Boost Retention And Referrals In Your Insurance Agency

Boost Retention And Referrals In Your Insurance Agency
Copyright © 2007 Stephanie Cunningham

If you have ever stayed at a nice hotel, then you have probably seen the hotel's Concierge. The role of the Concierge is to assist guests with information and service to enhance their stay. What would happen if you took the idea of the Concierge and applied it to the way you service your agency clients?

I have no doubt that you currently provide excellent customer service to your clients. If you are reading this article, then it must be important to you as an agency owner. As you read this special report, you'll discover some techniques that will have your clients exclaiming praises such as "You are by far the best agency I have ever worked with!" more than they already are.

It goes without saying that the stronger your relationships are with your clients, the less price-sensitive they will be when the company that you represent endures a price increase. Since increasing client retention and referral business are some of the key ingredients for agency growth, it makes sense to make an effort to nurture your existing client relationships with some kind of dependable and automated process.

Gone are the days that you have only snail mail and outbound phone communication as options to stay in touch with your clients. In fact, email marketing has become more popular than ever across most industries. With good reason. It works. It allows businesses of all sizes to stay in front of their customers. The good news is that there are some programs that allow you to create your own client email communication. The bad news is that it takes considerable time and energy to keep up with the demands of publishing email communications on a consistent schedule to yield the results that you are looking for.

With email marketing, you now have the command of a tool that provides your clients with email marketing campaigns that look as if they have come directly from you. Best of all, there are services that do 98% of the work for you. All you do is input your agency's contact information and upload your pictures. From there, simply add your client's email addresses and first names to your account as you collect them. Over time, you will find that you will continue to broaden your reach to more and more of your book of business. In essence, it becomes more valuable to you as times goes by.

Here are some ways that you will have your clients earnestly giving you their email addresses while at the same time providing your clients a Concierge Agency Experience. Keep in mind that everyone operates from the mindset of "what's in it for me?" That is simply human nature. The secret to creating the Concierge Agency Experience is by using your customer's email account to make their interactions with your agency more effective and efficient. Here are some examples.

Your customer calls your agency to add a car to his policy. Even though you know that he will receive a new ID in the mail, you offer to email him one right away.

Your customer calls to make a payment over the phone with her credit card. Rather than give her the reference number for the transaction over the phone, you offer to email the confirmation information to her so it is stored in her email account where she can easily find it if she needs it.

Your customer calls to get a quote on a cross line policy. You offer to email the quote for him to view.

You get the idea. The point is to identify the requests that your customers make and think of ways to provide it to them with the use of their email address. This makes their agency experience a Concierge Agency Experience.

Once you tailor this to your agency, you will find that it is rewarding to see your agency's email contact list growing quickly. This will fuel your account list to automatically keep you in front of your clients each month so that you can continue to create value for your clients.

In the end, clients who feel like they are getting value from your agency will stay and they will send you their friends and family.



About The Author:

Stephanie Cunningham is an insurance agent in Kent, Washington and the creator of the Agent Contact Wizard. Learn more about affordable, automated ways to grow your insurance agency at http://www.agentcontactwizard.com

Article Source: thePhantomWriters Article Submission Service

Action-Oriented Individuals

Have you ever been around someone that was inclined to take action immediately and always? It can be a great experience, but at the same time an embarrassing one.

It's a great thing because these people have an energy about them. They have an air of making things happen, simply because that's exactly what they are doing. They don't necessarily take action without giving things sufficient thought, but they certainly don't waste time by postponing the action any longer than they should.

It's as if these action-oriented individuals have no procrastination filter in place. As if it doesn't even dawn on them that they could postpone taking action. They just go ahead as if it were the only logical thing to do. Of course in many cases that's exactly what moving into action is: the only logical thing to do. Yet how many times have you found yourself in a situation where, for some strange reason, you didn't shift into gear immediately? Instead you thought about it for a while and then you decided to make a mental note and pick it up somewhere later in the day or perhaps later in the week. Only to find that whatever it was you intended to do, you never came around to doing it.

Being around an individual that's action oriented can also be quite embarrassing because it often confronts us with our own habits of procrastinating. Most of us put off many things for a variety of reasons. Actually the word 'reason' isn't really correct in this context. The word 'excuse' comes much closer to the truth. Sometimes the excuses are obvious. Making a phone call to someone can be painful if you have to deliver bad news or, perhaps worse, if you expect to be on the receiving end of bad news. However many times people tend to put off little things that really aren't worth fussing over. Things like setting an appointment with the local car repair shop to get your windshield fixed or cleaning out a desk drawer; actions that would be over and done with in a couple of minutes that we sometimes put off for weeks for no apparent reason.

