"Nothing
is Secret Anymore!"- The Confessions of a Millionaire Information
Broker.
By Mathew Lesko
Information is the currency of today's world.
Those who control information are the most powerful people on
the planet -and the ones with the most bulging bank accounts.
The timely delivery of vital information is one of the most lucrative
businesses you can have in this new millennium. I should know.
I started one of the most successful information brokerage businesses
in the country. I'm also perhaps the world's most well known information
broker, and I've made millions of dollars from doing it, and I'm
going to show you how to easily do the same.
Let me backtrack a little bit.
All my life I wanted to start my own business. I didn't care what
it was -- I just wanted to learn how to feed myself and not work
for someone else. I even considered selling hot dogs on the mall
near the Washington Monument. I just wanted to be my own boss.
Sound familiar?
I had a string of failed businesses before I hit the big time. It
was while working as a computer administrator of a travel company
that I learned something that changed my whole life.
The hot shots that ran the company fascinated me. They were powerful
individuals who discussed, negotiated and executed big deals all
the time. In order to get in on some of that wheeling and dealing,
I'd hang around late at night when they had their meetings, and
volunteer to get coffee and doughnuts, do the Xeroxing -- do anything
to try to learn how to be like them.
One day, they came into my office and asked me -- not to get coffee
-- but to get information on how good or bad the rental car business
was. It seems they were considering making a bid to acquire Avis
Rent-A-Car, and needed some good market information to go along
with the financial statements they were poring over. I, of course,
said "Yes, yes, yes!" I was their "yes man,"
even though I knew nothing about the rental car business and had
no idea where I was going to get this
information.
Well, I wanted to do this so badly I could almost taste it. This
was one giant step up from coffee and Xeroxing that lucky people
are offered once in a lifetime, and I didn't want to blow it.
I saw myself as a young turk on the way up the ladder of success.
But I didn't have a clue where to go for the information.
I sat in my little office wondering if I could make the grade. I
sat there staring at my desk hoping something would pop into my
head and give me the magic answer. I stared at the telephone and
then picked it up thinking:
"Here I am in Washington D.C. needing to know about the rental
car business. Who can I call? Why not the government? I pass all
those big buildings everyday on the way to work. Maybe someone
there can help me."
Well, it worked! By starting with the government information operator,
I was able to work my way through a dozen more calls and referrals
until I finally found an expert in the rental car business. It
turned out to be a man who used to be the president of Hertz and
was now in Washington -- and bored out of his mind with his government
job. He actually invited me to lunch so he could tell me everything
he knew.
I was shocked!
I couldn't believe that in 45 minutes on the telephone, I could
locate a real expert who was willing to tell me everything I needed
to know about the rental car business. And, he even wanted to
take me to lunch!
Afterwards, I was so excited about the information I had just
received that I burst into a meeting my boss was having with his
hotshot merger and acquisition buddies. He was eager to hear everything
I learned from my lunch right then and there.
They were blown away. They couldn't believe that a young turk
like me, who didn't know anyone, could get such information that
we had all assumed was privileged and confidential.
I got more excited about the information I dug up on the rental
car business than with any program I ever wrote for the company.
I knew then that information was power. I also knew then that
there was immense value in delivering timely information on demand.
I was hooked. I started a new business obtaining information for
people on anything they needed. I became a consultant to people
in the merger and acquisition business, and I got all the information
they needed to make their business a success -- information they
were unable to find themselves.
This time, success finally happened. The business grew from just
me, a telephone, and a desk in my one-bedroom apartment to over
30 employees and a million and a half dollars in sales in a little
more than 3 years. Even after a string of failing businesses,
I finally realized my first success, and I'll show how you can
do it, too.
How to Create Money Out of Thin Air
What I learned early on is that you can literally take information
that is free to obtain, but oftentimes hard for the average person
to find -- turn around and sell it for big bucks. All it
requires is a little resourcefulness, and the knowledge of where
to find the information that is sellable.
There's nothing to it. These are the only things you need:
1) Believe the notion that we live in an information society,
and if you're willing to make a few necessary calls (or e-mails),
you can gather information on almost anything -- and make that
information sellable.
2) You need to know where to look for the information. Although
there are countless sources of information, if you do nothing
else but tap into the world's largest source of free information,
you can find virtually everything that you need. That source
is the U.S. Government. [I've spent 25 years of my life as an
information broker, and I have yet to find a source of information
more comprehensive than the U.S. Government.]
Do you want to get an idea of just how vast the government's information
reserve is?
If you took all the major commercial publishers in the United
States, they collectively produce 50,000 new titles in all the
libraries and bookstores around the country in a single year. In
contrast, one single publisher in the government (the National
Technical Information Service) publishes over 100,000 titles a
year. Multiply that by the number of government agencies that
produce information, and the amount of information becomes absolutely
staggering!
The range of subjects on which you can find information is also
mind-boggling: The government not only counts people, the number
of jelly beans manufactured in the country, toilets installed,
and how many potatoes grown; but also gives investment trends
and opportunities likely to show up in the Wall Street Journal
in weeks; it also answers any legal question better than the highest
paid lawyer. There are 700,000
government experts in any field you can imagine, who will give
you free information simply because you asked.
How to Use the Information You Gather:
1) Find customers who need, and are willing to pay for, specialized
information. Position yourself as someone who knows how to find
information on practically everything, but do narrow down the
types of information you can get for your customers' specific
needs. That way, you zero in with the precision of a sharpshooter,
instead of just firing a shotgun that goes in all directions.
As an information broker, always remember what Willy Sutton said
when asked why he robbed banks. He said, "Because that's
where the money is." You need to live by the same slogan
if you want to stay in business. Choose the path of least resistance. Choose
a customer base that consists of rich people or big companies
that have money to spend on finding out how they can get richer
-- and are willing and able to spend it.
2) Gather specialized information that would be of great interest
to a specific business sector (example: Internet marketers). Position
yourself as an expert on a particular subject, then write in-depth
special reports that feature the specialized information you found,
package them in an e-book, and make them available to Internet
marketers for a fee. As an
alternative, you may also create a newsletter that regularly updates
the specialized information -- and make money on the paid subscriptions.
More and more businesses are realizing the value of having good
information for good decision-making. Whether big or small, a
business can't succeed today unless it keeps up on the latest
information.
What kind of information do businesses need? They need information
on their markets, their competition, technology, money sources
and regulations, for starters. Develop a sensitivity to the needs
of your prospects by asking them directly what they need. From
that, you can determine the kind of information that would best
satisfy their needs.
Here's a useful tip: You'd do well to develop a "hook."
A "hook" is a marketing term that makes it easier for
people to purchase your services. It's taking the situation I
mentioned earlier about "knowing how to find information
about practically anything" and refining it down to a specialty.
If you specialize is some interesting aspect of the information
brokerage industry, it's easier to attract your prospects' attention.
Define your niche by identifying the customer group that you specialize
in helping: small businesses, or non-profit organizations. Or,
you can define it by the area of information you want to deal
with, such as health information, company information, or international
information. Another way you can describe your business is by
the medium of the information you want to provide, such as: only
database searches, only document retrieval, or only interviewing
industry experts.
I was fortunate enough to have started in Washington D.C., where
I developed the hook of government information. It gave me an
instant edge over my competitors, even though I had no more experience
gathering information then they did. To make a long story short,
the government information I've amassed over the years have earned
me a coveted position of being a New York Times syndicated columnist,
and I've even authored two New York Times best-sellers featuring
information that I've obtained for free. I have also been privileged
to be regularly featured as the nation's top expert on government
information on TV programs such as Larry King, Oprah, David Letterman,
Jay Leno, the Today Show and Good Morning America.
The key to becoming a successful information broker is be the
first to find the information, and deliver it on a timely basis
to those who want it. Then sit back and watch the money appear
out of thin air!
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