Making money.

India is one of the world’s fastest-growing (and most stable) economies, with strength in its agriculture, textile, and service sectors. Services are its main source of economic growth, accounting for over half of India’s output with less than a third of its labor force. And India is on track to open up its retail, insurance, and banking sectors to more foreign investment. 

The Indian economy has been growing an average of 7 percent over the last 10 years, reducing poverty by about 10 percent over the same period. India had GDP growth of 8.5 percent in 2006, 9 percent in 2007, and 7.3 percent in 2008.

Since the election victory of the free-market-oriented Congress Party, the Bombay Stock Exchange has taken off. I expect billions of dollars’ worth of investment capital to flow into Indian stocks, and India’s economy is going to continue to soar.

You owe it to yourself to invest in India. Keep in mind, though, that developing markets tend to be volatile, so put only a small portion of your portfolio into any emerging market.

My favorite way to play India is with the PowerShares India Fund (PIN). This exchange-traded fund (ETF) has excellent profit potential. It has seen a great short-term gain of 32 percent since I first recommended it on April 9th. You don’t usually see big profits that fast, and it’s on track for more.

The fund is traded in the U.S., holds a nice basket of Indian stocks, and seeks to mirror the Indian stock market as measured by the Indus India index.

[Ed. Note: Ted Peroulakis brings his passion for the markets to his role as investment analyst with Investor's Daily Edge, Early to Rise's sister publication. You can read more of his great advice every day by signing up for free right here.]

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“Historically, very few children have thought of entrepreneurship as a career choice. We are hoping this game ["Hot Shot Business," developed by Disney Online and the Kauffman Foundation] will move the thought of owning their own business to the same cognitive level as other more popular career choices. Our children are our future, and since more than 50 percent of new jobs come from small business, it is imperative that we encourage today’s children to be the entrepreneurs of tomorrow.”

You may be surprised to discover how many advantages public speaking offers to anyone who has something to sell.

Your business, and your expertise, might be investing, fitness, motivating employees, fine art… or even video gaming. Whatever it is, people with an interest in that subject regularly assemble. They want to hear you.

Here are just a few of the many benefits you can realize by speaking about your specialty:

• You become a recognized expert, an authority in your field or niche. The value of having a solid reputation in a specific topic can be incalculable.
• The fan base or following you develop is a prime market for your products or services. You might generate sales immediately after your presentation. Or they might come later, especially if you have a way to capture attendees’ names and contact information.
• This kind of exposure can be superior to paid advertising. It’s more credible and less expensive.
• Program directors expect the speakers they book for their events to promote themselves and their businesses, so they don’t always pay. But many times speakers are paid - sometimes quite handsomely. You may also discover that you enjoy sharing your knowledge, as well as the applause, acclaim, and celebrity treatment popular speakers are routinely accorded.
• Finally, speaking offers you numerous ancillary and spin-off possibilities. You might, for example, be able to recycle your presentation into an article, book, course, or audio or video program.

Where can you speak? Opportunities abound.

Consider the corporate and business world. Every industry and profession has conferences, conventions, seminars, breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. All need speakers.

To prospect for bookings, begin with your own network. If you don’t have direct contacts with groups that sponsor relevant events, an Internet search will turn up dozens or hundreds, including some you might never guess existed. Ask your local Chamber of Commerce for referrals to groups that welcome new speakers. Directories of associations are also good resources.

While researching my e-book, The Versatile Freelancer, I interviewed numerous successful speakers. One is Mardy Grothe, a consultant who speaks to business and professional associations on leadership, conflict resolution, and related topics. The 8,000 members of Vistage, an international business-networking group, consistently rate him as one of the organization’s best speakers.

“It’s tough to get booked by national associations,” Mardy says. “There’s a lot of competition and it’s a long shot. But here’s a tip that worked for me. Many of them have state chapters - so you have 50 additional chances.

“Moreover, it’s easier for a beginner on the state level, so start there. They pay little or no money, but it gets your foot in the door. They may recommend you to other chapters. Then one day, you have the clout to get the gig at the annual conference of the parent group, and that pays well.

“Your opportunities are in your own backyard,” Mardy advises. “Look around in your area. Speak at local groups and companies. If you have services to sell, your clientele is probably local, so that exposure makes sense.”

Regarding your presentation itself, here are a few tips that have served me well in my own speaking appearances:

• Tell audiences things they’ll find new, different, surprising, and immediately useful. Experienced attendees ask themselves, “What’s my takeaway value here?” The last reaction you want is “I’ve heard all that before!”
• Consider lots of potential content, but trim it all down to three or so key points. Attention spans are limited. No one ever said, “That talk was way too short.”
• If you use visuals, the same principle of simplicity applies. Put one point on each slide, not 10. Avoid “PowerPoint Overload,” a mistake speakers frequently make.
• Contrary to what you may have heard, never start a presentation with a joke. But a relevant story or anecdote can be a great way to establish rapport with your audience.
• Prepare a handout. Like your talk, it should be useful and “content rich.” It shouldn’t duplicate your presentation but rather complement or expand on it. Be sure to include your website address and other contact information.

When I suggest to friends that they consider public speaking to promote their businesses, I sometimes get the response, “I could never do that! I’d be terrified to stand up in front of an audience.” People afflicted with stage fright don’t realize that it’s not that difficult to overcome. If you can talk to an audience of one person, you can talk to an audience of one thousand. And you don’t have to dazzle your listeners. You merely need to communicate information they find valuable.

So what’s stopping you from reaping the rewards of public speaking?

[Ed. Note: The above article was adapted from Don Hauptman's e-book The Versatile Freelancer: How Writers and Other Creative Professionals Can Generate More Income by Seizing New Opportunities in Critiquing, Consulting, Training, and Presenting. It contains step-by-step advice on how to prepare a presentation, cure stage fright, avoid mistakes and problems, obtain bookings, negotiate compensation, leverage and exploit a presentation into new sources of profits, and more. The book comes with a free bonus report and a 100 percent money-back guarantee of satisfaction. Order your copy without risk here.]

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When businesses are set up properly, the optimum selling strategy is one that acquires as many customers as the allowable acquisition cost will allow. What that means is that new customers are brought in at breakeven or a loss. Thus, a healthy optimum selling strategy for the front end is never going to be profitable. All the profits, when you see the business from this perspective, come from the back end.

So how do you increase back-end sales? How do you get your customers to buy more frequently from you and pay more per purchase?

The answer is customer service. Doubling, tripling, quadrupling, or quintupling your back-end sales is a matter of good customer service, and good customer service involves only three things.

1. Knowing what your customers really want.

2. Finding out how you can do that for them.

3. Talking to them about what you are happy to do.

[Ed. Note: The above article was adapted from Michael Masterson's bestselling book Ready, Fire, Aim, published with permission from John Wiley & Sons. Get your copy today.]

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In today’s economy, there is more uncertainty among investors than there is among novices shopping around at an antique store.

What does the new leadership in Washington mean for the stock market? What do the seemingly endless billion-dollar bailouts mean for the overall economy? I wish I had a crystal ball so I could answer these questions - but, just like everyone else out there, I’m left guessing.

What I can comment on, though, is what I know about the relative stability of some of the investment vehicles we can choose from.

When most investors think of their options, they think of:

• CDs
• Money market accounts
• Savings accounts
• Mutual funds
• Stocks

All of the above are foundational parts of the American economy, and all represent passive investments that require little to no effort. Plus, they all offer the potential for growing your financial portfolio.

That’s the good news. The downsides to these traditional investments are several, and are worth mentioning here so I can give you a full picture of how they stack up against real estate… which is an investment that’s more up my alley.

First, market-based investments are historically more risky. Sure, the market has gone up (overall) in the past century. But just ask someone invested in the market who was set to retire this year if they feel comfortable doing that right now, and you’ll see how important timing is when it comes to being successful with these investments.

For many investors, the risk of the stock market is too much to bear. They prefer the security of CDs, money market accounts, and savings accounts. The downside, here, is that these investment vehicles move in the slow lane, growing at a modest pace that requires time and patience.

Another downside to traditional investments is that (with the exception of dividend-paying stocks) they do not produce any cash flow income. And if you choose to put your money in them, you have to sacrifice liquidity.

The way to avoid these downsides is to consider real estate as an alternative investment vehicle.

Properly purchased real estate pays for itself, can be acquired with little (or none) of your own money, and produces monthly cash flow income. Add to that the appreciation in value over time, and you have a winning investment combination.

Real estate is ripe with advantages that you just can’t find with more traditional market-based investments. You might even all it a “miracle” investment medium. However, many investors still shy away from it, for the following reasons:

• Fear of maintaining/managing income-producing properties
• Lack of familiarity with the purchase process
• Lack of trust in the seemingly volatile real estate market

These are all valid concerns - so let’s look at each one in some detail. (For the purposes of this article, I’m going to limit myself to residential property - single-family homes and multi-family buildings, as opposed to raw land or commercial real estate.)

First, we have the fear of managing and maintaining the properties. Images of busted plumbing, roof leaks, and eviction notices may come to mind - and there are certainly times when those kinds of things can arise. But you rarely wind up with a major problem if you do your homework before you purchase the property.

In general, multi-family properties tend to be easier to manage and maintain than single-family properties. For one thing, you’ve got the benefit of consolidated maintenance costs. Plus, when one tenant moves out, you’re not stuck with zero income coming in until they’re replaced. You have the financial security of multiple tenants.

Now, we’re talking!

What about people who avoid investing in real estate because they’re not familiar with the process? This is an issue that makes me scratch my head. After all, investors with no real knowledge or savvy put millions into the stock market every year - and feel perfectly comfortable with it.

Meanwhile, with real estate, it’s so easy to become educated about what you’re doing - about how to select, purchase, and then manage the properties that make up your portfolio. And that education is readily available, whether you’re interested in investing in single-family or multi-family properties.

Last on our list of the concerns that prevent people from investing in real estate has to do with perceived market volatility. Well… forget the dismal view of real estate you get from the media. What they’re talking about is just a byproduct of the economic downturn - and, quite honestly, that was a necessary shift to keep real estate affordable for the long haul.

From an investor’s perspective, real estate prices are now excellent, demand is consistent (because people always need a place to live), and there are plenty of properties to choose from.

When you consider all of the above factors, real estate might be the best investment vehicle for you in the current economy. So what are you waiting for?

[Ed. Note: David Lindahl, known as the "Apartment King," has been investing in single-family homes and apartment buildings for eight years. He is the author of several popular moneymaking home-study programs, including "Apartment House Riches." He can be reached at dave@real-estate-fortune.com and www.rementor.com.

Real estate isn't the only moneymaker that can get you through the recession. Discover a recession-proof Plan B that can help you secure your financial future right here.]

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“This way, attendees could start making as much as $500 while they’re still at the conference!” MaryEllen exclaimed.

We’d already made a big promise: Every attendee at our upcoming 5 Days in July Internet Business Building Conference WILL walk away with their own fully functioning Internet business - in just 5 days. But now MaryEllen had upped the ante. Now, attendees would have a chance to start making money even before they got back home.

This is how it breaks down: All attendees will have the opportunity to enroll in ETR’s Affiliate Program at the conference.

As you may know, becoming an affiliate of an established company that already markets a variety of products is a great way to “get your foot in the door” as an online entrepreneur. You simply promote the company’s products on your website, and they (in this case, ETR) take care of fulfilling the orders generated by your efforts, handling customer service, and so on. You, of course, get a cut of each sale. (With ETR’s commission structure, you get 25 percent on all sales. So, for example, by selling just one ticket to ETR’s 2009 Info-Marketing Bootcamp, you can get $499.25 - straight into your pocket!)

George Dahir, ETR’s Affiliate Program Manager, will be in Denver to personally assist the new affiliates in setting up their websites for affiliate sales, show them the best ways to promote ETR’s products, and, of course, answer any questions.

But this is only one component of the comprehensive Internet business-building program the ETR team has in store for 5 Days in July attendees. Search engine optimization, pay-per-click ads, copywriting, e-mail marketing and list building, not to mention website creation with some of the easiest-to-use software ever… it’s all going to be covered in Denver.

[Ed. Note: Even if you are just thinking about starting your own business, you should go here to find out what the Early to Rise team has in store for you during our 5 Days in July Internet business-building conference.]

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So you want to turn your business into a micro-brand? Or, better yet, a micro-cult? Here’s how to get started…

First, understand that it will take time - five to 10 years. To become a dominating presence in your market, you have to be in the game long enough to earn your customers’ loyalty.

Think LL Bean. Think BMW. Think Apple.

None of them became major brand names overnight, let alone cults. It took years and years of selling smart and over-delivering on their promises.

Apple, for example, has been around since 1976. Since then, the company has become the quintessential “cult brand.” And, aside from a couple of dips, Apple’s revenues have grown right along with its cult following.

So yes, it takes time. But while you are building your micro-brand - even to the status of micro-cult - you can make a ton of money. It requires three things:

1. a commitment to deliver the best products and customer service in your industry

2. the willingness to reinvest a significant share of your profits into continuing to improve the quality of your products and service

3. a unique selling proposition (LL Bean’s USP is about quality outdoor wear. BMW’s is about high-quality, sporty performance. Apple’s is about ease of use and reliability.)

Here’s an example from my personal experience.

About 20 years ago, my partner and I created a financial advisory service called The Oxford Club. I wrote the sales letter - and the response was through the roof. The Oxford Club was an immediate success. It made our business millions and millions of dollars.

In that sales letter, I made many claims about what the club would give its members. I promised a staff of investment advisors that was second to none. I promised seminars, conferences, tours… and a whole lot more.

Few of those things were in place when I wrote the letter. The club, after all, existed only in my mind. My partner and I made some preliminary arrangements to fulfill some of the promises, but we were not at all sure if the idea (since it was so new at the time) would work. So we tested it in the mail before the club was fully formed. (Ready. Fire. Aim.)

When the results came in, we set to work to try to make all those promises real. But because the concept was so new to the industry, our execution was imperfect. It was a good club - maybe even a great club - but it was not everything I had imagined.

Two years later, we sold the club to an industry colleague. (We had shifted our business plan and moved into merchandise sales, so the club was a duck out of water.) The company that bought it, Agora, Inc., had (and still has) a policy of reinvesting 90 percent of a business’s profits into the business, rather than distributing it to shareholders. So they used the club’s profits to continue to make improvements.

Under the leadership of Julia Guth, The Oxford Club developed its USP (”a private, international network of knowledgeable investors”), and made great gains in product quality and customer service. And the marketplace noticed. Today, The Oxford Club is the most successful financial advisory club in the world. It is a brand name in its market, and its members zealously promote the club to their friends, families, and colleagues.

As I said, the club was enormously profitable from the get-go. But it didn’t become a micro-brand - and then a micro-cult - until it had spent five or six years getting better and better. There was never any conflict between building the brand and making profits. But the owners had to be willing to reinvest those profits to make the long-term value of the business greater.

Over the last six years, I’ve seen Matt Furey do the same thing with his business. It began as a two-man shop selling a single fitness product. Today, it is a multimillion-dollar powerhouse selling dozens of great products.

Matt’s business is based on his unique approach to health and fitness - a blend of Chinese martial arts, old-fashioned American wrestling techniques, and Irish-American toughness. His point of view is well communicated in everything he does, and fervently bought into by his customers.

In Matt’s market, his business is a name brand. It didn’t happen overnight. But the business has always been profitable and seems to get better and attract more followers as each year passes.

So those are three things you must have if you want to turn your business into a micro-brand: a commitment to high-quality products and customer service, a willingness to reinvest the lion’s share of your profits into your business year after year, and a unique selling proposition.

And you must sell those three things in every communication you have with the outside world: in your advertising, customer service literature, and relations with the media.

A fourth secret is to create several product lines (three to six is a good number) that - though different - all support the underlying philosophy of your business. The Oxford Club has VIP trading services and financial seminars. Matt has fitness products, spiritual products, and business products.

There are basically two ways to view your business:

• As a way to make yourself rich by identifying opportunities in the marketplace, selling into them, and then pulling out most of your profits.

* As a way to generate a legacy of wealth, one that can last for generations, by identifying core needs in your marketplace and continuing to create products that fill those needs.

Both “ways” can work. But the first one is likely to unravel after a few years, leaving you with just a vague understanding of what happened. Only the second way will allow your business to keep on growing stronger and provide a lifetime of security for you, your children, and the people who work for you.
[Ed. Note: What’s your thought on “branding as religion”? Which brands do you swear by? Let us know right here.

Get Michael’s surefire strategies for getting ahead in business and in life in True Path to Profits: A Master Entrepreneur’s Guide to Business Success. Find out more - including how you can get a bonus subscription to Michael’s VIP newsletter, Ready Fire Aim - right here.

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By the time I met Wilma, she had studied literally thousands of pages of courses, books, and e-zine articles about copywriting. She had all the fundamentals down cold. She could recite Hopkins, Caples, Masterson, and Makepeace verbatim. But when I gave her her first paid assignment, she froze like a deer in the high beams of an oncoming Peterbilt.

Wilma’s problem wasn’t that she knew too much. Wilma’s problem was that she couldn’t stop thinking about all the stuff she’d learned - the techniques, formulas, and marketing philosophies.

My advice to Wilma: Forget everything you’ve learned about selling and especially about writing copy. Don’t worry - it’s still stored away in your brain.

Instead of strategy and tactics, try focusing on your prospect - his fears, frustrations, and desires. Think about how your product connects with his dominant emotions.

Then close your eyes and imagine that you’re in a room with him.

If you had to make the sale, what would you say? How would you begin the conversation? What would you say next? What would you have to prove to him? How would you prove it? How would he challenge your claims? How would you defuse his objections?

You’ll be astounded by how your brain feeds up dos and don’ts from your training to guide you as you work through the process.

[Ed. Note: Master copywriter Clayton Makepeace publishes the highly acclaimed e-zine The Total Package to help business owners and copywriters accelerate their sales and profits. Claim your 4 free moneymaking e-books - bursting with tips, tricks, and tactics that'll skyrocket your response - at MakepeaceTotalPackage.com

Learn how to overcome "overthinking" in all areas of your business with Michael Masterson's Wall Street Journal bestselling book, Ready, Fire, Aim .]

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Are the following two sentences correct?

• “The Minister of Public Security… signed last night in Washington D.C. a memorandum of mutual understanding with his American counterpart….” (The situation involves two people.)

• “A person met through a mutual acquaintance is often more easily integrated into one’s network than a person met on one’s own.” (The situation involves two people and their relationship to a third person.)

In The Careful Writer, Theodore M. Bernstein explains:

“Properly speaking, mutual connotes interaction or recognition between two or more persons or things. The meaning ’shared in common’… is not now considered good usage.” (That sense of the word was popularized by the title of Charles Dickens’s novel Our Mutual Friend.)

Thus, the first sample sentence above is correct, but, judged by the rule just cited, the second one is questionable.

Another language authority is adamant that mutual should be used only to mean “reciprocal.” Instead of “mutual friend,” he advises us to write and say “friend in common.” But that locution strikes my ear as awkward and clunky.

Bernstein agrees: “Because a suitable substitute is lacking, the tendency these days is to accept the phrase mutual friend or mutual acquaintance.”

Although I tend to be a traditionalist on language matters, I can be flexible. We need not blindly follow linguistic rules if they don’t make sense. This is one such case. So my verdict is that both of the sample sentences at the beginning of this article pass muster.

[Ed Note: For more than three decades, Don Hauptman was an award-winning independent direct-response copywriter and creative consultant. He is author of The Versatile Freelancer, an e-book recently published by AWAI that shows writers and other creative professionals how to diversify their careers into speaking, consulting, training, and critiquing.]  

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Do you have a mortgage with a variable or high interest rate? If you do, it makes a lot of sense to refinance. Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages are currently only about 5 percent - and you want to lock in a low rate now, because inflation is on the horizon.

Inflation is coming due to the colossal amount of money that’s being created by the U.S. government to put toward the country’s economic problems. The country’s heavy debt load and deficit spending could also cause higher inflation. The government is on pace to spend $1.8 trillion more than it takes in this year, a record level of deficit spending. And the national debt is over $11 trillion.

Recently, the Fed has been cutting interest rates in an attempt to restart economic growth. But the Fed’s main job is to keep inflation at acceptable levels. So when inflation gets out of control (which it probably will when we finally emerge from this recession), they will have to increase interest rates. (You may remember that interest rates hit 18 percent in the 1970s under similar circumstances.)

Lock in that 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at today’s low 5 percent rate, before rates start to skyrocket. You’ll be glad you did.

[Ed. Note: Ted Peroulakis has dedicated his life to the study of finance, economics, and investments. You can read his take on the markets, natural resources, and more in ETR's sister publication, Investor's Daily Edge.

Meet Ted, as well as a half-dozen of the top minds in investment advising, in Miami in just a few days. Find out more about this exclusive financial conference here. ]

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