Lesson 1 – Where to begin

Corporations do NOT want you reading this lesson. Please stopit. RIGHT NOW

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Unless you think corporations ** might ** be wrong.

This course is about to change your life. It’s going to change the way you think about corporate structures. It’s going to change the way you look at the world around you. It is going to make you powerful.

This is a course that you SHOULDN’T BE READING.

That’s what corporations think, anyways.

You have found the remedy for a poison that you’re going to find yourself immune to now. Advertising schemes are the poison.

The poison isn’t designed to kill you. This poison creates an itch, just underneath the skin. It’s designed to make you unhappy with what you have, make you think you’re missing out on something…turn your thought process inside out.

Well, look around you – think about the way the world was just 50 years ago. 50 years ago, a columnist wrote something very interesting about our spending habits – he said, “It is estimated that a century ago the average man had 72 wants, of which 16 were regarded as necessities.

Today, the average man is estimated to have 474 wants, 94 of which are regarded as necessities. A century ago, 200 articles were urged upon the average man by salesmanship—but today there are 32,000 articles which require sales resistance. Man’s necessities are few… his wants, infinite.”

That was written in 1956. Now take a moment and think about how much has changed in the last 50 years… Do you regard a cell phone as a necessity? How about a television?

Don’t worry, I have those things too. And, in fact, there are ways to have those things without paying as much, or in some cases without paying anything. (You’ll find out how later in one of our lessons) The key is not to allow yourself to be sold on the unnecessary stuff… unless you can get it for free.

By the time you are done reading these lessons, you’ll have

a different view of what is being presented to you by the marketing geniuses of the world. In fact, you are going to find out that most marketing schemes are designed in a way that makes it EASY to get things free.

I am just like you… and I found a way to break the cycle.

Yup, I’m just like you - without the goofy teeth. I used to do it the way everyone else does. I’d work hard for a dollar, go out on the weekends with my buddies, come home broke and then spend even more on products and services I probably didn’t need or even want, and walk home confused as to how I got so broke.

I spent the first 25 years of my life doing it!

But thankfully, unlike me, it’s not going to take you years of

practice and lessons learned to get where I am now. You’ll start reaping the benefits almost immediately. You’ll start by changing your thought process, turning your spending habits around, and looking at marketing schemes from the inside out.

I don’t want you to pay for food. If possible, I’d like you to go out and eat a nice dinner and walk out after having paid a nice tip to your waiter… and nothing else. I do it nearly every day.

I don’t want you to pay for that concert. Yes, I appreciate the hard work that the artists do - and I want them to make their money. But how do you get into a sold-out show, where the artist has already sold to capacity??

Trust me, you will get in. And you will do it LEGALLY - with a ticket in your hand. I do it all the time, and you will too.

I don’t want you to pay for airline tickets or places to stay.

And when you take that free flight, I’d prefer you sit in first class. My wife and I did, anyway. I’d like you to go on vacation with a free place to stay lined up in advance… At a nice hotel, no less. I’ve done it, and I will show you how.

I’d like you to have all the knowledge you can about what is free and what is cheap in the place you are visiting while you are there. In fact, I’d like you to walk into a brand new city and know more about what is free and cheap there than the locals do.

 Can it bedone?

My wife and I can tell you for a fact that it can.

All it takes to do any of these things is a little knowledge….

Knowledge is Power

Knowledge is power. I heard that a long time ago from my Dad.

Never believed him, either. POWER is power, I thought.

Knowledge is… well… knowledge. Walking through life with the knowledge I have gained has shown me in practice what my father was talking about. It’s a matter of

leverage.

You have certain pieces of knowledge that perhaps others

don’t know about, and what you know will be enough to guide you through this world of increasing prices at nearly every level.

The average price of a movie ticket has jumped from around $5 when I was 10 to $10 now. Double, in less than 20 years.

The average price of a concert ticket? I remember when I was unwilling to pay $25 to see my favorite band, Depeche Mode. That would be a steal now. The cheap seats at their last show were $90.

The simple fact is that people are using inflation as an excuse. An excuse to charge more, take more, make more.

And in the words of Twisted Sister… We’re not gonna take it

anymore.

OK, so I’m kind of an 80’s music freak.

That aside, let’s take a look at what has come along with higherprices.

Higher prices have often come with greater services, better shows, more stuff “thrown in” for free. It’s what “The Man” calls “Perceived Value”.

Perceived Value involves giving away the same thing for more money… and stating that it now comes with “20% more”, or a “Free” set of earbuds, or “12 FREE music downloads”.

This is an easy way to give less to your customer while making it SEEM as if they are getting more. The cold facts are that the company that is doing this to you gets their earbuds for around $1.21 a pair. They charge you $40 more for the set. They just made $38.79 based on YOUR perceived value.

It’s a great business concept, one that is catching on quickly

around the world. And it is making it harder and harder for you and me to get by.

There are some side benefits of perceived value, though. Some of these can be used to your advantage, if you know what is being offered and how to take advantage of it!

For instance, many companies get people into their store using “loss leaders”. You’ve probably heard of this before. It’s where a company takes a popular product, sells it for less than what it costs them to buy it, and they count on you coming into the store for that item - and buying other items while you’re there.

It’s a method many people are now aware of and they take

advantage of the system by going in and buying JUST THE ITEM ON SALE. They walk away with a good deal, because they had self-control and they had knowledge

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That knowledge just became power.

But perceived value has added something else to your arsenal that you might not even know about. Part of what comes with perceived value is a marketing scheme approach that most companies have begun to take.

That approach involves giving away items or services – a

calculated risk for them that allows them the opportunity to

introduce you to their product, and hopefully make you a long term customer. But whether or not you become a long-term customer of theirs is no concern of ours.

WE ARE HERE TO BREAK THE SYSTEM.

The system works right now because people have a grand opening at their restaurant, where they invite more than 500 people to come and drink free booze and eat free food… and those same people come back later and spend $200 there on a dinner for four.

The system works because Office Depot gives away a 10 pack of printable CD’s with every purchase – and they hope to sell you a printer that prints fancy covers on them.

The system works because the Brewery gives you a free tour, with free beer at the end… and they hope you go out and buy their beer every time you dine out or go to the liquor store.

Now, there is nothing wrong with customer loyalty on your part. In fact, I have found that from many of the free events I have been to, I end up coming away with a decidedly better impression of the company whose products were being pushed on me.

You shouldn’t feel obligated to express customer loyalty, however, when it is to your detriment financially. For instance, I have been to several Johnnie Walker events. At these events, they give you a shot of all 5 of their brands (Red, Black, Green, Gold, and Blue Label).

The shot of Blue Label is easily the most impressive. A bottle of Blue Label costs between $200 and $250. I’m not dropping $250 on ANY bottle of whiskey. I love Johnnie Walker, I absolutely adore Blue Label, and I consider myself a loyal fan of their products. But when I’m out and I order a scotch, it’s usually a single malt scotch. Thanks for the great events, Johnnie Walker – I’m a real fan of yours – but I don’t buy your scotch every time I go out. And I don’t feel obligated to. The difficulty for most people is to separate themselves from the natural emotional attachment that comes with the free stuff they receive. If a very expensive restaurant is having their grand opening and you get free food that night, it’s a great chance to eat

their very expensive food for free. It may not be within your

means, however, to eat at that place ever again.

And you should NOT FEEL GUILTY ABOUT THAT.

The companies that offer products for free know it’s a calculated risk. But they are the ones that offered the item for free. It was their decision to do so. Taking advantage of that offer should

NEVER make you feel guilty.

One thing you will notice about the things we discuss in our online lessons is that many of them will take a great amount of selfcontrol on your part. This stems from the fact that when something is offered for free, it is often designed to be just enough to make you want more. For instance, I will discuss with you later a couple of coupons I have – one a $20 gift certificate for your meal at McCormick’s

Seafood Restaurant, the other is for a free taco at Wahoo’s.

In both cases, the amount given is less than what they actually expect you to spend. My wife and I have become experts at how to order a meal at McCormick’s for each of us and walk out having spent exactly $20.

If we are still hungry, we can always drop by Wahoo’s for a taco.

So remember that what you learn in these lessons is going to help you, and you may need to do some re-training of your thought process. After all, it’s easy to go to McCormick’s and see that they have a $30 steak – you normally couldn’t afford it on your own, so

you think to yourself that you’ll order the steak. Still a good deal at $10, right? And your wife can just order the salad. Maybe we’ll have a couple of drinks… now the bill is $60.

That means that you as a consumer are going for the up-sell. What is being presented to you as a completely free item wasn’t good enough, and you ended up spending money anyways.

Of course, that is your choice, but every time this happens is

another opportunity you had to live completely free. The sacrifice you make with a little self control will lead to a life of freedom.

Perceived value makes you think you probably *should* give the restaurant something anyways – after all, you feel bad *just* ordering up to $20 worth of stuff.

But remember – you’re here to use the system to your advantage –to break it.

Perceived value has pushed itself onto you for years.

It’s your turn to push back.

http://rac.NoCashEver.com