Without getting into any specific actions it can be said that the tendency to take action leads to better results in business and in life in general. Samuel Golden, a well-known Hollywood motion picture producer stated, "The harder I work, the luckier I get". Early in the twentieth century he was at the cradle of the company that later evolved into Paramount Pictures. A decade later he joined forces with two other Broadway producers to found the Golden Pictures Corporation. This company was eventually purchased by Metro Pictures Corporation forming the well-known Metro-Golden-Mayer.

Samuels statement on the correlation between taking action and good fortune sure rang true for him and it still does to this day for many other people. It just seems that successful people are more inclined to take action. And of course this is no coincidence. Empirical evidence supports the theory that lady luck really does favor the action-oriented man. The more actions you will undertake the more successes you can expect to encounter. Of course you will also encounter your share of so-called failures, but failures are part and parcel of becoming a success.

Anyone that is considered a successful person can tell you that they have undertaken more actions than the average person, probably many more. But somehow they don't think of it as a chore. Many of them just do it and as a result of that doing they get all the rewards.

Taking action

Have you ever been around someone that was inclined to take action immediately and always? It can be a great experience, but at the same time an embarrassing one.

It's a great thing because these people have an energy about them. They have an air of making things happen, simply because that's exactly what they are doing. They don't necessarily take action without giving things sufficient thought, but they certainly don't waste time by postponing the action any longer than they should.

It's as if these action oriented individuals have no procrastination filter in place. As if it doesn't even dawn on them that they could postpone taking action. They just go ahead as if it were the only logical thing to do. Of course in many cases that's exactly what moving into action is: the only logical thing to do. Yet how many times have you found yourself in a situation where, for some strange reason, you didn't shift into gear immediately. Instead you thought about it for a while and then you decided to make a mental note and pick it up somewhere later in the day. Or perhaps later in the week. Only to find that whatever it was you intended to do, you never came around to doing it.

Being around an individual that's action oriented can also be quite embarrassing because it often confronts us with our own habits of procrastinating. Most of us put off many things for a variety of reasons. Actually the word 'reason' isn't really correct in this context. The word 'excuse' comes much closer to the truth. Sometimes the excuses are obvious. Making a phone call to someone can be painful if you have to deliver bad news or, perhaps worse, if you expect to be on the receiving end of bad news. However many times people tend to put off little things that really aren't worth fussing over. Things like setting an appointment with the local car repair shop to get your windshield fixed of cleaning out a desk drawer. Actions that would be over and done with in a couple of minutes that we sometimes put off for weeks for no apparent reason.

Without getting into any specific actions it can be said that the tendency to take action leads to better results in business and in life in general. Samuel Golden, a well-known Hollywood motion picture producer stated "The harder I work, the luckier I get". Early in the twentieth century he was at the cradle of the company that later evolved into Paramount Pictures. A decade later he joined forces with two other Broadway producers to found the Golden Pictures Corporation. This company was eventually purchased by Metro Pictures Corporation forming the well-known Metro-Golden-Mayer.

Samuels statement on the correlation between taking action and good fortune sure rang true for him and it still does to this day for many other people. It just seems that successful people are more inclined to take action. And of course this is no coincidence. Empirical evidence supports the theory that lady luck really does favor the action oriented man. The more actions you will undertake the more successes you can expect to encounter. Of course you will also encounter your share of so-called failures, but failures are part and parcel of becoming a success.

Anyone that is considered a successful person can tell you that they have undertaken more actions than the average person, probably many more. But somehow they don't think of it as a chore. Many of them just do it and as a result of that doing they get all the rewards.

Affiliate Marketing with a Twist - The Free Way to Easy Money

Article marketing is nothing new. But applied to affiliate marketing it is the easiest way to make money online. And best of all, you can do it without spending a dime using only free tools available online.

This is all you will need :

- A free keyword research tool,
- A free text editor,
- A free Clickbank account,
- A free Blogger account.

Do a quick search on your favorite search engine and you will find these free tools very easily.

Quick cash blue print :

1 - Keyword research :

Using your keyword research tool, search for low competition keywords. Those are keywords that have at least 300 searches a month and that have less than 5000 competing pages in Google (when entered between quotation marks like this "keyword"). Try to find 5 to 10 good keywords related to the same topic.

