Why Use Blogs In Online Marketing?

Why use blogs in network marketing?  Because a blog can become your home on the web; your living room where prospective leads can meet you and get to know you.  We all know that the likelihood of a purchase is significantly increases as the level of trust increases in your relationship with leads.  One of the limitations of network marketing online has been that, except for your ad content or your landing page and sales page copy, people have little opportunity to read about you, let alone spend time getting to know you.  Therefore it makes sense to offer a place for people to read about you, to read your thoughts on various topics that might interest them and to spend time building a positive opinion about your. That place is your personal blog.

By blogging about topics interesting you and related to your keywords, you will begin to build personal credibility.  Prospects will begin to see your expertise and knowledge on subjects which interest you.  It is important that you allow your personality come out in your blog posts.  You should express yourself, allowing a peak into your personal interests and passions!  As this occurs, they will identify “hooks” upon which to hang opinions of you.  This is a critical step in relationship building.

Another critical step in relationship building is social proof, or social credibility.  Buyers want to know that other thoughtful people think well of you too.  This social credibility makes it easier to trust you.  A blog allows readers to comment and engage you in conversations that other people can read.  A blog allows you to create a visitor’s gallery, like a Google Friends Connect widget, where visitors who like your blog can sign in as a supporter.  Again, social proof that you offer value.

As you express yourself in your blog posts, on your “About” or “My Story” page, in embedded videos, and on other pages you include in your blog site, people will begin accumulating more and more hooks.  As they see others interacting with you in comments, and as they interact with you themselves, relationships will begin to form.  Even if you’ve never met the person, they will assume that a relationship is there.  Photos of you and your life and especially videos of you hasten the relationship building process.  The overall impression and relationship people walk away with after these interactions through your blog attribute to your image, your personal brand.

Why use a blog in online marketing?  Building your brand and building leads through blogging are the best way I know to build a list and build your business.  If you don’t already have a blog, I hope you’ll get started on one now.  I’m a real believer in the power of a blog to bridge the personal gap left open by the sometimes impersonal nature of the Internet.  Besides, I think blogging is fun.  For me it’s a stress relief to peck out my frustrations at the keyboard.  Have fun blogging!

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admin, January 29th 2010 | Posted in Uncategorized

Beginner Internet Marketing Recommendations

I want to recommend a Beginner Internet Marketing action sequence for people just getting started in the industry. Many come into the field without a clear course of action and here is a good one for you to follow. I’m assuming for this article that you have already selected a niche market. If not, that should be a first priority today, and implementing the following recommendations should be next. I’ll post soon on selecting a niche. I’ll preface this recommendation by stating that if you have a coach or a solid marketing plan from a trusted source, try that first. I do not want to interrupt your training.


Anchor Yourself With A Blog. My first recommendation is to anchor yourself on the Internet with a blog. Let your blog be your online living room where you invite people to come and visit you and find out what you’re all about. If you don’t know how to create a blog, I recommend you cruise on over to and check out a free WordPress.com blog. WordPress makes it easy to create a blog and take up immediate residence on the web. Be sure to put pictures of yourself on the blog and write a good “My Story” or “About Me” page. I’ll post more on blogging soon.


Generate Social Media Friends. Next I recommend that you start making friends in Social Media. If that sounds daunting, don’t worry. It’s a lot easier than you might think. Here’s what I’d like for you to do:


• Set Up A Facebook Account. Go to Facebook.com and set up an account, it’s free. Put a smiling and professional looking picture of yourself in your profile. Also put a link to your blog in your profile too. I’ll write more on Facebook soon. I want you to add 35 friends a day. Here’s how to do that. Join Facebook Groups in your niche market. Don’t go in and start pitching your product, just don’t do that. Instead go in and comment on what others are saying. Your first post should simply be to introduce yourself and tell the group that you’re new to the group and anxious to begin interacting. My biggest tip for you is to always ask a question in every post, so people will engage in conversation. Then add them as a friend. As you see posts that are interesting to you, invite those people to be friends. Try to invite 25 to 30 people a day to be friends.

• Set Up A Twitter Account. Go to Twitter.com and get an account and start Tweeting. There is a ton of information on how to Tweet. Be sure to put the same picture on Twitter that you have in Facebook, and put a link to your blog in your profile. Let me give you the most basic ones. Never blatantly pitch your business. Your first goal on Twitter is to add 50 friends a day. I’ll write a post on doing this soon, but basically find leaders in your company or in the industry. Add followers from their follower list. Just add from the most recent 5 pages. Try to add 50 a day at first. When you get to about 200, you can add 75 a day. As you grow add a few more. Once you’re around 1,000 you can add 200 a day. After 2,000 members you can add 400 to 450 a day. Just like on Facebook, try to engage these people. Retweet messages from people who have something constructive to say. As a guideline, tweet at least 10 times a day.

Use this formula. Tweet 2 uplifting quotes. Tweet 3 informational tweets about the business, a technique, or offering a link to an interesting video, blog, or article you’ve read about the business. Tweet 2 or 3 times about daily life or what you’re interested in…just be yourself and NEVER use profanity or sexually suggestive language because a lot of people you can attract as customers will be turned off by it. And finally, be really careful, but you can tweet 1 fun and INDIRECT advertisement for your business per 10 Tweets. That’s the 90:10 Rule of Promotion. Check out my tweets and you’ll see what I mean. Here’s one as an example: “3 Things I couldn’t live without, my Family, Basketball, and this: h ttp://[yourlandingpage].com. You’ll get the hang of it. Just remember to regularly invite people to your blog and to join you in Facebook.

• After Two Weeks Add One More Technique. After you’ve become accustomed to blogging, making friends on Facebook and Twitter, you need to add a technique to your daily practice. You can select from any number of free techniques like article writing, video, Forum marketing. I personally recommend making a video that summarizes each blog post. My favorite two are:


o Video. Post that video on YouTube.com and put it in your blog (just copy the embed code from YouTube and insert into your blog post). In the description of the video on YouTube, put your blog address on the first line, starting with the http//: part. Nothing else on the first line of the description.
o Articles. If you’re uncomfortable with video, you can easily do article posting. Just take your blog and post to some of the leading article directories, like EzineArticles.com, Amazines.com, and GoArticles.com.

Add In Pay Per Click. You should add Pay Per Click when you can afford it. Don’t start until you can spend at least $500 per month in PPC advertising. As soon as your business is generating profit, begin investing that profit into PPC. This is the fastest way to generate leads, but special training and practice is required or it will be ineffective.


If you follow the Beginner Internet Marketing guidelines above, your business will start picking up steam and leads. If you have any problems feel free to contact me and I’ll get you going. Good luck!

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admin, January 28th 2010 | Tags: , , ,
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Why Get A Mentor?

Why get a mentor?  Because if you don’t want to be prey to the industry, you’ll need to become king of your jungle, and if you read on you’ll see why you need a mentor to make the transition.  Let me explain; there is a significant likelihood that if you join a Network Marketing company you’re going to fail.   Of course your results may vary, but the average is 95% to 97%.  That goes for online or face-to-face marketing, it doesn’t matter.  This is a bare-boned and frank discussion of the reality of starting any business.  It’s DANGEROUS out there and if you are average you’ll be eaten alive.  Are you willing to be average, just fresh meat for an industry full of predators?  If the answer is an emphatic ‘No’, then you’ll need a mentor to become a “Leadership Lion”, a “Business Tiger”, and a “Marketing Bear”.

A mentor can help you get through two very steep learning curves.  One is marketing and sales, and the other is Business and Leadership.  A mentor knows the path, has been through this jungle before.  A mentor will help you become what you’ll need to be to succeed.

Become a Marketing Tiger.  Many people jump into a business opportunity thinking that they’ll invite a few friends to a meeting or put up a website and a sales funnel and the money will just come rollin in.  Not so…they’re already in the ‘Exit Lane’ from the industry and haven’t been involved 5 minutes.  Marketing and sales are at the heart of Network Marketing.  Don’t believe anyone who says “you don’t have to sell, you just share”, Horse Apples (Col. Potter, MASH).

Marketing is figuring out what to sell, whom to sell it to, how to find them, and what to tell them so they are attracted into communication with you so you can sell something to them.  And Sales is what you do with them once they show up at your door so they end up buying just exactly what they need and want, going away happy that they ran into you and telling their friends to go see you too.  This is a bit of a Swiss Cheese (full of holes) interpretation, but I think you get the point.  Marketing and sales are at the CORE of running a business.  Here are a couple of gold-letter definitions from the American Marketing Association for those of you who are sticklers for precision:

  • Marketing.  Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
  • Sales.  Any of a number of activities designed to promote customer purchase of a product or service. Sales can be done in person or over the phone, through e-mail or other communication media. The process generally includes stages such as assessing customer needs, presenting product features and benefits to address those needs and negotiation on price, delivery and other elements.

Folks this takes time to learn marketing and sales, are you willing to spend time?  Don’t expect money to come rolling in up-front without these skills.  To get up this learning curve fast, you’re going to need help.  You’re going to need a solid and tested training process, and you’re going to need a mentor who can guide you through.

Become a Business Bear and a Leadership Lion.  The second learning curve is the Business Owner Mindset.  This is my favorite because it doesn’t sound very hard.  When I first started in this business I thought it would be a cinch, after all I figured that I had an MBA, 20 years in Corporate world, and I was leaving my role as VP of Marketing.  WRONG; I was not prepared to instantly succeed as a business owner and it took a lot of energy to get there.  I didn’t realize how ingrained the employer-employee mentality was in my personality.  Bottom line, even if you have the marketing and sales skills, financial management skills, if you don’t have the mindset of a Business Owner, you’re going to bounce all over the profits board, and you’ll end up a casualty of the industry.

The reason is simple enough.  Employees know that if they go to work, they’ll receive money in exchange.  Business Owners know that they don’t make money unless they make it happen.  Successful business owners don’t quit because they have stalwart self-determination.  Successful business owners are driven from within, from desire and a dream and from passion.  They love what they’re doing, or at lease something core to what they’re doing.

This is the mindset that’s going to get you past the tough times.  It’s the mindset that’s going to see zero sales and just keep pushing forward.  It’s the mindset that asks “how am I going to make this happen” when you get Google-Slapped (lose your AdWords account).   It’s the mindset that gets you up in the morning with a smile on your face when you’re losing money, knowing that you’re ultimately going to make money because of what you do each and every day to improve your business.  And it’s the mindset that forces you to change your entire personality and become an ‘Alpha’ leader so you can literally attract people into your business like a magnet.

Take it from me, you’re going to need a mentor who can help you make this transition into a business owner’s mindset.  It’s a steep learning curve, and I didn’t make it to the top until I had a mentor.

Get a Mentor.  Three percent to five percent make it in the industry, that’s all.  Eighty percent of those work with a mentor.  In fact over time they have a series of mentors as the ramp up their success year-after-year.  Are you going to be a statistic of this industry, or are you going to become a Business Lion, a Leadership Lion, a Marketing Tiger, and a Business Bear?  Get a mentor.  You’ll thank me for it.

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admin, January 27th 2010 | Tags: , , ,
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How We Started A Syndicated Marketing Tribe

Recently Patrick McIntosh and I started a Syndicated Marketing Tribe that has begun to see great success in just its first eight weeks of operation.  Already we’ve had members reporting a doubling of traffic to their sites.  This is just astounding.  Here’s how we did it.

As a first criterion, we wanted to invite online marketers whom we knew to be active in the Social Media and who were posting high quality content to their sites.  At first we brainstormed a list of about 20 people and agreed to each visit their sites and engage them in Social Media for 2 weeks.  At the conclusion we had built some good relationships and were able to narrow our list to approximately 12 people, knowing that ultimately we wanted an active tribe of 5 to 8, with no more than 12.

Next we sent out invitations to each of them inviting them to a kick-off webinar and explaining about the tribe and its goals.  The introduction said, “You are invited to join a new and exciting tribe of online marketers with the express purpose of syndicating each other’s content to dramatically increase traffic to the members’ sites.  The idea is to leverage our share of free traffic and minimize the need for paid advertising for our businesses, and have fun and make some valued friends in the process!”

Next we laid out the big picture.  “We envision this tribe as a small group of 12 or so at first.  We’re specifically inviting people we know to be active in social media and to offer positive, uplifting or educational content in their blogs and videos.  Later each will be encouraged to establish a second tribe of their own, resulting in over 12 tribes linked for power promotions”.

And we gave them an idea of the time commitment.  “Certainly there will be time commitments.  It’s an everyday task to promote other tribe members, at least 6 days a week.  Probably it will take 20 minutes a day.  Plus there is a mastermind call built in to support the tribe, 1 hour a week”.

And finally we listed our expectations of members.  “To give you a preliminary idea of what is required, here is a list of key accountabilities:

  • Daily “Tweets”.  Getting the word out about the developments of each-other’s content with Social Media.
  • The holding high of the “Content Bar” to ensure we are consistent, accountable to our goals and delivering valuable content to move others forward.
  • Following the 90:10 Rule of ’90 percent helpful content and only 10 percent pitching.’
  • Weekly participation in a Power Hour of masterminding.
  • Being authentic, real and having fun with the process.

In addition to sharing the sign-up details for the webinar, we called each of the invitees and discussed the opportunity with them.

This is how we set up our Syndicated Marketing Tribe. Can you think of 20 people you’d like to work with on a weekly basis?  People destined to become great friends, supporters and advocates?  I encourage you to get involved in a Marketing Syndication Tribe.  My tribes and I are starting more tribes, so you’re welcome to contact me and I’ll get you connected.  Please let me know what you thought of today’s content by leaving comments.  If you liked it, please share it with others via Twitter, Facebook, and by bookmarking it.

Thanks,

Phil

614-570-5293

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On TRIBE BUILDING & SOCIAL MEDIA

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admin, January 26th 2010 | Posted in Uncategorized

Advantages of Marketing Syndication Tribes

Certainly the key advantage to joining a Syndicated Marketing Tribe is building traffic to your site and, hopefully, increasing sales.  That’s the goal.  My friend Patrick McIntosh and I started a tribe called the ‘DailyCrushers’ and about six weeks ago and already some tribe members are reporting increased traffic volume, up to double the pre-Tribe levels.  That’s simply astounding.  But traffic volume is not the only reason you should participate; in fact there are quite a few.

What we’ve noticed in our tribe is that a number of benefits are beginning to appear in addition to increased traffic.  Once a week our tribe joins together on a SKYPE call and we promote each other’s latest blog posts, articles, videos, etc. We call these calls our “Power Hour”.  It’s just a amazing how much interaction and exchange of ideas can occur between our members during these calls.  Here are a few benefits I’ve started noticing from our Tribe and its “Power Hours”:

  • Accountability. You’ve heard the expression, “your word is your bond”, and nothing is more true than with Social Media.  If you recommend a blog post then you are staking your reputation on it, that is, you are staking the reputation of your brand on it.  That’s serious stuff, and our tribe holds each other accountable for posting high quality material.  If it doesn’t meet the standard, it doesn’t get promoted.  This is a nice incentive to continually work to produce excellent content.
  • Mutual Support. The tribe members are also great about letting each other know if there are any problems with their blog, like a widget failing, strange things going on with the sidebar, or failure to properly set up TweetMeMe.  This helps you keep your blog looking its best for everyone else. Also, if any of us has a problem or needs advice, we’ve got access to a collection of online marketing and Internet experts that can get it solved.  Finally, members have each other’s backs.  If you’re sponsoring an event or a webinar, the Tribe is great to get in behind and promote it for you.  Our friends in network marketing have an expression, “you’re in business for yourself, but not by yourself”.  This is a major benefit of the Tribe, whether you’re in network marketing, affiliate sales, business coaching or sell your own products.
  • Mastermind Effect. I know from my marketing research background that groups of people create a synergy, where the sum of the parts working together is greater than the sum of the individuals working separately (ex. 2 + 2 =6).  That’s exactly how a smooth-operating tribe works too.  Recently one of our members was experiencing “writer’s block” coming up with a blog post topic.  The tribe discussed it and a great topic surfaced.  This kind of higher group function can really help you leverage your business.
  • Leadership. The tribe is also a great place to hone your leadership skills.  When setting up our tribe we went to great lengths to establish that the tribe was strictly a team of equals.  At any specific time any member can step in and provide leadership to a group of peers.  This happens every week in our tribe, and as far as I can recall, every single member has provided leadership; it’s just a natural outgrowth of participating in a creative group session.
  • Stretching Personal Growth. We’re pushing our tribe members to begin creating unique expert training.  Each tribe member is developing a 10-minute presentation which will be delivered at a Power Hour.  For most, this pushes them past their normal comfort zone.  That’s exactly where they need to be operating if they want to grow as a person, as a leader, and as a business owner.  The tribe can serve as a stimulus to push its members to raise their standards and to improve themselves.
  • Joint Venture Potential. In addition to stimulating personal growth, the presentations during our Power Hour will begin to accumulate into an information bank of training that we can refine, package and sell as joint venture products.  We’re ultimately going to be able to monetize our efforts to help each other, and to me, that’s just amazing!
  • Best Practice Identification. Over the six weeks since we started our tribe, various members have shared special expertise with the tribe.  For instance, one tribe member is Matthew Neer, who is a WordPress and HTML guru.  His practices and advice have improved each of our blog sites.  Another member, Glenn Arcaro, is a professional television editor, who has provided us with expert tips on making videos for our businesses.

One of the benefits I didn’t mention is that this is actually a lot of fun!  I don’t know about you, but for me fun is a real motivator and a great reward for all the work I do operating my online business.  I hope you’ll consider joining a Syndicated Marketing Tribe and sharing some of the benefits I’ve found with mine.  I’d love to hear from you.  Please comment on this post and let me know what you’re thinking.  And if you like what you’re reading, please Tweet about it and bookmark the post.

Thanks,

Phil Jackson

614-570-5293

Watch Recorded Webinar

On Tribe Building And Social Media

CLICK  TO  WATCH

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admin, January 25th 2010 | Tags:
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Coming of Age in Online Marketing: Marketing Syndication Tribes

Marketing Syndication Tribes are the newest way to succeed in Online Marketing.  People naturally join tribes; we all know that.  We all know that we love the companionship and supportive comfort of our tribes.  Seth Godin points out in Tribes that people have been part of tribes for millions of years.  It’s who we are.  In fact we’re all in multiple tribes right now.  Your family is a tribe, so is the PTA Fund-Raising Committee, your Sunday school class at church, and your workgroup at the office.  We all enjoy the benefits of tribes in almost every aspect of our lives.  But in Online Marketing the concept of tribes has evaded us…until now.

Marketing Syndication Tribes bring the power of synergy to your online marketing.  They also bring the power of knowledge sharing among tribe members, who are also online marketers.  These tribes bring you the power of accountability and they also give you the self-assurance that someone “has your back”.  That’s pretty powerful.  But the biggest benefit of Marketing Syndication Tribes is that they can leverage your business into a better sales position…you know, you’ll make more money!

So what is this Marketing Syndication Tribe thing all about?  First of all, it’s about amplifying your marketing.  It’s about bringing the lively enthusiasm of true fans to bat for you in the Social Media.  What do you do when you post to your blog, publish an article, load a video on YouTube, or write an entry into Facebook or even Tweet?  If you’re like most of us, you hope that others will pick up on it and re-tweet you and put the word out.  Your post is like tossing a pebble into a mirror-still pond; the ripples spread and grow.  With a tribe syndicating your post, it’s like a bucket of pebbles being tossed individually into the pond…even like a truck load of them.  Just imagine the ripples!  Marketing Syndication Tribes get the word out fast, and potentially viral if your content justifies it.

This is the first of a series of articles on Marketing Tribe Syndication.  Future articles will cover topics like where to learn more, how to start your own tribe, what to do to syndicate marketing, and what kind of monetization can you and your tribe members achieve.

Thanks,

Phil

614-570-5293

Watch Recorded Webinar

On Tribe Building and Social Media

CLICK  TO WATCH

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admin, January 20th 2010 | Tags: , , , , ,
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Home Business Money Managment

We all see information on the Internet about marketing your products, which is a key element of success for your business.  But there are other elements which are quite necessary for your success as well.  Today I’d like to address one of those that every new home business faces, and that is how you plan to manage and account for money in your business.

Every successful business is going to have to handle and manage money.  If you don’t, you are not going to be successful for long.  I use the term “money” because we’re not specifically talking about receivables, payables, revenue and expenses; just money.  I’d like you to consider three aspects of managing your money:  collecting and distributing money, providing for securing money, and providing for tracking and reporting of your money.  Money is a very complicated topic; after all the professions of Accounting and Finance exist to help businesses manage money and resources.  So doesn’t it make sense that in your home business you give the element of money some well-deserved planning and attention?

As a home business owner and Online Marketer, what provisions have you made for collecting and distributing money?  Certainly for very large transactions you can arrange for electronic transfer of funds.  But for most transactions people are going to want a simple and convenient way to pay you.  Probably the simplest method is to take Pay Pal.  Pay Pal handles all the details.  All you have to do is set up an account.  You can take checks, but that might prove too slow.  Besides, people generally prefer to use credit cards.  An advantage of taking credit cards is that this should instantly add credibility to your home-based business.  But in order to accept credit cards, you must first apply for a Merchant Account.  There are a number of companies offering Merchant Accounts, possibly even your bank, but these accounts are not automatically approved, so you will have to apply for one and possibly demonstrate good credit.

Also you will need some sort of accounting system for tracking, distributing, and monitoring money.  My accountant recommended QuickBooksPRO.  But there are other systems like Microsoft Office Accounting Express.  Also there is Quicken.  Microsoft Money is being taken off the market, so that won’t be an option for you anymore.  The point is, you need a way to track your monetary transactions and to report and monitor for solid business reasons and for tax purposes.  My best advice is to meet with a CPA and discuss the best course of action.

Finally your CPA will undoubtedly recommend that you set up a separate business account at your bank so you do not mix your personal and business transactions and funds.    This can be done at any bank, so I recommend you find one that is close and offers good account terms.  Go in and meet the business account manager.  Make sure he or she knows what kind of business you are in and what you hope to do with it.  A banker can be a good friend to a Home-Business Owner.

We’ve only scratched the surface of the important elements of business that you need to be planning and managing.  Marketing is still very important, 80 percent of what you must do every day.  But these other elements of business like money management must also have your attention if you are going to be a success.

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admin, January 17th 2010 | Tags: , , ,
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Dream Boards: What Motivates You To Success In Home Business?

Once you start a business, you’ve got to find out what motivates you.  What nourishes your inner strength and keeps you striving for success?  Your motivations are your own, you own them.  They are strictly built into your wiring.  But you may not know what your motivations are or how to use them to drive you to success.  Here are few steps to help you discover out what motivates you and to help you use your motivation to succeed in your home business.

Step 1:  Discover Your Motivation.  Some people say that they are motivated by money.  I don’t think so.  I think that money is only a stepping stone to achieving something that motivates them.  For instance, prestige.  Wealthy people have prestige and it’s something that can motivate a person to achieve.  Also helping others.  Some people really motivated to help others and money is something they can use to help others get what they need.  Of course there are the necessities of life.  We all need money to pay for food, shelter, clothing, transportation and education.  Money can help us achieve that as well.  Then there are motivators like self-satisfaction through achievement, self-satisfaction through depending on yourself for your own needs.

Step 2:  Make A Dream Board.  Once you have identified your motivation, it’s time to put it to work for you.  I like the idea of a Dream Board.  If you’re unfamiliar with a dream board, it’s a great tool to help you remain focused on your motivation to success in your business.  In a dream board you visually portray your dreams, or your motivators.  A  dream board is nothing more than a piece of poster board from the office supply that you use as a sort of display to remind you of why you are working to succeed.  You can display one motivating dream, or 10 if you have that many.   If your motivation is to get a new house, then what you need to do is find pictures of houses like you want and post them on your dream board.  Maybe you can draw the floorplan of the house you want.  Glue on magazine pictures of the kitchen you want it to have, the back yard, or that great 3-car garage.  If your motivation is a car, get pictures of the kind of car you want.  Get pictures of the interior and the engine.  Try to get pictures that are specifically the color you want.

Some people like to add goal tracking to their dream boards.  If you’re saving for a down payment on a dream house, maybe you should build a checklist to track how much profit your business has made that you will apply to that down payment.  For instance, if your goal is to make a $50,000 down payment, track your progress by checking off $5,000 increments:  $5,000, $10,000, $15,000…$50,000.

Step 3:  Use Your Dream Board For Motivation.  Place your dream board where you will see it regularly.  Maybe you can post it in the kitchen, or in your home office or in the family room.   Remember to keep adding to your Dream Board as you find new pictures or drawings you like.  When things are tough in your business or you need some motivation just to do the work, you can stop and look at your dream board for a refresher course on why you’re doing it.  Maybe this will help you overcome your reluctance to miss a ballgame on TV in order to work on the weekend.  Maybe when you’re tired and just want to relax, your dream board will remind you of why you’re pushing yourself.  Then you can get back to work.

To be a successful Online Marketer or Entrepreneur, you’ve just got to figure out what motivates you and you’ve got to keep reminding yourself why you’re working so hard to succeed with your business.  dream boards are a great way to keep yourself motivated and successful.

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admin, January 17th 2010 | Tags: , , ,
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Three Business Partners You Need


Remember the Butcher, the Baker, and the Candlestick Maker?  Before you start your home-based business, you need three very important supporting partners.  You need an Attorney, a Banker and an Accountant in your corner from the very start.  Starting a home-based business is an exciting time and the rewards can be tremendous!  But too many times people get caught up in the whirlwind of marketing their business and forget that it’s a business.  Frequently these people are the ones with headaches and frustration at tax time, and they are often the ones with unexpected surprises and disappointments along the way.   By setting up a relationship and meeting with your Attorney, Banker and Accountant in advance, your business will be off to a smooth start.

Start with an Attorney.  You need to set up your business so you and your family have limited risk exposure from liability suits.  That’s right, somebody could sue you for whatever reason, and you need to make absolutely sure that your home, the vacation money and the kids’ college education funds are protected.  Your attorney can help you decide which organizational format you should choose, an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation), a corporation or other structure.  One decision I discussed with my attorney was whether or not to include my wife in the LLC.  Your attorney can help you avoid headaches by advising you of good choices up front, then you’ll have a relationship that you can call on when you need assistance with contracts and other legal matters later.

