by seeing this moment as a wealth-building opportunity.

You Always Have Choices

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The people I call “instinctive wealth builders” (IWBs) understand this on a gut level. They see

every transaction – social, personal or business – as a wealth-related opportunity. They are

always angling, even subconsciously, to increase their wealth.

Most of us aren’t born with that instinct. For us, a casual conversation is just a casual

conversation. And choosing to join a club or hire or fire an employee is that and nothing more.

But the moment we put this principle into practice, we see the world very differently. Its

potential is no longer limited. It is enormous, maybe even infinite. And we view every action

we engage in as a chance – big or small – to increase or diminish our wealth.

Ten years ago, I got called into a meeting with one of my biggest clients. The purpose of the

meeting was to discuss the dismissal of a young man.

“We want to fire him,” I was told. “His boss says he is arrogant and hard to work with. What

do you think?”

“Why are you asking me?” I said, feeling a little irritated. “He is not my employee.”

“We’re asking you because we know how much you like him.”

“Oh,” I said.

I knew that firing this kid would be a huge mistake. Yes, he was arrogant. But they didn’t see the

profit-producing potential I saw in him.

To get them to look at the situation as a wealth-building opportunity instead of a way to deal

with a “problem” employee, I said, “You can fire him if you want to. But if you do, I know

somebody who will jump at the chance to hire him and build a business on his shoulders. And

when that business is very successful – which I’m sure it will be – you will look back at this day

and be mad at me. I don’t want you to be mad at me, so I beg you to reconsider.”

They made the right decision. And this year, that “kid’s” division produced $30 million in net

profits for my client.

Not All Wealth Is Financial…

I remember when I made the decision to become wealthy. It was 1983. I was taking a 14week

Dale Carnegie course. And one of our first challenges was to identify our 10 top goals. We then

had to narrow them down to five, then to three, and finally pick one as our primary goal.

It was easy for me to pick my top 10. But thinning the list was tough. I wanted to

accomplish many things. I wanted to be a novelist, a poet, a teacher, a philosopher, a

humanitarian, and a perfect specimen of health and fitness. I wanted to be rich, too.

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The task proved to be almost impossible. And it wasn’t until I was called upon to announce

my choice to the rest of the class that it came to me. I realized that if I were rich I would have

the freedom to do all those other things.

As I explained in my book Automatic Wealth, that changed my life. For one thing, it changed

the way I thought about my work. Before, business decisions had been complicated. But

when I made “becoming rich” a priority all I had to ask myself was, “Which choice will

make me richer?”

Back then, my entire focus was on financial wealth. But as my net worth increased, I started to

make decisions based on other forms of wealth – knowledge, friendship, and emotional

satisfaction. What my friend Alex Green calls “spiritual wealth.”

Strangely enough, focusing on these other, more lofty, objectives, didn’t limit or diminish the

rate at which I was getting richer. On the contrary, it increased. (This is one of the

counterintuitive laws that seem to govern the quantum world of wealth building.)

I am going to assume that you are reading this because you have not yet achieved your wealth-

building goals. However well you have done for yourself, you want to do better, right?

So how can you train yourself to see every situation as an opportunity and take the

correct actions?

Analyzing the Potential

Let’s begin with the obvious opportunities: business meetings and transactions.

Before every business “event” – large or small – I take a few moments to ask myself four

questions:

1. “In what way is this an opportunity for me to become more wealthy?” (Note: I don’t ask

“Is this a wealth-building opportunity?” – because every situation is a wealth-building

opportunity.)

2. “What is the potential of this opportunity?”

3. “What are the possible problems with this opportunity?”

4. “What can I do to seize this opportunity?”

Let me give you an example of how this works.

Yesterday, PP, my partner in rental real estate, told me about a house he thought we should buy.

It sold for $279,000 at the top of the market and is now being advertised for less than half of

that. He had done some investigating and figured there was a good chance we could steal it for

$75,000.

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It didn’t take me more than a few seconds to ask myself the above four questions.

The answer to the first question was easy.

The answer to the second question was threefold:

I could probably make about 6% to 8% on the $15,000 we would put down.

If I banked the deal, I would make another 5% on the $60,000 mortgage.

Some time in the future, the house will probably sell for considerably more than

we’d be paying.

So the immediate potential is very good – much better than keeping my money in the bank.

The long-term potential is very good too, though less certain. That brings us to the third

question: “What are the possible problems with this opportunity?”

Well, we could get less rent than we expect. But we’ve been investing in rental real estate for 30

years. And given what we know about the local market, that is highly unlikely. Even if we

underestimate the rent by a factor of 25% we will still be cash positive. Not only that, but if the

property never appreciates, it would still be a good deal.

So the only question left was #4: “What can I do to seize this opportunity?”

The answer to that one, too, was easy. I wrote out two checks – one for my 50% share in the

deal and other for the mortgage.

Taking Action

Train yourself to ask these four questions – keeping in mind that every situation, big or small,

is an opportunity for you to become richer.

Develop the temerity to evaluate the downside as well as the upside. And this is

extremely important. Many wealth builders get so caught up in the potential of an

opportunity that they can’t see the costs and the risks.

And, finally, learn to figure out a course of action that will minimize or eliminate the

downside and maximize the upside.

This is critical. Probably 80% of good wealth-building opportunities are lost because the people

involved don’t take the time to come up with an action plan. They see a situation as a chance to

become richer. They understand its value. But then they decide to wing it. Winging it seldom

works.

One of my former protégés – a multimillionaire entrepreneur today – once told me that he

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thought developing and implementing action plans was my greatest strength. “I’ve been

watching you for many years,” he told me. “And I’ve noticed that you always find a way to have

everyone agree to do things the way you want them done.”

The truth is I don’t care whether things are done the way I want them to be done. I only want

them to be done. Successfully done. That’s why I insist on an action plan to implement every

wealth-building opportunity.

Look at every situation you find yourself in as an opportunity to make yourself richer. And I

do mean every situation, even the most mundane. This includes:

The first thought you put in your mind when you wake up each morning

What you listen to on your commute to work

How you greet your boss and fellow workers

What you talk about at the coffee machine

The expression on your face and the firmness of your grip when you shake hands

The conversation you initiate with the person next to you on a plane

Whether you buy a brand-new car or a used one

How your voice sounds when you answer the phone

How you prepare for a meeting

Whether you buy your clothes at Saks or Marshalls

Whether you go out to lunch or eat at your desk

The time you get to work in the morning

Whether you pay for or split the tab at lunch

Some of your opportunities will be small and some large. But by asking yourself these four

questions first, you will bring your batting average way up:

1. “In what way is this an opportunity for me to become more wealthy?”

2. “What is the potential of this opportunity?”

3. “What are the possible problems with this opportunity?”

4. “What can I do to seize this opportunity?”

If you make it a habit to approach every situation this way, it will soon become automatic. And

before you know it, you will have seized hundreds – even thousands – of wealth-building

opportunities… each one making you a littler richer.

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The following two essays were originally published in the Palm Beach Letter. We're

reprinting them here because they’re so important to the Palm Beach Letter wealth-

building process.

How to Take Complete Control of Your Financial

Future

By Mark Ford

In marriage, there are three numbers you must know by heart: your spouse’s birthday (October

18 for me), your anniversary (April 19 for me), and how many minutes you can be late before

you are in trouble (12 for just about everyone).

To run a business, there are also three numbers you must know: net cash flow, the cost of

acquiring a new customer, and that customer’s lifetime value.

It is no different when it comes to financial planning. In this case, the three numbers are:

1. Your lifestyle burn rate (LBR)

2. The amount of money you need in your start-over-again fund (SOF)

3. The amount you need socked away in order to retire comfortably. You might want to call

this your “take-a-hike” (TAH) number. Because it is money that will allow you – if you

ever want to – to tell your boss to take a hike.

Yet most people go through their lives, striving for financial independence, without any idea of

what these numbers are or should be. As a result, peace of mind is always around the next

corner. (And this is just as true for high earners as it is for anyone else.)

Pursuing wealth without knowing these three numbers is like driving around searching for a

particular restaurant without any idea of its address.

It doesn’t have to be that way. You can chart a direct path to wealth with these three

numbers. And you can start today.

How Much Do You Need to Live Well?

Your lifestyle burn rate (LBR) is how much you need to spend each year to enjoy the

lifestyle you want.

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It’s easy to determine. Simply calculate how much you are currently spending. Then increase

that by the cost of all the extras you’d like to have. (If you have everything you want now, good

for you.)

When you do the calculation, group your expenses into five categories: housing (including

maintenance and taxes), basic living expenses (food, clothing, health care, etc.), education

(if applicable), entertainment (including travel), and charity (if applicable).

Don’t guess at what you are spending. Guessing is synonymous with grossly overestimating. Use

your actual costs from the past year. An hour or two with your check register is all the time

you’ll need. And it may be illuminating. When I recalculated my LBR recently, I was shocked to

see how much I was spending on cigars. ($14,000!) You may also find that it alters your idea of

a quality life. (I’m cutting back to one stogie a day.)

Your LBR is a critical number. Without it, you can’t do any financial planning. Your LBR tells

you how much you need to earn and how much you can put aside for savings and investing.

The Three Stages of Your Financial Life

Your lifestyle burn rate (LBR) is likely to change over time. For most people,

it’s a three-stage process.

The first stage lasts until you have your first child. The second stage begins

when you have your first child and continues until your children are out of the

house. The third stage begins when you are free and clear of dependencies, and

it continues till you kick off.

The first stage usually has the lowest LBR. You are young and relatively

unburdened. If you are wise, you limit your expenses to necessities.

The second stage typically has the highest LBR. You have bigger home

expenses, bigger living and entertainment expenses, and educational expenses

for your children. For some people, this stage may be extended by the need to

provide for aging parents.

The third stage has a burn rate that will likely be at least twice that of the first

stage but significantly less than the second stage. This is – or can be – a

wonderful time that you can enjoy without working more than you want to.

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How Much Would You Need to “Start Over”

The next number you need to know is how much you need in your start-over-again (SOA) fund.

This represents the amount of money you would need if – for whatever reason – you lost

everything.

Your SOA number is basically your monthly LBR expenses, multiplied by the number of

months you would need to get back on your feet, plus whatever you might need to start a new

business (if you are an entrepreneur or professional).

Most financial planners recommend an emergency fund of three to six months of living

expenses. I hate that idea because it is arbitrary and vague. Why three to six months? What if

you need 12 or 18 months to get started again? You determine your SOA based on what you

calculate you would really need to start over.

The other reason I hate the emergency fund idea is that almost anything can be considered an

emergency: an unexpected dental bill, a broken car axle, a Christmas bonus that was half of what

you expected. These are not true emergencies. But they are expenses that everyone has to be

prepared for.

My recommendation is to add 5% to 10% to your LBR. Then keep this money in a separate

account earmarked for expenditures that might come up relatively soon (in less than 10 years).

This is money you can’t afford to lose. So it should be put only into super-safe investments – i.e.,

cash, gold coins, quality municipal bonds, and good rental real estate.

What’s Your “Take-a-Hike” Number?

The third number you need to know is the amount of money you need to retire comfortably. To

calculate this number, take your LBR, subtract any side-business income you have (and expect

to continue to have in retirement), and multiply that by 13.

Why 13? Because unless you have 20 or 30 years to invest your retirement money more

aggressively, it should be in safe vehicles (such as municipal bonds or rental real estate) that

distribute regular income. It’s reasonable to expect a 5% yield from municipal bonds and a

10%-plus return from rental real estate. If your retirement funds are divided 50-50, this will

give you an average return of 7.5%. And the inverse of that, in percentage terms, is 13.

As an example, say your LBR is $88,000 and you have a side business generating $1,500 a

month or $18,000 a year. You’d subtract $18,000 from $88,000. This would leave you with

$70,000. You would then multiply that by 13. This would give you a target number of

$910,000, which would provide you with a tax-free income of $68,250 a year at 7.5%.

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Let These Three Numbers Inspire You

In my thirties, I managed to make and save a lot of money without paying much attention to

these numbers. But I found out how much they mattered when, at age 39, I retired and began to

live on my savings and investments.

It didn’t take me long to realize that my living expenses were higher than I had anticipated.

They were so high, in fact, that the millions I had put aside were insufficient to generate the

income I needed to support my lifestyle. Shortly after that, I hit a bump that set me back more

than a million dollars. I was still a multimillionaire. But I was not financially independent.

I had done many things right in my career. But I didn’t know my numbers. And because I didn’t

know them, I couldn’t retire. I had to go back to work.

I remember the day I made the decision to go back to work. I went to bed angry with myself.

But I woke up the next morning roaring with ambition. I was inspired. I was going to do it all

again. But intelligently this time. I was going to do it by the numbers.

And that’s what I did. I calculated my three numbers – a realistic LBR, my SOA, and my

retirement fund target number. I opened an account for my SOA and funded it immediately with

cash. Then I opened a second account for my retirement fund. Knowing my goal for that fund

made my investment decisions much easier. As a result, I was able to reach my goal before I

turned 50.

That’s the great advantage of determining these three numbers. You will know exactly what

you have to do to achieve your financial goals. More importantly, it will set a fire inside of

you that will keep burning until you achieve them.

I’m quite sure that, had I not paid attention to my numbers, my LBR would be so high today

that I’d still be a slave to making money.

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The Secret of the Golden Buckets

By Mark Ford

Imagine a golden well with three golden buckets in front of it. One is labeled “spending.” The

second is labeled “savings.” And the third is labeled “investing.”

There’s a sign on the well that challenges you to try your hand at a game. To win, you have to

fill all three buckets. It seems to be an easy challenge. But there are two problems.

The well will give you only so much water within a given time period. And if you look closely at

the “spending” bucket, you notice that there is a sizable hole at the bottom.

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I’m using metaphors here, of course. The well represents your yearly income. The spending

bucket, with the hole at the bottom, represents the money you must spend to enjoy the quality

of life you want. The savings bucket represents money you absolutely can’t afford to lose.

And the investing bucket represents your future wealth.

If you manage to fill all three buckets, you win. You’re rich!

So can this game be won? It can, if you play it smart. And you can win it relatively quickly if

you use my system. I call my system “The Secret of the Golden Buckets.”

Simplicity Trumps Sophistication

The money-management system I’ve used to generate more than $50 million in wealth is quite

simple. It’s a far cry from the complicated systems I was enamored with 30 years ago, when I

was just beginning to learn about money. Those systems felt exotic, secret, exciting. But as the

years passed, I found they did not work as advertised. Eventually, I realized that sophisticated

financial programs are like complicated toys. They look fantastic on the shelf. But when you

use them, they break. And when they break, you can’t fix them.

As simple as it is, the system I’m going to introduce you to here will provide for all of your

financial needs. It will allow you to live well now. And live well in retirement.

As Palm Beach Letter subscribers know, our first rule for building wealth is “Never, ever lose

money.” So the primary characteristic of this plan is safety.

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Our second rule is “Grow at least a little bit richer every day.” And the second (and

equally important) characteristic of this plan is its dependability. It will give you a regularly

escalating net worth without significant setbacks.

The Golden Bucket of Spending

I grew up relatively poor, the second of eight children. My father earned $12,000 a year as a

college professor. As a teenager, I was ashamed of our small house, my hand-medown

clothes, and my peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches.

I dreamed, literally dreamed, of living like a rich man. And so, when I got my first jobs (at age

nine as a paperboy, and then at 12 as a lackey at the local carwash), I would spend my money on

“luxuries.” (Like a pair of brand-new – instead of hand-me-down – shoes.)

I worked every chance I got through high school. Then I worked two or three jobs during

college and grad school. I spent 80% of my money on necessities: food, clothes, and tuition.

But I always spent a bit on little niceties. Even then, I had the notion that I didn’t need to

deprive myself for some better life later.

I tell you this to emphasize a key part of my system. I don’t believe in scrimping to optimize

savings. I believe you can live a rich life while you grow rich, so long as you are willing to work

hard and you are smart about your spending.

Think of the typical earning/spending/saving pattern of most wealth seekers…

During their twenties, they spend every nickel of their modest income to make ends meet. At that

age, it is nearly impossible to put aside money for the future.

During their thirties, their income increases. But this is also when they start a family. Expenses

soar. There are more mouths to feed, a “family” car to buy, and a down payment on a first

house. They manage to save a little during these years. But not nearly as much as they thought

they would.

If they work hard and make good career decisions, their income climbs much higher in their

forties and early fifties. They have more money to put aside for the future. But they are also

tempted into buying newer cars, nicer clothes, more exotic vacations, and – the biggest wealth

stealer of them all – that dream house.

In their later fifties and sixties, their income plateaus or even dips. And they may have to start

shelling out for college tuition. Aware that their retirement funds are being depleted rather than

enhanced, they invest aggressively to try to make up the difference.

Finally, sometime in their mid to late sixties, they realize that they don’t have enough money

to retire. They have worked hard for almost 40 years, chasing wealth but never managing to

attain it.

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It’s sad, but it’s the reality for most people. Even high-income earners like doctors and

lawyers.

There are two lessons here. First, it is difficult to acquire wealth if you increase your spending

every time your income goes up. Second, setting unrealistic investing goals means taking

greater risks. And taking more risks will almost always make you poorer… not richer.

The truth is, there is only a marginal relationship between how much you spend on housing,

transportation, vacations, and “toys” and the enjoyment you can derive from them.

My “golden bucket” spending strategy is simply this: Discover your own way to live a rich life.

By a “rich life,” I mean a life free from financial stress but also filled with things that give you

pleasure.

Your family can be just as happy in a house that costs$200,000 as in one that costs $20 million.

Likewise, a $25,000 car will get you where you want to go just as well as a car that costs 10

times that amount. In fact, there are dozens of ways to live like a millionaire on a modest budget.

If you learn those ways, you will have a tremendous advantage over everyone else at your

income level.

Make smart spending decisions. Remember that the spending bucket has a hole in its

bottom. Every dollar you put into it will be gone. Stop thinking that because you’re earning

more money you should be spending more.

So here’s what I’d like you to do. Figure out how much you need to spend to live your

personal version of a “rich” life. It might help to spend a little time thinking about the things

you truly enjoyed last year. (Those are the true luxuries.) My guess is that few of them

required much in the way of money.

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Keep the biggest wealth-stealing expenses – your house, your cars, and entertainment – to a

necessary minimum. And eschew any expenditure that has a brand name attached to it. Brand

names are parasites that gobble up wealth.

What you are doing is determining the size of your spending bucket. It should be smaller than

the bucket you used last year, but big enough to contain inexpensive luxuries that will make

your life truly rich.

Don’t nod your head and promise to get to it some day. Do it today. Estimate, as well as you

can, what you need to spend each year to have the life you want. This is your ideal LBR

(lifestyle burn rate). And this is a number that must be firmly in your mind if you intend to be a

serious wealth builder.

The Golden Bucket of Savings

Once you have figured out how large your spending bucket needs to be, you can start to figure

out the size of your savings and investment buckets.

To most people, saving and investing are the same. But I distinguish between them

because I believe it will help you acquire wealth safely.

Saving and investing are the same in the sense that you are setting aside some portion of your

current earnings for the future. But the purpose of saving is to safeguard that set-aside money.

The purpose of investing is to grow it.

The money in your savings bucket includes your SOA (start-over-again) fund.

What if, for example, you found out that the company that’s employed you for 20 years

suddenly shut its doors? And that the pension plan it was holding for you is now worthless?

You would have to start over, right? You’d need money to pay your expenses while you found

a new job. And you’d need money to start investing again. That’s the money in your savings

bucket. And that money has to be absolutely safe.

Imagine how you would feel if you called your broker to tell him you needed to cash in your

SOA fund and he told you its value had crashed – that it was now worth 10 cents on the dollar.

Well, that’s exactly what happened to millions of baby boomers. The reason it happened is

because these people did not distinguish between saving and investing. They had all their

money tied up in investments that were actually quite risky.