The idea is to focus on keywords for which you can get a first page ranking in Google, Msn and Yahoo.

Hint : If you have no idea of which market to target, start by checking popular phrases like : how to, purchase, get rid of, help, cure, tips, etc.

2 - Find a digital product to promote

Go to Clickbank.com and find a product related to your topic. Choose one that pays at least $15 to $20. Generate your affiliate link and write it down or save it in a text file on your computer.

3 - Article writing :

Write an informative article (approximately 400 words) focused on each of your keywords. Put your keyword in the title and in the first and last paragraph of your article. Also sprinkle it throughout your copy. You can also throw in a few other keywords related to your topic. This will help you rank well.

Most important, write a great bio box that will make people want to learn more and click on the link to your blog. Put your keyword in your bio box as an anchor text link to your blog.

4 – Set up your blog.

More and more article directories will not let you put your affiliate link in your bio box. So your blog is going to be your landing page. The idea here is to put up a simple blog that will presell (not sell) your product and make people click on your Clickbank affiliate link to go to the sales page.

Hint : set up a blog for every product you promote and give it a keyword focused name.

5 – Submit your articles to article directories.

You will need to find article directories with a PR of 5 or more. These are the ones Google likes and it will help you get a first page ranking in the search engines and drive tons of free traffic to your blog.

Post one article a day on each article directory and do not post the exact same article to more than one directory.

Hint : Your best choice is Ezinearticles.com. You will need good quality articles, but it is the most powerful directory online. Alternatively you can use Goarticles.com.

6 – Rinse and repeat !

Article marketing is a game of numbers. The more articles your submit, the more money you will earn. But every product is not going to be a winner. Some will do well, some will not. So test a new product every week putting up 5 to 10 focused articles each time.

That is all there is to it. This may seem to good to be true, but it really does work. Off course it will take a couple of weeks for money to start rolling in on a regular basis but the magic of this method is that once you write a money making article it will generate residual income for months and maybe even years -- without ever costing you a single dime.

Four Ways to Immediately Improve the Quality of Your Writing

Writing is not really an art. It is a craft, and crafts can be learned. Here are four techniques you can use to immediately improve the quality of any writing you do, from business letters to web site articles:

1. After you run your spell checking software, go back and reread your writing. Very few people are good spellers, which is why spell checking software became popular years ago. Unfortunately, reliance on the software leads to silly errors. For example, the words "form" and "from" are both good, legitimate words. But if you wrote a business letter that said, "We will be taking $200 form your checking account to cover the payment," would your spell check software catch the error? Yet a simple typo changed "from your checking account" to the silly "form your checking account. Spell checkers are a convenience, but they are neither authoritative nor infallible. Always read through your writing at least once after you spell check -- and keep a dictionary handy.

2. Use that famous "KISS" principle for your punctuation. You know the rule, don't you? "Keep It Simple, Stupid" is the rule regarding punctuation. If you don't know how or when to use a semicolon, then avoid semicolons; you'll only display ignorance if you get it wrong. In keeping with that KISS principle, limit your use of commas. Far too many people use far too many commas. Just because a sentence is long does not mean it needs a comma. Well-placed commas make reading easier and are appropriate. Commas thrown in simply to break up the words are incorrect and distracting. Another important rule of punctuation is to avoid using exclamation marks almost always. If your choice of words, sentence structure, and overall prose don't convey the sense of excitement you are seeking, an exclamation mark won't do it. If your writing conveys your sense of excitement, an exclamation point is, well, pointless.

3. Make sure your writing is grammatically correct. You don't have to be an English teacher to get the grammar correct. You simply need to learn the basics -- verbs and subjects agree in number, for example. That is, "he was" is correct; "they were" is correct. To say "they was" is incorrect. If you aren't sure about using grammar, especially if English isn't your "first" language, go to some good reference sites for fundamental English grammar and usage. (If you are writing in another language, the same advice holds true for that language.) Invest in a good, basic grammar book or style manual. Check with any bookstore, online or offline, and you can find one.

4. When you finish some writing, put it aside for a couple of hours or days (if possible), then reread it before you let go of it. Of course, if you're writing or dictating a business letter or other "time sensitive" document, this may not be possible. If you set your article or story aside for even a day, then reread it, you may be surprised at glaring errors or significant changes you will want to make. And you thought before that it was finished. Many writers and teachers have commented that all true writing is done in the rewriting. Take that advice to heart and you will significantly improve your writing.

These four steps, rechecking your spelling, taking care with punctuation, watching for fundamental grammar errors, and rewriting, will improve your writing. They are proven tools used by every word craftsman.

Split Testing to Improve Your Website

Most people change their website's pages whenever they get a new idea. They think that each change is going to improve their site and make them more successful.

Of course, there are basic improvements you can make as you are writing the content for your site. And for the first few weeks you may notice some shortcomings that need to be remedied.

But, after a few days or weeks your site becomes stable. You don't find any more errors in spelling or grammar. The graphics look like they belong on the site. And your order link or opt-in form performs correctly.

You're now ready for split testing. This is a slow, incremental improvement of your site through ongoing testing.

Split testing involves making an experimental change to one of your pages, measuring the effects of that change, and analyzing the significance of differences in measured results. In other words, a split test attempts to determine how a change to your site affects some measurable response.

There are several decisions you must make to conduct a split test.

First, you need to determine what change you want to make. Typically you will change a headline, a sentence or two in your sales copy, the price of your product, the wording of your guarantee, change an image, or alter some other single feature of your page.

You will use two (or more) nearly identical pages. The difference being that one page has the "original" material while the other "experimental" page has the change applied.

Second, you must decide what "success event" to measure. For many people, it will be sales of a product or clicks of the order link. Some will want to measure the number of opt-ins. Others will measure the clicks to a pay-per-click service like AdSense.

To measure successfully, you must know how to distinguish successful responses from your "original" and "experimental" pages.

For example, many affiliate programs allow you to include a campaign ID in your link. By placing one campaign ID in the order links on the "original" page and another campaign ID on the "experimental" page you can determine the number of clicks and the number of orders coming from your pages.

Other people use a redirect script that keeps statistics on each redirect request. Redirect scripts typically use a keyword to select the URL for redirection. You can use keywords like "original" and "experimental" and have both redirected to your affiliate program's order page. Then you can use the admin function of the redirect script to look at the number of clicks to the order page from both your "original" and "experimental" pages.

Next, you'll need a script to randomly deliver your original or experimental pages to your site's visitors. It would be helpful for this script to place a cookie on the visitor’s computer so the same page is delivered when the visitor returns.

Finally, you'll need to analyze the results. The Chi Square statistic is often used to determine the significance of experiments similar to this. While differences in results often seem satisfyingly clear, they often are not statistically significant.

For example, consider two pages that are each displayed 500 times. One page resulted in 20 sales while the other page resulted in 30 sales. "WOW", you say. "One page caused 50% more sales than the other page. That's got to be meaningful."

In this case we had a total of 50 sales, all things being equal, we would expect 25 sales from each page. The difference for both of your pages was only 5 sales. One page made 5 more sales than expected while the other made 5 fewer sales than expected. This could easily be the result of random variation rather than being caused by differences in your pages.

To help you understand, consider this story. Two random people are each given 500 pennies and each is placed 30 feet from a small can. They toss their pennies at the can. One person gets 30 pennies in the can while the other gets only 20 in the can. Can you conclude that the person who got 30 pennies in was significantly more skilled at tossing pennies than the other person?

No. In fact, if this penny tossing experiment was repeated 100 times, it is likely that 15 of those results would differ by as much or more than our example. That's too close to simple random variation to believe that there is a real difference in skill levels between the people tossing the pennies.

For many experiments, a "statistically significant" result means that the differences we seen in our result would occur 5 or fewer times if a similar random experiment was repeated 100 times.

So, we should not conclude that there is a significant difference in the ability of our pages to deliver the "success event."

There are now two things we can do. One is to conclude that the change we made to our "experimental" page is not statistically significant. In this case we can move on to the next split test experiment.

Or, we can continue this split test and hope that the ratio of sales remains the same. If we carried on the split test longer and found the same ratio of results, the differences could be significant. Consider doubling the number of exposures of your pages. If the ratio held, and we now have 60 sales compared to only 40 sales, that result would be statistically significant.

In 100 truly random experiments, successes having differences similar to 60 and 40 would occur fewer than 5 times. This is a good indication that the observed differences were not caused simply by random chance. Rather, we can conclude that there was a real cause for the observed differences.

The Chi Square statistic can be found on many spreadsheets, including Excel. With this statistic you compare the expected success values with the actual success values. When the statistic has a value of 0.05 or less you can conclude that there was a real reason for the differences.

Don't expect every split test experiment to yield important results. Perhaps a third of your split test experiments will show the experimental page significantly improved sales. A third of the time there will be no significant difference. And a third of the time, the experimental page will cause a decrease in sales.

