HIGHLANDER CLUB

May 2003, Volume 8 – Issue 5 “Great fortunes are made through Fellowship, Knowledge and an Abundance of Opportunities”

The One Simple Technique to Enriching Your Own

Life While Making the World a Better Place
The last month has been a grim one for Americans, but to expect anything besides
misery during a period of war would be to expect the impossible. For one thing, we
witnessed the horror of this war like we witnessed no other. It’s been hard to escape Michael Newman
this constant exposure when pictures of our own men and women heroically advanc- New Chairman
Highlander Club
ing into Baghdad have been booming at us from every direction. Besides 24-hour war
coverage on TV, we have been accessing the latest events on-line. This war has brought
a rather stark new dimension to the term “reality TV.”
When we weren’t zeroing in on the events themselves, we were tracking the opinions of Americans and
watching our fellow countrymen take sides with either the war advocates or the advocates of peace.
Well, I’m going to admit that it’s been frustrating for me to watch some Americans parading around
with a peace sign shouting that the U.S. shouldn’t be involved in this mission. Yet, I won’t deny that it’s
been just as frustrating watching those people with the opposite viewpoint – the ones marching down the
other side of the street waving pro-war placards and chanting pro-Bush slogans. Does it matter? Whatever
our feelings were before, during, and after the battle, we know one thing for sure – that the war was and
always will be about a new kind of peace – one that encompasses an American-led effort to rid the world
of weapons of mass destruction so that a peaceful world prevails. Since September 11, 2001, Americans
have been made all too aware of what can happen when madmen have control of monstrous weapons.
Snuffing out evil for the purposes of democracy is all about working to achieve peace, no matter what hat
you wear. Can we start our peace mission by making a concerted effort to get along with each other here on
our own soil?

Be Nice and Reap the Rewards

Americans are now craving normalcy and niceties, and, I know it’s old fashioned, but it’s true that you can
get more of what you want by being nice to people. War and its aftermath are having that effect; yet being
nice is really one of the secrets of success. Texan ad wizard Roy Williams tells the story of one boss who
fired an employee by telling him what a good-for-nothing he was. He sent the humiliated man packing.
The man went home dejected, unable to speak to his family or look for another job. Then there is the
story of another boss who fired an employee by telling him that he was the “right person for the wrong
job,” and he went on to hand him a glowing letter of reference. That man went home feeling as positive as
possible under the circumstances and was able to move forward with confidence. It didn’t cost the second
boss any money to be nice, and it doesn’t cost us any money to lift someone’s spirits or go out of our way
to put a little sparkle into someone’s life.
How can being nice help you? People like to help people who are nice to them. Try being extra nice,
just for a change. See what happens. Address people by their name. If someone hands you something,
say, “Thank you, Glen.” If you’re at a coffee shop and the person behind the counter asks you if you want
anything else, answer them by stating their name in a friendly manner. Say, “Thank you Susan. I’d like
some extra milk for my coffee, if that’s okay.” Hold
the door open for someone. Let someone in line
in front of you at the post office or grocery store.
Hold the elevator, or help a woman with a stroller
get onto the bus. These are ways to practice being
nice. It will help get you into gear when working
with people who can benefit you in business. Take
a client to lunch. Buy them a token gift during the
holiday season. Being nice will get you a long way. It
is the way to open doors.
I want to start the ball rolling myself, because I
want Highlander Club members to feel special. So,
just this morning, I placed an order for some excit-
ing gifts that I’ll be sending out shortly to any Club
CHIEF COUNCIL
Michael Newman Chairman
Nina Walters Executive Director
EDITORIAL
Pam Clavir Editor
Moving? Missed an issue? Please let us know within 90 days
of moving or if you have not received an issue. After this
time period, missed issues can be purchased for US$10
each including shipping and handling. Write to: Highlander
Club, 777 S. Flagler Drive, Ste. 800W, West Palm Beach, FL
33401-6163, USA. Or call between 9am to 5pm EST; (905)
760-9929 x300; Fax (905) 760-2809.
Contact Us
If you have a question or comment about the monthly
memorandum, write to the Editor in care of Highlander Club,
777 S. Flagler Drive, Ste. 800W, West Palm Beach, FL 33401-
6163, USA, Fax (905) 760-2809.
