I really don't know how you guys do it...

Hi Dien and Michael,

When I open my GREAT IDEAS LETTER every Wednesday, it is with as much joy and anticipation as when I am opening a very special gift.

I don't know how you can come up with these great ideas weekly, but I am thrilled that you do.

Thanks for the 'pattern' in this week's edition. That is just the cutest thing I've seen in sometime.... and would definitely be a money-maker in many venues that I can think of.

And, the suggestion for advertising is something that I am going to use myself. I believe that one idea, alone, is worth much more than the price of a year's subscription. Wow.

Well, I've just kept reading it and enjoying it for so long now, without giving you guys any richly deserved positive feedback...so today I felt very moved to do just that.

Cheers!

Amber

Hi Amber!

Thank you so much for your feedback.... It really means a lot! :) It's very gratifying that you (and many other subscribers) find the ideas interesting and valuable too.... :)

One thing I think something like The Great Ideas Letter can help you do is to help you see the wide variety of business ideas which are "out there" and doable.... In reality, there are an ocean of business ideas!

There's a very successful entrepreneur here in Australia, Lindsay Fox. He's worth about $340 million Australian dollars - that's about $208 million US dollars. And he came from humble beginnings....

He started out as a "trucker". He bought his own truck, and used it to haul goods from one city to another. Before too long, he bought a second truck, and hired someone to drive it. Then he had 5 trucks.... 10 trucks.... and in about 10 years he had a fleet of them, and was very successful.

You don't need to come from high-tech to succeed as an entrepreneur, and that's something we try to emphasize.... We try to find ideas which are actually "doable" by the an average person with average skills.

The point I was going to make is that Lindsay Fox says that business is easy. He says that you only need to do three things....

- Make your customers happy
- Make your employees happy
- Make a profit (that is, don't set things up so that you go broke making your customers and employees happy!)

I think when it comes to the crunch - the very bottom line - he's essentially right.... Happy customers stick with you and also tell others. If you have happy employees, they help to make happy customers (this is one of Richard Branson's "secrets"). And of course, the bottom line is you have to make a profit - this is where the "dot-commers" went wrong.... They had happy customers, and happy employees, but they didn't focus enough on the bottom line....

Anyhow, thank you Amber for sharing your kind words. They've really made my day! :)

- Dien Rice

P.S. Anyone who subscribes before next Wednesday will get the current issue of The Great Ideas Letter - the one that Amber is raving about - as a an extra "freebie"....


The Great Ideas Letter

> Lindsay Fox says that business is easy. He
> says that you only need to do three
> things....

> - Make your customers happy
> - Make your employees happy
> - Make a profit (that is, don't set things
> up so that you go broke making your
> customers and employees happy!)

I found the exact quote (in case anyone's interested)....

Lindsay Fox said:

"Business is simple: all you need is a happy customer and a contented workforce, and you need to make a profit. Get two out of three and you'll fail. You need the three ingredients all the time. It's not difficult."

(From "Financial Review Boss" magazine, April 2003, p. 60. You can read the whole article at the link below.... There are a number of interviews with successful Australian entrepreneurs.)

Anyhow, I personally liked the quote.... Lindsay Fox made his fortune in the "trucking" business, so his philosophy must come from that. I hope some others find this quote valuable too. :)

- Dien Rice


They just did it

Many thanks for that link, Dien.

I am very interested in branding, at the moment, so I especially enjoyed the segment of the article about "branding".

But, more than that...I actually found an answer that I have been seeking... concerning a product that I have been experimenting with, and plan to market by fall -- in the segment entitled "Staying ahead of the pack".

My answer came with this quote from that segment of the article:

"Luxury products have always sold, even in bad times. During the Second World War, French perfume sold like mad. Even when my father was a prisoner-of-war, first in Russia then in France, and had no money and escaped from prison, what did he bring my mother from Paris? Perfume."

Almost like you were reading my mind...and provided me with a link to exactly the confirmation that I was looking for. LOL

Thanks again! Amber

Dien, that was a very interesting article.

Find something that works, and keep on doing it--
bigger and better. Start with one truck.
Then buy another truck and hire a driver. Simple.

Another quote from Mr. Fox:

"You’ve got to make it work.

Bad decisions you had to convert into good decisions.
Everyone makes bad decisions, but it’s
correcting them and making sure you don’t
duplicate a bad decision.

Unless you make mistakes you’re not really trying,
you’re not putting yourself on the line."

Try, adjust, try again. Never quit. Never give up.

You will succeed.

JDB
--
John David Bradshaw-The After50 Online Marketing Coach(TM)
Teaching old dogs new tricks...that make money online!
http://www.makingmoneyonlineafter50.com




"John William, did you see that big ground hog?"