Category: Sales
Use the OPIR method to accelerate reading and learning.
Overview
Read the front and back covers. Look at the flaps inside each cover. Read the table of contents, looking for subjects and headings that are of special interest to you. Use a highlighter to mark out anything that stands out. This should take no more than 5 minutes.
Next turn the pages quickly, about 30 to 40 a minute. Get a feel for the way the book is structured. Read a paragraph here and there to get a sense of the style. This should take no more than five minutes for a 300 page book.
At this point you can decide if the book is worth reading. If nothing has caught your attention, discard the book. Throw it away, put it on a shelf, or give it away. You will never read it.
Preview
Turn the pages again one at a time. Stop and read an occasional sentence or paragraph. Read the first sentence or paragraph of each chapter if it helps to have some structure. Read any questions or summaries at the end of each chapter. Seek a better sense for what you will learn when you read more. Use a highlighter to mark out sections that you want to spend more time on. Limit this phase to ten minutes.
In-view
Return to the parts that you are interested in and skim the relevant material. Read each paragraph or page quickly. Drag your hand or finger down the page to keep your eye moving. Slow down for anything that is particularly interesting for you. Use a coloured pen or highlighter to mark useful passages. Make notes in the margins. Turn down the page corners or colour page edges for any pages that you might want to access quickly. You should find it relatively easy to cover the good parts of a 300 page book in less than half an hour.
Review
Review what you have learnt. Return to the pages you have marked. Read your notes and what you have highlighted. Make a separate aid memoir of what you have learnt. Mind maps are a useful visual way to create your learning record. Google Mind maps if you havent come across the term or want to know more.
Finally, note how you plan to use the learning and schedule any relevant actions in your ‘To Do’ list or calendar.
The whole OPIR process should be complete in less than an hour. The you use it, the faster your will become. This will save you at least an hour and probably two for every book you apply it to as well as double or triple retention.
How would you describe life? What is it? In a short little book of the Bible written by the Apostle James we find the answer. “Life is but a vapor. It’s here for a moment and then it’s gone.” Another of the Apostles described our lives in much the same way saying, “All flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower falls away.” In two short passages of Scripture we are given an extremely sobering and important reminder.
The inspired words of the Apostles should remind us that so many of the things that steal away our time, energy, effort, and finances won’t matter much in the end. The things that keep so many people awake at night suffering from anxiety induced insomnia are all temporary.
Our lives are vapor.
You and I are as grass. The achievements that currently seem so incredibly important to most of us in this age, just like a dying flower will wilt away into nothingness.
Regardless of how much we exercise and how carefully we monitor what we eat, the mortal and corruptible bodies we are currently wearing will eventually begin to wear out, break down, get sick, and die. There is no avoiding it. Do some research. Check out the death statistics yourself. They are startling! Surprisingly enough, one hundred out of every one hundred people die.
Think about the thousands upon thousands of diplomas proudly displayed in offices around the globe. We spend a fortune in student loans paying for that diploma and a tenth of our lifetime working for it in the hope that it might help us land a better paying job. But have you ever thought about where that diploma is going to eventually end up?
One day your diploma, along with your framed employee of the decade certificate are going to find their way into a cardboard box in someone’s garage or attic. Eventually your children or grandchildren are going to have a yard sale to free up some space for extra storage. Your plaque and diploma will find their way out onto the driveway in the ninety-nine cent box on top of a folding table.
The neighbor from across the street will wander over to pick through the loot. When she sees the diploma and employee of the decade certificate in their shiny frames she is going to be overjoyed. As she lifts them from the ninety-nine cent box your grandson will walk over to ask if she needs any help. They will haggle over the price for a minute or two before she walks away with a smile on her face carrying the two prizes she purchased for a total of fifty cents!
Immediately after making her way back across the street she will grab a screw driver to pry open the back of each frame. She will pull out the diploma, crumple it up, and toss it in the trash followed immediately by the cherished employee of the decade certificate. She will then run to her computer to print out a picture of her dog and one of her cat, put them in the frames and hang them on her bathroom wall.
“All flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower falls away.”
James Flanders is a musical artist, writer, audio blogger, and full-time student of Scripture. You can find some of his music on sites like CDBaby and Rhapsody. Dozens of his audios can be found on YouTube and his main site “The Path Of Grace.”
There is no doubt that 3D Secure and Verified by Visa are successful anti- fraud techniques and are definitely options that merchants should discuss with their internet payment provider. This added security step has been proven to reduce fraudulent transactions and increase consumer confidence when paying with credit cards online, but there are still many factors that need to be taken into consideration when deciding whether or not to add 3D Secure to a website.
Carl Buchalet CEO of Cashtronics payment systems explains how at Cashtronics they look at each merchant individually and decide whether or not 3D Secure is in the merchants best interest.
From our experience at Cashtronics the advantages of adding this extra security measure for merchants are clear:
Reduces the risk of fraudulent transactions.
Decreases the number of disputed transactions.
Shifts the financial liability away from the merchant.
Boosts some consumers confidence- often leading to increased sales.
Although there are clear anti-fraud benefits, they need to be carefully weighed against potential revenue losses and problems that can arise from using 3D Secure:
Additional Obstacles to purchase: Each security field that is added to an online form has been proven to dramatically lower the % of successfully completed transactions.
Poor Communication: Many customers have no idea what 3D Secure is; consequently they close the browser window, leading to lost sales.
Security Issues: Some banks require a customer to keep a card with a series of secret codes on it. This is often the same card that is used to authorize wire transfers on the bank account so cardholder then carries this card around with them, exposing them self to hard fraud.
Browser Problem: Sometimes the 3D secure request field is on the bottom of the screen and not seen by the customer- again causing high abandonment rate.
Unfriendly Protocol: The web browser connects to unfamiliar domain names and can cause extra delay and crashes.
Complicated Process: A password is often required and customers often forget it!
Added cost: Many payment providers charge an additional fee for 3D Secure.
NOT Fraud Proof: Many thieves catch cards in the postal mail, so they can usually set up 3D secure on their own fairly easily since they have new cards and enhanced information. Also even the 3D secure system has become the target of some phishing scams.
To reduce the problems that can arise with 3D secure merchants should ask potential internet payment providers the following:
1) Is adding this extra step in the best interest for the business given the field it operates in?
2) What are the additional fees for processing 3D Secure and Verified by Visa?
3) Are 3D secure transactions in house, as outsourcing adds to the cost & difficulty of the transaction and can reduce the level of security.
4) Does the payment provider have experience in processing this type of transaction?
In general, a payment provider should be able to give each merchant an idea of the volume of sales that they will loose depending on their industry, and will then calculate how much can be gained on charge backs and fraud by offering 3D Secure; then it is just a simple calculation to see which case yields a higher ROI.
In the past few years, the population of Panama has increased. One cannot be surprised by this fact because Panama is truly one of the special places in the world. It connects the two American continents and has everything one can ask for, as a vacationer or as a resident. Panama vacation condos spread throughout the country make perfect temporary homes for all those that come to this scintillating island for their vacation. And if someone wants to invest in Panama, there are some excellent resources for Panama real estate sales-rentals-information.
Why vacation in Panama? Our question is, why not? Think of anything that you would want included in your vacation and you can find it here. If you want to see the sights and sounds of a large city, Panama City is a great place for you to be. Its skyscrapers, its plazas, its cafes and its entertainment destinations make the capital of Panama one of the most sought after vacation destinations in this entire region. Its a beta world city and that says a lot about it.
Beaches cover Panama on the north and the south. So, you shouldnt have any issues finding one for your vacation. A visit to the San Blas Islands, the jungles of Darien and the islands of Kunayala can make anyone vacationer feel that their trip has been complete. The mountain towns of Volcan and Boquete are awe inspiring. Just pick up your copy of Lonely Planet and you will get information on many more places that you should visit here. Panama may be tiny in size, but it sure makes up through its areas of tourist interest.
Hotels are found all over Panama because its such a popular tourist destination. Panama vacation condos provide you alternative options in accommodation. Panama vacation condos can be found spread throughout Panama City and also in some of the other parts of the country. These condos are preferred by vacationers because they are more economical than some of the hotels and offer a home like environment. You can rent one of these vacation condos for a week or a month or even more and have a grand stay experience.
Investment in Panamanian real estate has also seen a huge boom in the recent years. The Panamanian government is actively seeking investment in real estate and it has made it much easier for people from outside to settle down in this tropical paradise. The West Beach area is a posh area and has some of the best housing options in the country. If you are looking for Panama real estate sales-rentals-information, the internet is always there for you. However, there are some real estate agencies that provide better Panama real estate sales-rentals-information. These agencies find out what you want and show you what you want to see.
Deal with real people when you need Panama vacation condos and Panama real estate sales-rentals-information. You will be shown the choice properties so that you can strike a deal then and there.
Carbon Copy PRO is a new automated turn-key marketing system founded by Jay Kubassek, a successful network marketing entrepreneur. It provides an absolute solution for promoting business opportunities with a leading direct sales company. Since its release in October 2007, the company sales increased 350%.
This revolutionary marketing system eliminated all the difficulties that distributors could have been through when promoting their business opportunities. In traditional direct sales systems or MLM (Multi-Level-Marketing), recruiting down lines and convincing people to buy their useless products are what stopping people from succeeding.
With the traditional network marketing system, you have to acquire the ability to convince people to join your business to be successful, which means only 1 out of 10 MLM distributors will make it to the top, simply because they are more talkative or clever than the others.
For example, in traditional network marketing system, you have to personally call your leads or prospects to close the sale, but in Carbon Copy Pro, they hire experts to call your leads for you. Carbon Copy Pro simply eliminated all the human variables that could happen in this direct sales business.
How Does Carbon Copy Pro Work?
1. When visitors see your capture page, they will be attracted to the incentives of making money from a legitimate home business. The prospects will simply submit their name and email address, and find out what this business is; they become “leads.”
2. Your prospects will then watch a video that motivates them and read through all the testimonials and have a general idea of what it is (but they still don’t know what the real business is). In the next page, they will watch another video about why they should join us. If they are interested, they may submit their application with $49 application fee so they can find out what the real business is. This is a fee to eliminate all the tire-kickers or Curious George who are not serious about building a business. You will make $30 commission from this $49 application fee to lower your advertising cost. The whole process is called “funded proposal.”
3. When a lead applies to join Carbon Copy PRO, within one business day, the Carbon Copy Pro call center will phone this applicant, and make sure he or she has gained access to all the information. This applicant will also be scheduled to talk to one of the Millionaire Mastermind Group (MMG) members. You basically don’t have to do anything.
4. If the leads did not apply to become a member, they will still receive follow-up emails from your auto-responder to inform them about this business opportunity. They may find it interested and submit their applications later. All the emails are professionally written for you by our Carbon Copy Pro experts.
5. This system is probably the most powerful leads generator and has the highest conversion rate.
It is NOT a scam
1. The company has a clean record with the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
2. The company has never been investigated or sanctioned by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
3. No actions by a State Attorney General has ever been taken against the company, nor are there any pending investigations.
4. The company has is a United States of America Corporation based in Texas. It’s not some fly-by-night, off-shore sham.
5. The company is a member in good standing of the Direct Sales Association, the leading trade organization for direct sales companies.
6. Industry leaders such as Mike Dillard of Magnetic Sponsoring and MLM Traffic Formula fame and Jeffrey Combs of Golden Mastermind Seminars are associated with the company
Mike Dillard’s Testimonial
“I’ve never seen another business where someone can plug-in to a simple marketing system and generate a full time income within their first 30 to 60 days.”
“This is the only business model I can whole-heartedly recommend to anyone who wants to earn a significant income from home.”