by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
The 112th Congress of these United States has convened, and for the first time since 1947 there will be no member of the Kennedy family serving in either the White House, Senate, or House of Representatives. It is, verily, the end of an era.
As a resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts and keen observer of the clan, I thought it only fit and proper to offer certain obsequies upon this notable event. For make no mistake obsequies and not merely observations are in order.
Ambassador and Mrs. Joseph P. Kennedy invite you...
The key person in my remarks, the individual most responsible not merely for launching the dynasty but for sustaining it through three generations was Joseph P. Kennedy, a living, breathing, calculating, mesmerizing, Patriarch if ever there was one.
A "mick on the make", disdained by Boston's Brahmins, he seized life with both hands... always with an eye for the main chance and, of course, for the ladies, most notoriously film siren Gloria Swanson. In today's argot, Joe Kennedy was super sized.
He liked money and made so much of it that he quickly became one of the wealthiest men in the nation. He made his piles in banking, (illegal) liquor, and films. But money, even lots of money, was never the objective. Joe had bigger fish to fry.
Like so many of the very rich, he felt sure that, with money no object, he was entitled to the kind of deference (and power) that only comes from high public office. He thought, as so many of these folk think, of what he would say to the world on a frosty January 20th on Pennsylvania Avenue with his hand upon the family bible.
But another Harvard grad, suave, charming, determined and much cleverer than Joe got in the way
Franklin D. Roosevelt was everything that Joe Kennedy yearned to be. Joe Kennedy was a Harvard grad but Franklin was Porcellian Club, old money, Social Register, Harvard by birth, not application.
Roosevelt didn't like, couldn't be expected to like Joe Kennedy... but he, puckishly, found uses for him as chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission, then head of the U.S. Maritime Commission. Joe Kennedy knew Wall Street and its shenanigans inside and out. Roosevelt sent him to clean up the mess. Joe Kennedy knew a thing or two about smuggling. Roosevelt put that to work,too, cleaning up the high seas.
And then Roosevelt, with high glee, sent boisterous, bumptious Kennedy to London as Ambassador to what status seeking Americans like to call the Court of St. James. Franklin, who had a long-term objective of weakening the empire on which the sun never set, by this appointment showed them what he thought of their regal superiorities and declining power. Joe would irritate, affront and insult them... and so he did. Roosevelt couldn't have liked it more. Joe's career in government and chances for advancement ended in the splendour of the American embassy in Grosvenor Square amidst predictions of Nazi victory in World War II.
But Joe had sons...
Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. born 1915.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy born 1917.
Robert Francis Kennedy born 1925.
Edward Moore Kennedy born 1932.
"The Ambassador" was determined that they, unlike Roosevelt's disappointing brood, should soar. Thwarted himself, he turned himself into teacher, mentor, coach, goad, a man determined that they should go forth and conquer, whether they liked it or not. And because his excellency had learned the drawbacks of serving at the pleasure of a president, he determined, first of all, that they should be elected by the people for the people, and always of course for -- Joe.
The heir is dead, long live the heir
Then, in August, 1944, tragedy struck as Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. died tragically whereupon the youthful John F. Kennedy, the next in line, at once discerned his father's full intentions.
Thus Joe determined that his often wayward son, already with a practiced eye for the ladies and dissipation, wade into the gritty infighting of Boston politics to run for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1946. Ambassador Joe let it be known that no failure would be tolerated and invested his dollars, and marketing sense, into ensuring success. JFK's Democratic opponents were, quite simply, unmercifully, outclassed.
No event showed that more the grand ball held down the street from where I'm writing in the Sheraton Hotel. Here the white-tied ambassador and his stately wife in jewels and haute couture held the Event of the Season, in honor of their son's candidacy. Everyone who was anyone in Cambridge and environs came -- and cast a grateful vote for the handsome young man who had done himself the favor to be born well. And so the Next Generation was well and truly launched with champagne and calculation.
The result was this: on the frosty inauguration day of January 20, 1961, an iconic photograph was snapped as the new President of the United States rode by the reviewing stand where his father watched that this oh-so-satisfying procession. The President half rose from his limousine and tipped his topper to his father, who graciously rose and tipped his in return. You didn't have to be Freud to understand that moment.
Joe was active, vital, and always directive in those days, with a son in the White House, another as Attorney General of the United States, and a third (no matter how unqualified) in the United States Senate. It was unprecedented...it was thrilling... it was painfully short-lived, as one tragedy followed another, not the least of which was that the Ambassador's talented hand was off the throttle. Though he had taught his progeny well... it was not remotely the same when he, dynast, patriarch,strategist and financial underwriter par excellence was gone (November, 1969).
Of course, there was Edward Moore Kennedy, matured from a political joke into what courtiers called the Last Lion. But he, too, succumbed (August, 2009) and the Kennedy legacy descended to the lion's whelp, U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island.
He gave it 16 years, but it was obvious, with his painful addictions and embarrassing public incidents, that his heart wasn't in it, that he had demons to wrestle.
"The Ambassador", of course, would have taken this unlikely clay and with practiced hand turned into something formidable. He had, after all, done it before. Patrick, however, wanted none of it and while grandpa's unsettled ghost writhed,made the decision to vacate Congress, lay down the burden of history and seek everyman's peace and comfort.
There may be future Kennedy's in Congress; after all, their dream will never die. But the dynasty died when abdicating Prince Patrick chose oblivion... and so the new Congress opened with memories, memories which are already fading.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Lawrence Rinke http://ActionEqualsProfit.com.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Lawrence: Wicked Cool: The hubris and high jinks of Captain ...
Lawrence: Wicked Cool: The hubris and high jinks of Captain ...: "by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Let me introduce you to a cool dude, cute too, who knows how to party and had the perfect place to do it. I'm talking a..."
Wicked Cool: The hubris and high jinks of Captain Owen Honors, United States Navy, sometime captain of the USS Enterprise.
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Let me introduce you to a cool dude, cute too, who knows how to party and had the perfect place to do it. I'm talking about U.S. Navy Captain Owen Honors, only just relieved as commander of America's only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the proud USS Enterprise.
Honors, who never met a camera he didn't like, a man determined to please his crew, liked to spend his week preparing videos -- starring, guess who -- Captain Owen Honors, 49 year old Top Gun pilot and decided off-color video star.
Honors had at his disposal the very best video equipment generous U.S. taxpayers could buy. His effects were right up-to-the-minute, like having three separate screens in which (guess who?) appeared as three different (all cool) characters. Wow!
Honors, each week determined to outdo himself on week-end XO nights (when his latest videos were shown), somehow found time in his very busy days. The USS Entereprise, after all, was deployed supporting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A man of dedication, energy, imagination he somehow found the time to work on video ideas, plots, film venues, and a dazzling array of really cool outfits perfectly tailored. This caring captain was determined to give his eagerly expectant 6000-person crew the very best . He certainly did, particularly in 2006-2007 when his bold ideas and still bolder presentations took the Enterprise by storm and riveted every eye on the ship. What, they all wondered, would their daring executive officer, then Captain Honors do next?
They never had long to wait.
There was that hot video when their cutting-edge commander simulated masturbation at his desk. As Paris Hilton would say, "That's hot!"
What about the never-to-be-forgotten episode of two naked guys soaping each other off in the shower. Honors was a nut for saving water... and wanted to drive home the point with eye-popping visuals. And, to be completely politically correct, he did the same scene with two of the women of his crew.
There was more, much more since Honors was an indefatigable guy with an unceasing appetite for more and better; ambitious videos of which he soon became the master with the help of designated members of his command.
There was the anal probe episode... and all the "fag" plots, pratfalls and plays. That commander... what a cut-up.
There were the in jokes, like writing "little XO" on his you-know-what. It was hilarious, pure camp, what a guy.
And just think, he did it all while on deployment in not one, but two war zones. How did the guy do it, inquiring minds wanted to know.
Alas, there was irritating criticism from small minds.
It's hard to imagine... but disgracefully true... that there were members of the Enterprise crew who found their commander's hard work and dazzling results offensive. Small minded, picayune, uptight... these folks made a fuss and criticized the coolest guy in the fleet. This rankled with Honors, for he was working so hard. Why his bravura video on the "f-bomb" was pure poetry. Really, who could object?
In a rare outburst, this commander of poise and sensitivity lashed out at his anonymous accusers: "Over the years I've gotten several complaints about inappropriate material during these videos, never to me personally but, gutlessly, through other channels." Gutless, indeed! If there'd been a plank aboard the Enterprise, Honors would have been well within his rights to put the snivelers on it.
Instead, he opened one of his last videos with these mild, entirely justified words: "This evening, all of you bleeding hearts... why don't you just go ahead and hug yourself for the next 20 minutes or so, because there's a really good chance you're gonna be offended."
That's the man in a nutshell, empathetic, soft spoken.
Still one of these snivelers (probably gay), not yet identified by name, took (inexplicable) offense... go figure... sending the (to him) offending tapes to the Navy Inspector General.
Where all hell broke lose.
Despite the fact that Owen Honors was well-known throughout the Navy, despite the fact that he had a high visibility command; despite 3,400 flight hours in 31 types of aircraft... despite a chestful of bona fide awards and medals... the Navy moved expeditiously because it knew it had a real hot potato on its hands.
Navy media releases quickly went from "the videos were intended to be humorous" to "inappropriate"... to the announcement Captain Honors was relieved of his command as the Navy initiated, behind the scenes, the steps required to cashier him from the service he loved and had served throughout his life. My how the mighty had fallen!
Certain Navy personnel and those persons wedded to the good old days of fag baiting and the humiliation and degradation of women, predictably launched a campaign to save the Captain and his wayward views. They tried to convince by asking what was the big deal after all; the views advanced in the Captain's high tech videos were commonplace, nothing to write home about, the way "everyone" thought.
Exactly.
This is why the Navy Department is to be commended on taking (reasonably) prompt action to lance the infection and proclaim zero tolerance for mocking good sailors, their sexuality and gender.
The Navy is moving fast now to get just-suspended Captain Honors out of public view, to bury this still young officer with talent and skills to burn and ensure that he becomes the complete non-person, He is, after all, a total embarrassment... the story breaking at the worst possible time, as the Navy shows that it can, with good humor and in good order, nimbly move into the post "don't ask, don't tell" era.
