I was having fun playing this little game until my new Australian friend witnessed me in action, bargaining for a beautiful hammock. As I was walking away because the vendor wouldn’t lower her price a little more, my friend said, “You realize that you are getting all worked up over what is about 10 cents. At home, you would pay 50 times that much for a hammock like that, so this is a great deal.”

I suddenly felt a bit silly. But it helped me learn an important lesson that I try to remember when doing real estate deals.

As soon as your negotiation becomes about winning, it becomes emotional… and good judgment goes out the window. If you’re not rational, you are much more likely to enter a bad deal for the wrong reasons. And you’re quite likely to miss out on a good one.

I was trying to win by “buying at the same price as a local,” just like many people negotiating real estate deals try to win by selling at the absolute highest price or buying at the absolute lowest price.

Instead, figure out what would be a good deal for you before you enter the negotiation. If, for example, a house is listed for $325,000, anything under $300,000 might work for you. So if you can negotiate the price of that house down to, say, $295,000, consider it done. Don’t feel that you have to try to force the seller to take just a little bit less. Leave the emotion, specifically the desire to be a “big winner” in every deal, out of it.

[Ed. Note: For more insider strategies for getting started as a real estate investor, sign up for real estate expert Julie Broad's free monthly newsletter. Get your free report for making money with real estate here.]

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I felt confident I could do it. But, whenever possible, I ask for the runway that makes landing my plane as safe and easy as possible.

I called the controller and made the request, but it was denied. So I went ahead and landed on the other runway.

Before I did, though, I called the controller again and asked for a “time check.” That told him I was not happy and would be speaking with a supervisor. Among other things, the “time check” provides the supervisor with a way to review on-air exchanges between a particular controller and pilot. (Those exchanges are recorded, and I know to be careful to say only what can be used for me and not against me.)

My gut feeling was that the controller didn’t want to do the work involved in switching runways for me. It was late afternoon, right around time for a shift change. But since I couldn’t be sure of his reason for denying my request, I decided to hold off judgment until I had spoken with his supervisor. The supervisor called me the next morning. Long story short, I got an apology from the controller on duty for not having given me the okay. More important, I established a relationship with the supervisor — an articulate, intelligent, savvy guy. He recognized the unique qualities of my plane, and understood why I preferred to land with its nose into the wind. He also agreed with me that a pilot coming in to his home airport should get special consideration.

Had I let my emotions get in the way, I would not have achieved this larger goal.

I didn’t radio the control tower and yell, “You lazy sons of guns, get off your duffs and make it happen!” Alienating controllers, even if I am in the right, diminishes my stature as being reasonable and in control. (A must for pilots.)

By using my philosophy of “If you don’t know, don’t say,” I set myself up for success!

***

How to Keep the Cash Flowing INTO Your Bank Account

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***

It works the same in business and your personal life. Don’t fly off the handle and “push their buttons.” Wait for the appropriate time and opportunity to take control.

Escalating emotions are goal-killers. It pays in both the short and long run never to allow it to happen. You will only drain your energy and go off your goal track.

Here are a few techniques that will help you stay calm in any tense situation:

• When the other person is upset with you, ask questions. Ask, “Can you tell me why you are upset?” or “What can I do to fix this?” This sets up a bridge to resolution.
• When something is bothering you, let your emotions speak. Don’t expect others to read your mind. Give your distress a voice instead of holding it in and allowing it to fester and intensify. Say, “I am very apprehensive about this” or “I am becoming annoyed and angry.”
• Make resolving the problem a team effort. Instead of putting yourself and the other person on opposite sides, say, “We can work this out.”

These tactics become easier the more you use them.

We like to think of ourselves as mature adults, yet maturity goes out the window — along with self-control — when a person or problem “pushes our buttons.”

Hold on to your goal power by staying levelheaded and centered. Ask questions. Give voice to your emotions. And promote a “We are in this together” atmosphere. Your goals will not only stay on track … they will advance much faster.

P.S. Keeping my emotions in check and waiting for the right opportunity to take control of a situation is one of the success skills I learned while working with some of the richest and most successful men in the world. These men weren’t born wealthy. Yet, they learned the formula for achieving all they wanted out of life. I reveal dozens more of their unexpected, effective, and easy-to-implement success “secrets” in my program, The Billionaire in You.