Subscription rate for the Highlander Club newsletter is $80
per year. If you have a question about your subscription, or
want to renew your subscription, change your address, or
order a Highlander Club Special Report, write to Member
Services, 777 S. Flagler Drive, Ste. 800W, West Palm Beach,
FL 33401-6163, USA. Or call between 9am to 5pm EST;
(905) 760-9929 x300; Fax (905) 760-2809.
© 2003 by Highlander Club, 777 S. Flagler Drive, Ste. 800W,
West Palm Beach, FL 33401-6163, USA. All rights reserved.
The Club is not promising or guaranteeing that you will be-
come wealthy because of the information in this newsletter
or our special reports and programs. There is no guarantee
of future profits. Copying any of the Club’s published infor-
mation is strictly prohibited. The ideas expressed herein are
the opinions of Highlander Club only. That said, we believe
you’ll discover vital money secrets and wealth angles not
available anywhere else.
The Executive Staff, Research Department and the
Editors of Highlander Club are proud of the reputation
we’ve built since our inception in 1991. Simply, we believe
the advice presented to you in our published resources and
seminars is the best and most useful available to you, the
global entrepreneur.
2
members who write me a short letter (100 to 150
words) either about how the HL Club has helped
them or details about how they reached success.
I like surprising people with gifts I know they are
going to appreciate, but I can’t give you any hints
just yet!
Please send your letters to The Editor, Highlander
Club Newsletter, c/o Lombardi Publishing
Corporation, #1021, 67 Wall Street, 22nd Floor,
New York, NY 10005-3111. Note that Lombardi
Publishing reserves the right to edit grammatically
and publish the text you submit.
Can’t wait to hear from you!
How To Get More Money From
Your Boss
In a word, prepare. It sounds like common sense,
but there’s more to getting a raise than you might
think. Yet, although it is a sensitive issue, asking for
a raise isn’t something you should lose sleep over.
Just approach the task in a professional manner.
When you ask for more money, you are basically
selling yourself to your employer. You want your
boss to believe that you are indispensable (well,
aren’t you?) and that your accomplishments de-
serve to be rewarded. Don’t give your boss a list of
vague reasons. Be specific. Explain how you have
helped make or save the company specific amounts
of money. If you helped improve your company’s
bottom line, know by exactly how much, in specific
numbers, if at all possible. Focus precisely on your
accomplishments. Did you help pull in more clien-
tele? Did you create an ad campaign that drove traf-
fic to your boss’s door?
Do you need the money because you want a
bigger house, a new car, a new set of golf clubs,
or a brand-new wardrobe? If so, that’s not your
employer’s concern. Why YOU need the money
is irrelevant (although it may not seem that way to
you)! Prepare a sales pitch and practice delivering
it. Pretend you are on trial. You’ll need solid evi-
dence to justify your raise.
Make an appointment with your boss. Tell him
ahead of time that you’d like to discuss a personal
matter. Anticipate questions you might be asked
and know ahead of time what your answers will be.
Dress conservatively. No flashy clothing, jewelry,
or makeup. Attention should be focused on your
words and not on your appearance. If you have a
cell phone or pager, don’t take it into the meeting.
Opening remarks are usually the toughest. Try
this: “I appreciate the fact that the company isn’t
into the new fiscal year, but because of my increased
responsibilities, I’d like to discuss the possibility
of a pay raise.” Or, start by saying, “I received my
last pay increase one year ago. Based on my work
performance, I’d like to discuss the possibility of a
raise.”
Be polite, but confident; make eye contact, keep
your hands still, don’t fidget, and keep communi-
cation honest and direct. Speak in a relaxed, well-
modulated voice.
Is there one best time to ask for a raise? The time
of day doesn’t matter, but try to do it prior to the
beginning of your company’s new fiscal year. The
absolute best scenario is to time your pitch near a
recent success – when sales are up, when you’ve just
submitted a huge project, or at the end of a usually
productive week. If the job you have been doing
has been just mediocre, you may still be able to con-
vince your boss that you deserve a raise if you can
prove your claim that other people in your position
at similar companies are making more than you. A
simple way to find out where you stand is to log on
to www.salary.com. Do not compare your salary with
another employee in your firm. That is considered
unprofessional.
A colleague of mine says that the best way to get
a raise is to fake that you’ve got a better offer on
the table. But, I’d only advise that kind of tactic
if you really do plan to walk should your boss call
your bluff. When you ask for more money, ask for a
specific amount. You might have to ask for twice as
much as you really expect to get so that your boss
can have the last word, i.e. the power to lower your
request. If you don’t get the raise you want, you’ll
find it hard to continue working there. If you can’t
get more money, ask for other things that are worth
something to you. For instance, could you use a
slightly longer vacation? How about free employee
parking? What about a promise of a pay review in
six months instead of twelve? Be creative.
Whatever you do, don’t be afraid to ask. The
threat of losing your job because you ask for too
much money is ridiculous! Every boss knows that is
costs more to find, hire, and train a new employee
than it does to give you a pay increase.
My business associate, who founded a $60-million
company, Harvey MacKay, of the Mackay Envelope
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Corporation, once said that people asking for a
raise should, “Never threaten and never bluff, but
at the same time, never be afraid to ask.”
Go Global with Your Direct
Marketing Campaign and
Multiply Your Sales
Just as computers are here to stay, so is direct mail.
Even if you’re unfamiliar with the phrase “direct
mail,” you are undoubtedly very familiar with the
product itself. Direct mail is promotional sales lit-
erature sent to a carefully selected target audience.
Some direct mail comes packaged in an envelope
with the name of the recipient printed right on the
front. Other direct mail envelopes simply sport an
intriguing phrase that will prompt the recipient to
tear it open and, hopefully, pour over the contents
like hot fudge over ice cream. The great thing
about direct mail is that it can be opened anywhere,
and that means in faraway places where people are
eager to get their hands on products unavailable in
their own country. At some point, you should start
to market your product internationally via direct
mail, and, if you do, your business will surely bal-
loon.
Maybe you are pursuing a change of career.
Perhaps you are an entrepreneur or a small busi-
ness owner looking to expand overseas. Maybe
you have a background in business or a degree in
marketing. It could be true that you are just launch-
ing your business. The veterans of this business are
making way for newcomers, since there is more
than enough room for anyone who wants to join in.
It doesn’t matter what your background is or what
your current occupation is for you to see the logic
behind the international direct mail market.
What Makes Direct Mail So Attractive as a New
Business?
The one thing about direct mail is that it doesn’t
have to stop at U.S. border crossings. Yet, how many
direct marketers are out there right now working
only with U.S.-only mailing lists? Isn’t anybody tell-
ing them to investigate lists from outside the States?
Direct mail can be sent to any country around
the world, and there are lots of people worldwide
that are more than eager to get their hands on
American goods, particularly when it comes to
hardware and software. Marketers who don’t cross
the borderlines are making a costly mistake. Why
haven’t they tapped into the Canadian market, for
instance? After all, Canada is our next-door neigh-
bor. Selling internationally by mail has risen in the
ranks of popularity because the business itself is not
difficult. Thanks to a reduction in trade restrictions,
the globalization of markets, and easier-than-ever
credit card processing, direct mail marketers are
basking in the glory of their own success. The secret
therefore, to building sales and expanding your
business in a very big way, is to widen your direct
mail mailing list to countries outside of the United
States. And, if you’re not already in business or us-
ing direct mail currently, be sure that this is one
strategy that can help you launch your own profit-
able business. When it comes to direct mail market-
ing, people need to think and act globally, because
the profit margin is too tremendous to ignore.
Start Small, But Start Global
You don’t want to complicate matters, so the first
thing to do is to select one country and one country
only to send your direct mail. You don’t want to face
too many headaches at once, so by sticking with just
a single country to begin with, you can actually be
more productive. The majority of direct mailers
launch the international side of their business by
mailing to Canada, although Europe is also a popu-
lar choice amongst mailers. A little experience
helps before moving into countries with language
and cultural barriers, besides currency differences.
Some American mailing list owners (and we’ll
have more on the subject of mailing lists later on
in our newsletter) often have Canadian names and
addresses on their lists. Meantime, many U.S. di-
rect mail marketers choose Canada as their first test
market because of its close proximity to the U.S.
and its strikingly similar marketplace.
A New York firm called Political Risk Services
will, for a fee of about $50, send you a report to
help you analyze foreign markets. The company
can be contacted by phone at 315-431-0511 or by
fax at 315-431-0200.
Current events and whether or not the franc,
yen, loonie, or euro rises or falls are not the only
considerations you need to be aware of when deal-
ing with people overseas. Different cultures, even
when they speak English, apply different meanings
to the same words. For instance, if you want to
sell raincoats to the British, you should call them
4
“macs.” If you want to sell soda to Canadians, call
it “pop.” Try to become familiar with the language
and culture of the people with whom you are deal-
ing. Check out their country on the Internet and
in travel books. Eat in restaurants that specialize in
ethnic foods. Chat with people who are from the
country or countries with which you wish to do busi-
ness. Some of them may be your neighbors.
International Mailing Lists
Although automated postal systems are common
in most countries, they are relatively unheard of
in others. If your mail is going to be delivered by
elephant or a Town Crier, don’t bother with that
country. Neither do you want to send mail to coun-
try that is on shaky ground, politically or economi-
cally.
In addition to locating the best lists for your
product(s), the next path to cross is physically get-
ting your mail delivered to a foreign country. An in-
ternational mail consolidator is your best bet. It can
provide excellent advice on what to expect from
your mailings to other lands. It will tell you about
various pricing levels that come with the different
classes of mail and know about discounts that are
offered with large volumes of mail. Ask about reli-
ability with that particular country.
Brokers Worldwide is one example of a U.S.-
based international mail broker firm that smoothes
the bumps when it comes to having your mail reach
its intended destinations. These international mail
consolidators specialize in mailings and can pro-
vide more than just mail consolidation.
The problems of currency exchange are almost
obsolete nowadays when you are able to accept
the three most popular bank credit cards (Visa,
MasterCard, and American Express). When some-
one pays with one of these three credit cards, the
question of currency exchange is solved by auto-
matically converting the worth of that particular
foreign capital. Also, when you accept credit card
payments, you know that payment is secure well
before you prepare to mail off the product. If you
do accept checks, you will want to make certain
that they are drawn on an American bank. There
are international mailers who claim that requesting
a U.S.-drawn check actually damages their inter-
national sales. They say that bank debit cards are
much preferred if you want to head problems off at
the pass. You’ll want to go to your bank and put in a
request to become a vendor merchant. Also, don’t
accept foreign credit cards without checking with
your bank first.
Shipping Products Internationally
Ask your international mail consolidator about the
red tape involved in the country you select to deliver
your mail. Several countries have various duties and
tariffs on imported products, and your consolidator
should be aware of the rules and regulations. You
will have to inquire as to the prices regarding ship-
ping and handling. Meantime, you should really
double-check the regulatory information yourself,
and you can do that by phoning the embassy of the
particular nation that interests you. Every country
is different, and every product category is subject
to an assortment of rules and regulations. Foreign
embassy staff should be able to give you the straight
goods.
By mailing to an international market, your busi-
ness is bound to increase. It’s a fact that several
foreign markets have a higher response rate than
what you’ll get right here on home turf. While the
best response rate here in the States is about two
percent, it can be four percent on foreign ground.
That’s because recipients abroad are not bombard-
ed with direct mail like we are here in the States.
They’ll take direct mail much more seriously. Don’t
waste your stamps on home soil alone. Play the
global field. It will be well worth your while.
Mailing lists are available for rent from list bro-
kers. A qualified list broker knows what lists are
available and can tailor-make a list that suits you
best. This prospecting formula is a great time-saver,
and can help you reach a wide range of potential
clients. For a specialized mailing list, you can ex-
pect to pay about $150 per thousand names. A list
that is more generalized could be as low as $60 per
thousand names.
List brokers have monster-sized databases from
which they can select names and addresses of those
people or firms that match your particular criteria,
and any brokerage firm should have no problem lo-
cating the best mailing lists in virtually any country
of your choice. Several list brokers now have full in-
ternational brokerage services that can locate mail-
ing lists from all corners of the world. And, thanks
to electronic databases, most of these lists can be
summoned within 24 to 48 hours of your request.
Your broker should understand that your needs
will vary from project to project, so you must de-
mand constant attention to detail. Be sure your list
5
broker stays on top of the latest new from countries
that may or may not be politically and/or economi-
cally stable. You should also possess at least a limit-
ed knowledge of business and economics and keep
abreast of the ups and downs of foreign currency.
Learn to play the fluctuations to your best advan-
tage. Keeping track of current worldly events is part
of your responsibility as an international business-
person. If you are considering marketing to a coun-
try outside the States, just phone your list broker.
Explain that you wish to sell overseas, or wherever
you decide, and you’ll receive a ton of information
on that country, including postal regulations, dif-
ferences in currency, most optimum time to mail,
and other important facts. After all, a list broker
wants to do more for you than just provide you with
a list of names and addresses. He/she is working
as your direct marketing consultant. Make sure to
ask for your free list recommendation for the kind
of product you want to market. You’ll receive a list
of available lists of prospects in your target demo-
graphic in the country you have selected.
Some of the larger libraries have books that
will lead you to brokers with some very specific
lists. Direct Marketing magazine is well known, in
part, for running ads promoting list management
firms with carefully tailored lists. In fact, there are
many things you can do to track down companies
that deal in specialized mailing lists. Look up List
Brokers in the Yellow Pages under “Mailing Lists,”
“List Brokers,” or “Mailing Services.” The gov-
ernment will also assist you. The Small Business
Development Center, or SBDC, is sponsored by
the Small Business Administration and funded by
tax dollars. Marketing is only one area in which
you can receive help, and the SBDC even sells
reasonably priced targeted mailing lists. Log on to
www.sba.gov/sbdc to locate the office closest to you.
Search for List Brokers on the Internet by perform-
ing a search. A Google search, for example, will
turn up all kinds of companies. Here are just a few
firms:
Agency ComPile (www.agencycompile.com)
www.experian.com
Fairfield Marketing Group
830 Sport Hill Road
Easton CT 06612
203-254-0862
www.fairfieldmarketing.com
Dunhill International List Co.
1951 NW 19th Street
Boca Raton, FL 33431
www.dunhills.com
Edith Roman Associates
One Blue Hill Plaza, 16th floor
P.O. Box 1556
Pearl River, NY 10965-8556
800-223-2194
FAX: 845-620-9035
www.edithroman.com
info@edithroman.com
The Information Refinery, Inc.
www.inforefinery.com
ListWorldUSA.Com
4422 E. Coyote Wash Drive
Cave Creek, AZ 85331
480-595-9569
1-866-769-List (5478)
listworldUSA.com
info@listworldusa.com
Also, magazine and trade journal publishers often
use a list manager. Therefore, if you sense that sub-
scribers to Older Homes Magazine, for example, are
likely to be good prospects for your garden supplies,
then you can rent their subscriber list directly.
Why Great Ads Bomb
Advertising is the face of business, but even when
you think your ad is “putting on a good face,” it may
be frowning. Watch for these trouble areas in your
ad campaign:
• Are you trying to advertise something in which
people really have no interest? For example,
maybe you opened an auto parts delivery shop.
Wouldn’t it be better to advertise a main feature
of the shop (fast and efficient service, access to
parts from domestic and foreign cars, speedy
delivery, etc.) than to advertise radiator model
number zkw97436? No matter how wonder-
fully worded the ad may be, and no matter how
great the graphics are, if nobody cares about the
product, the ad will do zilch. It may not be the
ad that is the failure. It could be what is being
advertised.
• Some business owners get no traffic from great
ads, and that’s because they opened their busi-
ness in a location where their product or service
can’t outdo the competition. If a small town had
a family-owned dry cleaning business that lasted
for decades and a new family started the same
business across the street, the new family’s ad
may not be enough to sway people to their es-
tablishment. If people are perfectly fine with the
competition, your ad, no matter how appealing,
may not draw in customers. Set up shop else-
where. Maybe that’s your problem.
• Some ads promise but they don’t deliver. If you
are promising in your ad that you can turn water
into chocolate milk, then you had better be able
to do it. Once word gets out that your ads don’t
deliver on their promises, you won’t need to cre-
ate another ad. You’ll be long out of business.