You don’t want to take any risk with your SOA money. Putting it at risk, even average

market risk, is too dangerous.

You need to be equally as careful with the money you set aside to repay debt. Because when

the bill comes due, you must pay it. Keep that money safe. Put your debt obligations in your

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savings bucket, never into the market.

Same is true of any future expenditure that is coming up relatively soon. By relatively soon, I

mean less than 10 years.

If your retirement is still 20 or 30 years away, you can afford to invest money set aside for that

purpose in vehicles that are safe but not super-safe. However, if you will be retiring in less than

10 years, you can’t take the chance of seeing your retirement fund drop by 20% to 30%. You

won’t have time to let the market correct itself.

Are you with me?

For your savings bucket, your money should only be in super-safe investments. Given today’s

economy, we believe there are only four vehicles that qualify: cash, gold coins, quality municipal

bonds, and well-bought rental real estate. For simplicity, my recommendation is to diversify your

savings bucket funds evenly: 25% into each if you use four of them, 33% if you use three of

them, or 50% if you use only two (cash and gold coins).

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I’ve already asked you to estimate your LBR. Now, I want you to estimate how much you’ll

need in your savings bucket. That includes the money you would need in the way of SOA

funds. It also includes money to cover all of your debt obligations and other “must pay”

expenditures that will be coming due in the next 10 years.

The Golden Bucket of Investing

As I said, the purpose of your investing bucket is to grow your wealth. This is the bucket you

will use to fund your long-term expenditures. By “long-term,” I mean more than 10 years.

If you are young, you may use this bucket for your children’s college expenses. But for the

most part, the money in this bucket will be for your retirement. And when you look at

investment returns from a long-range perspective like that, even a few percentage points can

make a huge difference.

That’s why the kind of stocks Tom Dyson recommends in The Palm Beach Letter are the only

kind that appeal to me. Every other stock investing strategy I’ve encountered makes me

uncomfortable.

The recommendations you get every month in PBL are designed to give you an average, long-

term return of 8%-12%. This might seem paltry to investors who dream of doubling and

tripling their money every year. But those people almost always end up broke. And making

8%-12% on your money over the long term will give you terrific results.

But – and this is a very big but – you won’t get wealthy this way unless you invest

enough money.

In other words, investing alone can’t make you rich. So if you can afford to invest only a few

thousand dollars a year, you will not get rich even if you make 12% a year for 40 years. To fill

your investing bucket, you need to invest more than that. And if you can’t invest more than that

right now, you need to generate more income so you can.

That brings us back to the metaphorical well that represents your yearly income.

Your Golden Well

If your income isn’t sufficient to fill all three buckets, you have only two options. You must

increase the flow from your primary well (your job). And/or you must dig some new wells.

You can increase the income from your job by becoming a more valuable employee. And you

should. I have written on this subject in several of the books I published under the pen name

Michael Masterson. The one I recommend is Automatic Wealth for Grads… and Anyone Else

Just Starting Out.

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But you should also consider creating other streams of income.

One possibility would be to invest in rental real estate. After you have paid down the mortgages,

this would become its own well, pumping liquid gold to you every year. Another option would

be to start a part-time side business. If you are interested in doing that, I recommend Ready, Fire,

Aim, another book I wrote as Michael Masterson. The Palm Beach Income system could be

another well for you in the future. All three of these income streams are explained later in this

book.

Here’s the point: If the income you are earning is insufficient to achieve your wealth-

building goals, do NOT try to get there by taking on more risk. Instead, work hard to create

more income.

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The Only Wealth-Building Strategy You Need

This simple system can work for you if you commit yourself to it. As I said, it’s the system I

used to build a net worth of more than $50 million. And it’s still working for me and everyone

else I know who has tried it.

So, today, establish your own approach to “living rich.” Make your spending bucket big enough

to allow you to enjoy your life now, but small enough to enable you to fill your savings and

investing buckets quickly. Because the day you have both of those buckets filled, you will have

no reason to worry about money ever again.

You don’t need to try any other wealth-building strategy. This one is infallible. And you already

know that it will work, don’t you? You know it will work because it is so simple. It is based on

PBL’s two fundamental rules for building wealth: Never, ever lose money. And become

wealthier every day.

If you are over 40, you know how wrong 99% of the investment schemes out there are. You’ve

tried them and discovered they made you poorer, not richer. You are ready for something

simple and true, a strategy you know in your bones will work.

When Tom and I started The Palm Beach Letter, we made a solemn promise. We vowed to tell

the truth about building wealth, instead of the myths and lies that dominate the investment

media.

We are proud of what we are doing. And we are confident that it will help you become

wealthier. Our goal is not – and never will be – to make you a “clever” investor. We simply

want to teach you how to become wealthy. If that’s what you want, you are in good company.

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The Reason Most “Investment Strategies” Don’t Work

By Mark Ford

I’ve been in the investment advisory business for more than 30 years. And during that time,

I have fallen in love with all kinds of systems.

Without exception, each relationship began with high hopes. I had discovered some new way

to wealth. I was confident in its logic and eager to accumulate the profits it would bring.

Eventually, of course, they all jilted me. And when they did, I blamed myself. I wasn’t smart

enough. I wasn’t brave enough. I wasn’t disciplined enough or patient enough.

Meanwhile, I was making loads of dough as a businessman. Through boom cycles and busts,

I was raking in the green stuff as regularly as I laundered my shirts.

It occurred to me that there must be something in my business experience that I could apply

to the markets.

And that’s what I’m going to talk about here. Why all of the best-known investment

systems don’t work over the long haul. And how I found one strategy that I like.

You Can’t Beat the Market

As I said, I’ve been involved in the investment advisory business for about 30 years. So has

Mark Hulbert.

As editor of the Hulbert Financial Digest, he tracks the records of financial gurus. And he’s

discovered that most of them cannot outperform the market over time. Of the 19 newsletter

portfolios he has been tracking since 1985, only four have outperformed the S&P.

Peter Brimelow, who tracks investment newsletters for MarketWatch, discovered another

disappointing fact. The performance of a newsletter one year has little bearing on its

performance the next year. Three of the top 10 performers of 2008, he noted, were among the

worst 10 of 2009.

So whether you are looking for short-term or long-term performance, the best-known

systems are both unreliable and unlikely to meet your expectations.

I think there is a reason for this. These systems are like religions. They are based on a dash of

history and a ton of faith. The high priests who represent them are loath to make changes when

they don’t work. After all, they have committed their reputations to proving that they do work.

Still, these strategies are compelling when you hear them explained. Each one has a logic that

makes it seem eminently sensible. Their proponents also have stories about how they have

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worked in the past. So it’s not surprising that thousands of investors fall in love with them every

year. But if you take the time to examine them in depth, you will find that their track records

aren’t as good as they “should” be. And if you then examine their underlying logic you will find

that each one has a fatal flaw.

The “Fatal Flaws” of Popular Investing Systems

Fundamental Investing

This one is based on the assumption that, eventually, share prices will reflect the true

business values of particular companies.

That is a nice idea. But it is simply not true. The stock market is not a machine that tracks the

fundamentals of individual companies. Rather, it is a vast gambling competition, with

institutions, insiders, and individual investors trying to predict the valuations of very complicated

businesses. The outcome of this competition is rarely “fair” market prices. Just the opposite.

Prices tilt toward extremes, either way overpriced or undervalued.

Contrarian Investing

This one operates on the assumption that most investors are wrong most of the time. So when

most investors are buying, you should be selling. And when they are selling, you should be

buying.

Again, this is an attractive idea. But if you study the market, you will see that most of the time

investors are right about price trends.

Another problem is that contrarians are convinced that their position will be proven true. So

they tend to leave their money in investments for years or even decades with no ROI. And when

they finally do enjoy a run up, they find it hard to get out. Often they stick with a losing

investment all the way to the bottom again.

Technical Investing

This one is based on the assumption that there are mathematical forces in the universe that

can affect the buying and selling decisions of the market.

That is patently stupid. But it’s appealing to some because it seems to work some of the time.

Why? Because of the many investors who believe in it and react the same way when

supposedly “critical” levels are reached. It’s a self-fulfilling system.

Sentiment-Based Investing

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This is pseudo-science at its worst. It predicts the market about as well as astrology predicts who

will win the Super Bowl. Judging investor sentiment by the amount of cash on the sidelines or in

mutual funds is a crap shoot. Sentiment-based investors get creamed because they jump the gun,

anticipating a reversal in sentiment that never happens. And when a reversal does occur, they

take action on it too late.

Data Mining

Data mining is just a fancy term for finding random coincidences in the market. It may be good

for finding correlations. (When “Event A” happens, a market moves a certain way.) But it’s

lousy for determining causality. (The market moves a certain way because “Event A” happens.)

Alex Green, the Oxford Club’s investment director, puts it this way:

“Even if stocks have rallied every second Thursday in May for the past 50 years, it doesn’t mean

they will rally this year on the second Thursday in May. Data-miners regularly turn up

meaningless correlations and claim they have discovered how to divine the stock market. If

history could determine what the stock market is going to do next, the world’s richest investors

would be historians, data processors, and librarians. And that’s not the case.”

The Only Strategy That Does Work

So what’s the individual investor to do? How can you beat the market when all of the

conventional methods can’t?

When I look at the money I’ve made in business and real estate, there is one fact that stands

out. I never made any money by betting against the market. I never made any money by

trying to anticipate future trends either.

So, yes, expect market ups and downs. But don’t try to time them. Markets are not machines

that you can analyze with precision. They are complex, living organisms. And like all living

organisms, they are constantly reshaping themselves.

Timing the market is like trying to predict when someone will die from smoking. You can say

with certainty that smoking is bad for your health. But you can’t say when, exactly, an individual

will die from it. Some die at 50. Others at 70. And some keep smoking happily through their

nineties.

Put differently, realize that what really matters is the health of your asset allocation. Even

during the worst years of the Depression, millions of Americans were earning good incomes

and increasing their wealth. If something like that ever happens again, Palm Beach Letter

readers should be among that group.

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I don’t worry about the stock market – or the economy, for that matter. It’s not that I’m bullish

on either. But in my book, investing according to short-term market expectations is

speculating. And I gave up on speculating almost 30 years ago.

Knowing I have my retirement requirements saved in gold, income-producing assets, municipal

bonds, and cash, makes me confident that I can survive any economic collapse. And I feel very

good about my investment portfolio. The companies we recommend in The Palm Beach Letter

are exactly the kind of businesses that will do well even in troubled times.

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PART TWO

11 Tried, Tested, and True Income

Strategies Anyone Can Use

Forgive me if I sound like a broken record – but I really want to drive this idea home.

To make ends meet, you need to be able to keep your spending bucket full.

To be wealthy, you need to fill your savings and investing buckets as well.

That way, you will have all the money you need for the future. And you can start growing that

money now with high-yielding Palm Beach-style investments.

The best way to fill these two buckets faster is by increasing your income.

Doesn’t matter if it’s $100 a month or $10,000 a month. Any extra income you can add to these

buckets will go towards making you wealthier.

And that’s really why you’re here, isn’t it?

What follows are 11 income strategies. Some are strategies that I’m using now or have used in

the past. Others are being used by friends of mine with good success.

All of them allow you to earn income without having to work at it every day. Some will even

let you earn income while you sleep. (That’s not to say you don’t have to put some effort into

them.)

For instance, in the first part of this section you’ll learn about starting an Internet business.

You’ll have to spend some time setting up your new venture. But once things are running

smoothly, you won’t have to spend more than an hour a week updating it.

Real estate is another strategy you’ll learn about. It’s one that I highly recommend – especially

now when real estate bargains are everywhere. Whether it’s rentals, “flipping,” or Section 8

housing, real estate can provide a great return on investment and lucrative monthly income.

You’ll also learn about a terrific skill that could put you in very high demand in one of the

largest and fastest-growing industries in the world. Right now, it accounts for half the

U.S. economy. But individuals can easily carve out a little chunk of this market and make

$50,000, $100,000, or $250,000 a year in their spare time!

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And, of course, there’s the Palm Beach Letter’s very own super-low-risk passive income

strategy. It has the potential to bring you a five- to six-figure income every year for the rest of

your life.

In short, there’s something for everyone here. And we’ll be adding more in the weeks and

months ahead. So be sure to refresh this link periodically.

Mark Ford

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INCOME OPPORTUNITY #1

The Perfect “Part-Time” Business Anyone Can Start

Quickly and Easily

By Mark Ford

What if you could retire next year? Put the daily grind behind you and start living the good

life?

I have an idea about how you could do that.

The idea: You spend most of your day enjoying yourself. And only a few hours on the

computer… running an Internet business based on a topic of your choice.

The key is to keep it simple. You can't run a big complicated business by working just a few

hours a day. And you can't expect a part-time business like this to gross tens of millions of

dollars. But if you think you would be content with revenues in the $100,000$500,000 range,

that is very achievable.

And you can do it in a relatively short period of time. Maybe 12 to 24 months.

Interested?

Let me tell you how I came up with this idea…

I was talking to SA, one of my oldest friends. He's been running a restaurant in a small tourist

town in Ohio. And his wife has a good job as an executive. But despite the government's BS

about no inflation, their expenses keep going up. Meanwhile, SA's business keeps going

down.

SA and his wife have two children who are college bound. They once had a decent amount of

money set aside for the kids' college and their own retirement, but they've had to dig into that

recently.

I told him what I have been preaching for years. You can't change the external forces that affect

your income. And worrying about it does absolutely no good. The only responsible thing to do

is to start to generate outside income. If you are smart and have a good plan, one day your

second income will be equal to or greater than the income you are relying on now. When that

happens, your worries will be over.

How could SA develop a second stream of income that could replace his first? And how could

he simultaneously develop a plan that would enable him to retire before he was too old to enjoy

it?

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$175K – Part-Time

I wanted to help him come up with a solution, but it wasn't going to be easy. He was already

busy with his restaurant. So his second stream of income would have to be generated by a

business he could run on a very part-time basis. And it would have to have the potential to give

him the retirement income he would need – $175,000.

There are only a few part-time businesses I know of that can do that. And only one that I

thought was ideal for his situation: to become the owner of a small but lucrative Internet

business. Building an Internet business is not as easy as it was 10 years ago. But it is still

relatively easy to start and relatively easy to grow. And it still beats brick-and-mortar

businesses, hands down.

I figured that if he did it right (and I knew exactly how he could do that), he could

eventually be generating plenty of extra income by working just a few hours a day.

While he was building his side business, he'd have to keep his day job. But in just a year or

two, he'd be making so much "part-time" money that he could quit his day job. He could then

farm out the tedious work involved in his new operation. And he'd have himself a retirement

lifestyle… and a steady flow of income.

Before I attempted to sell my idea to SA, I asked myself, "What is it about this business that

would make it feel like retirement, even if you have to spend a few hours a day at it?”

Here's what I came up with:

The first thing is about freedom: It is a business that makes it possible for you to have at least

eight free hours every day. Eight hours without any obligations. In other words, you can spend

the bulk of your day doing whatever you want. Even if it means doing nothing.

The second thing is about purpose: It is a business that allows you to do something you care

about. Everybody cares about something – sports, cooking, whatever. And because of the

Internet, there is a market for every interest. Some of those markets comprise millions of

potential buyers. Others are smaller. But they are all big enough to create a nice income.

The third thing is about pleasure: You should be able to work only with people you like. That

applies to your customers, your vendors – and everyone else you deal with. You should also be

able to do only the fun parts of the business and delegate the necessary but boring parts to

someone else.

The fourth thing is about convenience: You should be able to work the hours you choose, day

or night, and from anywhere you want – even when you are traveling.

And the final thing is about comfort: You should be able to work in jeans and a T-shirt or your

pajamas or your bathing suit.

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That’s the great thing about this income opportunity. It gives you the money you need. And,

at the same time, the freedom, purpose, pleasure, convenience, and comfort you expect from

being retired.

A Business Model Based on Some of the Fastest-Growing

Industries in the World

This business model works. In fact, since I began writing about it 10 years ago, I’d be willing to

bet that hundreds of readers have used it to create millions of dollars’ worth of revenue. I even

know individuals who have used it to generate more than $600 million in yearly revenues. (Of

course, they didn’t make that kind of money working part-time.)

It takes advantage of two powerful industries.

1. The Internet – E-commerce is a $223 billion industry in the U.S. alone. It is expected to grow to nearly $350 billion by 2014.

2. Direct marketing – This is a $2 trillion industry worldwide. About three-fourths of it is in

the U.S.

It can also tap into information publishing, another huge industry (at about a $1 trillion a year).

Let's do a quick review of the advantages of each of these industries:

Advantages of the Internet:

Reduced the cost of production and inventory

Has minimal storage requirements and low delivery costs

Is very niche friendly

Low cost of customer contact

Super-low cost of entry

A perfect synergy with direct marketing and information publishing

Advantages of direct marketing:

Low cost of entry

Perfect for information publishing

Idea and niche friendly

Scientific and ramp-able (This is how direct marketing at its best works.)

Advantages of information publishing:

Cash upfront

Allows you to work from anywhere

Low or no office costs Niche friendly (In fact, you need a narrow niche to be successful.)

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Low start-up costs Potentially huge margins

All of these advantages come together with this business.

Here’s the Start-Up Strategy I Recommend

The strategy I recommended to my friend SA has all the steps necessary to make the transition

from overworked and underpaid to an early retirement. With this plan, you get the freedom,

sense of purpose, and fun that comes from being your own boss. You can create a second

income stream above and beyond what you’re making now – enough to essentially retire in a

year or two. And thanks to the Internet, it’s the easiest (and cheapest) part-time business to

start.

Here it is…

1. Get on your computer and do a search for businesses that are selling books, newsletters,

and reports online, focusing on subjects you’re interested in and know about. I figure this

will take less than 30 minutes.

2. Use one of several free applications to identify about a dozen of those businesses that are

growing rapidly. Again, this will take no more than 30 minutes.

3. Review the websites of those businesses and select the one you like the best. This might

take three to four hours.

4. Get a list of copywriters broken down by their fields of expertise. (Easy to find online.)

Then make a deal with one of them to write two things for you. First, an information-

packed report that is similar to something being sold by your favorite online business.

And second, a promotion to sell that report. An hour’s phone call.

5. While your copywriter is writing the report and the promotion, get online and identify the

best places to attract potential customers. With easy-to-use, free, and widely available

software, this will take only 30 minutes.

6. As soon as the promotion is ready, have the copywriter create a half-dozen small ads

enticing potential buyers to come to your website in order to get a free one-page report

(based on the information in the full report).

7. When prospects come to your website for the free report, have them sign up for a free

information service that will allow you to start marketing to them directly. (This is done

automatically. It will take you no time at all.)

8. Now you send them the promotion for the full report. And you sit back and wait for the

money to start coming in.

Your total invested time will be four or five days. And you’d have the business fully

operational within 30 days. By the end of the second month, you’d be making money. After

that, the business would pretty much grow itself.

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Note: The above plan for starting an Internet business can bring in a six- or even seven-figure

income relatively quickly. But there is another way to make money online that is more like a

hobby. All you have to do is write. And you can still make five figures for just a few hours of

work a week. I’ll let Rebecca Matter, co-managing partner of American Writers & Artists Inc.,

explain how it works in the next essay.

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How to Turn Your Hobbies, Interests, and Special

Knowledge Into Lucrative Second Incomes

By Rebecca Matter

One of the most challenging aspects of generating a second income is finding something that

can make you a decent amount of money without taking up all your spare time.

Fortunately, there’s an opportunity that allows you to do just that… and it’s fun.

You can create something we call “Money-Making Websites.”

A Money-Making Website is simply an informational website on a topic you’re interested in,

designed to attract Web visitors who are searching the Internet for information on the same topic.

Once they arrive at your site, they are then turned into a passive revenue stream, which means

you make money whether you’re working or lying on the beach.

Unlike many other Internet opportunities, you don’t have to be a technology expert or marketing

wiz to make this work. With the software available today, all you have to do is write. If you can

use a computer, e-mail, and surf the Web – you can do this.