***

The Perfect Business Literally in Your Pocket Flick through a step-by-step set of simple 1-2-3 instructions. Follow them (should take about 20 minutes). The next conversation you have, simply say the “Magic Words” per the instructions. The next thing you know, your bank account could start filling up. Read more…

More from Masterson…

How Ordinary Guarantees Can Be Extraordinarily Effective

I saw an advert in a NYC cab for a six-week “combat training” course. The program was run by a woman. She wore fatigues. So did her students. Maybe not entirely unique. Still, it distinguished her from the crowd.

What was more interesting was that she offered a 100 percent money-back guarantee.

A money-back guarantee is standard for most products and services. But it occurred to me that I hadn’t seen any guarantees for fitness or martial arts programs. They may offer a few free introductory lessons. But once you sign up, there are no refunds.

I suggested to several of my fitness and martial arts instructor friends that they try it. About half pointed out that they have fixed overheads and have to struggle to make a profit. They said they were afraid people would take advantage of them.

I don’t think they would. It’s tough to ask for a refund face-to-face if you know you’ve been getting good service. If I had to guess, I’d say the bad debt would be less than five percent.

That’s a small price to pay for a considerably higher rate of response to your ads.

***

Making Money Online Is Not Complicated Most Internet marketing programs sound exciting at first. But soon you are totally confused and/or overwhelmed with complex terms and strategies. But the best way to make money online is actually the simplest. People predominantly use the Internet to check their email. And you can leverage that fact to make as much as $250 per day. Read more…

***

Energy and Healing

Eastern medicine is old, very old. Some ancient Indian therapies date back almost 6,000 years.

Some people I know seem to feel that any system that has survived for that long must be right. Others believe that only the latest scientific breakthroughs are worthwhile.

My own position is in between. I don’t believe in any cure that has the word mystical attached to it. But I do believe human beings are clustered energy systems. Therefore, the old therapies that sought to unlock or redirect energy might have some validity.

I tried acupuncture once. I experienced a noticeable physical reaction from it. I regularly get deep tissue massage. I can feel the energy effect in that. I also practice yoga, perhaps the oldest energy-based exercise in the world.

As I said, I don’t believe these therapies are mystical. But I do think they stimulate blood and oxygen flow throughout the body. In blood and oxygen there is energy.

One 2,000-year-old energy therapy – something called Chakra exercises – was recommended to me by our own Paul Lawrence. He has been experimenting with it for about a month. He’s excited about the results. To read about Paul’s experience, click here.

***

Stop Playing Standard Stock Market Games Spend just 30 minutes a day in front of your computer – using “tactical surgical strikes” to hit the market where it hurts. You could be making $5,000, $10,000, or more per week – whether the market falls, soars, or goes sideways. Read more…

read the full article

If you are working for somebody else now, you can use it to become your company’s most valuable employee. And within six months, here’s what you can expect:

• Your income will increase dramatically.
• Your job satisfaction will skyrocket. (You’ll love coming to work!)
• Opportunities for career advancement will start flowing to you.
• Your boss and coworkers will start treating you as someone special — with admiration and respect.
• Your sense of job security will soar, knowing that you will never, ever be fired.

If you are a business owner, you can give this article to your employees and expect to see at least one of them quickly begin to work at a much higher level.

Imagine how great it will be when you don’t have to be the only person who:

• Comes up with all the marketing ideas
• Keeps a concerned eye on expenses
• Makes all the important deals
• Keeps the vendors honest
• Really, really cares about the bottom line

How does that sound?

Okay. Let me tell you about Uncle Al.

“Show up. Do your job. Keep your nose clean.” Those were the rules that Al Perot, owner of The Maple Avenue Deli, laid down at 6:00 a.m. the first Saturday I worked for him.

At 15, I had little use for maxims — and less for those delivered before I was fully awake. But Al’s three rules, as I kept learning later in my life, were a formula for wealth, health, and happiness.

I ignored them at first because I didn’t truly understand them. But when I finally realized what he meant, my career caught fire.

Uncle Al, as we called him, was an interesting guy — a blue-collar Renaissance man. He read widely. He was a connoisseur of classical music. He coached football. And he mentored his teenage employees.

I was one of his proteges for a summer in 1965. And during that short period of time, I am quite sure I heard Uncle Al repeat his rules no fewer than two dozen times.

“Show up. Do your job. Keep your nose clean.”

So simple. Three imperative sentences — the first consisting of two words, the second three words, the third four.

As an author of self-improvement books, I have contemplated many prescriptions for successful living — from the Ten Commandments to The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. But I never found one as simple as Uncle Al’s.

Simple, but hardly simple-minded.

I think of his rules now as individually sealed little packages — each one containing a lifetime’s worth of wisdom.

Show up. Woody Allen famously said “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” But Woody didn’t mean just drag your body to work at the appointed time — and neither did Uncle Al.

Do your job. Lots of people consider a good workday to be one where they do as little challenging work as possible. The more idle or fun or lazy time they can get paid for, the better. This belief is amazingly widespread. It is a big part of union mythology, a big part of executive mythology … and even a big part of the Internet business world.

Keep your nose clean. Most people take this to mean “Stay out of trouble.” But Uncle Al was too smart to think you can achieve greatness by avoiding conflict or staying on the beaten path.

Let me show you what Uncle Al’s three rules really mean. To illustrate, I will introduce you to RM, a woman who came to work for one of my clients just three years ago.

Show Up

I remember the day I met her. Her boss, my client, introduced me to her. She stood up, shook my hand, and greeted me with a big smile. “I’ve read all your books,” she said. “I’m a big fan.”

I’ve talked about the power of flattery before. It doesn’t matter whether it’s intended or accidental. So long as it is delivered with enthusiasm, it always works. It works because nobody can get enough of it. Okay, maybe Brad Pitt gets tired of it. But for the rest of us, enough is never really enough.

When you meet someone who has the power to affect your career trajectory, you have a one-time opportunity. Instead of trying to impress the individual by acting smart or smart-alecky, a genuine smile and a sincere compliment will work wonders. The more specific the compliment, the more powerful it will be.

I once met a distinguished Ezra Pound scholar — Hugh Kenner. He gave a lecture at Catholic University, where I was enrolled in a very competitive graduate program. After his speech, I walked up to him with a copy of his most recent book and asked him to sign it. I told him I had read every one of his books, and I mentioned a specific idea from one of them to prove my point.

He was immediately interested in me. We spent a good 10 minutes talking. Correct that. We spent that time talking about him. He talked. I admired what he said.

The next day, the chairman of the English department called me into his office. “What in God’s name did you say to Hugh Kenner?” he asked.

“Why?” I said.

“Because he said you were the most intelligent graduate student he had ever met.”

This is a true story. During that brief conversation with Hugh Kenner I told him I had read all his books, and I cited the one example. Other than that, all I said was, “Yes, I see what you mean. Yes, I never thought of that!”

This is all basic stuff for anyone who has read Dale Carnegie’s classic How to Win Friends and Influence People. (If you haven’t read it, buy a copy today.) It’s all about the power of focusing your attention on the person you are communicating with.

If RM hasn’t read Dale Carnegie, she is Dale Carnegie reincarnated. Because she showed up at that first meeting with a full understanding of Carnegie’s secret of influencing people: Win the friendship first. And every time I have met her since then, she has taken the time to prove to me that she appreciates everything I have to say to her. By making a friend of me, she has gotten all my best ideas and best wishes. At every stage of her career, I have done my best to move her forward.

And don’t think for a moment that I am the only one. RM has this effect on everyone she meets.

But that’s only part of what RM knows about “showing up.” It also means preparing yourself for every important interaction.

Before RM comes to a business meeting, she knows exactly what is expected of her. She has the facts. She’s done her homework. When she speaks, it is clear to everyone that she knows what she’s talking about.

She also makes a great personal presentation. She is always well groomed and well dressed. She is always energetic and cheerful. When problems are discussed, she never gets discouraged. She is the “can do” woman. That has a very positive effect on the people who work with her — her coworkers, her employees, and her bosses.

If you want to become your company’s most valuable employee, you must start by adopting RM’s happy-to-be-here attitude toward work. I know more than a few employees as capable and intelligent as RM, but none that brings so much to the table. In fact, I am thinking of firing a potential superstar right now because she thinks that showing up means just showing up and being smart.

Being smart doesn’t cut it. When you show up, show up the way RM does!

Do Your Job

When RM does a job, she never does what she is asked to do. People who do what they are asked to do are “B” employees. Reliable. Conscientious. Keepers.

But when the boss is thinking of promoting an employee to a responsible position, the last person he wants is someone who is reliable, conscientious, and a keeper. The best jobs are given to people who do more than they are asked. Upward mobility in any organization worth working for is about astonishing the boss. Satisfying him won’t get you anywhere.

