Author Archives: admin

The Truth About Snake Oil

Thanks to Hollywood, most people know what you’re talking about when you describe someone a ‘Snake Oil Salesman’. It’s a derogatory term used to describe someone employing dubious techniques to sell a product which doesn’t work. Interestingly though, the original snake oil actually worked! 

In the 1860’s Chinese labourers brought in to build the Transcontinental Railroad, brought with them an oil derived from the Chinese Water snake which was used to relieve aching and tired muscles. They shared it with fellow workers who found it beneficial. This was great for them, but not so good for the men who made their living by travelling and selling proprietary medicines.

To protect their business, they ridiculed the natural remedy and then started calling any ‘cure all’ remedies, snake oil. The snake oil salesman became a term used to describe anyone selling non-mainstream health products, and the term is still alive and well today.

Over a hundred years have passed since those days, but mainstream suppliers of pharmaceuticals are still using similar techniques to attack suppliers of natural or unconventional remedies.

Are they really ‘snake oil’ salesmen? Well I’m sure some are, but as we’ve seen, some snake oil works.

There’s a lot of money to be made in complimentary or natural medicine, and it’s a market that’s definitely worth investigating. You’ll need to sort the wheat from the chaff, but don’t be put off by the universal detractors

Motivational Quote Of The Day

“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.”

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Oscar Wilde


Alternative Quote Of The Day

“A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend. A successful woman is one who can find such a man.”

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Lana Turner

Rent Your Stuff 

If you’re willing to let other people use your car, the UK based Easy Car Club scheme allows you to rent it out while you’re not using it. Following on from that, US based FlightCar aims to put cars left at airports to use by renting them out while their owners are travelling.

People flying into the airport can then rent the cars from those who have just flown out! Customers obtain a 20% – 50% discount compared to traditional renting, while the owner receives 65% of the fee. Perhaps that’s something to look at copying here?

I wouldn’t personally want to rent my car out for that purpose (I’m far too precious about it!) but if you feel differently, it could be a valuable source of additional income. 

Cars are just one example of what you could rent out for money though. Give some thought to what expensive items you have laying around unused for much of the time. Could they form the basis of a rental business?

Today’s National Day

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NATIONAL FATHER AND DAUGHTER TAKE A WALK DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

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Dear Streetwise Customer,

  Imagine if your betting profits were a nailed on 100% certainty…that you were guaranteed to never lose a bet…and that there was a totally fool proof system you could deploy that would only ever win or break even at worst. Well thanks to a rule which every bookmaker in the UK is forced to follow, you don’t have to imagine it.

                 Because It’s The Loophole To End All Loopholes! 

And for reasons I’ll explain fully, it’s a loophole that’s open to anyone and everyone with an internet connection…and it will be open forever.

 Here’s your chance to find out about this secret loophole for yourself, because Nick has come up with a unique offer that will put almost £300 in your pocket…even if you prove him wrong!  

For full details Visit:

www.streetwisenews.com/loopholes

   Take a look now. You’re going to love this one!

     
    Very Best Wishes,

john sig.png

John Harrison

How To Imprison A Customer

A few months ago at a hotel in the Lake District ~ somewhere I’ve stayed on many occasions before. It’s an excellent hotel, and clearly successful. Part of the success is down to the quality of accommodation and service, but there are plenty of excellent hotels which struggle commercially.

So what’s the difference between success and failure in the hotel business? As with most businesses, marketing has a big part to play.

The hotel owners use a lot of online and offline methods to attract new customers, and to encourage old ones to return. They’re also very hot on matching demand to supply through price flexibility. If they sense a slack period, then they’re very quick to email their client base with an enticing special offer. Like an empty airline seat, an empty room in a hotel for an evening is gone forever. Almost any contribution is better than nothing.

There’s an important lesson there for a lot of businesses, I think. It’s difficult to generalise, but it could be worth considering whether you could be more flexible on price at certain times, and how you might market and manage this flexibility.

One aspect of this price flexibility is particularly interesting, and could have a wider implication or application for your business.

A couple of times when I’ve stayed at this hotel (but not every time, so I know it’s genuine) a letter has been pushed under my door on the evening prior to departure, explaining that the room I’m in hasn’t been booked for the following evening, and that if I’d like to stay for another night, I can do so for half price. This is one of those win-win situations, which a lot of businesses could take advantage of, but very few do.

From the hotel’s point of view, they have an empty room to fill. I’m already in it, so there’s a reduction in preparation costs for them if I stay, as compared with a new guest. There’s a strong inertia element working in their favour. To take up the offer, I need do nothing. From my point of view, I get another night at a vastly reduced price. And the inertia is good for me too. I’m lazy, and don’t really want to pack up and go home, or move to another room.

I think any business that rents or hires out anything, could benefit from using this approach, and it has wider applications too. Is it not worth making a ‘please stay’ offer to any customer who is about to ‘depart’ from your business – whatever field you’re in? Given that the cost of finding and serving a new customer is always far more than the cost of continuing to serve an existing one, I’m certain that it is.

This whole idea needs to be thought out and implemented carefully though, if you’re to avoid damaging your integrity or alienating excluded customers. But just because it isn’t easy, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.

I’ll leave you to consider how you might apply this in your own field.

Kind Regards

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John Harrison  

PUBLISHERS NOTICE  

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  Dear Streetwise Customer, 

Imagine if your betting profits were a nailed on 100% certainty…that you were guaranteed to never lose a bet…and that there was a totally fool proof system you could deploy that would only ever win or break even at worst. Well thanks to a rule which every bookmaker in the UK is forced to follow, you don’t have to imagine it.

Because It’s The Loophole To End All Loopholes!

And for reasons I’ll explain fully, it’s a loophole that’s open to anyone and everyone with an internet connection…and it will be open forever.

Here’s your chance to find out about this secret loophole for yourself, because Nick has come up with a unique offer that will put almost £300 in your pocket…even if you prove him wrong!

For full details Visit:

www.streetwisenews.com/loopholes

Take a look now. You’re going to love this one!

Very Best Wishes,

john sig.png

John Harrison

Profit From Your Holiday

Most people don’t need persuading to take a holiday, but it could actually be good for your bank balance as well as your general wellbeing.

By going into a different culture, location or environment you often become exposed to new ideas and influences which you simply wouldn’t get at home.

Australian couple Monica Liebenow and Phil Barham noticed a cartoon family in the rear screen of a car while travelling in California. When they returned, they explained the idea to a graphic designer friend and ended up creating something called ‘My Family Stickers’.

The stickers were similar to the American ones but with an Aussie twist. More than two million of the stickers have been sold in the past two years.

So don’t relax altogether on your next break. Keep half an eye and ear open to potential money making opportunities you can copy or adapt? It’s certainly worked for me in the past (perhaps stories for another day) and it could work for you too.

Motivational Quote Of The Day

“Business is the art of extracting money from another man’s pocket without resorting to violence.” 
 

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Max ( Amsterdam)


Alternative Quote Of The Day

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The World’s Worst Hotel

Most hotels are terrified of getting a bad reputation on Trip Advisor and other review sites. The Hans Brinker hotel in Amsterdam sees things differently. The hotel has embraced a marketing strategy which attempts to build its reputation as the worst hotel in the world.

The owners have published a book called The Worst Hotel in the World, and filmed a series of hilarious promotional videos which can be found on Youtube.

For around twenty euros a night, the hotel openly admit that guests can expect wafer thin mattresses, rusty beds, grotty paintwork, broken lifts and scruffy bathrooms. They proudly boast that the hotel has virtually no facilities.

It’s an interesting approach. If you can’t be the best, why not make a feature of being worst? It certainly differentiates the Hans Brinker from other poor hotels which I’m sure are equally bad. Many people looking for a budget hotel will choose to stay there just to say they’ve been in the worst hotel in the world.

Is this a strategy that you could employ in your market? It’s risky, but it could be worth thinking about.

Today’s National Day

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NATIONAL PICNIC DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

hog2 ultimate loophole.png

Dear Streetwise Customer,

  Imagine if your betting profits were a nailed on 100% certainty…that you were guaranteed to never lose a bet…and that there was a totally fool proof system you could deploy that would only ever win or break even at worst. Well thanks to a rule which every bookmaker in the UK is forced to follow, you don’t have to imagine it.

                 Because It’s The Loophole To End All Loopholes! 

And for reasons I’ll explain fully, it’s a loophole that’s open to anyone and everyone with an internet connection…and it will be open forever.

 Here’s your chance to find out about this secret loophole for yourself, because Nick has come up with a unique offer that will put almost £300 in your pocket…even if you prove him wrong!  

For full details Visit:

www.streetwisenews.com/loopholes

   Take a look now. You’re going to love this one!

     
    Very Best Wishes,

john sig.png

John Harrison

Love Or Hate? You Need Both

What have Tesco, The Sun newspaper, British Airways and Manchester United got in common? The answer reveals something fascinating, and counter-intuitive about what it takes to make a great deal of money. Understand and harness this for yourself and it could transform the fortunes of any business or enterprise you’re involved in.

So what’s the link?

Well in a recent poll carried out by Joshua G2 on behalf of Marketing magazine, each of these companies was voted the most hated brand in their market sector. Tesco was the most hated supermarket brand; The Sun was the most hated newspaper brand; Manchester United was the most hated football brand; and British Airways was voted the most hated airline brand.

Puzzling isn’t it? You see there’s little doubt that each of these is also the most successful brand in their market sector. And the mist only starts to clear when you discover something else…They were all voted the most loved brand in their sector at exactly the same time!

So what’s going on, and what does it tell us about success?

Well the key point here is that each brand has created an impact. They’ve created an emotion in the hearts and minds of potential customers. People know who they are and they have strong feelings about them. Some of this feeling is strongly positive, while other is fiercely negative. There’s a polarity to it. There are many other brands that provoke no hatred at all, and poll a lukewarm level of approval halfway down the loved list. But they’re not nearly so successful.

Strong feelings and emotions are essential if you’re to rouse potential customers out of their passive state into spending money with you. People rarely part with money unless they’ve had their emotions tweaked in some way. They have a strong emotional attachment to their money. They know what they had to do to get it. And they’re not about to part with it to an organisation that doesn’t impact on them at an emotional level.

The upshot of this is that polarising opinion about you and your business is no bad thing. Of course you’d prefer it if everyone loved you. But it’s far better to have half the world thinking you’re the best thing since sliced bread and the other half thinking you’re the devil reincarnate, than it is to have everyone thinking you’re okay. People rarely spend their money on ‘okay’.

In my own business, I never set out to polarise opinion, but it just happened. I know that some of the products we sell are a little controversial, and hard as it is for someone of such delicate sensitivities to admit, I know there are a significant number of people out there who don’t like us very much.

But then there’s the other side of the coin…

For everyone who despises us because we sell books on gambling or avoiding speeding fines, for example, there’s someone else who’s strongly attracted towards us for the very same reason. An easier route would have been to stick to non-contentious subject matter, but it wouldn’t have been nearly so profitable – or nearly so much fun.

I suppose what I’m saying is that there are two routes. You can either be mildly liked by everyone, and make a living, or loved and hated in equal measure and make a million. It’s not quite as straightforward as that, but heck…

Sitting on the fence never got you loved, hated, or rich.

Kind Regards

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John Harrison  

PUBLISHERS NOTICE  

Dear Streetwise Customer,

Once or twice a year I receive exceptional quality information and a few months ago one of these rare and very special documents landed on my desk.

It revealed an amazing system which is making its author an absolute fortune and a large sum of money was asked for in exchange for the information.

   An agreement was reached whereby I could share the information with Streetwise customers, but first I insisted on ‘proving’ the system and so I asked 25 of my customers to test this for us.

   The results have been nothing less than astonishing. Every single one of my 25 testers has reported fantastic success!

   Consequently I signed the deal and now I am delighted to be able to share this information with you. Please do not pass this on to anyone else because this information truly is TOP SECRET. It is just for you and Streetwise’s best customers and no-one else.

We authorised just 50 copies to be printed for our best customers only. At the time of writing we only have 16 copies left and one of these is waiting for you to claim it.

