I had the chance to interview the founder and CEO of Richard Branson’s latest venture, Virgin Charter, Scott Duffy yesterday afternoon for I Am An Investor.com. One of the questions that I asked him was about getting started. Listen to what he has to say.
We spoke about Virgin Charter, the how and why of the opportunity they have, why it makes sense for people to use their services, and advice on how to invest in what is perhaps your own best investment, investing in yourself.
What Virgin Chart does in a nutshell is that it works with operators of private jets and and helps keep them filled with paying passengers. Quite often, a jet will take a people to their destination, and end up flying back to home base empty. So, rather than flying empty with no paying passengers, Virgin Charter lets people bid on these otherwise empty trips.
You can book jets like a Citation, Lear, Gulfstream and everything else in the modern jet fleet.
The jet operator receives basically found money and the new Virgin Charter customers get a great deal on travel. How is that for a win-win situation?
In a truly free capitalistic society, inefficiency usually gets solved by someone making a profit for solving it! –Andrew Anderson
This is a much more efficient use of resources don’t you think? You can also book a regular charter flight there as well. So if you have an aircraft or use charters, you should definitely look into what they have to offer.
Also, if you have never flown by private jet, there is nothing like it. It can literally save you a whole day when traveling. You are normally able to fly directly into smaller airports which are usually closer to your actual destination. There is no delay or hassle with running the security gauntlet while they pat down old ladies in wheelchairs and you don’t have to jostle for a cramped seat next to someone that has not discovered that new invention called deodorant.
You can actually get work done while flying. It is nice to arrive fresh and ready to go close that deal. If you ever want to make an impression with a potential client, have them pick you up at the airport as you step off your charter. They don’t have to know that it did not cost an arm and a leg, or better yet let them know that it didn’t. They will probably appreciate the tip the next time they travel and be impressed by your thrift and efficiency.
If you are traveling with a group of 8 to 10 people with your company, this can really be an economical way to travel, especially with last minute trips.
Here is the interview.
If you want to look at booking an empty leg, you can bid on them here.Next week, I will also look to post a conversation on what it is like to work with Richard Branson. It is sure to be interesting and informative. Enjoy!
March 12th . Added the other 5 Videos! These are worth thousands of dollars. This is the basics of what I go through with clients. These techniques are the how of why I can charge thousands of dollars for consultation with my clients. But like Jay, I do deliver or I don’t get paid. Enjoy!
OK, back with a vengeance. Had several clients and Musi that needed attention. The is the first of two videos by Jay Abraham. Savvy marketing guy for sure. Let me know what you think.
Opportunities abound in Chaos and Kevlar Umbrellas
If you listen to the news and I suggest that you don’t very often, you would think that the sky is falling with the economy. Well, parts of it actually are but it does not have to be so for you. I suggest that you think of yourself as the person selling Kevlar Umbrellas, like I do.
While you should be aware of economic trends such as the US dollar’s values falling like a rock with no end in site, it does open up opportunities.
I will give you just a couple of examples. As gas prices keep going up (and they will but more on that later) , it is going to make locally made products and services more competitive against those that are not local.
Do you have a product or service that can save people from driving for instance?
One of my Musi is one that does exactly that. www.888360Pixs.com . It is a service that provides pictures, virtual tours, and Videos of Real Estate, Boats, Cars and just about everything else.
Think about it. Why would you drive around wasting your time and gas looking at a house, a warehouse, office space or even a place to hold your friends wedding reception when you can go online and see if what you are looking at that fits your needs from the comfort of your own home or office in only two minutes? That answer is of course when given a choice you won’t which is why I am so excited about the growth potential of this Muse.
Do you have an idea that can save travel time, or money that can be turned into a Muse? If you do, your chances of success are good!
Gas prices are going to keep going up pretty much steadily for the next few years is my prediction right now. Even though this is an artifical shortage brought about in the US by overzealous politicians and environmentalists because we actually have enough Oil, Gas, and Coal reservers to last us for several hundred years. But as an example due to insane environmental rules and lawsuits, we have not had a new refinery built in the US for over “30” that is Thirty years! With the new clean technology we have, this is truly insane and perhaps when gas hits $4.00 a gallon people will see just how stupid and hurtful these policies really are and they will force the politicians to abandon these policies that are hurting everyone in the US and not really doing anything for the environment other than enriching a few politicians and environment movements pockets.
What can yo do with the dropping dollar? One thing is that you can effectively compete in foreign markets. I would much rather have a stronger dollar but, you make lemonade if you have a bunch of lemons. The dollar has dropped almost 40% against the Euro over the past decade making things in the US cheap for customers from Europe but not so the other way around.
Can your Muse sell its product or service in Europe or attract them to purchase here? I know that I actively market Real Estate here in the US to foreign buyers. Our Real Estate is dirt cheap compared to Europe and with the Canadian dollar worth more today that the US dollar, more Canadians can buy our “US bargains” too. As of today, 1 Canadian Dollar is worth 1.06 Us Dollars. For years, 1 US dollar was worth about 1.30 Canadian or as an example if a hamburger cost $2.00 here, it would only cost you $1.40 in Canada.
Let’s now touch upon a couple of other areas in the economy. You hear nothing but bad news about the housing markets. Having been involved in Real Estate since the early 80’s I have seen my share of cycles. Back then under the totally misguided interference of Jimmy Carter, inflation and interest rates were through the roof. With interest rates at 18% for a mortgage you would have thought that no one would have made any money in Real Estate or Business.
But they did! In down turns like that and the one we are now experiencing, there is more money to be made by the savvy Real Estate Investor armed with the right tools and knowledge in the next three years than what has been made in that last ten. But here again, it is not bad in all areas of the country. For the vast majority of people unless they happen to be in a big hurry to sell, you are going to be Ok in a couple of years.
There will be exceptions and I will just name a couple like Michigan and possibly Ohio where politicians have raised taxes to the point that there are scaring away businesses left and right, so property values may stagnate or go down for some time. Then you have areas like Florida, and Las Vegas where you had tons of speculation going on and you might see values continue to fall for several years yet. There were a lot of sheep piling into the pens thinking that they would never get full and they were of course wrong.
Florida has a bunch of whammies going against it including ever increasing taxes, insurance going through the roof, the threat of Hurricanes, a lot of crowding and lack of infrastructure. So, you will see a continued flight of people out of the state. And Las Vegas will eventually recover and stop losing value but the hangover is not over out there yet either.
But where there is chaos there is opportunity. Did you know that the Marriott fortune was started during the great depression which for the most part was again caused by government interference in the free market?
That same type if not to the same extent of interference is taking place today and again, opening up yet other opportunities.
When people can‘t afford their house payments because they failed to pay attention to the 2.5 trees that were used to produce the numerous warnings an other documents when they closed their house loan, they still need to live somewhere. This is why the demand for rentals is going to go up in many areas. That and the same goes for people forced out of homes that may even be paid for because of huge tax bills piled onto them by stupid politicians that don’t, nor care to understand basic economics.
Whatever the reason, you will also be able to purchase homes and commercial property at huge discounts for up to 30 or even 40%, or get owner financing at reasonable rates. Again for those investors that know how to do this, this is going to be a buying frenzy and thousands upon thousands of fortunes will be made in the next few years.
I love Real Estate…LOL
The point is not to let the doom and gloomers get your down or as I am fond of using Harv Eker’s term “Crap Magnets” about starting a Muse. Now is a GREAT time to do so.
This is because it is going to scare off a lot of your wimpy competition that lack a backbone, nerves, and the knowledge you need to compete. It will also force you to think out of the box. Plus, if you can succeed when there is a bit of a slow down, you can do quite well with your Muse.
Here a couple of things that you can do right now!
Instead of thinking defensively, how can you think offensively to promote your Muse or take advantage of economic factors?
Can you give away 100 samples of your product or service to people that can influence future sales rather than spending money on advertising? Even 10 or 20 might do the trick.
Have you looked up any trade associations or clubs that might let you make a presentation? If it is indeed new, there are a lot of organizations that would love to have you make a good, solid presentation about your Muse.
Can you hire commission only sales people to sell your product? They are essentially free in that you only pay them when they bring in money! I love these gals and guys! Yahooo….
A bit of advice, figure out what percentage you are going to pay them and make sure you can afford it and still be profitable and don’t change the rules if they blow out sales!
Do not get greedy and stupid at the same time. If you do, I hope you get two ingrown toenails for a year. But you are smart so that is not going to happen to you!
If you decide to give them 10% or 20% or even 40% of the sale and they sell the heck out of your Muse, be happy! Pay them the loot, they deserve it. So what if they make $300,000 off a million dollars worth of sales! That means they brought in $1,000,000 to you. Duhhh…
I have seen this happen though far too many times, OK let me be frank here, there is a word to describe people that do this and it is Moron. I have seen this happen with really good sales people and the owners start getting greedy and they start messing with their sales people pay. Dumb, dumb move on their part.
I know if I deal with a client that does this, I drop them. I don’t like hanging around stupid and greedy people.
If anything, if you have a great sales person that really helps you get your Muse off the ground, give them a bonus! Companies that take care of their sales people take care of themselves. It is that simple.
Where can you find a good sales person? Try Craig’s List or run and add in your local paper.
Do your numbers and make sure that you offer them the opportunity to make some good money if they produce. This will attract the best and the brightest and you will end up with people that can actually help you make it big! Get the right people and it can happen real quick too!
Right now I have two Sales positions open where the right person could quite easily make over $450,000 this year. That is a lot of money but guess what? I will be making quite a bit more than that and I bet we have a good chance of filling both slots soon! If you know of anyone, send them my way!
So, unless you Muse involves TV, don’t watch too much of it nor read the newspapers. Both are Muse killers. They take your mind off the prize which is to have a nice healthy Muse that will take care of you and your loved ones for the rest of your life and beyond.
Be thinking, how can I sell my product or service to foreign customers or take advantage of the current economic situation as it affects different parts of the economy?
There are tons of opportunities out there if you use your noodle. Get out there and get going! There is never a better time to start your Muse than right now.
Normally I don’t knock on people. Especially other writers, as I have said before I am kind of the Forest Gump of writers are far as that goes. But I just got done reading “Loral Langemeier’s new book “Cash Machine for Life and call me dense but I did not get it.
The cash drawers were empty. I tried, I really did but someone is going to have to explain it to me. What is the lesson that has not been done better 100 times before, the moral, the theme, the stuff I can do now, where is the beef? Truly, perhaps someone can explain it to me.
If you have not read it and want to, I will send you my only read once copy. It is yours on the condition that you explain it to me. I am sure she is a nice lady and she has a cool website but the info was just not there. And I was so looking forward to finding a gem. I hate when that happens…..
Anyway, as I find good mind feed books I will pass them on and let you know about the ones you should pass on as well.
How is your Muse doing? Would love to hear about it!
If you have never heard of the book “The Science of Getting Rich” you are in for a good and pleasant surprise. This is the book that”The Secret” is based upon. We have arranged for you to get it for FREE! We have complied it in an eBook format. If you have wanted to read it, now you don’t have to pay for it.
Simply CLICK HERE to down load it for free. Save it to your desktop or in a folder. After you get done reading it, we have included a “share with a friend” feature so that you can share it with others that want to get ahead in life.
As you may have figured out by now, Advertising, or Adverting (more on my definition later but basically what my definition of Adverting is as a direct conversion to sales from just one Advertisement impression) and Guerrilla Marketing techniques are two of my favorite subjects. In this day when everyone else is talking about paid ad words, pay-per-clicks, and click-throughs that for the most part don’t really work all that well, there are some wonderful alternatives.
Here is one that I have been using for years with great results. I stumbled upon these somewhat by accident many years ago and when I started studying the results, I was amazed. I was looking at a 300 to 400%better response rate dollar for dollar versus any other paid medium that I was advertising in!
I have kept this one under my vest until now. As a Member of The Muse Blueprint you are the first to hearabout this.
The powerhouse advertising alternative that I am speaking of is none other than the little old FREE newspaper that gets left on your doorstep, tossed in the yard, or hung on the mailbox.
These things really get read and they can produce huge results and there is not a lot of competitionin there either as hardly anyone knows how to use them correctly.
If you run an ad in your local one, which is still probably a good deal it will cost you around $25 dollars or so.But with The Muse Blueprint’s help, we can put them in a paper for just $1.25 .
These little Freebies get read far more often that the big newspapers as the large newspapers are losing readership fast and yet they are still charge very high rates. More on how to get around that later.
Would you believe that you can get a 25 word classified ad in front of about 13 Million people for right around $1,250. The cost per thousand or CPM rate is right at 10 cents! So, you end up paying 1/100 thof a penny per possible viewer? Pretty cool! You can even do just one zone for about $220 per ad.
Not only is this a great price but the demographics are very solid as well, unlike with pay-per-clicks. These are a great way to test you Muse. I am not saying you can’t use pay-per-clicks, but, you have to do so wisely.
Check out these awesome demographics for these newspapers!.
Over $100,000 = 30%
$75,000-$99,000 = 19%
$50,000-$74,999 = 24%
$35,000-$49,999 = 15%
Under $35,000 = 12%
Education
4-year college degree = 43%
Some college = 27%
High school graduate = 25%
No high school degree = 4%
Home Ownership
Own Residence = 83%
Rent Residence = 17%
Gender
Female = 51%
Male = 49% You can now place your ad in over 990 Newspapers with 1 order! Advertise to over 13 million households for less than $1.25 per newspaper!We can access an Advertising Network that consists of 995 suburban & community newspapers throughout the US & Canada. Community newspapers are the backbone of a community. They print stories and have information that can’t be found anywhere else.
Their readers are loyal, always excited to pick up the newspaper to see if they recognize anyone in the pictures, or the articles. To know what is going on in their town, the community newspaper is the source they turn to. With 1 call, and 1 payment, you can advertise in all of the 995 newspapers or advertise in a geographic zone. This saves time and money! When you book an ad with The Muse Blueprint your 25 word classified advertisement will be placed in the specified category the following week * (*due to some deadline restrictions, some papers may place the ad into the 2nd week following deadline).
You can also advertise in 4 different zones starting at just $220 per week! Click Here to view Map.
To run your add or if you have questions, please drop us a line by Clicking Here .
What are you looking for in a business blog? I mean what is going to draw your attention to actually click on a story and take the most valuable thing you have i.e. time and spend it to hopefully read something that will help your business if you have one, how to start one if you don‘t have one, or how to help you with your JOB? Wouldn’t you like to find out?
The reason I am asking this question is because unlike the other bazillion business Schmoorus out there that seem to know everything, I have yet to find “The” answer for this one or even half a dozen answers that actually seem right. Wouldn’t it be great to not have to sort through all of the BS that is out there?
I realize that the questions are going to be different for everyone depending on where they are in their business or JOB life but I really do want to know what you as the above average Joe or Joette is looking for as far as burning questions that you want answered to help you move ahead. There has to be at least 7 basic questions that most people have that can really help don’t you think?
Is it a question on Marketing, the Internet, Financing, Getting Started, How To Find a Niche, or even Specific Software that is needed. Are there 7 basic questions like that? I aim to find out.
So, going back to what seems like one of the most uncommon commodities that exists today, I thought that I might use common sense to find out and just ask you.
What I am going to do with your help is to have “You” tell me what questions you would like answered and I will pick the top 7 questions that you submit and then myself and a couple of my staff will dig up the best answers out there and then repost the questions with the answers that we have found and see how they jive with your questions and see if they really satisfy your questions.
I am firm believer unlike a lot of relativism out there these days that there are wrong and right answers to most business questions.
For instance, if you have a million dollars to invest in Real Estate and want to make another million in two or three years, there is a right, and a wrong way to do that. If you know the right way, it is actually pretty easy. If you do not know the right way, you might kiss the million goodbye.
Do you want to start your own real business from home for less than $500 and make $1,000 extra a month? One that is not MLM or involve training five monkeys and twirling a baton? There is a basic right and a wrong way to do that too.
The first part of the answer to both questions is self-education and self-reliance. While this may seem like an obvious answer, it is often overlooked as it seems too basic, but it is not.
