Friday, December 31, 2010
Don't make New Year's resolutions for yourself... make them for others. It's easier, more fun, less trouble.
by Dr. Jeffrey LantIt's the time of the year for the obligatory New Year'sresolutions. You know, what I mean:I plan to go on a diet and become chic and svelteby Valentine's Day.I will go to the gym every other day, so help meHannah. Muscles and enticing curves, or bust.I will eschew the delights of eating one sugar-soakedLittle Debbie after another.I will... but you get the idea.There is something abhorrent about admittingthat you are imperfect. I don't like it at all.New Year's
Thursday, December 30, 2010
The next great economic disruption is coming. Are you ready for it?
by Dr. Jeffrey LantThis title is sure to startle people who follow the upsand downs of the economy with care and perception."Economic disruption," they might say. "Whaaat?It is my distinct impression that things economic areimproving, slowly but surely. Am I wrong?"No, you're right. Things ARE improving, the signs areunmistakable:Item: Online 2010 Christmas sales rose 15% this holidayseason from October 31 to December 23. Online retailerstook in $36.5 billion during this period,
Sunday, December 26, 2010
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How to stay focused and make money on days you DON'T feel like it!
by Dr. Jeffrey LantDid you lay in bed this morning unwilling, unableto get up? Did every fibre of your body demandmore time in the sack? Was it a struggle toopen an eye... and get up?Sure enough, if today wasn't like this, someof your many tomorrows will be. You need to beprepared for such inevitabilities... because theycan and will occur and can and will sabotage yourability to make money. Here are some suggestionsthat'll help you rise and shine... suggestions I use myself when getting up and
Saturday, December 25, 2010
‘How come you do me like you do, do, do?’ What your customers are saying about YOU!
by Dr. Jeffrey LantIn 1924 America's first crooner, red-hot pop star RudyVallee (and his Connecticut Yankees band) had the nationhumming along with the catchy rhythm of his latest hit:"How come you do me like you do, do, do?" The legions of liberated "flappers" who followedVallee everywhere (unleashing a national debateabout the "new woman") sang along with America'sboy next door:"Why do you try to make me feel so blue?I ain't done nothing to do!""You better treat me right, or let me be!'cause
Friday, December 24, 2010
Five Things You Don't Know About Closing Sales Which Are Eviscerating Your Profits
by Dr. Jeffrey LantIt isn't just that most people are lousy at sales...far more shocking is the fact that most SALES PEOPLEare lousy at sales.If you're one of them, this article is for YOU!The plain fact of the matter is that the overwhelmingmajority of sales people rely on their charm, giftof gab, and ability to "wing it" to make sales... insteadof being prepared to make sale after sale. STOP IT! Followingthese sensible steps means more money:1) Closing sales is not a matter of
Thursday, December 23, 2010
2010 U.S. Census, Republicans savor the population trends, as Democrats digest and despair.
by Dr. Jeffrey LantImagine the scene on December 21, 2010Officials of both major political partieswaited impatiently as the minutes ticked far tooslowly for Republicans and Democrats alike. They were awaiting the delivery of the pivotal report of theCensus Bureau. Released every 10 years, thisreport contains crucial population information that determines just what percentage of federal funds for every project the states get... the numberof representatives for each state in the federal
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Of Adam B. Wheeler and how this youthful con man extraordinaire made the world's greatest university -- and others -- see red.
by Dr. Jeffrey LantThis is the story of the world's greatest university,rich, secure, inviolate, invulnerable... arrogant... ripe for thetaking.This is the story of a talented young man, notmerely good at lying, deception, prevaricationand hoodwinkery... but (though connoisseurs ofsuch matters may cavil) great.This is the story of a young man so keen tohave the good things in life that he was willingto sell his soul to get them... and of parentswho so loved their son that they were
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
‘Suffer the little children.’ How the Vatican's good old boys protected Ireland's most notorious pedophile priest, Father Tony Walsh.
by Dr. Jeffrey LantWe have been accustomed for years now to the steadydrip, drip, drip of stories of pedophile priests -- known,protected, unrelenting, sickening. The drill goes somethinglike this:First, the abuse.Then the denial.Then the acknowledgement.Then the settlement.Then the cash payments.Then the (ordinarily too weak) promisesof new oversight and reform.Surely, there could be nothing new under this cloud.Think again.... for now you will meet (then Father)Tony Walsh... a priest with a
Monday, December 20, 2010
How to Use Auto responders?
The process of marketing products or doing business online can be automated by email auto responders, a most potential and viable tool.If you are in the intention of making serious money, then you ought to know about auto responders and how to use them.First of all we need to know what is meant by email auto responders. They are nothing but special email addresses which responds to any email sent
Sunday, December 19, 2010
The missed opportunity of December 9, 2010. How Prince Charles in an instant lost the chance to show his stuff and wow us all!
by Dr. Jeffrey LantThe telling picture flashed round the globe and withinminutes was on the front page of every newspaperon earth:: Prince Charles in black tie... his Duchessof Cornwall, the unmistakable and little loved Camilla,dripping a king's ransom in ice. Their car underattack and no support from the majesty thatdoth hedge a king. Charles looked startled; Camillawas clearly frightened... in that picture flashedround the world.What had happened?Outraged students held the
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Tips for profoundly irritating your customers. Here are the words that'll do it.
by Dr. Jeffrey LantThis is an article a lifetime in the making. It's aboutthe power of words... in this case the power ofwords to irritate your customers and make themsee red. It's about carelessness, arrogance, vanity.It's about the needless loss of one customer after another,thoughtlessly thrown away, repulsed, antagonized.And all by you... you who worked so hard to getthem in the first place!Irritating words: "I will get back to you at my earliestconvenience."Want customers to
Thursday, December 16, 2010
"I wonder who's kissing him now." Marine Commandant General James Amos' inconvenient jeremiads on "Don't ask, don't tell."
by Dr. Jeffrey LantThe winds of change are blowing through the militaryestablishment. It is clear that openly gay service personnelare an inevitability and that "Don't ask, don't tell" is on itsway out. These days Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a mantrusted by both political parties and the service chiefs,has a message for them all: if we are to manage the endof "Don't Ask, don't tell" the way we want it... we had bestact quickly before the civilian courts step in and tell uswhat to do.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
The # 1 MARKETING MISTAKE that 90% of Marketers are Making. Are you doing this?
By Sandi HunterI've been an online marketer for nearly 18 years, my business partner has been marketing on and offline for over 30 years. I'm going to tell you what we've learned and know for a fact so you get better results from your advertising NOW. If you are like most marketers you have a snazzy website that you either spent good money on or you have laboured to build yourself. Now all you have to do is promote it. Right? WRONG! Before you spend one dime to promote your
Kids in your life? The Life Letter is for them -- and for you. Start yours today.
by Dr. Jeffrey LantI knew the late Mrs. John (Elizabeth) Edwards was particularlydevoted to her children and family... but when I learned fromher funeral coverage that she had left behind a long letterwhich she had been writing for them over the course of manyyears, my admiration for the lady rose still more. In my family we call such a letter, the Life Letter andencourage particularly parents and grandparents tostart one as soon as you know a little one is on the way.It will quickly
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
An appreciation of the life of Lewis H. Clark, dead at 85, and the community bank he helped craft, Cambridge Trust Company.
After the economic debacle so many banks contributed to in the last few years, one may wonder whether they deserveany good words at all, much less a stellar recommendation. Most don't, but Lewis H. Clark and the bank he helped create, certainly do. For here the virtues of old-style community banks are revered, practised, perfected. Location, Location, LocationThe headquarters of Cambridge Trust Company areright across the street from the main gate of HarvardUniversity, right in front of
Six things you can do to ensure constant good service. Hint: tipping isn't one of them!
by Dr. Jeffrey LantHow often do you complain about poor service? Aboutbusinesses that seem to specialize in gratuitousirritants and mind-boggling ineptitude in the careand feeding of worthy customers... like you! Suchcommentary in our rude days is voluminous, constant,and largely pointless. After all, what is to be donewith what is so obviously a general, universal melt-downand daily deterioration in manners?Plenty!That's why this important article is so important.Constant complaining
Monday, December 13, 2010
An appreciation of the life of Lewis H. Clark, dead at 85, and the community bank he helped craft, Cambridge Trust Company.
After the economic debacle so many banks contributed to in the last few years, one may wonder whether they deserveany good words at all, much less a stellar recommendation. Most don't, but Lewis H. Clark and the bank he helped create, certainly do. For here the virtues of old-style community banks are revered, practised, perfected. Location, Location, LocationThe headquarters of Cambridge Trust Company areright across the street from the main gate of HarvardUniversity, right in front of
Friday, December 10, 2010
An appreciation of the life of Elizabeth Edwards, a great lady who unexpectedly touched our lives
by Dr. Jeffrey LantIt wasn't supposed to end this way. John andElizabeth Edwards had a plan.... and were entirely,happily focused on its achievement.Having failed to achieve the Democratic presidentialnomination in 2004 (which didn't worry thiseffervescent pair one whit), their task was clear: persuadeMassachusetts senator Democratic presidentialnominee John Kerry that they (for then they were alwaysa couple) were what he needed for victory.Then work relentlessly to move up.... a secondvice
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Six things you can do to ensure constant good service. Hint: tipping isn't one of them!
by Dr. Jeffrey LantHow often do you complain about poor service? Aboutbusinesses that seem to specialize in gratuitousirritants and mind-boggling ineptitude in the careand feeding of worthy customers... like you! Suchcommentary in our rude days is voluminous, constant,and largely pointless. After all, what is to be donewith what is so obviously a general, universal melt-downand daily deterioration in manners?Plenty!That's why this important article is so important.Constant complaining
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
How to prepare for your dreaded class reunion
by Dr. Jeffrey LantOk, it's time you acknowledged that inconvenienttruth you've buried for so long. In high school, incollege you were not the most popular kid on theblock. And it hurt.That acne!That hideous hair!Those clothes! Yikes!And the nickname! (One of my room mates wascalled "The Worm" and for good reason).The elect called youdweebnerdloserThey called you everything but on the telephone wherethe in-crowd disseminated the latest designed-to-excludepatois and invitations to its
Monday, December 6, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Not all Online Advertising is Equal. Read this to get results and keep more of your hard earned dollars in your pocket.
By Sandi Hunter Many online entrepreneurs are using various advertising sources that do NOT produce good quality leads. It is your choice where you promote but we want to make sure you understand that all advertising is NOT equal. Read this important information below to save yourself wasted dollars on advertising, save time and avoid blood boiling, hair-pulling frustration.Here is a very basic but essential summary of what you need to know about online advertising.1) Be aware of
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Worldprofit announces new Private Label Resellers Store (PLR) exclusively for Silver and Platinum Members
Worldprofit announces the latest innovation - now YOU can have your own Private Label Resale Store!
It's the newest Selling Tool available exclusively to Worldprofit Silver and Platinum Members
That's right! Get your own Private Label Resale Store (PLR) right on YOUR website!
Digital products with Master Resale rights are some of hottest selling products. No shipping is required. Your customers get their order quickly! You get paid instantly!
Your Worldprofit Private Label Reseller Store comes with...
-digital products already stocked (more to come)!
-NO installation or product set up - we do it all for you!
-Each month we will upload new products for you so your store is always current!
-Your PLR Store is at an address WITHIN your URL - every time you promote you promote YOUR SITE not some else's!
-Online ordering is already set up for you - all you need is create a PayPal and / or AlertPay account
-If you want to, you can add your OWN products for easy online ordering.
-NO monthly maintenance costs!
-Your PRL Store is ready to go when you get it!
Here's the part that will knock you over! Are you ready?
YOU KEEP 100% of the sales you make from your PLR Store.
ALL sales go directly and instantly into YOUR Paypal or Alertpay account.
All current or upgraded Platinum VIP Members get the PLR Store installed and maintained at NO COST!
We will simply add the PLR Store ready to go in your Member area, with a few clicks you will be on your way!
Silver Members who want the PLR Store, pay only an annual installation and maintenance cost of $199.95 US.
If you are a Silver Member and would like to upgrade to a Platinum VIP Membership to get the PLR Store at no cost, submit a Support form and request an upgrade quote. We will get back to you ASAP with an upgrade cost along with a list of all the other privileges, software and resources that Platinum VIP Members enjoy.
Compare for yourself!
