Last week I wrote a short report which hopefully opened your eyes to the HUGE amount of opportunities around you every single day…
Opportunities that YOU could make money from if only you knew how to spot them.
Well, in today’s report I’m going to teach you why you cannot spot them and how to begin the process of seeing money making opportunities everywhere.
Let’s begin…
At rest your brain consumes 20% of the oxygen you breathe and 20% of the calories you burn. That’s at rest. When you actually do some serious thinking that goes up. Chess masters, for example, have been known to sweat 7-10 lbs of fluid during a 2 hour period.
Because of this the brain has developed a number of different energy saving devices to cut down the amount of thinking you have to do on a daily basis.
One energy saving device is called the Reticular Activating System, or RAS.
Every second your brain is taking in tens of millions of pieces of information at once. Colours, objects, movement, smells, sounds etc are all noticed by your brain. But it would be impossible for you to consciously take note of every single thing you see, hear and smell in your day to day life.
So in order to save energy the RAS processes what has value to you out of the millions of pieces of information coming at you every second in your environment. It automatically filters what is important into your conscious thought and ignores what it believes is unimportant or filters it into your sub conscious mind for use later.
One energy saving device the brain developed is called the Reticular Activating System, or RAS. The RAS is a function of the brain that processes what has value to you out of the millions of pieces of information coming at you every second in your environment. It automatically filters what is important into your conscious thought and ignores what it believes is unimportant.
In other words your brain purposely notices and ignores information depending on whether or not it thinks the information will be of any use to you.
Stick with me here because this is life changing.
Once your brain has decided what is important to you it will start to filter those important things into your conscious awareness any time it sees/hears/feels them.
Here are some examples of the RAS in action that you may have experienced:
- You’re in a pub or at a party and your chatting away to the person in front of you. You’re completely immersed in what they are saying. As they are speaking you suddenly hear your name being mentioned by another group at the party. Before your name was mentioned you were not consciously aware of their conversation. As soon as you hear your name though your brain says “Ay up, this could be important” and brings the sound of their conversation from the unconscious bits of information it is processing into the conscious. This is the RAS in action.
- You decide you want to buy a red Mercedes. All of a sudden you start spotting red Mercedes everywhere and cannot believe you did not spot them before. It’s not that you did not spot them before. It’s that they did not have a value or meaning to you before. Once you consciously decided you want to buy a red Mercedes your brain knows to bring them into conscious awareness.
- You and your partner are having a chat one night and she throws in a joking remark “maybe we should have a baby”. She’s testing the waters to see your reaction. You agree and you both laugh and hug and say things like “Oh my God we’re going to try for a baby? We’re going to try for a baby!” (NB. I have only seen this in films so I am assuming this is how it happens 🙂 ). The thing is once you decide to have a baby you start to see pregnant women everywhere! You start to see baby ads on TV all the time. You start to notice nappies in Tescos as you do the weekly grocery shop. Why? Because now it means something to you. Your RAS brings this information into conscious awareness.
Did you take the awareness test last week? If not do so now. It will be an eye opener. Do it before you continue.
How did you get on?
Spot the gorilla first time round?
Probably not. For the simple reason your brain wasn’t looking for it. Your brain didn’t even know there was going to be a gorilla let alone that it had any value. So it chose to ignore it and concentrate what it thought did have value which was counting the basketball passes.
Some people would say “Well, I just wasn’t paying any attention to it. That’s why I didn’t spot it”. Same difference. If you (or in truth your unconscious mind which runs you) does not know how or why it needs to look out for something it just won’t see it. It will be filtered away with the millions of pieces of information your brain is processing at every second.
The bottom line is this. Your brain will bring things that have value to you into your conscious awareness. Things that it does not believe have value to you it will filter away in the unconscious.
This is scientific fact. But what does it have to do with making money?
EVERYTHING!
A Lifetime Of Missed Opportunities
Now here’s the exciting (and a little sad) thing about the RAS and the human brains ability to filter out what has no value to you…
…If you understand how to make money from ideas….and if your brain becomes consciously aware of how to spot them….you will see ideas for businesses, products and services….everywhere! Now I know that sounds like wishy-washy B.S. but I’m going to prove it to you in this report.
I am often asked how I have so many ideas for products and businesses…
I’m involved in ventures online and offline. And at least 3 times a week I have an idea for a new product or service. People praise me for being a ‘genius’ and a ‘guru’ for coming up with so many new ideas. But, and keep this to yourself, I’m not either. I’ve simply gone through some rough times which helped me to understand how the human mind works.
You see, for a number of years in my life I was a socially anxious wreck. I would study peoples’ reactions when I was out in public to see if they thought I was silly. I’d look at peoples faces and if they looked in my direction and laughed I’d feel myself go bright red. Even if my logical brain told me they were in conversation with the person next to them and laughing at the conversation and not me, I still felt like they were laughing at me because I had a funny walk or something.
Years later after overcoming my social anxiety I wanted to look into this more closely. I hired a therapist for 2 hours and grilled her about why I did such a thing. Was there a logical reason, or was I just crazy at that point in my life? She told me about the RAS. Because I was concerned about what people thought of me my brain ensured I noticed things like people looking in my direction and especially things like people laughing in my direction. That had value to me so even in a packed shopping centre I’d spot it.
I remember leaving the therapists all those years ago thinking “Blimey. I could apply that to business”. So off I went and researched all about the human brain, creativity, innovation and much more.
The result? I have created over a dozen products all of which have made tens of thousands in days. My ideas have generated well over seven figures. I also see ideas for products, business partnerships and services bloomin’ everywhere. It’s both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because no matter what happens in the economy or any changes in online marketing or anything like that – I’ll always make money. Always. Because ideas are what make businesses money. And with the right strategy you can turn your ideas into money in a very cool way.
The job of this report is to switch on your RAS so that your brain starts to notice profitable ideas everywhere. It’s easier than you may think…
Opportunity Spotting – A Fun Game Anyone Can Play
Here’s the thing. The vast majority of business owners DON’T have their opportunity spotting RAS switched on. That’s because they are so focused on the day to day running of their business, paying staff, keeping check of stock, getting visitors to their web site etc that they miss what is right in front of them. The obvious. The equivalent of the moonwalking gorilla in that awareness test.
You see it’s not just about thinking “right, I want to see business ideas that can make me money” and then they magically appear. Your brain has to know what to look for. Once it does it will start to spot things. The problem is business owners don’t know what to look for. At the mo neither do you. So let’s change that shall we 🙂
In the last report I told you about what marketing legend Jay Abraham says are the only 3 ways to grow a business.
1. Get more clients
2. Sell them more products/services
3. Sell them more products/services at higher prices.
Most businesses usually focus on number one, getting more clients. Online people strive to build email lists into the tens of thousands and constantly add new people to their lists. Yet they don’t promote (or learn how to promote properly) to their current email lists to sell their clients more products/services and sell them more at higher prices (which is the easiest way to grow a business).
One of the most common mistakes I see everywhere, online and off, is people selling a service to a customer….and missing the opportunity to sell the customer more products or services that compliment the sale. Instead they focus on getting more clients. This means they are missing out on HUGE amounts of profits.
Let me give you an example of what I mean….
Let’s say there is a hypnotist who helps people to stop smoking in his hypnotherapy practise. People come to him and over a period of four weeks he helps them to stop. It costs £25 a session. So he makes £100 a client (obviously not all clients would go to all 4 sessions but I’m keeping this example easy to understand). That’s the maximum he can make from that client for that service. If his RAS isn’t switched on he is missing the opportunity to offer something else. Something that isn’t directly related to stopping smoking but is complimentary to such a service.
Do you know what it is?
Have a think. What else would someone who has just stopped smoking possibly want?
Well there a few things. But if I were to speak to a hypnotist in this position I’d say….
“Why not set up a deal with a local dentist who offers teeth whitening services? Encourage the person you have helped to stop smoking to get their teeth whitened as a) it will help them look better and b) psychologically it will improve their chances of not smoking again as they won’t want to yellow their gnashers! You could get paid a fee by the dentist for business you send their way”. This could improve his profits without spending a penny extra.
A pretty irresistible offer for both him AND the dentist.
If the hypnotist owned an online business rather than an offline one and sold an ebook for $20 to help people stop smoking he could promote teeth whitening products to people who bought his ebook. Let’s take a look at how this could transform his business…
If he sold just the ebook, and it sold for $20, that is the maximum amount of money he can generate from every customer who buys from his site.
But let’s say that everyone who buys a stop smoking ebook from him is offered a $50 teeth whitening kit. It’s a product that compliments their purchase. Well now he has the chance to make $70 from one customer rather than just $20. And in my experience (and the experience of others) between 20-40% of people will buy an “upsell” offer. Why? Because they are in the buyers mindset. (NB. That is a statistic for online marketing).
Now let’s say his stop smoking web site sells the $20 ebook to 10,000 customers a year. If he does not have any upsells in place he could be losing out on 2000 x $50 up to 4000 x $50 in upsell revenue for one upsell alone. That’s $100,000 to $200,000 in lost profits from a simple system that would take a few hours to implement. He doesn’t even need to own the teeth whitening service he promotes to the ebook customers. They can promote something as an affiliate to all their customers.
And that, dear reader, is where you come in.
You see there is a fortune to be made by connecting two businesses together to improve both of their businesses. This is the broker position. And once you know how this is done, and are trained in how to spot these opportunities, well the world really is your oyster. Because they are everywhere. And because most people can’t spot these opportunities they will pay handsomely for those who can. It can be you who they pay!
