Who has the best cell phone service? Consumer Reports

Best cell phone service

Jan 2009 Consumer Reports- (On newsstands now)

With more capable and “smarter” phones, bigger and faster wireless networks, and more varied and flexible plans,  you

might think consumers would be getting happier with their cell phone service.  Instead a survey by Consumer

Reports shows no such trend.

In an annual survey by Consumer Reports, only 54% or respondents were completely or very satisfied with their cell phone service.  Almost two thirds have at least one major complaint about service.

PRICE is the PARAMOUNT PROBLEM

51,700 readers reveal that carriers are improving and that a pay-as-you-go plan could be a good option for more people

Verizon is a standout cell-phone carrier for most people, based on our exclusive best cell phone service survey of readers in 23 cities. The company received high marks from survey respondents in overall satisfaction and customer service, and service is available in most of the country.

Overall, cell-phone service has become significantly better, judging by the annual survey conducted in September by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. Contract terms for cell-phone service are less onerous, and there were fewer problems with call quality in this year’s survey. The best carriers even came through after a hurricane hit one of our survey cities.

Sixty percent of readers were completely or very satisfied with their service. That appears to be a substantial improvement over 2007, even though we made some changes to our survey this year, including expanding the number of cities we rate and the coverage areas within them.

The improvement means cellular satisfaction is now closer to the average among all services we rate; it had previously been among the worst.

What’s behind this surge in satisfaction? There were fewer problems with connectivity, the ability to widely receive service that’s free of static and dropped calls. Overall, 42 percent of readers reported that they had no major complaints about service, up from 29 percent in our previous survey. In particular, they were less likely to cite as a top complaint the automatic extension of their cell-phone contract as a result of changing their service.

Carriers have curbed such practices because of increasing competition and the threat of consumer-rights legislation in Congress. Added pressure came from more than 100 class-action and other lawsuits coast to coast, including one by the Minnesota attorney general, and several key court rulings favorable to consumers.

In apparent response to the legal and regulatory action, all the carriers have stopped automatically extending contracts when consumers make changes to their service plan. And now all but Alltel reduce early-termination fees of $175 to $200 as the contract term progresses.

One of the biggest concerns identified by our survey was the high cost of cell service, the top complaint for 14 percent of respondents. Since we surveyed readers in September, before the onset of the economic crisis, that might not reflect today’s heightened concern for reining in costs.

Our analysis of the carriers’ pricing uncovered a cost-cutter you might not be aware of: pay-by-the-minute, or prepaid, service. It’s offered by all major carriers as well as providers such as Virgin and TracFone. Some prepaid plans could save you a lot, especially if you use your phone infrequently or want unlimited voice calling. (See How to buy a prepaid phone.)

Our Ratings (available to subscribers) show that Verizon ranks among the top carriers in every city we surveyed, along with Alltel where it was rated. (Verizon was awaiting approval to acquire Alltel as we went to press.) T-Mobile was statistically on par with the top carriers in almost two-thirds of the cities where we were able to rate it.

Posted: December 2008 — Consumer Reports Magazine issue: January 2009

Get Started Fast

 

Watch the GoAdn “Get Started Fast” video in your back office of GoAdn

5 Steps to Success

1. Become a satisfied customer

2. Indentify your market place

3. Pique curiosity

4. Bring them to the experts

5. Follow up, Follow up, Follow up

Al Cardi does an excellent job. Learn from a MASTER

Take a tour of your GV back office and GoAdn

Watch the “Get Started Video” in the back office of GoAdn

Share how you have been savings money and tell others about the products you like and buy. It is critical that they become a satisfied customer quickly so that they have their own savings stories.

Get a spiral bound college notebook

What should go in your notebook?

o Every day write down your team size, check, and what you are doing in your business that day.

How many invitations, get started sessions, and team calls that day.

o Do something in your business every day.

(Apple a day not 30 in one day)

o You need to make a least a 7-10 hour per week commitment

o Goals- Why are you doing this?

o What are the top10 things you want to accomplish?

o Plan- How are you going to do this? Exactly?

o List- Who are we talking to about the business?

o Get with your business partner and leader to review your notebook on a regular basis

Good Fast Start Business Goal- 30 days to Triple Diamond.

Your first 30 days are critical to set the pace of your business

Play the name game – Memory Jogger

Have your new referral get prepared to write names. You will read the memory jogger (back office of GoAdn) in order to help them create their list.

Involve your spouse. It’s FUN and people love it. Make this list as big as possible and add names all the time. Facebook is a great way to find people also Google search.

Use the memory jogger and put a name next to each item. Never judge who will or won’t do this. The bigger your prospect pool the bigger your posture is. Don’t take things personal.

S.T.E.A.M for referrals (Sales, Team Player, Enthusiastic, Attitude, Money Motivated)

DO’S & DONT’S

Do maintain enthusiasm and excitement for the program.

Don’t overdue your enthusiasm. Too much enthusiasm can scare people off.

Do keep inviting new people to learn about our program.

Remember, the people you bring in to your network will look to you as the example of what to do.

Do become a satisfied customer.

Remember, that is the whole point of the program, to save money on purchases.

If you are not using the website and products, it’s hard to communicate to others why they should use them. That will help you to begin appreciating the products more, which will increase your enthusiasm and make it easier for you to get other people excited about the program too.

Do check in with your up-line and down-line on a regular basis.

Don’t do this on your own.

There are people in your organization that do this full time and successfully. Use that to your advantage.

Don’t let someone else negative views change what you were originally excited about.

Do collect business cards and follow up with them. They almost never follow up with you.

Don’t do email blast, ads, flyers, etc. – Personal touch works best & GV does not approve the use of their name. Follow up every email with a phone call or call first

Master an Invitation and Your Story

“I ran into something really amazing and I’d love to show it to you.

Are you in front of your computer?

Do you have a few minutes now?

I promise you it’s worth it.

What is it?

Well you have to see it I can’t explain it to you

No tell me what it is

It’s like a good movie.

Have you ever had someone try to explain a movie to you and ruin it?

I won’t ruin it for you.”

“Ok when you think you might be in front of your computer let me know

Bye.”

Do’s and Don’ts

1. “OPPORTUNITY”

This is the most overused word in Networking.

Avoid the word business

Instead use:

Something, or Idea

2. “MEETING”

People hate going to meetings.

Instead use:

Show you something

Meet some friends of mine and see some new ideas.

3. “A FEW KEY PEOPLE”

This is used almost as much as Opportunity.

4. “I’M INVOLVED WITH…”

This triggers negative images

Instead use:

Something has been brought to my attention

I ran into something really amazing.

5. “AWESOME! FANTASTIC! EXCITED! CHANGED MY LIFE!”

This is hyped, pushy, aggressive and overselling

Instead use:

Very interesting, meaningful to me, intriguing.

6. “GET RICH”

This sounds so phony; they can’t wait to get rid of you

Instead use:

An attractive residual income stream, a substantial income, leveraged income, get paid what you’re worth

7. “YOU’RE PERFECT FOR THIS; YOU WILL LOVE THIS”

This type of assumption language is an insult to most intelligent people

Instead use:

This may or may not be for you,

you may already have the skills for this,

this may be something you could fit into, I’m not sure…”

8. “WHAT I’D LIKE TO DO”

People don’t care what you like to do.

Instead use:

May I make a suggestion?

9. “YOU’RE IN FOR A TREAT”

Only your invitee can decide what a treat is or not.

Instead use:

If you’re like most people, you’ll appreciate these ideas

10. “KEEP AN OPEN MIND”

How can prospects all of a sudden open their mind?

Instead use:

This may or may not be something you are interested in.

decide this for yourself.

11. Avoid using “networking jargon” up line, down line, Recruit, Overrides, Fearless Leader, TEAM or Mentor.

These words are not used in everyday language and scares some people.

Instead use

A friend of mine, some friends of mine, word of mouth bonus check, business partner, someone in my business.

Use referral, referral income

Use Network instead of Network Marketing or MLM.

Here is an example of the old way to invite:

“I’m involved with a fantastic business opportunity that has changed my life. I’m expanding the business and looking for a few key people who want to get rich. You’d be perfect for this and what I’d like to do is invite you to a meeting to meet some awesome people. All you have to do is keep an open mind and you’ll be in for an unbelievable treat.”

Here is an example of a better invitation:

Show… Don’t Tell

-“I’m working on an interesting project; this may or may not be something that you would be interested in. Are you in front of your computer I want to show you something? No. Then… When will you be? I’ll call you then.

It’s something you really have to see firsthand.

It’s like a good movie.

Have you ever had someone ruin a movie because they tried to explain it to you?

I am not going to ruin it for you.

– “I just ran into something very intriguing. I would really like to show you this to you. When would you have time to get in front of the computer?

Day or night better? Night. Great.

How about I call you at 8:00pm?

Amateurs practice until they get it right

Professionals practice until they

can’t get it wrong!

Practice, Practice, Practice

__________________________________________

“My Story”- Borrow the stories of others while you work on yours.

I have been doing this part time now for ____ and I saved $____

“My friend Al has been saving $700 a month on things already in his budget”

things like phone, cable, electric, food and all sorts of things that he was already buying”

The money I saved has allowed me to ____ my family to ______

(Taken the heat of the family budget, pay for college, pay off debts, make car/house payment etc.)

“Let me show you something”

Don’t Sell it…. Just Show it.

Take them to the GoAdn website and have them watch the 7 minute GoAdn video

Use the Webinars calls. Follow up using 3 way calls!!!

Three way calling practice using it on your phone

Get really good at three waying in your leader.

Give your leader a heads up that you are doing some three way calls

Actively attend the Webinars over and over and you will master the presentation

No means “Not Now” Go back from time to time.

Never chase after folks, bug or pester but follow up from time to time. Always follow up with
good news” new things, new info, etc.

Make the Call –Learn How to do 3 way calls the RIGHT way

After the call you will either 3-way your trainer to help answer questions or do this yourself:

Do Say:

People want to be led

This is incredible isn’t it?

Great Stuff? Doesn’t this make great sense?

What did you like BEST about it? … AND then LISTEN.

What else? A-huh…. me too .

What if this business could cover your car payments or mortgage payments?

If you were going to do this why would you be doing it?

Would that be helpful? Tell me about that

Great.

May I make a suggestion? Based on everything we talked about I can’t see any reason not to get started right away…can you?

Great it takes 10 minutes to get a membership… let’s knock that out right now

Go to www.(your GoAdn website) click join now and walk them thru

Are there any specific questions you have right now that I can answer? – Answer them and call your leader/mentor on a 3 way. The leader can answer any questions and possibly move them forward. If they become members the leader can now welcome them and get to know them.

Closing Question

How do you see yourself getting started?

Do you want to go fast or slow?

May I make a suggestion?

Great go to this website and click join now

Don’t ask “So… what did you think?”

If they say I have question 3 way your leader and get them answered right away.

That great let’s get them all answered.

The website has a complete training and training videos.

Listen four times as much as you talk.

Don’t FIREHOSE people, it scares them.

Picture trying to take a drink from a Fire hose it’s just way to much water a once to get any. Giving people information overload works the same way.

Use this opportunity to help someone else in need.

We are making a difference in people’s lives.

You can get whatever you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want FIRST.

Be humble, be normal, and relate to others needs first.

Objections and Smoke Screens

The ONLY reason people don’t do this is they don’t believe they can.

We need to show them how simple this business is.

Sometimes the first objection is not the REAL objection.

People will sometimes see if they can get a reaction out of you.

Try never to offend and never take offence.

Never get upset, Never argue, and Never let anyone bring you down

Feel Felt Found (F.F.F.)…

Practice, Practice, Practice

I know how you feel, I felt the same way and what I found was…..

Is this a Pyramid?

I am not sure I understand what you mean. Please explain

(Illegal? This is TOTALLY legal. Do you think I would do something illegal?

Do you think our partners would link to us?)

Is this MLM? Do you have experience with MLM? Please tell me about it.

Call it what you want to but this is the best business model I’ve ever seen.

Let’s really examine the business model

Strip away any prejudice (pre-judging)

Without putting a label on it THIS business really makes perfect sense

(It’s all just programming that someone put in their minds.)

Really look at this program with an open mind.

This is really different. I think you are going to love this. I do

No employees, no inventory, no overhead, min investment

Timing- in front of two massive shifts in the economy.

The internet is changing how and where we buy things and how and where we work.

We are at the beginning of the next internet revolution.

This is a real winner.

Don’t explain things prior to the webinar call or one/on one.

Answer questions after webinar call.

We are in the sorting business,… not the convincing business

We are looking for the people that want to do this.

The most difficult people, may just be your best people

Never give up on people! Never give up on yourself!

Just love people but you can’t wait for them either.

If a referral is not motivated, don’t try to motivate them with your words

Motivate others with what you DO! Not by what you say

And go find more people. The harder you work the luckier you get.

Please don’t confuse the problem with the solution

No Time-

F.F.F.

Please don’t confuse the problem with the solution

When do you think you might have some time?

Time isn’t that the “stuff of life”

Wouldn’t it be great to be in control of your time…your life?

Many big earners started part time.

What they found is this business created more time for the important things in life and the money to enjoy it.

Please don’t confuse the problem with the solution

No Money-

F.F.F.-

Please don’t confuse the problem with the solution

Careful with this one- Don’t offend anyone

You can’t afford it? You’re kidding me right?

You can’t afford not to be in this.

It’s a perfect business for someone who doesn’t have money.

What are they going to be doing in five years from now that will get them $75.

If they don’t have it now and don’t change what they are doing, they won’t have the $75 in five years.

Have you ever heard, “keep doing what you have been doing and keep getting what you have been getting”?

No offence please but it sounds like what you have been doing is not going so well

Beware the BLOB- Blogs and negative black hat websites.

Almost all of the garbage on the internet is not true.

Why would people post these things?

Website traffic is money and/or competitors.

Watch for the DREAM stealers

Be prepared to answer this — What do you do?

You: I am in the _____ business and I have been working on exciting project.

Prospect: Really? What it is?

You: It’s a way to cut monthly expenses in half. A membership program that saves people money on things they already buy. Phone Electric, food clothing and much more

Prospect: Tell me more.

You: I do not have the time now, but I can take your information and show you another time.

(Get their info & follow up)

Next steps for you to take after this training:

Log onto your account click

Watch and read EVERYTHING in your back office.

Pay attention to info news and announcements

Call and listen to the Company conference calls,

Lead by Example

Your team will duplicate you. ….. If you don’t show up they won’t show up.

What sort of example are you setting for your team?

“My team is not doing anything”….well are they duplicating you?

The ONLY person you can control is YOU.

Get on Rise and Shine calls- every day

Monday – Friday from 6:45 AM – 7 AM

After the call officially ends, we stay on the line after 7 AM to answers questions.

To get on the call, dial:

(218) 339-4600

code: 420345#

If you cannot make the LIVE call then listen to the recording every day:

(218) 339-4699

code: # 420345

It’s Not OK to quit

You don’t quit work because you’ve had a bad day, week or even year. Why would you quit your business?

Prepare your team for the roller coaster. Check your emotions

How long can you stay fired up?

A week?… A month?… 6 months?… For as long as it takes?

“Winners Find A Way”

“ Winners NEVER Quit and …

Quitters NEVER Win”

Quitting becomes a habit… and so does winning

This is a marathon with a sprint in the beginning.

Ready or not begin at once

ACTION, ACTION, ACTION …….NOW, NOW, NOW

See You At The TOP!!!!

“A mediocre idea that generates enthusiasm will go farther than a great idea that inspires no one.”

Mary Kay Ash

The Big Rocks of Life

 

THE BIG ROCKS OF LIFE

A while back, I was reading about an expert on the subject of time management. The story goes that one day this expert was speaking to a group of business students and to drive home a point, used an illustration that I’m sure those students will never forget. Maybe you will feel the same after reading this story.

As this man stood in front of the group of high-powered overachiever he said, Okay, time for a quiz. He pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouth Mason jar and set it on a table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks wound fit inside. He asked, Is the Jar full? Everyone in the class said, yes.

Then he said, Really? He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. He smiled and asked the group once more, Is the jar full?

By this time the class was on to him. Probably not, one of them answered. Good! he replied.

He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping sand in and it went into all the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, Is the jar full? No! the class shouted. Once again he said, Good!

Then he Grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. He looked up and asked the class, What is the point of this illustration? One eager beaver raised his hand and said, The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can always fit some more things into it!

No, the speaker replied, that is not the point. The truth is this illustration teaches us is; If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.

The title of this story is The Big Rocks of Life. What are the big rocks in your life? A project that YOU want to accomplish? Time with your loved ones? Your faith, your education, Your finances? A cause? Teaching or mentoring others? Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first or you’ll never get them in at all. So, when you are reflecting on this short story, ask yourself this question: What are the big rocks in my life?

Then put those in your jar first.

Learning How To Learn- Being Coachable

By Bryan Daly

 

I.  GET GOOD ERROR CORRECTION

The very best way to learn is to get regular feedback from a coach who will tell you accurately about very specific errors and then pat you on the back when you correct each one. Complex feedback is totally useless and incomprehensible to most students. That doesn’t mean you’re stupid. It means your instructor doesn’t know how to teach you. It’s easy to single out those coaches. They’re testy and irritable when you’re just “not getting it”. Of course, you don’t understand what he wants because you don’t know what he’s saying. Corrections should be simple. You should be able to think about the correction during your next attempt. For example, you might be asked to keep your elbow close to your body or keep your head steady so that it doesn’t “jerk up” on impact when you hit a tennis ball. Those are cues you can actually think about while you’re performing a skill. As each one of these corrections sticks, it becomes incorporated into your motor program. These corrections may be visual, where your instructor will show you your error and then show you the right way. Or your instructor may tell you to try for a certain “feel”. Cues help most where the instructor tells you to move a hand, elbow, shoulder, hip, or other body part in a specific way. You try to follow the cue, and the instructor then imitates you error, demonstrates the correct technique, and then gives you cues to perform the skill the correct way yourself.

II. ERROR CORRECTION IS JUST LIKE SCULPTING

With each subtle change, you get better. You’ll become eager for error correction, knowing it’s the best way to learn rather than a mark of humiliation. Make certain you fully understand the correction. If you don’t know what you’ve done, there is no learning. It’s only with a “knowledge of your performance” that you will improve, That’s why lots of people think they can never get better. They don’t want the constant criticism of a spouse or friend or coach who points out their errors, so the don’t listen. They don’t want to be “bugged”, don’t like instructors, and so never improve. Learning takes place quickly and will really stick if you get good error correction. It is the very essence of learning. I view a good learning experience as better than psychotherapy. A psychotherapist might convince you that you’re okay when you’re really a mess. After a coaching session, you really are better than you were before! How many psychiatrists can claim the kind of success after an hour of psychotherapy?

III. FEEDBACK

Good students of learning don’t just like feedback, they love it. They’ll be motivated to try harder. So much so that it’s sometimes pretty hard to get away from a coach and play on your own. That’s why I think it’s critical to develop the next step, your own internal sense of reward for what you do.

IV. TRIAL AND ERROR

Trial and error really is the best way to learn. Get an idea of what you want to do. Do it. Then learn from errors you’ve made. Those errors won’t be hard to see. Even professional athletes make large, easy-to-see errors. Curiously, those who make big errors and have them corrected may have much better long-term learning than those who perform a skill right off the bat, because they are more likely to forger it and be unable to perform it in the future. So, if you’ve tried long and hard to water-start a windsurfer in big seas, when you’ve finally got it, you’ve got it forever. Twenty years from now, you could head beck out and do it again. Correcting big errors is the best way to set skills in stone. Without error correction, you’ll learn nothing.

If you think you’re setting yourself up for getting criticized, that’s not what error correction is about. Good error correction motivates students to practice longer, harder and better. It also reinforces why you’ve done right.

V. FINDING THE RIGHT COACH:

Learning doesn’t have to take very long at all if you can really connect with your coach or instructor. From the first minutes of a lesson, you should be able to implement each suggestion the coach makes and then refine it through error correction.

VI. ATTITUDE

Instructors who are heavily critical and too caught up in their own glory are generally useless. Coaches first need to motivate. That means conveying a really positive attitude.

VII. RESULTS

An instructor shouldn’t be judged on how will he plays, but on how will he gets you to play. Judge a teacher by his product. I’ve never seen  the famous tennis coach Nick Bollettieri play a game, but he has produced Andre Agassi and a swarm of hot new prospects. He and his staff endlessly and selflessly think about the game, think about why the pros hit the ball a certain way, and think about how to get off-the-street students to follow suit.

Carrot, Egg, or Coffee Bean?

Carrot, Egg, or Coffee Bean?

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard  for her.  She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up.  She was tired of fighting and struggling.  It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen.  She filled 3 pots with water and placed each on a high fire.  Soon the pots came to a boil.  In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and in the
last  she placed ground coffee beans.  She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.

In about 20 minutes she turned off the burners.  She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl, and did the same with the eggs.  Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.  Turning to her daughter, she asked, “Tell me what you see.”  “Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots.  She did and noted they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it.  After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.

Finally the mother asked her to sip the coffee.  The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.  The daughter then asked, “What does it mean?”

