Time Managment Help – Are You Overwhelmed?

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I recently wrote a series of Time Management Help but I see so many of my friends in Internet Marketing suffering from a sense of being overwhelmed, that I feel compelled to revisit it with some hard, cold advice.  I hope this helps you.

When I was right out of graduate school and in my first corporate management role I was really revved to get ahead.  It seemed that my fast-paced company couldn’t go fast enough to fully benefit from what I thought I had to offer.  I was constantly inserting my ideas and my recommendations and opinions into everything I could.  All I could imagine was how I was being held back by this monstrous bureaucracy.  After 6 months I was actively looking for another company.  To me the grass was definitely greener on the other side of the hill.

Fortunately for me I had a mentor who happened to be my boss and a world class PR and Advertising pro.  He watched as I restlessly struggled and pushed.  It must have been humorous to him, but he saw something worth working with and helped me understand a great truth.

In one of our weekly lunches he told me the story of how he was also young and aggressive early in his career, and he had a mentor as well who saw something worthwhile that should be grown and nurtured.  Certainly in his case it must have worked.  So I asked him what it was that his mentor had told him decades before.

The advice was timeless he said.  And just as great advice always is, you’ve got to let it sink in a bit to fully appreciate it.  The advice his mentor gave him, and he was then passing on to me was simple.  “Bloom where you are planted”.  With all that build up I was expecting something like “don’t invest in derivatives”, or “go raise capital and start your own firm”.  But “bloom where you are planted”?  What was I, some kind of an Orchid?

But over time this advice rang through my racing mind and helped me settle and focus more and more.  My career began moving and I was on my way up the ladder.  By forgetting about the grass on the “other side of the hill” and focusing on my own patch, I was able to grow my own reputation, departments, and responsibilities into something valuable for my company.

If you are a network marketer or an online marketer this advice is absolutely good for you too.  It seems that so many of us fall prey to the “grass is greener” syndrome, just as I did as a young manager.  In the case of home business, this results in joining additional companies, hopping around from training to training, or system to system.  It really doesn’t take long until you have more than you can manage.  In many cases your businesses are all in start-up or stalled because there is not enough energy and attention to move them forward.

So it becomes a matter of focus.  As I have written before, focus is the real key to success.  Well, there are others, but focus is definitely on the key chain.

So “bloom where you are planted”.  If you have multiple businesses and none of them are performing well, decide which one you most want to grow and focus your attention on that one.  Sure people in your other companies are going to be disappointed, and some of your downline in those companies may ask you to reconsider, but focus.  Work one business at a time until it is running smoothly, then add.

If you are distracted by offers for training and tools, focus.  Look at your business and decide what is necessary to grow it.  You may find that you already have all the training and tools you need.  Decide what needs to be done in your business, make a plan, and then do it with focus, energy, and do it with massive action.

Bloom where you are planted my friends.  I hope this helps you as much as it has helped me.  I have to dust it off once in a while and remember myself.  Best of luck!

2 Comments

admin, February 24th 2010 | Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Time Management

Online Marketing Classes Part 1 – The Big Picture

I want to make it much easier for newcomers to learn online marketing by creating a structured overview, a construct or framework, upon which newcomers can begin developing working mental models of the business.  Unfortunately the current learning curve for online marketers takes most people a year of hard work, lots of expensive training, courses and webinars, and a lot of trial and error.

Most marketing disciplines have the advantage of academicians and theoreticians who devote inordinate amounts of time to structuring and dissecting their disciplines.  While we wait for the academic world to catch up, I intent to create a series of posts and videos I will construct a newcomer’s framework understanding and mastering the new discipline of online marketing.  I hope this can help you.

Some of the topics I will cover include:

  • o Direct Marketing Parentage
  • o Attraction Marketing – Did They Teach This In College?
  • o Internet Marketing Models – Lead-Based Marketing (typical for MLM), Affiliate Marketing, etc.
  • o Managing Your Web Resources
  • o Selecting Products and/or Services (Solutions) For Sale
  • o Communicating Your Solution Effectively (The Art of Converting Leads)
  • o Building Traffic To Your Site
  • o Just What Is A Sales Funnel And How Do You Make Them (And What Is A Funded Proposal And An Autoresponder?)
  • o Personal Branding – Becoming The Recognized Expert
  • o Affiliate Marketing – Creating A Virtual Sales Force
  • o Powering Up – Joint Ventures With Current Leaders
  • o Series on Lead Generation Marketing Strategies (Categorized as Online Strategies, Social Media Strategies, Advertising Strategies, and Networking Strategies)
  • o Series on Selling Skills
  • o Other Stuff I Think About As I Go

My intention is not to create a detailed training program.  This has already been done quite well by a few sources, and to a lesser degree by many others.  Instead this will serve as an overview, much like a survey course you might see in college.  The point is to provide a framework and a more global perspective on where the parts all fit in order to speed the learning process for newcomers, and help fill in some gaps for others.  Wish me well because your future downlines may be grateful.

Phil Jackson, MBA

4 Comments

admin, February 17th 2010 | Tags: , , , , ,
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!

1 Comment

admin, January 28th 2010 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized

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

3 Comments

admin, January 20th 2010 | Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized

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.

2 Comments

admin, January 17th 2010 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized

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: , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized