With all this talk about the rising cost of health care, it’s sometimes hard to know what to look for when you’re planning to go out on your own. Unfortunately, my wife was pregnant when I decided to flush my job, so I had no choice but to go with the COBRA plan offered by my former employer (don’t get me wrong, I’m FIRED UP about having a baby. I think the insurance has been about the Only negative so far). It wasn’t so bad until the company was sold and my premium went from about $400 a month to over $1000!

Post Birth Plans

When the baby is born, I plan to switch insurance companies because I am paying way too much. I think I will go with a high deductible HSA. This option has me paying everything up to $5000 per year and everything after that is covered 100%. Sounds like a lot, you might say. But, It’s about $450 less per month and if I put that $450 in the bank, I’ll have $5400 in savings at the end of the year.

Then, if I have to, I’ll use the $5000 and have $400 left over. Or, if I don’t use the $5400, it Rolls Over to next year! Eventually the money can be moved to an IRA or any other number of investment vehicles.

Other Insurance

I subscribe to the Dave Ramsey philosophy that it is irresponsible to go without life insurance and disability insurance if you have a family or any other financial obligations. They depend on you financially and it’s your job to make sure they’re taken care of no matter what the situation is. You can get no exam life insurance up to $500K for as little as $30 a month.

If you spend a little time shopping around and comparing, you’ll be able to save a good bit of money on any insurance you get from car, home, life, disability, and all the others.

Did You Like This Post? Subcribe Here!

Ask any successful sales person why people DON’T SUCCEED in sales, and they’ll all tell you the same thing: Cold Calling. So, if cold calling is the reason people fail, shouldn’t we do everything we can to make sure we master it? And shouldn’t we do everything we can to make sure we enjoy it? YES! If you plan to make it big in sales, regardless or your chosen product or service, cold calling will be a big part of your life (for a while at least). Let’s Make It Fun!

How to Make Sure You Hate It

I would say that there is one way to guarantee that you will hate every minute of your cold calling career…Focus on your fear and procrastinate your preparation. Do this, and I promise you will abhor every cold call you make. These two things go hand in hand because as you procrastinate, your lack of preparation leads to fear of objections, rejections, and failure, which makes it harder to take the necessary steps to prepare next time. It’s a vicious cycle, that without a constant, conscious effort, is inevitable.

On the flip side, if you are very well prepared and keep your fear in check, you will be well on your way to success. It’s my belief that no matter how bad you are (to a point) you can be successful in sales if you put in the work and go through the numbers. Of course, it helps to be a people person, outgoing, energetic, friendly, smart, knowledgeable, and have all the “closing techniques” in your bag, but those are traits you learn, not something you’re born with.

Your Best Bet for Cold Calling Success

I would bet that if you gave yourself 1 full week to focus on the 3 basics I am about to give you, you’ll see a drastic improvement in your cold calling stats.

1. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare.

Know your products front and back - Know the market you’re selling in - Know your competitors! - Know your prospect (a little homework will do wonders. If you know you’ve got an Atlanta boy on the phone, a little Mike Vick joke would do just fine)

Do this and you don’t have to worry about them asking the tough questions or drilling you like a CIA interrogator. You’ll be ready for it all.

2. Plan Your Purpose.

Pick up the phone with a stated purpose. Are you trying to make the sale on the first call? Are you trying to spend 30 minutes doing a demo with an “information gatherer” (someone who can ONLY say “NO”)? Or are you trying to book a face to face with the decision maker?

Don’t stray from your plan because someone is willing to listen to your Spiel.

3. Don’t Take It Personal!

I will allow you to take it personal if you can honestly tell me that you have NEVER been rude to a salesman on the phone. OK, I didn’t think so…Everyone does it and every salesman hears it.

“We don’t need it” - click

“No Budget” - click

“He doesn’t take calls” - click

click

Most people you call think they are the most busy, the most stressed, and the most important person in the world. If you realize that and give them some room to make mistakes (we’re all human), your cold calling life will be much easier!

Related Readings

Quality Begets Quantity - And How Not To Make A Cold Call
How to Turn Your Connections Into Friends, Partners, and Customers for life
Donald Trump On Focus (video)
An Entrepreneur’s Secret To Stress Management

Did You Like This Post? Subcribe Here!

Broadband

Everyone gets on the internet, and if you’re not, you’re wasting valuable time. With everything from paying bills to buying stocks, and ordering pizza to checking the weather, you can save lots of time if you have a broadband connection. Plus, we all know how annoying it is to sit down at the computer and wait and wait and wait and wait for the little blue bar to go crawling across the screen just to see some sort of error message that makes you have to start all over again.

BT Total Broadband is the UK’s most complete broadband and includes:

1. Free wireless BT Home Hub
2. Up to 8Mb download speeds
3. Wireless broadband out & about
4. UK Evening & Weekend calls included
5. 24/7 Support

When it comes to price, you have a couple options. Depending on which tier you decide upon, you get wireless, fast, and reliable broadband service, starting at less than the cost of a cheap dinner. Either way, your order comes with a free hub if you order before February 29th. That’s not all they have, either. With BT, you can get Phone service, mobile phone service, and TV as well!

Did You Like This Post? Subcribe Here!

Books Books Books!

I know that I’m always looking for good books to read and I really like to get a few recommendations before I pour 10 or 15 hours into something that may or may not turn out to be a huge waste of my time. That being said, I’d like to offer some recommendations in the form of my current reading list.

1. The Sales Bible by Jeffrey Gitomer

Gitomer, a former salesman who is now a consultant and journalist, shares his tips on how to be a successful salesperson. He provides motivational advice and practical techniques for initiating, maintaining, and closing a sales presentation. Written in a breezy manner with short, easy-to-remember suggestions, this book should prove popular with persons just getting started in this field or those needing an inspirational pep talk. I, for one, think this is one of the most practical books on sales that I have ever read.

2. How Full Is Your Bucket? by Tom Rath & Donald O. Clifton

I read this one in a single sitting during a recent business trip in which I had about 2 hours to kill. It happened to be -3 degrees, so I decided to hunker down in Borders. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down. It’s not a terribly long book, but it’s filled with the positive idea of give-and-take that will lead to a better marriage, better relationships both professionally and privately, and easier life, and more satisfaction for everyone involved. I say it is very worth your time to pick this one up.

3. Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains by Jon Krakauer

Written by Jon Krakauer of “Into Thin Air” fame writes of the harrowing events of some 15 of the worlds best mountain climbers as they take on the worlds tallest peaks. Not once in this book will you be bored or hoping to get a chapter over with. Halfway through you will acquire a new appreciation for your fingers, toes, and the fact that you still have a nose, because many of the main characters lose theirs. This is the ultimate for the Armchair Adventurer, because you feel like you’re right there with them. Luckily, you’re not.

The Benefits of Reading

I have always heard that where you will be in 5 years is based upon the books you read and people you associate with, so grab these books enhance your life!

Did You Like This Post? Subcribe Here!

What I’ve Discovered -

I began my writing career with the idea of creating as much content as possible. I didn’t want to leave anything unwritten or anything unsaid. In recent month, as I have gotten more busy with my new business, new dog, and upcoming new baby, my pace has slowed and I began to focus on creating more quality content, just less of it.

What I’ve discovered is that as my quantity goes down, the quality of my best work goes down with it. When I write ONLY when I know I’m creating great work, I find myself less creative and less motivated overall when it comes to new post, new idea, and new work. So I’ll be writing a lot more, posting my best work, and keeping my writing that doesn’t make the site in an archive to access later if I need some new inspiration. Maybe I’ll be able to write better when taking a second look at an idea.

New Directions -

TheYoungCapitalist.com has a new direction, and that is “Sales Tips, Reviews, and Small Business Life.” You’ll get one column per week in the Sales School, where I will be writing about my experience with sales and what I’ve learned that has allowed me to start and successfully run a manufacturer’s rep company.

In the “Reviews” section, I’ll be conducting thorough reviews of books, other blogs, and some of the products that are of interest to my readers.

“Small Business Life,” as you can imagine, is my spot to ramble. You’ll hear about the cigar I had today and what my dog did when I was on a conference call, the things I’m learning about how to run a business out of your house as I’m learning them, and everything else that goes along with Small business life.

New Ways To Read -

You can, of course, subscribe to my RSS Feed, as always, but now I have added an RSS by Email. In addition to these, you now have the option of subscribing to each individual category. You may not like to listen to me ramble about my dog peeing on my carpet, but you would like to hear what I have to say on sales…or vice versa.

Sales School RSS

Reviews RSS

Small Business Life RSS

New Design -

As you can see, or not if you’re a first timer, I’ve done a complete redesign from a boring old free template to what I have today. I’ve had tons of functionality added to my blog and the ability to provide my visitors with more value. I am most definitely not “web-savvy” per se, but I’ve FINALLY gotten my Google Analytic and Google Adsense plugins to work (I had a “cannot load Adsense-Deluxe.php error message, so I was lost). Last, but not least, I will be adding video to the site and it will be updated with the best of the ‘net’s business videos. I might throw My Chemical Romance or Guns ‘N’ Roses in there every now again!

Did You Like This Post? Subcribe Here!

“A Party Store at your door,” and that’s a great thing when you have lots of kids. with over 60,000 discount party supplies, they are your resource for catering supplies, birthday party supplies, luau parties and seasonal and holiday parties. Their party supply site offers the widest selection on the web at discount and bulk case lot prices. Check out party supplies!

They have affiliate opportunities, link programs, wholesale, party ideas, party directories, and a glossary of terms for those who have never partied. Their 60K items are broken up into nine separate and unique, color coded warehouses. The green warehouse has everything from 1st birthday items to a 50’s theme and everything in between including beads, cake decor, candy, candles, floral designs, Halloween, webkinz, new years, life size standups, Mardi Gras, western, wedding, tattoos, catering, and retirement.

From there, you have a red warehouse, a platinum warehouse, a gold warehouse, a lavender warehouse, an orange warehouse, a blue warehouse, and a yellow warehouse. All of the party supplies on the site are top quality and at a great price. You get free shipping with orders over $50.00.

They also have a Direct Buy party supply site index, which allows you to buy party supplies by the case. Save up to 70% on purchases from our direct buy party supply site options! Their sites are color coded and will change colors as you transition from sites. The shopping cart will tally all sites in to one cart for your review. Shop the party supply site index….and enjoy the savings from the Internet’s number one party supply store!

I’ve got a bit of a story that will frustrate just about the most laid back person there is. My Secret to Stress Management is at the bottom, but don’t peek.

‘Round about 3:30 today, my email stops working. Incoming email works fine, but I can’t send anything. At this point, my email can wait and I have other things to do, so I put it off until about 5:30. I would say I am semi-computer literate, so I went into my account settings to make sure all the mail server information was correct, which it was, so I called BellSouth.
‘Round about 3:30 today, my email stops working. Incoming email works fine, but I can’t send anything. At this point, my email can wait and I have other things to do, so I put it off until about 5:30. I would say I am semi-computer literate, so I went into my account settings to make sure all the mail server information was correct, which it was, so I called BellSouth.

Achmar picked up. I explained the situation, and after 15 minutes of having no idea what he is trying to say except “thank you for that information Mr. Graham,’ more times than you can imagine, which happens to be the most annoying phrase in the Indian accent, he lets me know that if I want to use an email address that is anything other than bellsouth.net that it won’t work anyway so I shouldn’t try. That’s funny, I’ve been using my visionmarketdevelopment.com email address for weeks just fine.

So I call Register.com. Angela D. answers! SHE SPEAKS ENGLISH CORRECTLY!! YAY!! Unfortunately, she lets me know that “sometimes BellSouth blocks the register.com email servers so that you have to use theirs.” This seemed super-duper odd, but she’s in the industry so I figure she knows. I must call BellSouth again and get their outgoing mail server to put in Outlook instead of the register.com outgoing mail server. This should fix the problem.

SURPRISE! This doesn’t fix the problem. So I ask the guy at BellSouth what I should do. He says, “why don’t you just use the bellsouth.net email?”

“Are you kidding?”

“It is very good email.”

“but bellsouth is not the name of my company.”

“yes, we are bellsouth.”

“I’m painfully aware. I don’t want to use a bellsouth.net email address.”

“Why not?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Well if you use bellsouth.net email, it should work.”

“But I want my other email address to work. How do we make that happen.”

We spend the next 30 minutes are so doing things that I have already done until he finally decides that it is not an issue with BellSouth, but an issue with Register.com and I’ll need to call them back. Next, I get Sparky, the 19 year old new hire in the register.com helpdesk.

I explain the situation to Sparky and he asks if I typed my password in. “For Joy!! THE PASSWORD! How could I forget?” Of course it’s not the password. My email was working at 3pm and then wasn’t working at 3:30. You think my password left the country, Sparky? Ridiculous. So he puts me on hold and when he comes back, he says that he talked to his supervision who says it is an issue with my POP3 settings, but he can’t go over that with me on the phone. He’ll have to email it to me. I thought I had done all that, but let’s find out.

Turns out that I had already done EVERYTHING in that email multiple times.

So I call back and the next guy I get says, “Oh yeah, one of our mail servers lost power. It should be back up within the hour.”

How is this not the FIRST thing I was told??

Anyway, The Secret to Stress Management is…”Who Cares. If it won’t matter in 5 years, it doesn’t matter now.”

Did You Like This Post? Subcribe Here!

There are 1,000,000 things that will give you cancer, 1,000,000 that will increase your blood pressure, 1,000,000 that will deform your babies before they are born, and 1,000,000 that will lead to any number of catastrophes.

About a year ago, anyone would tell you that the experts say you are not to eat fish when you are pregnant. Now you are supposed to have at least 12 oz. of fish per week when you are pregnant.

Wine goes from good to bad, good to bad, good to bad. One day you’re supposed to drink no alcohol for fear of liver failure, and the next day you are instructed to have 2 glasses of red wine per week to combat heart disease!

None the less, people continue to listen to the “expert” in any field and they pay good money to do it. What does this mean for an entrepreneur? Could it be that being an “expert” would lead to increased income, opportunities, and privileges? I believe that is Exactly what it means.

