Uncommon Advice: Shortcuts

   Back in the Nineties there was a comedy drama called "All Quiet on the Preston Front". There was an Asian character who was portrayed as pretty successful. He was asked in an episode how he came to have so much money. He replied, "My Father arrived in this country with only the clothes on his back. He got a job in a factory and worked hard every day of his life. Each week when he got paid he would put as much as he could to ensure a better life for his family". Just when we are thinking we've seen a great example of the "American Dream", he completed his story: ".... and then one day just as he was approaching retirement he lost his hand in a lathe and received massive compensation".

   You see, people don't like to mention it but there are shortcuts to wealth in the UK. Let me give you some more examples.

   When I was a Financial Adviser I would often be visited by people who obviously had a bit of cash. Perhaps they owned their house outright, maybe they enjoyed multiple foreign holidays. What do you think was the most common cause of wealth amongst my customers? It wasn't working hard and running your own business. It wasn't studying at Uni to get a fantastic job as a Doctor or Lawyer. Actually there were 2 main reasons - some people had bought their Council House for 2p back in 1983 and then sold it for £150,000 fifteen years later; others had (unfortunately) had a windfall from Life Insurance when a loved one had died.

   There are shortcuts in the workplace too. Whilst with Gala a colleague of mine received regular promotions despite having a very cynical view of the business and spending half his time at work in a drunken stupor. But he had a shortcut system which worked. Every night he would pick up the phone and dial up the Regional Manager. He'd wax lyrical on how well the day had went and how the business was doing so well. During the day he'd call the other Manager in the area and get them chatting (open questions and all that). "How's your Son's Golf lessons going?" and stuff like that. He therefore had the Area Manager thinking he was doing well and all the other Managers in the cluster thinking he was a great guy. When it came to shuffles and promotions he was therefore always treated very well.

   You can also find shortcuts in Education. A relative of mine has a degree despite attending the Uni only once or twice a month. All he did was select a course which was coursework heavy rather than focused on the Exam. He then paid for his coursework to be completed by someone else via the internet.

   There are shortcuts in the Health world too. If you ate Bacon Sandwiches for every meal you'd end up a fat bastard like me, but if you ate Bacon only you'd end up with Tom Daley's physique. To a certain extent that's the Atkins diet in a nutshell. If you don't believe me then read the 4 Hour Body by Tim Ferriss.

   This is uncommon advice. Many others will tell you to work like hell. I agree that you wont go far wrong if you put your all into an area - I just want you to be aware that there are shortcuts to your goals if you think laterally.

   In my own dealings I have my own shortcut system which I have referred to many times on the blog over the years. The system is basically to take small, low maintenance Micro-businesses and let them flourish at once. You might have a wee job that makes you £20 a month. If that job takes 10 hours to do (like filling surveys) then bin it BUT if that job takes 10 minutes (perhaps being a Strip-o-gram) then more power to your elbow. Collect up enough small short cuts and you'll soon be laughing all the way to the bank.

My current favourite Micro-Businesses are:

• Amazon
• Ebay
• Betfair
• Arbitrage Betting
• Ebooks for the Kindle
• Mystery Shopping
• MLM
• Blogging for Adsense Revenue
• Complaining for profit
• Comping
• Amazon Affiliate
• Debt Collecting
• Courier Work

   If you'd like to help me - or you'd like more info then please get in touch at ross.taylor1@live.co.uk or via twitter @1000moneymakers.

Comping Frenzy/ Complaining Update

   Spent a couple of hours comping tonight. Entered a grand total of 112 comps. Nice. That makes well over 150 comps entered this year. If you recall I managed to go straight through 2012 without a winner so I'm definitely due something in 2013.

   Elsewhere I received £2 from ASDA for complaining that their Heartburn medicine is rubbish. Little do they know that Dr. Christian Barnard couldn't cure my Heartburn never mind their tupenny hapenny guff.

   Keep up the good work

@1000moneymakers.

Worth a try - Complaining to Tesco about the Horse Burger Fiasco! BASTARDS

    Make money from Tesco scum. I hate them. They are poisoning the populace and ripping us off. A quarter of the shop is taken up by piss poor cardboard ready meals filled full of addictive pink slime.
  
   They've had a modicum of comeuppance this week through the revelation that some of their Burgers contained Horse meat. Surprise surprise.

   Anyhow, this blog isn't about the great Food Scam, it's about making money. Try writing to them and asking for a refund. Better yet, write this in store using their envelopes and pens and just hand it in at the customer service desk:


Dear Sir,

as a regular eater of meat at Tesco I was shocked to hear that I had possibly been eating Horse Meat. I feel I can no longer trust Tesco. Frankly I want to be compensated.

Regards,

Ross Taylor
Club Card: 634004024088028925

Btw this has been a bonus week for a lady called Joanna Blythman. Her name always catches my eye when she writes in the National Press as I believe she started off as a reporter on one of my local papers. She has found a niche in writing about food standards and takes a particularly critical stance of Mr T.

Dominos paid out....

2 x free pizzas, a refund and an apology. Nice.

Dominos are in my sights!