I'll talk more about how you make money (and how much you can make) in a minute, but I want

to start by answering the number one question I get asked:

"Sounds good, but what do I write about?"

You Can Write About Almost Anything

The good news is, there are literally thousands upon thousands of topics to choose from.

You could write about one of the skills you've picked up from working over the years, a hobby

you enjoy, or a favorite place you visit.

You could write about yoga… skin care… solar energy… Alaskan cruise travel… maybe you

love horses and could write a site about all the different aspects of horse care…

You're only limited by your imagination!

Karen Patry of Port Angeles, Washington has raised rabbits for over 30 years. Last year, she

started a website about raising rabbits. Karen's goal for her website is to replace her income

and support her husband and herself through their retirement.

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Garland, Texas resident Kerren Kuntzmen recently launched a site that provides business and

marketing guidance to chiropractors. Kerren says she also has plans to start a site offering tips

and advice on organic lawn care.

Glenda de Vries from Stouffville, Ontario, Canada started a site to help provide women the

inspiration they need to have a fabulous menopause.

New Bern, North Carolina resident Susan Feiertag provides information for people to help

them recover after they've had a stroke.

Two years ago, Don Kowalski's doctor warned him that if he continued down the path he was

on, he could develop diabetes, heart disease, and problems with his lungs. On his journey to get

healthy (he lost 50 lbs. and quit smoking and drinking beer), he discovered the benefits of

drinking smoothies. Soon after, he started his "Smoothie Insider" website.

Do It for More Than Just the Money…

Now, before I talk about how much money you can make, I'd like to talk about the five non-

money-related reasons why this is the ideal online opportunity:

1. You'll learn a lot about a topic you love – When you start out, you don't have to be an

expert in your particular topic (you just have to enjoy writing about it). What you'll soon

find, though, is that you'll quickly know more about your topic than 99.9% of the people

on the planet. And not only that, you'll rapidly be viewed by people as being an expert on

your topic.

2. You'll expand your online business skills substantially – If you've been kicking

yourself about not learning more about the Internet and how to build a website, this is a

perfect opportunity to expand your knowledge base. You'll learn how to do keyword

research, link strategies, write content that ranks high with the search engines, write

content that "pre-sells," and on and on. It's easier than you may think!

3. You'll be helping people out – Your website will provide people with the solutions and

information they are searching for. And you'll be appreciated for it. Karen Patry has

already started receiving complimentary e-mails about her site on raising rabbits. She’s

had people tell her how impressed they are with her site and that it's "the most

informative rabbit site on the Internet." She really feels she has found her calling.

4. It will make you a better writer – Writing is like everything else; the more you do it,

the better you become at it. Plus, many people find that the more they write, the faster

they're able to write.

5. You can work on it at your own pace – You are in complete control of when you work

and how hard you work. If one week you can't find time to work on your site, it's no big

deal. It's always there waiting for you. I have to warn you, though,

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as the months go by and the money you make starts to snowball, you'll find

yourself wanting to spend more and more time on your site.

Although doing it for the money is definitely a worthy reason, too…

So let's get to the #1 reason for creating a Money-Making Website…

The money you can make!

First off, let's look at how you generate revenue from your site. There are many ways. Here

are the top four:

1. Google AdSense – This is one of the most popular ways to make money from a content-

rich website. Google Ads are "contextual." Contextual means the ad that Google displays

on your page is determined by the content of your page. Which is great because it

encourages people to click on an ad on your website. And once they do, you make

money!

2. Other advertisements – Google AdSense, of course, is not the only game in town.

There are dozens of other companies, such as Chitika and Konterea, that will pay you

when people click on the ads you display on your site.

3. Affiliate products – The beauty of a Money-Making Website is that you don’t have to

create any products. You can sell other people’s products on your site. There's no

inventory to count, product to ship, or customer support required. You just sit back and

collect the commissions. For instance, if your website is about water purification, you'd

want to become an affiliate of a company that sells water purifiers.

4. Selling your own products – Of course, if you want to sell your own stuff and keep

100% of the profits, that’s great, too! A popular and profitable way to make money is by

writing and selling e-books on your website’s topic. Birgit Bradtke, who runs a site for

people looking for information about Kimberley, Australia, sells her "Destination

Kimberley" guide for $27 on her website. It's a big money-maker for her.

How Much Money Can You Make?

We've talked about the "how." Now let's talk about "how much."

Allow me to paint a scenario for you…

Imagine how nice it would be to have an extra million dollars in the bank.

Let's say it pays you 5% interest each year, which translates into an extra $50,000 a year. That's

over $4,000 coming in like clockwork every month without you lifting a finger.

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Writing a Money-Making Website is a way to make that scenario come true for yourself –

only without you having to have the million dollars! And you only have to put in about an

hour’s worth of writing each day – if you want. You can take a day, week, or month off – the

money will still come in.

It's a way to generate the type of income we all love and strive for – residual income.

Residual income is money that comes in whether we're playing golf, throwing horseshoes,

enjoying a cocktail, or having an afternoon siesta.

Before I give you examples of the type of money you can make from your site, I want to make

one thing perfectly clear…

This is not a get-rich-quick thing.

Your Income Will Grow and Grow

It's a building process. The more content you add to your site, the more your traffic will grow.

And the more traffic you have, the more money you'll make.

Brigit, whom I just mentioned, brings in over $10,000 a month from her Kimberley, Australia

travel site during the peak travel season. (During the quietest time of the year, it drops to about

$7,000 a month.)

Richard Bergman, from Ontario, Canada, created a website about decks and fences that features

some of the products that he's designed. It brings in $2,000 (sometimes more) per month.

(Richard says he’s only begun to scratch the surface when it comes to monetizing his site.)

Aside from the money, good things have happened to Richard as a result of his site. He picked

up a big U.S. distributor for one of the products he designed.

One page on Tomaz Mencinger's vacuum site brings him affiliate income on sales of 3-5

vacuums a day. All told, it translates to about $400 a day (or over $12,000 per month). Tomaz

says, “The freedom is unbelievable. I was working for tennis clubs and academies for maybe 10

years. Sometimes I had to go to work and work with people I didn’t like to work with. Now I

choose who I want to work with, when I want to work, and how much I want to work.”

And, of course, there’s Web expert Nick Usborne who, depending upon the time of year,

brings in anywhere from $4,000 to $8,000 a month from his coffee website. His website has

grown to the point where he only spends a couple of hours a week maintaining it.

How Do You Get Started?

Like anything, the fastest and easiest way to get started is to tap into the experience of those

who’ve been successful at what you want to do.

The folks at American Writers & Artists Inc. have perfected the Money-Making Websites

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formula and have plenty of resources to help you get started on their website:

www.awaionline.com.

Rebecca Matter is the Co-Managing Partner of American Writers & Artists Inc., the world’s

leading publisher of direct-response copywriting, travel writing, photography and graphic

design home-study programs.

A marketer with over a decade of experience in publishing and direct-marketing, Rebecca has

spearheaded successful million-dollar campaigns for countless products, both online and off,

and has spoken and written on topics ranging from getting and working with clients to successful

web marketing strategies.

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INCOME OPPORTUNITY #2

My “Go-To” Source for Extra Income: Rental Real

Estate

By Mark Ford

Mention you’re in real estate these days and people get a funny look on their face.

“Still?” they ask.

“I bet you took a beating,” they’ll say.

Sure, some of the properties I bought at the height of the market have lost paper value. But it

doesn’t matter. I don’t plan on selling because they’re still generating rental income for me. In

fact, since the housing crisis, demand for rentals has gone up!

Actually, there’s never been a better time to use real estate to generate a second income. With

the recent shake out, bargains are everywhere.

Here in south Florida, I’m finding properties that are selling for 60% and 70% of what they

were four years ago. And values are on the way back up.

The old saying is true. The best time to buy is when there’s “blood in the streets.” Or as

Warren Buffett says: Be brave when others are afraid. And be afraid when others are brave.

Let’s start with two rules for beginners.

The Rules

1. Buy properties in your local area.

To be a successful investor, you have to know what you are doing. And if you have been living

where you are living for any number of years, you already have more knowledge about local real

estate than you think. You already have a clear idea of the good neighborhoods, the not-so-good

ones, and the ones you need to stay out of. You may have developed a feeling for the up-and-

comers. By staying in your local area, you give yourself the chance to really know the market.

And this is the most important factor in limiting your risk and increasing your chances for profits.

2. Invest in good or up-and-coming properties.

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Yes, real estate really is all about “location, location, location.” But there are two kinds of good

locations. Those that are already established. And those that are on their way to becoming good.

You can make money with both.

Here’s how…

In good neighborhoods, buy the least-expensive property you can find. That way, any

money you spend fixing it up (if you fix it up wisely) will bring you double or triple your

invested dollars. When you buy a poor piece of property in a good neighborhood, you get

the benefit of the neighborhood to lift your selling price once the property looks

acceptable. Of course, it’s not easy to get the least-expensive piece of property in a good

neighborhood cheap. Most of the time, the owner realizes what’s going on. But with

really dilapidated homes, and sometimes with owner-sold properties, you can get a

bargain.

A quick example: A couple of months ago, I brought a 1,200-square-foot, two-bedroom

apartment in my hometown for $62,000. I then rented it out for $1,000 a month. That’s a

very good deal, even considering the three grand I spent fixing it up.

In up-and-coming neighborhoods, buy properties in clusters – either by yourself or

with a partner. That way, when you renovate, you will upgrade the look of the entire

area. This will bring up prices, sometimes more than you’d expect.

Whenever possible, buy newer, solid structures. There’s nothing worse than

managing a rundown building. The tenants complain. They are reluctant to pay the

rent. They treat you like a crook. It’s bad. Be extra careful about the costly things.

Don’t buy any property that has a major problem – a bad roof, rotten plumbing, or

burned-out electrical. Fixing it will eat up your profits.

Develop a network of reliable contractors: a plumber, an electrician, an A/C guy, a

painter, a landscaper. And – most important – an inexpensive handyman.

As with so many businesses, real estate is all about buying right. If you get a property for a

good price and don’t over-invest in fixing it up, you’ll almost certainly do well in the long run.

Things I’ve Learned

My own very general guideline is never to buy a property if the total cost (sales price plus fix-up

expenses) exceeds nine times the rent. Usually, I try to do better than that. (Though it’s not easy

in good and up-and-coming markets, where there is a lot of competition vying for a limited

number of properties.)

Say, for example, you found a building that could be bought for $90,000. And say it would

require $10,000 to bring it up to where you want it. (Where you want it is in a condition

that will enable you to get a decent rent.) That’s $100,000 total.

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In such a situation, following my guideline, you’d want your total monthly rents to be

$11,000 or more.

Say you could get $11,500. Here’s how it would look, from an investment perspective: Your

total investment would be $100,000. Assuming you buy with cash, your net cash flow, after

paying property taxes (say $1,000 a year) and upkeep (say $1,500 a year), would be $9,000.

That’s a 9% return on your money.

But that’s not the whole story. If you buy right and in the right location, you’ll get a

significant appreciation in property value. This can vary widely. Historically, it’s about 4% to

5%. That would give you a total cash return of about 13% to 14%.

But that’s just the average. If you know what you are doing, you can do much better. A rental

property I bought three years ago for $195,000 just sold for $395,000. My return on

investment (ROI) was astronomical.

Owning rental properties – if you own good ones – can be a very manageable way to make

a lot of extra money on the side.

Of all the things I’ve done “on the side,” rental real estate has definitely been among the very

best.

I began buying local properties in Florida (where I lived) and, about 10 years after that, in

Baltimore (where I was working). I never had to come up with more than 25% of what I had in

savings (even when I was saving less than $10,000 a year). But my small investments added up.

Frequently, I was able to swap a property that had appreciated (in some cases, doubled) in value

for one that I thought had greater potential. Sometimes, I traded one unit for two.

Piece by piece, I put together what has turned out to be a very nice collection of properties.

Their rental fees have been good. And I’ve been able to use the rents not only to pay down my

mortgages but to buy additional properties.

It has been a painless experience. And a profitable one. In what seems (in retrospect) like no

time at all, I’ve acquired enough income from my real-estate rental properties to retire on.

If you want to get going, you’ll need a lot more information than I’ve given you here. Check

your local library. You’ll find reams of advice there. You should also get to know your market.

Saturday mornings, take a walk or bike ride. Start looking at those ubiquitous home-sale

catalogs. Talk to a few brokers.

Don’t buy anything at first. Just look around. Take your time. Have some fun. Acquiring a feel

for local property values is one of those things that comes only with experience. And keep

reading The Palm Beach Letter and my essays in the At Joe’s Cigar Bar newsletter for ongoing

tips and advice.

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INCOME OPPORTUNITY #3

Real Estate Part II: Fix-and-Flip Is Not Dead

By Mark Ford

Buying and selling fixer-uppers may be the best-known way of making money in real estate.

The no-money-down gurus tend to focus on this because the numbers can look very good.

Especially when you get into low-income housing.

For the most part, flipping real estate doesn’t work today. That’s because we are not in an

escalating market. Prices are flat or just edging up slightly, and there is still a huge amount of

bad mortgage debt out there that banks are gradually absorbing. But that will take time, so

prices are not likely to go up much. I’m counting on 1% to 2% a year.

Still, you can make money by buying, renovating, and selling houses if you are able to buy them

at below market prices. I know people who are doing this. They are all involved in real estate or

the construction business, so they know both real estate prices and the cost of rehabbing. If you

decide to take advantage of this business opportunity, be sure you are confident in those areas.

If you’re on a tight budget you’ll want to start with inexpensive properties. That means you’ll

be buying in the poorest part of town.

Buying Properties in “Bad” Neighborhoods

Poor neighborhoods are generally ethnic neighborhoods. So some will consider you to be the

worst kind of capitalist pig – one who exploits the people who are living there and eventually

drives them out.

You’ll know how ridiculous such thinking is. But there’s nothing you can do about it. So just

get busy:

* studying the neighborhood before you buy into it

* buying a house that’s cheap, even by local standards

* fixing it up to sell it fast

* selling it to the first person who wants to buy it

In order to make this a part-time business, you’ll have to develop a network of workers to take

care of the fixing up. These are the same folks you’d use for the rental properties I just talked

about. So if you decide to go into both businesses – rental real estate and fix-and-flip – you’ll be

able to keep them pretty busy.

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There are two things you should do to make this type of investing profitable:

1. Don’t hunt and peck for houses. Target a specific area and plan to eventually buy up many if

not most of the homes in that area. That way, as you upgrade individual units, the entire neighborhood will go up in value.

2. If you can, target an area that has at least one border on the outside. By “the outside,” I mean

a better neighborhood. Giving your potential buyers the feeling that they are buying into a

neighborhood that has a corridor to safety will increase – significantly – the value of every

house in that section. It will also give you a wider market.

What to Look For in a “Fixer”

When you are going to be a landlord, you want to buy a property that has no significant

structural problems. But for a fix-and-flip, you simply want to make sure everything is

working now and will be working for another year or so. The more important consideration is

how much “under market” can you buy it for.

The idea with a fixer is to buy a $150,000 home in a neighborhood where most of the homes sell

for $180,000. Make it look 100% better for about $10,000. And then sell it for $175,000 in less

than three months.

Sometimes, you’ll be able to do better than that. But you don’t want to hold onto a property for

more than 90 days if you can possibly avoid it. Even if you make a smaller profit, it’s better to

get out of a slow-selling house and into another that will sell quickly.

In the fix-and-flip business, it’s all about moving quickly.

That also pertains to the work you’ll be doing on the property. Don’t take on anything that might

require long-term renovation. Avoid bad roofs, serious electrical problems, and “issues” with

sewage or flooding.

Spend your money on cosmetic stuff like painting, landscaping, and carpeting. If you can’t

make the property look considerably more valuable with such changes, you probably

shouldn’t buy it.

Buying and selling fixer-uppers in bad neighborhoods is a great way to break into this business.

But you don’t HAVE TO start at the bottom. If you have more money to invest, you can do all

of the above in a better neighborhood. In fact, if you can, I’d advise it.

Buying Properties in Not-So-Bad Neighborhoods

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Neighborhoods tend to be priced within certain ranges. But those ranges are determined by

percentages, not absolute numbers.

Generally speaking, the range is about 30%. That means in a neighborhood with a mean selling

price of $150,000, the vast majority of individual homes would be priced between $125,000 and

$175,000. And in a neighborhood with a mean selling price of $400,000, the range would be

between $340,000 and $460,000.

Rule of thumb: The more expensive the fixer-upper, the more money you’ll make from it. So

start where you need to and graduate to more expensive properties.

My brother-in-law, for example, got into this business several years ago. He’s made a decent

living with his “bad-neighborhood” investments. He turns over an average of three or four a year

at a $20,000 profit for each. A year ago, however, he fixed up a $170,000 house that he moved

into himself. And when he was offered $275,000 for it recently, he happily vacated.

Buying Properties in Really Good Neighborhoods

I know a lot of builders. And many of them play the musical-homes game. It goes like this:

They buy a relatively inexpensive home in a pricey neighborhood. (Say, a $550,000 home in a

$700,000 neighborhood.) They move in and fix it up over a period of time – usually six months

to a year. They can’t really afford to live in such an expensive home. But everything is a write-

off. Plus, they have plans.

Soon after the home is finished, along comes a buyer. And they sell the home for a

$150,000 profit. They invest that money in their next home – a $750,000 home in a

$950,000 neighborhood.

One of these guys just moved into my neighborhood. He has put – as near as I can tell – about

$1.7 million into a house that could easily fetch $2.7 million. He hasn’t told his neighbors that

it’s up for sale. But I know two brokers who are showing it privately. This is a guy who was

living in a $65,000 townhouse 10 years ago.

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INCOME OPPORTUNITY #4

Real Estate Part III: Why the Government Pays Me

$1,250 Every Month

By Mark Ford

Every month, the government deposits $1,250 into my bank account. But I’m not collecting

Social Security. And I’m not talking about tax refunds or municipal bonds.

I’m talking about Section 8 housing. (Officially Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of

1937.)

Section 8 helps about 3.1 million low-income families pay rent. It operates through several

programs, the largest of which is the Housing Choice Voucher program. It was meant to pay for

“a portion” of the rents and utilities of those in its care. But often, as you will see, payments are

greater than competitive rental prices.

Here’s a real-life example.

My real estate partner and I recently bought a house in a working-class neighborhood. In 2008,

the house sold for $500,000. Then the market crashed. And three years later, we bought it for

$80,000. We renovated it for another $15,000. It’s a nice three-bedroom, two-bath with a

fenced yard, new appliances, and tile floors.

Instead of renting it on the open market, we offered it to the local Section 8 housing authorities.

They found a young lady with three children to take it. She seems to be an upstanding citizen.

She is clean and sober and holds down a steady job. Her only “issue” is that she’s had three kids

with different men who don’t feel it’s their job to provide for their children.

It Almost Sounds “Too Good to Be True”

The Section 8 people pay us $1,500 a month for this property. That’s about $300 more than it’s

worth. After we cover our monthly expenses – mortgage, maintenance, and taxes

– we are netting more than 12% on our cash. That’s darn good money. So there must be a catch,

right?

I figured the catch would be a tenant who wrecks our house and doesn’t pay rent. But the

Section 8 people guarantee 80% of the rent. Even if the tenant doesn’t pay, the government will

still deposit $1,250 into our account. Every month they deposit $1,250, no questions asked. The

tenant is responsible for the remaining $250. So even if she paid us nothing, we’d still be ahead

by $50 a month or $600 a year.

But we don’t have to worry about our tenant’s $250 payments, because the government stays

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on top of her.

As for wrecking the place? They inspect the house and make sure it stays in good shape. In

effect, they act as are our property manager, free of charge. And we pocket the 6%10% of the

rent that we would otherwise have to pay for that service.

Plus, if our tenant leaves at the end of her lease, the government will find another tenant to take

her place. Which saves us the hassle.

$5K to $7K More in Your Pocket

Add it all up, and it comes to an additional $5,000 to $7,000 every year in savings and/or extra

income. And it’s all guaranteed and supported by the federal government.

There are strict guidelines that owners and tenants must follow to be eligible to participate in

this program. To get started, call your local housing authority. They can answer all your

questions.

This has been our first experience with Section 8. You can bet it won’t be the last. I just looked

at our holdings and I identified 20 properties that might qualify. When I run the numbers on

income generated by 20 properties, it adds up. It’s no wonder that some of the wealthiest people

I know have been quietly doing this for years in Palm Beach County.

If you are currently invested in rental real estate, you should take a look at the Section 8

opportunities in your area. Every local market is unique and every local agency has a different

standard of service. If you’d like to know more, start with the government’s explanation of the

program here.

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INCOME OPPORTUNITY #5

Income Investing: How to Earn a Five- and Six-Figure

Income With Super-Low Risk

By Tom Dyson

One of the most important secrets I ever learned about investing (and Mark Ford told me he

learned the same thing in building multimillion-dollar businesses) was that – contrary to

popular belief – taking more risk is a fool's game. The true way to build wealth is to invest like

a casino operator – betting against the people who are taking the big risks.

And here at The Palm Beach Letter we’ve developed a strategy to do just that. It’s a way to

make a much higher rate of interest from the stock market.

The amazing thing about this strategy is that you can use it forever! So long as you have a

moderately funded trading account, this strategy has the potential to supply you with five- and

six-figure income year in and year out until the day you die.

The paradox with this is it’s safe. It’s safer than high-yield stocks, it’s safer than junk

bonds, it’s safer than blue chip stocks or other income investments. Those ways of earning

income don’t work anymore.

This market has no chance of returning to bull market conditions for a long time. The big

swings in the market are here to stay. This strategy actually performs best in these conditions.

It’s as if it was designed as a bear market income strategy.

A Basic Skill Every Investor Should Have

This strategy is long term. It’s not a high-frequency trading strategy. This is a new way of

managing your financial affairs like a second income. I, and the people we’ve taught this strategy

to, will be using it the rest of our lives.

It makes use of a trading tool a lot of big time investors use to protect and hedge large

portfolios against loss should the market turn against them, something called options.

This is a basic skill every investor should have in their toolbox, especially given the

circumstances we’re in today. It’s just not easy to earn income anymore.

I blame the Federal Reserve. In 2008, they set interest rates at zero percent. And they’re going

to stay that way for decades. They are punishing us, tempting us to borrow money and go

further into debt. They think this will stimulate the economy.

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But this is just preventing people like you and me, people who are trying to be responsible

and take care of their finances, from saving money and making income.

You don’t need prior options experience to use this strategy, once you learn the basics. Let

me first explain it in very simple terms.

Getting Cash Just for Making Offers

Let’s pretend you’ve walked into a local art gallery, and you see a painting that you can picture

hanging quite nicely over your fireplace. The gallery owner approaches you, and you ask him

how much it costs. He says $10,000. You happen to know it’s a very fair price for that artist’s

work. Except you don’t want to buy it for $10,000, you want to pay $7,500.

So you tell the owner you would like to offer $7,500 for the painting – a low-ball offer. And

the gallery owner will tell you:

“Sorry but the price is $10,000. I can’t sell it to you for that price today. But I may

change my mind about that price. I’ll let you know.

“And by the way, here’s $500 in cash just for putting up an offer.”

So you’ve made a low-ball offer – and received cash for doing so.

At this point, two things can happen. The gallery owner can accept your offer and you make

the transaction. You acquire the painting 25% below the market value. That’s fantastic.

Or he doesn’t accept your offer and nothing happens.

In both cases, you keep the $500 cash.

This is the crux of this strategy. Brokers call it an acquisition strategy. It’s a way of acquiring

something you like and want for much lower than market value. And if you don’t get it, that’s

fine because you still get the cash upfront for your trouble. That is how we’re going to make

income.

This is a simple illustration of a real world strategy that professionals call selling options. And

I’m going to explain how you can apply it in the stock market with very low risk to create a

steady second stream of income.

First, you find the best companies in the world. Companies that…

Make products that will never go out of fashion

Have the strongest brand names Produce billions in extra cash each year

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Pay out huge dividends

Don’t have debt

Do business all over the world

Have the best, most conservative management teams

These are companies like Coke, McDonald’s, Johnson & Johnson, and Intel. Normally these

companies aren’t cheap because everybody knows they’re the best companies. So in this strategy

we’re going to give low-ball offers on these top-quality stocks and receive cash for making these

offers upfront. That will be where you receive income in this strategy.

You’re probably wondering why someone would pay you to low-ball them. It’s because you

are providing them a service.

In the example of the art gallery, think of your low-ball offer as a commitment to buy at a

discount. To the owner it is valuable to have that commitment because he knows that in the

worst case scenario he will get $7,500 for that painting – guaranteed. It’s worth money to him

to know that someone is willing to buy that painting.

If an offer is accepted, that’s great because you’ll buy a company like Intel cheaper than

today’s price. You’ll get it at a great value. You know you can’t lose money. If you don’t end

up owning that company, you still receive that upfront cash.

About 80% of the time, the low-ball offers will fail. Occasionally, you will end up with a

company. Then what?

You reverse the strategy. And list the company – at a high-ball price. Again, you get cash up

front for listing your stock, whether or not somebody takes you up on your offer.

With This Strategy the Risk Is on Someone Else

I'd imagine you have some questions, like "What are the risks of this strategy?" And that's a good

question – because even though we're not taking on extra risk... like all investing, there are some

risks involved, and this strategy will not be right for everyone.

Remember that we are recommending selling options, not buying them, so the risks are actually

reversed. This approach can actually be LESS risky than buying a normal stock, as hard as it is

for most people to believe.

Buying options is usually very risky... but selling options is an entirely different story.

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How do you lose money?

Let’s say you commit to buying that painting for $7,500. But then something happens. The

artist is involved in a scandal and the value of his paintings drops. It’s only worth $5,000.

But you still have the commitment to pay $7,500 and you have to honor it.

That’s the risk, that the price of the asset falls below your low-ball offer.

But remember you’ll only be doing this with companies that you’re certain of their bottom

line value – you know you’ll be getting a dividend. These are safe, cash-rich companies.

Second, you’ll be receiving cash for taking the risk, which also helps offset the loss.

Third, even if you have to buy the company, you can turn around and list it for sale again. If you

take a loss, you can make it up by getting income from getting that cash upfront from listing it

for sale.

An Insider Secret… Until Now

For centuries, in-the-know bankers and ultra-wealthy elite have capitalized on this secret to

reduce risk... just like we're doing. Professional investors use options the way they're meant to

be used – as a way to protect their portfolios when the market moves against them.

In fact, I was bragging to a friend about this fantastic strategy we’re doing, when he

interrupted me.

“Tom, I know someone who uses this exact strategy,” he said. “The guy used to be a floor trader

on the New York Stock Exchange. He and the other floor traders would use this strategy at the

beginning of every month to cover the $8,000 fee they had to pay to exchange there. They did it

because the money was so automatic and risk free, it was almost like gaming the system. Even

today, trading his own account from home, it’s his primary strategy.”

That’s a great story and it’s true. This strategy is a favorite among professional investors.

Jim Rogers, I’m sure you have heard of him. I’ve met Jim in Singapore. He’s a multi-

hundred-millionaire who founded the Quantum Fund with George Soros. He got rich using

this strategy.

Warren Buffett uses it too. Not as much as Soros and Rogers did, I’m sure, but he uses it. And

when I was on the CitiGroup trading floor, I saw traders base their entire careers around this

strategy.

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So you’re probably wondering why most regular investors don’t use this; and possibly you may

not have heard of it before. Well, I can tell you, it’s not because it’s complicated, it’s not because

this is something you need to be a professional trader to understand, it’s not because you need to

have been educated in finance or anything else like that. It’s really not hard to use.

I’m sure of that, because I taught my dad to do it in four hours. He had no prior

experience. The same with Mark Ford. Same with Mark’s son. He’s 22 years old, an

English Lit graduate, and he picked it up in a second. It’s not difficult.

So what’s the reason? It's because insiders know its power, and they want to keep this pretty

serious advantage to themselves. They also understand that if too many people were to start

doing it, it wouldn't generate the income it does – since the whole system essentially relies on

a sucker's bet...

Because of this lack of knowledge, ordinary, amateur investors end up using options precisely

the wrong way. They use them the way most gamblers use the craps table. They take big risks

on the chance of getting big rewards. This probably accounts for the negative things you’ve

heard about options.

Much like the odds in a casino, a Chicago Mercantile Exchange study has shown that over a

three-year period, investors who used options to try and bag big gains lost, on average,

76% of the time.

In other words, for every four bets they placed, three were losers. But here's the secret to what

we're doing with this income strategy.

We're putting ourselves on the other side of the table.

By that I mean, we're taking the bet instead of laying it down. Which means statistically

speaking, we get what the gamblers lose... just like a casino.

We aren’t going for the big gains, the big winners. We’re content with consistent income that

comes with very low risk.

Let me use a real-life example to show you what I mean. And explain why we are living in a

time when it has never been better to take advantage of this strategy.

On September 12, 2011 I spotted an opportunity involving IBM.

As you know they're a big Fortune 500 company. Over the decades, they've rewarded loyal

shareholders handsomely. And it's no secret that they've paid out reliable dividends every year

since the 1960s.

In 2011, in fact – from September to December – they paid out a pretty good dividend to

shareholders: 75 cents for every share they owned. That's certainly not bad...

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But our "Palm Beach Income Strategy" could have generated even more for you during the same

period. Using our strategy, you could have collected $3.12 per share instead – more than 4 times

as much.

On 500 shares, that's an extra $1,560 deposited in your account. On 1,000 shares, that's an extra

$3,120. On 1,500 shares...Well, you get the point.

The best part is, you could have done this without breaking our #1 rule: without taking on extra

risk.

How is this possible?

As you well know, right now there's plenty of uncertainty in the world. Unemployment is high.

Companies like Citibank are laying off thousands of workers. Gold goes up and down. Inflation

looms. There's financial crisis in Europe. And the list goes on...

These sound like frightening developments. And in a sense, they are. If you've ever been jobless,

worried about your job, or down on your luck, you'd probably agree.

But for our purposes, they're not bad at all. They're actually fantastic.

Here's why: The more uncertainty there is in the world, the more investors want to buy options.

After all, options give you the right (the option) to buy or sell shares without the obligation of

actually having to own the stock itself.

And the more people want to buy options, the higher their prices rise. Of course that's basic

supply and demand.

For buyers of options, that's not a good thing. That means they have to pay more for that right.

But for sellers (that's us!), it means you have the opportunity to collect MORE income upfront.

Since our strategy involves selling two different types of options (not buying them), this is truly

a great thing.

Why?

Because you have the opportunity to collect MORE income than ever before.

And again, this comes as the result of greater knowledge and control through our strategy – not

from taking on greater risk. This is a point I wish to emphasize and re-emphasize.

Where Do We Go From Here?

I've been aware of this strategy for decades but I've only recently found a way to help

ordinary folks get on the winning side of the table.

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I began testing this strategy after the market crash of 2008. All told, over the course of a year I

found nearly two dozen opportunities to generate income this way.

Since then, I've tweaked and fine-tuned the strategy, tested it again... and came up with even

BETTER results.

That was enough to give me a lot of confidence in this investment approach.

With the knowledge you have now, why in the world would you ever put yourself on the

gambler's side of the craps table when you can just as easily stand on the other side – the side

of the casino owners scooping up all those bets the losers make?

"It's the safest way to play options," says Hillel Berlin, a certified public accountant who has

been doubling his income in some cases by using this strategy.

According to Steven Savage, managing partner at a $6.8 billion asset management firm in

California:

"In a low-return, high-volatility environment, [this strategy] can boost returns and lower risk.

There is no such thing as a free lunch, but in this case all the lunch costs is a little initiative."

As financial journalist Jeff Opdyke writes, this strategy "generates income and can juice

returns in any market."

Hundreds... thousands... even tens of thousands of dollars at a time – several times a year, year in

and year out, depending on your situation...

All money that reckless investors gamble away on options in hopes of beating the system and

landing that big score.

Can you see why the institutional insiders and professional traders have kept this strategy such a

closely held secret over the years?

To give it the ultimate test I showed the idea to Mark Ford.

$2,224 for a Day’s Work

Mark is a very conservative investor. As I expected, Mark was skeptical at first. Even after

seeing the results from my track record, he had questions. I answered them and he agreed to

invest what for him was a "token" amount: $125,000.

To me, one hundred twenty-five grand is a lot of money. And considering my relationship with

Mark, I didn't want to disappoint him.

On May 25, 2011, I spotted some unusual activity in a key corner of the gold markets. It was

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ripe for this strategy.

Mark's broker punched 17 characters into a Web browser on his office computer. Every

transaction comes with its own unique code.

Within the hour, $1,149.97 appeared in Mark's account.

Mark was happy with the result but he was still skeptical. "Anyone can get lucky once," he

said.

I wasn't surprised by his response. I wanted his skepticism. The next opportunity happened

soon thereafter. This time, a pocket of the oil and gas industry was expressing some unusual

behavior. Its participants were exhibiting the right mixture of fear and greed – one of the

telltale signs of a "Palm Beach Income" opportunity.

Within the hour, $454.99 appeared in Mark's account.

On June 22nd, two more transactions led to instant income payouts of $1,689.97 and

$909.98.

Exactly one week later, on June 29th, he performed this transaction four separate times in a

single day:

$499.99

$499.99

$549.98

$674.98 ––––

–––

$2,224.94

Not bad for a day's work...

These income payouts weren't dividends, special dividends, bond payments, or anything with

which you're likely familiar.

It was all a result of our options selling strategy.

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Now, imagine for a moment if you had this ability... the ability to punch the appropriate codes

into your computer and have over $2,200 show up in your account. Just like that. And you

wouldn’t need anywhere near $125,000 to make it work.

And then you do it next month... and the month after that... and every month of every year.

The thing to remember is, this is money that's yours to keep. Nobody can take it from you,

claim it, or make you pay it back.

While this strategy certainly isn't right for everyone, if done correctly, it can be lower risk than

speculating on stocks, and lower risk than high-yield bonds. And it actually works best in the

market we have today.

As I've mentioned, the wealthy financial elite have been using and keeping this secret to

themselves for decades. Even many folks on Wall Street and high-level financial executives

don't know how to use options to generate income this way.

As Brian Workman, a Sr. Vice President at Citigroup says: "... it makes you wonder what else

Wall Street has been keeping from us."

As a former broker and bank owner named Joseph Hooper says, "options are without doubt

the most misunderstood... and poorly implemented financial tool in the world."

Another reason more people aren't using these techniques is that for years they were basically

inaccessible to regular investors. Access to real-time prices was difficult to obtain. The

transaction costs were prohibitively high. But now, with the popularity of discount brokerages

and live pricing on the Internet... all you need is some practice and the right training.

That's precisely what we offer in Palm Beach Income. It’s not an investment newsletter or a

traditional trading service.

We like to think of this strategy as a new vocation or part-time career. You’ll learn how to be a

disciplined investor and create a second income from home. It’s a skill you can use for the rest of

your life.

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INCOME OPPORTUNITY #6

Self-Publishing: Profiting From an Ever-Increasing

Need for Information

By Rebecca Matter

Meet Gary and Merri Scott…

Every year, they make well into six-figures… some years, they break the million-dollar mark.

And they’ve been doing this consistently for the past 20 years!

They’re self-publishers.

Self-Publishing shares many of the same benefits as the income opportunity I told you about

earlier: writing Money-Making Websites…

You generate a passive income stream on the products you’ve already published, you get to write

about something you’re passionate about, and you work entirely for yourself instead of working

for clients.

The biggest difference is with the revenue potential.

With self-publishing, the sky’s the limit, and you can make as much as you want. And if you

stick with digital information products, the profit margins are huge. I’m going to walk you

through the heart of the opportunity – and answer the main questions you’ll most likely have

about it.

First, let’s first get on the same page about self-publishing…

What Is “Self Publishing?”

We’re not talking about self-publishing your novel here. It’s much more than book publishing,

although that can be part of it. We’re talking about selling information in any format.

You can publish DVDs, training programs, newsletters, pamphlets, cookbooks, calendars,

reports, how-to programs… whatever suits you.

As a publisher, you can write, compile, or record the information yourself… you can hire

writers… or you can reprint information. It’s totally up to you.

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How much can you make as a self-publisher?

As I told you, the sky’s the limit. In their worst years, Gary and Merri made $300,000 to

$400,000. In their best years, they make millions of dollars.

The amount you make really depends on three factors:

1. How much you want to work.

2. How quickly you can up with ideas of what to publish.

3. How fast you can execute those ideas and turn them into products.

Something to note about Gary and Merri – they’ve never had a large audience to promote to.

Their biggest reader list at any one time has been only about 22,000.

And if you can write copy to sell your own products, it can be incredibly profitable

because you get to keep most of the revenue that comes in.

Are there any start-up costs?

Yes, but they’re small. And it’s completely up to you how much you invest.

You’ll need a small investment to build websites, drive traffic, and promote your products. And

if you decide to go beyond digital, another investment will be necessary to produce the printed

product.

The good news is that you can make it up quickly if you work fast.

When Gary started his publishing business, he made a 380% return on his initial

investment within a month. And it just got better from there.

What kind of qualifications do you need to be a self-publisher?

There are no life experiences and no type of education that you have to have to be a self-

publisher.

However, according to Gary, there are two traits that can help make you successful:

empathy and a keen sense of observation.

If you can figure out what people need or are concerned about, you’ll be able to publish

products that help them and know that the demand is already there.

One way Gary does this is to read the bestseller lists in USA Today and The New York Times.

He says it helps him become aware of what people are thinking, since most books on the

bestseller list get there because of word-of-mouth, i.e., one reader telling another reader to buy

it because he enjoyed it.

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How are self-publishers doing in this economy?

No matter what the economy does, this is one of the biggest growth industries in the world.

We live in an information era, and every day there are vast amounts of new information out

there – so much information that it’s hard for people to keep up. Especially in today’s

economy!

The result is an ever-increasing need for entrepreneurs to take in all that data and refine it into

material that’s simple, easy-to-comprehend, interesting, and useful.

That’s where you – the self-publisher – come in.

So for now, let me pass the baton on to Gary, so he can tell you some of the

characteristics of good self publishing ideas…

* **

The 7 Secret Qualities of Successful Information Products

By Gary Scott

If someone asked you, “What’s the biggest chunk of the U.S. economy?”… you probably

wouldn’t say “information.”

But, expenditures on information and information products account for over half of this

country’s economy. That’s roughly $5 TRILLION!

Why so much? Americans have an unquenchable thirst for information. We crave information

to make us healthier… wealthier… more beautiful. But most of all, we want information so we

can show others how much we know.

I’ve developed a highly successful publishing business selling information that people want.

You can, too.

The key is developing an information product that people not only want to buy but want to

continue to buy (or renew). This isn’t hard – if you understand the following 7 Qualities of

Successful Information Product Development.

Quality #1: Is the Idea Interesting?

Interesting ideas connect with a genuine fundamental aspect of life. And the first person they

have to interest is you. If you pick ideas that interest you, research and writing will be fun. But,

interest goes beyond that. Your idea has to be truly interesting to your reader.

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For example, my first retail publishing idea in the early 1970s was for U.S. investors to invest

globally. The idea was sound and remained very interesting for a long time.

On the other hand, look at collectables. There will always be a collectables market. Yet, many

collectables are attractive only because they are in vogue.

If, for example, you had a publication about Beanie Babies back when they were in

vogue, you could have done well. Today, that publication would fall on its face.

Fads offer attractive publishing opportunities, but they don’t last. Publications about

interesting topics survive.

Quality #2: Is the Idea Legal and Ethical?

I once got a letter about how I could mail First Class letters for only 3 cents! Indeed, the stamp

on the envelope was 3 cents.

This seemed interesting, since I spend hundreds of thousands a year on postage. The letter

promised that, for $12, I could get details on how to mail First Class letters for 3 cents.

This was too good to be true, but I was interested. A few days later, I got one photocopied page

telling me how to do it. The page claimed that, as a business, the Post Office had made an offer

to send my mail at the current rate. And it claimed that, as a businessman, I could counteroffer

by putting a 3-cent stamp on my letters instead.

If the Post Office accepted and mailed my letters, they accepted my offer. The idea was to

simply mail all your letters with a 3-cent stamp, because most would get through. And, the idea

was neither legal nor ethical.

The Postal Service’s Revenue Protection Department operates by spot inspection, true enough.

So, yes, many of these 3-cent letters would get through. But, anyone mailing lots of them could

expect to be investigated by the U.S. government. So, in the long run, it wouldn’t have been

profitable. The fines (not to mention prison time) for these kinds of actions are very heavy.

Quality #3: Is the Idea Attractive?

Your idea has to attract first-time buyers. It doesn’t have to be pretty or pleasant. But, it must

attract.

Attractiveness appeals to emotions in some way. The emotions can be good, bad, or even ugly.

For example, one ad that worked well read, “I’m mad as heck at the government for cheating us

– here’s how to get even.” It’s not a very pretty idea. But, it’s certainly attractive.

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A publication must hold your reader’s interest to succeed in the long-term. But, attractiveness

gets potential readers to drop everything, read a sales story, and buy your publication.

Quality #4: Is the Idea Usable?

Your idea has to fill some need for your reader. This is vital to gaining repeat customers for

your publication. The idea has to work for its readers.

A publication can be entertaining. With a golf publication, for instance, the pleasure of reading

about golf courses may be enough to make it useful if the main goal is to give the reader

satisfaction through description.

On the other hand, the goal might be to help the reader know how to get lower golf scores

(pride). Or, show times at various courses when greens fees are reduced (savings).

Quality #5: Is the Idea Understandable?

Some years ago, the book A Brief History of Time was a New York Times bestseller for over a

year. It was called one of the most-purchased/least-read books of all time. The author’s next

books didn’t sell well. His books – all of them about quantum science – were just too

complicated.

Ask: Is my information understandable for my target market? As A Brief History of Time

shows, being interesting can sell a book. But if it’s not understandable, you won’t build repeat

business.

Quality #6: Is the Idea Timely?

A successful publication is tuned to the times. If it’s too far ahead of or behind its time, it won’t

do well in the long run.

I failed to understand this quality in the 1970s when I was first writing about investing

internationally. I’d lived abroad for nearly a decade, so this idea seemed obvious. However,

it ran contrary to public thought.

Twenty years later, most U.S. investors were ready for this idea. Today, it is so common that

local stockbrokers give free talks on the subject, so we’ve had to adapt. Because I understand

this quality, I’m able to change, update, and innovate my publications constantly.

Quality #7: Is the Idea Sellable?

In publishing, marketing is a very important part of success. You can have the timeliest, most

usable, interesting, easy-to-apply idea in the world. But if you cannot sell it, you won’t make

money. Defining your market and deciding how to sell your idea correctly is an integral part

of the product creation.

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I learned this lesson while pioneering the idea of investing abroad. As I said, my idea was

right… but ahead of its time. Because I was out of sync with most American investors, my

original selling failed.

The product wasn’t salable until I discovered avenues that led me closer to the small

percentage of Americans who were interested. This process of understanding the customer

is called “focus,” and it’s crucial to publishing success.

For example, I found that though I marketed across the country to all professions and religions,

a large percentage of my original readers were Jewish, Southern, or chiropractors – groups that

had less trust in the establishment. Once I understood that all three of these groups perceived

that the establishment had been, at one time or another, biased against them, I was able to zero

in and focus my sales in those areas.

Rebecca Matter is the Co-Managing Partner of American Writers & Artists Inc., the world’s

leading publisher of direct-response copywriting, travel writing, photography and graphic

design home-study programs.

A marketer with over a decade of experience in publishing and direct-marketing, Rebecca has

spearheaded successful million-dollar campaigns for countless products, both online and off,

and has spoken and written on topics ranging from getting and working with clients to

successful web marketing strategies.

Gary Scott is an entrepreneur, author, and investment publisher who started publishing more

than four decades ago. He specializes in global investing, living overseas, healthy living, and

more. You can find out more about Gary here: www.garyascott.com.

Find out more about self-publishing at www.awaionline.com.

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INCOME OPPORTUNITY #7

Your Boss Doesn’t Know It Yet… but You’re Getting a

Big Raise

By Mark Ford

My brother hired SP for $20,000. On the same day, he hired LJ for $30,000. They both had the

same qualifications: college degrees, a bit of experience interning for investment companies,

and the desire to make a lot of money.

SP stood out from day one. He was the first one to work every morning. And he stayed after

everyone else, including my brother, went home at night. LJ was good but rather ordinary.

Flash-forward 13 years. SP is making more than $2 million every year. LJ is making

$38,000.

SP has already outpaced LJ by more than $10 million. By the time they both retire, SP will have

a net worth well in excess of $50 million. LJ will be lucky if he has anything in his bank

account.

What accounted for the difference?

It was not intelligence. It was not ambition. It was simply the fact that SP decided to

become a superstar while LJ was content to be ordinary.

That’s how I see it. But let me try to prove it to you with some simple arithmetic.

Joe Ordinary is 25 years old. He makes an ordinary $30,000 a year income, and gets

ordinary 3.5% yearly increases. Over a 40-year career, he will make a little over $2.6

million.

Sarah Superstar, also 25, follows career-building advice from her mentors and averages 5%

increases. Over the same 40-year period, she will earn $3.8 million. More than $1 million

more than Joe.

If Sarah can keep her expenditures down and live on the same amount of money that Joe is

making, she will retire a millionaire. And Joe will be forced to live on food stamps and

handouts.

That’s how big a difference a mere 1.5 percentage points can make when we’re talking about

raises.

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And that 1.5% difference, from studies I’ve read, is what Sarah can expect by working hard

and making smart decisions throughout her career.

There is no doubt about it: Earning just a few percentage points more each year can make you

much richer.

But I’m going to talk about something even more exciting than that. I’m going to give you a

blueprint for becoming a multimillionaire in no more than 20 years.

But your path to wealth must start somewhere. So in addition to that blueprint, I’m going to

give you a plan to get an increase of at least 10% in the next 12 months. Does that sound good?

Let’s start by taking a look at how salaries work in a typical business environment.

How to Make Yourself Worth More Money

Businesses exist to provide products and services to consumers. Healthy businesses

measure their success in terms of their long-term profits.

As an employee of a business, it’s your job to help your company produce those profits. You

may think your job is something other than that. You may think, for example, that your job is to

answer the phone or deliver the mail or write marketing copy. Nothing could be further from

the truth. Ultimately, your job is to help produce long-term profits.

The secret to getting above-average raises is to accept that as your fundamental responsibility.

The better you are at transforming the work you are doing now to directly produce long-term

profits, the more money you will make. It’s as simple as that.

Salespeople generally make more than accountants, right?

That’s not because salespeople are smarter than accountants. Nor do they necessarily work

harder. But the job they do is seen as more financially valuable than the job accountants do.

That is the one and only reason they get paid more.

If you are a low-ranking employee right now, don’t worry. The plan I’m going to give you

works just as well for you as it does for top brass. In fact, it works better!

Conventional salaries are the reality for 80% of the workforce – people who come to work

and put in a full day and have a good attitude and hope for the best.

For most of the other 20% – people who are smart and willing to work harder – the business

world will reward them with better raises and more in total earnings over a 40year period.

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But there is a smaller group – maybe 25% of that 20% – that will earn far more. Enough to

make it possible for them to retire rich.

There are more than a dozen employees I’ve worked with personally during the past 20 years

who have taken this less-traveled road. None of them are older than 45, and they are already

all multimillionaires. If they continue as they have been – and there is no reason why they

shouldn’t – they will all be among the top one-half of 1% of the population in wealth when

they decide to retire.

Now let’s talk about how you’re going to make that happen for yourself.

Do This First

Start with this: Make a commitment to be the most valuable employee in your department six

months from now.

You’re going to do that by making your boss feel that you are invaluable to him.

So make a list of all the ways you are currently valuable to your boss. And then make

another list of things you can do to increase your value.

That list will be a good source of ideas for you. A month from now, for example, you might

make it a point to get your boss his most important report a day early. A month later, you

might tell him he can delegate to you the sales calls he hates to make.

Before long, you will have completely upgraded your responsibilities. And your boss – and

your boss’s bosses – will have taken notice.

Take credit for your achievements. But stay humble and credit others for their assistance when

they have, in fact, helped you.

Be conscious of your boss’s ego, too. Give him credit whenever anyone compliments you. A

statement as simple as “I couldn’t have done it without Jeff’s help/wisdom” will do the trick.

By following a two-tier strategy – contributing more to the business and making friends along

the way – your path to success will be quick and easy.

As your responsibilities increase, your boss will depend on you more and more.

Eventually – and this may happen in six months or it may take a year – he will see you as a more

important employee than any of the others he deals with. He will begin to think of you as

indispensable.

At that point, you should have no trouble getting your 10% raise. You might do much better

than that.

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But to make absolutely sure you get it, there is one more thing you must do to: Establish

relationships with other employees who have a higher rank than you. Ask them for their

guidance and insight. Volunteer to help them do their jobs, and do that work after hours.

Your goal is to develop a back-up network of powerful people who see you as an up-andcomer.

These people can be instrumental in getting you the raise you deserve if your boss, for whatever

reason, fails to do it.

If you can, develop relationships with other people in your industry, too. You never know. They

may offer you more than 10% to come and work for them.

Your Rise to the Top Starts Now

Here’s a key point: The habits you establish now to get yourself that 10% raise will be the same

habits that will help you double or triple your salary in the future. Superstar employees don’t do

a hundred things better than ordinary, good employees. They usually do just a handful. You’ll

discover and perfect your handful within the next year in seeking to please your boss, and you’ll

use those skills to go all the way to the top.

If you set for yourself the goal of getting a 10% raise next year and you get just half of that,

you will still be much richer when you retire than you will be if you simply accept the

ordinary.

A caution: Sometimes, what you have to do to please your boss is not the

best thing for the business.

In some companies, it’s possible to get a job working for someone who cares

more about himself and his own power than about the company’s future.

If you have such a boss, you will have to be a bit duplicitous. You will have to

do everything you can to please him. At the same time, you will have to find

someone else in the company, someone with power, who is willing to mentor

you.

That person will be one of your boss’s equals or one of his bosses. Most

important, it must be someone who is committed to the company’s long-term

profitability.

Work to please your mentor at the same time as you work to please your boss.

By pleasing your boss, you’ll get your big raise next year. And by pleasing your

mentor, you eventually will be able to abandon your boss’s rotten ship and

secure a much better position.

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So please – start with that 10% goal. Decide to be a much better employee six months from now

and to have a network of people who understand your contribution to the company’s bottom line

by the end of the year.

Then get that raise and watch your wealth grow.

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INCOME OPPORTUNITY #8

Copywriting: The Most Financially Valuable Skill You

Will Ever Learn

By Rebecca Matter

Having more control over your financial future… Spending more time with your family…

Having more time to travel… Having a flexible schedule… Working at home… Living where

you want… Working when you want…

It’s what we at American Writers & Artists Inc. (AWAI) call the Barefoot Lifestyle. And in

this essay I’m going to cover the fastest and easiest way to achieve it…

The answer?

Become a copywriter.

It really is the ideal way to achieve the Barefoot Lifestyle. You can set your own schedule and

make six figures a year with part-time work while living – or traveling – anywhere in the world.

But it’s also a great way to earn a second income. You can write in your spare time. You can

use it in a niche that makes the most of the business knowledge and experiences you’ve

gained. And it can pay very, very well.

So What Is Copywriting?

When you check your mail today, keep an eye out. Did you get a renewal letter for any

magazines you subscribe to, perhaps offering a discount or free gift for signing up?

How about an offer from a bank to sign up for a new credit card – you’re prequalified and

eligible for super-low interest rates?

Maybe your local car dealer is having a sale this weekend and invited you to come by.

All of these words were written by copywriters.

Same goes for the ads in your favorite magazine or newspaper. The words in radio ads or TV

commercials. The e-mails you receive from your favorite retailer. And the text on websites that

sell products and services.

Unlike news or editorial writing, copywriting is all about getting the reader to take action.

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That’s the job of a copywriter. To use words to get a reader to take a specific action.

And that action can be anything. It might be to click a link in an e-mail, fill out a form, sign up

for a magazine, buy a set of pasta bowls, donate to a local charity, get your city planner to

approve a proposal – any action at all.

Copy is everywhere – it’s part of a $2.3 trillion industry worldwide. And that means learning

how to write effective copy gives you two financially valuable opportunities:

You can work as a freelance copywriter in your spare time or as a full-time career. You

can use the skill to increase the money you’re making from any other business you

currently have.

Either opportunity puts more coin in your pocket at the end of the day.

But today I’m going to tackle the first opportunity and show you what you can expect if you

decide to pursue freelance copywriting as a full- or spare-time career.

How much can a freelance copywriter earn by working from home?

That depends a lot on your own plans and ambitions. But here are some examples that can give

you an idea of the kind of money you can make, depending on how much time you want to put

in:

Kathleen C. works full-time but wants to earn some extra money for vacations and for the

family’s savings plan. She puts in some time during the evenings and on weekends and makes

$25,000 a year. (Although she’s hoping to make $50K this year!)

Eileen C. is a stay-at-home single mom. She has two young children to care for but still

manages to find four hours a day for her freelance copywriting business. She makes $75,000 a

year.

Pam F. is ambitious and works decent hours, not only on copywriting, but also on the growth

and development of her freelance business. She makes over $120,000 a year.

Joshua B. is a real go-getter. He not only found he has a real talent for copywriting, but also

that he’s a terrific networker and business developer. He has negotiated some lucrative contracts

with a number of big companies and will be making more than $300,000 this year.

You get the idea?

The great thing about being a freelance copywriter is that you can adjust how much you work

and earn to suit your own personal circumstances and ambitions.

You don’t HAVE to aim to make $100,000 a year or more.

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Nor do you HAVE to limit yourself to $100,000 if you have ambitions to make a lot more.

The decision is all yours.

What kind of qualifications do you need to be a copywriter?

None! And this is why I love my job at AWAI so much. I’ve met successful copywriters from all

different backgrounds. There is no “mold” when it comes to copywriting.

You can be 18 or 80.

You can have a Ph.D. or not even have finished high school.

You can have a job as a plumber right now, or as a lawyer, or have no job at all.

You can live in a big city or in a cabin up in the mountains, and you don’t have to live in

the U.S.

All you need is a computer and an Internet connection. And if you have a laptop, you can travel

to visit family or friends during the week, and your clients don’t even have to know you’re not in

your “office.”

Are copywriters still in demand in today’s struggling economy?

Great question. And the quick answer is a resounding YES! And here’s why…

Even during an economic downturn or recession, good copywriters are still in strong demand.

When times are tough economically, companies will do all kinds of things to reduce costs.

They’ll close stores and plants, and let as many employees go as they can. Even senior-

level employees.

But one thing they HAVE to keep doing, if they want to survive, is sell their products or services

as effectively as they can.

This means they always need top copywriting talent. They need good copywriters to help them

move their products… urgently.

That said, they might let some of their in-house copywriters go, if they have any. They might do

the math and realize that it costs less to hire a good freelancer than it does to pay the salary and

benefits of a full-time employee.

But one way or another, companies absolutely HAVE to keep selling.

Even during an economic downturn or recession, good copywriters are still in strong demand.

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How can I learn copywriting?

You don’t need to get a degree or pay a lot of money for expensive training to become a

successful freelance copywriter.

If you can write a simple e-mail or letter to a friend, and you like to share ideas with other

people… you have all the qualifications you need to become a copywriter.

It doesn’t matter what job you have right now.

It doesn’t matter if you have no job at all.

It doesn’t matter what age you are or where you live.

It doesn’t even matter where your clients are located!

With the Internet, you can do work for companies on other continents if you wish. You can even

conduct your entire business by phone and e-mail.

You have all the qualifications you need to become a successful freelance copywriter. So if it’s

something you want to try, there’s never been a better time.

If you’re interested in learning more about becoming a copywriter, check out the

American Writers & Artists Inc. website. They offer several programs on the various

types of copywriting, including programs for beginners. Find out more here:

www.awaionline.com.

* **

The Five Absolute Essentials You Need to Make Big

Bucks as a Copywriter

By Mark Ford

John Forde is a guy who knows what he’s talking about. He’s written some great copy in his

time and is always in demand. That’s why new (and aspiring) copywriters often turn to him for

advice.

John started as an intern, making $15 a day. Now he lives and works in Paris, in an

apartment with a balcony on the Left Bank.

It’s a nice life.

How did John do it? As in any field, with a little luck and a lot of hard work – along with five

absolutely essential principles that you too can use to help guarantee your success as a

copywriter.

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“It helps if you’re a certain kind of person,” John says, “one that advertising legend David

Ogilvy described as ‘curious’ and ‘exuberant.’ Ogilvy said that good advertising people are

also ‘decent people to know… intellectually honest… natural charmers… good listeners…

with well-furnished minds and an above-average sense of humor.’”

Flattering. (Assuming you fit the profile.)

“But,” says John, “even if you don’t, you can learn – and master – the copywriting trade if you

do the following five things:

1. Read one piece of direct mail daily. Direct mail, said David Ogilvy, is where great

copywriters cut their teeth.

2. Become a marketing sponge. You’d think I listen to French tapes on the way to work.

Confession: I listen to marketing guru Zig Ziglar. I know. That sounds sick. But you’ve got to

soak yourself in this stuff if you hope to make it second nature.

Get copies of Claude Hopkins’ Scientific Advertising, David Ogilvy’s On Advertising, and any

of Bob Bly’s books (especially The Copywriter’s Handbook). Go to marketing conferences, too.

3. Feed your brain morning to night. Information is food for creative minds. Pack your

cerebellum with deep ideas and fascinating facts. Read books most people are afraid of. Clip

articles, ask questions, and take notes. Nothing less will do.

4. Write even when you can’t. ‘A writer,’ says an over-quoted quote, ‘writes.’ You can’t get good

if you don’t get practice. Often. What do you do if you can’t get started? Or if you don’t have

anything to work on (which would be hard to believe)? Try this: Copy. Word for word. That

is, type out or hand-write another promo. When you’re finished, go back and do it again. You

won’t believe how quickly your writing improves.

5. Do everything you can to get a mentor. What do Mozart, Aristotle, and GE’s Jack Welch all

have in common? They all had mentors. You should have one too, if you can get one. In fact,

this may be the most vital success secret on this five-part list.

‘But,’ you’re asking, ‘couldn’t I do just as well going it alone?’ Perhaps. Plenty of people do.

For instance, you can teach yourself the tricks… you can weather the mistakes… you can re-

invent the wheel. But a good mentor could slash your development time AND accelerate the

growth of your income.

But where do you find a mentor if you don’t have one already?

For one thing, you could find a top-notch copywriter and offer to work for nothing. (Not me –

I’m all booked up.)

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You could also contact the Direct Mail Association (DMA) and look for the names of members.

Offer to write your first package on spec. Look for established companies that have been around

for a while. Take a job on the inside, if you can get one.”

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INCOME OPPORTUNITY #9

Social Media Consulting: The Biggest Freelance

Opportunity of This Year

By Roy Furr

During a recent interview of top copywriter Bob Bly, the topic of Bob's biggest regret of the

last 10 years came up.

Here's what Bob said:

"That I hesitated adapting to the Internet. For many, many years, I ignored the shift in

technology. I can see now that it has cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"So, my counsel is that you don’t hesitate. When you know things are shifting, take

action. Make the move and enjoy the rewards."

And that made me think about a similarly game-changing shift that's happening right now.

For freelancers taking action now, this big shift should represent substantial revenues and

profits in their freelancing business. Freelancers who hesitate, on the other hand, may look back

10 years from now and, like Bob and the Internet, call this their biggest regret of the decade.

Here's what's going on…

Is Social Media the Next Internet?

Okay, I'll admit. That's kind of an odd-sounding question. But from a freelancer's

perspective, it's important. Because what the Internet has done to copywriting, design,

research, and other freelance fields, social media will do all over again within the next couple

of years.

Copywriters like Bob who failed to adapt to the Internet lost projects, lost clients, lost revenue,

and lost the opportunities to create substantial success and leadership in the new medium.

Now social media is following a similar path – and as a freelancer (or aspiring freelancer) you

need to be watching carefully.

Don't believe me? Take these recent stats…

Facebook has trumped even Google as the most-visited site on the Internet, according to

a study from Hitwise, an Internet analytics firm.

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A Vocus study of business-to-consumer marketers found 85% saying social media will

become a more prominent part of their marketing strategy.

And a StrongMail survey found social media isn't being used by marketers in isolation –

28% have already integrated social media with their e-mail efforts, and 43% are making

it a big priority moving forward.

So what do these stats mean?

Social media is taking over as the "place to be" online.

Marketers are putting more weight behind social media going forward, and…

Marketers are integrating social media into their overall strategy, which means they expect to be in it for the long haul.

Not only that, in 2011 social media advertising spending alone (not including staff,

freelancers, software and tools, and all additional expenses) crossed the $2 billion

threshold.

There's a huge trend in business and marketing toward the use of social media.

Like the Internet just a few years ago, the freelancers getting on the front of this trend – now –

are positioning themselves to profit.

What You Need to Know to Profit Using Social Media

One of the quickest ways to start earning thousands of dollars using social media is to help

businesses set up and maintain their social media presence. Remember – 85% of businesses

expect to do more with social media in the next year. And you can be certain that spells

opportunity for social media consultants.

Three big opportunities for social media consultants through 2011 and beyond will be:

Teaching businesses and marketers how to do their own social media

Developing social media strategies for businesses

Offering "do it for you" social media services

The goal here is to get businesses up and running – and accomplishing their business-related

goals – using social media.

Some businesses will use social media as a tool to attract more customers. They'll be looking

for you to show them how to turn a first exposure through social media into a website visitor,

who then either makes a purchase through their website or visits their store.

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Others will simply want more brand "buzz" in the marketplace. They want to get videos and

other multimedia content in front of as many users as possible, with the goal that when those

users need products like theirs, they'll earn a customer.

And still other companies will want to address customer concerns and complaints currently

happening on Twitter and in other social media, using it as a new customer service medium.

And these are just three of eight goals a business might choose to accomplish using social

media.

How to Start Collecting YOUR Social Media Profits

If you learn how to accomplish one or more of the eight business goals using social media,

you can then teach, strategize, and implement social media for substantial freelance

profits, starting immediately.

And the pay is good, too. Consultants regularly earn $150 to $300 an hour for social media

strategy sessions. "Do it for you" services run in the $2,500 to $12,000 per month range,

depending on the level of service. And I didn't have to do much research to find consultants

asking $10,000 for a single day of on-site instruction, teaching social media strategy to business

executives.

Here's more good news. You don't need to have tons of experience, or even jump in full-time to

start profiting as a social media consultant. With the right instruction, you can become highly

competent at using social media to accomplish business goals within 30 days. And then you can

add social media consulting services to your current freelance offerings or even jump in 100%

as a full-time social media consultant. Either way, this is a great opportunity to collect your

share of the billions being spent on social media this year.

No matter what you decide to do, don't ignore this trend. Like Bob Bly said, "When you know

things are shifting, take action. Make the move and enjoy the rewards."

Social media is the biggest freelance opportunity of 2011 – and will likely continue to be so for

years to come. If you act now, the rewards will be great.

Roy Furr is marketing and copywriting consultant who spends most of his time in the

trenches assisting marketers and business owners in getting results through effective

marketing strategy and implementation.

For more information on freelancing as a social media expert, please visit

www.awaionline.com.

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INCOME OPPORTUNITY #10

Stock Photography: Can You Take a Photo Like This

One?

By Jason Holland

For most people, vacation is a time to spend money – usually more than they planned.

But, there is a way to make money during your travels, enough to cover your trip.

Without sacrificing any of the fun.

Shelly Perry travels all over the world as a stock photographer, and one of her favorite places to

visit is Paris. Each time she goes, she spends time in cafes, enjoys lavish meals, and always

makes time for long walks through this beautiful and history-filled city.

Like most tourists, she snaps pictures throughout her trip. But, instead of posting them to

Facebook or showing them off to family and friends, she sells them to an online stock photo

website when she gets home.

But you don’t have to travel the world to sell your photos. Shelly takes photos and sells them

when she’s back home, too. Stock agencies are looking for photos of just about every topic,

setting, situation, and subject you can think of.

Photos Are Needed on Every Subject

Stock photo sites are used by all sorts of individuals, publishers, and businesses to illustrate

magazines, websites, corporate manuals, advertisements, picture frames, and travel

brochures. They need pictures of people, objects, landscapes, and more. You’ve probably

seen a dozen today without realizing it.

More than six million photographs are published every year in the U.S. print media alone. That’s

more than 16,000 per day. And, more than 40,000 photos are published a day worldwide. That’s

not even counting all the photos online. A huge number of those are stock photos. And sooner

than you think, the photos being published could be yours.

While it was easier to break into these online agencies a few years ago, there’s still a lot of

money to be made today – a couple of thousand a month once you get in the groove. It could be

a fun side income for you.

What’s more, you have basically all the tools you need to make this little freelance gig work

for you if you already have a camera. And if you don’t, there are lots of websites online

where you can buy used equipment for just a couple hundred dollars – money you can earn

back through the sale of your photographs.

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The key is in learning how to work the system – what kinds of images are selling best, and

how you can create them with your camera.

So Which Photos Sell Best?

There are hundreds of different in-demand categories of stock photos.

You can make money by taking photos on your next vacation… in your backyard… of friends

and family… in your city or town… in the park down the street… out in nature while on a

hike… the zoo… during the holidays… of hobbies… at festivals and sporting events… the

beach… the mountains… wildlife… in your office… the list goes on.

Shelly Perry, the stock photographer I mentioned earlier, has three specific recommendations for

saleable stock photos. These are a great place for you to get started:

1. Farmer’s Markets “Farmer’s markets are teeming with stock shot opportunities… from

the repeating patterns and colors of seasonal fruits and vegetables to signs scrawled in

chalk and people picking out their wares.”

2. Your Hotel “I've sold photos of curtains, tassels, pillows, and more. One photo of a front

desk bell has sold 1,021 times on iStockphoto.”

3. Textures and Patterns “People like to buy photos of simple textures or patterns to use

as backgrounds for their websites… fine art on their wall… and a myriad of other things.

Keep an eye out for these: peeling paint, rusted metal, brick walls, cracks in the sidewalk,

bark on a tree…”

Of course, there are lots of other subjects you can shoot. For more, visit one of the

popular online stock agencies and browse their list of topics.

Shelly works with iStockPhoto, but there are many other agencies. A simple Google

search using the keyword “stock photos” will help you identify others.

On iStock, it’s free to upload your pictures. And, it’s the perfect place for you to get

started, too. Amateur photographers are welcome.

A typical stock photo on these sites sells for anywhere from $1 to $15, depending on what

size photo the customer wants to purchase. And, the photographer gets a royalty based on

sales.

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This may not sound like much. But, it adds up. There is no limit on how many times a picture

can be sold and downloaded. Popular photos can sell hundreds or thousands of times.

In general, stock photographers earn an average of $1 per image per month from their

portfolios. Upload just 10 photos per week and this time next year, your royalties should

amount to over $500 a month in spare cash – an extra $6,000 a year of passive income.

Commit to uploading twice that amount, and your earnings will be an extra $12,000 a year.

Money you can put towards a new car, a mortgage payment, multiple vacations, and more.

You Can Get Started Right Away

Like I said earlier, it takes a little know-how to choose the right online stock photo agency,

submit the kinds of photos they’re looking for, and earn you your first royalty check. But,

there’s no reason you can’t start on your journey to becoming a stock photographer today.

Why not give it a shot this weekend?

1. Take a look through the photos already up for sale at iStockPhoto to see the types of

photos that are selling. Also check out magazines with a lot of photos. Look at the shots

accompanying articles, as well as the ads. Look for common themes or subjects.

2. Then, head out this weekend with your camera and… start practicing. Take a lot of

photos! Multiple shots of the same subject. And, a lot of different subjects. You want to

have a lot to go through when you get home – so you can figure out what you did right

and why certain photos didn’t come out.

And here’s an inside tip: Set your camera to shoot at the highest quality, largest size

possible – a must for profitable stock photos.

Good luck and good shooting!

Jason Holland is a freelance copywriter and marketing consultant.

For more information on earning extra income by selling stock photos, please visit

www.thephotographerslife.com.

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Note: This next active income opportunity is related to copywriting. But it has the advantage of

allowing you to parlay your work experience and expertise into an income of $50,000-$60,000

per year, working part-time.

INCOME OPPORTUNITY #11

Business-to-Business Writing: The Secret of the $20

Million Toaster

By Steve Slaunwhite

When writers ask me how big the Business-to-Business (B2B) copywriting market is, I

usually quote a statistic from the most authoritative source I know: the Business Marketing

Association (BMA).

According to the BMA, business-to-business companies in the U.S. spend approximately $85

billion a year to promote their goods and services.

That’s such a big honkin’ number that I usually get a few “wows” from the audience.

But what does that number really mean?

It’s so big that it is difficult to put into perspective. How does $85 billion break down into a real

opportunity for a writer who is interested in pursuing this fun and very profitable niche?

Well, to answer that question, I’m going to introduce another example I often use in

seminars and teleclasses: the toaster.

A toaster is, of course, a consumer item. It’s “B2C.”

(Okay, you can argue that there are some commercial toasters for restaurants that are

classified as B2B, but stay with me here!)

You can probably guess which marketing materials are needed to promote a toaster to

consumers.

Copy and graphics for the box.

A brief product description for use on retailer websites, flyers, and other

advertising.

Maybe a TV commercial.

That’s about it.

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But if you take a closer look, you’ll discover that isn’t it at all.

That’s because, behind those few marketing pieces created to promote that toaster to

consumers, there are dozens – perhaps even hundreds – of marketing materials produced to sell

a wide range of products and services to the toaster manufacturer.

Here’s what I’m getting at…

Think about the box the toaster comes in. Who made that?

Well, that box was probably custom made by a specialty packaging company. And that

company – a B2B company – uses a full spectrum of marketing materials to convince

manufacturers to buy their packaging designs, everything from online banner ads, sales letters,

e-mails, and websites to customer success stories, press releases, and even online videos.

And that’s just the packaging.

What about the electronic gizmo inside the toaster that senses when the toast is done to

perfection? (Well, in theory anyway!) Who made that? Not the toaster manufacturer. The

creation of that electronic gizmo is farmed out to an electronics design company.

And to sell its designs, that company continually produces brochures, Web pages, landing pages,

online demos, newsletter articles, autoresponders, ads, and so forth.

Then there’s the sales training company brought in to give seminars to the toaster manufacturer’s

sales force. (Hey, the toaster market is competitive. They need all the help they can get!)

And what does that sales training company do to land clients like that toaster manufacturer?

They churn out Web pages, online videos, brochures, white papers, case studies, articles,

proposals, and… well… you get the drill by now!

A LOT of marketing materials; all of which need to be written.

Written by whom? Written by copywriters who:

Understand how to persuade business buyers

Can explain business products and services in an accurate, informative, and

compelling manner

Know the “rules” of writing effective B2B copy for a wide range of project types

(This is a must.)

Sure, there’s work available writing copy for toasters (and other consumer products). But there

is a lot more work – fun and very profitable work – writing for those B2B companies that work

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behind the scenes to get those toasters to the market in the first place.

In fact, according to InfoUSA, there are more than 5 million B2B companies in the U.S.

Chances are there are probably dozens, if not hundreds, of these potential clients in your area.

One thing’s for sure. You’ll never run out of B2B prospects!

So if you’ve been looking for a niche – one that pays well and for which there is a high

demand for copywriters – take a closer look at the B2B market.

For more information on B2B writing, please go here: www.awaionline.com.

* * *

Don’t Let This Common Misconception Stop You… You

Can Write for the B2B Market Even If You’re Not a

“Techie”

By Steve Slaunwhite

“I’d love to write for the business-to-business market,” Helen explained to me on the phone

the other day. “But I’m just not much good with technology.”

Helen was clearly feeling disappointed. She liked the idea of writing no-hype marketing

materials for B2B companies in her state. Fun projects like Web pages, e-mails, newsletters,

case studies, and white papers. But her lack of confidence with technology, software, and

industrial products and services was holding her back.

That’s a common misconception many writers have. They think they have to be able to get

their heads around stuff like routers, thyristors, PHPs, and other techie things in order to write

successfully for the business-to-business market.

Not true.

You can do great in B2B without ever having to write a marketing piece for a

technical product or software.

In fact, the majority of business-to-business products and services aren’t technical at all. And

they’re actually quite simple to understand.

For example, I recently completed a series of projects for a training company that specializes

in executive time-management seminars. For their latest program, I wrote a series of sell

sheets, some Web copy, a lead-generating direct-mail letter and landing page, two client

success stories, and a white paper. (I sure learned a lot about time management that month!)

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All those projects were fascinating to write, paid very well, and required no particular

technical knowledge on my part. You could write about a time-management seminar,

couldn’t you?

And training companies aren’t the only type of B2B copywriting client where the projects

require no technical knowledge. There are many, many others, including:

Financial services for businesses

Consulting

Event planning

Legal services for businesses

Specialized services (office cleaning, fleet maintenance, etc.)

Advertising and marketing

Office supplies and furnishings

Executive search firms

Business travel services

Seminar producers

Professional and trade publications

Information services

Commercial versions of everyday products (e.g., washing machines for hotels)

This is, of course, only a partial list. There are dozens of types of companies in B2B that are

nowhere near technical.

I once wrote a website for a special type of electric can opener used in restaurant

kitchens. Now, how difficult was that product to understand?

Many copywriters build enviable careers without coming even close to anything that resembles

technical writing. I know one writer who specializes in e-newsletters for professional service

companies, such as law firms, consultancies, and executive coaches. He’s thriving in the

business-to-business market – really one of the tops in his niche – and rarely, if ever, does he

have to pull out his dictionary of technology terms!

So don’t let a discomfort with technology hold you back from breaking into B2B.

If you happen to be comfortable with computer hardware, software, instrumentation, industrial

equipment, and other techie products and services, then by all means approach those types of

clients. Just know that, to be successful writing for the lucrative businessto-business market,

you don’t have to.

Steve Slaunwhite is the author of multiple books, a copywriter for more than 100 Fortune 500

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companies, and highly valued consultant. Profiles of Steve and his success have appeared in

DM News, Inside Direct Mail, The Wall Street Journal, and other prestigious publications.

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PART THREE

How to Take Action Now

“The Mindset of a Champion”

By Mark Ford

Do you have the mindset of a champion?

Are you able to look at your career challenges and feel certain you can overcome them? Do

you feel, like Mohammed Ali and Michael Jordan must have felt, that you have greatness in

your soul?

If your answer is “no,” don’t worry. I don’t have that mindset either.

I never did. I never felt like a natural-born winner. I never had the confidence that the

people I admired seemed to have.

I doubted I could ever fully understand anything about business when I started writing about

it in 1976. Just back from a two-year stint in the Peace Corps, I got a job with a newsletter

called “African Business & Trade.” I remember looking at that name on the door my first

day and thinking, “What is the difference between business and trade?” I learned fast.

My next position was as editorial director for a newsletter publisher in Florida. I had half a

dozen freelance writers reporting to me. My job was to edit and polish their work. But I could

barely understand what they were talking about: robotics and practice management and

agribusiness. How could I presume to tell them what to do? Again, I learned fast.

When I set out to market my own investment newsletter, I was nearly paralyzed with fear. I was

not just worried about failing. I was sure I would. But I was proven wrong once again. That

publication earned millions of dollars its first year. Today, it has mushroomed into a $70 million

publishing franchise.

When I first retired at 39 and spent my days writing poetry and fiction, I didn’t imagine for a

moment that I’d get any of it published. But in the 12 to 14 months that I did that writing, about

a dozen of my stories and six poems were published in literary magazines. Three of them won

prizes.

In 1992, Bill Bonner asked me to help him grow his publishing business. I took the job

because he made me an irresistible offer. A year later, sales had jumped to $24 million. He

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asked me if I thought we could eventually be a $100 million business. I remember telling

him, “I’d be thrilled if we can keep sales as high as they are. My best guess is that we will get

smaller next year, not bigger.” But we did get bigger. And when we hit that $100 million

target, I said, “Let’s just be happy with this.” Ten years later, our revenues topped $500

million and our profit margins had doubled too.

When I got back from the Peace Corps, I had a $400 car and about $300 in savings. Today, I

live in two multimillion-dollar mansions, have tens of millions of dollars in the bank and

brokerage accounts, and interests in businesses with a combined value of well more than $20

million.

So I know that you can be successful without thinking like a champion. I know it’s

possible to accomplish amazing things.

I’m telling you this in case you, too, are full of doubt and fear. I want you to know that you

don’t necessarily have to change your “attitude” to be a winner.

I tried to change. I read the books and studied the tapes. I shouted mantras while driving and

repeated positive affirmations at myself in the mirror. I did it all, but it didn’t change the way I

felt. If I’d had to wait till my attitude changed, I’d be waiting still.

Instead, I found something different. I call it the Secret Path for the Timid. It is a low-key, back-

door strategy that I believe will work for anyone.

The success I have had came from two very simple ideas:

1. If I didn’t have an abundance of natural talent, I could make up for it by working harder

to acquire the skills I needed.

2. If I didn’t have the natural genius to come up with great ideas, I could find out what rich

and successful people were doing and imitate what they did.

When I took that job with “African Business & Trade,” for example, I spent hours every

evening in the library, studying the subjects I was writing about. I never told my boss I was

doing that because I didn’t want him to know how ignorant I was. I simply put in twice as many

hours as the other writers. And slowly but surely, I began to know what I was talking about.

Eventually, I was as good as any writer on the team.

When I started writing my first sales letter, I hadn’t the faintest notion of how to do it. So I spent

weeknights and weekends reading every successful sales letter I could get my hands on. I copied

lines that caught my eye. I made notes about how the sales pitches were structured. I studied how

the offers were designed – the pricing and premiums and guarantees that made those great sales

letters so effective.

Gradually, I learned what I needed to know. The mysteries that had befuddled me as a

beginner became clear.

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With each small success, my confidence grew. But it was not confidence in myself. It was

confidence in the process of working hard and emulating success.

Years later, after I had built many businesses and acquired wealth, people began treating me

like a champion. They assumed I had natural born talents they lacked.

Part of this was my fault. To motivate the people who worked for me, I put on the mask of a

champion. I pretended to be undeterred by any problems.

I now believe I was wrong to do that. In an effort to motivate them, I was doing the opposite. I

was unwittingly suggesting that to accomplish what I had accomplished they had to have my

confidence and courage.

I should have told them the truth: that my accomplishments came slowly and painstakingly.

The reality was that I was a natural born entrepreneurial dimwit. I should have admitted that. I

should have explained that my success was the result of mule-like hard work and monkey-like

imitation.

The point is that I don’t believe you need the mind of a champion to be successful. You need to

do only two things: Work harder than all those who are competing with you. And imitate the

actions of successful people you admire.

