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PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS! #RT
You should be alert during the next few days. Do not open any message with an attachment entitled ‘POSTCARD FROM HALLMARK,’regardless of who sent it to you. It is a virus which opens A POSTCARD IMAGE, which ‘burns’ the whole hard disc C of your computer.
This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list. This is the reason why you need to send this e-mail to all your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it.
If you receive a mail called’ POSTCARD,’ even though sent to you by a friend, do not open it! Shut down your computer immediately. This is the worst virus announced by CNN.
It has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever. This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus. This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept.
COPY THIS E-MAIL, AND SEND IT TO YOUR FRIENDS.
REMEMBER: IF YOU SEND IT TO THEM, YOU WILL BENEFIT ALL OF US
How a $400 Million Opportunity was Lost
Before I became a marketing consultant I was an electrical engineer…actually still am.
In the mid 80’s I was asked to help automate Apple’s manufacturing plant in Carrollton, Texas. I was part of a team of 12 engineers and a number of sub-contractors that created the most automated factory in the U.S. at that time. The factory could produce 1,500 computers per day with only six people. Almost all of the work was handled by robots, conveyors, computer controlled pallet storage and computer controlled forklifts.
Apple quietly shut the factory down before it went online. We designed the factory to build 1,500 computers a day and Apple was only selling 600 per week of the model were to originally produce at this factory. For accounting reasons this automated factory was shut down.
During the one year project I became friends with a number of the sub-contractors. After the factory was shut down, I received a call from a group of the sub-contractors who had an appointment with General Dynamics to pitch them on automating some of their factories. They wanted me to handle the data networking for the factories and join them in their first sales call.
A week later, four of us piled into a car and drove from Dallas to Fort Worth for the presentation. All of us were geeks and did very little sales preparation although one guy did have a PowerPoint presentation. I suggested we ask questions to find out what they wanted.
The four hour meeting went horribly wrong. The main speaker for our group talked about what we did, how we did it and went on and on for three and a half hours. You could see the General Dynamics’ folks wearing down and then one of them announced they had to go. We pleaded with him to stay for 30 more minute and we finally let them talk and asked what they wanted us to do for them.
They explained there was a new government program that would provide up to $8 million in funding per manufacturing plant in automation if the plant would pass on a portion of the savings onto the government. Their problem was they didn’t know how to put together Request for Proposals (RFPs) for the factory automation projects. They had 48 factories between themselves and their sub-contractors that qualified for the program. That’s nearly $400 million in possible factory automation projects.
To my horror our spokesman started saying we would be happy to bid on the automation portion but weren’t interested in the consulting part. The ride home was a heated debate where I demanded, pleaded, and begged them to take on the consulting portion. I knew that the chances were quite high of whoever prepared the RFP to land the implementation. They wanted nothing to do with it. They were in the factory automation business, not in the consulting business.
To my horror, they called them the next day and turned down the RFP consulting job.
I could not believe they turned down the RFP development consulting project because they wanted to factory automation and not consulting.
They never did land the automation of a single one of the 48 factories.
This was a classic example of missing out on Acres of Diamonds.
What I’ve found is that often, Acres of Diamonds, don’t show up just like you would like to at first. You often have to do something else first.
What golden opportunities have you passed up because it didn’t look exactly like you wanted?
What opportunities are staring you right in the face but don’t look exactly like what you want?
Just like my friend who turned a hobby into a publishing empire, it didn’t look like Acres of Diamonds for the first two years when he published his free newsletter at his expense. See Hobby Turned to Business.
Had we taken the RFP consulting contract, we probably would have earned $150,000 in consulting fees and would almost certainly have landed one or more of the 48 automation projects at $8 million each.
I’m not suggesting you abandon your dream, I’m suggesting that you may have a step or two that needs to be handled before your dream opportunity can be realized.
One of Murphy’s laws is: “before you do something you have to do something else first.” That isn’t always that bad and the end results can be spectacular.
What are your Acres of Diamonds?
About the Author
Dan Swanson is an Internet marketing consultant, who systematically increases qualified traffic and improves conversions of visitors to customers for client’s websites. For more information on his Internet marketing consulting services visit http://www.iq2.com.
Have A Wonderful Christmas And Prosperity In The New Year
With the festive season upon us and as we begin to welcome the New Year, we take this opportunity to thank all our partners, subscribers, and site visitors for contributing to our success during 2008.
Christmas is a time of good cheer, a time for reflection, a time for giving and a time for sharing.
So remember while December,
Brings the only Christmas day.
In the year let there be Christmas,
In the things you do and say.
Warmest Christmas greetings,
Are being sent your way.
Using FIND THAT MONEY for Investment Funding
From a rich historical beginning, angel investors have become a valuable part of the investment world. As entrepreneurs search for investment funding, angel investors provide the capital needed to bring many people’s dreams to fruition. Because it is the world’s largest investment network, FIND THAT MONEY is an invaluable source of information, eliminating the need to use an exhaustive search for precious investment funding from angel investors or other venture capitalists.
Using FIND THAT MONEY to Create Joint Ventures
Joint ventures provide a unique and valuable business opportunity for both entrepreneurs and investors. With a wealth of potential benefits and limited drawbacks, this investment strategy can be a win-win for all business partners involved. FIND THAT MONEY offers the ideal location for entrepreneurs and investors to connect and create opportunities like joint ventures.
Business benefits of a joint venture
When a joint venture is formed via FIND THAT MONEY, the resulting partnership has a number of very attractive benefits. In addition to the benefit that the extra cash can provide to a startup or expansion, joint ventures can have other positive effects on a business: