Avoid Becoming a Holiday Marketing Victim

We are entering dangerous times. Yes, you read that correctly…dangerous. What do we mean by that? Well, the holiday season is upon us and that means a flurry of advertisements designed to get us to part with our hard-earned money. Discounts, specials, and pre-holiday sales are arriving in our real and virtual mailboxes every day. Not only are these time-consuming to sift through, they are tempting. They are also pressure tactics so we should be wary.

Many people are saddled with debt, which does not take a holiday. Despite this, they spend their money on so-called discounted purchases during the holidays rather than saving the money or using it to pay down debt balances. Half-off sales are difficult for even the most frugal consumers to resist. Though the discount is notable, the mere act of marking down prices by 50 percent causes many people to spend money when they normally would not.

Think about it: an online or brick-and-mortar retailer sends you a coupon for 50 percent off. What do you do? Fire up the computer or jump into the car and zip over to make some purchases. Were these items that you actually needed or did you just buy anything simply to take advantage of the discount? In many cases, consumers buy much more than they normally would and few of the items are necessary. Even loyalty rewards programs can be tricky that way.

Holiday sales seem like ways to save money on holiday shopping. Delve deeper to determine whether material items are really necessary. The holidays are about friends and family, not money. Why not spend quality time with the people who mean the most rather than overextending the budget to give them things they may not need? Put natural talents like cooking, sewing, or construction to work, helping others who do not have these special skills. Make each “gift” a personalized one that enhances the life of the recipient.

Dani Johnson, Secret Millionaire star and personal financial guru, is just one of the experts who kicks efforts into high gear during the holiday season. Dani has seen thousands of people struggle with money, many of them victims of holiday overspending. She helps people avoid the temptation and continue saving no matter how steep the holiday discounts become.

Helping consumers get back on track financially is the best gift Dani can give. Through her books, training programs, weekly radio broadcasts, and in-person workshops, she helps people become better at saving money and increasing their incomes. These are skills she has mastered and wants to share with the world.

It is so easy to fall into a mentality of consumerism. Do not succumb to this trap. Make conscious effort to keep money in the wallet or use it to repay debts. Focus on thoughts and feelings, not store-bought gifts, this holiday season. Think about what means the most to you and request that of others, helping them to save money as well. Rebel against retail and get back to the real reason for this season.

*Photo Courtesy of Christina Rutz via Creative CommonsLicense

Dani Johnson Tackles The Difficult Topic Of Addiction

Addiction is a topic that many people avoid discussing due to the associated stigma. However, many of us find ourselves affected by addiction whether we suffer from it or one of our loved ones does. On her radio show last night, Secret Millionaire Dani Johnson  discussed this touchy subject, let former addicts tell their stories, and asked professionals to provide advice.

Dani is no stranger to addiction, being exposed to it from childhood. She grew up on welfare with abusive parents who did every type of drug. Due to the drug issue, violence was a way of life in her household. Her father used to roll joints every morning and to this day, her mother grows marijuana. Over the years, their drug of choice moved from marijuana to cocaine and then pills, changing the home dynamics.

This environment was a scary place for a child. Dani says she never knew how her parents would react to questions. Their responses would be based on the type of drugs her parents did that day. Drugs were the top priority, leaving Dani and her siblings with little food to eat. This caused the now-millionaire to grow up hating drugs. One of her sisters grew up in a group home as a result of selling drugs and her other sister was also in and out of group homes, married very young, and eventually picked up the drug habits of her parents.

One of the sisters died at the age of 21 as the result of a head-on collision that occurred while she was doing a drug run for her parents. Despite being able to avoid drugs during her youth, Dani ended up doing drugs at the age of 21 while she was homeless and engaged in promiscuous activity. She smoked marijuana every day and even ended up doing cocaine, the drug that had led to so much violence during her childhood.

Many other people are all too familiar with the harm that addiction can cause. Dani believes that addiction comes in many forms and plagues our nation. People deal with addictions to alcohol, pornography, work, and even things. According to Dani, if we can learn from addiction, we can stay away from it. Her guests on the segment shared stories of how they walked the road of addiction and learned to get away.

The stories will shock you because they involve personal destruction, death, and a complete turnaround. Faith is a theme in many of these sagas and its power is undeniable. Hearing the tales of how people tried unsuccessfully to fill a void in their lives is heart wrenching. Listening to how they eventually came upon faith as the answer is inspiring.

It is never too late to address an addiction of any type. You decide what you turn the power in your life over to, so make it something positive, not destructive. Listen to the audio recording of this radio broadcast on Dani’s website and learn how to overcome your addiction to narcotics, work, money, and material things.

Jeff Usner Appears On 700 Club

Last week was a busy one for millionaire entrepreneur Jeff Usner. He continued to promote his latest book Internet Millionaire: Your Blueprint to Succeed, prepared for his upcoming Profit Hub Bootcamp in Dallas, Texas, and managed to squeeze in a television appearance on the 700 Club. This online marketing guru has been moving in high gear ever since his appearance on the ABC television show Secret Millionaire last month.

Those of you who did not catch Jeff on either of his television appearances really missed something. You can watch the Secret Millionaire episode on the ABC program Web page. Jeff was moved to tears by his work on Secret Millionaire, which allowed him to donate a portion of his hard-earned fortune to worthy causes in his hometown of San Antonio. The full August 21 episode of the 700 Club is available on the show Web page on the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) website.

The 700 Club is a live daily television program broadcast from CBN headquarters in Virginia Beach. It airs before a studio audience, allowing crowds to see inspirational guests like Usner in person. This show has been on the air since 1966, making it one of the longest-running programs in television history. Pat Robertson, Gordon Robertson, Kristi Watts, and Terry Meeuwsen host the show and Lee Webb serves as news anchor. In addition to news, the format includes commentary, feature stories, interviews, and Christian ministry.

Usner definitely increased his exposure by appearing on the 700 Club. This show is watched by approximately one million people each day and CBN International programs are broadcast in 138 countries. Viewers and the studio audience witnessed Usner explaining the difficult road from tragedy to triumph with online entrepreneurial ventures, books, and training programs. This was the perfect venue for the millionaire because viewers want to learn how to improve their lives while being guided by the faith that helped Usner handle his most difficult times.

Usner said that he was raised Lutheran but did not personally know the Lord until 2001. He appeared to be successful but his business was accumulating debt, he was working long hours, and his family life was suffering. Then, his unborn son died in vitro and four months later, Usner suffered a stroke. He asked several coworkers to pray for him and a miracle occurred. Additional tests revealed no sign of a stroke.

What followed was a complete life redesign. Usner downsized his business so he could operate it from home. He spent less time working and more time with his family. In just eight months, he eliminated the huge debt he had amassed. Within 18 months, he created a million dollar business online and he has never looked back.

Usner has realized the benefits of growing companies, making substantial money, and becoming an influence on others. However, he said that giving back offers the best feeling of all. His time on Secret Millionaire reinforced that belief and his faith continues to guide him to help others while maintaining a successful life.

Dani Johnson Happenings In Mid-August

Our favorite Secret Millionaire Dani Johnson has not been taking things easy this summer. In the past couple of weeks alone, she has granted several interviews and has hosted some powerful guest stars on her syndicated radio show, The Dani Johnson Show. Here is a recap of what you have missed if you have not been able to keep up with this author, trainer, speaker, and business mogul. Don’t blink or you might miss her doing something else impressive!

During the week of August 13, an interview regarding the 2012 kids in 2012 project was conducted by NTS Media Online: The Weekly Digest of Talk Media. Food For Orphans and King’s Ransom Foundation, two non-profit organizations in which Dani is heavily involved, are helping to spearhead this project, which established a goal of feeding 2,012 orphans in 2012. This goal was attained in May and the project continues to receive donations, support, and attention.

Fellow talk show host Kevin McCullough and superstar actor Stephen Baldwin are collaborating with Dani on this project and have gained the support of several food-manufacturing companies. Each meal costs just 25 cents, equating to an annual cost of only $92 to feed one child for an entire year. McCullough told the NTS Media Online audience how he brought the group together and what a difference the project has made in the lives of orphans.

McCullough, along with actor Kirk Cameron and businessperson and philanthropist Hans Johnson appeared on a recent segment of The Dani Johnson Show. The recording of this broadcast is currently available on Dani’s website. The decline of America was the discussion topic. America was once the greatest nation in the world but today, it leads the planet in personal and government debt, production of pornography, and divorce. The group discussed what it will take to make America a truly great nation again.

On August 16, Dani was interviewed on ABC’s Capitol Insider, which offers a look behind the scenes of business politics and the business sector. Host Morris Jones had some difficult questions for Dani and she handled them like the pro that she is. This show deals with weighty topics and gets to the heart of what makes American business tick. Dani knows a lot about this as she has managed to create six figure income with her own businesses.

By the end of the week, Dani was off to Washington, D.C. Over the weekend, she held her First Steps to Success and Spiritual Equipping in the Marketplace seminars and Home Business Entrepreneur Workshop. Tens of thousands of people turned out to learn how to become more spiritually driven, develop successful home businesses, and achieve goals they never thought were attainable.

Dani continues to host her Monday night Strategy Calls, broadcasts The Dani Johnson Show on Wednesdays and Sundays, and holds Spiritual Equipping broadcasts on Wednesdays. This leaves us wondering how she has time to bond with her family and get some sleep. Somehow, Dani manages to do it all and those whose lives she touches are the better for it.

Jay Deutsch Takes The Secret Millionaire Spotlight

Self-made millionaire Jay Deutsch lived in Phoenix, Arizona, for a week and worked with local grassroots organizations while taping this episode. His undercover volunteering included work at a sports program for children in need, a local pre-school, and a coffee shop benefitting domestic violence victims. When Secret Millionaire resumes, he will be featured in an episode.

In 1984, Deutsch and his best friend, Eric Bensussen, co-founded Bensussen Deutsch & Associates, Inc. (BDA), a $315 million branded merchandise company catering to sports leagues and the business sector. Deutsch currently serves as CEO for the company, where he introduced the trademarked Merchandise Agency concept. This allows BDA to operate on a global scale, providing creative services, branding knowledge, supply chain logistics, distribution, fulfillment, and client services.

This millionaire marketing genius left his posh Pacific Northwest home and his loving family to appear on Secret Millionaire so he could identify individuals and causes worthy of donations. He made the journey to honor fellow employee and friend Susan Brockert who was murdered during a corporate retreat. Working alongside others who are trying to make a positive difference was an appropriate homage to his deceased friend. Donating hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money after revealing his identity was surely intrinsically rewarding for this entrepreneur.

With BDA, Deutsch is known as a philosopher, motivator, leader, and innovator. This entrepreneur is passionate about his business and this infects the corporate culture. He views BDA as a partner with each of its clients, creating a collaborative relationship. This has gotten the company on the radar in a big way and earned Deutsch the Young Entrepreneur of the Year award from Ernst and Young in 2004.

Not everyone can create six figure income like Deutsch continues to do. The Merchandise Agency concept sets BDA apart from the competition. A Merchandise Agency is a consultant that ensures that clients are effectively spending their promotional dollars. BDA helps clients develop their brands and move toward their goals and it uses more than a logoed sports bottle or pen to do it. The company combines industry experience, branding strategies, consumer research, and corporate promotional objectives to generate unique ideas.

BDA got its first order from the Seattle Seahawks and the company has been growing ever since. Its client list now includes well known organizations including Major League Baseball, Coca-Cola, and GEICO, among many others. BDA handles everything from sales promotions, to dealer networks, to webstores and entertainment marketing. It truly is the one-stop-shop that Deutsch and Bensussen wanted it to become.

Deutsch has helped position his company in a positive light outside of the business world. The company engages in charitable giving through both its own efforts and products and programs it engages in with its clients. Some of these efforts benefit domestic abuse, a cause close to Deutsch’s heart due to the death of his friend Susan.

Amos Winbush Becomes The Next Secret Millionaire On August 19

This season of the ABC television show Secret Millionaire is in full swing and on August 19, a new millionaire will be in the spotlight. However, no one who encounters Amos Winbush III during his week in New Orleans will know that he is a millionaire. We cannot wait to hear him tell how he created his six figure income and plans to use it to help others who have helped in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Winbush is founder and CEO of CyberSynchs, a technology company specializing in universal data synchronization and transfer. He founded this company at the tender age of 26 and at a time when many aspiring entrepreneurs were waiting for the recession to end. He started the business in his studio apartment and developed it to a $20 million company. His goal was to design and create a universal wireless solution for management, backup, and retrieval of mobile content.

Realizing that collaboration with a major technology company would help in his endeavor, Winbush approached Sun Microsystems. The resulting partnership gave CyberSynchs the ability to develop on the JAVAFX platform and provided access to the Sun Cloud. CyberSynchs is distributed by Sun Microsystems within JAVAFX, which expanded company penetration of the market. Winbush and his executive team are currently negotiating additional agreements with manufacturers of smart phones, mobile phones, and digital cameras.

This young millionaire and his company have received much attention in recent years. Winbush was named the 2010 Innovator of the Year by Black Enterprise and CyberSynchs was included in the 2010 Entrepreneur magazine list of 100 Brilliant Companies. Winbush has presented at numerous entrepreneurial and technology conferences in Silicon Alley in New York and at the JAVAONE conference.

If you knew Winbush back in 2007, you may have thought he was headed in a different direction. His family worked in the music business and he had a record deal and several singles. Were it not for is iPhone going black during a recording session, he may not have come up with the idea for the automatic data backup service that made him a millionaire. More than 60 million users worldwide thank him for the idea every time their mobile devices and computers crash.

Winbush has an open door in his office and wants to remain involved in technology development. This desire to contribute led him to the low-income section of New Orleans, where he lived and volunteered his time during Secret Millionaire. Winbush met many locals who helped, and continue to help, revitalize the hurricane-ravaged community, restoring hope to residents. Some of those became the lucky recipients of a portion of his fortune.

According to Winbush, he answers every message he receives. Every day, he works on developing partnerships worldwide. He also spends substantial time at events, working with organizations that make a difference from a business or charitable perspective. This down-to-earth twentysomething continues to raise the bar for himself and his future endeavors will no doubt include additional charitable contributions and volunteer efforts.  

Have You Seen The Jeff Usner Commercial?

If you have not been keeping up with Secret Millionaire Jeff Usner, you have missed quite a bit. The night before he appeared on the hit ABC television show about American millionaires giving some of their fortunes to worthy causes, he released a commercial for his new book, Internet Millionaire: Your Blueprint to Succeed. The commercial is humorous while clearly conveying the subject of his book that is sure to be a hit.

Jeff used the techniques conveyed in this book to get himself out of six figure-deep debt and become a millionaire. After reading the 240-page guide, anyone will be able to make big money online. Effective tips, insider secrets, and step-by-step systems from the experts are included. This book is predicted to revolutionize the industry of online marketing and Jeff believes it is the last Internet marketing book any of us will ever need to read.

Though a lot of information exists about how to compete in the online marketing world, little of it is as valuable as this book. Jeff takes an instructional approach with the subject matter, making it easier for anyone to learn how to earn money online. He also emphasizes the value of becoming an entrepreneur. Reading the book will make everyone want to stop working for someone else and establish their own business in order to become a millionaire from online work.