If you do that you will have the success you yearn for. As a bonus you will have acquired

courage and confidence too.

With each small success, your mind and heart will grow incrementally braver and more

confident. Eventually, you will wear the mask of a champion. But when that happens,

remember to take it off in front of those you love and care about.

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Using Failure to Ensure Your Success

By Mark Ford

In his book Failing Forward, John C. Maxwell tells the story of Samuel Langley.

Langley was the man who should have invented the airplane.

He was Director of the Smithsonian Institution and a former professor of mathematics and

astronomy. The government had given him a $50,000 check. The purpose? To convert what

he’d learned by experimenting with models into the first manned airplane.

On Oct. 8, 1903, Langley expected his years of work to come to fruition. As journalists and

curious onlookers watched, Charles Manley (Langley’s engineer) strode across the deck of a

modified houseboat and climbed into the pilot’s seat of a motorized biplane. The craft was

perched atop a catapult designed to initiate its flight. But when the launch was attempted, part

of the plane got caught. It was flung into 16 feet of water a mere 50 yards away.

Critics of “Langley’s Folly” were brutal. But he was undaunted. He tried a second flight. This

time, the pilot was almost killed.

Defeated and demoralized, Langley gave up.

On Dec. 17, just a few months later, Orville and Wilber Wright, uneducated, unknown, and

unfunded, flew their plane over the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk.

The moral of this story: If you want to accomplish great things, you have to be willing to fail.

Again and again.

This concept has been embraced with great success by Agora Inc., an unusual company. It is

taught to all new employees. They are told that since the company wants to accelerate their

success, they have to be willing to accelerate their failures.

At Agora, there is almost no resistance to upward mobility. If you get hired to work as a

telephone operator but get an idea for a new product, you will be welcome to present it. If your

idea is any good, it will be tested. And if enough of your ideas work, you will be promoted.

Given this freedom, employees come up with new ideas all the time. New employees usually

come up with not-so-good ideas. It’s not because they are not smart. It’s just that they lack

experience.

But management doesn’t discourage them. If they think an employee’s idea has even half a

chance, they let them try it. They do that because they believe the only way to grow is to make

your own mistakes.

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Agora’s rule is: Test your idea as quickly and as inexpensively as possible. If it works, great.

If it doesn’t work, start working on your next idea.

This approach may be helpful for you. It has been instrumental in Agora’s growth from $100

million to $500 million in the past 10 years.

In Failing Forward, Maxwell provides this formula for “making friends with failure”:

1. Recognize that a willingness to fail is the chief difference between successful people and average people.

In Maxwell’s opinion, success has little to do with wealth, family, background, morals, or

opportunity. “When it comes right down to it,” he says, “I know of only one factor that separates those who consistently shine from those who don’t: their perception of and response to failure.”

2. Redefine failure.

Maxwell says that people are too quick to label isolated situations as failures. A successful

person sees a setback as temporary and beneficial. As something to learn from. As basketball

coach Rick Pitino once said, “Failure is good. It’s fertilizer. Everything I’ve learned about coaching I’ve learned from making mistakes.”

3. Disconnect yourself from your mistakes.

“Your failure does not make you a failure,” says Maxwell. So instead of beating yourself up

when you make a mistake, tell yourself, “I am not a failure. I failed at doing this.”

Keep in mind that every successful person has experienced failure. Mozart was told by

Emperor Ferdinand that The Marriage of Figaro was “far too noisy.” Edison was considered

unteachable as a youngster. And Einstein was told by a schoolmaster that he would never

amount to much.

4. Take action to remove fear.

“If you can take action and keep making mistakes,” says Maxwell, “you gain experience. That

experience eventually brings competence, and you make fewer mistakes. As a result of making fewer mistakes, your fear becomes less paralyzing. But the whole… process starts with action.”

5. Change the way you respond to failure.

Some people get angry when they fail. Others look for scapegoats to blame. Some people ignore

their negative results and continue to repeat their unsuccessful actions. Still others simply give

up. “There’s really only one solution to the gridlock on the failure freeway,” Maxwell says, “and

that’s to wake up and find the exit.” In other words, to accept responsibility for the actions that

contributed to your failure. And to change your behavior accordingly.

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The title that Maxwell chose for his book – Failing Forward – sums up this philosophy nicely: If

you march long enough, you will stumble. Whether you stumble forward or stumble backward or

stop marching completely is entirely up to you.

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Dealing With Disappointment

By Mark Ford

The $3,500 commission check you were expecting won’t be coming. The customer

canceled the order.

The $15,000 salary increase your boss promised will be only $5,000. “Times are tough,” you

are told.

And the plumber’s assurance that he’d have your toilet fixed by day’s end was just a pipe

dream. You need a whole new septic system.

There is nothing like a bad surprise to ruin a good day. Or three or four of them to ruin a month

or year.

I once knew a very successful entrepreneur who had to face, in a single, six-month period, the

theft of his best three clients by an ex-employee, the death of his father, and the

embarrassment of learning his wife was having an affair with a neighbor.

He couldn’t take all the bad news. He killed himself.

We can’t control the things that happen to us, a wise man once said, but we can control how

we respond to them.

A wonderful movie based on this premise was 1997’s Life Is Beautiful. It told the story of a

Jewish man, Guido Orefice, who, along with his 5-year-old son, was interned in a Nazi

concentration camp.

Here was a guy in the worst possible situation. Yet he was able to rise above it and protect his

son from the horrors around them by using the power of his imagination.

Guido Orefice was a fictional character. Most of us couldn’t hope to have his resiliency of mind

and spirit. Most of us are disappointed when bad things happen to us. Sometimes we feel angry.

Sometimes depressed.

I used to be that way. Very much so. But I realized over the years that I had to learn how to

cope with disappointment. I tried all sorts of techniques that I read about in self-improvement

books. But I found only one thing that actually works very well and all the time.

That one thing is the infamous Plan B.

Plan B is the answer to the question: “What will I do if this doesn’t turn out the way I think

it will?”

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You make a sale. Your commission is $3,500. You begin to think about how you are going to

spend that money. And then the Plan B question pops up: What if the sale falls through? What

if this customer backs out?

You don’t want to have this thought because it seems negative. And yet you cannot deny that it

is a possibility. So rather than pushing the thought from your mind, you take a moment to

answer it. “If the sale falls through, I will take a deep breath and go on to make my next sale.

Furthermore, I will not spend that $3,500 until it is in the bank.”

Conjuring up this Plan B doesn’t affect the outcome one iota. Chances are still just as good as

they were that you’ll get your money. But if the unthinkable (now thinkable) does happen, you

are mentally prepared to deal with it. You have a positive thought already planted in your

mind. And you haven’t done anything foolish (like spending the money before you have it) to

compound the problem.

I use this technique for almost everything. Whenever I book a flight, for example, I

consciously consider the possibility that the flight will be delayed or cancelled. I check on the

next available flight – which takes only a few seconds. And I tell myself, “If the first flight

falls through, I will not get angry or upset. I will simply use the extra time to get some reading

done and get on the next plane.”

It’s amazing how effective this is.

I even used this technique when I hurt my shoulder wrestling. When it didn’t get better after a

month, I made an appointment with my orthopedist. Going into the appointment, I hoped I

hadn’t done any major damage. But just in case… I imagined what I would do if I had to have

an operation.

I decided that my Plan B would be to use the recuperative time to get my heart and lungs in

great shape. I planned an exercise routine that would include squats and sprinting and all sorts

of resistance exercises involving my legs.

So when my doctor told me that my rotator cuff had torn loose and I needed surgery, I wasn’t

bummed out. In fact, I was sort of excited. This bad news was just the opportunity I needed to

get my heart and lungs in the best shape of my adult life.

Four weeks after the operation I couldn’t do anything with my left arm (it was still in a sling).

But I was exercising twice a day, working on my heart and lung strength and stamina. And

when I got back to wrestling six months later, I was a cardiovascular monster!

I did a similar thing about six years ago when I tore up my knee wrestling. (Don’t write to tell

me I’m too old to wrestle. This happens to the young guys too.) I had to have my ACL

replaced, and was going to be off the mats for six months. For someone with my schedule

(and addictive mentality), this could have been seriously unsettling. But I figured out a Plan B

before I had the operation.

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My plan for the two weeks in bed (and on painkillers – which meant I couldn’t do any

meaningful work) was to catch up on all the great movies I had never seen or seen only once.

My plan for the rest of the six months was to improve the strength of my upper body and to do

a lot of reading and writing that I’d been putting off.

I watched 30 movies during that two-week period and read more than 50 books in the ensuing

months. I also wrote a screenplay and a book that turned out to be a bestseller. I wasn’t

wrestling, but I was enjoying myself.

Spend five minutes today thinking about your expectations – for your job, your personal

relationships… everything.

Write them down. Then make a Plan B for every one. Ask yourself, “If this doesn’t

happen, what is the best next thing I can do?”

Make sure all your Plan Bs are positive – things you can do that will improve your life somehow.

Initially, it may be difficult to even imagine that some hoped-for event will turn out badly. But

after you have installed a good Plan B in your head, the anxiety will subside. It might even

disappear. And it will be replaced by a growing acceptance – even anticipation – for your Plan B.

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True Value: Understanding What Really Matters

By Mark Ford

We were walking down a small cobblestone street in Aix en Provence. It was a perfect June

day – sunny and still warm in the late afternoon. The old, unpainted buildings had an amber

glow.

Some of these buildings, we had learned from poking our heads inside, contained modest-sized

apartments. Others enclosed elegant residences that only the wealthy could afford. From the

outside, though, you couldn’t tell one from the other.

“That’s a good thing,” my wife said. “From the outside nobody can tell how much money you

have.”

“It’s the opposite back home in Florida,” I said. “Wealthy people want everyone to know how

much money they have. They tear down old buildings and replace them with McMansions.”

“It’s just a question of values,” she said.

We stopped at a cafe about a block from where we were staying. It was nearly filled with

people having drinks and smoking, enjoying the end of their workday. A young girl stood under

an oak tree playing Bach on a violin.

The waiter brought us coffee. I wrote in my journal. My wife was reading a local

newspaper.

“It says here you can survive without food for three weeks,” she said. Three days without water.

But only three minutes without oxygen.”

“Japanese pearl divers can stay under water for 10 minutes,” I said. “The world record is

something like 19 minutes and 21 seconds.”

She shook her head, smiling. “You know what I mean. It’s a question of values.”

I thought about that as we walked back to our hotel. So much of our time is spent pursuing

goals that have questionable or temporary value. And often we ignore what is most important.

Like oxygen. What could be more important to human beings than oxygen?

Yet we don’t spend any time appreciating it. (I made a mental note to mention oxygen the next

time I said grace.)

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When I do business consulting, I often surprise my clients by saying that “there is an

inverse relationship between what is valuable and how much people will pay for it.”

I remember a meeting in London, for example, with the people running an investment

publishing business there. I pointed out that their free services usually focused on investment

strategies, their $100 newsletters focused on investment analysis, and their $1,000 services

provided trading tips.

“The strategies are what really determine financial success,” I reminded them. “Yet nobody is

willing to pay for that. They will pay $100 for stock analysis and they’ll pay even more for

single-sentence buy recommendations. We’ve tried reversing the price structure many times,

but it never works.”

When I have candid conversations with very successful investors they never give me stock

tips. They always talk about strategies. The same is true in the world of business. The

entrepreneurs I know who make huge money seldom talk about specific business

opportunities. They prefer to discuss basic principles.

There is a reason for that.

When you have ready access to wealth building and income producing opportunities, you

understand that they, in and of themselves, have little value. What counts is being able to analyze

them quickly and efficiently, cull out the best ones, and then take advantage of them. That

knowledge is what separates you from the rest of the pack. And that knowledge is scarce.

But if you’re like most people, specific opportunities are rarely available to you. Colleagues

don’t call you up and offer you inside deals. Your broker doesn’t care much if he pleases you.

He just wants to sell something and take his commission. So because genuine opportunities are

scarce, you tend to jump on anything that “feels” good.

Trouble is, since you are an outsider, most of what you are pitched is not special. You don’t

know that, but you fork over your money anyway. And then you are disappointed.

There is a lesson here: If you want to be successful you must learn to value what is truly

valuable.

So what are the most important things for you to know about wealth building?

Here is a short list:

You will never get rich chasing the next hot opportunity.

Understand the larger business trends.

Discover how wealth builders of the past have profited from them.

And do the same with your time and money.

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All businesses develop in much the same way. They go through stages. And each one has its own

problems, challenges, and opportunities. To take your business from one level to the next, you

must learn what these problems, challenges, and opportunities are and take advantage of them.

Never invest in a business or an industry that you don’t understand. It doesn’t matter how great

the opportunity seems. If you don’t know the market well, you will inevitably make bad and

costly decisions.

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BONUS ESSAY #1

How to Live as Well as a Billionaire – on the Income

You’re Earning Now

By Mark Ford

When you think about the rich – the really rich – you may find yourself marveling at

their… well, their money.

Take Bill Gates, one of the world’s richest men. If you think $10 million is a fortune, then

consider this: He has 5,000 of them. If he put his money in $1,000 bills, he’d have 50 million of

them!

But how much better does he live? Sure, he’s got a huge house. And a yacht. He’s

probably got a jet too. But who needs that crap? Really!

If you make at least $100,000 a year ($150,000 if you are attached to a family), you can live as

well as Bill Gates does, and I’ll prove it to you in this essay. If you aren’t yet making that

much, you’ll have to put this aside until you are. If you’re following The Palm Beach Letter, it

shouldn’t take very long.

Now the purpose of becoming rich – you would think – would be to make your life as

enjoyable as possible. The more money you have, the more choices you have.

Take sleeping. What does a billionaire want out of his sleep time? I’d say the same thing you

do: blissful, uninterrupted unconsciousness. And what will give you that (besides peace of

mind, which you can’t buy)?

Answer: a great mattress.

And how much does a great mattress cost? Maybe $5,000. That means you can buy yourself a

million-dollar sleep on a billion-dollar mattress for no more than $5,000. If you are making

$100,000 a year, you can afford it.

So get rid of that lumpy thing you are sleeping on and find yourself the absolute best mattress

you have ever sat on. Buy it and go to sleep content that Bill Gates can have it no better.

Fact is, you can pay almost any price for any thing. But after a certain point you are no longer

paying for quality, you are paying for prestige.

Take steak. Ask someone who knows about beef and you will be told that the quality of a steak

is entirely a matter of the meat you buy. Order fillet mignon at the Outback Steakhouse and, for

around $20, you are eating the best steak money can buy. Order the same cut of meat at Le

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Cirque and you’ll pay $75. What’s the difference?

Yes – just prestige.

The same is true when it comes to clothing. Beautiful, comfortable clothes are not cheap, but

they don’t have to cost a fortune. You can buy a great pair of slacks for $150 or you can spend

10 times that amount. The difference will be the label on the waistband.

Champagne, anyone? Consumer Reports had some wine experts test a variety of Champagnes.

Of their five best, four were less than $40. Dom Perignon, listed fifth, will set you back $115.

A better Champagne can be had for only $28.

And so it goes on. The point is this: The best material things in life are affordable. They are not

cheap – quality never is – but if you buy them selectively and use them with care, you can enjoy

a life as materially rich as Bill Gates on an income that wouldn’t get him through lunch.

Here’s how you can live rich, starting today:

Your Dream House

I have lived in a three-room mud house in Africa and a 5,000-square-foot mansion – and I can

tell you this: The quality of a home has little or nothing to do with how much it costs or how big

it is.

Think about the houses you most admire. They are probably NOT huge and flashy. One of my

current favorites is a modest, three-bedroom house in Cleveland, which has been transformed

by the lady who owns it into a lush, luxurious museum of her love of travel, dance, and

learning. Every room is a gem. I am completely comfortable and endlessly amused in this rich

and interesting house.

It’s value? As great as Bill Gates’s 40,000-square-foot monstrosity in Seattle. Yet this one has a

market value of about $150,000.

Your Car

I have a friend, a wealthy friend, who loves cars, especially sports cars. He drives a Camaro.

Why would he? Because he says it is as good as a Corvette, a Porsche, or even a Ferrari. Instead

of forking out $150,000 plus…he gets his thrills in a car that costs one-sixth that price.

What about prestige? Well that’s what you have to pay more for. But if you are willing to go

the classic route… and buy a car whose design doesn’t change every year or so… you can buy

yourself prestige at affordable rates. For example, I drive a mint-condition NSX that you

couldn’t tell from a brand-new one. My car is worth about $30,000. You’d have to pay almost

three times that amount for a new one. The same holds true for older Mercedes and BMWs.

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In fact, in terms of “living rich,” you should never buy a new car. You’ll save a bundle by

purchasing a late model vehicle with low mileage. If you shop around, you can find a five- or

ten-year-old car that will cost 25% or 30% of the new car price, but will be just as good.

Your Wardrobe

What does it cost to dress like the world’s richest people? Much less than you think.

If you can forget about brand names and focus on quality, you will save thousands and look

better. As with cars, you’ll do better by going for a classic look. Then you won’t have to

discard perfectly good items simply because the lapel has changed.

The other big secret of dressing rich is this: Less is more.

Ralph Lauren – a guy who has the money and the access to dress as rich as can be – wears

the same thing almost every day: classic cut jeans and a T-shirt.

You can dress beautifully in second-hand clothes, too. What could be more impressive than a

vintage suit, properly tailored, impeccably clean?

There are books on this subject. They all say pretty much the same thing. A few really nice

items are much better – more enjoyable for you, more impressive to others – than a huge

wardrobe of trendy, ordinary stuff.

Want specifics? Get yourself two or three pairs of slacks (or skirts). One or two suits (or

dresses). Two or three pairs of shoes. The idea is to have much less but love everything you

have.

Make sure your socks are cashmere ($19.50 at Banana Republic) and your T-shirts and

underwear are the finest cotton. Use only one cologne or perfume, but love it. Do the same

with hair products and cosmetics.

Buy classic. Insist on quality. Few are better than many. Simple is better than complex.

Understated is better than flashy. Do this and you will have what Bill Gates can afford to have:

a very pleasant feeling each time you pull on your shirt or buckle your belt.

Food and Drink

Want a billion-dollar meal? Take a good bottle of wine, a baguette of freshly baked bread, some

cheese and ham, and go to the nearest park with a loved one. You need only a knife and a

corkscrew – what you have in your kitchen is fine – to have a truly memorable time.

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Le Cirque? Well, I told you my opinion about that. But if there’s an expensive restaurant you

are dying to try, go ahead and treat yourself. But not too often. As someone who has eaten

countless expensive meals, I know how tiring rich food can be. More important, I can

remember few expensive meals that surpassed the simple wine and cheese lunches my wife

and I have enjoyed when we were lucky enough to have them.

Music, Books, Movies, Etc.

With today’s audio technology, even a $300 boom box sounds great. Spend a grand. Don’t even

try to tell me you need to spend more than that. The secret is in the music you select. There is

music that can make you feel like a billionaire.

The great thing about books: the best ones cost no more than the worst ones. Treat yourself

richly – read only that which makes you feel richer afterwards. The same is true for movies,

theater, and just about any form of entertainment.

There is only one extravagance you can’t buy reasonably: front-row tickets to professional

basketball games. I have made the mistake of becoming a Miami Heat fan. If you are smart, you

will learn to love college ball.

Your Office

Warren Buffett, one of the world’s richest (and smartest) men, has his office in a simple

building. His walls are paneled plywood. His desk is a table. He doesn’t need the prestige of a

cathedral-sized room and an altar-sized desk. He is not God. And he knows it.

But what he does have is a room that is uniquely his, with a comfortable chair and a place for

everything he needs. On the surfaces and hanging from the walls are things that inspire him.

Warren Buffett’s office is his own. It looks like no one else’s office and it works for him.

That’s what you want in your office. The right amount of space. Good lighting. A very good

chair. And things that stimulate and inspire you.

Everything else is a distraction.