For full details CLICK HERE

…and you’ll discover why I am so excited about this incredible winning system and what’s going to happen next.

john sig.png

Best Wishes,

John Harrison

Recent Comments

“Every Signal so far has been a winner, that is for the time I have been using it which is 21 race days. It is solid and when I place the bets this system throws at me I just place them and walk away for the day. You don’t get lot’s of bets, and they only take 5 minutes max to spot anytime after 9 in the morning.”

– D Lean

“The program I bought in July is so very simple to run and is consistently proving to be a money spinner. I have never before found a system to equal this one.”

– C A Davies

For full details visit:

www.streetwisenews.com/IS 

Sleeping On The Job

I know someone who works for one of the big London law firms. Such are the demands and time constraints of the job, that the firm have beds on site so that employees don’t have to waste time going home at night when deadlines need to be met.

I’m not sure whether this idea is quite as extreme as that, but it is an indication on the pressure some folk are perceived to be in at work these days.

London based Pod Time have based themselves in the fast-paced corporate environment of Canary Wharf. They provide hygienic sleep pods which stressed and tired workers can rent out for half an hour at a time to have a much needed nap during the working day.

Charges are £5.99 for an half hour and £10 for an hour. Speaking as someone who has seen people asleep at work without going to the expense of a pod, I can see a demand for this.

Might there be other areas of the country where a ‘short term sleep solution’ would find a ready market?

Might there be other locations where this could be popular…airports perhaps? Or (and I’m definitely not going into detail here) might there be some other purpose for these pods, other than sleep, which would attract a paying clientele? I’ll leave you to give it some thought.

Motivational Quote Of The Day

“I believe that everyone can reclaim themselves…You have a very bad habit. You have to change it. If not now, then when?”

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Mark Ford


Alternative Quote Of The Day

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Hot Bodies

I’ve noticed that after the weekend, our office is always several degrees colder than it is later in the week, even though the heating has been left on. Increased computer activity plays a part, but so does human activity. The staff come into the office, they give off body heat and it warms the building.

Now this is happening everywhere. The amount of heat energy given off by the population must be huge. So is there a way to harness it? It turns out that there is.

Over 200,000 people pass through Stockholm’s Central station each day. Jernhusen, a property company given the job of remodelling the station, have come up with a way of transferring the heat generated by all these people to an office building across the road.

The stations ventilation system includes heat exchangers which convert all this heat energy into hot water. It’s reported that the result is a 25% reduction in the buildings energy costs.

Needless to say, green energy is on everyone’s agenda at the moment, and initiatives like this are likely to be on the increase. Perhaps something to invest in, or even participate in for those with the skills and resources.

Today’s National Day

ice cream day.jpg

NATIONAL ICE CREAM DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

Dear Streetwise Customer,

Once or twice a year I receive exceptional quality information and a few months ago one of these rare and very special documents landed on my desk.  

  It revealed an amazing system which is making its author an absolute fortune and a large sum of money was asked for in exchange for the information.  

   An agreement was reached whereby I could share the information with Streetwise customers, but first I insisted on ‘proving’ the system and so I asked 25 of my customers to test this for us.  

   The results have been nothing less than astonishing. Every single one of my 25 testers has reported fantastic success!  

   Consequently I signed the deal and now I am delighted to be able to share this information with you. Please do not pass this on to anyone else because this information truly is TOP SECRET. It is just for you and Streetwise’s best customers and no-one else. 

We authorised just 50 copies to be printed for our best customers only. At the time of writing we only have 16 copies left and one of these is waiting for you to claim it.

For full details CLICK HERE

…and you’ll discover why I am so excited about this incredible winning system and what’s going to happen next.

john sig.png

Best Wishes,

John Harrison

Recent Comments 

“Every Signal so far has been a winner, that is for the time I have been using it which is 21 race days. It is solid and when I place the bets this system throws at me I just place them and walk away for the day. You don’t get lot’s of bets, and they only take 5 minutes max to spot anytime after 9 in the morning.”

– D Lean 

“The program I bought in July is so very simple to run and is consistently proving to be a money spinner. I have never before found a system to equal this one.”

– C A Davies 

For full details visit: 

www.streetwisenews.com/IS