And get a Banker.  If you’re moving fast, you can set up the LLC or corporation first, then go to the banker.  You’re going to need an EIN (Employer Identification Number) from the IRS before you set up your business account.  Your banker will be a great friend if you need to arrange money transfers, wiring funds, business credit cards, and any number of transactions.  Some banks even offer Merchant Accounts so you can accept credit cards in your business.  By building a solid relationship with your banker up-front, you’ll be in a stronger position later when you need fast action or even a line of credit to support your business.

Finally you need an Accountant up front as well.  Accountants aren’t just for tax time.  Your accountant can advise you on which financial management system to use.  Mine recommended Quick Books PRO.  Here’s the kicker, she even offered to help set it up.  Now I don’t know about you, but that’s a real help for me, a custom-installed accounting system for my business.  Depending on your transaction volume, you may want to outsource your bookkeeping (data entry) to your accountant or a bookkeeper.  Also your accountant may have some advice about how you pay taxes.  For instance, having your LLC taxed as an S-Corp.  By building a relationship up front, your accountant can help you make sure you have the right accounting system, set up the right way, and that you are processing transactions correctly.  This will dramatically streamline things at tax time, and that’s when your accountant will be your new best friend.

So get your home-based business started right by building relationships with an Attorney, a Banker, and an Accountant.  A little bit of effort up front will pay off strong dividends in the long run, and you’ll have a stronger, smoother running business from the outset.

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admin, January 17th 2010 | Tags: , , ,
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Empowered Entrepreneur Part III: Becoming A Leader And Building Value Through Knowledge

This is the third in a series of three posts on becoming an empowered entrepreneur.  The first post focused on connecting with the inner power and strength that is within us all, and changing the limiting beliefs that we are programmed with from childhood which prevent a solid connection and sabotage our lives.  The second post addressed finding your passion and your life’s focus.  Today I want to talk about assuming the mindset of a leader and developing a lifetime habit of learning and knowledge building, particularly improving marketing skills.

Another important and critical element of becoming an empowered entrepreneur is your mindset.  An empowered entrepreneur must learn to assume the mindset of a true leader.  You must become a leader in all aspects and all relationships of your life if you are going to be an empowered entrepreneur.  Most of us start as followers.  As we study and learn and observe empowered leaders we grow into aspiring leaders.  We assume more responsibility and self-reliance.  Finally as our knowledge grows and our connection to our inner power increases we step forward as leaders in our own right.  It is all mindset and it is real.  You cannot fake it.  Empowered Entrepreneurs are leaders, not fakers.  Spend 10 minutes with an empowered entrepreneur and you’ll sense the leadership.

But don’t mistake domination and coercion of others as leadership.  It isn’t.  It is how the weak attempt to lead.  Empowered entrepreneurs never dominate or coerce any follower.  They empower their followers with knowledge and encouragement.  They are teachers who care about others and want to help them grow and succeed like themselves.  Therefore leaders offer value to followers, which is why they attract followers.  Leadership, offering value and attracting people to your energy is a sign of a true empowered entrepreneur.

Skill building and expertise are absolutely a necessity to survive in this industry.  Empowered entrepreneurs have an absolute hunger for knowledge.  At an empowered entrepreneur’s house, you can always spot the entrepreneur because he or she is the one sitting with the family reading while they watch TV.    Every empowered entrepreneur has a library full of books, training courses, CD’s and DVD’s.

One area of particular acumen is the area of marketing and sales.  If you want to be an empowered entrepreneur you will be developing your sales and marketing skills immensely.  That is because as an empowered entrepreneur you will be marketing yourself, your skill, knowledge and the value you bring to others.  This will be the core of your appeal and your success.  Be ready to become a master marketer my friends if you are to become an empowered entrepreneur.

So are you ready to begin the journey into empowerment as an entrepreneur?  Are you ready to become a leader and help others?  Are you ready to devote time each day to learning and honing your skills?  Only the strongest survive and thrive in this industry.   I want you to be a success.  I want you to connect with their inner power and become passionate about life.

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admin, January 16th 2010 | Tags: , , ,
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