My philosophy in all of my successful business adventures has been make sure that you not only do your due diligence and hire the best people possible if you need to but, always do enough research on your own so you understand the process of what is going on so you don’t get ripped off.
This brings me back to the point of this post in the first place. What questions do you have that are keeping you from your business being more profitable, starting your own business (aka a Muse) , or be how to be more successful at your JOB?
Perhaps I need to break it up into categories and will do so if need be but I do not want this to turn into a tome either.
I really appreciate you help. Please note I am not selling a damn thing here. I just need to scratch this itch of a question that has been bugging me for a few days now so I figured why not scratch it and help people at the same time?
Thanks for you help! I will repost as soon as I get enough questions.
Fun filled action packed week so far. Hope this finds you doing well. I have 2 1/2 more F Word (that is FREE) products for you.
Here is 1 ½ - If you ever have to transfer huge, big honking, humongous files, here is a Free place to do it.
CLICK HERE . It is called Transfer Big Files of all things. They also have a sister site (hence the ½) for sharing photos which you can see by CLICKING HERE. By far the best sites available in my humble opinion for each category.
Ok, here is another one that came up because one of my clients asked me about a product that was being sold for $497 (Arghhh) that shows you how to use Videos on your blog, specifically your WordPress blog (which maybe on it‘s way out by the way) . More power to the guy, but here is the F word software that I think he is using as a base for his system. CLICK HERE to take a look at it You can also just insert an iFrame and accomplish the same thing or upload your video to YouTube and past the link in..duhhhh. But then again, maybe not so duhhh. If you are a newbee, I guess you won’t know these things….hmmm Need to remember that more….
The software is called PodPress. The reason I say that WordPress is on its way out as there is some pretty other cool software that I believe is going to knock it out soon. But, they might pull it out if there new release is up to snuff.
You should also have your Blog integrated into your site. We are doing that with all of our new site installs and you can have a whole site for less than what he charges for the software! LOL More power to him if he can sell it. I just hate to see people throw away money like that.
Hope you have a great weekend and happy Musings! Look for more goodies soon from The Muse Blueprint!
JFA
PS Click on the arrow button to play! This took about 45 seconds to imbed. This is the quick and dirty way to do this by the way. You can have a nice frame and everything if you take about 2 minutes. I will post some videos on how to accomplish this in The Muse Blueprint and here…of course they will be the F word. PSS If you use or have a nifty F word product, I would love to hear about it and I will pass it on. Copious attribution will be given of course..
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^ By the way..the software that I am Demo ing here is only $9.99. Yep less than 10 Bucks.
Watch the video to see what it can do then Click Here to find out more!
After much ado and behind the scenes work, the new site is up and running for The Muse Blueprint. We have gotten slammed with so much new work, it has taken a few more weeks to get her there, but what a wonderful reason for the delay. Still have a ton of content to move but she is is there.
Also, we are looking are showing you how to get Free Publicity for your Muse. Check out the site for more details.
Thanks for dropping by and I hope you enjoy your visit! This is where I have part of my fun and Frolick. The Muse Blueprint is my Muse and it was created to give me the time and money to enjoy my very own 4 Hour Workweek, while at the same time help others to create their own Muse so they to can have a 4 Hour Workweek too!
I had the chance to interview the founder and CEO of Richard Branson’s latest venture, Virgin Charter, Scott Duffy yesterday afternoon for I Am An Investor.com. One of the questions that I asked him was about getting started. Listen to what he has to say.
If you listen to the news and I suggest that you don’t very often, you would think that the sky is falling with the economy. Well, parts of it actually are but it does not have to be so for you. I suggest that you think of yourself as the person selling Kevlar Umbrellas, like I do.
If you have never heard of the book “The Science of Getting Rich” you are in for a good and pleasant surprise. This is the book that”The Secret” is based upon. We have arranged for you to get it for FREE! We have complied it in an eBook format. If you have wanted to read it, now you don’t have to pay for it.
This took about 45 seconds to imbed. This is the quick and dirty way to do this by the way. You can have a nice frame and everything if you take about 2 minutes. I will post some videos on how to accomplish this in The Muse Blueprint and here…of course they will be the F word. 