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water.  Each reacted differently.  The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting.  However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.  The egg had been fragile.
Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water its inside became hardened.  The ground coffee beans were unique, however.  After they were in boiling
water, they had changed the water.
Which are you? She asked her daughter.  When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond?  Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Think of this:   Which am I?  Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat?  Do I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and
stiff?  Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I
tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean?  The coffee bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain.  When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor.  If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation
around you.  When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level?   How do you handle adversity?

Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to
make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to
make you happy.

The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can’t go forward in life until you let go of your past
failures and heartaches.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was
smiling.  Live your life so at the end, you’re the one who is smiling and
everyone around you is crying.

May we all be COFFEE!

 

Ten Ways to get more from the books you read

and the tapes you listen to

by Bryan Daly

SQ3R:  Scan, Question, Read, Re-read- wRite

1      Develop a deep driving desire to master the principles ( for example: Human Nature “How to Win friends and Influence people”)

2      Read each Chapter twice and review main topics

3      As you read stop frequently to ask yourself.  How can I apply these ideas?  Can I restate these ideas?  Did I understand the key points?

4      Underscore and highlight important ideas.  Write notes in the margin

5      Review frequently your notes

6      Apply the ideas quickly and often

7      Make a lively game out of learning.  Involve others

8      Check your progress see where you need to improve

9      Keep notes and how applications of the ideas helped you

10 Teach the ideas to someone else

Knowledge is Power?…. No it’s applied Knowledge

How to Start a Cell Phone Business

How to Start a Cell Phone Business

By Bryan Daly

Did you know that over 75% of all millionaires have one thing in common?

They own their own business.

Since the beginning of time, entrepreneurship has proven to be the best way to secure your financial future. However, you don’t want to jump into just anything. You want to make sure that the opportunity you choose fits in with your lifestyle, your goals and, most of all, provides the potential for having a long term, profitable business.

Looking around, it is pretty obvious where the opportunity for growth and profitability lies and that is with cell phones. In the past, cell phones were regarded as a luxury that only the rich could afford. Today, however, it is a necessity; one that hardly ever faces the chopping block when a person has to make sacrifices in order to stay within their budget. With cell phone technology improving at a crazy pace and integrating all the different parts of a person’s life, it is safe to say that, while no business is 100% guaranteed, it is a good bet that you’ll be around for a long time if you owned your own cell phone business.

There are two ways to start a cell phone business. You can own brick and mortar store or to go virtual and sell cell phones on the internet. Building a storefront cell phone business takes a lot of time and requires a good amount of capital to get started. You will need to find a place for your cell phone business, purchase inventory and hire employees to sell the products. This also greatly increases your on-going expenses and limits the customers to a certain number of miles from your physical location. Because of the expense, you will need to raise money which generally means you’ll end up taking out a bank loan, the repayment of which will only add to your monthly financial responsibilities and eat into your profits.

The most cost effective and profitable way to start a cell phone business, especially if you don’t have a whole lot of money, is to do it on the internet. There are many benefits to starting a your own cell phone business online. The startup costs are significantly less – you be in business for less than $100. You can run the business from home.   And, unlike a brick and mortar store, your website is up and running twenty four hours a day seven days a week and all over the world producing for you.

While you can certainly setup a storefront on the web where you directly sell the phones and service, the best way to start a cell phone business online is to hook up with a home based business that sells cellular services. Going this route offers endless advantages. You don’t have to manage inventory, worry about processing credit applications or deal with shipping the phones to customers. The parent company handles all of that for you as well as set you up with a website and handle the processing of payments. Your main responsibility would be to promote your products, drive traffic to your website and find customers. There are many low to no cost ways of driving traffic, especially if you have marketplace advantages: price service technology etc.

At last count, over 4 billion people had cell phones in the world and that number is only going to increase . It’s a huge marketplace and growing. You don’t have to convince anyone to use it or teach them how to use it.

To learn out how you can cash in on this profitable business visit http://goadn.com and start a cell phone business today.

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Telephone Wars

How VoIP is Knocking Out the TeleComs

Written By Bryan Daly

There is a silent but intense war being waged in the telephone industry; a war whose outcome will dictate the future of telephony. In one corner you have the century old TeleComs struggling to maintain their relevancy in the technological age. In the other corner you have the newcomer VoIP, daughter of the internet and confirmed industry disrupter.  What are they battling over?

Your telephone.

VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is a fairly young technology that allows people to make phone calls over the internet. Since the internet is unmetered, companies like Skype and Vonage are able to charge customers cheaper rates and still provide the same call quality as the traditional telephone companies.

As you can imagine, this is upsetting the TeleComs quite a bit. Telephone companies make their money from the metering of the phone service via the per-minute pricing model. Because VoIP companies generally charge one flat rate for unlimited calling, telephone companies are finding it difficult to compete against what can be considered an almost free, unlimited, calling plan. The ones most threatened by the VoIP companies are the ones who are completely dependent on the metered voice call revenue model.

Mobile phone companies fall into this category and as such are fighting the hardest against MoIP, the mobile version of VoIP. Although they have been working hard to generate income through other venues, such as data services like texting and picture mail, the bulk of their money is made from voice calls. To add insult to injury, many of the cell phone carriers are upgrading to the faster and more reliable 3G network which turns out to be just the thing that will allow MoIP to become a serious competitor in the marketplace.

Until now, being able to provide good call quality at a reasonable price has proven to be a challenge to most MoIP companies.  Although access to MoIP is free if a Wi-Fi connection is available, until now Wi-Fi used to produce low quality calls.

New carriers are emerging like Global Smart Talk and as 3G allows voice and data to be sent through the same channel at high speeds, which  brings  down the price of both services.

Charles Darwin once said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”  With the popularity and pervasiveness of the internet, there really is no question that VoIP and MoIP will replace traditional telephone service. The only questions are when it will happen, who will survive and who will profit.

Some phone companies are embracing the future and are upgrading their networks so they can offer VoIP/MoIP to their existing customers, like the GLOBAL SMART TALK

Only time will tell who ends up on the right side of the future. In the meantime, visit http://goadn.com

to see how one company has managed to overcome the challenges of offering MoIP and are providing unlimited calls and data at reasonable rates.

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The Slight Edge

The Slight Edge Philosophy
by Jeff Olson

(The notes were put up here to encourage you to read the book.  This book has had a huge impact on my thinking and it is a MUST read book.)

When you were a tiny, little child, you made your way around the world on your hands and knees crawling. Everyone around you was walking and one day you got it into your head to give that a try.

So, little by little, you worked on developing the skills you needed to walk. You grabbed on to something above you and pulled yourself upright. You stood up, holding on to a table or chair or big stuffed animal. Wobbly and unsure, you let go, fell down, and tried again and again, until you stood up all by yourself. Then, you took a step.

The older people you watched took one step after another: right foot, left foot, right foot, left …but you managed only one step-and you crashed.

After days of side-stepping around the coffee table, awkwardly bringing one little foot out from behind the other while you held on to Mom’s or Dad’s fingers, you eventually took your first couple of steps… all alone…all by yourself…and (hopefully) to the cheers and applause of your family.

Baby steps. One at a time. And you were WALKING!

IN THE PROCESS OF LEARNING HOW TO WALK, you probably spent more time failing than you did succeeding. But did you ever have the thought of quitting? Did you ever tell yourself, “I’m not cut out for walking-guess I’ll crawl for the rest of my life?” No, of course you didn’t. So, why do you do that now?

What’s different today with any goal you want and desire you have for accomplishing anything? When did you lose the ability to make a goal, go for it, and get it? How come you don’t do what you did when you were one or two years old?

The answer is alarming, yet simple:

Somewhere along the way in your life, you became unwilling to take baby steps. You lost faith in the universal truth that the simple little disciplines done again and again over time would move the mightiest mountains.

Shakespeare said “to climb steep hills requires slow pace at first,” but now you put your trust in achieving breakthroughs…making quantum leaps …instant this, instant that…hitting the lottery. You began a habit of settling for less, just because more was so far out of your reach. You forgot about the most proven, powerful success philosophy on Earth – “The Slight Edge.”

WINNING IS ALWAYS A MATTER OF SLIGHT EDGE. Who can forget that moving moment of triumph in the ‘94 Olympics when American speed-skater Dan Jansen at last overcame years of discouragement, disappointment, and frustration to finally win the gold medal in the 1000 meters, setting a world record of one minute, 12.43 seconds?

Do you know by how much of a margin Jansen won? Do you know what the difference was between the winning world record gold medal and the virtual oblivion of second place?

Twenty-nine hundredths of a second! That’s a very Slight Edge!

No matter where you look, no matter in what area of accomplishment, life, work, or play-the difference between winning and losing, between going down in the record books as first and best…or not at all-the gap that separates success and failure is always measured as … THE SLIGHT EDGE.

And the best news of all is that it’s not just the winning goal that’s THE SLIGHT EDGE. The Slight Edge is the process itself that all winners use to achieve their goals.

A PENNY A DAY, DOUBLED FOR A MONTH… If you were offered $1,000,000 (one million dollars) right now, or a penny a day, doubled each day, for one month, which would you choose? Unless you’ve read this illustration before, like most people, you’ll probably choose the right-now million. But you’d be making the wrong choice. One penny, doubled every day for a month adds up to $10,737,418…and 24cents. Compound interest. Leverage. Doubling. Geometric growth. It all adds up-and that’s YOUR SLIGHT EDGE.

With THE SLIGHT EDGE, time is on your side. What if you gave yourself five years to become twice the person you are today: to earn twice the income, have twice the personal relationships and contacts, make twice the impact on the world, enjoy twice the quality of life? Could you do it? How would you do it?! Ask yourself honestly, “If I doubled my efforts …if I had twice as much time…if I became twice as smart.. if I worked twice as hard as I do today …could I really become twice as productive as I am right now? No, you couldn’t, and you know it. But wait! There is a way to become two, three, four, and more times as productive as you are today. THE SLIGHT EDGE.

IF YOU WERE TO IMPROVE just .003 each day- that’s only 3/10 of one percent, a very Slight Edge-and you kept that up for the next five years, here’s what would happen to you:

The first year, you would improve 100 percent (you would already be twice what you are today The second, you would improve 200 percent. The third year, 400 percent. And the fourth, 800 percent. And by the end of year five-by simply improving 3/10 of one percent each day-you will have magnified your value, your skills, and the results you accomplished 1,600 percent. That’s 22 times more than you are today.

Just 3/10 of one percent per day-and that’s NOT compounded. That’s just adding on 3/10 of one percent each day. That’s the awesome power of The Slight Edge. If all of this is so, then why isn’t everybody using The Slight Edge? We are. All the time. Everyone. The Slight Edge is always operating. It never stops. It’s either working FOR you or AGAINST you. And that’s up to you. It’s your choice.

THE SLIGHT EDGE IS EASY TO DO and

IT IS EASY NOT TO DO.

Now, I’m defining EASY here as simply “something you can do.” The Slight Edge philosophy is based on doing things that are easy-little disciplines, which, done consistently over time, add up to the biggest accomplishments. The problem is that all those things that are easy to do are just as easy not to do. Why is something easy not to do? Because if you don’t do it, it won’t kill you today. But, that simple, seemingly insignificant error in judgment, compounded over time, will kill you, destroy you, ruin your chances for success, and demolish your dreams. You can count on it.

Take, for example, the health issue of fat and cholesterol in your diet. Would you say that it’s a good idea to eat at least a pound and a half of butter each day? How about drinking a quart of saturated oil? “Hey, my cholesterol’s way down to 200-got to get it up above 300.” Crazy, right? Sure it is-but millions and millions of people are doing it every day. Why? We know what’s good for us: fresh fruit and vegetables, complex carbohydrates like whole grains, unsaturated fats and oils, fish and chicken instead of beef. So why do we keep digging our graves with our teeth? It’s easy to eat well-right? It’s easy not to-right? And when you eat that hamburger, you won’t die, will you? No, of course not. But that simple error in judgment compounded over time will ruin the quality of your life and eventually take you out of your life forever!

If you ate that hamburger and you had a heart attack-would you ever eat another one? No way! Eating a hamburger won’t kill you today, but compound all those greasy, dead-animal patties over 10 or 20 years-as many as 5,000 of them!-and one day your clogged-up, stressed- out, overworked ol’ heart just quits! It’s not the one hamburger, it’s the thousands! That one hamburger is just a simple, little error in judgment. But compounded over time, it can and will destroy you. It’s easy to do! It’s easy not to do! Either way, The Slight Edge is at work and at play. You’ve got to choose which way to go with The Slight Edge. And here is what makes doing the right thing such a hard choice for most people-

THE ODDS ARE NOT IN YOUR FAVOR!

DID YOU KNOW that only five percent of people succeed and 95 percent of the people fail, no matter what realm of life or work you’re looking at. It’s true. Just one out of 20 people will ever achieve their goals in life. That’s how the numbers crunch out; it’s just the way it is. Back in the early 1950s, the Hartford Insurance Company did a survey of 100 brand new college graduates-all approximately 25 years old. They asked them this question:

“Will you achieve your financial goals within your working lives-within 40 years?” Every single one of them answered, “Yes!” Forty years later, in the early 1990s, the Hartford went back and checked out what had happened to all those now-65-years-old people. Here’s what they found:

One was wealthy, Four were financially secure, Six were still working, 35 were dead, and 54 were “dead broke,” having $200 or less left to spend each month after paying off their bills.

Five out of 100 had become successful. That’s only one out of 20. Why? What was missing for those 95 others? The answer has to do with GRAVITY-and the downward pull of life. REMEMBER WHEN YOU WERE in the fourth grade? It was expected that you’d graduate and go on to fifth grade, wasn’t it? Your teachers, your parents, and all your classmates expected you to graduate. The whole system was geared to you moving from fourth, to fifth, to sixth grade and so on.

But what if nobody cared whether or not you graduated? What if the entire educational system, our society, and culture had absolutely no interest or expectation that kids would ever graduate to fifth grade? Would you have done it? If the structure were not in place for children to learn all the fourth grade stuff and pass the test, graduating and moving up to the new challenges of fifth grade, only five percent of us would ever do it! Ask yourself this question: Where is the expectation and the structure to support me in being a success in my life and work? The alarming fact is that outside of our formal system of education, which most experts believe to be fatally flawed anyway, there is no expectation and no structure for your success-none. We get what we expect-and only five percent of us ever expects to win and keep on expecting that. Plus, we have no structure, no system to support us succeeding in life. Isn’t that heavy? Well, life is heavy. And it’s heavy because the predominant force in life is gravity and it’s always pulling us DOWN. It pulls 19 out of 20 people DOWN.

The Slight Edge is a success system ANYONE can use to break free of the downward pull of life and become the best you can be. Here’s how you can make it work for you- FIRST, DON’T GO “WHERE THE ACTION IS!” Here’s a chart you’ve probably seen before:

ACTIONS > RESULTS> QUALITY OF LIFE

Your ACTIONS create your RESULTS, which in turn create the QUALITY OF LIFE you live and enjoy. Simple, powerful, and true. The problem is, your actions are not the source of your problem. That’s why diets don’t work. You see, there’s another side to the equation, and that’s the place where your actions come from.

Take a look at this:

ATTITUDE > Actions > Results > Quality of Life

Your actions are created by your attitudes-but attitudes aren’t the heart of the matter, either. There is one thing more fundamental and essential …Your Philosophy. Your philosophy is your paradigm of the way life is, how life works (or doesn’t), and what’s the best way to live your life. Simply put, there’s nothing more fundamental than your philosophy. Frank Lloyd Wright said this:

No stream rises higher than its source. Whatever man might build could never express or reflect more than he was… He could record neither more nor less than he had learned of life when the buildings were built… His philosophy, true or false, is there.

Human beings are builders by nature. Your philosophy is the foundation upon which you build your life. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ spoke of The Two Foundations. The Master spoke of a wise man who built his house upon the rock:

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock.

And Christ told of another man-a “foolish man”-who built his house on sand:

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and burst against that house; and it fell and great was its fall.

Your philosophy is the source of your failure or success. And the philosophy I recommend you adopt is The Slight Edge.

PHILOSOPHY > Attitude > Actions > Results > Quality of Life

WHAT DO YOU THINK is the key that unlocks The Slight Edge?

When I ask this question in seminars and training, here’s the answer I get back most often: “The key is knowledge.” To a point, that’s correct. But there’s more. Educating yourself is the critical ingredient in The Slight Edge philosophy. You must acquire the knowledge you need to master any subject, and pursuit that will contribute to your personal and professional growth and development.

There are three ways for you to get this knowledge:

1) Studied Knowledge
2) Activity Knowledge
3) Modeled Knowledge

STUDIED KNOWLEDGE.

Books, tapes, seminars, training; read, listen, and attend everything you can; then, read, listen, and attend some more…study. READ 20 PAGES OF AN INSPIRING, INFORMATION – RICH BOOK EVERY DAY. Pick books that make a contribution to your goals. You’re either building someone else’s dream or building your own. When you read romance, mystery, or detective novels, whose dream are you building-yours, or the author’s and publisher’s? When you read Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich-a book that took 20 years to write, that interviews the richest and most successful men and women in the world and reveals their 13 success secrets-whose dream are you building? Read 20 pages per day of an empowering book. Is that easy to do? Sure. And that simple discipline compounded over time, like a penny doubled daily for a month, will send you to the top! Is it easy not to do? SURE. And if you don’t do it, will you destroy your life and work today? No way. But that simple error in judgment, compounded over time, will pull you down and take you out of your life!

Listen to a self-improvement cassette tape for 15 minutes every day. You can listen to music on the radio in your car, building Michael Jackson’s dream or Barbara Streisand’s. Why not choose instead to build your own dreams? Listen to Jim Rohn’s tapes. He’s a master-and he’ll help you build YOUR dreams. Is listening to a tape for 15 minutes a day easy to do? Of course. Is it easy not to do?…And if you don’t do it, will that ruin your life right now?…

Do a self-improvement seminar or training every few months.

Better yet, do one every month. Take a course. Take two. If you don’t have the time to do that, because you’re playing softball every Tuesday and Thursday night, you just don’t get it! If your bowling average is over 180-you’re losing your Edge, right now! Skip the bowling league. Take a class instead. Is that easy to do?… Is it easy not to do?…And if you don’t do it, what will happen today?… But that simple error in judgment, compounded over time WILL kill you! You’ll end up a willing participant in the “conspiracy of mediocrity” that ’s destroying 95 percent of the people in this country!

ACTIVITY KNOWLEDGE.

Life is not a spectator sport-fish or cut bait. Lead, follow, or get out of the way. And life is not a result, either. Life is not the goal-it’s the PROCESS. The road to success is always under construction. Marx was wrong: Life is both the ends and the means. Emerson said, “Do the thing and you’ll have the power.” You can’t just go get the power and then do the thing. The only way to have the power is to do it, just do it. People constantly ask me for the key to success. “What’s the one thing I can do to guarantee my success?” My answer is always the same: Be here- actively immersed in the process-one year from now. That’s the right answer-don’t you agree? It’s The Slight Edge answer. Commit to the process. The process is THE SLIGHT EDGE. Is it easy to do?… Is it easy not to do?

MODELED KNOWLEDGE.

Did you know that your income will tend to be the average of your ten best friends’ incomes? (If having more income is a goal of yours, either get new friends or raise the income of the friends you have now!) If you want to raise the quality of your life, hang out with people who have been there and done that. If you want to be a great public speaker, hang out with great speakers. If you want to be a success in business, hang around successful business people. If you want to be a terrific parent, spend lots of time with men and women who have mastered parenting. Do you know why birds of a feather flock together? Because they’re all going in the same direction. They share a common vision. If you’re after a goal-any goal-go find the people who have achieved that goal, or who are well along the path to attaining that goal, and be with them, hang out with them, camp on their doorstep. It’s called the Law of Association. It’s a Law because it always works. The first commandment of The Slight Edge:

Thou shalt educate thyself.

Is it easy to do? Is it easy not to do? And if you don’t do it, will you fail today? But that simple error in judgment, compounded over time, will ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, GUARANTEE YOUR FAILURE! LEARNING TO LEARN is committing to the process. The Slight Edge is the process.

“The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn.” -Carl Rogers Freedom

To make The Slight Edge work for you, you must learn how to learn.

Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock, wrote:

“Learning is an approach, both to knowledge and to life, that emphasizes human initiative. It encompasses the acquisition and practice of new methodologies, new skills, new attitudes, and new values necessary to live in a world of change. Learning is a process of preparing to deal with new situations.”

Clearly, we live in a world of change. Constant change. Rapid change. Today, we accomplish in five years what our grandparents and parents took 50 years to do. And everything’s getting faster! Learning to learn is a mandatory for success today-and especially for tomorrow. Learning to learn is committing to the process. The Slight Edge is the process. Learning to learn is a choice. You make that choice moment to moment-not just once and then you’re done with it for the rest of your life. Each new moment will present you with a new choice. Choose to read 20 pages a day-and you’ll have to make that choice every day. Choose to model and associate with winners-and you’ll have to make that choice every day as well. You have to choose to make The Slight Edge work for you-moment to moment.

IS IT EASY TO DO?

IS IT EASY NOT TO DO?