amp,#34,Nothing,Secret,Anymore business, insurance "Nothing is Secret Anymore!" - The Confessio

Small offices have unique needs, and thatincludes document shredding. Designed with the smaller business inmind, the Dahle 20314 is a cross-cut shredder that offers Level 3security and brings you into compliance with federal regulations. The As we all know to live in this world we have to perform some activity by which we can earn money. There are many activities by which we can earn money and meet the standards to live in this society. And from one of them is franchise.  Franc

Information is the currency of today's world. Those who controlinformation are the most powerful people on the planet - and theones with the most bulging bank accounts. The timely delivery of vital information is one of the most lucrative businesses you can have in this new millennium. I should know. I started one of the most successful information brokerage businesses in the country. I'm also perhaps theworld's most well known information broker, and I've mademillions of dollars from doing it, and I'm going to show youhow to easily do the same. Let me backtrack a little bit. All my life I wanted to start my own business. I didn't carewhat it was - I just wanted to learn how to feed myself and notwork for someone else. I even considered selling hot dogs onthe mall near the Washington Monument. I just wanted to be myown boss. Sound familiar? I had a string of failed businesses before I hit the big time. It was while working as a computer administrator of a travelcompany that I learned something that changed my whole life. The hot shots that ran the company fascinated me. They werepowerful individuals who discussed, negotiated and executed bigdeals all the time. In order to get in on some of that wheelingand dealing, I'd hang around late at night when they had theirmeetings, and volunteer to get coffee and doughnuts, do theXeroxing -- do anything to try to learn how to be like them. One day, they came into my office and asked me - not to getcoffee - but to get information on how good or bad the rentalcar business was. It seems they were considering making a bidto acquire Avis Rent-A-Car, and needed some good marketinformation to go along with the financial statements they wereporing over. I, of course, said "Yes, yes, yes!" I was their"yes man," even though I knew nothing about the rental carbusiness and had no idea where I was going to get thisinformation. Well, I wanted to do this so badly I could almost taste it. This was one giant step up from coffee and Xeroxing that luckypeople are offered once in a lifetime, and I didn't want to blowit. I saw myself as a young turk on the way up the ladder ofsuccess. But I didn't have a clue where to go for theinformation. I sat in my little office wondering if I could make the grade. I sat there staring at my desk hoping something would pop intomy head and give me the magic answer. I stared at the telephoneand then picked it up thinking: "Here I am in Washington D.C. needing to know about the rentalcar business. Who can I call? Why not the government? I passall those big buildings everyday on the way to work. Maybesomeone there can help me." Well, it worked! By starting with the government informationoperator, I was able to work my way through a dozen more callsand referrals until I finally found an expert in the rental carbusiness. It turned out to be a man who used to be thepresident of Hertz and was now in Washington - and bored out ofhis mind with his government job. He actually invited me tolunch so he could tell me everything he knew. I was shocked! I couldn't believe that in 45 minutes on the telephone, I couldlocate a real expert who was willing to tell me everything Ineeded to know about the rental car business. And, he evenwanted to take me to lunch! Afterwards, I was so excited about the information I had justreceived that I burst into a meeting my boss was having with hishotshot merger and acquisition buddies. He was eager to heareverything I learned from my lunch right then and there. They were blown away. They couldn't believe that a young turklike me, who didn't know anyone, could get such information thatwe had all assumed was privileged and confidential. I got more excited about the information I dug up on the rentalcar business than with any program I ever wrote for the company. I knew then that information was power. I also knew then thatthere was immense value in delivering timely information ondemand. I was hooked. I started a new business obtaining informationfor people on anything they needed. I became a consultant topeople in the merger and acquisition business, and I got all theinformation they needed to make their business a success -information they were unable to find themselves. This time, success finally happened. The business grew fromjust me, a telephone, and a desk in my one-bedroom apartment toover 30 employees and a million and a half dollars in sales in alittle more than 3 years. Even after a string of failingbusinesses, I finally realized my first success, and I'll showhow you can do it, too. How to Create Money Out of Thin Air What I learned early on is that you can literally takeinformation that is free to obtain, but oftentimes hard for theaverage person to find - turn around and sell it for big bucks. All it requires is a little resourcefulness, and the knowledgeof where to find the information that is sellable. There's nothing to it. These are the only things you need: 1) Believe the notion that we live in an information society,and if you're willing to make a few necessary calls (ore-mails), you can gather information on almost anything - andmake that information sellable. 2) You need to know where to look for the information. Although there are countless sources of information, if you donothing else but tap into the world's largest source of freeinformation, you can find virtually everything that you need. That source is the U.S. Government. [I've spent 25 years of mylife as an information broker, and I have yet to find a sourceof information more comprehensive than the U.S. Government.] Do you want to get an idea of just how vast the government'sinformation reserve is? If you took all the major commercial publishers in the UnitedStates, they collectively produce 50,000 new titles in all thelibraries and bookstores around the country in a single year. In contrast, one single publisher in the government (theNational Technical Information Service) publishes over 100,000titles a year. Multiply that by the number of governmentagencies that produce information, and the amount of informationbecomes absolutely staggering! The range of subjects on which you can find information is alsomind-boggling: The government not only counts people, thenumber of jelly beans manufactured in the country, toiletsinstalled, and how many potatoes grown; but also givesinvestment trends and opportunities likely to show up in theWall Street Journal in weeks; it also answers any legal questionbetter than the highest paid lawyer. There are 700,000government experts in any field you can imagine, who will giveyou free information simply because you asked. How to Use the Information You Gather: 1) Find customers who need, and are willing to pay for,specialized information. Position yourself as someone who knowshow to find information on practically everything, but do narrowdown the types of information you can get for your customers'specific needs. That way, you zero in with the precision of asharpshooter, instead of just firing a shotgun that goes in alldirections. As an information broker, always remember what Willy Sutton saidwhen asked why he robbed banks. He said, "Because that's wherethe money is." You need to live by the same slogan if you wantto stay in business. Choose the path of least resistance. Choose a customer base that consists of rich people or bigcompanies that have money to spend on finding out how they canget richer -- and are willing and able to spend it. 2) Gather specialized information that would be of greatinterest to a specific business sector (example: Internetmarketers). Position yourself as an expert on a particularsubject, then write in-depth special reports that feature thespecialized information you found, package them in an e-book,and make them available to Internet marketers for a fee. As analternative, you may also create a newsletter that regularlyupdates the specialized information - and make money on the paidsubscriptions. More and more businesses are realizing the value of having goodinformation for good decision-making. Whether big or small, abusiness can't succeed today unless it keeps up on the latestinformation. What kind of information do businesses need? They needinformation on their markets, their competition, technology,money sources and regulations, for starters. Develop asensitivity to the needs of your prospects by asking themdirectly what they need. From that, you can determine the kindof information that would best satisfy their needs. Here's a useful tip: You'd do well to develop a 'hook." A"hook" is a marketing term that makes it easier for people topurchase your services. It's taking the situation I mentionedearlier about "knowing how to find information about practicallyanything" and refining it down to a specialty. If youspecialize is some interesting aspect of the informationbrokerage industry, it's easier to attract your prospects'attention. Define your niche by identifying the customer group that youspecialize in helping: small businesses, or non-profitorganizations. Or, you can define it by the area of informationyou want to deal with, such as health information, companyinformation, or international information. Another way you candescribe your business is by the medium of the information youwant to provide, such as: only database searches, only documentretrieval, or only interviewing industry experts. I was fortunate enough to have started in Washington D.C., whereI developed the hook of government information. It gave me aninstant edge over my competitors, even though I had no moreexperience gathering information then they did. To make a longstory short, the government information I've amassed over theyears have earned me a coveted position of being a New YorkTimes syndicated columnist, and I've even authored two New YorkTimes best-sellers featuring information that I've obtained forfree. I have also been privileged to be regularly featured asthe nation's top expert on government information on TV programssuch as Larry King, Oprah, David Letterman, Jay Leno, the TodayShow and Good Morning America. The key to becoming a successful information broker is be thefirst to find the information, and deliver it on a timely basisto those who want it. Then sit back and watch the money appearout of thin air! Article Tags: Information Broker, Rentalcar Business, Find Information, Government Information