Making Money Guide

In embodying the actual meaning of "charity", nothing beats the Heifer Project.

Heifer International is in the business of ending world hunger. And it's actually working; today millions of people were fed thanks to 65 years of Heifer projects. And those people are standing on their own feet, and helping others to stand up. They aren't second-class clients of wealthy people suffering from liberal guilt, living on scraps; they are as good as anyone else in the world and they know it.

Heifer doesn't give sandwiches to people living unsustainable lifestyles in a unproductive wasteland. Those people will starve the minute you stop sending sandwiches, and in the meantime you've reduced them to beggary, and that's going to wreck their indigenous culture (if they have any left) and diminish them as individuals. Giving people food doesn't work as a long term solution, it's only worth doing in short term recovery situations as a part of a broader strategy.

Heifer provides people in war-torn and disaster-wrecked communities with the tools to build a sustainable future based on livestock and agriculture carefully chosen to suit the needs, abilities, and history of the inhabitants of those communities.

Please read about Heifer on their website at www.heifer.org - I'm not an employee or in any other way associated with heifer, although over the years I have helped buy an elephant, dozens of heifers, and many chickens, bees, and ducks.

Heifer is different. It's better. Recipients of Heifer assistance aren't asked to "pay it back" - they are required to "pay it forward" by helping somebody else get back on their feet. This means a homeless single mother doesn't have to sacrifice her pride in order to feed her children, in fact she will get to involve the children in an worthwhile global enterprise. Once she's paid forward, she can continue to be involved with charity work or not, as she pleases.

Since this is the Boing, I feel that I should point out that while Heifer was started by a Christian in accordance with his beliefs, it is not evangelical and does not discriminate based on faith or lack thereof. You are welcome to believe what you like as long as you want to help world hunger.

Thanks God we are done with celebrating and can start working! Here’s one essential checklist for you to start:

1. Acknowledge Your Biggest Fans

Do you have fans that re-tweet your posts, email your articles to friends, and send new business your way? What have you done for them? Have you at least taken the time to thank them?

You should always monitor your brand, your website link and your own name (I use SocialMention). Every time someone says something nice about you, you should thank them. If you can do something else in return, by all means do.

2. Understand the Golden Rule of Blogging

Most blogs don’t appeal to the audience they’re writing for. The writing may be good, but the topics aren’t. Let’s say you sell furniture. Your blog shouldn’t be about your specials, the new employee you hired or about your vacation to Hawaii. Your blog should be about furniture.

Always ask yourself this question: who am I writing for? What kind of content do they want? It doesn’t matter if you don’t offer all the services you write about. For example, I own an Internet marketing agency and my audience is business owners. But, I don’t only write about online marketing; I write about topics that are of interest to business owners, such as lowering costs, motivating employees and off-line marketing.

Find out what your audience wants and give it to them.

3. Use Decoy Offers

Have you ever wondered why some stores sell an item for $100 and in the price tags says “Was $200″? It makes the current price look a lot better. Some people might think $100 is a lot of money for that item, but hey, it was $200, so you’re getting a great deal, right? Well, believe it or not, it works. This is because everything is either a great deal or an awful deal based on what you compare it with.

Psychologists call this “the principle of contrast.”  How can you use this to your benefit? My favorite way is to present two or more offers. One will be your current offer and then you’ll add some decoy offers. The decoy offers will be really bad deals, but they’ll make your main offer look great. For example, you can sell one can of your product at $19 and three cans at $25 with free shipping and feature this last offer as the weekly special. Try it; it works like a charm and there’s nothing unethical about it. You’ll keep your main offer and all you’re doing is making it look better by adding some not-so-attractive offers.

4. Write Your Marketing Copy First and Develop Your Product Around It

I’ve found this tactic to be extremely effective. Instead of creating a product and then writing the marketing message, I like writing the copy first because by trying to sell it with words, I get a much better understanding of what the audience really wants and I can give them that product or service.

5. People Buy from People, Not Companies

Your customers might have known your company first, but they bought from you because they liked you or the salesperson they dealt with. This is especially true in B2B. The takeaway here is: do a good job explaining how your company can help your clients but do an even better job connecting with your prospects at a personal level.

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