In Automatic Wealth for Grads … and Anyone Else Just Starting Out, I put it this way:

“So long as your work performance is ordinary, you can’t expect anything more than an ordinary salary. But if you change your work habits and contribute substantially more than your fellow workers, you can rightly expect to be paid substantially more than they are getting.”

You may be thinking, “My boss is so demanding … I can never satisfy the son of a bitch. How the hell am I going to astonish him?”

But the truth is you can. Demanding businesspeople are dissatisfied with 99 percent of their employees because they have set their standards too high. They want everyone who works for them to be a superstar. That is impossible and self-defeating. But it doesn’t mean you can’t astonish these people. All you have to do is work harder and smarter and with more enthusiasm than anyone else.

You can do it. You really can. It’s just a matter of deciding you should.

And why should you? Because even if your boss is Mephistopheles in an Armani suit, he notices his superstar employees and becomes dependent on them. If you become a superstar, he may not praise you … but he will never let you go. And when you ask for a promotion or raise … he’ll give it to you. Trust me.

RM understands that. She also understands that doing your job is about paying attention to the big picture. And the big picture in any business is focused on two goals:

• Providing exceptional value to your customers.
• Realizing long-term profits from your relationship with them.

Every time RM has been given a challenge, she’s planned her strategy according to those two goals. She would never produce a product unless she was convinced it would be genuinely valuable to the company’s customer base. And she always makes sure the marketing plan she’s working with is one that will produce long-term profits.

Keep Your Nose Clean

RM made her way from a beginning employee making less than $30,000 to a partner in the business making six figures. She did it in less than three years. And she did it by following Uncle Al’s first two rules.

Yes. If you really show up and you really do your job — like RM — you will be really successful. There is absolutely no doubt about that.

So what need is there for another rule?

And such a rule! Keep your nose clean?

Well, it’s not an accident that this rule comes last. Because you can understand it only after you have fully understood the first two.

In fact, I only began to figure it out about 10 years ago, more than 20 years after Uncle Al died.

Briefly, here’s what I think …

Keeping your nose clean is about attending to the small details that make for a more mannerly and considerate life. Keeping your nose clean means taking care of those small details, even if you have achieved great success while ignoring them.

One example: In the information marketing world — ETR’s world — good spelling, punctuation, and grammar will have no impact on your success. So long as you are a master of using the English language to persuade people to buy what you’re selling … it doesn’t matter how you butcher it to achieve your goals.

Time and again I’ve seen mailings go out with terrible mistakes, even on headlines. And never once did I see it have any impact on sales.

If your core ideas are good and your will is good — i.e., you provide exceptional value — your customers will be more than happy to forgive you for making small blunders along the way. If they even notice them. Which they probably won’t.

So the reason you want to keep your nose clean can’t be to achieve more success, right? Right.

Why, then, would you worry about it at all?

You want to keep your nose clean because, in the long run, your career is much less about achieving the status symbols of success — wealth and its trophies — than it is about being spiritually healthy and feeling proud of yourself.

That, it turns out, can be achieved only by keeping your nose clean.

If you think I’m talking out of my butt, don’t fret about it. Just keep working on the first two rules. When you are young and strong and wanting to become rich and powerful, it’s enough to show up and do your job.

But just keep this third rule in mind. And I promise you — after you have achieved everything else, you will say to yourself one day, “You know, Michael Masterson was right about Uncle Al’s third rule. I’m going to start wiping the snot from my nose.”

More from Masterson…

The U.S. Economy Is Going To Start Growing in September … but Don’t Break Open the Champagne Just Yet

If you are inclined to believe the predictions of economists, expect the country’s GDP (gross domestic product) to increase at an annual rate of 2.2 percent between September and the end of this year.

That’s the consensus of 50 business economists interviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

GDP was negative 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2009 and down 1 percent in the second quarter.

The improvement, according to the economists, is expected to come from two things:

1. Trade. Our imports fell faster than our exports.

2. The massive taxpayer-funded stimulus. When you pump trillions of dollars into an economy, it is likely to do a bit of moving.

Is this good news? The folks at Investor’s Daily Edge don’t think so. “This would be an artificial recovery at best,” says IDE’s Investment Director Bob Irish. “And the inflationary side effects could be catastrophic.”

What To Eat With Espresso

Every afternoon at about 5:00 p.m., I head over to Joe’s cigar bar to enjoy an espresso, a bottle of water, and a small piece of dark chocolate. My favorite is Swedish dark chocolate.

I’ve thought of it as a minor health sin. But it turns out I’m doing something very clever. A joint U.S.-Swedish study found that people who had eaten chocolate at least three times a week before having a heart attack had a 66 percent lower risk of mortality afterward.

I’ve heard about the benefits of dark chocolate before. But these findings are pretty impressive. And, as Total Health Breakthroughs Editor Melanie Segala tells me, Swedish chocolate has a higher percentage of cacao than our dark chocolate. And a high percentage of cacao is what makes dark chocolate more beneficial than milk chocolate.

read the full article

“Hi, Honey!” she chirped. “I was just seeing whether the new chicks liked strawberries.”

Assumptions, I am reminded, are the mother of all screw-ups. And some of the worst assumptions are made by website designers who make it hard for people to find what they are looking for.

The assumptions we make are all about our perceptions and how our brains interpret them. The human brain needs very little information in order to synthesize the bits and pieces in any scenario and immediately form a whole picture.

In his book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell calls this ability of ours “thin slicing.” Apparently, we developed it thousands of years ago. When our distant ancestors hunted and gathered and danger approached, they needed to make the decision — in a split-second — whether to fight or flee.

At heart — more correctly, “at brain” — we are still hunters on a trail. But instead of food, we are searching for information.

The prey has changed, but the way we hunt hasn’t. When you’re looking for something online, whether through search engines, within an e-mail, or on a website, you are tracking it. You forage, seek, scan, and click for clues to guide you.

You ignore anything that appears irrelevant, and move on quickly. Very quickly. In fact, usability experts like Jakob Nielsen believe most people spend only a few seconds — 10 to 15 seconds — skim-reading something that looks like it might be useful.

Understanding your customers and the assumptions they make when they’re searching online will help you create a more user-friendly (and, therefore, more successful) business. But first, you have to make sure you’re not making some incorrect assumptions.

— Highly Recommended—

ETR Reader Challenges Us to “Put Up or Shut Up” – Longtime ETR reader Peter Genot has taken our home-study courses and worked hard at building his Internet business. But he’s not satisfied. And he’s holding us to task. He says he won’t come to this year’s Bootcamp unless we can guarantee that he’ll start making some real online income. Here’s what we told him…

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Many Web designers figure that when they put a certain label on a website button, its meaning is obvious. And they assume that if a visitor to the website doesn’t understand it, that person must be stupid. But take the example of a button labeled “Programs.” Does that mean educational courses? Or downloadable software?

The problem is that most technical folk are probably not your average customer. What appears obvious to them probably isn’t obvious to the people who matter most … your customers.

This is why, when improving the “usability” of your website, you must strive for simplicity. If anything on it requires an explanation from a webmaster, Web designer, or technical whiz-kid for you to understand it, it will confuse the heck out of your website visitors.

A confused website visitor is a bad thing. He’ll believe he’s on the wrong trail. And guess what? He’ll bail. He’ll exit your website and take his money elsewhere.

Businesses spend a lot of time and money driving traffic to their websites. But once they get them there, few consider the user experience. This is akin to collecting water in a leaky bucket.

Don’t assume there are no holes in your bucket. Have someone conduct an audit of every aspect of your online business. That includes your promotional e-mails, website, shopping cart, and order confirmations.

An audit doesn’t have to cost much or take long. (One hour can reveal a lot to a trained eye.) You don’t even have to call it an audit. Call it “discovery.” The main thing is for you to be open to accepting anything you find that may need changing. This means looking through fresh eyes at your existing business. Taking a step back and trying to forget the assumptions you made about what does or does not work. Trying to see what your customers see when they use your website, read your e-mail, buy from your shopping cart, and call your 800 number.

Usability is something you can (and should) measure. Most analytics software — like Google Analytics, WebTrends, and software most Web-hosting providers install for you — provides usability statistics. This can help you determine the changes that should be made to your online business.

Let’s say your goal is to sell $10,000 worth of skateboard helmets a month, and you are currently at only $5,000 a month. You look at the reasons people are leaving your site without purchasing, and it appears that many are bailing during the checkout phase. So you modify the process to make it simpler, to make people feel more secure, or to allow them to complete the transaction in less time.

You continue to make changes to the checkout process — one at a time. And you measure the results. As long as the results are positive, you keep making changes.

This is a worthwhile exercise for any online business. If you meet resistance when you suggest it, simply say, “Why don’t we test XYZ and see what happens?” The main thing is not to be tied to a particular way of doing things. Results are what matter, not whether John’s or Jane’s approach works best.

Remember what I said earlier: Assumptions are the mother of all screw-ups. An audit challenges the assumptions you’ve made about your online business and compares them to the assumptions your customers are probably making. Ultimately, you want to understand and predict the assumptions your customers make, and do everything you can to make it easy for them to do business with you.

Here are some examples of what I mean:

By removing the top and bottom navigational menus (both of which contained multiple links) from a pay-per-click landing page, one client of mine doubled the number of sign-ups for their e-mail newsletter. Offering too many choices creates confusion. Focus on the action you want your site visitors to take and make it simple for them to take that action. 

An online company selling motorcycle jackets offered free shipping, promising delivery in five days. By giving customers the option to pay extra for expedited shipping, they significantly increased sales. The reason: Customers who wanted their jackets immediately were put off by having to wait five days. 

By changing the format of their e-mail newsletter to use predominantly text with fewer images, one business increased its monthly income from the newsletter by three-fold. Most e-mail programs and service providers do not turn on images by default. Yet website designers still create image- and graphics-heavy e-mails that conflict with the real world of e-mail delivery and display. 

Ask yourself the following questions:

What assumptions have I made about the way I’ve set up my e-mails, website, purchasing process, and telephone system that are actually quite complex, require explanation, or just plain don’t make sense?

How can I improve these things to make it easier for my customers to do business with me?

Does that animation on my home page help or hurt my goals?

How do my e-mails look in the preview pane in Outlook? (Studies suggest that’s where 65 percent of people read their e-mail.)

Do my links work in AOL? Hotmail? Yahoo? Gmail?

Any online business willing to make changes can make significant improvements in its results. Enjoy turning over the stones … and watch out for your assumptions.

P.S. I’ve just shown you that your online sales can be directly affected — in a big way — by making it as easy as possible for prospects to navigate your site, read and understand your promotional e-mails, and get through your purchasing system. Each week, I reveal practical tips like these in my newsletter the Internet Rant. Go here to find out more about my “contrarian” take on Internet marketing.

— Highly Recommended—

ETR’s 10-Pound Confidential Internet Marketing Playbook – When the Internet exploded 10 years ago, Michael Masterson was excited about its potential. But he predicted that the industry would develop very differently than the so-called experts were predicting back then. Since then he and all of ETR’s top Internet marketing experts have been writing down their observations and discoveries in a private journal we called “the Playbook.” It contained all our best secrets – everything we tested and proved – that helped us grow so fast so quickly. The playbook was meant to be for our eyes only, but now – for a limited time – you can get a peak at it. Read more…

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More from Masterson…

Get Out While You Still Can

I was golfing with my brother-in-law and Bob Irish, Investment Director for Investor’s Daily Edge, last Sunday.

The conversation turned to the markets. My brother-in-law told us he had made back all his losses from last year. He loaded up on bank stocks at their lows. And his retirement account rose higher than ever before. His portfolio was up 115 percent since March, he said.

Bob and I complimented him on his success. And then, simultaneously, we said, “Sell!”

Your retirement account is not something to gamble with, Bob cautioned. Investing in banks early this year was a winning play. But the inherent risks are growing, not shrinking.

Right now, banking seems to be an exciting market. But, as Bob says, it’s a sucker’s bet.

Going Against the Grain

The medical establishment says cutting red meat from your diet will stop heartburn and even stomach ulcers, which are the result of too much stomach acid.

That’s bunk, says Total Health Breakthroughs Editor Melanie Segala. Red meat isn’t the culprit. It’s refined grains, sugar, and separated fats. All are highly acidic in the body.

But you can regain your body’s acid “balance” quite easily.

Eliminate processed foods from your diet, she says. You should also add greens and other vegetables, as well as animal protein (organic and organically raised).

Do this, says Melanie, and you can throw out your antacid remedies.

— Highly Recommended—

“But Marketing Bothers People, Right?” - Wrong, says Internet Rant editor David Cross. The best time to send a product offer to a new customer is right after they buy from you. And as David says, this isn’t just some random “how are you?” e-mail. You say something very specific. One of David’s clients just did this… and doubled their sales in months. Find out what they said…

read the full article

Let’s start over. Picture yourself enjoying your ideal retirement. What are you imagining?

• Perhaps you’re standing knee-deep in a Montana river, fishing for trout.
• Or strolling through the cobbled streets of Prague, browsing art galleries.
• Or reading Faulkner on the back porch, listening to the sounds of your grandchildren playing in the yard.

How does that feel?

Pretty good, huh? But chances are your actual retirement will be quite different. For one thing, you may not be able to afford to travel in Prague. It may be Orlando instead. And those kids playing in your yard? They will likely to be your great-grandchildren. Why? Because you’re probably going to retire a lot later than you think.

Baby boomers are much poorer today than they were 10 years ago. Most retirement accounts are half what they were back then, despite the recent stock market run up.

Even if you have a million dollars in the bank, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to spend your mornings sipping coffee and your afternoons on the golf course. A million dollars today generates about 20 grand a year in interest. What kind of retirement can you buy with that?

I won’t depress you by talking about our bankrupt government and the illusion that it can meet its Social Security or Medicaid promises. If you are counting on that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.

Most people my age understand this. A Vanguard survey released a few years ago found that more than 60 percent of Americans aged 40 to 69 acknowledge that they will have to keep working into their 70s. A study by the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, had similar findings. A more recent study reported by CBS News puts the number of Americans who know they will have to keep working even higher — at over 80 percent.

Yes, we are coming to terms with reality. But that doesn’t mean we don’t still long to live the ideal retirement lifestyle — waking up when we want, doing what we want, enjoying our friends and families and hobbies.

Today’s essay is about how to retire into a happy, leisurely, and productive lifestyle — despite the economic disappointments of our times.

Anyone And I believe anyone can make this miraculous transformation — and make it fast. Much faster than the dummies who write personal finance books tell you. In fact, you can make it happen by this time next year.
In a different sort of world — the kind of world that used to exist — retirement didn’t involve work.

You were part of an extended family. When you got old and wanted to stop working, you could do so. Your children would be running the family business. You would be consulted from time to time when important decisions had to be made. Your wisdom would be appreciated. Your instincts revered. You would be surrounded by your loved ones, enjoying the fruits of your combined labor.

The world we live in today is different. For one thing, you need money to retire well. Lots of money. That’s why so many baby boomers will be “forced” to delay their retirement or, more likely, work until they are fired. And then live a life of deprivation and fear.

But even if you can sock away five million bucks (and generate a hundred grand a year to live on), I’m going to argue that you should banish the old-fashioned concept of living off a fixed income.

I know dozens of guys my age and older who gave up working to pursue their retirement dreams. With few exceptions, they all feel they made a mistake. As one of them said to me yesterday, “There are only so many games of golf or bridge you can play before you feel a little dead inside.”

We have been duped into thinking that idleness is happiness by a myth that was spread after World War II. That’s when many American men came back from fighting and went to work for large businesses that offered a devil’s deal. “Give me 40 years of the most productive years of your life, and we will give you a pension you can retire on.”

A good number of my dad’s friends bought into this bargain. And some of them — maybe half — got the pensions they were promised. But it all started coming apart in the 1980s, and has all but disintegrated now.

Our government is broke. So are most of our major corporations. Little companies — the heart and soul of American wealth production — don’t offer much in the way of retirement plans because they know they can’t afford them.

But none of this matters. Because the real hoax was not the promise of retirement income itself. It was the idea that we would be happy if we had nothing to do but wile away our time.

That’s not the way happiness works.

I am going to suggest an alternative retirement — one that can give you all the financial comfort you think you need plus something much more important: a feeling of self-satisfaction and worth that you will never get by doing nothing.

But to benefit from what I’m about to say, you have to understand the point I just made: Happiness in life comes not from idleness. It comes from working. Not working a job you hate. Not working for a boss you hate. Not working hours you hate. But doing something you love to do. And getting paid for it.

Think about that for a minute.

What sort of work would you really like to do? What sort of career would you choose if you had all the money in the world but wanted to work for the fun of it?

Maybe you’d want to be a writer. Maybe your secret passion is cooking gourmet food. Maybe you’ve always wanted to get back into astronomy or archeology or gardening.

Somewhere in your past is a neglected passion — a once-hoped-for career that you long ago gave up on.

What if you could reprise that dream?

I know a man whose dream was to be a professional pilot. After working 30 years in the wallpaper business, he took my advice and got himself a job flying part-time for a small airline. A few years later, he became a part owner. He’s making more money now doing what he loves than he ever made selling wallpaper. And he only “works” 20 hours a week.

My dad gave up a promising career in show business to become a teacher. Fifty years later, he went back into the acting business and became a professional actor. He acted in all kinds of commercials and soap operas, had small speaking roles in some big movies, and did some spots in off-Broadway plays. He did that for 10 years, made some money, and had a great time.

The Internet has opened up a world of possibilities for “retirees.” I met a guy who trades vintage cigarette lighters online. I know another guy who makes his living selling old cameras on eBay. Both of these men had wanted to do these “jobs” after they retired. But when they recognized the potential of the Internet, they “retired” early and started making money while having fun.

There are plenty of other examples. You can become an Internet copywriter, an Internet editor, an Internet travel agent, or an Internet teacher. You can make money giving marriage or dating advice on the Internet, or even selling underwear. You can use the Internet to make a living based on your interest in wild roses, say, or your up-until-now useless knowledge about 19th-century swords.

Someone out there decided she wanted to make money by selling a device she invented for practicing fast-pitch softball. Have you seen that commercial on TV? It’s all over the place, no doubt making millions. This can’t be a full-time job for her. It’s a retirement dream … and she’s living it.

You, too, can live your retirement dream.

One of my clients works for a successful Internet publishing company, one that teaches people how to start businesses successfully. She loves the job. But she works 65 hours a week and wants more time to enjoy herself and be with her family.

Two weeks ago, she dropped by my office. When she walked in the door, I knew she wanted to tell me something important. I could see the excitement on her face. She told me that, based on everything I had taught her over the years, she had decided to quit her job and start her own Internet marketing business. Her plan was to cater to women who have the same goals and challenges she has.

I knew right away that she would be successful. I offered to invest in her company, but she refused. “I want to do this the way you’ve been teaching,” she said. “I want to begin with a $10,000 investment and build from there.”

She knows that she is going to have to work hard for a year or so. But she also knows that this business will give her an opportunity to be enjoying a retirement lifestyle before she reaches the age of 50.

The potential of the Internet is so great it cannot be exaggerated. Each year, tens of millions of new people come online. They’re eager to learn new things, buy new products, and develop relationships with people who have similar dreams.

And all of these people are potential customers for you.

So think back to your childhood and rediscover the buried dream you once had. Then put a date on your calendar: today’s date next year.

If you start now and take advantage of the practical, hands-on advice we’ve been giving you in ETR through the years, there is no reason why you can’t be the proud owner of a profitable Internet business by then.

[Ed. Note: To fast-track your "retirement" dream, come to Early to Rise’s Info-Marketing Bootcamp this November.] 

More from Masterson…

France and Germany Have Been Saved! Hallelujah!

A recession is defined as two straight quarters of negative economic growth.

By that measure France and Germany are out of recession! Each had GDP growth of 0.3 percent in the second quarter. Good news, right?

Some say government action deserves the credit. The “cash for clunkers” in both countries have been successful in stimulating demand for autos. But just as in the U.S., the government is simply shifting future demand to the present. In the process of course, legions of potential car buyers have been taken out of the market for years to come. Germany won’t extend its program to 2010, so new car sales will fall. France is expected to extend their program for fear its end could curtail growth.

What growth? It’s a government version of payday loans. As the ads for these services exclaim “Why wait for payday? Get cash today!” we all know how these programs work out long-term for the borrower. Guess who the borrower is in government stimulus programs? Go to the head of the class if you answered “the taxpayer.”

As Investor’s Daily Edge Investment Director Bob Irish notes, government programs don’t create wealth. They simply redistribute it, says Bob.

Bailouts and stimulus programs simply transfer wealth from the public sector to the private. The debt and inflated currency is passed on to future generations. All this in return for “prosperity” today. The trade off, says Bob, is dishonest at best and immoral at worst.

Why “Well Done” Could Kill You

If you like your steak well done or charred on the outside, you may be risking cancer.

A study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry shows that grilling meats at high temperatures forms compounds called heterocyclic amines (HCAs). These byproducts are highly carcinogenic and have been associated with colon, breast and pancreatic cancer.

ETR contributor, Kelley Herring, has covered this in detail in her health transformation program, Your Plate, Your Fate. She tells me that the amount of these cancer-causing compounds can triple when you cook something well done. Eating beef rare or medium rare is much healthier. That makes sense to me. I like it that way.

And here’s another bit of advice that is music to my ears. She also says the study showed that using red wine as a marinade can reduce the formation of HCAs by 88 percent!

So enjoy your wine-marinated, grass-fed steak rare… and have it with a glass of Bordeaux. Red wine is packed with cancer-fighting antioxidants.

read the full article