Welcome to Business Consultant Weekly

Issue #9 September 14, 1998

Business Consultant Weekly is a FREE newsletter brought to you by NetChecks of Quartz Hill, CA <http://netcheckspayroll.com> helping small and home businesses succeed.

The goal of this newsletter is to bring insight into the challenges you face whether you're going it alone or working in a group to carve out a niche in the business world. Increase your cash flow and productivity with informative articles on time management, marketing, daily operations and read messages from well-known motivational speakers that will keep focused on your goal.

This e-zine is emailed only to those who have requested it. If you do not wish to receive future issues, please see the unsubscribe instructions below. Also understand that we do not make available our subscriber list to other companies. We value each subscriber's privacy.

Advertisers: Target your ads with low-cost, effective e-zine advertising that reaches others interested in succeeding online. Place your ads here for results. See details at the end of the classifieds.

In this issue:

1) Tip of the Week

2) FEATURE ARTICLE: How To Take Advantage Of Spammers by Gauher Chaudhry

3) Classifieds

4) FREE Resources

5) MOTIVATIONAL MESSAGE: Don't Throw it Back by William N. Hodges

"Tip of the Week"

Last week's tip discussed email without spamming as a means of advertising. Check out today's feature that outlines how to get your ad/website message back to the people who spam your email account.

Another mode of advertising that can be very useful for small or home-based businesses is word of mouth. It's free, believable and sincere since it comes from your satisfied customers. Probably nothing else compares to a recommendation made from a friend or colleague with regards to a product or service they've used and been happy with. On the contrary, nothing can hurt you as much as a warning passed along from a dissatisfied customer. Here are some tips for making sure the "word" is favorable:

1. Guard your reputation by being professional over the telephone, over the internet (be courteous in your email and read it over to catch typos before sending) and in your correspondence.

2. Always keep your appointments and if you have to cancel do so with as much lead time as possible.

3. Be sure you can meet your deadlines by not taking on more work than you can finish. When possible, over estimate the time it will take and finish early.

Good business practices enhance your image and keep customers coming back. With consistency and time, your good reputation can be worth its weight in gold.

FEATURE ARTICLE

How To Take Advantage Of Spammers

(c) 1998, Gauher Chaudhry

Recently, there has been a wave of spam that is cluttering many people's mailboxes. Although I do not mind targeted emails, it annoys me when I receive multiple email messages that are the same or that do not interest to me whatsoever (i.e. how to bulk email to thousands).

Many people have the itch to spam because the potential amount of people one can reach is good. But I feel that the cons outweigh the pros and although the spammer might profit in the short run, he/she will damage their reputation and hurt their business in the long run, especially if they lose their webpage.

Now I receive many unsolicited emails everyday. Some of my friends who also receive unsolicited emails can not even understand how they got onto a spam list. Here is some ways you can end up getting on a spammers list.

1) When you post a classified, they take your email address and add it to their list. This isn't so bad when they show somewhat of an interest in your product/service and introduce you to theirs.

2) When you post to newsgroups, they take your email address from there and add it to their mailing list.

3) When you post to a free-for-all-link page they take it from there. Usually it is the webmaster who is running the link page.

I am sure there are other methods that they use to find your email address. Most of them are now using automatic programs that will find your address and add it to the database. These robots will even go to your webpage and grab any email address it can find.

Although there are anti-spam software programs out there, they really are not as effective in eliminating all spam. Spammers are always finding a way to get into your email box. If you can't stop them, I figure, why not try to profit off of them at least.

How? Here is one way that has worked for me. Whenever I post ads to newsgroups or participate in discussions, I don't use my regular email address. I use an AUTORESPONDER. Are you starting to understand? I set up the autoresponder with a sales message advertising products and my website. Do you see how I am taking advantage of the situation?

I have all these potential spammers trying to email me their message that I never see! Instead they get a message right back from me advertising my site and products. I am not spamming them because they are the ones who sent me the email, my autoresponder is just replying. My autoresponder states that this is an automatic message to their email.

If you end up getting 25 spams a day, that means you sent out 25 advertisements. Some of these spammers are bound to bite, whether it is ordering a your product/service or just going to your website. Another good thing is an autoresponder is quick, so the chances of the spammer seeing your ad is good considering he will probably lose that email address within days of his spam campaign.

Many free email address services out there can let you turn your email address into an autoresponder.

Look at the following word.

OPPORTUNITYISNOWHERE

What do you see?

If you are pessimistic, you probably saw OPPORTUNITY IS NOWHERE.

Now look at it from an optimistic point of view and you will probably see OPPORTUNITY IS NOW HERE.

With the exponential growth of people coming onto the internet, spammers will always be around. You will not be able to shut every spammer down. So instead of getting angry or upset, look at the situation and try to see the opportunity. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gauher Chaudhry is editor of Cool Cash Ezine. For more informative articles like this, you can subscribe to Cool Cash Ezine by sending an email to subscribe@freecoolcash with "subscribe-ea" in the subject or go to Cool Cash directly at http://www.freecoolcash.com and sign up there. You will receive 300+ free money making reports for just signing up! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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MOTIVATIONAL MESSAGE

DON'T THROW IT BACK

Copyright 1998 William N Hodges, used by permission.

A while back, I was sitting on a riverbank watching a gentleman do some fishing. It was a rather interesting experience. He caught a fish and then pulled out a ruler. He appeared to be measuring it-the fish looked to me to be somewhat under a foot long-then he put it in his bucket. He caught another fish that was about 4 inches long. He also put it in his bucket. The next fish he caught was surely well over 13 inches long, and he threw it back in the lake! Then he caught a real beauty-probably a record-it was a foot and a half long. Beautiful fish! He measured it, then threw it back in the lake. I couldn't contain myself any longer. I had to walk over; my curiosity had gotten the better of me. I said, "Mister, what are you doing? You catch a 4- inch fish and you throw it in your bucket. You catch a one and a half- foot fish, and you throw it back in the lake. What are you doing? Why?" He said, "I only have a 10-inch frying pan so I throw anything bigger than that back in the lake."

Okay so it didn't happen, but it could have. The point is, sometimes our brain treats ideas that come into our minds in that exact same way. When big ideas come into our heads, we immediately say, "I only have a 10-inch brain, I'm going to throw them back." On the other hand, we keep the little ideas.

It is most assuredly easier this way. The minute we have a great idea, one that will cause us to stretch our capabilities to the limit, along will come someone to tell us that we are not being realistic or that the idea is beyond us. For many people, this outpouring of cold water on their ideas is enough to cause them to quit, and the idea, like a ship that founders, sinks into the sea of "might have been."

When a big idea swims by your mind, make sure that the hook is sharp-the net is ready. It may be your chance for fame and fortune or, at the least, a comfortable living. Not unlike a large fish, most big ideas can be cut up into small pieces and, with logical thought and a little pre-planning, handled with reasonable ease.

Start the process by keeping your mind open to the possibilities all around you. Do not reject an idea until you have looked at the many ways you might bring it to life. Something that sounds like a silly solution today may indeed be the answer tomorrow. Just as something you looked at yesterday and discarded may be just what you need to solve your problem today.

The polio vaccine, automobiles, dishwashers, and the other wonders of our modern age began as big ideas in the minds of their inventors. These people knew that the mind and its capacity is never limited, except by what it is willing to believe, and they believed in never throwing an idea back. Good fishing!

Bill Hodges is nationally recognized speaker, trainer, and columnist. If you enjoyed this article, you will enjoy his book Within Your Reach which contains 60 such articles on positive thinking available either in print or a three cassette audio tape. If ordering from your local bookstore, .reference ISBN #0-9622717-0-5, or you may order directly by sending your check for $4.95 USCurrency plus ($1.30 USA $3.00 Other)for the printed book or $20.00 plus ($3.00 USA $6.00 other) for shipping to Hodges Seminars International, P O Box 22 Fairborn OH 45324. Or order by Visa or Mastercharge at his Web site http://www.BillHodges.com

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