The First Step
The first step in switching on your RAS for such opportunities is pretty simple. For the next week I want you to be consciously aware EVERY time you buy something. EVERY TIME. It won’t be easy but try to keep track. You will start to see a pattern. The pattern is that nearly every time a purchase is made there is something else that can be offered. This is called an ‘upsell’.
For example:
- You’ll pull into the petrol garage, fill up your car, go in to pay for the petrol….and end up buying a car air freshener they have on the counter as well (upsell)
- You’ll go into a coffee shop, order a coffee….and order a cake as well(upsell)
- You’ll buy a piece of computer software….and then get offered the “platinum” version for an extra £20 (upsell)
- You’ll buy a piece of music on Itunes and notice they offer you other pieces of music by the same artist or similar artists (upsell)
- You’ll go into a men’s clothes shop to buy a shirt…and notice they have boxer shorts and socks by the counter (upsell) (most guys don’t go out to buy boxer shorts and socks because they are not exciting enough. It’s an afterthought. Hence why it is by the till)
The famous story of an upsell is McDonalds. They were doing ok business wise but then one simple phrase put their profits through the roof….
“Do you want fries with that?”
If someone went in and asked for a burger – “do you want fries with that?”
If someone went in and asked for a coke – “do you want fries with that?”
If someone went in and asked for fries – “do you want fries with that?”
I jest about the last one of course but you get the idea.
Incidentally do you know why McDonald’s fries are so salty? It makes you thirsty. Which makes you want a drink. Which makes you buy a drink with them. Which increases their profits. Clever buggers.
Let’s take a look at a visual example of how Amazon do it. I’ve gone to Amazon and decided to buy a blender…
I do a search and click on one of the listings…
I like what I see so I decide to buy it. I add it to my basket…
…and Amazon offer me other related items to buy!
They show you products “Frequently Bought Together With The Item You Added” and products “Customers Who Shopped For The Item You Added Also Shopped For”. I can guarantee if Amazon did not do this there profits would be a fraction of what they are now.
Why do they do this? Because upselling is an age old proven system for increasing profits. The customer has decided to spend money and therefore it is much easier to sell to them once they have bought something rather than trying to make the initial first sale (this is a fascinating subject in itself all about how the mind likes to ‘close loops’. But I won’t go into that here).
ALL the big companies use upselling to increase their profits. It’s everywhere. But the majority of small businesses and small web sites don’t do it. They don’t realise that if they offered other complimentary products or services to their customers that a lot of them would buy! It represents a huge opportunity for people like you and I who are clued up.
So how could you make money from being able to recognise these opportunities? Here’s a handful of ways….
- Become An Offline JV Broker. Offline there are businesses who need help. Small business owners who would dearly love to increase their business but just don’t know how. Their RAS for this kind of thing is not switched on. They are focusing on getting more clients – not what other products or services they could offer to their clients. You can make money by finding other products or services and offering it to their clients. And no, you don’t need a product or service of your own. You find another company who has that product or service who would also like to increase their profits – and you bring them together in a cool way (which I will teach you).
- Become An Online JV Broker. Online the same concept applies. You find web sites that are not making the most of their web site visitors and customers and you find products/services that should be being offered to their customers but are not. You introduce the two in a very cool way and get paid for it
- Become An Idea Consultant. Business and web site owners who want to increase their profits can pay you handsomely to generate ideas for upsells and joint ventures for their business. Or you can get a percentage of the increase in profits.
- Licence Ideas. I developed an email marketing system that generated tens of thousands in hours. I put it all into a book and DVD and it sold by the truckload making me hundreds of thousands in hands free commissions. If you see a way one dentist, for example, can increase their business you can licence the idea to other dentists. Licencing ideas can make you a fortune!
They are just four ways you can make money from spotting the opportunity for upsells and partnerships alone. In truth there are a lot more than that but I just wanted to whet your appetite a little at to what I will be teaching you in the coming weeks. When you can spot opportunity you have a skill that makes life so exciting. Because every day represents possibilities.
Are you starting to feel your RAS get switched on a bit? All of a sudden things that you were not consciously aware of before, like the upsells, start to seem exciting. Before they had no value to you. Now though they represent something – money – and you will start to notice them more and more.
So what I want you to do is every time you buy something, be it online, offline, on the phone or whatever – ask yourself two questions:
1. What are they upselling me?
2. If they are not upselling me what could they upsell me?
The second question is much harder to answer – because as of yet I have not switched on your RAS for that answer. It is also the question that can transform your financial life. I will show you how to answer that question next week. The good news is all the thinking has been done for you by other businesses (Hint. Amazons “Here’s what Customers Also Bought” is mind blowing amounts of research done for you – for free!)
Also if are in a job look for opportunities that the company you work for are missing out on. In the next few weeks you might just be able to blow your bosses socks off and help increase their profits dramatically.
I know you may have a lot of questions about now but don’t worry. They will all be answered in the coming weeks in videos and reports. In the mean time make sure you start taking note each time you spend money over the next week. Ask yourself those two questions. It’s step one in switching on your opportunity finder!