This raises the questions, “How do you become and Expert in your field?” Tim Ferriss has a great formula.

1. Join 2-3 Related Trade Organizations - This should cost no more than about $50 each plus a yearly renewal.

2. Read the Top 3 Books in the Field - Chances are, you can find them at the library, so this is free!

3. Offer to Write Articles for a Trade Organization - Generally, you can just offer and they will accept. On occasion, you will have to do steps 4 and 5 before your articles will be accepted.

4. Give 2 Free Seminars to Large Companies - In Atlanta, we have Wachovia, Home Depot, CNN, Turner, etc. etc. Pick an organization in your city and contact HR. If you tell them you’d like to hold a free “Stress Relief Seminar” for some of their employees, they will jump at the chance as long as you are not selling anything.

5. Give 1 Free Seminar at Well-known University - Again, they will jump at the chance as long as you let them know you are not selling anything.

These 5 techniques will give your “Bio” a jump start and allow you to stand on your past achievements to push you forward. None of these will be paid gigs, in fact you will have to pay for some of them, but think about this…

“your name” is an expert in the field of “your field,” a writer for “your trade organization,” and speaker with engagements at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Wachovia Bank, and Turner Broadcasting, among many others.

Tell me that doesn’t sound better than “Graham Lutz started a business one time…”

Here’s my question for you…“Will you do it?”

Do you know How old you will be if you spend the next year becoming an Expert in your field?

The Same age as if you DIDN’T spend the next year becoming and Expert in your field.

Did You Like This Post? Subcribe Here!

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post for Jarkko Laine entitled Product of Your Environment. I wanted to follow that up with a few more thoughts. Coming out of the Catalyst Conference over the weekend, and having our first doctor’s appointment for my pregnant wife, I’m feeling very responsible for the success of my family and business, even more so than usual. This idea of being a product of your environment has never been more real than it is now, as I am working on creating the environment into which my child will be born.

Andy Stanley, the pastor at North Point Community Church, leadership author and mentor, spoke at the catalyst conference with a topic very close the mine today. He says that “systems create behaviors,” and not the other way around. He tells the story of his two teenage sons whose job it is to take out the trash. Every Tuesday evening, he gets home to find the trash is not out, so he asks his sons once and they say “yeah, yeah, we’ll get it,” but nothing gets done. He asks again, garnering the same response. Then he begins to get angry and they get the message and take out the trash. He created a system that says, “you really only have to take the trash out once I get mad.”

So, finally Andy decides to change this systems so as to change the behavior. The next Tuesday, he gets home and takes out the trash. The boys are ecstatic! “Thanks, dad!”

No problem,” Andy replied, “but now I get your allowance.”

The next Tuesday, The trash is at the curb when he gets home from work.

Some say if you want it done right you have to do it yourself. I say, “if you want it done right, create systems that encourage doing it right!” I believe that this works on a personal scale as well. For instance, those of you working from home know that it is very easy to get caught up in anything but work from time to time. So you must create systems that encourage you to get the job done. I use Salesforce.com for my CRM system, and all the tasks turn red if I don’t get to them that day.

Granted, red letters are not the end of the world, but it is nice to see that you’ve gotten it all done and when you wake up on Monday, you have no red.

Did You Like This Post? Subcribe Here!

So It’s been a few weeks since I have written anything at TheYoungCapitalist.com, but for good reason. First of all, I hope you all saw my inaugural post as a Small Biz Expert over at Small Business Trends. Turns out, it was pretty popular! I think the idea of Time as Currency is really beginning to catch on in all generations, not just the youngins’.

OK…It’s a Friday about halfway through September. I’m sitting at my desk at my job (with a soft “j”), thinking about this balance between time and money. When my paycheck arrives, it is $1200 short and this is the last of a long line of injustices my boss had brought upon me, including but not limited to phone calls when I was 4 minutes “late” (it was an all commission sales position), phone calls when I left 5 minutes “early”, meetings to discuss whether or not I wanted to be there, and constant emails reminding me of the office dress code and business hours.

The $1200 was all it took for me to decided that I was done with that job. I had already started Vision Market Development about a month prior, so I took the leap and I am now full time self-employed! It’s fantastic. We weren’t going to have much money for the next few months as I was getting my business up and running, but we had gone without money before, and we could do it again. I didn’t think it would be much of a problem…that is, until my wife told me she was pregnant the next day!!!

Yes Yes, you heard it! There will be a new Young Capitalist in the house! Pictures will come in May. I’m so excited, I can’t even begin to explain. So needless to say, I’ve a bit of a roller coaster of a month but I’m settled in to my new schedule and back in business. Apart from the carpel tunnel, working from home is amazing!!

Did You Like This Post? Subcribe Here!