The #1 Advantage of Geezerhood
Dear Business Builder,
I must say, suddenly finding myself just four years away from the big six-oh is a massive shock: Especially to a guy who still feels 18 and who never thought he’d live to see 30.
But on my birthday this month, I officially became a geezer. I don’t mind, really. Sure beats the alternative. And frankly, some of the life experiences I’ve had in my 56 years on this planet are beginning to come in pretty darned handy!
Fact is, I’m getting pretty excited about the business opportunities this new economic environment holds for us business owners, marketing folk and copywriters.
See, I’ve learned a few things in my two-score and 16 years – stuff that some other pretty smart fellas figured out a long, long time ago …
“There’s nothing new under the sun.”
– King Solomon
“What is past is prologue.”
– William Shakespeare
“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
– George Santayana
“Those who CAN learn from history can get richer than Midas.”
– Clayton Makepeace
OK – you caught me. That last quote probably doesn’t belong on the list with the others. But frankly, I like seeing my name listed alongside those luminaries. My blog, my call. Right?
So … “nothing new under the sun” … “past is prologue” … “learn from history” … “get rich.” Got it? Great!
OK – keeping that in mind consider this …
- Huge expenditures from a massively expensive war are coming home to roost.
- The U.S. economy and stock market are stalling; unemployment is rising.
- In an attempt to pull the economy out of its funk, Washington is printing money like there’s no tomorrow.
- Inflation – our cost of living – has begun rising.
- Oil and gasoline prices are at all-time highs.
- Food and raw materials are in increasingly short supply and prices are soaring world-wide.
- Gold and silver prices are on a tear.
- Congress is already controlled by the Democrats and the voters are set to throw the Republicans out of the White House.
Have I left anything out?
What’s that you say? “Hannah Montana is breaking all box office records?”
What? Wait – you think I’m talking about TODAY’S headlines?
Sorry; no. These are the headlines I was reading 30 years ago – in the middle 1970s!
The debt from the Vietnam war was hitting home. The term “stagflation” was being coined to describe the new environment of slow (or negative) economic growth plus inflation. Washington was printing money out of thin air to pay its bills. Inflation was accelerating and oil, gas, food and just about everything else under the sun (especially gold and silver) were roaring higher.
And of course, in 1976 – with both houses of Congress already firmly in Democrat hands, disgusted voters abandoned the hapless and clueless Ford (remember the “WIN” button?) and installed an equally clueless and soon-to-be one-term Democrat peanut farmer in the White House.
So sorry if I misled you. Maybe I should have mentioned “Disco is all the rage.”
Nevertheless, here’s why I say some of the life experiences I’ve had in my 56 years on this planet are beginning to come in handy:
I know how to make money – a LOT of money –
in times like these
because I’ve been here before.
It’s not rocket surgery or brain science – all you have to do is to hit the history books – figure out who in our industries got richest the fastest the last time around and then do what they did; only better.
I was there. I remember how the realization that Washington is out of control … that the government is incompetent and incapable of governing the economy … that even harder times are most likely ahead – and that in times like these, prudent people take responsibility for their own financial and personal security – made a bunch of us a huge pile of money.
I remember how my old pal Howard Ruff built The Ruff Times into a 180,000-subscriber behemoth telling people to buy gold, guns and to stockpile food. I remember Investment Rarities, Security Rare Coin and Blanchard & Co. exploding sales as much as 43 times over in as little as a year.
I remember how just about everybody and anybody who promoted information or three-dimensional products aimed at helping people become self-sufficient and to prepare for hard times raked in huge bucks.
Most of all, I remember how recognizing and then tapping into our prospects’ widespread and growing disgust with the establishment, fear of the worst-case scenario and a desire to take matters into one’s own hands – for self-determination – created the greatest profit explosion in the history of the financial information business.
And I remember how, years later, those self-sufficient investors turned out to be every bit as distrustful of the medical establishment as they were of the political establishment – and how they went on to create the entire multi-gazillion-dollar alternative health publishing and supplement businesses we know today.
And this time around, the smart money is betting that the profit opportunities will be even greater.
Because last time around, there were no food riots around the world. No countries cutting off exports of wheat and other foods and stockpiling agricultural commodities to make sure they could feed their own people.
There was no China with its $1.3 trillion foreign reserve war chest buying up resources and resource companies like there’s no tomorrow. And there certainly weren’t three billion new consumers on the planet in a bidding war for everything that makes middle class living what it is.
Last time around, our home equity – the #1 source of retirement money for the vast majority of Americans – wasn’t evaporating before our very eyes. Nor was there a credit catastrophe hammering and even destroying lending institutions and making it next to impossible to borrow money.
Oh – and we also didn’t have a way to get our message out for free; today, we have the Internet.
So before you do that next promotion, why not take a moment to crawl inside your prospect’s skin a little bit? You don’t have to be writing about investment or health to make this work for you. The fact is, understanding your prospect’s disgust with the establishment – the status quo – and then giving him a way to take control of his own life is likely to pay you huge dividends.
And if you’re a freelancer (or better yet, if you’re looking for new companies to partner with), why not look for companies that sell products and/or services that tap into this new anti-establishment groundswell – or at least that are positioned to do well in times like these?
After all: In these days of $4.00 gas, writing promos for Winnebago probably isn’t going to make you much in the way of royalties – right?
Hope this helps …
Yours for Bigger Winners, More Often,
Clayton Makepeace
Publisher & Editor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE™
Looking for resources related to this article? Try some of these.
Looking for more of Clayton's articles? Check these out.
Looking for past issues of The Total Package? Click here for our archives.
Related posts
13 Comments »
Join the Discussion!
Let us know what you think. Or ask us anything. Or offer your own sage advice.
The only rule: RESPECT THIS HOUSE! Postings that contain abusive language and/or personal attacks will be cheerfully VAPORIZED. One cross word and – POOF! – your well-thought-out post will be gone in a puff of smoke.
– Clayton
Comment by Swans Paul — April 21, 2008 @ 1:36 pm
Cher Clayton Makepeace:
Joyeux anniversaire,…un petit peu en retard. (Happy birthday, a little bit late)
Please, don’t think I am virtually stalking you.
But each time you talk about hard times, it wakes me up. A friend of mine just lost his job, and I am a freelancer.
So every time you post anything about hard times, I am going to comment and talk about the webinar where you’d analyze one of your biggest controls or Bencivenga’s or Rosenthal’s.
Because I think that such knowledge would be a great cure/prevention against hard times, when companies will need to produce results or die.
Well, I have been losing my sleep over your next webinar (where you’d analyze the controls and explain the reasons behind the theme, the headlines…etc) . You know the one where you’d analyze a few controls.
In fact, I even promised a copywriter friend of mine to buy him a seat.
So, cher maitre, when will you be able to hold the webinar?
Sincerely,
Swans G Paul
P.S: I just got hired by a French company to write them a new control. Your webinar will be of great help. Thanks a lot.
Comment by Patrick — April 21, 2008 @ 1:48 pm
Hi Clayton… Your post made me think about human nature -and how folks seem to delight in spotting patterns. It’s just like sports betting… If you were going to convince someone to plunk down $100 on a horse - you’d reference the colt’s racing history - pick out one of his best performances and then state in certain terms how "today’s" race compares that one.
Of course history makes a lot more sense looking backwards. But so much of what you do involves breaking down complex subjects… and there’s no better way to do it!
Comment by John Gilger — April 21, 2008 @ 2:11 pm
OK, Clayton, you’ve set us up for your next CD product. When is it coming out?
What am I talking about?
Why, Makepeace, The Early Years – Swipes From the 70s, of course.
LOL
Seriously, I’ll be first in line when you get ready to release it. I’ve profited from everything else I’ve bought from you.
And I do mean EVERYTHING.
Comment by Jennifer Gibbs — April 21, 2008 @ 2:44 pm
You won’t hear me complaining about a recession! I don’t know if it’s my sheer determination to achieve or careful planning (or both), but MY business is coming OUT of a recession BIG TIME!
While I don’t target specific industries (more a specific type of client or company - style, approach, etc.) I have begun targeting specific geographic regions that are HAPPY to pay my US$ rates. The UK has been buttering my bread a LOT lately!
Some of the greatest fortunes have been those forged in adversity!
Thanks for the pick me up, Clayton! I get a lot of junk in my in-box and I love coming across your insights when I’m cleaning out my folders! Keep ‘em comin’!
Jennifer
Comment by Phil Spinelli — April 21, 2008 @ 5:17 pm
Yes, history repeats itself.
People have not changed. Desires have not changed.
The presidential campaign promises were probably the same 30 years ago too.
As far as the recession goes, I remember something Sam Walmart said a few years back "I chose not to participate".
thanks.
Comment by Kevin — April 21, 2008 @ 5:39 pm
Students of history need to remember that though there are cycles, history does not move in closed loops. If the loop was closed everything would happen pretty much exactly the same, over and over. No, the loops of time are open, and so differences do appear amongst all the similarities. As Clayton has pointed out we now have food riots, China, evaporating home equity, lending institutions collapsing under hollowed-out credit, and of course the Internet.
Look for the similarities, but study the differences. There’s money to be made in the differences.
Comment by Gary Lego — April 21, 2008 @ 6:07 pm
Clayton doesn’t seem to remember prime rates at 23%. Interest penalty was 6% on unpaid taxes. Short fall in play.
Good times ahead. The pretenders will be gone. The players will survive and come through with aces.
Focus, work hard and listen to what they don’t say. That is where the gold is.
Comment by Clayton Makepeace — April 21, 2008 @ 6:22 pm
Sure, Gary – I remember the Prime Rate over 20% in 1980 … when the CPI was rising 13.6% per year. Don’t really understand your point, though.
Care to ellucidate?
Comment by Geezerbut — April 21, 2008 @ 7:53 pm
For a moment, I thought this was about me.
I’ve started looking at the "self-sustainable" markets. For example, for only $10 I subscribed to the magazine Mother Earth News. Its got ads in it, so there’s at least a little coin to be had. And the markets not getting smaller, IMHO.
Simply get your vegetable garden ebook right here and also get complete plans to construct your own compost bin for less than the price of five red bell peppers and three heads of romaine lettuce. And then join my garden club membership. And buy this proprietary soil additive. Etc…Etc…Etc…
Comment by Clayton Makepeace — April 22, 2008 @ 3:46 am
Thanks for the comments, everyone …
Swans, I guess you missed the memo: After thinking about your (great) idea, I’ve come to the conclusion that it would be presumptuous and unfair of us – and less valuelable for you – if I walked you through other writers’ promotions. So we’re working on lining up several top writers to show you how they thought their way through their own promos. I’ll keep you posted …
You’re right, Patrick: The human brain looks for patterns in everything – like when it sees horsies and duckies in clouds. But economic patterns often do repeat themselves and the cycle often seems to take somewhere around 30 years: Just enough time for the people who presided over or suffered through the last cycle to retire or die off.
Thanks, John! Can’t help but wonder why everytime I write anything, people think I’m about to try to sell them something. Glad our products have helped, you, bud!
Great for you, Jennifer! Congrats on that whole UK thing. Have you met Drayton Bird? Maybe the two of you should hook up …
That’s the spirit, Phil! :) I, too, choose not to participate. Making that choice requires an understanding of how the world works and then other choices aimed at growing your business through the challenges you’ll face. We’re all rooting for you!
Yes, Kevin, there is money to be made with the differences in economic cycles. But sometimes, when you’re handed a situation as predictable as this one, there is also huge money to be made with the similarities – and in many cases, with much less risk.
Gary, you made the point that near the end of the last major inflationary cycle, interest rates rose. I’m still wondering where you’re going with that one, but yes, of course you’re right.
Typically, as inflation expectations rise, investors begin avoiding bonds, treasuries and other interest-bearing investments that pay less than the inflation rate. That causes the price of those investments to fall. And by definition, that causes effective interest rates to rise.
At this early point in this new inflationary cycle though, relatively few economists, pundits and investors have accepted the inflationary scenario (they never read Ludwig von Mises). So the benchmark 10-year treasury is still yielding only about 3.7% – less than the "official" inflation rate, and less than half the real inflation rate when measured using the metrics Washington used in 1980.
Buying treasuries today is a sure way to guarantee yourself an inflation-adjusted loss – both now, and increasing losses as inflation continues to rise. Plus, as if to add insult to injury, you have to pay taxes on the yield you earn. (Sounds more like an IQ test than an investment if you ask me!)
Also – remember that the top margingal income tax rate in 1980 was 70% – DOUBLE today’s top rate (although before Kemp-Roth, we had lots of juicy deductions and loopholes you could drive a truck through; so most of us paid much less than the top rate).
I think you have the right idea, Geezerbut … I’m convinced that products that empower people to become more self-reliant will do increasingly well as this cycle unfolds. Good luck with that!
To be fair, I should point out that some people I respect are more worried about a deflationary depression than an inflationary recession right now.
I don’t see that happening in the short term because Washington is still printing money like there’s no tomorrow to fight this crisis. But at some point later on – when interest rates hit 20% or 30% and the government discovers that nobody wants its treasuries, it seems like a distinct possibility.
Either way it goes – inflation or deflation – the message is the same: You can’t trust the government with your money or your future. And as the pain intensifies, more and more of our prospects will jump at the opportunity to take control of their own fortunes.
Cheers, y’all!
– Clayton
Comment by Chris — April 22, 2008 @ 12:51 pm
Clayton,
Please correct me if I’m wrong about this. I’ve noticed a pattern too regarding the "R" word–recession. I’ve yelled, written, and blogged on this issue till I’m blue in the face and fingers.
At the very mention of the "R" word, spending slows. It’s like a little lie told in high school which becomes an avalanche of rumor. Spending slows to snail snot pace, increasing inflation all the while…on a rumor!
This issue just flat out pisses me off.
No sooner do we get the figures that we in fact are not in a recession, missing it by a mere 6% growth rate. Then we hear some twit in an UK newspaper declares we’re in a "Great Depression" which is patently absurd.
ARGH!
If I’m wrong, set me straight, if I’m right then I’m tossing you the ball to get the word out.
Chris
Comment by joseph derer — April 23, 2008 @ 2:44 am
"Couldn’t agree more with you Clayton… histoy does repeat it’s self… 23% interest are a ways down the road.
The fed is dropping money out of heliocopters… and flying in C-130’s to Iraq with pallets of freshly printed green-backs… let the good times roll.
However today is just a little different than 1975.
In 1975 the United States still had a good manufacturing base.Today that manufacturing base has moved to Communist China thank you Henery Kissenger/Richard Nixon.(they were just following orders)
In 1975 (end of the Viet-a-go-go-War)there was no EU… The U.S. dollar was still the default world currency.Oil was $12-13 bucks a barrel.Oils funtion hasn’t changed… what you buy it with is worth a lot less.If one has been watching the currency markets… the smart money has been dumping their U.S. dollars for the last 8 years into real commodities - name a metal.Communist China has been buying all the natural resources it can get it’s hands on.(these people are very patient)In the very near future - it won’t matter to them what happens to the U.S. dollar…They will have invested their 1.3 trillion U.S. dollars in area’s around the world that are no longer are controled by the U.S.
What does this mean to savvy business owners and those who write their promotions for them?
These interesting times we live in will undoubtedly bring out the best of both.
P.S. Have i got a great product for these times… for those that like to cling to their bibles and their guns… It’s better than the "Pet-Rock". If you own a bible or a gun - you would have to own this product… now if i could just find someone with a few busks to develop this dealy-bob…(this is not a joke) josephderer@gmail.com chow mein for now.
Comment by Gary Raimo — April 24, 2008 @ 9:13 pm
Clayton,
Once again you have struck at the heart of the matter as you did sometime ago in a post that had the following gist:
"Before you write a single word of copy…" as I recall it was about planning the promotion and the steps for completing a plan.
That struck a chord with me and I printed this out. I have since moved and have been unable to locate this very important article. Am I having a false memory or is my own personal geezrhood kicking in? I sure could use some help in locating it.
Once agian thanks for everything you and your staff do I cannot fully express my appreciation so thank you with all that phrase embodies.
Gary Raimo