The Minimum Wage Law Is Evil.

Random notes on the minimum wage law.

1.    Capitalism is the freedom to make and sell things without government help or interference.
2.    If the government can set a “minimum wage” the government can also set a “maximum wage”. Either way the government is interfering with the free market.
3.    If I have an idea for a business and am short on cash, but my friends agree to work for me for $1 per hour for six months to until things get off the ground, will I go to jail?
4.    The minimum wage law was created in the 1930’s by Northern congressman in order to stop northern manufacturers from moving to the South to take advantage of lower wages. If those manufacturers moved, tax revenue would be loss. They were not truly concerned with the poor laborers. Their concern was for their tax coffers. See here: http://www.fff.org/freedom/0796d.asp
5.    The minimum wage laws have created a black market for labor. Illegals come into our country and work “under the table” and it is far more attractive than hiring a U.S. citizen who not only gets “minimum wage”… but also gets to sue you for age discrimination, sex discrimination, race discrimination, etc. Add in the costs of employee taxes, benefits packages, health care, retirement, etc… and the under-the-table employee looks mighty good.
6.    If a $7.25 good… why not $72.50? Wouldn’t that be better?  Both are arbitrary numbers. The only number that makes sense is between the employer and the employee. If they agree on a price, of what concerned it is to the government?
7.    If I hire a 19-year old kid to sweep the leaves off my driveway for $5 bucks, and it takes him 2 hours, will I go to jail? If the kid has no other skills, and he agrees, am I not doing him a favor? If I don’t hire him, will not his idleness be a detriment? Won’t he soon be looting legally or illegally? (Legal looting is applying for government welfare… which also comes out of my pocket.) So either way I am paying this kid. In one way I am getting a benefit… a clean driveway. In the other way I have become a slave to him. I work so that he may remain idle. Plus, if I don’t sweep my driveway, the city government comes along and fines me for not keeping up my property. And thus the damage multiplies.
8.    If you make the minimum wages laws burdensome enough, someone will invent a driveway-sweeper which can do the job for a cost of say… $2… and the kid is idled permanently.
9.    If I want to work for $1 per hour… who is the government to day I cannot sell my time for what I want? It’s MY time. It’s MY life.
10.    The only one who benefits from raising a “minimum wage” is the politician. He/she looks like an angel who cares about the poor worker… but the truth is, the minimum wage is a sham since the US dollar is a bogus measure of money. Dollars are printed up with nothing to back it up. If you measure the minimum wage compared to gold (which is a stable/true measure of wealth/money) the true purchasing power of the minimum wage has been falling and falling and falling. (see this chart: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8kke1S7fwo&feature=channel_page)
11.    What if we could pay employees in gold? Wouldn’t that change the game altogether? Instead we are forced to pay in bogus US dollars with minimum and maximum rates set by politicians who have never run a legit business much less had to balance their own budget.
12.    Who pays for the new, higher minimum wage? YOU DO. The cost is passed on in higher prices for products and services you want and need. The minimum wage is a hidden tax on YOU. Don’t be fooled by the politician who tries to sound altruistic.

How To Advertise in the Wall Street Journal or Investors Business Daily and Skyrocket Your Sales And Profits.

What follows are my random thoughts about advertising your product or service to the readers of these business publications.

1.    Newspapers are not dead.
Everyone thinks that the internet has killed most printed media. But it’s just not true. What is true is that you have to watch your costs. Your cost per lead and cost per sale. But, don’t count newspapers and magazine down and out yet. I have one client who advertises in the Reno, Nevada daily newspaper. He runs 3 ads a week for $483.00. He gets about 12 leads a week off it. And he closes 40% of the leads on a $4,000 product/service.

Those are good numbers. He’s paying about $40 per lead with his newspaper marketing. With other media, he admits he pays in the neighborhood of $250 to $300 for a lead.