I’m not saying your office should not be luxurious. I am saying it should be luxurious in a

personal way. You probably spend most of your waking life in your office, so put as much

thought and care into it as you do your home.

Silverware

Shopping for a Christmas present for my wife, I wandered into an antique shop that

specialized in silver. The proprietor, a genteel, 86-year-old lady from Georgia, showed me

this and that. And then, when she sensed I was looking for something very special, took me

to the back room and showed me an absolutely beautiful set of silverware by Reed & Barton.

It was the Francis I design – the finest they ever made. “If you were a millionaire,” she said

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in her seductive southern drawl, “You could not buy a finer set of silverware than this.”

It cost me $4,500. Nothing to be sneezed at, but that was for 14 place settings and a lot of

serving utensils. Now think of that. You can own the finest silverware that money can buy –

antiques at that – for $4,500. Such a set could give you pleasure for the rest of your life, and

make even your ordinary meals elegant. The Queen herself couldn’t do better.

It’s All Entirely Within Your Reach

The way you dress, the way you eat and drink… even the home you live in… can be as good

as any billionaire’s. Spend time shopping. Buy very selectively. Limit your possessions. And

take a half-hour a day to really appreciate the good things you have. That’s all there is to it.

(Oh, yes. And don’t scrimp on the mattress.)

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BONUS ESSAY #2

Eating and Drinking for Success

By Mark Ford

Eating well is very, very important. It determines your overall health, which is key to your

goal of living rich.

It’s interesting to note that Forbes magazine found a correlation between wealth… and health

and longevity. The billionaires on their annual list were healthier than the average male. Not

only that, they lived an average of three and half years longer.

Why? A lot of credit goes to the fact that rich people tend to eat better, more nutritious, food.

They realize that food is fuel. It fires the body's engines so they can accomplish the work they

want to do.

And what is the best fuel? Real food. Primal food. Food we were meant to eat, Not food that

has been processed to death or treated with antibiotics, hormones, and pesticides.

I recently stopped at the market to pick up a few things. While I was checking over the

avocados, a young couple walked up. The girl said, "Oh these look so good,. Let's get some!"

The fellow, noticing the price, said, "Two for five dollars! No way!" And they walked away.

I have no doubt that they spent at least five dollars in the market that day. But it was probably

on dead, packaged food, full of fat, salt, and sugar rather than the rich nutrition in the live

avocado.

Quality food, like all other elements of a rich lifestyle, can set you back by whatever you're

willing to pay. But if you keep it simple, you can eat very well without spending a ton of

money. Simply master a few basic principles and you'll eat as well as any billionaire with a

private chef. Maybe better.

Healthy Eating Is Easier Than It Sounds

So where do you start? The first thing is to Get real. Literally.

Real Protein

Don't waste your hard-earned cash on hormone-laden, corn-fed beef raised in a feedlot. Find a

source of grass-fed beef. It is lower in overall fat but has more omega-3s. And I can't really

get into the issue of feedlot practices here – but if you need any further motivation to eat

grass-fed beef, read up on it in your spare time.

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The same goes for poultry. Free-range birds taste better and are a healthier choice. And when

it comes to fish, look for wild-caught, coldwater fish.

Real Fruits and Vegetables

High in fiber and antioxidants, fresh fruits and vegetables will fill you up while you eat all you

want. Just remember that corn is actually a grain, so go easy on it. Yams and sweet potatoes

won't spike your blood sugar like white potatoes, but limit those, too.

Shop your local farmer's market for all kinds of greens and cruciferous vegetables and

tomatoes that really taste like tomatoes. The DailyGreen website publishes a current list of the

"dirty dozen" – fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residue. Those are the ones you

really need to buy organic.

Real Nuts and Seeds

Nuts and seeds are full of protein, vitamins, and healthy fats. You might want to steer clear

of peanuts because they are especially susceptible to a mold called aflatoxin. And definitely

avoid candy-coated nuts. But a handful of almonds, walnuts, pecans, or sunflower seeds make

a great snack that will tide you over to your next meal.

Real Fat

Yes, real fat is a vital part of a healthy diet. And when I say real fat, I mean fat from animals, fat

from eggs and avocados, and good oils like olive oil. What you want to avoid are artificial fats

like margarine and trans-fats. Read the label. Hydrogenated fats will last forever on your grocer’s

shelf, but they are poison to you.

Quenching Your Thirst

Frankly, I think the current obsession with drinking 8 glasses of water a day is bunk. When

you eat a lot of fresh food and stay away from water-absorbing grains, you get plenty of

fluid in your diet. So you’re not as thirsty. But when you are, what do you drink?

Water

Water is always the hydrator of choice. It's up to you whether you choose tap or bottled water.

If you're concerned about your local water supply, you might install a filtering system in your

home. And for a treat, keep sparkling water like Perrier or San Pellegrino on hand. Add a slice

of lemon or lime for color and flavor.

Juice

Sorry, but juice is pretty much just concentrated sugar. It takes 3 or 4 oranges to make one 8-

ounce glass of juice. Think of how fast you can drink that juice. You're better off eating the

oranges and all the other good stuff they contain. But if you can't bring yourself to give up

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juice, try one part juice to two parts sparkling water. You'll get most of the taste without all

the sugar.

Coffee

If coffee is your personal obsession, by all means have at it. But first, you should know what

Consumer Reports has to say. According to them, the bestselling coffees are Folgers, Maxwell

House, and Starbucks. But in taste tests, Eight O'Clock Columbian beat them all. Starbucks

didn't even place near the top!

Eight O'Clock costs about $6 a pound, less than half of the expensive brands. At that rate, you

would save $25 to $70 a year even if you only drank one 6-ounce cup per day. Meanwhile,

Consumer Reports testers made three important observations:

Good coffee tastes good black. Milk and sugar can improve mediocre coffee, but

not even cream will help low-quality coffee.

A great coffeemaker is required to make good coffee. The water has to reach 195º

F to 205º F to get the best from the beans and not produce a weak or bitter brew.

A top-rated Michael Graves model costs just $40.

Grinding your own beans is best. The top-rated Mr. Coffee IDS77 is only $20.

Tea

Tea is the number one beverage of choice in the world. And it would seem there are endless

varieties to choose from. The latest scientific research confirms that tea – in almost any form – is

high in antioxidants. So if you really enjoy tea, it is a healthy vice to have. And it pays to do

some research and get some really good tea to drink. (One good resource is the Teavana

website.)

Does $50 for 150 grams (about 5.3 ounces) of tea sound like a lot? At first glance, yes. But

consider that you'll get at least 50 cups of tea out of that. And because it's high-quality, you can

infuse it up to five times, which produces 250 cups of tea. Suddenly, we're talking about

twenty-cents for an excellent cup of tea. That puts that $2 10-pack of stale grocery store teabags

to shame.

Wine

Everyone knows how much money you can spend on wine. But did you know that you can be

a wine connoisseur while staying in the $10 to $20 per bottle range? It is so doable, you won't

believe it. And all the while, you are drinking fantastic wines that any billionaire would

welcome on his table.

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Wine actually has a very plebian background. Grapes are grown by callused farmers... and are

picked by hard-core field workers. It’s a very blue-collar business. Furthermore, most of the

wine sold at retail costs between $8 and $10 a bottle. The buying crowd will go to $15 on

occasion – maybe even $20. But rarely more.

Still, when you read wine reviews, they're often about wine in the $50 to $100 range. That's

marketing, my friends. Not wine-drinking. That's classic overpaying for prestige.

Not to say that expensive wines aren't wonderful. They may be. But you don't have to pay big

bucks to enjoy a satisfying glass of wine.

The guy who has my vote right now for the best wine reviews is Gary Vaynerchuk of

WineLibraryTV fame. This is a man who could drink $100 bottles of wine every day if he

wanted to. But he doesn't. He concentrates on finding quality and value in the $10 to $20 price

range.

Read the reviews. Do your own tasting. When you find a moderately priced wine you love,

order a case of it. You'll get a discount and a great start on your own wine cellar.

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BONUS ESSAY #3

What Do You Do With Your Spare Time? A Shortcut to

Developing a Rich Mind

By Mark Ford

If you had a billion dollars, how would you entertain yourself? Would you travel from

country to country in a private jet? Play golf seven days a week? Hire a personal masseuse?

These were some of my fantasies I had when I was young and poor. But now that I’m rich I

find I spend my spare time doing other things. I do travel and play golf and get a weekly

massage. But most of my spare time is devoted to work. Not working to make money, but

working nonetheless.

Three Aspects of Wealthy Leisure

I recently interviewed about 25 wealthy acquaintances. I asked them all sorts of questions,

hoping to add some objectivity to my personal experiences. About half of them were younger,

newly rich people. The rest were my age or older – people who had been wealthy for some time.

I was interested to see if there was a difference in the way the two groups answered the

questions I was posing. In some cases, there was a difference. But it was less often and less

dramatic than I expected.

When I asked them how they spent their spare time, I found only one significant difference. The

newly rich people tended to be more brand-conscious when selecting restaurants, hotels, and

other services. The older group relied more on their personal experience – usually preferring the

less known and less-trafficked hotel, restaurant, or spa over one that was famous.

In this aspect they were more discriminating and frugal than their younger peers. Their

standards for quality were extremely high. But one of their criteria for quality was a high degree

of personal service – the kind that is almost impossible to get at the most popular places.

As to what sorts of activities they engaged in there was a great deal of diversity. The range

was almost as wide as the number of people I interviewed. It included everything from table

tennis to antique shopping to deep sea diving to doing the tango.

But there were some commonalities.

Almost all of them enjoyed good wine and food. And most of them did a great deal of traveling.

But when they traveled their purpose was not to relax so much as it was to have a new

experience. Some liked to travel to exotic countries. Others liked to go to big cities and enjoy

plays, museums, and galleries. Still others liked adventure trips – where they biked or hiked or

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rode horses.

Another common characteristic: They spent a good part of their spare time learning. Some

were interested in economics. Others were interested in art or history or science. They attended

lectures and went to exhibitions and watched documentaries. But most of all, they read books.

They were almost all voracious readers.

My survey confirmed a suspicion I had: that there is a difference between what people think

they would do with their spare time if they were rich and what they actually do.

Wealthy people (and especially people who have had wealth for some time) do enjoy the

“finer” things in life. But most of their time is spent on activities that are inexpensive – things

they could do without a lot of money.

The Most Important Thing I Ever Learned About Living Rich

Every few months, I get together with Jeff, a friend and former business partner, for a long,

luxurious lunch. We have been having these lunches for more than a dozen years.

First we have appetizers. Then the main course. And finally we have espressos outside on the

patio so I can enjoy a cigar. Every part of the meal with Jeff is slow and precise and deliberate.

He talks with interest about the menu. He tastes the wine with attentiveness. Time slows down.

Inevitably, Jeff brings up a provocative subject.

"What do you think of when you think of wealth?" he asked me during one such lunch.

“I’m not sure. I guess I think about big houses with swimming pools and fancy cars.”

“That’s interesting,” he said. “Now do this: Imagine those things – but also imagine

yourself in the scene.”

I closed my eyes and imagined myself lying on a lounge chair next to a swimming pool near a

huge house with a big black car on the side.

“Do you have yourself in the picture?” Jeff asked.

“Yes,” I told him.

“And how do you feel?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Good.”

“Can you be more precise?”

I focused on the feeling.

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“Tranquil,” I said.

“And safe.”

“That’s interesting,” he said.

We didn’t talk any more about it that day. But it got me thinking.

It intrigued me that the feelings I associated with the symbols of wealth were very different

than I would have guessed.

Safe and tranquil?

Really?

The next time we had lunch we met at a small Italian restaurant in Palm Beach that we’d

been to many times before. When I arrived Jeff was already seated, chatting with the maître

d’. He stood to embrace me, then sat down and offered me a glass of Prosecco from the half

bottle that was chilling at the table.

Our prior discussion didn’t come up during our meal but it was on my mind. Sitting outside

sipping espresso afterwards, I brought it up. “I’ve been thinking about how I feel when I

think about wealth,” I said.

“Tranquility and safety,” he said. “Right?”

“Right.”

I told him that I thought those feelings came from my early childhood. We were a family of 10

living on a teacher’s income. We were the poorest people on Maple Street, which was one of

the poorest streets in town.

The feeling I had back then was a combination of anxiety (because I was so embarrassed by the

clothes I wore and the lunches I brought to school) and fear (the fear that my schoolmates

would despise me for being poor). And what I longed for was the complete opposite of that

feeling. In other words, tranquility and safety.

“That’s interesting,” he said. “Are you saying that your pursuit of wealth was actually a

pursuit of two feelings you associated with wealth?”

“I think so,” I said.

“Let me ask you question,” he said.

“What percentage of your time have you spent working to make money and buy those symbols

of wealth – the house and the swimming pool and the cars?”

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“Lots of time,” I admitted.

“And yet you found that when you had them, you still didn’t have the feeling.”

“Right.”

“And how much time have you spent trying to feel wealthy rather than trying to acquire things to

feel wealthy?”

I admitted that I had spent almost no time doing that.

“Do you ever feel wealthy?” he asked.

“I do.”

“For example?”

“I feel wealthy when we have lunch,” I told him.

Later we took a walk along Worth Avenue and stopped at a small newsstand.

“They have a great selection of international magazines,” Jeff told me.

We spent about 20 minutes looking through French and Italian and Chinese magazines I had

never seen before. The pace, again, was leisurely – almost languid. And that somehow opened

me up to what I was experiencing.

It gave me ideas for some articles I might want to write. It gave me thoughts about art projects

I might start. It left me feeling inspired and something else: It left me feeling richer.

That was an "Aha!" moment for me.

What Does Wealth “Feel” like to You?

To feel like a billionaire you don’t need a billion dollars. What you need is to understand the

feeling you are looking for and then figure out how you can get that feeling within your budget.

The feeling for me has three elements: tranquility, safety, and enrichment.

I get the tranquility by slowing down. I get the feeling of safety by not spending more than I can

afford. And I get the feeling of enrichment by selecting experiences that enrich me.

You need money – sometimes lots of money – to own the symbols of wealth. But to

experience the feeling of wealth you don’t need to spend much money at all.

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Richness From Music

If you love music, you can feel rich by listening to music that energizes and inspires you. And

with today’s technology, you can do it on an inexpensive iPod, MP3 player, or Yamaha audio

micro system.

Some music – even great music – is an acquired taste. If you weren't raised listening to classical

music, it might take a while to appreciate it. But it's something you can easily do because music

is cheap. Even the best recordings cost so little that you can educate your taste with almost no

investment.

Don't expect to like everything right away. Some of it you may never grow to like. The trick is

to expose yourself to lots of music – more than once – to find out what appeals to you.

A good start would be the following 10 recordings:

Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 (Carlos Kleiber) – perhaps the most famous piece of music

ever written

Mozart: Piano Concertos 20, 21 (Vladimir Ashkenazy)

Beethoven: "Pathétique" and "Moonlight" Piano Sonatas (Alfred Brendel)

Bach: Brandenburg Concertos (Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment)

Brahms: Piano Trio No. 1 (Eroica Trio)

Stravinsky: Rite of Spring (Igor Stravinsky)

Schubert: "Death and the Maiden" String Quartet (Amadeus String Quartet)

Tchaikovsky: "Pathétique" Symphony (Mariss Jansons)

Haydn: Lord Nelson Mass (David Willcocks)

Bizet: Carmen (Teresa Berganza, Plácido Domingo, Claudio Abbado)

You can pick up all of these recordings for less than $200.

You should also expose yourself to jazz, blues, movie sound tracks, and R&B. If you like

classic rock, Rolling Stone Magazine's "Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" includes artists

like Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, the Rolling Stones, and Marvin Gaye. A

personal collection of this kind of music is easy to build.

And if you like opera, you can “attend” some of the best operas in the world without leaving

your home city. The Metropolitan Opera simulcasts live performances in movie theaters around

the country. The very same event being performed onstage is broadcast in high definition,

including backstage interviews that people in the audience don't see.

Keep in mind that you can store an entire music library on an MP3 player and take it with you

wherever you go. MP3 players have revolutionized the way we buy, store, and listen to music.

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They aren't expensive. And a wide variety of players is available. You might even want more

than one. High capacity players have a hard disk, which is too fragile if you want to listen while

exercising. Players with flash memory don't hold as much, but are better suited for running or the

gym. Still, they store a lot of music.

Richness From Reading

I cannot imagine not reading for pleasure. It makes me feel rich like almost nothing else.

The process of reading gives you time to pause and think. It stimulates your imagination,

improves your concentration, and keeps your memory sharp. It prompts you to look below the

surface of things.

As with music, the kind of reading you do is critical to the quality of your experience.

Reading “junky” novels may give you a sense of escape, but it won’t enrich you in any way I

can think of.

Reading the classics takes more energy than reading junk, but that extra energy rewards you.

Besides the obvious benefit of better, more complex plots and more interesting, three-

dimensional characters, great books give you the pleasure of beautiful language.

Reading “challenging” books will also improve your vocabulary. And having a better

vocabulary allows you to speak and write more forcefully. It will make you more

persuasive. And it will even make you a better thinker.

Reading the classics exposes you to other times, other places, and different points of view.

You might not think there is much to be learned from very old books, but there is. The way

people live may have changed dramatically, but essential concerns remain the same.

Try reading the biography of Ben Franklin or Dante’s Inferno without learning something of

value. It can't be done.

Albert Einstein expressed it eloquently when he said:

“Somebody who reads only newspapers and at best the books of contemporary authors looks to

me like an extremely nearsighted person who scorns eyeglasses. He is completely dependent

on the prejudices and fashions of his times, since he never gets to see or hear anything else.

And what a person thinks on his own without being stimulated by the thoughts and experiences

of other people is even in the best case rather paltry and monotonous.

“There are only a few enlightened people with a lucid mind and style and with good taste

within a century. What has been preserved of their work belongs among the most precious

possessions of mankind.”

What to read?

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There are dozens of lists of “the world's greatest books.” Peder Zane published one I like in Time

magazine. Zane polled 125 big-name authors, asking them for their top 10 picks. He then

compiled their replies. His list is still subjective, but it's a good place to start. This list includes:

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

2. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

3. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

4. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

6. Hamlet by William Shakespeare

7. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

8. In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

9. The Stories of Anton Chekhov by Anton Chekhov

10. Middlemarch by George Eliot

There is simply no substitute for reading to get outside yourself, expand your ideas, and be

culturally rich. And when you don't have time to read, you can still get the benefit of books by

listening to them on CD or downloading to an MP3 player.

That, by the way, is also a good way to practice a foreign language or listen to news and radio

programs. Podcasts allow you to delve into any subject you may be interested in. And the best

part? They're free. Among the top rated are “This American Life” and “Radio Lab.” But there

are thousands. Just go to iTunes and take a look.

I'm not saying you should never read a beach novel. We all need to “veg out”

occasionally. But to feel rich, make it a habit to read books of quality.

Richness From Movies

A good movie, like a good book, does more than tell a story. It gives you a rich

experience. At best, it can change your point of view – or at least give you a new

perspective.

It is impossible to identify the top 10 or even the top 100 movies. But a few you shouldn't miss

are:

Casablanca (1941)

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Psycho (1960)

Citizen Kane (1941)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Goodfellas (1990)

Rear Window (1954)

Gone With the Wind (1939)

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To enjoy good movies to the fullest at home, you really ought to consider investing in a “home-

theater-in-a-box” system with “surround sound.” They are easy to install and relatively

inexpensive. The Consumer Reports top-rated system came in at $2,000. But all the others they

reported on were well under $1,000. Some models allow for adding wireless rear speakers, some

let you dock an iPod so that you can play music through the system, and some can accommodate

streaming movies from Amazon or Netflix. Worth looking into.

* * *

At one time, great performances and beautiful books were available only to the wealthy. Now

all you have to do is seek them out and they are yours at little or no cost. You can cultivate the

same feeling of richness as any billionaire – any time you like.