"Helping Your Business Fly"
Issue 18

IN THIS ISSUE:

   1. FLIGHT LINES: Nothing more friendly than two
   2. WING TIPS: MS Office Tips
   3. FEATURE ARTICLE: The Strange Story.....
   4. ALTER EAGLE: AnyBrowser.com for your website
   5. EAGLE'S TALON: Opera 6.0 FREE Browser
   6. FROM THE BENCH: "Here a Router, There a Router"
   7. EYE OF THE EAGLE: What is black when you buy it...
   8. CONTACT THE FLYER: Send questions, comments and articles

1) ======= Flight Lines =======
[Observations on business and life]

Nothing is there more friendly to a man than a friend in need.
-- Plautus (c. 254–184 B.C. - Epidicus. Act iii. Sc. 3, 44)

It's so much more friendly with two.
Piglet, Pooh's Little Instruction Book
-- inspired by A. A. Milne

Be a friend to your customers. They deserve nothing less,
and will reward you with their loyalty.

2) ======= Wing Tips =======
[A variety of business helps and tips]

Office Date and Time

In an office document, when you want to insert the
date and time, and wish for them to remain the same,
from one day to the next, do the following:

On the toolbar, from the Insert menu, select Date & Time
Select a format and click O.K.

If you would like the date to be updated each time you
open the document, follow the same process, but select
"Update Automatically" before clicking O.K.

3) ======= Feature Article =======

Are you having trouble selling your product or service?
Are you feeling like the chaotic state of the world
prevents you from succeeding? Are you wondering how you can
increase your sales in the most cost effective ways? Are you
feeling like your competition is breathing down your neck?

Many of my clients feel the same way. They want to succeed,
to make a nice living in their business, but they feel
overwhelmed, uncertain, and even despondent. They feel they
have too much competition. They feel marketing doesn't work,
or takes too much work. They feel people don't have enough
money today to spend on what they are selling.

And that's why I think it's time to reveal the strange story
of the long forgotten "crackpot" mail-order prophet.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s the average person
didn't have enough money to feed themselves or their family,
let alone enough extra cash to order books through the mail.
Yet during those lean years one man made a fortune selling
books and courses entirely by mail. His name was Frank B.
Robinson. He founded "Psychiana," the world's eighth largest
religion and the world's largest mail-order religion.

You may never have heard of him or his movement before today.
But during the 1930s and 40s, Robinson's name traveled
around the world. Millions of people read his books, studied
his lessons, and practiced his methods. The press called his
positive thinking, new thought religion a "media business"
because Robinson advertised so heavily.

In 1928 Robinson wrote an ad for his new philosophy that
began with the headline, "I TALKED WITH GOD." An advertising
agency in Spokane, Washington said the ad would never work.
But Frank believed in his message and trusted his hunches.
He borrowed $2,500 from people he barely knew, spent most of
it on printing his lessons, and invested $400 to place his
ad in "Psychology Magazine."

That ad pulled 5,300 responses. Robinson ran it in numerous
magazines and it always pulled a 3% to 21% response. Within
a year he had a full-time job fulfilling requests for his
books and lessons, soon shipping a million pieces of mail a
year out of his office in Moscow, Idaho. The post office in
that little town had to move into a bigger building to handle
all the mail.

Robinson's ads appeared in 140 newspapers, 180 magazines,
and on 60 radio stations, all at the same time. His postal
bill in 1938 amounted to $16,000 and his printing bill hit
$40,000. He received 60,000 pieces of mail a day, reached
more than two million people, and sent his message to 67
countries---all within one year of running his first ad.

"Advertising is educating the public to who you are, where
you are, and what service you have to offer," Robinson wrote.
"The only man or organization who should not advertise is
the one who has nothing to offer."

What can we learn from Frank B. Robinson?

1. He believed in his product. When you don't believe in
what you are trying to sell, it shows. It'll show in your
lack of commitment to your marketing, in poor advertising,
in poor service, or in other ways. As I mention in my book,
The Seven Lost Secrets of Success, sincerity is one of the
"lost secrets" to success. Robinson had sincerity. While his
movement made tons of money, Robinson accepted only $9,000
a year as his salary. Whether you call him a crackpot or a
savior, he believed in his product. He knew he had something
people wanted. In fact, Robinson sold his religious lessons
with a money-back guarantee.

2. He advertised relentlessly. If you don't tell people that
you exist, they won't know it. The reason you aren't aware
of Robinson or his movement today is because he's dead.
(He died in 1948). No one is advertising his message. Without
consistent and persistent advertising to educate the public,
the world won't know of your business.

3. He tracked his results. Robinson believed in the
spiritual world, but he also knew he lived on the earth
plane where numbers matter. He tracked responses from his
ads to know what worked and what didn't. For example,
astrology magazines brought him an 18% response to his
ads while national weekly papers brought 3%. Knowing that,
Robinson could invest more money in larger ads in the better
pulling magazines. Find out where your business comes from
and focus more advertising in that area.

4. He continued to create products. Robinson knew once
people tasted his goods, they would want more. He wrote
28 books during his short lifetime. These, along with his
correspondence courses, gave him a deep product line. Your
current satisfied customers will always be your goldmine.
Create more for them to buy.

5. He remained optimistic. Despite the harsh reality of
the Great Depression years, and despite competition from
religious institutions that had been around for centuries,
Robinson flourished. He didn't believe anyone or anything
could stop him. When you have that strong of an inner
conviction, nothing CAN stop you. If you think you have
competition with a similar business in the same town,
consider what it must have been like for Robinson to have
such empires as the Catholic Church, the US government, and
famous ministers and politicians trying to close him down!

Whatever you may think of Robinson or "Psychiana," you have
to admit he knew how to advertise his business.

"After all, it's the results in human lives that count," he
wrote in his 1941 book, The Strange Autobiography of Frank B.
Robinson. "Talk is cheap."

What are you going to do now to increase your business?
Remember, talk is cheap!

- Joe Vitale is widely recognized by many as the greatest
copywriter in America. Can you beat him? Try out the "World's
Shortest Advertising IQ Test" and see how you stack up:
http://www.roibot.com/r_crt.cgi?R19350_crtarttext1

4) ======= Alter Eagle =======
[Products and services that we recommend]

AnyBrowser.com

Talk about a powerful site! If you ever do your own
website design and / or maintenance, or if you just
want to check up on the people that do, this site
is a must.

At AnyBrowser.com, you will find a full listing of
resources and FREE tools to help design your site
or to give it a tune-up.

- Check your site at different screen resolutions
- Test your web pages to eliminate dead links
- Make sure your site is ready for the search engines
- Find out what "Meta Tags" are all about
- Verify that your HTML code is valid in many browsers
- and much more

Don't know anything about website design, but need to
take care of your own site? No problem - they even have
several tutorials online. Definitely worth a look!

Visit: http://www.anybrowser.com/

5) ======= Eagle's Talon =======
[Tools to help you "get a grip" on things]

Opera 6.0 [Freeware]
BeOS/Linux-Solaris/Mac/OS2/QNX/Symbian OS/Windows

Opera 6 beta 1 - Freeware

If you aren't familiar with Opera, you might want to
check out this newest version. Opera, long known for
its small size and quick execution, has been greatly
improved and is packed with new features.

This new version appears to be more full-featured than
even Internet Explorer!

Some of the features include:

- Select single window or multi-window view
- Built in download manager
- Print previewer
- ICQ client included
- New improved email and news reader
- Very fast and stable

The free package does include banner ads, but for $39.00
you can register the program, and eliminate the ads.
So, if you are looking for a change from Internet Explorer
or Netscape, visit the Opera website below.

Website: http://www.opera.com/

Download page: http://www.opera.com/download/

6) ======= From the Bench =======
[Real-life accounts of hardware, software and more]

"Here a Router, There a Router"
By Ralph Moore

1) What's a router?
If you're thinking, "Hey, I've got one of those in my wood
shop!", remember we're talking computer networks here.
A router is a hardware device that allows the computers on
your network to talk to the systems on another network.
It also gives you some measure of intelligence and control.

Just as a school crossing guard controls the flow of people
and vehicles, a router controls the flow of information, so
that everything goes where it needs to, safely and quickly.

2) Why do I need one?
If your business is like most, you are finding the need to
move increasing amounts of email, web pages, documents,
graphic images, and other business files to your associates
and customers.  And you probably use the internet most of
the time to do this.

You, or one of your employees may also need to log onto your
network, while on a business trip, or from home, to retrieve
an important file. And since you might not want someone like
"Darth Vader" wandering around your network, a router is the
logical choice to allow needed access while providing much
needed security controls at the same time.

3) What should I look for in a router?
In the first place, your router must be able to connect
between the Internet access device, usually a cable or xDSL,
or faster, modem, and your network interface, which is
usually an "ethernet", or "fast ethernet" connection.
(This looks like a telephone jack or plug, only bigger.)

Next, your router should support "DHCP", which assigns a
number to each computer on your network, and makes sure
traffic is "routed" correctly, hence the name.

Your router needs to allow all of the various internet
protocols such as HTML, FTP, etc., as well as any relevant
Internet programs, like your browser, to work with the
systems on your network.

Finally, your router should serve as a "firewall" to control
access from the outside world into your network, keeping
the "bad guys" out, while letting the "good guys" in.

4) Where can I get one?
You should be able to find a router at your local computer
dealer, online, or at an electronics or office supply store.

5) Can I install it myself?
Hey, if you can program a VCR, you might just be able to
get a router up and running, and save yourself some money
in the process. If, on the other hand, the thought of
setting up computer hardware makes you cringe, then call
a network professional to help you.

Some of the newer hardware can be set up using a standard
web browser. One such router is from LinkSys. They have
a variety of routers, one of which I use and recommend.
Watch for a review of their BEFSR41 in a future issue.

In today's networked world, no small business can afford to
be without the control, security and efficiency of a router.

Ralph Moore is the editor of the FREE Eagle Flyer Newsletter,
which offers "How To Technology and Tips That Can Multiply
Your Business Online". To subscribe to the Eagle Flyer and
receive a FREE report, visit: http://www.eagleflyer.com/

7) ======= Eye of the Eagle =======
[Ideas to help you think creatively]

What is black when you buy it, red when you use it,
and gray when you are finished with it?

(Answer in the next issue of the Flyer)

***
Answer to Last Month's Puzzler...

[A hunter leaves his camp and travels one mile due south.
Spotting a bear, he follows the animal one mile east, but
loses sight of his prey, and decides to return to camp.
After traveling another mile, directly north, he is back
where he started.

What color was the bear.]

White - It was a Polar bear. The only place you can follow
the hunter's path, and end up back in camp is at the North
Pole.

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Registered with the Library of Congress. ISSN: 1535-8429
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