Other companies charge as much as $800 to set up a very basic PLR Store for you (it's on their site, not yours!) PLUS they often charged a monthly maintenance fee as much as $80 per month. Other companies require that you then add each and every product manually, then set up the online ordering, then you have to do the product updates each month, then maintain it as required for security and anti-fraud.
Worldprofit Members get the complete PLR Store set up, automated product updates, integrated secure online ordering, and the PLR is on YOUR website! You get the promotion benefits, and 100% of the sales, no one else. We researched this type of system for over 4 months and found nothing out there which gave you a turn-key website prestocked with PLR products.
Here's how to get your PLR Store.
Platinum VIP Members: You get this incredible plug in at NO Cost EVER!
Login and go the the left menu under "Money Makers". Watch the video first so you understand the system and go from there. Install takes about 5 seconds....
Silver Members: You can upgrade to Platinum VIP Membership to get the PLR Store at NO COST. If you would like to get a quote to upgrade to Platinum VIP Membership please fill out a support form. Top menu under "Support". Or if you don't want to upgrade, you can purchase the PRL store from the Member area. On left menu select "Money Makers" - Mega PLR Store.
George Kosch
Worldprofit Home Business Bootcamp Instructor
Developer
http://www.worldprofit.com
It's the newest Selling Tool available exclusively to Worldprofit Silver and Platinum Members
That's right! Get your own Private Label Resale Store (PLR) right on YOUR website!
Digital products with Master Resale rights are some of hottest selling products. No shipping is required. Your customers get their order quickly! You get paid instantly!
Your Worldprofit Private Label Reseller Store comes with...
-digital products already stocked (more to come)!
-NO installation or product set up - we do it all for you!
-Each month we will upload new products for you so your store is always current!
-Your PLR Store is at an address WITHIN your URL - every time you promote you promote YOUR SITE not some else's!
-Online ordering is already set up for you - all you need is create a PayPal and / or AlertPay account
-If you want to, you can add your OWN products for easy online ordering.
-NO monthly maintenance costs!
-Your PRL Store is ready to go when you get it!
Here's the part that will knock you over! Are you ready?
YOU KEEP 100% of the sales you make from your PLR Store.
ALL sales go directly and instantly into YOUR Paypal or Alertpay account.
All current or upgraded Platinum VIP Members get the PLR Store installed and maintained at NO COST!
We will simply add the PLR Store ready to go in your Member area, with a few clicks you will be on your way!
Silver Members who want the PLR Store, pay only an annual installation and maintenance cost of $199.95 US.
If you are a Silver Member and would like to upgrade to a Platinum VIP Membership to get the PLR Store at no cost, submit a Support form and request an upgrade quote. We will get back to you ASAP with an upgrade cost along with a list of all the other privileges, software and resources that Platinum VIP Members enjoy.
Compare for yourself!
Other companies charge as much as $800 to set up a very basic PLR Store for you (it's on their site, not yours!) PLUS they often charged a monthly maintenance fee as much as $80 per month. Other companies require that you then add each and every product manually, then set up the online ordering, then you have to do the product updates each month, then maintain it as required for security and anti-fraud.
Worldprofit Members get the complete PLR Store set up, automated product updates, integrated secure online ordering, and the PLR is on YOUR website! You get the promotion benefits, and 100% of the sales, no one else. We researched this type of system for over 4 months and found nothing out there which gave you a turn-key website prestocked with PLR products.
Here's how to get your PLR Store.
Platinum VIP Members: You get this incredible plug in at NO Cost EVER!
Login and go the the left menu under "Money Makers". Watch the video first so you understand the system and go from there. Install takes about 5 seconds....
Silver Members: You can upgrade to Platinum VIP Membership to get the PLR Store at NO COST. If you would like to get a quote to upgrade to Platinum VIP Membership please fill out a support form. Top menu under "Support". Or if you don't want to upgrade, you can purchase the PRL store from the Member area. On left menu select "Money Makers" - Mega PLR Store.
George Kosch
Worldprofit Home Business Bootcamp Instructor
Developer
http://www.worldprofit.com
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
George Kosch, Home Business Bootcamp Instructor Reveals TOP 5 Reasons People Fail to Graduate from Bootcamp
George Kosch's Top 5 Reasons People Fail to Graduate from Worldprofit's Home Business Bootcamp Training.
1st Reason for Failure: Not using Support to get help. Need help? Login to your member area, left menu submit a Support ticket clearly identifying the issue. Our Support team is available every single day to help and direct you as needed. Sponsors: please remind your new Members where to go to get support so they get off to the best possible start.
2nd reason for Failure: Not watching the Bootcamp Training Videos - and I mean REALLY watching the Bootcamp Training Videos. We do these videos and weekly training because we know learning new skills can be tough. Practice and repetition is the key to mastering a new skill. We know not everyone can attend the live training so we record sessions. The videos are for the purpose of getting new members on track with the tasks that matter. Without watching the training, new Members are sabotaging their own success. It's mind boggling but some people quit our program stating that it didn't work for them - we review their account and find they NEVER even started the training!
3rd Reason for Failure: Not getting started and doing the work! Yes I know it sounds ridiculous but some people watch the video then do nothing. You must apply what you learn in the training videos, the online bootcamp steps guide you on how to do this.
Since when does no effort mean instant sales? The equation goes like this, ACTION = RESULTS! We humans are the best excuse makers in the world. We've got every excuse in the world why NOT to start and why something didn't work. Put that energy into action and DO the work. For the last 16 years we have researched the Bootcamp Training to train only what has been tried and tested. All of this training has been created with sleeves rolled up, applying and evaluating what is taught so Bootcamp Participants can learn and apply what works and not waste time and money.
4th Reason for Failure. Not being consistent. Time after time, we see people come in so eager! They work hard for a few days, maybe a week or so, follow the training, do a little promotion. Then WHAMO - 2 weeks later they have disappeared! Here is a reality check message. Success doesn't happen instantly in ANYTHING! Apply the training daily with vision to build your business for the long term. You don't brush your teeth every 3 or 5 days, you brush them every day. Use this principle for guiding your marketing efforts. Don't market? Guess what no results. Don't brush your teeth on a regular basis guess what ? You get TOOTH DECAY. Don't let your business rot because you don't consistently BRUSH your business!
5th Reason for Failure. Not marketing the Landing Pages. We see people promoting their home pages. Those who follow the bootcamp training know that this is incorrect. When you are first getting started you must promote the Landing Pages to generate Associate sign ups not your home page! Associates = Sales! The more Associates you have the greater your conversions to sales. Dr. Lant and the Monitors cannot try to convert your Associates into sales with our offers if you don't have any Associates! The Bootcamp teaches you how to sign up as Associates. The tools and training in your Member area teach you how to sign up Associates. EVERY single task in Bootcamp 1 is devoted to helping you sign up Associates. If you want to graduate from Bootcamp you need to recruit Associates. Not everyone will buy, that is a fact of life. The more Associates you have the more prospective buyers you have!
The bottom line is this. If you want to graduate from Home Business Bootcamp you must focus on graduating. Here's how to do that.
Follow the Bootcamp tasks outlined in your Member area, don't jump ahead, avoid getting distracted by all the things that will not lead to sales and long term success in our program. There are no shortcuts to success!
Remember! We have the unique perspective of seeing countless numbers of people come into this program. Some succeed some don't. We see what steps successful people follow and the habits they employ. We also see the people who despite our best efforts to training, direct and support don't or WON'T follow the training and they FAIL. We want you to graduate from the bootcamp so you understand the building steps necessary to grow a successful term online business. Take responsibility for your own success and use the tools, training and support services available to you.
In the summer of 2010, Worldprofit.com celebrated it's 16th Birthday. That's sixteen years of helping people around the world learn to earn from home. It's the reason Worldprofit has become known over the years as the Home Business Experts. We practice what we teach with LIVE weekly training, 24 hour Online Video Training Tools, software, business builders, traffic strategies, lead generators and more. http://www.worldprofit.com
1st Reason for Failure: Not using Support to get help. Need help? Login to your member area, left menu submit a Support ticket clearly identifying the issue. Our Support team is available every single day to help and direct you as needed. Sponsors: please remind your new Members where to go to get support so they get off to the best possible start.
2nd reason for Failure: Not watching the Bootcamp Training Videos - and I mean REALLY watching the Bootcamp Training Videos. We do these videos and weekly training because we know learning new skills can be tough. Practice and repetition is the key to mastering a new skill. We know not everyone can attend the live training so we record sessions. The videos are for the purpose of getting new members on track with the tasks that matter. Without watching the training, new Members are sabotaging their own success. It's mind boggling but some people quit our program stating that it didn't work for them - we review their account and find they NEVER even started the training!
3rd Reason for Failure: Not getting started and doing the work! Yes I know it sounds ridiculous but some people watch the video then do nothing. You must apply what you learn in the training videos, the online bootcamp steps guide you on how to do this.
Since when does no effort mean instant sales? The equation goes like this, ACTION = RESULTS! We humans are the best excuse makers in the world. We've got every excuse in the world why NOT to start and why something didn't work. Put that energy into action and DO the work. For the last 16 years we have researched the Bootcamp Training to train only what has been tried and tested. All of this training has been created with sleeves rolled up, applying and evaluating what is taught so Bootcamp Participants can learn and apply what works and not waste time and money.
4th Reason for Failure. Not being consistent. Time after time, we see people come in so eager! They work hard for a few days, maybe a week or so, follow the training, do a little promotion. Then WHAMO - 2 weeks later they have disappeared! Here is a reality check message. Success doesn't happen instantly in ANYTHING! Apply the training daily with vision to build your business for the long term. You don't brush your teeth every 3 or 5 days, you brush them every day. Use this principle for guiding your marketing efforts. Don't market? Guess what no results. Don't brush your teeth on a regular basis guess what ? You get TOOTH DECAY. Don't let your business rot because you don't consistently BRUSH your business!
5th Reason for Failure. Not marketing the Landing Pages. We see people promoting their home pages. Those who follow the bootcamp training know that this is incorrect. When you are first getting started you must promote the Landing Pages to generate Associate sign ups not your home page! Associates = Sales! The more Associates you have the greater your conversions to sales. Dr. Lant and the Monitors cannot try to convert your Associates into sales with our offers if you don't have any Associates! The Bootcamp teaches you how to sign up as Associates. The tools and training in your Member area teach you how to sign up Associates. EVERY single task in Bootcamp 1 is devoted to helping you sign up Associates. If you want to graduate from Bootcamp you need to recruit Associates. Not everyone will buy, that is a fact of life. The more Associates you have the more prospective buyers you have!
The bottom line is this. If you want to graduate from Home Business Bootcamp you must focus on graduating. Here's how to do that.
Follow the Bootcamp tasks outlined in your Member area, don't jump ahead, avoid getting distracted by all the things that will not lead to sales and long term success in our program. There are no shortcuts to success!
Remember! We have the unique perspective of seeing countless numbers of people come into this program. Some succeed some don't. We see what steps successful people follow and the habits they employ. We also see the people who despite our best efforts to training, direct and support don't or WON'T follow the training and they FAIL. We want you to graduate from the bootcamp so you understand the building steps necessary to grow a successful term online business. Take responsibility for your own success and use the tools, training and support services available to you.
In the summer of 2010, Worldprofit.com celebrated it's 16th Birthday. That's sixteen years of helping people around the world learn to earn from home. It's the reason Worldprofit has become known over the years as the Home Business Experts. We practice what we teach with LIVE weekly training, 24 hour Online Video Training Tools, software, business builders, traffic strategies, lead generators and more. http://www.worldprofit.com
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Is it a SCAM? Here is what you need to know.
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Hundreds of thousands of folks worldwide have been bilked by Internet scams to the tune of millions of dollars.
Now hear this: not one of these people had to lose a single penny. EVERY scam under the sun can easily be identified.... and hence avoided. Here are the signs of clear and present danger:
1) Scams prosper by telling people they can get rich without work.
Here's a dead give away! Real businesses can and should make their offers as good as possible, always maximizing advantages while minimizing what you must do to achieve results. But scams cross the line, touting success without effort. Here's where the old saying comes in, "If it seems too good to be true... it isn't!" Your mother told you this, and your mother was right.
2) Scams never feature how long they've been in business. Why? Because they aim to arrive, defraud the maximum amount as quickly as possible... then pick up silently and leave.
Real businesses are proud of the number of years they've been helping people. You'll find this information prominently displayed. They want you to know they've been here... and plan to remain here. Scams don't.
3) Scams are not accredited by The Better Business Bureau or other professional associations.
Real businesses understand that people may have hesitations or doubts about doing business with a new, untested company. They, therefore, make it a point to earn professional designations which give their new customers peace of mind.
The Better Business Bureau, for instance, the world's best known consumer protection and consumer advocacy organization, has a business accreditation program. After such extensive "due diligence", you can bet the business will proudly display their seal of accreditation. Scams don't, because scams can't.
4) Scams do not incorporate where they are subject to legal regulations and scrutiny.
Ask a scamster just where his business is incorporated and who regulates it. Answer will come there none.
Legitimate businesses are willing to submit to government oversight and review. While every business person under the sun bemoans the extra work this entails and the inevitable "red tape," in fact they welcome government oversight and review since it tells the public they are real and reputable. Scams are neither, so they don't bother to incorporate.
5) Scams don't sell real products. In actual fact, what they sell is greed.
Talk to any business person in the land about their products and services and they'll happily burble on for hour after factual hour. Not so scamsters.
A scam has no product or service. It doesn't sell anything worth having; it's all about tapping into and controlling you through your own potent avarice.
Real businesses are ecstatic to talk about what they can do for you, the beneficial details. Scams don't dare tell you what they're all about, so they tap deep into your own greed and use that to blind you to what they really do!
6) Scams don't provide real name, real address, real phone numbers, etc.
Real businesses, legitimate businesses are here today, here tomorrow. They live or die by treating old customers well so they return... and motivating new customers to come and visit. This means providing these customers with necessary contact information.
Scams are different. Go to their website. Can you easily get address, phone, etc? No. In fact it's just about impossible to get any genuine contact details. Remember, scams don't want you to know who they are, where they are located, how to contact them. Quite the contrary.
7) Scams don't tell you the names of the principals and their credentials
Remember, scams profit by dazzling you with riches without work. Such mundane details as the names and credentials of the principals -- always trumpeted in real businesses -- are never provided.
Scamsters, remember, count on you being so excited about your imminent prosperity that you won't notice you have no information about the people at this enterprise who are responsible for providing its benefits.
Last Words
There have been scams as long as there have been humans. The Internet, however, has empowered scamsters as never before. Luckily for you, every scam in the world can be easily detected. You simply must control the avarice that makes scams so attractive... and apply the common sense admonitions found here.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., at http://www.worldprofit.com where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 books, a consultant and internationally known marketing expert.
Hundreds of thousands of folks worldwide have been bilked by Internet scams to the tune of millions of dollars.
Now hear this: not one of these people had to lose a single penny. EVERY scam under the sun can easily be identified.... and hence avoided. Here are the signs of clear and present danger:
1) Scams prosper by telling people they can get rich without work.
Here's a dead give away! Real businesses can and should make their offers as good as possible, always maximizing advantages while minimizing what you must do to achieve results. But scams cross the line, touting success without effort. Here's where the old saying comes in, "If it seems too good to be true... it isn't!" Your mother told you this, and your mother was right.
2) Scams never feature how long they've been in business. Why? Because they aim to arrive, defraud the maximum amount as quickly as possible... then pick up silently and leave.
Real businesses are proud of the number of years they've been helping people. You'll find this information prominently displayed. They want you to know they've been here... and plan to remain here. Scams don't.
3) Scams are not accredited by The Better Business Bureau or other professional associations.
Real businesses understand that people may have hesitations or doubts about doing business with a new, untested company. They, therefore, make it a point to earn professional designations which give their new customers peace of mind.
The Better Business Bureau, for instance, the world's best known consumer protection and consumer advocacy organization, has a business accreditation program. After such extensive "due diligence", you can bet the business will proudly display their seal of accreditation. Scams don't, because scams can't.
4) Scams do not incorporate where they are subject to legal regulations and scrutiny.
Ask a scamster just where his business is incorporated and who regulates it. Answer will come there none.
Legitimate businesses are willing to submit to government oversight and review. While every business person under the sun bemoans the extra work this entails and the inevitable "red tape," in fact they welcome government oversight and review since it tells the public they are real and reputable. Scams are neither, so they don't bother to incorporate.
5) Scams don't sell real products. In actual fact, what they sell is greed.
Talk to any business person in the land about their products and services and they'll happily burble on for hour after factual hour. Not so scamsters.
A scam has no product or service. It doesn't sell anything worth having; it's all about tapping into and controlling you through your own potent avarice.
Real businesses are ecstatic to talk about what they can do for you, the beneficial details. Scams don't dare tell you what they're all about, so they tap deep into your own greed and use that to blind you to what they really do!
6) Scams don't provide real name, real address, real phone numbers, etc.
Real businesses, legitimate businesses are here today, here tomorrow. They live or die by treating old customers well so they return... and motivating new customers to come and visit. This means providing these customers with necessary contact information.
Scams are different. Go to their website. Can you easily get address, phone, etc? No. In fact it's just about impossible to get any genuine contact details. Remember, scams don't want you to know who they are, where they are located, how to contact them. Quite the contrary.
7) Scams don't tell you the names of the principals and their credentials
Remember, scams profit by dazzling you with riches without work. Such mundane details as the names and credentials of the principals -- always trumpeted in real businesses -- are never provided.
Scamsters, remember, count on you being so excited about your imminent prosperity that you won't notice you have no information about the people at this enterprise who are responsible for providing its benefits.
Last Words
There have been scams as long as there have been humans. The Internet, however, has empowered scamsters as never before. Luckily for you, every scam in the world can be easily detected. You simply must control the avarice that makes scams so attractive... and apply the common sense admonitions found here.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., at http://www.worldprofit.com where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 books, a consultant and internationally known marketing expert.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
How To AVOID Wasting Advertising Dollars: Critical Information you need to know to save money, time and frustration
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Ensuring you get the BEST paid or credit based Advertising
Many people new to online marketing are using various advertising sources that do not produce good quality leads. It is completely your choice where you promote but we want to make sure you understand that not all advertising is equal. Read this important tip to save yourself wasted dollars on advertising, save time and avoid frustration.
Here is a basic summary of what you need to know about online advertising.
1) Be aware of the difference between VIEWS and HITS. Hits usually refer to someone, a person actually CLICKING on your ad. Some sites promise to deliver hits, when really they are providing only views of your ad. This means no one actually clicks on the ad, your ad just appears somewhere lost on a page.
2) Some sites use a computer-generated script that has a computer CLICK on ads meaning you think you are getting hits, but no human has actually seen your ad.
3) Some sites pay people a very small amount of money to complete forms. These people have no interest in purchasing and are usually not good leads.
4) Some sites deliver leads to you but the leads are names of people from countries that do not have the ability to make secure verified purchases. An example of such a country is Nigeria.
Below is a list of countries which DO provide their citizens with secure online order processing. Leads from these countries are acceptable.
Argentina
Australia
Anguilla
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
Chile
China
Costa Rica
Denmark
Dominican Republic
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hong Kong
Iceland
India
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Luxembourg
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Singapore
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
United Kingdom
Below are our Suggestions so you get the BEST VALUE from your Advertising and Promotion Efforts.
1. The Safelists and Exchanges listed in your Worldprofit Member area under Advertising/Traffic are ones that we recommend for both paid advertising or credit-based free advertising. The list we provide is a GOOD place for paid ads.
2. When you get notification of an Associate sign up pay close attention to the COUNTRY that the lead is generated. If the lead is not on the list of countries above, be skeptical of the quality of lead.
3. If you get an Associate sign up that has bogus letters entered or a fictional name, then just disregard the lead. It is a person or computer wasting your time.
4. Use your Worldprofit Ad Tracker tool that we provide FREE for your use in your member area. If you purchase advertising somewhere and you get ZERO hits tracked on your Ad Tracker then you KNOW that advertising source is NOT a good one.
5. If you want to check with our Worldprofit Support Team BEFORE you buy paid advertising from a source we don't have on our recommended list, you can submit a Support form request. We will be happy to provide you with some advise.
6. Follow the steps of the online Worldprofit Bootcamp Training, and attend the Live Weekly Home Business Training Sessions with George Kosch.
The bottom line is this. One of the fastest way to DOOM your online business, is buying paid ads in places that don't produce good quality leads. You may think, "I am advertising and promoting but not getting results!" But know this: If your ad is not being seen by real people at a reputable advertising source you will be out of money and make none. Be wary and wise when purchasing online advertising. Save yourself from wasting your money and the frustration.
Sandi Hunter
Worldprofit: The online Home Business Experts since 1994
http://www.worldprofit.com
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Dr. Jeffrey Lant interviewed about engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton on NECN
Today, Dr. Jeffrey Lant CEO of Worldprofit Inc., was interviewed by the New England Cable Network (NECN) about the upcoming nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Dr. Lant is a recognized expert on the British Royal Family and a Royal Historian.
It is now official with the announcement that Prince William (28) has become engaged to his longtime girlfriend Miss. Kate Middleton (28). The couple will marry in the Spring of 2011. The news came from the official residence this morning as it was confirmed that the couple has engaged since October while on holiday in Kenya.
The interview featuring Dr. Lant will be broadcast on Tuesday November 16th at 4:00 PM, 5:00 PM, 9:00 PM and 10:00 Eastern Standard Time and can be viewed online at
www.necn.com
Throughout the week and in coming months, Dr. Lant will be interviewed about various aspects of the Royal family for broadcast on NECN.
Harvard graduate, Dr. Jeffrey Lant was the first American invited to work in the Royal Archives, Windsor Castle. From this emerged the first of his 18 books, "Insubstantial Pageant: Ceremony and Confusion at Queen Victoria's Court. Dr. Lant is CEO and Co-Founder of Worldprofit, Inc. at http://www.worldprofit.com a web hosting and design company based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. To see some of Dr. Lant's extensive royal collection, visit http://thejeffreylanttrust.org
You only die once. Tips for commencing the journey of your life with clarity, style and consideration of others
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
When I was growing up in Illinois in the 'fifties, there
was a well-known phrase, that the only two certainties
in life were death and taxes. Well, we hear plenty about
taxes... but precious little about death, much less making
a "good death." With this article I aim to rectify the
imbalance a bit and get you thinking about how to
prepare for death, the last great journey of your life.
Some people will find this subject distasteful, even
gruesome and appalling. But that's a decidedly
provincial and short-sighted view. The plain fact
is, we must all die... so the question is not whether
your demise is going to happen or not; rather, it's whether
you have prepared yourself and others for the
event... and whether you have arranged matters
with efficiency, convenience, and style, always
remembering that you get one chance and
one chance only to arrange matters properly;
that it must be done right.
1) Your last will and testament
Millions of people who should have a will, don't.
They offer any number of "reasons" for putting off
until tomorrow that which they should be doing today...
but the plain fact is, planning to give up all that
is near, dear, and familiar unnerves them. I know.
Like so many, I procrastinated about drawing
up a will, only to discover when at last I could
procrastinate no longer that the process was
fascinating, enthralling and liberating. It was
good to know that questions of property and
dispersal were handled and that, at the end, I
could concentrate on other things rather than
the last will and testament I had put off too
long.
2) Allow ample time for necessary will
preparation and creation
Naively, I thought that preparing a will
would be a matter of a few weeks, a month
or two at most. In fact (due partly it is true to
a dilatory lawyer) it took nearly 15 months to
gather all the necessary information, schedule
and have conferences, consider the disposition
of every cent of money and item of furniture;
in short, it was a much more time consuming
(and expensive) event than I ever imagined. Prepare
accordingly.
3) Decide where and how you wish to be
buried.
The question you must answer is whether you
wish to be cremated or whether you wish your
mortal remains to be buried. I found this a
particularly difficult question. It happened that
I had seen a film on the actual process of
cremation, and didn't at all like what I saw.
On the other hand, I didn't relish being planted
in the cold, unyielding ground of New England
for eternity either.
My best friend, a scientist able to look the
matter in the eye with sterner clarity and
resolution than I was, told me in no uncertain
terms that I was over analyzing the situation,
that cremation was the only intelligent and
ecologically friendly course of action. I
selected cremation... but without the bell-ringing
conviction and certainty of my friend.
4) Habeas corpus. Now what can you do
with it?
You must make, in a moment of clarity, the
decision not just what must be done with your
remains in terms of burial or cremation... but
whether these remains can be used for the
benefit of others. Do you want portions of
your body, still usable, to go to others... or
do you wish to stay intact, inviolable?
Personally, I had no trouble with this issue;
it made eminent good sense to allow others
to benefit from whatever was sufficiently
useful.. and which I would be unable to use.
Noblesse oblige. And so the proper authorities
have my express desire and my permission
to use me however they see fit.
5) No heroic measures
Do you want to exhaust all efforts to stay
alive, even if "living" means that you can do nothing
more than breathe and exist? To me, such a
"life" can be purchased at far too great a cost,
with resources best used for others. To be
"alive" but unable to "live" seems to me a very
poor use of resources, and a situation that causes
maximum expense and maximum trouble for
others, rather than the serenity and peace we
seek.
6) Write the necessary letters
Before you die there are things to do, important
things which cannot be put off. Amongst these
tasks is the writing of certain letters, letters
to spouse, to children, to dear and valued
friends, and, yes, letters to those you may
have offended... or who need some clear,
final statement from you about some misunderstood
deed or hurtful action.
These letters must be hand written... and
must render sentiments of importance and
total honesty. You owe it to yourself and
recipient to write from the heart, especially
if what you write is painful, difficult, and
unexpected. Work hard on these letters,
for what you write will be read, reread, and
considered often by the recipients. Plan on it.
7) Arrange a final chat whenever possible
Hearing that his lifelong love Madame de
Laval was dying, the Prince de Talleyrand,
the celebrated French 19th century statesman,
hurried to her side. There, they remembered
their youth and its pleasures, tears freely
flowing. But this was not how either of them
wished the matter to end.
Madame de Laval asked for a few moments
to compose herself... the Prince de Talleyrand
removed himself... and, too, pulled himself
together.
Madame de Laval called him in, offered the
full hospitality of her house, and they settled
into a long, intimate, gracious chat, lively
and fulfilling of the kind they had enjoyed for
so many years.
The Prince then said his adieux and departed,
only to learn that his chere amie had died a
few hours later, satisfied and comforted...
the way eternal partings from your dearly
beloved should be. As the end approaches,
spend it thus... for parting, as Shakespeare
knew, is such sweet sorrow.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., www.worldprofit.com where
small and home-based businesses learn how to
profit online through automation. Attend Dr. Lant's
live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed
visitors to the website of your choice! For details
on Dr. Lant's 18 best-selling business books,
go to www.jeffreylant.com
Rules to Blog by, for Blog Publishers and Readers
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Maybe HE likes all the hubbub.
But will you?
The calm of my Cambridge, Massachusetts neighborhood
was punctuated the other day by student protestors outside
Harvard University's Science Center. There 1960's wannabees
chanted "Harvard, Harvard, shame on you, honoring a
racist fool."
The cause of this mayhem was Professor Martin Peretz
and his latest blog post on his The New Republic website:
"But, frankly Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims."
It was more than enough to stir up a reaction from the
politically correct, who live to chant and picket.
They shouted... they taunted... they heckled... and HE, owner
of The New Republic, the subject of so much fuss, got valuable,
eye-catching full-page publicity in The Boston Globe, New England's
paper of record.
Bingo!
One of America's most experienced provocateurs
had succeeded, yet again, in using his blog to get
even more publicity for his "take no prisoners"
opinions.
Martin Peretz' blog had done its work and done
it well.
Will yours? It most assuredly will... if you understand
the true purpose of a blog, run it accordingly, and
learn to be a responsible blog publisher and blog
reader. Here are recommendations to assist you.
Blogs MUST be honest.
The purpose of a blog is to give ANYONE ANYWHERE
in the world, whatever creed, class, station, nationality,
or political position, the opportunity to be heard on any subject
whatsoever.
Thus, your task as a blogger is to open yourself up...
to tell the truth, straightforwardly, honestly, bluntly. The
blog is, first and foremost, about you, its publisher and
focus. To write anything other than the whole truth, so help
you God, is to demean the medium -- and yourself.
If you are new to blogging, you'll find this kind of
openness difficult, challenging. Most people grow up
adept at masking their true opinions. For fear of what
the listener may say or do, we moderate and water
down the way we really feel and what we say.
That will never do on a blog where truth is called
for at all times.
Now, you may think you are a straightforward,
honest person but blogging will show you soon
enough that you, like all social beings, are considerably
more adept at masking how we feel, our true views,
rather than telling them.
In the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird", for instance,
there is an incident that makes this point lucidly,
succinctly. Atticus Finch is walking with his children
past Miss DuBois' home. She is a notorious termagant
and scold. Does he say that to her? Certainly not.
He lifts his hat cordially, saying "Good afternoon, MissDuBois.
You look pretty as a picture." Scout, his young daughter,
says just loud enough "You notice he don't say a picture
of what." Miss DuBois just catches a few words and
wants to know what the impish Scout has said... but
Atticus Finch is a wise man, a gentleman and knows
the value of good relations, over the strict, unyielding
truth. He lifts his hat again and moves his children
along. Most of us would do the same.
But bloggers cannot. Bloggers must opt for candor,
honesty at all times.
The more honest YOU are, the more reactions you
will get. Take Professor Peretz, for example. Given
that he is an experienced blogger, I take him at his
word, when he writes his latest anti-Muslim diatribe.
Others, who feel differently, will abhor and detest
what he has written... and propose such sanctions
as having a speaking engagement at Harvard cancelled.
But this is wrong.
Voltaire, that very clever fellow, said it best:
"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend
to the death your right to say it."
Unfortunately, sanctimonious members of the
Academy (usually the least intelligent on campus)
have forgotten their true calling: facilitating
free speech, not suffocating and penalizing it. Blogs, then,
do the work academicians should do (the reason they
are given tenure to do), but are now too often emasculated,
self-protecting and lazy to do.
Thus, when you write, the objective is always to achieve Harvard's
ultra clear motto: "Veritas", the pure and always unsimple
truth.
Write regularly,consistently.
One of the major problems with most blogs is that
they are not regularly produced. Remember, whatever
else a blog may be it is also and always the story
of your life. It is a window into your thoughts and
occupations. Blogs must therefore be regularly
undertaken. Don't start it.... unless you mean to do it.
Write regularly and consistently, being always aware
that the first day you do not feel like writing your blog
is the very day you must be sure to write it... or risk
the ending of your blog altogether.
The more honest you are, the more and stronger
reader reaction you should expect.
When Professor Peretz posted his incendiary
opinions about Moslims (a subject on which he writes
often), I suspect he knew that tea cups in Cambridge
and beyond would be rattled. What's more, being a
true provocateur,he probably relishes the instant,
insistent responses of those he has provoked. He
might not like being followed through Harvard Yard by
hecklers... but he cannot truly have been awfully
surprised by such a response. Relish, rather than
alarm, was most probably his reaction.
You, too, need to reach this level of reaction and
response as you achieve greater candor and honesty
in your bog. Because as my grandfather used to say, some
damned idiot is sure to protest; the stronger the opinions
rendered, the stronger the response from those disagreeing.
(He would have been a great blogger, grandfather Walt would have
been.)
Prepare for the reaction... expect it... ignore it.
Blogging is one of the jewels of the Internet... treat it
with care and consideration.
Millions and millions of folks have come and gone
on this planet without leaving even a foot print in the
dust. To our chagrin and detriment, we do not know
them in any way at all. But blogging has changed all that,
not merely for the potent and celebrated... but even
unto the lowest among us. At last they have a place
for their opinions...not matter how alarming, uninformed,
and (to the rest of us) silly they may be. And this is a very
good thing... for our job is to cherish the bloggers, protecting and
defending them, even at their most reprehensible and
loathsome. And that includes you, too, Professor Peretz,
as you sit in comfort and security here in Cambridge, spewing
venom. I defend to the death your right to say it... and blog it
worldwide. Defending you, I have done the right thing, while taking
joy from the fact that every hostile word you blog drives down the
certified circulation figures of your moribund rag, The
New Republic. In the end the marketplace, not censorship,
will determine your fate. So blog on....
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., www.worldprofit.com where
small and home-based businesses learn how to
profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast
TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed
visitors to the website of your choice! For details
on Dr. Lant's 18 best-selling business books,
go to www.jeffreylant.com
Why I shall NEVER retire! A Declaration of Independence
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
I am at the age (64 on 02/16/11) when I am asked one
particular question over and over again: "When do you plan
to retire?" My resolute answer delivered con brio surprises
my questioners: "I shall NEVER retire!"
Because they ALWAYS want to know why... I have
decided to write this, a latter-day Declaration of
Independence, to provide a ready means of response
for myself and all the other people worldwide who
are thrilled by what they do and the life they have
fashioned and have absolutely no desire to change
things, no matter what.
J'y suis, J'y reste.
It was le Marechal McMahon at the siege of Sebastopol
in 1855 who memorably barked out this trenchant phrase
which loosely translates into "I am here and here I shall
remain!" It's the way those of us feel who are adamant
about either retaining our present position or engaging
in other constructive work instead of retiring.
You see, we know a secret that the vast horde of the
retired either does not know or came to understand too
late: work invigorates, energizes, and exercises facilities
which otherwise quickly enervate and deteriorate. In other
words, productive, meaningful work is essential to staying
young, alive, and alert. So, let's review all the reasons why
retirement as generally practised and understood is one
of the worst things you can ever do to yourself.
1) Retirement rots the brain.
If you have work you like, one reason you fancy it
is because you have meaningful questions to answer,
challenges to face, and labor to do. Work, as Sigmund
Freud well understood, is crucial to the well-lived life.
Take away work which engages your full attention,
experience, and expertise, and you have removed a
critical factor of your well-being. Formless leisure can
never replace the knowledge that you are engaged in
something worth doing.
2) Retirement leads to physical deterioration.
Take a good,close look at the next person aged 65
or older who passes your way. The ones engaged in
significant, constructive labor (the only kind of work
any of us should ever do) have an aura radiating energy
and purpose. They are "with it". Lights! Camera! Action!
The presentation of our laborless peers is very, very
different. Having nothing better to do than contemplate
physical infirmities and eternity, they are often peevish,
selfish, with vistas narrowing, hope evaporating. In such
circumstances, it is easy to see why physical problems
and limitations abound.
3) Retirement slashes your income and lifestyle.
As every study grimly shows, the average person
hasn't put away nearly enough money to sustain at
retirement their current lifestyle, much less do the extra
things (world cruise, anyone?) you desire. Do you want to
make do with less? I certainly don't. Why face the
conclusion of life scrimping, having to count every
penny and cut back... and back... and back? It's demeaning
and demoralizing. What's more it's completely unnecessary...
if you keep satisfying labor in your life.
4) Retirement renders a lifetime of experience and
expertise superfluous , useless.
The day you leave your present employ, you are at
the top of your professional game. You know the
most, can do the most, can create the most, and
solve the most. You are a person of knowledge,
wisdom, and insight. Wow!
Walk out that door... cut the ties with what you
have done before and your skill level and all you
can do with it starts to deteriorate at once... each
day diminishing your knowledge and skills. You are
now walking away from everything you have
aimed at and achieved for so many years. Does this
make any sense at all?
5) Retirement reduces respect, deference, and
awe.
Are you good at what you do? Have you worked a
lifetime to perfect your skills, to be and do better
than others in your field? Are you a master of
your craft, with the respect, deference and even
awe that that generates? Will you like doing with
less and less of this, as the relevancy of what
you know and can do inevitably diminishes; as
you move farther and farther away from the peak
of your skills?
When was the last time you watched a retired
person at any event in your field? They were no
doubt greeted politely, even enthusiastically. But
the conversation quickly moved on to today's
questions, today's challenges... and as it did so
the retired person, no matter how supreme he
had been before, became inevitably de trop.
Remember when this happened to former
star Norma Desmond when she returned to
Paramount Studios in "Sunset Boulevard"? It was,
in the truest sense of the word... pathetic. Is this what
you really want, to be forgotten... but not gone?
6) Retirement reduces your ability to help others.
The best careers are always about the good you
do to others. Retire and that important ability declines day
by day, painfully, inevitably.
Have people benefited from what you know and
can do? Has the need for this knowledge and skill
abated in any way? Or is it as robust as ever? If
the latter, then why (except for purely selfish reasons)
would you ever want to stop helping? Stop improving?
Stop transforming and enlightening? It makes utterly
no sense... no sense at all.
How a wily German prince , long dead, is
influencing your life.
Prince Otto von Bismarck was probably the most
important statesman of the 19th century, conniving
as he did at the unification of Germany. But perhaps
his even more important (and invidious) legacy is the
fact that he determined the age of retirement for much
of the world. This determination is having a very
definite and pronounced influence on... you!