• Does your ad prompt people to take action? It
should. It should contain a time-limited offer. If
it doesn’t, then you’re going to have to run your
ad for a very long time so that consumers become
familiar with it. They’re going to have to see it
over and over again, so when they need what
you have, they will remember you. If your ad does
contain a time-limited offer, you mustn’t repeat
it too frequently or run it for too long a time.
If you do, the repetition will wash away peoples’
perception that you really do have a time limited
offer. People won’t believe you. They won’t think
that you practice “integrity pricing.”
• Are you selling new cars or are you selling fast
food? If you are selling new cars, you won’t see
response from your ad immediately. You have to
just wait until people need a new car. We all can’t
buy new cars tomorrow. For every 10 cars that are
sold, there could be 500 cheeseburgers or sand-
wiches sold, so an ad for a fast food joint could
easily show more immediate results than the new
car ad.
Don’t Be Swindled – Here Are
the Latest Con Games
American short story writer, O. Henry, had it bang-
on when he wrote, “It was beautiful and simple as
all truly great swindles are.” Yet, the scams to which

6
O. Henry referred were in operation sometime
around 1900, and, since then, the word scam has
taken on a whole new twist. We’re going to let
you in on today’s “beautiful and simple” scam op-
erations – beautiful for the cheater because they
work, and simple to carry out because of advanced
technology and the volume of people who believe
enchanting promises. It’s unfortunate that there
are so many scammers out there looking to take ad-
vantage of some trusting soul trying to make a good
buck working from home. It’s criminal that this
is happening, and most of the victims are retired
people, the disabled, and stay-at-home parents. It’s
not nice. It’s just bitter reality. That’s why we want
to bring to the attention of Highland Club members
some of the scams that are in circulation now, so
they can protect themselves from being swindled:
Some people have been surprised to find what
looks like an IRS form in their mailbox. The letter
that accompanies the form advises recipients to fax
their personal and banking information right away
to avoid losing certain tax benefits. The scammer
then uses the customer’s personal information to
gain access to his/her accounts.
Action Plan: The first thing you can do is to visit
this web site: www.occ.treas.gov/ftp/alert/2002-3.doc.
This is where you can download samples of fake
forms, and then compare them to yours. Or, simply
take the form and letter you received to your bank
manager who will verify its authenticity. If it’s fake,
file a police report. Then, contact the fraud depart-
ments at the big three credit bureaus:
Equifax, 800-525-6285
TransUnion, 800-680-7289
Experian, 888-397-3742
Identification Theft has taken on a new dimension.
Be wary of your bank teller. Is it someone new? Now,
organized crime members are squirming their way
into bank teller positions where they can forge
withdrawals from savings accounts and easily steal
the cash. They go into the bank’s operating system
and they do whatever it takes to leave “evidence” of
a visit by the customer. They don’t withdraw large
amounts. That would be too obvious. Instead, they
just take the cash out in dribs and drabs. By the time
the customer’s monthly statement gets delivered,
the fraudulent teller already spent the money.
Action Plan: You don’t want this happening
to you, so here’s what to do. Speak to your bank
7
manager. Explain that you wish to inquire about
employee security, and that you wish to know what
security measures are in place when they hire tell-
ers. Explain that you wish to know how your money
is safeguarded. Ask what procedures are in place to
maintain secure operations. Are their answers clear
and logical, or did they flounder upon hearing
your questions? If they hemmed and hawed, then
switch banks.
We know that American soldiers in Baghdad dis-
covered a mountain of money, so of course there’s
a scam to go along with that. People are now receiv-
ing e-mails from instantly rich “American Special
Forces Commando” in Afghanistan. You might get
an e-mail from suddenly wealthy soldier, “Brandon
Curtis” who, while on patrol, stumbled across $36
million in terrorist drug money.
Con e-mail such as this requests help from the
recipient to transport a money-filled suitcase out of
Afghanistan. The target gets the promise of a cut of
the cash. However, they are asked for bank account
information in advance of the job or some kind of
advance payment. Once the recipient complies, the
cheater helps him or herself to the target’s bank
accounts.
