Profit The Books

I am looking for a subliminal tape called "TOTAL SUCCESS" 1988 Yarnell Publishing does anyone know where I can get an original copy or any sequel to it? Thank you, Rose

Lucier is a no nonsense get down to business and a breath of fresh air in this book category.

While some of the information contained in "How to Make Big Profits Publishing City & Regional Books", can be found in other self-publishing type books, this book provided much more. Regional publications are an untapped resource, and this book tells you how to capitalize on that concept. Our book, "101 Things To Do on the Wisconsin Great River Road" is proof.

Alison's book just WORKS - it is full of really practical advice from a many-times published author who has been there, done that. She knows how the publishing industry works - I believe she's a University lecturer on the subject, too, so she knows what she's talking about - and how to make it work for you. And as a bonus she's an exceptionally clear writer. I guess if you're reading this you're interested in finding a great book on how to market books. Well, you've just found it!

The story of Sterling Sill's life is a personal and financial success story. As his own experience attests: "There is no such thing as lack of opportunity. The important thing to believe, and then to take the first step."

Readers of Mr. Sill's twenty-one books and listeners to his many radio broadcasts will welcome this new volume. In it he urges us to overcome the obstacles of rationalization, lethargy, self-deprecation, and procrastination that keeps us from achieving, and to learn skills that can lead to greatness.

A law, explains Mr Sill, is a theory that works. Each chapter of this book explores a specific law of success. A reader who applies these laws is sure to be helped to the personal and financial success he or she was meant to achieve.

Entering the insurance business as a salesman for New York Life in 1927, he rose quickly in the company. Under his direction the Intermountain General Office became the largest office of the entire company in sales volume and remained so for many years.

Mr. Sill served on the Board of Regents at the University of Utah and a building on the campus is names in his honor. He has served as President of the Salt Lake Exchange Club and of the Salt Lake Association of Life Underwriters. He is listed in Who's Who in America, 1976-77.

The quality of courage which Sterling W. Sill esteems is not ansentfrom his own life. In 1960 he was awarded the Carnegie Hero Medal for helping to save a thirteen year old boy from drowning in the ocean.


This book deserves attention as a statement of the principle Mr. Sill has used to achieve phenominal success as well as for the inspiration it will be for those who read it.
--- from book's back cover

In the early 1980's I started a screen printing business out of my home. I purchased How to Print T-shirts for Fun and Profit by Scott Fresener and Pat Fresener. This is the bible of screen printing. It is the best "how to" book I have ever purchased. With this book I started a part time screen printing business; and for a while, a full time business. I had the business for over a year.

The book taught me a common sense approach on how to build a screen printing business from the ground up, the equipment to purchase and how to price and market the products. It also showed me where to buy shirts, and caps, inks and other supplies. It was only 175 pages long, but was full of ideas, resources and illustrations. Few words were wasted!

The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

1. The Fed has convinced the markets that hedonic adjustments were okay.
2. Fed has convinced everybody too ignore monthly increases in food and energy costs.
3. The Fed emphasized GDP growth as the comforting factor against increasing trade deficit and a 8.5 trillion dollar national debt. National Debt accumulation percentage against the GDP was within reasonable historical ranges.
4. The Bond market responds too PPI or CPI values and when better than expected values occur, the bond market goes ballistic. However, the bond market seems disconnected to the value of the dollar and so lost in the bond value is the falling value of the dollar. The dollar is the single biggest determinate of the prices. If prices don't rise it is the same as selling the commodities at a price reduction. This would mean that increasing supply is the force that keeps prices down or that a financial source is subsidizing the prices to keep them artificially low.
5. Wall Street looks to the bond market as evidence that inflation is well contained. Smart money looks at the foreign exchange at how bad inflation is likely to become. Action in the foreign exchanges will tell how bad inflation is likely to become.
6. The $145 billion dollar stimulus package passed into law by congress will deliver inflation. The Fed makes cheap credit available to the banks. The banks lend the new funds or use them to acquire higher yielding assets. As a result, asset prices, such as stocks, bonds and real estate bid up to bubble levels. The government by printing money and mailing it directly to the citizenry, the stimulus plan cuts out all of the financial middle men and administers the inflation drug directly to the consumer. More money chasing a fix supply of goods only pushes up prices. As the recession worsens the dollar will drop, consumer prices and long term interest rates will rise, and politicians and economist will look for scapegoats. The stimulus package will kill the economy.
7. Five reasons for creating inflation: 1. Inflation makes the national debt more manageable because it can be repaid in cheaper dollars 2. The government can purse monetary policies hospitable to debtors even as it accommodates the special interests that lend to them. 3. Inflation finances social programs 4. Inflationary spending is confused with economic growth: GDP used as evidence that inflation is contained. 5.Inflation causes nominal asset prices to rise, such as stocks and real estate, instilling in the minds the illusion of wealth creation.
8. Five areas impacted by inflation: 1. Interest rates on national borrowing 2. Social security payments and other government benefits that are index on inflation 3. Income tax brackets and personal exemptions indexed for inflation 4. Inflation rate premiums.

For anybody who has ever anticipated that oil/natural gas prices must go up, or for anybody who is seriously interested in diversifying their investment portfolio with the oil/gas asset class, this book is a great primer. With oil currently at $40/barrel, and the year-long run-up in oil/gas company stock prices, I wish I would have read this book years ago (or at least, before the Iraq invasion)

As an investor, the author is a classic value investor (ala Graham and Dodd). He makes extensive use of a so-called McDep ratio which is similar in concept to price/book ratio. He is also a big fan of using proven reserves as the true measuring stick and is less interested in refiners and large diversified oil companies.

The specific information contatined in the book is not directly useful today because it contains data from 1988 (when the book was published), but as an educational tool, the book really serves to open your eyes to the possibilities and methods that may be applicable today. In fact, I would argue that, given the fact that we now can have 20/20 hindsight, this book is even more valuable because we can determine how well the author's theses have panned out.

My only wish is that the author had provided a method usable by an individual for determining the value of the McDep ratio. While the equation is simple and 2 our of 3 variables can be easily obtained, the most difficult is the estimate of the "book" value. For a pure play natural gas provider, for example, it's easy to determine today's price/unit volume, but it's not obvious to me how to determine what their proven reserves are today since this depends on operational matters such as how many new wells are being installed, how the current wells are doing, and whether the company is acquiring/divesting properties.

However, overall, I would say this is a must read for the individual investor. The information provided adds significant value to the toolbox.

Winning the Innovation Game
by Robert Tucker & Denis Waitley

How to Profit from Today's Rapid Changes
by Robert Tucker

Innovative Secrets of Success
by Robert Tucker & Denis Waitley

During the late eighties/early nineties, while pursuing my personal interests in understanding 'entrepreneurial opportunity search & recognition' skills, I came across three wonderful books. Two were entitled, 'Opportunities: A Handbook for Opportunity Search' by Edward de Bono, & 'The Innovation Formula' by Michel Robert.

The remaining third book was 'Winning the Innovation Game' by Robert Tucker & Denis Waitley. During the period, both authors were well-known thought leaders, with the former in 'innovation circles' & the latter in 'peak performance.'

'Winning the Innovation Game' captured the pioneering work of the principal author, who had interviewed more than fifty successful & innovative executives, entrepreneurs & financiers during

the eighties. Their 'innovative secrets of success' were sprinkled generously throughout the book, arranged with the following layout of chapters:

- The Innovator Defined;
- Winning Strategy;
- Innovation Self-Inventory;
- Becoming Your Own Trend Spotter;
- Improving Quality of Your Thinking;
- Proven Strategies for Working with Ideas;
- Tapping the Power of Your Informed Intuition;
- Finding Innovative Opportunities of Your Own;
- Discovering Your Breakthrough Idea;
- Building Your Breakthrough Idea;
- Elements of Risk Taking;
- Building Your Team;
- Staying on the Game;

I reckon the most exciting & valuable aspects of the author's interview results in the book were the following revelations:

- how to spot changes & trends before your competitors do;
- how to analyze trends & format strategies to profit from them;
- how to develop your own "future scan system" to keep you from missing out on important developments;
- how to distinguish between passing fads & the kind of changes that will reshape the marketplace;

I have also enjoyed exploring the self-questioning checklist in one of the chapters, which I would like to reproduce as follows:

- what do I really enjoy doing that I'd like to do more of?
- where's the niche that hasn't been developed?
- how can I position myself in a way that is different?
- how can I make a living from doing what to one is fun, challenging & never boring?
- what might my customer group want if it were available?
- what can I offer they (the competitors) aren't offering?
- what would make this process or procedure more convenient?
- where is the market inefficiency?
- what's next for me, inc?
- What would people pay for that isn't available yet?
- how can I do this less expensively?
- how can I add value to the service or product I now produce?

The other titles I have listed above are basically abridged audio versions of the book.

'How to Profit from Today's Rapid Changes' was published in March 1988 by Simon & Schuster, while the other was published in March 1989 by Nightingale-Conant. I believe the audio versions are still available for download from online stores like audible &/or or learnoutloud websites.

Although many of the stuff in the three titles were produced prior to the internet era, most of the strategies revealed in the book were pretty generic & could be applicable in today's context.

In comparison with 'Opportunities' & 'The Innovation Formula' which are more intellectually intense, content-wise, (& which are also written by more established authors), this book has a slight dose of a broad brush. Nevertheless, there are still many valuable expert tips for readers from this book.

Like I have often said in my many reviews, good books on 'entrepreneurial opportunity search & recognition' skills are rare. 'Winning the Innovation Game' is therefore a real gem.

[I recommend readers to read also Robert Tucker's 'Driving Growth through Innovation' & Denis Waitley's 'Empires of the Mind: Lessons to Lead & Succeed in a Knowledge-based World.']

If you have an attic of old items or a penchant for garage sales and 'junk', you may be surprised to find with that only a few simple tools you can turn inexpensive 'found objects' into treasures for a personal collection or resale. This is for the part-time antique collector and provides tips on everything from evaluating furniture, metal, and other common items to gluing, coloring, and refinishing antiques. An excellent guide any part-time hobbyist or collection catering to them needs.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch