Good to Great: 5 reasons why some beggars earn more money than you
July 26, 2006 | Filed Under money, short term profits, Entrepreneurship, Practical tips, Business Opportunities, Money making as young | 16 Comments
Get something for doing nothing. After walking around in big cities in Europe I have discovered the 5 habits of successful beggars.
1. Keep your voice down
Ask for some change, but do not be loud! Be soft spoken, almost silent. By keeping your voice down you force the unlucky by-passer to stop to hear what you have to say. Once they stop, your chance for success increases!
2. Be “honest”
They know you are not going to use their change to buy a bus-ticket. Try to give them a likable reason to give you money.
This works: ”Yo, I’ve been doing drugs for 2 days and really need to eat something, can you spare some change so I can buy me some bread?”
This fails: “Yo, can you spare some change, I need to take the bus”
In the first example you are undressing your soul in front of them, who can resist giving you money? In the latter example you are just lying and they walk away.
3. Be clean and nicely dressed
All great salesmen try to imitate the prospective buyer. By dressing similar to the ones you beg from you are bridging the gap between you and them. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but it is easier to give to your own type! If they meet someone very different from themselves it is easier to just walk away.
4. Remember a sucker
If someone gives you money you better remember their face. Then you need to acknowledge them every day you see them by greeting them with “Good Morning Sir!”, “Lovely day, eh?” This will remind them about the day they gave you money, and they know you hope that they will give you more. It is painful to walk away from you after you have been nice to them by remembering their face. Two things happen, either they walk another way to work, or they will give you money to ease the tension they feel inside!
5. Learn to love rejection
95% will not give you money. Love it! You get the opportunity to show how good and clever you are. Shout after them “Have a nice day!”, “Thank you, bye”, “No problem, thank you very much Miss”, “Enjoy the rest of your day Sir!”
The result is that they will think: “Oh.. he was pretty nice.. maybe next time..”
Got more tricks used by beggars? Please feel free to share them.
Get rich mumbo jumbo?
July 19, 2006 | Filed Under money, Entrepreneurship, Practical tips, hard labour, Money making as young | Leave a Comment
Get rich quick schemes is one thing, to think yourself rich is another. There are countless variations out there. The owner of the blog Towards Better Life has recently jumped on a new idea:
“Recently I have come a cross four very important words: Easy, Relax, Healthy, Positive. I encounter these words in Steve Pavlina is Million Dollar Experiment. I have participate in this experiment and I’m currently holding the following intention:
In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, in its own perfect time, for the highest good of all, I intend $1,000,000 to come into my life and into the lives of everyone who holds this intention.”
I wish him all the success, but to be frank, to me, this sounds like a lot of mumbo jumbo. But that is just me. I would rather read Golden Rules for Making Money (P. T. Barnum 1880) one more time. It contains genuine no bullshit advice for any aspiring entrepreneur.
Opportunity for bloggers with a long term horizon, short term profits suicides can sign up at PayPerPost
July 18, 2006 | Filed Under short term profits, money, Start ups, Entrepreneurship, Practical tips | 3 Comments
Yaro Starak is recruiting two bloggers for his Small Business Branding blog. The recruits will not get paid anything to start with, but if they prove their value he is willing to share the profits of the blog with them. The blog has a page rank of 6 and good authority within its niche. By taking the job Yaro tempts:
“Your public profile will be enhanced as will your personal brand, being exposed to the nearly 1000 daily readers who come to SmallBusinessBranding.com through the web and RSS readers. If our relationship proves successful SmallBusinessBranding.com will be re-branded to include your photographs, biographical and contact details.”
This is an opportunity to lay down some work now and milk the profits later. Do you have a brain? Do you want to raise your profile and know what to do with your increased reputation afterwards? Then go ahead and do it. The other way around is to make a few dollars short term and kill your own brand on the way by working for Pay Per Post.
Blogosphere links:
First impressions of Pay Per Post
Personal finance blogger considers making the suicide
My blog is now available through bloglines and all these other RSS things. Sign up via Feedburner and become the 2nd person to subscribe.
10 pop songs about money
July 17, 2006 | Filed Under money, Fun | 1 Comment
Downloading money songs from AllofMP3 at the moment. Inspiration from Guardian’s “Readers tip us about the best songs about money.” The 10 songs listed in the article are:
1 How to Be a Millionaire ABC
2 Money (That’s What I Want) Flying Lizards
3 Funky Dollar Bill Funkadelic
4 Money Money Horace Andy
5 Bills, Bills, Bills Destiny’s Child
6 Rent Pet Shop Boys
7 You Never Give Me Your Money The Beatles
8 Free Money Patti Smith
9 Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? Bing Crosby
10 Be Thankful For What You Got William DeVaughn
Here is a challenge for the blogosphere: Can you give me a tips of a song about money where the lyrics are actually talking about the good sides of capitalism? Sadly, most popular songs about money are from those “make love, not money” type of artists.