Newspapers are not dead. The WSJ and the IBD are good mediums for generating leads and sales. The readers have above average discretionary spending money. They are the first buyers. Meaning, they will often be the risk-takers and buy a new, unheard-of products before it really catches on. Joe Sugarman made a nice income from full page ads in the WSJ in the 1970’s selling high-tech devices that were new to the market. He operated in the basement of his Chicago area home.

The readers of these publication fancy that they are more thoughtful than other buyers. Thus, they will read a long-winded ad, feeling that they are getting information… not talking to a “salesman”. But YOU, the smart marketer, know the truth. You know that every ad, especially a long-winded ad… IS your salesman.  A commissioned salesman who does not sell does not cost you much. But an ad that does not sell, costs you plenty.

2.    Pay close attention to this concept. Write it down. It’s important: People Will Not Read Long Winded Ads! — But PROSPECTS will.
If you want them to spend money with YOU. You must give them interesting and helpful information. You cannot bore them into reading your ad. But if it is written in an interesting helpful way… Prospects will read any amount of copy. If you think that no one reads any more… then, why o why do they buy the WSJ or the IBD? They want information.

They want products and services that will help them make more money…. Enjoy life more… get ahead in their career… prepare for the future… They want more sex. They want more time. They want solutions to a host of problems they are having. They want peace of mind. They want pride of ownership. They don’t want to be embarrassed by decisions they must make. Can your product/service solve some of these problems? Then YOU need to consider advertising in the WSJ or IBD.

3.    PASSION!
Years ago, my postman told me that the two angriest customers on his route were those who did NOT get their Wall Street Journal… or those who did NOT get their National Inquirer. Please note: The two extremes in audiences. But both were passionate about their publications. You can generally tell which publications had passionate audiences. It is the publication that has a healthy classified section. For example: Popular Mechanics magazine has several pages of classifieds. This is your hint that a fullpage ad in that publication will have a lot of selling power for you: Passionate audiences.

4.    Newspapers are not dead, but they are struggling.
Therefore, you can negotiate the price. Like the client mentioned above, if you’re selling a $4,000 product you can afford to bring in leads at a cost of several hundred dollars. But you’ve got to know your costs. Lead generation cost, conversion cost, customer repeat buyer cost, attrition cost, etc.

5.    Generally speaking, your message in the IBD or WSJ should be the same message you’re using in the internet or your sales presentations. Especially if you’ve tested your message and found THIS message to be the one that gets you the best response. Buyers who come to you from the newspaper or the web or direct mail… are all the same. They all want the benefits of your product or service. What is your strongest message? That’s the message you want in your newspaper ad.
6.    Give your ad a headline.
It is laughable how many ads in the WSJ or IBD don’t have headlines. The headline is the part of your ad readers scan to see if they want to spend more time with your ad. If it does not have a headline, you might as well not run your ad. Headlines are so important that for years and years, marketers who test various elements will tell you one headline can pull 19 times more orders than the same ad with another headline. Give your ad a headline and make it a good one.

7.    Keep the 2nd “Honey” in mind.
Very often, if you’re selling a high-ticket item, the prospect will read your ad and become convinced it is a good deal. But there is a “Honey” they must discuss things with BEFORE the buying decision takes place. If your ad is good, they will often clip it out of the paper to use as ammunition with which they can convince their spouse or boss, etc… to buy the product or service also. Give them all the ammo they will need to make a convincing argument. They want the conveniences and benefits you offer, but you’ve got to convince them. Then they must convince themselves. Then they must convince other who might say “Why do you want to buy that?”

8.    Call out your audience.
Who reads these publications? Investors. Entrepreneurs. Managers. CEOs. CFOs. Politicians. Inventors. Some educators. People who long to get ahead. These two publications are read by people who are on the cutting edge of societal evolution. They are the shakers and movers. They are the debaters of our day. If you want to sell your product to a narrow slice of their readers, CALL THEM OUT. Say: Attention Investors. Or, ATTENTION BUSINESS OWNERS. Etc.

9.    Speak to every group of readers.
Some folks are visual. Some are touchy-feely. Some are accountants. Some are audio types. Do you hear what I’m saying? Can you see the good in this? Doesn’t this add up in your thinking? You can describe the same house as being full of light coming threw the windows. Or build to withstand the toughest winds.

10.    Repeat Yourself.
Repetition is the juice of good direct response advertising. If you make a statement once, it does not so easily sink in. But if you say the same thing three different times, from three different angles, the chances increase that the reader will likely OWN the idea and think it’s his idea to own the product.

11.    Repeat Yourself.
Brand advertisers repeat the message many times over the course of a year. Direct response advertisers must repeat the selling points in the same ad, enough until it’s believed and acted upon.

12.    Give them a call to action.
It’s one thing to lay out your arguments for the purchase of your product or service. But you must tell them what to do next. Call now. Order by Wednesday for a free sample. Mention my name for a special delivery.

13.    Use a “fireside chat” approach.
Most of us have emotions. We don’t want to do business with a nameless, faceless corporation. We want to deal with a real person. We want to trust the seller. We want to know that you have done your homework and feel our pain. We want to know your solution has been tested and proven. That others have tried it and are thrilled with the results. Consider the bailouts of Chrysler and GM of today… with the bailout of Chrysler in the 1980’s under Lee Iacocca. Mr. Iacocca splashed his face all over every ad that came out selling cars. He spoke to us “man to man”. We felt his honesty and sincerity. Chrysler sold a lot of cars then. Today, the bailout of the car companies have no name… no face… no one with home we can identify. Deep in our souls we hate collectivism. We want to deal with someone who is real. Someone who will sit down with us and have a “fireside chat”.

14.    Use these ideas and you can be a fireless advertiser.
Even in a media that on its surface looks to be expensive. But when measuring cost per lead and cost per sale will likely turn out to be way cheaper than a $1 classified.

Call me if you want to discuss these ideas for your marketing.

Linwood Austin
yourlinwood@gmail.com
Phone: 801-201-9026

Hyper-Responsive’ Mailing List Of HOT Proven Buyers!

You can make a fortune with this exclusive mailing list…
(It’s like owning geese that lay golden eggs!)

Here’s A Rare Opportunity For You To Own & Cash-In On My Private Million-Dollar ‘Hyper-Responsive’ Mailing List Of HOT Proven Buyers!

Dear Wise Marketing Friend,

Linwood Austin here. Good news: Now you can own… mail to as often as you like… and earn unlimited amounts of money (forever!) from…
My Private “Million Dollar” Mailing List
Of PROVEN mail order buyers!
And, if you don’t currently have a product or service to offer, call me… I’ll show you how you can instantly create a product that you can easily sell for BIG PROFITS to Linwood Austin’s Private List. Or, I’ll show you how to plug into a powerful business opportunity already created for as little as $149. But first… let’s talk about this amazing list.

The “Linwood Austin List” IS a Million Dollar mailing list. This is because over the past 19 years it’s generated MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN SALES! Just in the last year alone, the customers on this list have earned me and my clients over ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!! When you own this HOT list of hyper-responsive buyers, there’s just no telling how much money you’ll make.
Who knows, during the next year you may even earn more than $1,000,000.00!!
Every single time I’ve mail to this amazing list’s it’s been profitable. Just think about that … if you know you could make money every time you mailed, think how much that could be worth to you!
The last time I mailed to this list, it generated $42,000.00 in orders over a three-week period. And not long ago, I mailed to it and earned $69,357.00—from a single mailing!  When you mail to this list, you can make some serious money.
Right now, I’m offering an extremely limited number of copies of this potent list. And I hope you’ll be one of an elite group of successful marketers to own and profit from it.

Your Mailing List Is Everything…

As you know, in direct marketing the list you mail is everything. You can have the best product or service in the world… but, if you don’t have a responsive mailing list of proven buyers your direct mail campaign will be a failure!
The most difficult, expensive, time-consuming part of any business is building your own list of customers and prospects.
For example, to build a mailing list of only 1,000 customers could easily cost you several thousand, if not tens-of-thousands of dollars. Sure, it’d be worth it, but you’d be making gambles all along the way. And, it takes a very long time to build a list.
Let’s take a look at what’s involved in building you own mailing list:
First, you’d have to run dozens of classified and display ads to generate leads. Or run ads sell your product or service. That would cost you a fortune right there.
Then, you’d have to pay even more cold, hard cash to follow-up with your leads.
Another way to go about building a list is to spend thousands of dollars renting mailing lists and then testing them. You’d have to gamble on the responsiveness of each list and pay the huge cost of printing and mailing thousands of direct mail pieces.
All this HUGE EXPENSE, just to get 1,000 customer names! Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:
I just rented a “responsive” mailing list and it cost me $150.00 per one thousand names rented. I had to rent a minimum of 5,000 names and this is just for a one-time mailing. (When renting lists, 5,000 names is the typical minimum.)
So, I paid $750.00 “rent” for a one-time use of these names. I only want to test 1,000 of the names. So… I’m paying an extra $600.00 for 4,000 names I’m not even sure I want to use!
If the list is a flop, I basically have to “eat” that extra $600.00! Renting mailing lists is risky business. Even if you think you have the best list broker in the world… you never really know for sure if a list is going to be responsive or not, until you test it.
Then, it’s going to cost me at least an additional $690.00 for printing and postage to mail 1,000 sales letters to the names I rented.
Let’s add it all up (printing, postage, and list rental): I’ll spend $1,440.00 just to TRY a list to see if it’s responsive or not. Now if it is responsive, I’ll do great! But if it’s not responsive, look at all the money I’ve lost… a whopping $1,440.00 down the drain just to TEST a rented list.

Do you see why I call renting a mailing list a gamble?

Now, I’m not saying you should never rent a list. After you’ve got an established mailing list of your own and have run some successful direct mail campaigns, selectively renting list and testing them can be a way to “grow your list” and make a ton of money, fast.
But why gamble right now if you don’t absolutely have to – when you can OWN a list of Proven, hyper-responsive mail-order buyers?

Take a look at the advantage you instantly gain when you own “Linwood Austin’s Mailing List”:

1.    You’ll own a highly responsive list of proven mail order buyers. (I get a response rate as high as 12% when mailing to this list!)
2.    Because you OWN (and are not renting) this list, you can mail to it as often as you like… you can mail different offers to it… you can slice it and dice it and mail to it in any quantities you like… If you want to mail just a few hundred letters a week to generate a steady income, you can … or you can roll out the entire list. Unlike any list you might rent, this list is yours to use over and over again any way you see fit.
3.    The customers on this list buy high-ticket items. (They’ve spent as much as $100,000.00 in the past—and not much less than $70.00!)
4.    Many of the customers on this list are Multi-buyers! (Some of these customers have been buying repeatedly from me for over 10 years.)
5.    These customers are crazy about products and services that help them improve their lives or make more money in their businesses. If you have a self-improvement product or service to offer, you can get a flood of orders to your mailbox or web site orders.
6.    They are looking for hot opportunities to make money… if you’ve got an honest, ethical way of making money, you couldn’t own a better list!
7.    If you offer business opportunities, investment opportunities, marketing services, information products, seminars, web site marketing, self-improvement products and services… They are constantly looking for and willing to invest large sums of money for these kinds of items. (They’re the cream of the crop.)
8.    Because they are interested in direct marketing, they open and read their mail. (This is a benefit you’re not likely to get with many other lists!)
9.    Many of these customers are computer and internet savvy and respond extremely well to any type of offer related to the internet.
10.    The only way you could access these names in the past was to joint a joint venture with me and give me a hefty share of the profits. NOW… all the profits are yours to keep!

The “Linwood Austin List” has got to be one of the most responsive, highest paying lists available. And now it can be yours to profit from.

“Tell Me More About The Million Dollar List.”

There are 5,897 names on this list. Most of the people on this list are small business owners, entrepreneurs, or opportunity seekers. If you have a product or service that appeals to these groups of people, then owning and mailing to this list can make you a small fortune!
Another positive thing about “The Linwood Austin List” is that when you mail to it, your direct mail piece will get read. You see, the people on this list are fascinated with and interested in direct marketing. And because of this they open and read their mail. They’re reading this letter just like you are!
The names on this list are the cream-of-the-crop! In fact, when you own the names on “The Linwood Austin List” you’ll own many of the same names that are found on the mailing lists of prominent marketers like Gary Halbert, Ted Nicholas, Jay Abraham, Bob Serling, Brian Keith Voiles, Jonathan Mizel, and others.
People on my exclusive house list love buying through the mail. They’ll buy just about anything from you that will benefit their lives and help them make more money… including:

•    Books, reports & manuals on almost any subject    •  Financial Offers
•    Newsletters    •  Reprint rights to hot products
•    Audio Tape Sets    •  Seminars
•    CD-Roms and software    •  Success and self-help products
•    How-to DVD  or videos    •  Coaching Programs
•    Business Opportunities    •  Any product or service related to the web

By now, you may be wondering…
“Why are you selling the Million Dollar Linwood Austin List?”
Two reasons:
1. First of all, it’s a profit center for my company. And if you own a substantial mailing list, you should consider selling or renting yours too. And here’s a profit fact about direct mail you might not know: the more a list is mailed to, the more responsive it becomes.
2. Secondly, I do not want to “rent” my list. This is because I don’t want to waste my time dealing with and hassling with list brokers day in and day out. And besides, I’d much rather see YOU profit from this list than a bunch of strangers.
“What Kind Of Investment Is Required To Own This List?”
Before I answer this question, let me remind you that you can easily “blow” thousands of dollars renting and testing other mailing lists. And once you do find a list that works, you must rent it each time you mail to it.
When you’re the owner of The Linwood Austin List, It’s yours Permanently!  You can mail to it as often as you like—forever! And keep in mind that over the years this list has generated millions of dollars in sales—it can do that same for you.
I know for certain I paid somewhere between $30 and $70 (in marketing costs) per name, to generate this list. That means over the years I paid somewhere between $176,910.00 to $412,790.00 to create this list of hot buyers. If we split the difference… I can confidently say this list cost me about $250,000.00.
But I’ll let you OWN this list for just 1% of what I actually paid to put it together.
Your one-time investment to own this valuable list of 5,897 names is only $2,497.
(But if you HURRY—I’m offering to discount the price to $1,497 if you can reply promptly- within 5 days—you save $1,000.)

But Wait… There Is More…
Some of these names have email addresses. All of them have phone numbers. But… if you’re still reading… let me sweeten the deal. If you’re one of the first 5 people to order up this amazing list of names… I’ll give you three FREE bonus gifts.

1.    First of all… I’ll give you my POWER MARKETING CHECKLIST. This is a “Multi-Million Dollar Checklist” of every vital element you must consider when you make any mailing piece or web site or space ad campaign. Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees. This is a checklist I’ve developed and used over the years to create marketing that generated hundreds of thousands of new customers worth millions upon millions of dollars in every kind of industries… wholesale, retail, publishing, professional services, web sites services, network marketing, catalogers, promoters, and more. If you’re going to spend money on marketing, you might as well give your ads, you mail, your web sites all the power on the first shot out the door. This check list will force you to remember and factor in and strengthen vital things like the offer, the payoff, the popularity of the product, the right layout, the “reasons why”,  action bidders, headline strengtheners, name appeal, and more. Forty one vital elements in the checklist that guarantee to add tons of power to your marketing efforts. How much is this checklist worth to you? It could be worth millions of dollars. If it saves you – with one stroke of your pen—from mailing a letter or running an ad or web site that falls short of MAXIMUM SELLING POWER… then this checklist is priceless. And it’s your FREE with this offer.
2.    Next, I’ll give you TWO FREE Sales Letter Critique Coupons. Before you send out any marketing campaign, you can fax me a copy or email it to me… and I’ll review it and recommend any changes you should make. These FREE critiques could be worth millions of dollars to you.
3.   Finally, If you’re one of the first 5 people who order… I’ll give you FREE three “killer” direct mail templates that YOU can use to write your own letters to sell almost anything. All three of these letters use an EYE-CATCHER devise on the top of the letter. It’s an eye-catcher that does not add anything much to the cost of the mailing. But it “sucks” the reader in… and gives you plenty of room to get the sale. I love these templates and have used them dozens of times in the last dozen years. You’ll love them. I guarantee it.

When you think about it… this could be the most valuable offer you’ve ever received. You get 5,897 HOT names of Hyper-Responsive Buyers. You get to OWN the names, not ‘rent’ them. You get to mail to them as often as you want. And you get letter templates. This list could generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for you immediately. And… You get TWO FREE critiques of your mailings and my private “killer” MARKETING POWER CHECKLIST.
The only reason I can think of not to OWN these names is that you don’t have a product or service to sell. If that’s the case, I can recommend a quick and easy business that you could get into for almost nothing. Call me.

Two Restrictions On This List

First, You can mail to this list as often as you want. But you cannot rent, trade, transfer, or resell these names to anyone else for any reason. (I’ve seeded the list.)
Secondly, when you mail to these names, you may not say or imply that I have endorse your mailing.

HURRY
I’m offering this powerful list at this price to the first 5 people who respond. Don’t think that 5 is too many people to mail to this list. The most successful lists are mailed to hundreds of times a year. You can order this list by sending me an overnight check for the amount. I will email the list and the other goodies to you. And put your FREE bonus gifts in the mail to you.

Or, if you want… I’ll send it to you on a CD-Rom in an Excel file. If you’re still in the dark ages without a computer or email… you can have Kinko’s print out the names on labels for you.
You owe to yourself… you owe to your business… you owe it to your family to take advantage of this offer.
A good offer is nothing without a good list to mail it to. THIS IS THAT LIST. This offer is like money in the bank. It’s like having a license to print money. I’ve been building this list for nearly 20 years. Everyone on it has been proven a mail order buyer, a responsive decision-maker. It’s been my own personal gold mine for me and my business efforts.

Sincerely Yours And God Bless You
Linwood Austin
Marketing Man.

P.S. Don’t think that you can be in business and ignore Direct Mail!!!  In every generation “nay-sayers” predicted the end of direct marketing. In the 1800’s… they said paved roads would kill mail order. Why? Because once roads are “paved” people can drive into town and buy products and services. Today, some of these same type of people are saying the internet spells the end of direct mail. But the truth is, a web site is just a glorified ordering device. It’s like a 1-800 number. No one says “I have an 800 business”… but some boys and girls say “I have an internet business.” If you’re smart, you’ll lean heavy on direct mail. The right letter to the right list offering the right product at the right price at the right time… is PURE MAGIC. Lot’s of internet marketers are inching it’s way into direct mail. Pay Attention. Stop right now and order this amazing list of TESTED buyers.

—–”KILLER LIST” RESERVATION FORM——

(Print this and Mail It Back To Me.)

____YES! I want to invest in The Linwood Austin List. I understand that I can mail to this list as often as I want and that this offer includes MARKETING POWER CHEKLIST and the TWO FREE critiques and a letter templates.
__ Enclosed is my check for $2,497.
__ I’m responding within 5 days, I want the discounted price of $1,497.
Name: _______________________________________________________________________
Address: _______________________________________________________________________
City/State/Zip: ___________________________________________________________________
Phone: _______________________________________
Email: _______________________
Office Code: DoAJ/4

Make check payable to Linwood Austin.
Send your “Killer List” Reservation Form to
Linwood Austin, 2274 S. 1300 E. #G15, SLC,  UT 84106
Phone: 801-201-9026                               © 2009 Linwood Austin