Prince Bismarck, first Chancellor of the Imperial Reich,
wanted to dish the fast-growing German Socialists, alarming
people with a very different national vision than his own.
Old-age pensions provided him with the means of seeming
benevolent to folks whose votes he wanted, without costing much.
German statisticians (then as now superb at their craft) made
it clear to him that most people would never live to 65 and that that,
therefore, was a most admirable date to pledge pensions. And so
a sacred cow was born, with Prince Bismarck's raucous
laugh reverberating through the years, keeping millions enthralled
to one of the most cynical of men and his very cynical policy: promise
what you will never have to give.
Today, you are young at 65... act like it!
Today's 65 year olds are completely different from those
of over a century ago. For one thing, we are alive. For another,
we are healthier, more fit, more active.... and thus in no particular
practical need of retirement or the trickle that is Social Security.
It's time, therefore, to take a new view of retirement; to see
it for what it is, not the solution to but the enemy of our well
being. Join me: say no to retirement. It'll be the very best
decision you have ever made and will put you in the company
of sovereigns and pontiffs, none of whom ever retire either!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., www.worldprofit.com where
small and home-based businesses learn how to
profit online through automation. Attend Dr. Lant's
live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed
visitors to the website of your choice! For details
on Dr. Lant's 18 best-selling business books,
go to www.jeffreylant.com
I am at the age (64 on 02/16/11) when I am asked one
particular question over and over again: "When do you plan
to retire?" My resolute answer delivered con brio surprises
my questioners: "I shall NEVER retire!"
Because they ALWAYS want to know why... I have
decided to write this, a latter-day Declaration of
Independence, to provide a ready means of response
for myself and all the other people worldwide who
are thrilled by what they do and the life they have
fashioned and have absolutely no desire to change
things, no matter what.
J'y suis, J'y reste.
It was le Marechal McMahon at the siege of Sebastopol
in 1855 who memorably barked out this trenchant phrase
which loosely translates into "I am here and here I shall
remain!" It's the way those of us feel who are adamant
about either retaining our present position or engaging
in other constructive work instead of retiring.
You see, we know a secret that the vast horde of the
retired either does not know or came to understand too
late: work invigorates, energizes, and exercises facilities
which otherwise quickly enervate and deteriorate. In other
words, productive, meaningful work is essential to staying
young, alive, and alert. So, let's review all the reasons why
retirement as generally practised and understood is one
of the worst things you can ever do to yourself.
1) Retirement rots the brain.
If you have work you like, one reason you fancy it
is because you have meaningful questions to answer,
challenges to face, and labor to do. Work, as Sigmund
Freud well understood, is crucial to the well-lived life.
Take away work which engages your full attention,
experience, and expertise, and you have removed a
critical factor of your well-being. Formless leisure can
never replace the knowledge that you are engaged in
something worth doing.
2) Retirement leads to physical deterioration.
Take a good,close look at the next person aged 65
or older who passes your way. The ones engaged in
significant, constructive labor (the only kind of work
any of us should ever do) have an aura radiating energy
and purpose. They are "with it". Lights! Camera! Action!
The presentation of our laborless peers is very, very
different. Having nothing better to do than contemplate
physical infirmities and eternity, they are often peevish,
selfish, with vistas narrowing, hope evaporating. In such
circumstances, it is easy to see why physical problems
and limitations abound.
3) Retirement slashes your income and lifestyle.
As every study grimly shows, the average person
hasn't put away nearly enough money to sustain at
retirement their current lifestyle, much less do the extra
things (world cruise, anyone?) you desire. Do you want to
make do with less? I certainly don't. Why face the
conclusion of life scrimping, having to count every
penny and cut back... and back... and back? It's demeaning
and demoralizing. What's more it's completely unnecessary...
if you keep satisfying labor in your life.
4) Retirement renders a lifetime of experience and
expertise superfluous , useless.
The day you leave your present employ, you are at
the top of your professional game. You know the
most, can do the most, can create the most, and
solve the most. You are a person of knowledge,
wisdom, and insight. Wow!
Walk out that door... cut the ties with what you
have done before and your skill level and all you
can do with it starts to deteriorate at once... each
day diminishing your knowledge and skills. You are
now walking away from everything you have
aimed at and achieved for so many years. Does this
make any sense at all?
5) Retirement reduces respect, deference, and
awe.
Are you good at what you do? Have you worked a
lifetime to perfect your skills, to be and do better
than others in your field? Are you a master of
your craft, with the respect, deference and even
awe that that generates? Will you like doing with
less and less of this, as the relevancy of what
you know and can do inevitably diminishes; as
you move farther and farther away from the peak
of your skills?
When was the last time you watched a retired
person at any event in your field? They were no
doubt greeted politely, even enthusiastically. But
the conversation quickly moved on to today's
questions, today's challenges... and as it did so
the retired person, no matter how supreme he
had been before, became inevitably de trop.
Remember when this happened to former
star Norma Desmond when she returned to
Paramount Studios in "Sunset Boulevard"? It was,
in the truest sense of the word... pathetic. Is this what
you really want, to be forgotten... but not gone?
6) Retirement reduces your ability to help others.
The best careers are always about the good you
do to others. Retire and that important ability declines day
by day, painfully, inevitably.
Have people benefited from what you know and
can do? Has the need for this knowledge and skill
abated in any way? Or is it as robust as ever? If
the latter, then why (except for purely selfish reasons)
would you ever want to stop helping? Stop improving?
Stop transforming and enlightening? It makes utterly
no sense... no sense at all.
How a wily German prince , long dead, is
influencing your life.
Prince Otto von Bismarck was probably the most
important statesman of the 19th century, conniving
as he did at the unification of Germany. But perhaps
his even more important (and invidious) legacy is the
fact that he determined the age of retirement for much
of the world. This determination is having a very
definite and pronounced influence on... you!
Prince Bismarck, first Chancellor of the Imperial Reich,
wanted to dish the fast-growing German Socialists, alarming
people with a very different national vision than his own.
Old-age pensions provided him with the means of seeming
benevolent to folks whose votes he wanted, without costing much.
German statisticians (then as now superb at their craft) made
it clear to him that most people would never live to 65 and that that,
therefore, was a most admirable date to pledge pensions. And so
a sacred cow was born, with Prince Bismarck's raucous
laugh reverberating through the years, keeping millions enthralled
to one of the most cynical of men and his very cynical policy: promise
what you will never have to give.
Today, you are young at 65... act like it!
Today's 65 year olds are completely different from those
of over a century ago. For one thing, we are alive. For another,
we are healthier, more fit, more active.... and thus in no particular
practical need of retirement or the trickle that is Social Security.
It's time, therefore, to take a new view of retirement; to see
it for what it is, not the solution to but the enemy of our well
being. Join me: say no to retirement. It'll be the very best
decision you have ever made and will put you in the company
of sovereigns and pontiffs, none of whom ever retire either!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., www.worldprofit.com where
small and home-based businesses learn how to
profit online through automation. Attend Dr. Lant's
live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed
visitors to the website of your choice! For details
on Dr. Lant's 18 best-selling business books,
go to www.jeffreylant.com
Queen Elizabeth cancels staff Christmas party. Royal scrooge reigns. What she should have done instead.
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Yikes!
What can she be thinking of?
It has been announced from Buckingham Palace
(by the Lord Chamberlain Earl Peel) that Her Majesty
the Queen (known to favored intimates as "Betty
Windsor") has cancelled this year's staff Christmas
party. Thus are the 600 people who serve her in
myriad capacities deprived of the joy of making
merrie from her privy purse (meaning she pays
for the dainties herself).
Why did she do it?
Lord Peel in his email notification says it's
because of England's punk economic condition.
Cynical royal watchers opine that it's because
the Queen wants to make a point about the
hardships of royal living in advance of
Parliament's consideration of her civil list,
namely what she gets from the nation for
doing her job. In other words, she's negotiating
with the government and figures that taking
bon bons from the staff will help achieve her goal
of more money faster.
The reason doesn't much matter, however. The
plain fact (whatever the reason) is that Her
Royal Majesty is (dare we say it).... just plain
cheap.
This Christmas season we need MORE parties...
not fewer for the very reason that so many are
suffering and need a good day out. The Queen
should be doing her bit, not showing the Sugar
Plum fairy the door.
Let's contrast the Queen's behavior with that
of Mame Dennis in the smash Broadway musical (and
film), "Mame." In the depth of the depression,
Mame, her family and staff are glum, decidedly
in the dumps. Instead of canceling Christmas
(like you-know-who) Mame sings "We need a
little Christmas now"... and belts out a festive
song while (at least momentarily) lightening
that load for the people she loves, the people
who know and serve her. In short, challenged
though she is, she does what she can.
It's a far better thing she does than the tight-lipped
and tighter-fisted Betty Windsor, for the royal decision
(calculated though it may be) brings no joy to
anyone... but her, the very antithesis of the purpose
of Christmas.
We can help in at least two ways
First, contact Buckingham Palace at once,
protesting this silly decision. We KNOW she has
the money.... and if she wants to negotiate with
Prime Minister Cameron for more funds for palace upkeep
and maintenance, fair enough. But let's not take it out
on the staff... who have to feel hurt and disappointed
at this niggardly decision, stiffer upper lip or not.
Indeed, let's go farther. Let's all chip in and turn
a bad decision into a terrific pot-luck. Let's all
offer to supply a favorite Christmas goodie to her larder,
tagged exclusively for the benefit of her staff. My grandmother's
Christmas sugar cookies were always a hit back
in Illinois and were shipped to grateful (and expectant)
friends and relatives worldwide; even the crumbs
were treasured. I offer a dozen of these... not least
because my grandmother (born in 1901) was named
after.... you guessed it: Queen Victoria! It seems right
and proper that her cookies go towards helping
Betty out with her difficulties!
Make sure YOU have your own Christmas party...
or invite a few more people to the one you've already
scheduled.
Her Majesty's cancelled Christmas party was budgeted
at 50,000 pounds sterling, about $80,000 USD. That's
grand indeed. But, remember this about Christmas: it's
the thought that counts. Rather than cancel the party and
the joy therefrom, Her Majesty should have held it, doing
the best she could with less... just the way the rest of the
world is doing. Just because you can't have a party with the
grand and imperial flourishes you'd prefer is no reason to (petulantly)
cancel the whole shebang. A party is about the people...
not about whether the champagne is vintage.
Make this Christmas season the one where you discover
the real meaning of the season. It is about sharing... the
good times and the bad... together. It is about offering the
best you can (and can afford) while reaching out to old
friends and new, grateful to see and welcome them, not
to impress, but to re-connect and make it clear that you
care.
Here is where Her Gilded Majesty went right off the rails...
and shows me she needs to have a Tiny Tim remind her
of wherein the true joy and meaning of the season resides:
it is about the sincerity and affection of the gift, not its
lavishness or cost. We need gifts that show what is in
our heart... not our bank account.
Let's say that the Queen really couldn't afford the
cost of her party (she's worth a billion or more,Betty Windsor cancels staff Christmas party. Royal
scrooge reigns. What she should have done instead.
but
let's not be petty). Who can doubt that if she had done
anything... but done it with real affection and gratitude..
that the event would still have been the highlight
of the year: a gesture of profound sincerity and
consideration. Yes, it would have been touching and
forever remembered. Even with day old doughnuts.
Thus, our first suggestion (given with the utmost
humility) is this: :Queen of England and dominions
over the seas, reinstate your devoted staff's Christmas
party and resolve that you will do more with less;
above all that you will use the event to radiate
more joy and more happy memories, rather than
do away with them altogether. Use your royal
powers for good, to live the true sentiments of
the season.
And as for the rest of us: let us learn from this
imperial error and use it to enhance our own
Christmas, to make this, because of the misery
around us and an economy doing no better than
mediocre, the best Christmas ever... with the
one and only focus being on how to bring joy
to the most, even if that joy is simply the warmest
and most heartfelt of embraces and the sharing
of yourself. For if you do these things, the true
embodiment of Christmas, you will do more than
a queen.... be she ever so rich and empowered.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., www.worldprofit.com where
small and home-based businesses learn how to
profit online through automation. Attend Dr. Lant's
live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed
visitors to the website of your choice! For details
on Dr. Lant's 17 best-selling business books,
go to www.jeffreylant.com He is also the author of
"Insubstantial Pageant: Ceremony and Confusion at
Queen Victoria's Court."
Monday, November 15, 2010
Reflections on the U.S. National Debt. Will we do what it takes to shrink it?
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
So, President Obama's bipartisan deficit commission
headed by former Wyoming Senator Alan K. Simpson
(R) and former Clinton Chief of Staff Erskine B. Bowles
(D) has issued its preliminary report.
It is a stark, sobering document. It says, in glaringly
specific ways, that we as a nation have blithely spent too much
too long, unconcerned like Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Newman:
"What me worry?"
Well, we have partied and now wake up to a colossal
headache of global proportions. Now what?
President Obama, understanding that Congress needs
help with this hot potato,early on in his term issued
an Executive Order on the matter. Per this order, a panel of
18 members was created; 12 are members of Congress.
Six are private citizens of impeccable pedigree. Fourteen
of these commissioners must agree before the panel can send
any recommendations to Congress, which they must do
shortly.
What the commissioners recommend... so far
The commissioners were given a breath taking charge by the
president: either recommend $4 trillion dollars in budget cuts and
savings and/or raise that sum in tax revenues. Everything
was on the table; nothing was sacrosanct and inviolable.
In short, "deal with it, boys and girls, for the good of the nation!"
The commissioners, selected for a gravely serious purpose,
took the matter seriously, and have produced a serious document...
the more so since others both within the Congress and out
continue to play "gotcha politics" on the matter. Not so the
commissioners. They set about their vital work with a will
that promises to be sadly lacking in a Congress which will
ultimately decide on what to do. Here is the heart of what
they reported.
Item: deep cuts in domestic and military spending
Item: gradual 15-cents-per-gallon increase in the federal
gasoline tax
Item: limiting or eliminating popular tax breaks (including
the home mortgage deduction) in return for lower rates.
Item: benefit cuts and an increased retirement age for
Social Security.
It is all sensible, logical, necessary and desirable.
It is also DOA because only the commissioners have
the will to make changes... and they don't have the
power to save a penny or increase tax revenues
Thus, under the heading "Fools rush in where angels
fear to trend", here are my thoughts and recommendations.
Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea, take note.
1) We live in supremely selfish times where no one is
willing to give up anything. "Ask not what you can do for your
country. Ask what your country can do for you."
I start from the proposition that making the necessary
changes to the budget will arouse the wrath of
Americans nationwide, whatever Tea Party budget-
balancing tenets they espouse. Everyone entering into this
necessary budget shrinking debate should expect
two certain things: up front high-blown patriotic rhetoric about sacrifices
willingly made ; behind the scenes bare knuckle fighting of the crudest
variety to protect the haves... no matter how grossly illogical
and piggish their benefits.
2) Tackle Social Security first. It is the easiest to
rehabilitate.
It is time someone told the American people,
who treat tampering with Social Security as the third
rail in politics (touch it and die), the truth. The entitled, immovable
age of 65 is the cynical legacy of Europe's most successful
politician, Prince Otto von Bismarck. He's the man who
engineered the unification of Germany. Looking for a
way to undermine the burgeoning late 19th century Socialist
movement (very strong in Germany) he asked actuaries
to find a number where most men would be dead and
only voteless women left. Pensions would begin then.
Otto and his conservatives get the credit... but have to
pay little! Actuaries said age 65 would do the trick... and so it has
remained.
Since Bismarck's day, however, there have been huge
improvements in health and longevity, thereby making the
number 65 less an "entitlement" than a fantastic
gift from the government for many years, to the detriment of
succeeding (and rightly concerned) generations who foot the bill.
Note: Congress should bite this bullet early and deep. Whereas
the president's commissioners want to raise the age by
gradual stages to year 69, instead make the magic number go to 71
for those in reasonable health who can work. It's the right thing.
3) Make each member of the Congress take a pledge to
eschew "gotcha politics" on this matter. In our brutally tit for blood-letting
tat Congress to say A (like "you voted to slash military spending") immediately
fuels the opposition to return (B) a blow of equal or greater
intensity (like "you voted to gut all domestic spending programs"). This gets
us no where and fuels national rage about "do nothing" congresses.
Members of Congress raise money to clobber each other.
That's what they do. They've been doing it since Minute 1
of the new republic. Now some aspiring statesman should,
in the name of getting to yes with this budget imbroglio,
say "basta!" and ask all members, on both sides of the
aisle, to join him and appreciably move towards the
solution we must have. Make working together politically
attractive and a "must"; do this and the politically pusillanimous
who constitute the core of the Congress will rush to embrace it.
4) Urge the president to spend his (admittedly diminished)
political capital to solve this problem -- even at the risk of
losing a second term.
Americans love big men who focus on big things
which benefit the nation in big ways. Let our now
wounded president do this and secure a truly
significant and majestic legacy.
President Obama could rise to the occasion and say,
"The issue of securing a balanced, lean, fair budget and
with it the sound future of the nation is so
important, I intend to make it my Number 1 priority.
It is crucial that America get this benefit,
and if it costs me my second term, so be it. It is the
right thing to do." (P.S. Not only would this be
statesmanship in the grand manner, but this wounded
man would sail to a second term and a legacy of
substance and real worth.)
5) Explain to America what is at stake. Then sell it to
the nation.
John F. Kennedy's father, Joseph Kennedy, was a marketing
man. He stayed behind the scenes, raised money and gave
sharp, sensible advice. Before the crucial Wisconsin primary
in 1960, he told his son Jack that they would sell him "like
soap flakes." They did... he romped in the primary.... and got
a crucial boost on the road to the presidency.
President Obama et al need to do the same thing now.
Hire the best marketing brains on earth... brainstorm every
benefit. Then go out and sell it to the nation. This matter of the budget
is not the most difficult problem this country has ever faced;
it's entirely solvable. What is necessary is to enlighten Americans,
enlist their support and show them what to do. Then lock the Congress
in a room and tell them to cut deals until the deed is done. And
because cutting deals is what they do best, in due course the
thing will be done. Then spread the credit, take the White House
photographs... and start the next spending spree. For that is the
American way!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., www.worldprofit.com where
small and home-based businesses learn how to
profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast
TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed
visitors to the website of your choice! For details
on Dr. Lant's 18 best-selling business books,
go to www.jeffreylant.com
So, President Obama's bipartisan deficit commission
headed by former Wyoming Senator Alan K. Simpson
(R) and former Clinton Chief of Staff Erskine B. Bowles
(D) has issued its preliminary report.
It is a stark, sobering document. It says, in glaringly
specific ways, that we as a nation have blithely spent too much
too long, unconcerned like Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Newman:
"What me worry?"
Well, we have partied and now wake up to a colossal
headache of global proportions. Now what?
President Obama, understanding that Congress needs
help with this hot potato,early on in his term issued
an Executive Order on the matter. Per this order, a panel of
18 members was created; 12 are members of Congress.
Six are private citizens of impeccable pedigree. Fourteen
of these commissioners must agree before the panel can send
any recommendations to Congress, which they must do
shortly.
What the commissioners recommend... so far
The commissioners were given a breath taking charge by the
president: either recommend $4 trillion dollars in budget cuts and
savings and/or raise that sum in tax revenues. Everything
was on the table; nothing was sacrosanct and inviolable.
In short, "deal with it, boys and girls, for the good of the nation!"
The commissioners, selected for a gravely serious purpose,
took the matter seriously, and have produced a serious document...
the more so since others both within the Congress and out
continue to play "gotcha politics" on the matter. Not so the
commissioners. They set about their vital work with a will
that promises to be sadly lacking in a Congress which will
ultimately decide on what to do. Here is the heart of what
they reported.
Item: deep cuts in domestic and military spending
Item: gradual 15-cents-per-gallon increase in the federal
gasoline tax
Item: limiting or eliminating popular tax breaks (including
the home mortgage deduction) in return for lower rates.
Item: benefit cuts and an increased retirement age for
Social Security.
It is all sensible, logical, necessary and desirable.
It is also DOA because only the commissioners have
the will to make changes... and they don't have the
power to save a penny or increase tax revenues
Thus, under the heading "Fools rush in where angels
fear to trend", here are my thoughts and recommendations.
Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea, take note.
1) We live in supremely selfish times where no one is
willing to give up anything. "Ask not what you can do for your
country. Ask what your country can do for you."
I start from the proposition that making the necessary
changes to the budget will arouse the wrath of
Americans nationwide, whatever Tea Party budget-
balancing tenets they espouse. Everyone entering into this
necessary budget shrinking debate should expect
two certain things: up front high-blown patriotic rhetoric about sacrifices
willingly made ; behind the scenes bare knuckle fighting of the crudest
variety to protect the haves... no matter how grossly illogical
and piggish their benefits.
2) Tackle Social Security first. It is the easiest to
rehabilitate.
It is time someone told the American people,
who treat tampering with Social Security as the third
rail in politics (touch it and die), the truth. The entitled, immovable
age of 65 is the cynical legacy of Europe's most successful
politician, Prince Otto von Bismarck. He's the man who
engineered the unification of Germany. Looking for a
way to undermine the burgeoning late 19th century Socialist
movement (very strong in Germany) he asked actuaries
to find a number where most men would be dead and
only voteless women left. Pensions would begin then.
Otto and his conservatives get the credit... but have to
pay little! Actuaries said age 65 would do the trick... and so it has
remained.
Since Bismarck's day, however, there have been huge
improvements in health and longevity, thereby making the
number 65 less an "entitlement" than a fantastic
gift from the government for many years, to the detriment of
succeeding (and rightly concerned) generations who foot the bill.
Note: Congress should bite this bullet early and deep. Whereas
the president's commissioners want to raise the age by
gradual stages to year 69, instead make the magic number go to 71
for those in reasonable health who can work. It's the right thing.
3) Make each member of the Congress take a pledge to
eschew "gotcha politics" on this matter. In our brutally tit for blood-letting
tat Congress to say A (like "you voted to slash military spending") immediately
fuels the opposition to return (B) a blow of equal or greater
intensity (like "you voted to gut all domestic spending programs"). This gets
us no where and fuels national rage about "do nothing" congresses.
Members of Congress raise money to clobber each other.
That's what they do. They've been doing it since Minute 1
of the new republic. Now some aspiring statesman should,
in the name of getting to yes with this budget imbroglio,
say "basta!" and ask all members, on both sides of the
aisle, to join him and appreciably move towards the
solution we must have. Make working together politically
attractive and a "must"; do this and the politically pusillanimous
who constitute the core of the Congress will rush to embrace it.
4) Urge the president to spend his (admittedly diminished)
political capital to solve this problem -- even at the risk of
losing a second term.
Americans love big men who focus on big things
which benefit the nation in big ways. Let our now
wounded president do this and secure a truly
significant and majestic legacy.
President Obama could rise to the occasion and say,
"The issue of securing a balanced, lean, fair budget and
with it the sound future of the nation is so
important, I intend to make it my Number 1 priority.
It is crucial that America get this benefit,
and if it costs me my second term, so be it. It is the
right thing to do." (P.S. Not only would this be
statesmanship in the grand manner, but this wounded
man would sail to a second term and a legacy of
substance and real worth.)
5) Explain to America what is at stake. Then sell it to
the nation.
John F. Kennedy's father, Joseph Kennedy, was a marketing
man. He stayed behind the scenes, raised money and gave
sharp, sensible advice. Before the crucial Wisconsin primary
in 1960, he told his son Jack that they would sell him "like
soap flakes." They did... he romped in the primary.... and got
a crucial boost on the road to the presidency.
President Obama et al need to do the same thing now.
Hire the best marketing brains on earth... brainstorm every
benefit. Then go out and sell it to the nation. This matter of the budget
is not the most difficult problem this country has ever faced;
it's entirely solvable. What is necessary is to enlighten Americans,
enlist their support and show them what to do. Then lock the Congress
in a room and tell them to cut deals until the deed is done. And
because cutting deals is what they do best, in due course the
thing will be done. Then spread the credit, take the White House
photographs... and start the next spending spree. For that is the
American way!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., www.worldprofit.com where
small and home-based businesses learn how to
profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast
TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed
visitors to the website of your choice! For details
on Dr. Lant's 18 best-selling business books,
go to www.jeffreylant.com
So, it has come to this. A good bishop has sadly said "basta"!
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
The news came the other day from Concord, New Hampshire
where a good and decent man announced his early departure
as Anglican bishop of this picturesque New England
diocese.
What he said in his usual low-key, quiet way was moving:
he would step down as bishop in January, 2013 after nearly
a decade in that post, 7 years before he had to by Anglican
rules.
Then the reason: "The fact is," he said, "the last seven
years have taken their toll on me, my family, and you."
"Death threats and the now worldwide controversy
surrounding your election of me as bishop," he told the
annual convention of his diocese " have been a
constant strain, not just on me, but on my beloved
husband, Mark, who has faithfully stood by me
every minute of the last seven years."
So what was Gene Robinson's' crime? He
wished to serve and had the skills. He wished to give.
He wanted to take on a job many would eschew as too
much work for too little pay. He wanted to help
and tend his flock... he wanted to uplift the lonely
and the suffering. He wanted to praise God and
His works.
And, not least, he wanted to love one man body and soul,
to find fulfillment and happiness in his personal life.
The good people of New Hampshire, wise and
pleased to have such a pastor at their service,
elected him in convocation. Robinson, with the
full support of his congregation, became bishop.
But because his conception of man embraced
eros, not just agape... great schism threatened.
Ironically, the church Robinson served was
created by schism. Both schisms came about
because of marriage. King Henry VIII's break from
Rome happened because he wished to thrust
aside his barren wife for the winsome Anne Boleyn.
Robinson opened a great divide because he wanted
to stand by his man and be an excellent bishop. The king
wanted divorce; Robinson wanted marriage. They
both got schism.
Meanwhile, the man took up his crozier and
his mission, doing the job he did so well. The
people of New Hampshire, the people who knew
him best and who had chosen him were happy. He had
been honest with them; they would be true in turn
to him.
The story should have ended there, with Bishop
Robinson fulfilling his duties and at last, when he
had served his term, retiring full of years and honors.
But the story did not end there. It began.
Because the bishop loved a man and honestly said
so, hard upon his election followed the death threats,
the fulminations, the moral superiorities and posturings,
the taunts and comments ranging from the mean spirited to
the criminal. All because a good man, with great gifts and the
desire to use them for the general good, chose to love a different
way.
Bishop Robinson wore a bulletproof vest to his
consecration.
In such a situation, where the people of New Hampshire
had chosen and were happy with their selection, Bishop
Robinson, now clearly a man of history, might have
expected the support and assistance of the leader
of the worldwide Anglican congregation, Rowan
Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury.
However, his grace the Archbishop, caught between
the unyielding who demanded Robinson's episcopal cross as the
price of staying part of the Anglican church and
Robinson, who simply wanted to marry and get on with his job of
service, the Archbishop, I say, caved.
Instead of welcoming Bishop Robinson to the once-in-
a-decade Lambeth Palace Conference, along with all
his episcopal brethren, the Archbishop told Robinson
to stay away. Thus, the Archbishop chose political
expediency over truth and right, thereby erasing in an
instant in this act of moral cowardice his own
legitimacy.
Gene Robinson had thanks to the continuing
support of the good people who elected him,
the right to a different response, a better support from
the archbishop. However, Rowan chose the ostrich way
to solve the problem... pulling the covers over his head
and wishing the good bishop of New Hampshire and
his inconvenient dilemma would simply go away.
Not from this archbishop support for a man of God
and of the people, a man duly elected and consecrated.
Pontius Pilot like, he washed his hands of his brother-in-
Christ and got on with his ignoble work of pacifying Anglican
bigots worldwide.
Bishop Gene, spurned at the highest reaches of his
church, by leaders who would not lead, carried on.
However, this fight, now terribly important and symbolic
to each side, took its sad toll on the man. One
day he rose in church and admitted the unceasing
pressures had caused him to escape into
alcoholism. The people of New Hampshire understood
and welcomed him again after he had taken the cure
and solved the problem. All the while the invective against
this man of God and goodness rose and became a
cyclone of bitterness.
At last it became just too much. The man who had
brought peace to so many asked for peace for himself
and the man he loves.
Thus in Concord, New Hampshire, Bishop Gene
Robinson, looking tired and worn, told his congregation
that he would end his tumultuous career early... and so
deprive them all of years of service, of giving, and the quiet
dignity and effectiveness that marked his tenure.
Members of the congregation, as they listened
to the unadorned words that people of the Granite
State could so well understand, felt the tears rise. They were
thinking of the bishop and his fight; they were thinking of
what they had wrought by elevating him as their pastor;
they were thinking of the Church, of their Saviour and of
God. And so they wept...
.... and remembered.
The Rev. Rodney Hudgen, associate rector at Trinity
Church, Copley Square, Boston, recalled a sermon he
had heard Robinson deliver in Ohio in 2006. It was in
response to a question of how to respond to those
persecuting gay clergy. Robinson's message was
clear and forthright: "Love them anyway!"
Hudgen was bowled over, "It was like the Holy
Spirit had crashed into the room, and I was changed
forever." Just as so many have been transformed by
Bishop Gene and his empowering message of love and life.
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter
into the joy of your master.’ (Matthew 25:12) For Bishop
Robinson, Pastor Gene, you have truly done your Master's work,
and it is good. Rejoice, for few have done as much as you
to help so many.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., www.worldprofit.com where
small and home-based businesses learn how to
profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast
TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed
visitors to the website of your choice! For details
on Dr. Lant's 18 best-selling business books,
go to www.jeffreylant.com
The news came the other day from Concord, New Hampshire
where a good and decent man announced his early departure
as Anglican bishop of this picturesque New England
diocese.
What he said in his usual low-key, quiet way was moving:
he would step down as bishop in January, 2013 after nearly
a decade in that post, 7 years before he had to by Anglican
rules.
Then the reason: "The fact is," he said, "the last seven
years have taken their toll on me, my family, and you."
"Death threats and the now worldwide controversy
surrounding your election of me as bishop," he told the
annual convention of his diocese " have been a
constant strain, not just on me, but on my beloved
husband, Mark, who has faithfully stood by me
every minute of the last seven years."
So what was Gene Robinson's' crime? He
wished to serve and had the skills. He wished to give.
He wanted to take on a job many would eschew as too
much work for too little pay. He wanted to help
and tend his flock... he wanted to uplift the lonely
and the suffering. He wanted to praise God and
His works.
And, not least, he wanted to love one man body and soul,
to find fulfillment and happiness in his personal life.
The good people of New Hampshire, wise and
pleased to have such a pastor at their service,
elected him in convocation. Robinson, with the
full support of his congregation, became bishop.
But because his conception of man embraced
eros, not just agape... great schism threatened.
Ironically, the church Robinson served was
created by schism. Both schisms came about
because of marriage. King Henry VIII's break from
Rome happened because he wished to thrust
aside his barren wife for the winsome Anne Boleyn.
Robinson opened a great divide because he wanted
to stand by his man and be an excellent bishop. The king
wanted divorce; Robinson wanted marriage. They
both got schism.
Meanwhile, the man took up his crozier and
his mission, doing the job he did so well. The
people of New Hampshire, the people who knew
him best and who had chosen him were happy. He had
been honest with them; they would be true in turn
to him.
The story should have ended there, with Bishop
Robinson fulfilling his duties and at last, when he
had served his term, retiring full of years and honors.
But the story did not end there. It began.
Because the bishop loved a man and honestly said
so, hard upon his election followed the death threats,
the fulminations, the moral superiorities and posturings,
the taunts and comments ranging from the mean spirited to
the criminal. All because a good man, with great gifts and the
desire to use them for the general good, chose to love a different
way.
Bishop Robinson wore a bulletproof vest to his
consecration.
In such a situation, where the people of New Hampshire
had chosen and were happy with their selection, Bishop
Robinson, now clearly a man of history, might have
expected the support and assistance of the leader
of the worldwide Anglican congregation, Rowan
Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury.
However, his grace the Archbishop, caught between
the unyielding who demanded Robinson's episcopal cross as the
price of staying part of the Anglican church and
Robinson, who simply wanted to marry and get on with his job of
service, the Archbishop, I say, caved.
Instead of welcoming Bishop Robinson to the once-in-
a-decade Lambeth Palace Conference, along with all
his episcopal brethren, the Archbishop told Robinson
to stay away. Thus, the Archbishop chose political
expediency over truth and right, thereby erasing in an
instant in this act of moral cowardice his own
legitimacy.
Gene Robinson had thanks to the continuing
support of the good people who elected him,
the right to a different response, a better support from
the archbishop. However, Rowan chose the ostrich way
to solve the problem... pulling the covers over his head
and wishing the good bishop of New Hampshire and
his inconvenient dilemma would simply go away.
Not from this archbishop support for a man of God
and of the people, a man duly elected and consecrated.
Pontius Pilot like, he washed his hands of his brother-in-
Christ and got on with his ignoble work of pacifying Anglican
bigots worldwide.
Bishop Gene, spurned at the highest reaches of his
church, by leaders who would not lead, carried on.
However, this fight, now terribly important and symbolic
to each side, took its sad toll on the man. One
day he rose in church and admitted the unceasing
pressures had caused him to escape into
alcoholism. The people of New Hampshire understood
and welcomed him again after he had taken the cure
and solved the problem. All the while the invective against
this man of God and goodness rose and became a
cyclone of bitterness.
At last it became just too much. The man who had
brought peace to so many asked for peace for himself
and the man he loves.
Thus in Concord, New Hampshire, Bishop Gene
Robinson, looking tired and worn, told his congregation
that he would end his tumultuous career early... and so
deprive them all of years of service, of giving, and the quiet
dignity and effectiveness that marked his tenure.
Members of the congregation, as they listened
to the unadorned words that people of the Granite
State could so well understand, felt the tears rise. They were
thinking of the bishop and his fight; they were thinking of
what they had wrought by elevating him as their pastor;
they were thinking of the Church, of their Saviour and of
God. And so they wept...
.... and remembered.
The Rev. Rodney Hudgen, associate rector at Trinity
Church, Copley Square, Boston, recalled a sermon he
had heard Robinson deliver in Ohio in 2006. It was in
response to a question of how to respond to those
persecuting gay clergy. Robinson's message was
clear and forthright: "Love them anyway!"
Hudgen was bowled over, "It was like the Holy
Spirit had crashed into the room, and I was changed
forever." Just as so many have been transformed by
Bishop Gene and his empowering message of love and life.
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter
into the joy of your master.’ (Matthew 25:12) For Bishop
Robinson, Pastor Gene, you have truly done your Master's work,
and it is good. Rejoice, for few have done as much as you
to help so many.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., www.worldprofit.com where
small and home-based businesses learn how to
profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast
TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed
visitors to the website of your choice! For details
on Dr. Lant's 18 best-selling business books,
go to www.jeffreylant.com
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Student Credit Cards - Blessing? or Curse?
This is a million dollar question. It's all up to you! The main advantage of student credit cards are you can make college purchases more convenient and travel easily. If you haven't used them properly you'll be racked up with debt. The main idea for providing credit cards to students are to help students establish credit.As you know very well, credit is important to every aspect of life, from
Monday, November 8, 2010
Official Google Blog: This week in search 11/05/10
Official Google Blog: This week in search 11/05/10
Friday, November 5, 2010
Create a membership website - A best way to make quick money online?
In order to make quick money, there are so many ways to work online. Nowadays students are also earning money while learning. A simple way to make quick money online is building membership website.Yes!!! Creating a membership website is another great online money making method. A research confirms that many internet marketers earning nearly $200 monthly through membership websites. You can
Worldprofit’s Home Business Bootcamp Training with George Kosch for November 5, 2010 now concluded
George Kosch, Bootcamp Instructor for Worldprofit's Home Business Bootcamp just concluded nearly 2 hours of training.
Following the Beginners Session was an Advanced Training Session for those who have graduate and are now Worldprofit Certified E-Business Consultants.
If you missed the training it was recorded it is now posted to your Worldprofit Member area.
Thank you to all who participated in today's training!
YOU, our committed Members motivate us to continue to research tools and strategies that are easy to use and effective in helping you build your online business.
We appreciate your comments and your courage to try new things. You are the people rolling up your sleeves and getting busy to do the work. Give yourself credit for your efforts.
Thank you to each of you for your feedback, comments and suggestions.
Join us next week for another session of Home Business Bootcamp we hope to have finished some developments we are working on and can then make some formal announcements.
These are just a few of the comments from participants of today's Home Business Bootcamp Training.
Michel : Thanks George. Great session again, and thanks Sandi for your support
Darian: Thanks!
Elissa: agreed, thanks! enjoyed both very much
Neil: WELL DONE THANKS
Gregg: Great session... I'll have to review the recording. When will it be posted?
Diane: Phenomenal as always .. Mr. George Kosch and Sandi.. Thanks so much!
Marie: Thank u George, Have a good day !!!!
Joanne: thanks George, very good session
James: George and Sandi - Thank you for your commitment to making Worldprofit the best program on the Internet!
Paulette : Great training --- clear and thorough.
Michael: Thanks George - Great session
Mary: George and Sandi - Thanks for everything. Training is Great
Sarah: George and Sandi - Thanks for everything. Training is Great
Victor: thanks for the good info
Wallace: Well Done George
Myrna: WOW! what a awsome business and the training, thanks George. ps. thanks for new safelist. Amazing.
Not a Member of Worldprofit yet? 700,000 people around the world are already Members. Let the Home Business Experts help you build your successful online business. Become a free Worldprofit Associate member at http://www.worldprofit.com
Why I shall NEVER retire! A Declaration of Independence
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
I am at the age (64 on 02/16/11) when I am asked one
particular question over and over again: "When do you plan
to retire?" My resolute answer delivered con brio surprises
my questioners: "I shall NEVER retire!"
Because they ALWAYS want to know why... I have
decided to write this, a latter-day Declaration of
Independence, to provide a ready means of response
for myself and all the other people worldwide who
are thrilled by what they do and the life they have
fashioned and have absolutely no desire to change
things, no matter what.
J'y suis, J'y reste.
It was le Marechal McMahon at the siege of Sebastopol
in 1855 who memorably barked out this trenchant phrase
which loosely translates into "I am here and here I shall
remain!" It's the way those of us feel who are adamant
about either retaining our present position or engaging
in other constructive work instead of retiring.
You see, we know a secret that the vast horde of the
retired either does not know or came to understand too
late: work invigorates, energizes, and exercises facilities
which otherwise quickly enervate and deteriorate. In other
words, productive, meaningful work is essential to staying
young, alive, and alert. So, let's review all the reasons why
retirement as generally practised and understood is one
of the worst things you can ever do to yourself.
1) Retirement rots the brain.
If you have work you like, one reason you fancy it
is because you have meaningful questions to answer,
challenges to face, and labor to do. Work, as Sigmund
Freud well understood, is crucial to the well-lived life.
Take away work which engages your full attention,
experience, and expertise, and you have removed a
critical factor of your well-being. Formless leisure can
never replace the knowledge that you are engaged in
something worth doing.
2) Retirement leads to physical deterioration.
Take a good,close look at the next person aged 65
or older who passes your way. The ones engaged in
significant, constructive labor (the only kind of work
any of us should ever do) have an aura radiating energy
and purpose. They are "with it". Lights! Camera! Action!
The presentation of our laborless peers is very, very
different. Having nothing better to do than contemplate
physical infirmities and eternity, they are often peevish,
selfish, with vistas narrowing, hope evaporating. In such
circumstances, it is easy to see why physical problems
and limitations abound.
3) Retirement slashes your income and lifestyle.
As every study grimly shows, the average person
hasn't put away nearly enough money to sustain at
retirement their current lifestyle, much less do the extra
things (world cruise, anyone?) you desire. Do you want to
make do with less? I certainly don't. Why face the
conclusion of life scrimping, having to count every
penny and cut back... and back... and back? It's demeaning
and demoralizing. What's more it's completely unnecessary...
if you keep satisfying labor in your life.
4) Retirement renders a lifetime of experience and
expertise superfluous , useless.
The day you leave your present employ, you are at
the top of your professional game. You know the
most, can do the most, can create the most, and
solve the most. You are a person of knowledge,
wisdom, and insight. Wow!
Walk out that door... cut the ties with what you
have done before and your skill level and all you
can do with it starts to deteriorate at once... each
day diminishing your knowledge and skills. You are
now walking away from everything you have
aimed at and achieved for so many years. Does this
make any sense at all?
5) Retirement reduces respect, deference, and
awe.
Are you good at what you do? Have you worked a
lifetime to perfect your skills, to be and do better
than others in your field? Are you a master of
your craft, with the respect, deference and even
awe that that generates? Will you like doing with
less and less of this, as the relevancy of what
you know and can do inevitably diminishes; as
you move farther and farther away from the peak
of your skills?
When was the last time you watched a retired
person at any event in your field? They were no
doubt greeted politely, even enthusiastically. But
the conversation quickly moved on to today's
questions, today's challenges... and as it did so
the retired person, no matter how supreme he
had been before, became inevitably de trop.
Remember when this happened to former
star Norma Desmond when she returned to
Paramount Studios in "Sunset Boulevard"? It was,
in the truest sense of the word... pathetic. Is this what
you really want, to be forgotten... but not gone?
6) Retirement reduces your ability to help others.
The best careers are always about the good you
do to others. Retire and that important ability declines day
by day, painfully, inevitably.
Have people benefited from what you know and
can do? Has the need for this knowledge and skill
abated in any way? Or is it as robust as ever? If
the latter, then why (except for purely selfish reasons)
would you ever want to stop helping? Stop improving?
Stop transforming and enlightening? It makes utterly
no sense... no sense at all.
How a wily German prince , long dead, is
influencing your life.
Prince Otto von Bismarck was probably the most
important statesman of the 19th century, conniving
as he did at the unification of Germany. But perhaps
his even more important (and invidious) legacy is the
fact that he determined the age of retirement for much
of the world. This determination is having a very
definite and pronounced influence on... you!
Prince Bismarck, first Chancellor of the Imperial Reich,
wanted to dish the fast-growing German Socialists, alarming
people with a very different national vision than his own.
Old-age pensions provided him with the means of seeming
benevolent to folks whose votes he wanted, without costing much.
German statisticians (then as now superb at their craft) made
it clear to him that most people would never live to 65 and that that,
therefore, was a most admirable date to pledge pensions. And so
a sacred cow was born, with Prince Bismarck's raucous
laugh reverberating through the years, keeping millions enthralled
to one of the most cynical of men and his very cynical policy: promise
what you will never have to give.
Today, you are young at 65... act like it!
Today's 65 year olds are completely different from those
of over a century ago. For one thing, we are alive. For another,
we are healthier, more fit, more active.... and thus in no particular
practical need of retirement or the trickle that is Social Security.
It's time, therefore, to take a new view of retirement; to see
it for what it is, not the solution to but the enemy of our well
being. Join me: say no to retirement. It'll be the very best
decision you have ever made and will put you in the company
of sovereigns and pontiffs, none of whom ever retire either!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., www.worldprofit.com where small
and home-based businesses learn how to
profit online through automation. Attend Dr. Lant's
live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed
visitors to the website of your choice! For details
on Dr. Lant's 18 best-selling business books,
go to www.jeffreylant.com
I am at the age (64 on 02/16/11) when I am asked one
particular question over and over again: "When do you plan
to retire?" My resolute answer delivered con brio surprises
my questioners: "I shall NEVER retire!"
Because they ALWAYS want to know why... I have
decided to write this, a latter-day Declaration of
Independence, to provide a ready means of response
for myself and all the other people worldwide who
are thrilled by what they do and the life they have
fashioned and have absolutely no desire to change
things, no matter what.
J'y suis, J'y reste.
It was le Marechal McMahon at the siege of Sebastopol
in 1855 who memorably barked out this trenchant phrase
which loosely translates into "I am here and here I shall
remain!" It's the way those of us feel who are adamant
about either retaining our present position or engaging
in other constructive work instead of retiring.
You see, we know a secret that the vast horde of the
retired either does not know or came to understand too
late: work invigorates, energizes, and exercises facilities
which otherwise quickly enervate and deteriorate. In other
words, productive, meaningful work is essential to staying
young, alive, and alert. So, let's review all the reasons why
retirement as generally practised and understood is one
of the worst things you can ever do to yourself.
1) Retirement rots the brain.
If you have work you like, one reason you fancy it
is because you have meaningful questions to answer,
challenges to face, and labor to do. Work, as Sigmund
Freud well understood, is crucial to the well-lived life.
Take away work which engages your full attention,
experience, and expertise, and you have removed a
critical factor of your well-being. Formless leisure can
never replace the knowledge that you are engaged in
something worth doing.
2) Retirement leads to physical deterioration.
Take a good,close look at the next person aged 65
or older who passes your way. The ones engaged in
significant, constructive labor (the only kind of work
any of us should ever do) have an aura radiating energy
and purpose. They are "with it". Lights! Camera! Action!
The presentation of our laborless peers is very, very
different. Having nothing better to do than contemplate
physical infirmities and eternity, they are often peevish,
selfish, with vistas narrowing, hope evaporating. In such
circumstances, it is easy to see why physical problems
and limitations abound.
3) Retirement slashes your income and lifestyle.
As every study grimly shows, the average person
hasn't put away nearly enough money to sustain at
retirement their current lifestyle, much less do the extra
things (world cruise, anyone?) you desire. Do you want to
make do with less? I certainly don't. Why face the
conclusion of life scrimping, having to count every
penny and cut back... and back... and back? It's demeaning
and demoralizing. What's more it's completely unnecessary...
if you keep satisfying labor in your life.
4) Retirement renders a lifetime of experience and
expertise superfluous , useless.
The day you leave your present employ, you are at
the top of your professional game. You know the
most, can do the most, can create the most, and
solve the most. You are a person of knowledge,
wisdom, and insight. Wow!
Walk out that door... cut the ties with what you
have done before and your skill level and all you
can do with it starts to deteriorate at once... each
day diminishing your knowledge and skills. You are
now walking away from everything you have
aimed at and achieved for so many years. Does this
make any sense at all?
5) Retirement reduces respect, deference, and
awe.
Are you good at what you do? Have you worked a
lifetime to perfect your skills, to be and do better
than others in your field? Are you a master of
your craft, with the respect, deference and even
awe that that generates? Will you like doing with
less and less of this, as the relevancy of what
you know and can do inevitably diminishes; as
you move farther and farther away from the peak
of your skills?
When was the last time you watched a retired
person at any event in your field? They were no
doubt greeted politely, even enthusiastically. But
the conversation quickly moved on to today's
questions, today's challenges... and as it did so
the retired person, no matter how supreme he
had been before, became inevitably de trop.
Remember when this happened to former
star Norma Desmond when she returned to
Paramount Studios in "Sunset Boulevard"? It was,
in the truest sense of the word... pathetic. Is this what
you really want, to be forgotten... but not gone?
6) Retirement reduces your ability to help others.
The best careers are always about the good you
do to others. Retire and that important ability declines day
by day, painfully, inevitably.
Have people benefited from what you know and
can do? Has the need for this knowledge and skill
abated in any way? Or is it as robust as ever? If
the latter, then why (except for purely selfish reasons)
would you ever want to stop helping? Stop improving?
Stop transforming and enlightening? It makes utterly
no sense... no sense at all.
How a wily German prince , long dead, is
influencing your life.
Prince Otto von Bismarck was probably the most
important statesman of the 19th century, conniving
as he did at the unification of Germany. But perhaps
his even more important (and invidious) legacy is the
fact that he determined the age of retirement for much
of the world. This determination is having a very
definite and pronounced influence on... you!
Prince Bismarck, first Chancellor of the Imperial Reich,
wanted to dish the fast-growing German Socialists, alarming
people with a very different national vision than his own.
Old-age pensions provided him with the means of seeming
benevolent to folks whose votes he wanted, without costing much.
German statisticians (then as now superb at their craft) made
it clear to him that most people would never live to 65 and that that,
therefore, was a most admirable date to pledge pensions. And so
a sacred cow was born, with Prince Bismarck's raucous
laugh reverberating through the years, keeping millions enthralled
to one of the most cynical of men and his very cynical policy: promise
what you will never have to give.
Today, you are young at 65... act like it!
Today's 65 year olds are completely different from those
of over a century ago. For one thing, we are alive. For another,
we are healthier, more fit, more active.... and thus in no particular
practical need of retirement or the trickle that is Social Security.
It's time, therefore, to take a new view of retirement; to see
it for what it is, not the solution to but the enemy of our well
being. Join me: say no to retirement. It'll be the very best
decision you have ever made and will put you in the company
of sovereigns and pontiffs, none of whom ever retire either!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of
Worldprofit, Inc., www.worldprofit.com where small
and home-based businesses learn how to
profit online through automation. Attend Dr. Lant's
live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed
visitors to the website of your choice! For details
on Dr. Lant's 18 best-selling business books,
go to www.jeffreylant.com
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