Action Plan: You need to notify your district
Secret Service office in the event you receive a mes-
sage like this. For more information about this and
other money swindles, log on to www.secretservice.gov/
alert419.shtml.
Another trendy scam targets consumers who
are eager to make fast, easy money -- as much as
$50,000 a year to run a medical billing business
from home. This scam is promoted in classified ads
across both Canada and the States. Telephone solic-
itors are also promoting this particular swindle, and
it is being advertised through postcard mailers and
Internet banners. You are asked to fork out some
money, eitherby paying a processing fee or purchas-
ing a starter pack. It could set you back anywhere
from $43 to $289. The Federal Trade Commission
(FTC) warns that there aren’t too many doctors
seeking outside billing services. Skilled workers
handle these jobs.
Action Plan: You can read about the FTC’s posi-
tion regarding medical billing solicitations by log-
ging on to www.ftc.gov/opa/2002/04/dialing.htm.
Other ongoing scams to be wary of: If you spot an
ad for a Home Typist on your computer, the red flag
should appear. If an ad appears on-line for someone
with a truly specialized skill, that is another matter
altogether. An Internet ad for Home Typist would
garner a million responses. A reputable company
would hire an administrative assistant.
If you spot an ad requiring an envelope stuffer,
run away. You’ll pay $30 for nothing but instructions
on how to advertise for more envelope stuffers, so
you’re paying money to learn to do what you’ve just
done, which is pay money to learn how to advertise
for envelope stuffers.
Some scam artists demand a fee up front so
that you can apply for a legitimate job. Yeah, right.
When is the last time you paid an interviewer to in-
terview you? Would you?
If you see an ad for non-skilled and inexperi-
enced workers, let them hire teenagers who want
an after-school job where they can pay low wages.
Not you.
Is there a contact person listed on the ad? If not,
be careful.
An ad is more likely to be a scam when there
aren’t too many words used. A legitimate employer
doesn’t mind writing a detailed advertisement in
an effort to limit the number of job applicants.
Nobody wants to be flooded with a thousand or
more cover letters.
If something looks too good to be true, then
it probably is. Do you really expect excellent pay
to work from home for some company that could
afford to hire their own person on-site? Ads have
been running asking for a private shipper where
you must ship products to international lands. The
people who have answered these ads have shipped
computers and other items, but they never received
payment.
Newspapers, yellow pages, Internet web site own-
ers – nobody has time to stand behind all of their
advertisements. That would be impossible. With
that in mind, here are some terrific web sites to
help protect you from scam artists:
ScamWatch
www.scamwatch.com
ScamBusters
www.scambusters.org
The Better Business Bureau
www.bbb.org
The Federal Trade Commission
www.ftc.gov
Use your best judgment. If an ad seems fishy, it
probably is.
Get Government Help for Your
Inventions
There’s a little-known program that can be of great
help to you if you’re an inventor. It’s the Energy
Related Inventions Program (I&I), started during
President Carter’s administration. This program
provides financial assistance from $40,000 to
$200,000, depending on the stage of development,
for conducting early development and establishing
technical performance of innovative ideas and in-
ventions.
In addition to financial assistance, this program
offers technical guidance and commercialization
support to successful applicants, such as mentoring
for project development planning and manage-
ment, regional training and learning centers for
business planning, regional, state, and local level
support for economic development, technology
conferences and trade shows, and forums for finan-
cial investors with particular interest in energy-re-
lated businesses.
For more information, and the required forms
for submitting an invention for consideration con-
tact:
U.S. Department of Energy, Inventions and
Innovation Program, 1000 Independence Ave,
SW, Washington, DC 20585-0121, by e-mail:
webmaster.oit@hq.doe.gov or go to www.oit.doe.gov/
inventions
Do you have a legitimate business opportunity
you’d like to share with Highlander Club mem-
bers? Are you seeking investments or a loan?
Maybe you need help starting a business. If so,
describe your opportunity in 100 words or less,
and we’ll publish it in our new Highlander Club
Opportunities Section. Send your material to:
Editor, Highlander Club Newsletter, c/o
Lombardi Publishing Corporation, #1021, 67
Wall Street, 22nd Floor, New York, NY 10005-
3111. Lombardi Publishing reserves the right
to edit grammatically and publish the text you
submit.