There is, the Navy signals, no place in this new order for Captain Honors, once absolute lord of all he surveyed. Such a man so powerful and so lacking in judgement is now an inconvenient artifact of an age and state of mind the Navy wants firmly, irrevocably behind it.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Lawrence Rinke http://ActionEqualsProfit.com. Check out Blog Cash -> http://www.ActionEqualsProfit.com/?rd=tf7uUTRn
Let me introduce you to a cool dude, cute too, who knows how to party and had the perfect place to do it. I'm talking about U.S. Navy Captain Owen Honors, only just relieved as commander of America's only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the proud USS Enterprise.
Honors, who never met a camera he didn't like, a man determined to please his crew, liked to spend his week preparing videos -- starring, guess who -- Captain Owen Honors, 49 year old Top Gun pilot and decided off-color video star.
Honors had at his disposal the very best video equipment generous U.S. taxpayers could buy. His effects were right up-to-the-minute, like having three separate screens in which (guess who?) appeared as three different (all cool) characters. Wow!
Honors, each week determined to outdo himself on week-end XO nights (when his latest videos were shown), somehow found time in his very busy days. The USS Entereprise, after all, was deployed supporting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A man of dedication, energy, imagination he somehow found the time to work on video ideas, plots, film venues, and a dazzling array of really cool outfits perfectly tailored. This caring captain was determined to give his eagerly expectant 6000-person crew the very best . He certainly did, particularly in 2006-2007 when his bold ideas and still bolder presentations took the Enterprise by storm and riveted every eye on the ship. What, they all wondered, would their daring executive officer, then Captain Honors do next?
They never had long to wait.
There was that hot video when their cutting-edge commander simulated masturbation at his desk. As Paris Hilton would say, "That's hot!"
What about the never-to-be-forgotten episode of two naked guys soaping each other off in the shower. Honors was a nut for saving water... and wanted to drive home the point with eye-popping visuals. And, to be completely politically correct, he did the same scene with two of the women of his crew.
There was more, much more since Honors was an indefatigable guy with an unceasing appetite for more and better; ambitious videos of which he soon became the master with the help of designated members of his command.
There was the anal probe episode... and all the "fag" plots, pratfalls and plays. That commander... what a cut-up.
There were the in jokes, like writing "little XO" on his you-know-what. It was hilarious, pure camp, what a guy.
And just think, he did it all while on deployment in not one, but two war zones. How did the guy do it, inquiring minds wanted to know.
Alas, there was irritating criticism from small minds.
It's hard to imagine... but disgracefully true... that there were members of the Enterprise crew who found their commander's hard work and dazzling results offensive. Small minded, picayune, uptight... these folks made a fuss and criticized the coolest guy in the fleet. This rankled with Honors, for he was working so hard. Why his bravura video on the "f-bomb" was pure poetry. Really, who could object?
In a rare outburst, this commander of poise and sensitivity lashed out at his anonymous accusers: "Over the years I've gotten several complaints about inappropriate material during these videos, never to me personally but, gutlessly, through other channels." Gutless, indeed! If there'd been a plank aboard the Enterprise, Honors would have been well within his rights to put the snivelers on it.
Instead, he opened one of his last videos with these mild, entirely justified words: "This evening, all of you bleeding hearts... why don't you just go ahead and hug yourself for the next 20 minutes or so, because there's a really good chance you're gonna be offended."
That's the man in a nutshell, empathetic, soft spoken.
Still one of these snivelers (probably gay), not yet identified by name, took (inexplicable) offense... go figure... sending the (to him) offending tapes to the Navy Inspector General.
Where all hell broke lose.
Despite the fact that Owen Honors was well-known throughout the Navy, despite the fact that he had a high visibility command; despite 3,400 flight hours in 31 types of aircraft... despite a chestful of bona fide awards and medals... the Navy moved expeditiously because it knew it had a real hot potato on its hands.
Navy media releases quickly went from "the videos were intended to be humorous" to "inappropriate"... to the announcement Captain Honors was relieved of his command as the Navy initiated, behind the scenes, the steps required to cashier him from the service he loved and had served throughout his life. My how the mighty had fallen!
Certain Navy personnel and those persons wedded to the good old days of fag baiting and the humiliation and degradation of women, predictably launched a campaign to save the Captain and his wayward views. They tried to convince by asking what was the big deal after all; the views advanced in the Captain's high tech videos were commonplace, nothing to write home about, the way "everyone" thought.
Exactly.
This is why the Navy Department is to be commended on taking (reasonably) prompt action to lance the infection and proclaim zero tolerance for mocking good sailors, their sexuality and gender.
The Navy is moving fast now to get just-suspended Captain Honors out of public view, to bury this still young officer with talent and skills to burn and ensure that he becomes the complete non-person, He is, after all, a total embarrassment... the story breaking at the worst possible time, as the Navy shows that it can, with good humor and in good order, nimbly move into the post "don't ask, don't tell" era.
There is, the Navy signals, no place in this new order for Captain Honors, once absolute lord of all he surveyed. Such a man so powerful and so lacking in judgement is now an inconvenient artifact of an age and state of mind the Navy wants firmly, irrevocably behind it.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Lawrence Rinke http://ActionEqualsProfit.com. Check out Blog Cash -> http://www.ActionEqualsProfit.com/?rd=tf7uUTRn
Monday, January 3, 2011
Lawrence: 'Til computer do us part. What to do with an uncoo...
Lawrence: 'Til computer do us part. What to do with an uncoo...: "Leave a comment by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Computers have become omnipresent and as such have become the means of liberating people from distast..."
'Til computer do us part. What to do with an uncooperative spouse undermining your home business
Leave a comment
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Computers have become omnipresent and as such have become the means of liberating people from distasteful traditional jobs and offering the prospect of remunerative home-based employment. But working at home can be difficult.
There are numerous distractions at hand.... pets, children, television -- and the always tempting refrigerator.
Yes, it is easy to get distracted, lose focus, and miss opportunities.
However, these problems and challenges are not nearly as difficult and potentially destructive as this one: the disapproving spouse. Instead of loyal, loving, enthusiastic support you begin to hear the nagging refrain of: "You're spending too much time on the computer." The more often you hear it... the greater your problem... and the more urgent this message.
This is a problem you must solve, for failure to do so leads to estrangement, even divorce... with your computer cited as correspondent. What can you do before you become a highly rated episode on "Judge Judy"?
Request spousal support from the get go
No home-based business should ever be started without at least a discussion between the partners about what this is likely to mean for their relationship. New businesses, home-based or otherwise, need your full attention, extra hours and complete concentration. Your partner needs to know this... and prepare accordingly.
Thus, before you begin on this demanding odyssey, go away for a romantic week-end. Be fresh! Be charming! Enjoy! Your energy level for such dissipations may not be quite this high for months to come. Cavort now. Refreshed? Revitalized? Its time to get down to business by, first, making it clear to your partner what you'll need to launch your business and to bring home the bacon.
Item: you will keep regular business hours and during these hours interruptions are not permitted. In other words, unless there is a bona fide crisis, you must focus on the business, the whole business, and nothing but the business.
Spousal agreement to this point is key, for your significant other may well "forget" this clause when there's "just one little errand to run, Pookie." As Nancy Reagan used to say, "Just say no." Once you're weakened on this point, you're nothing more than a marionette on a very short string. Oh, my!
Item: when extra time is required (as it will be when building a business), you will inform your spouse as early in the day as possible. Such courtesies go far towards reconciling a restive, longing-to-be-with-you spouse.
Make it clear what you are doing, why it's important and how much time you're going to need to finish the project at hand. This kind of communication is imperative to keep your spouse empathetic and supportive.
"You're spending way too much time on that blankety blank computer!"
You've worked hard... you begin to see results... you are thrilled... and then the spouse hits you with this! What a revolting development this is! What to do?
You have 2 options: hear but do nothing... or tackle the issue head on right now.
I recommend Option 2, because failure to respond to this problem now only ensures it will grow fast and become A Real Problem very, very soon.
Sit your partner down, explain that you need their support; that you are doing all you're doing for them... for the children... for the family. Make it clear that you will continue to do what you have set out to do but that doing it will be far better with spousal support than without it. Make this an Academy Award performance... replete with eyes locked together, hand holding, bear hugs... perhaps even a tear or two. It will all be worth it if you'll never have to hear again the words "You are spending too much time on the computer."
Hint:
Want to impress your spouse and get the cooperation you require? Bribe them. Take some of the money you're making; put it in envelope. Take spouse to dinner... and have the waiter deliver along with dessert. Make sure the cash is accompanied by the briefest of notes saying, simply, profoundly "I love you." Say nothing when this present arrives. Wait for spousal reaction... which should be as surprised and tender (and accommodating) as you could want.
If the business fails.
With the best will in the world and all the time required... with full and complete spouse support your business may fail. Sadly, a very hefty percentage of home-based businesses do. Knowing you, you'll want to try and try again until you've found the winning formula. You're willing to risk again, but your spouse, in the clearest possible way, says "No way, Jose! Been there, done that, got the t-shirt."
What now?
Hand them this magnificent quote from Teddy Roosevelt's famous speech on "Citizenship in a Republic", delivered at the Sorbonne, Paris in 1910:
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood: who strives valiantly: who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
Hand this quote, I say, to your spouse and make it plain that you have an obligation, first and foremost, to yourself to carry on, to persevere, and, at last, forge victory from defeat.
This is a crucial moment in your relationship, a moment of epiphany, revelation, resolve.
Now, perhaps for the first time, your spouse truly knows and understands you. Now for the first time they see you as indefatigable, admirable, larger than life, the mate they have always wanted.... and never until this very moment knew they already had.
Sit down now at your computer, for now, at last, your truly beloved is on your side without cavil or complaint. Expect your favorite lunch to be delivered today computer-side... for now you have, well and truly, the helpmate you require for the success you will both enjoy so very much.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Lawrence Rinke http://ActionEqualsProfit.com. Check out Blog Cash -> http://www.ActionEqualsProfit.com/?rd=tf7uUTRn
How to Turn Your Ability Into Cash
http://www.ActionEqualsProfit.com/content.cfm?pageID=278415
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Computers have become omnipresent and as such have become the means of liberating people from distasteful traditional jobs and offering the prospect of remunerative home-based employment. But working at home can be difficult.