Some people think that working online seems interesting but they fear they do not have the technical skills required. Others worry that they could not earn steady income from work done on the Internet. Jeff puts these concerns to rest, explaining that he has few technical skills and has managed to earn a very comfortable living with online work. He claims that his five-step system to online wealth is so easy that his children are using it.

There is an interesting reason that the word “blueprint” is used in the book title. The techniques and strategies included in the book are a blueprint of what Jeff used to turn his life from a personal financial crisis into one that most people live only in their dreams. Jeff has made substantial money online and as an entrepreneur, he now has the freedom to spend more time with his family. This career has also opened the door to previously unimagined opportunities.

With the release of Internet Millionaire, the Jeff Usner millionaire secret has finally been revealed. People no longer need to struggle in their quest to earn money online. They can learn from an expert and get themselves on the fast track to making a comfortable living. Finally, a book that everyone can understand and actually use. 

It seems that appearing on Secret Millionaire was just the beginning of Jeff’s increased presence in the media. Watch his television commercial to see how charismatic he can be. Then, get his book to learn how you too can become an online millionaire. With a detailed system to follow, you should be earning millions in no time!

Prepare To Meet Secret Millionaire Marcus Lemonis On August 5

On August 5, Marcus Lemonis will be featured on the ABC hit television show Secret Millionaire. Lemonis is the CEO of RV-related Good Sam Enterprises and Camping World so it is appropriate that he lived in a trailer during his time on the show. However, this trailer is rundown and he must live on welfare wages, not the high income he is accustomed to receiving. Lemonis spends his time in his hometown of Miami, volunteering at charitable organizations and looking for people and groups worthy of financial donation.

Since March 2011, Lemonis has been the CEO of Good Sam Enterprises. He has served as president and CEO of Camping World, Inc. since September 2006 and of FreedomRoads Holding Company, LLC, which he co-founded, since 2003. From 2001 to 2003, Lemonis held executive positions with Holiday RV Superstores Inc. Before that, he was director of regional operations and director of megastore operations for AutoNation USA. His travel-related career began after serving as assistant general manager for Anthony Abraham Chevrolet from 1995 to 1999.

This 38-year-old earned his six figure income through hard work and dedication. He has had more than his share of bumps in the road, with Holiday RV Superstores filing for bankruptcy in 2003 and AutoNation used car megastores shut down after he served as regional manager for 65 stores in 11 states. Now, he is the CEO of Affinity Group, which owns Camping World and Good Sam.

When Lemonis was just nine months old, he was rescued from an orphanage in war-torn Beirut. A businessperson who ran the largest Chevrolet dealerships in Tampa and Miami, Florida, raised him. Lemonis found a mentor in this man and close family friend Lee Iacocca, the well-known former head of Chrysler Corporation. Lemonis graduated from the business school at Marquette University, triple majoring in political science, accounting, and economics.

This young millionaire is shrewd and has a habit of turning around organizations in decline. As a leader, he confounds many, with his moves including firing all managers at FreedomRoads. Affinity Group , which dominates the recreational vehicle industry and is considered by many as too large to fail, may have found the leader it needs. To clear its approximately $330 million in debt, the company must generate over $3 million per month.

Crain included Lemonis in its “40 under 40” Chicago list in 2005. In 2007, RV Business magazine named the now-millionaire its “Newsmaker of the Year.” Lemonis received the “Young Entrepreneur of the Year” honors from Ernst & Young in 2008. This man has a large heaping of charisma and a desire to give back to communities in which he is involved.

Lemonis is up for the Affinity Group challenge just as he was up for appearing on two seasons of Celebrity Apprentice and now, Secret Millionaire. Watch him volunteer for three Miami-area charity organizations and use his leadership skills to help improve life in Miami. Lemonis said his experience on the show was life-changing and is reflective of the philosophy of Good Sam, which includes giving back wherever needed.