Hi,

   I have had very poor service from Dominos in Alloa today. I ordered 2 Pizzas to celebrate my wife's birthday. I ordered them online at 14:52 and requested a 17:00 delivery. At 17:31 the Pizzas had not arrived so I called the store. At first the staff member (Jason) said that no order had been received. After quoting my order number he seemed to find it. I was told that the driver had been despatched with my pizza but could not find my house. Is this not why phone numbers are put on the stickers? (I am an ex Dominos delivery driver myself). Jason told me that my Pizzas were going to be sent out with the next driver. Realising that it was now 17:35, I justifiably asked that new pizzas be cooked given that they would now be cold. Unbelievably, Jason needed to put me on hold to ask if this would be possible!! I would have thought that this was basic customer service seeing that I was no way at fault. Very poor. It seems the staff in Alloa don't have a very good understanding of basic customer service principles.
   Moving on, during my 17:31 conversation, Jason said that my Pizza would be sent out with the next available driver. At 18:34 I called back to the store. On this occasion I did not catch the Staff member's name. He said that another driver had been sent out and this driver also could not find my house (note that I have had two deliveries from Alloa Dominos in the last few months). I asked why on Earth the driver had not called me for directions and the staff member said that this should have happened. I said not to bother with my Pizzas now as I would be going elsewhere. When I asked how to get my money refunded I was asked to call back to the store! Once again poor customer service - I am paying for phone calls when I am the one who has been poorly treated.
   Very, very poor Dominos. All these errors indicate poor staff training and a very low level of basic customer service. 90% of success for a takeaway is just turning up!
   In order to rectify this situation I would like a letter of apology from the store, my money re-imbursed from my order tonight (£14.99 or thereabouts) and vouchers to use on my next visit.

Kind regards,

Ross Taylor.

Snidey complaint to Lidl

   Sent a snidey complaint to Lidl after a very small incident earlier this week. They replied with a really good voicemail from customer services. I am waiting to see if they are going to back this up with some vouchers in the post.

RBS Success!

   Very pleased to receive a cheque for £210 for my hassle from RBS (see previous post).

   Lovely biscuits! That makes complaining my 3rd biggest income stream this year after work and rent!

From Haven......

Dear Mr Taylor,




Thank you for your comments received on 26/06/2012, regarding your Haven Holiday at Craig Tara.



We are happy to initiate an enquiry into your complaint and ask you to please allow up to 14 days from the date of this letter; by which time a member of the Customer Relations team at Head Office will respond to you with the results of their investigation.



In the meantime, I would like to take the opportunity to apologise for any inconvenience caused and reassure you of our commitment to service excellence.



Yours sincerely,



Chloe Ford

Quick Update

   Just time for a quick update as I get back from Ayr and head back off for Northampton:

• Won £6 on tonight's European Championship games. I'm now back up to 15 days since a loss.
• Have taken a position on the American Election. Have heavily backed Obama to be re-elected, with the view of trading out as soon as I can for a £10+ profit.
• First couple of sales since I got back onto Amazon.
• Considering putting a complaint letter to Haven regarding the caravan trip. On the whole it was very good - but the caravan was extremely doggy.
• The onions and tatties seem to be coming along nicely.

Off to bed now - KNACKERED!

Complaint to the Supreme Group (the catering company who do the burgers at Perth Racecourse)

Hi,


Sorry but I couldn’t see a complaint or customer services email address on your website. At Perth Races today I asked for chips and gravy and was really disappointed to see that the gravy was taken from the tray which had the meat and mushrooms for the baguettes. This obviously means that the gravy had lots of Mushroom floaters. Having worked in catering for a long time I know that there is no food that people are more squeamish about than Mushrooms. Surely it wouldn’t be too difficult for a jug of gravy to have been kept separate?

I didn’t want to complain at the time as the van was very busy and the girls were doing their best, however I don’t think this is very good service and would appreciate my money back.

Kind regards,

Ross Taylor.

Friday 8th June

Actions today:

• Complaint in to Tower Bakery.
• Won £18 on Betfair.
• 45 minutes Darts Practice.
• Grub - All Bran, Soup, Homemade Chicken Tikka Massala.
• Transferred some onion seeds from the propagator tray into pots.
• Applied for a part time job.
• Listed 50 books on Amazon.

Going to go for a long walk tomorrow morning.

Complaint to the Tower Bakery, Perth

First complaint in a while:

Hi,




unfortunately the Pink Empire biscuit I purchased from Alva Co-OP yesterday was potentially the worst Bakery product I've ever tasted. It was extremely salty and the biscuit was soft as if it was past its sell by date.



I don't think I'll try your products again.

Kentucky Fried Success

   Thanks to the guys at kentucky for my free meal voucher today - much appreciated!

My compliments to the Chef....

   I've spent a good lot of time today watching Extreme Frugality videos on Youtube. They were EXCELLENT! One of the things I needed to get down on writing straight away was to balance my complaining with some complimentary letters and emails. According to the experts these can lead to just as many free vouchers.

New complaint - KFC

Sent today:

Dear Sir/ Madam,

when I visited KFC at Riverside Retail Park at Lunchtime today, I was not gievn the dips for my Dippin' Chicken meal. I was very disappointed when I found this out as I had only went to the restaurant after seeing an advertisement for this product. Could I please be reimbursed for the cost of my meal (£8.27)?

Kind regards,

Ross Taylor.

P.S. My receipt is attached.