There are numerous distractions at hand.... pets, children, television -- and the always tempting refrigerator.
Yes, it is easy to get distracted, lose focus, and miss opportunities.
However, these problems and challenges are not nearly as difficult and potentially destructive as this one: the disapproving spouse. Instead of loyal, loving, enthusiastic support you begin to hear the nagging refrain of: "You're spending too much time on the computer." The more often you hear it... the greater your problem... and the more urgent this message.
This is a problem you must solve, for failure to do so leads to estrangement, even divorce... with your computer cited as correspondent. What can you do before you become a highly rated episode on "Judge Judy"?
Request spousal support from the get go
No home-based business should ever be started without at least a discussion between the partners about what this is likely to mean for their relationship. New businesses, home-based or otherwise, need your full attention, extra hours and complete concentration. Your partner needs to know this... and prepare accordingly.
Thus, before you begin on this demanding odyssey, go away for a romantic week-end. Be fresh! Be charming! Enjoy! Your energy level for such dissipations may not be quite this high for months to come. Cavort now. Refreshed? Revitalized? Its time to get down to business by, first, making it clear to your partner what you'll need to launch your business and to bring home the bacon.
Item: you will keep regular business hours and during these hours interruptions are not permitted. In other words, unless there is a bona fide crisis, you must focus on the business, the whole business, and nothing but the business.
Spousal agreement to this point is key, for your significant other may well "forget" this clause when there's "just one little errand to run, Pookie." As Nancy Reagan used to say, "Just say no." Once you're weakened on this point, you're nothing more than a marionette on a very short string. Oh, my!
Item: when extra time is required (as it will be when building a business), you will inform your spouse as early in the day as possible. Such courtesies go far towards reconciling a restive, longing-to-be-with-you spouse.
Make it clear what you are doing, why it's important and how much time you're going to need to finish the project at hand. This kind of communication is imperative to keep your spouse empathetic and supportive.
"You're spending way too much time on that blankety blank computer!"
You've worked hard... you begin to see results... you are thrilled... and then the spouse hits you with this! What a revolting development this is! What to do?
You have 2 options: hear but do nothing... or tackle the issue head on right now.
I recommend Option 2, because failure to respond to this problem now only ensures it will grow fast and become A Real Problem very, very soon.
Sit your partner down, explain that you need their support; that you are doing all you're doing for them... for the children... for the family. Make it clear that you will continue to do what you have set out to do but that doing it will be far better with spousal support than without it. Make this an Academy Award performance... replete with eyes locked together, hand holding, bear hugs... perhaps even a tear or two. It will all be worth it if you'll never have to hear again the words "You are spending too much time on the computer."
Hint:
Want to impress your spouse and get the cooperation you require? Bribe them. Take some of the money you're making; put it in envelope. Take spouse to dinner... and have the waiter deliver along with dessert. Make sure the cash is accompanied by the briefest of notes saying, simply, profoundly "I love you." Say nothing when this present arrives. Wait for spousal reaction... which should be as surprised and tender (and accommodating) as you could want.
If the business fails.
With the best will in the world and all the time required... with full and complete spouse support your business may fail. Sadly, a very hefty percentage of home-based businesses do. Knowing you, you'll want to try and try again until you've found the winning formula. You're willing to risk again, but your spouse, in the clearest possible way, says "No way, Jose! Been there, done that, got the t-shirt."
What now?
Hand them this magnificent quote from Teddy Roosevelt's famous speech on "Citizenship in a Republic", delivered at the Sorbonne, Paris in 1910:
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood: who strives valiantly: who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
Hand this quote, I say, to your spouse and make it plain that you have an obligation, first and foremost, to yourself to carry on, to persevere, and, at last, forge victory from defeat.
This is a crucial moment in your relationship, a moment of epiphany, revelation, resolve.
Now, perhaps for the first time, your spouse truly knows and understands you. Now for the first time they see you as indefatigable, admirable, larger than life, the mate they have always wanted.... and never until this very moment knew they already had.
Sit down now at your computer, for now, at last, your truly beloved is on your side without cavil or complaint. Expect your favorite lunch to be delivered today computer-side... for now you have, well and truly, the helpmate you require for the success you will both enjoy so very much.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Lawrence Rinke http://ActionEqualsProfit.com. Check out Blog Cash -> http://www.ActionEqualsProfit.com/?rd=tf7uUTRn
How to Turn Your Ability Into Cash
http://www.ActionEqualsProfit.com/content.cfm?pageID=278415
Saturday, January 1, 2011
5 Things You Should Do When Your Customer Buys (if you want more business in the future!)
Please Leave your comments
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
You SAY you want more business and the money that comes thereby. But unless you do these 5 things, you're just whistling "Dixie".
1) Smile & Say Thank You
Do a little survey. For the next few days, take a look at how you're treated in the various stores you patronize.
When you buy do you get a radiant smile from the check-out clerk and a warm thank-you? Or is the action meagre and perfunctory; or even absent altogether?
The warmth of the thank you, the brilliance of the smile are indicators of just how much you value this customer and desire his business.
P.S. Whenever possible, use the customer's name. "Thanks so much for your business, Mrs. Smythe. We do it appreciate it you know!"
And be SURE to make eye contact. This is essential.
2) Hand the customer a bonus coupon.
ALL businesses live or die by repeat customer business. That's why you need to give each customer a bonus coupon,
First, make the bonus a valuable one, nothing cheap and insubstantial for your vital customers, please.
Second, make sure the bonus coupon has an expiration date. Remember, offers work because they are meaningful in value... and because they expire.
Third, hand this valuable gift to the customer and deliver with a smile!
3) Offer to carry the customer's purchase to her car.
Want to make an especially good impression... the kind the customer will convey to her social circle?
Then carry her purchase to her car!
This courtesy may not always be possible; you may be the only one in the store, for instance. Very well. But don't throw the baby out with the bath water. If you cannot always offer this special courtesy, do not for that reason never offer it.
And, remember, in offering this special benefit, don't stint on the accompanying smile... or customer's name.
4) E-mail the customer a thank you and bonus offer.
What should be awaiting your valuable customer when he gets home? A terrific bonus offer e-mailed at once!
Speed here is everything. That offer should be e-mailed right away. The speed with which you send this bonus offer will be a clear indication to the customer of how much you value her business.
You're able to achieve this result if and only if you have created one or (even better) more offers before you need them!
It goes without saying that you must have the customer's e-mail address. You do request it from every customer, don't you? Semper paratus is not just a motto for Boy Scouts.
5) If your product runs out, make sure to e-mail the customer when you've estimated he will need more. THAT is your moment to appear supremely customer-centered... and put more money in your pocket, too.
Say the average customer uses up this product in 60 days.
E-mail a bonus offer 30 days before renewal is necessary... then 15 days... and 7 days. Make SURE you include a special offer with every e-mail and make sure this offer has a clear expiration date: like 5 days from e-mailing.
Last Words
As every smart business person knows, your success (and comfort) derive mainly from one source: your customers. Right now you SAY this... but you may not run your business properly to derive maximum profit from customers. This article should help. Read it! Print it! Live it! You will start seeing the pay-off at once!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Lawrence Rinke http://ActionEqualsProfit.com. Check out Mass Money Makers -> http://silver45b.massmoneym.hop.clickbank.net
Get This MASSIVE TRAFFIC PACKAGE Absolutely FREE!
http://www.CashQuest.com/MassiveTraffic/?id=23079
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
You SAY you want more business and the money that comes thereby. But unless you do these 5 things, you're just whistling "Dixie".
1) Smile & Say Thank You
Do a little survey. For the next few days, take a look at how you're treated in the various stores you patronize.
When you buy do you get a radiant smile from the check-out clerk and a warm thank-you? Or is the action meagre and perfunctory; or even absent altogether?
The warmth of the thank you, the brilliance of the smile are indicators of just how much you value this customer and desire his business.
P.S. Whenever possible, use the customer's name. "Thanks so much for your business, Mrs. Smythe. We do it appreciate it you know!"
And be SURE to make eye contact. This is essential.
2) Hand the customer a bonus coupon.
ALL businesses live or die by repeat customer business. That's why you need to give each customer a bonus coupon,
First, make the bonus a valuable one, nothing cheap and insubstantial for your vital customers, please.
Second, make sure the bonus coupon has an expiration date. Remember, offers work because they are meaningful in value... and because they expire.
Third, hand this valuable gift to the customer and deliver with a smile!
3) Offer to carry the customer's purchase to her car.
Want to make an especially good impression... the kind the customer will convey to her social circle?
Then carry her purchase to her car!
This courtesy may not always be possible; you may be the only one in the store, for instance. Very well. But don't throw the baby out with the bath water. If you cannot always offer this special courtesy, do not for that reason never offer it.
And, remember, in offering this special benefit, don't stint on the accompanying smile... or customer's name.
4) E-mail the customer a thank you and bonus offer.
What should be awaiting your valuable customer when he gets home? A terrific bonus offer e-mailed at once!
Speed here is everything. That offer should be e-mailed right away. The speed with which you send this bonus offer will be a clear indication to the customer of how much you value her business.
You're able to achieve this result if and only if you have created one or (even better) more offers before you need them!
It goes without saying that you must have the customer's e-mail address. You do request it from every customer, don't you? Semper paratus is not just a motto for Boy Scouts.
5) If your product runs out, make sure to e-mail the customer when you've estimated he will need more. THAT is your moment to appear supremely customer-centered... and put more money in your pocket, too.
Say the average customer uses up this product in 60 days.
E-mail a bonus offer 30 days before renewal is necessary... then 15 days... and 7 days. Make SURE you include a special offer with every e-mail and make sure this offer has a clear expiration date: like 5 days from e-mailing.
Last Words
As every smart business person knows, your success (and comfort) derive mainly from one source: your customers. Right now you SAY this... but you may not run your business properly to derive maximum profit from customers. This article should help. Read it! Print it! Live it! You will start seeing the pay-off at once!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Lawrence Rinke http://ActionEqualsProfit.com. Check out Mass Money Makers -> http://silver45b.massmoneym.hop.clickbank.net
Get This MASSIVE TRAFFIC PACKAGE Absolutely FREE!
http://www.CashQuest.com/MassiveTraffic/?id=23079
They ain't just whistling 'Dixie'. Charleston and South Carolina blunder over gala celebrating 150th secession anniversary.
Please Leave your comments
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Yes sir, the folks of Charleston and South Carolina generally are at it again, this times spurred by the 150th anniversary of the secession of South Carolina from the federal Union and the commencement of the Civil War, which dutiful Southerners always call the War Between the States.
Some brief history
Charming though its citizens are (I know for my family landed in South Carolina in the mid-18th century), they can nonetheless be obtuse and obstinate to a degree. Take South Carolina's history, for example.
Its leading statesman, much revered and honored (though never read) is John C. Calhoun, who never met a nation-building project he didn't abhor and obstruct. He invented a silly system about how South Carolina could nullify any federal laws it didn't like and wished to ignore. It was looney (as leading to one secession after another) but Calhoun, determined, bitter, adamant, spent his lifetime inventing and then defending a system that would have wrecked the Union without doing anything useful for his state.
Calhoun's theories came to fruition in what was called the Nullification Crisis of 1832. When South Carolina (always in the vanguard of treason) rushed to seize all federal properties within its borders, President Andrew Jackson promptly called for troops and was ready, willing, and able to crush the rebellion. Given the fact that he was born in South Carolina (though North Carolina disagrees), his "takes one to know one" stance was most apropos. He was the ultimate Union man... and he knew what to do to show the people of South Carolina exactly what that meant.
Chastened, these citizens of South Carolina folded like a house of cards, their time thereafter filled by muttering, threats, connivances, and plan after hare-brained plan to try again to disrupt their own prosperity by undermining at all times and at every opportunity the federal Union. It was perverse... it was pointless... it was so South Carolina.
In 1860, when Abe Lincoln was elected president of the United States, the elite of South Carolina decided to act... and so seceded from that united union and made the state's most rash decision ever: to fight and by so fighting undermine the lifestyle they all wanted but which could never, ever survive after their war. Victory (though many South Carolinians from the best antebellum families might disagree) was never a possibility once the Union got itself focused. It took awhile, but once awakened its power was irresistible.
Was there another, better course than hazarding all on the most precarious of policies: war? Of course there was. Instead, Southern statesmen should have stayed in the Union, remaining in Congress and the Democratic Party, the highest of officials and always its least cooperative. As such they would have been an immovable presence, an irksome dilemma dislocating the Union and its vibrant Manifest Destiny for decades.
But hotter heads prevailed.
The state which had everything to keep by staying in the Union, chose the least sensible alternative of all: WAR. Once declared, one of Charleston's canniest sons, Rhett Butler, bought up all the cotton he could and ran it to London, where it ultimately rose to the amazing price of $1 a pound. Rhett was level headed; his peers were not.
And so the war came.
The state seceded.
Fort Sumter was fired on and after a valiant defense... capitulated
And bit by inexorable bit the Confederates of South Carolina were ground into the dust... with the deepest misery for all, whatever their politics.
These are the events that the organizers of Charleston's December 20, 2010 secession gala (and countless other secession commemoration events) ask us to remember with respect and even admiration. We cannot do so, we must not do so.
Organizers of the secession gala and similar events taking place now and for the next several years across the states of the Confederacy (finishing up at Appomattox Court House) need to be very clear on their appropriate mission and message.
The story of the South's and particularly South Carolina's myopic and self-destructive leaders must be told... as historical fact... for to forget is to obliterate, and this will never do. But historical fact and outlandish fictional celebrations are two very different things... as event organizers should have known.
Because they failed to insist upon an inclusionary ball, the radical Confederate apologists in the persons of some of South Carolina's most prominent citizens, not least state Senate president pro tem Glenn McConnell, took over the event. They did so with the same self-destructive energy with which their ancestors took Fort Sumter. Immediately they turned it into a fanciful, colorful paean to the state's most destructive and completely witless act. Common sense and the very truth were also prompt casualties while these high stepping folks prated about the things most calculated to disgust, infuriate, and divide: Glory, Chivalry, Darkies, and The Cause.
These organizers, keen to open their divisive event with "Dixie", the best reel ever written, overlooked or never knew one important point about this ditty: what Abraham Lincoln said about it upon returning in early April, 1865 to Washington with son Tad after visiting burning Richmond, the Confederate capital, the symbolic end of the war.
"I have always thought 'Dixie' one of the best tunes I have ever heard. Our adversaries over the way attempted to appropriate it, but I insisted that we fairly captured it. I presented it to the Attorney General, and he gave it as his legal opinion that it is our lawful prize. I now request the band to favor me with its performance." The band played "Dixie", followed by "Yankee Doodle."
And so, even dead, Abraham Lincoln and his politics of humane inclusion trump the living Confederate dinosaurs who insist that Dixie never look away from the imaginary land they have invented. Voltaire was oh so right: "History is a pack of tricks we play upon the dead" But, of course, the gray uniformed officers with ear-splitting Rebel yells and their lavishly appointed ladies in silk crinolines know that... as did their fire-breathing ancestors from Charleston, the epicenter of treason and silliness.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Lawrence Rinke http://ActionEqualsProfit.com. Check out Mass Money Makers -> http://silver45b.massmoneym.hop.clickbank.net
Leave your comments
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Yes sir, the folks of Charleston and South Carolina generally are at it again, this times spurred by the 150th anniversary of the secession of South Carolina from the federal Union and the commencement of the Civil War, which dutiful Southerners always call the War Between the States.
Some brief history
Charming though its citizens are (I know for my family landed in South Carolina in the mid-18th century), they can nonetheless be obtuse and obstinate to a degree. Take South Carolina's history, for example.
Its leading statesman, much revered and honored (though never read) is John C. Calhoun, who never met a nation-building project he didn't abhor and obstruct. He invented a silly system about how South Carolina could nullify any federal laws it didn't like and wished to ignore. It was looney (as leading to one secession after another) but Calhoun, determined, bitter, adamant, spent his lifetime inventing and then defending a system that would have wrecked the Union without doing anything useful for his state.
Calhoun's theories came to fruition in what was called the Nullification Crisis of 1832. When South Carolina (always in the vanguard of treason) rushed to seize all federal properties within its borders, President Andrew Jackson promptly called for troops and was ready, willing, and able to crush the rebellion. Given the fact that he was born in South Carolina (though North Carolina disagrees), his "takes one to know one" stance was most apropos. He was the ultimate Union man... and he knew what to do to show the people of South Carolina exactly what that meant.
Chastened, these citizens of South Carolina folded like a house of cards, their time thereafter filled by muttering, threats, connivances, and plan after hare-brained plan to try again to disrupt their own prosperity by undermining at all times and at every opportunity the federal Union. It was perverse... it was pointless... it was so South Carolina.
In 1860, when Abe Lincoln was elected president of the United States, the elite of South Carolina decided to act... and so seceded from that united union and made the state's most rash decision ever: to fight and by so fighting undermine the lifestyle they all wanted but which could never, ever survive after their war. Victory (though many South Carolinians from the best antebellum families might disagree) was never a possibility once the Union got itself focused. It took awhile, but once awakened its power was irresistible.
Was there another, better course than hazarding all on the most precarious of policies: war? Of course there was. Instead, Southern statesmen should have stayed in the Union, remaining in Congress and the Democratic Party, the highest of officials and always its least cooperative. As such they would have been an immovable presence, an irksome dilemma dislocating the Union and its vibrant Manifest Destiny for decades.
But hotter heads prevailed.
The state which had everything to keep by staying in the Union, chose the least sensible alternative of all: WAR. Once declared, one of Charleston's canniest sons, Rhett Butler, bought up all the cotton he could and ran it to London, where it ultimately rose to the amazing price of $1 a pound. Rhett was level headed; his peers were not.
And so the war came.
The state seceded.
Fort Sumter was fired on and after a valiant defense... capitulated
And bit by inexorable bit the Confederates of South Carolina were ground into the dust... with the deepest misery for all, whatever their politics.
These are the events that the organizers of Charleston's December 20, 2010 secession gala (and countless other secession commemoration events) ask us to remember with respect and even admiration. We cannot do so, we must not do so.
Organizers of the secession gala and similar events taking place now and for the next several years across the states of the Confederacy (finishing up at Appomattox Court House) need to be very clear on their appropriate mission and message.
The story of the South's and particularly South Carolina's myopic and self-destructive leaders must be told... as historical fact... for to forget is to obliterate, and this will never do. But historical fact and outlandish fictional celebrations are two very different things... as event organizers should have known.
Because they failed to insist upon an inclusionary ball, the radical Confederate apologists in the persons of some of South Carolina's most prominent citizens, not least state Senate president pro tem Glenn McConnell, took over the event. They did so with the same self-destructive energy with which their ancestors took Fort Sumter. Immediately they turned it into a fanciful, colorful paean to the state's most destructive and completely witless act. Common sense and the very truth were also prompt casualties while these high stepping folks prated about the things most calculated to disgust, infuriate, and divide: Glory, Chivalry, Darkies, and The Cause.
These organizers, keen to open their divisive event with "Dixie", the best reel ever written, overlooked or never knew one important point about this ditty: what Abraham Lincoln said about it upon returning in early April, 1865 to Washington with son Tad after visiting burning Richmond, the Confederate capital, the symbolic end of the war.
"I have always thought 'Dixie' one of the best tunes I have ever heard. Our adversaries over the way attempted to appropriate it, but I insisted that we fairly captured it. I presented it to the Attorney General, and he gave it as his legal opinion that it is our lawful prize. I now request the band to favor me with its performance." The band played "Dixie", followed by "Yankee Doodle."
And so, even dead, Abraham Lincoln and his politics of humane inclusion trump the living Confederate dinosaurs who insist that Dixie never look away from the imaginary land they have invented. Voltaire was oh so right: "History is a pack of tricks we play upon the dead" But, of course, the gray uniformed officers with ear-splitting Rebel yells and their lavishly appointed ladies in silk crinolines know that... as did their fire-breathing ancestors from Charleston, the epicenter of treason and silliness.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Lawrence Rinke http://ActionEqualsProfit.com. Check out Mass Money Makers -> http://silver45b.massmoneym.hop.clickbank.net
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