The Benefits of Outsourcing Your Business Functions

Whether you own a small or large business, chances are very good that you can benefit from outsourcing some of your business functions to outside vendors. Ideally, you want to be in a position where you are working on your business, rather than in your business.

Running and operating a business positioned for growth requires many different key functions. For starters, you must handle accounting, administration, customer service, as well as sales and marketing. Many new small business owners attempt to tackle all of these functions on their own, and find that they work long hours and can begin to burn out quickly. By outsourcing some of your routine tasks, you can leverage your time to spend on the functions that you do best in order to grow your business.

When trying to determine whether outsourcing will benefit your company, you need to determine how much money your time is worth. A simple way to figure this out is to estimate how much money you would like to make in a year, and divide that into productive work hours. Most of us are only productive about 2-3 hours a day. For example, if you'd like to make $200,000 this year, and you work 3 productive hours each day, 5 days a week, then your time is worth roughly $260 an hour. With this scenario, you could benefit from outsourcing any function that you can pay someone to do for less than $260 an hour.

In order to outsource effectively, you must understand your own business and processes. Take some time to write down job descriptions for different functions, as well as the processes you use in your business to accomplish certain tasks (like how you enter your invoices and receipts, how you generate new leads and clients, etc.). As part of this exercise, include clear expectations of what you hope to accomplish. A clear vision and business plan is key to setting up clear expectations. Once you have written down the job descriptions, you'll have a better idea of what you would like to outsource first.

There's no hard and fast rule as to which job functions you should outsource first, but many business owners like to hand off the functions that they enjoy the least. If you really dislike customer service, you may want to find a customer service rep first.

You have many options when looking for companies or services that will handle your outsourcing needs. Check with others in your industry to see who they use to outsource their functions. Many outsourcing firms not only specialize in certain functions (like customer service), but also in certain industries (like real estate). You can use freelancers, virtual assistants, or any number of outsourcing firms.

Many business owners hesitate to outsource some of their functions because they want to have complete control over their business, or they believe that it will be too difficult to train someone to do what they need. If you fall into this category, you may want to try outsourcing some very simple, routine tasks to get started. It will be well worth the effort!

When choosing an outsourcing firm, or freelancer, make sure you set clear expectations up front. Share your vision about how you see that function growing your business, and offer incentives for work well done, or work done under budget, or before a deadline.

In addition, take time to properly document how the work should be performed. This can be done easily with screen capture video software, and/or written processes and procedures.

Taking the time to properly train and motivate your outsourced personnel will benefit your business greatly. By now, you will see that outsourcing some of your business functions will help free up your time to work on your business, rather than in your business.

How to Become a Better MLM Recruiter

The lifeblood of any multi level marketing business is recruiting. Without new distributors your business will not grow. Anyone that has been involved in an mlm business for any period of time knows this and yet it seems to be the hardest thing to do. Why is that? Here are a few recruiting tips that can help you and your group to not only grow, but flourish.

1. First of all when you are talking to a prospect you need to try and see your business through their eyes and ears. The longer you are involved in your business the harder this is to do. You begin to assume things about your business that a new prospect will not naturally know. They do not know how great your products are. Or they do not know how great your compensation plan is.

The key here is to never assume, but to ask questions and then listen to what your prospect is saying. They will lead you to what is important to them and then you can proceed from there.

2. Spend some time just building a little rapport outside of your business. This simply means talking to them about them. Everyone loves to talk about themselves. You will very quickly find out what their hot button is by finding out what they like to do in their spare time. What they do and don't like about their lives right now. Making a friend goes a long way when it comes time for them to listen about your business.

3. Work at becoming a better communicator. The best skill you can develop when it comes to communicating is to become a better listener. Have you ever been in a conversation and felt like the person you were talking to was not hearing what you said. Many time people are so busy thinking about what they are going to say next that it wouldn't matter what you were saying because they weren't listening anyway. You have 2 ears and one mouth for a reason.

4. You get paid in your mlm business to get a yes or no out of your prospect. The sooner you find this out the better off for both of you. As you are talking to your prospect you basically go through the whole process just to find out if they are interested in joining you or not. Don't be afraid to find this out. If the answer is no that's o.k. because you can quickly move on to your next prospect.

To summarize this article, asking questions, becoming a better listener, and arriving at a final decision is the fastest way to make your network marketing business grow. Doing this over and over and getting your group to do the same will make all of you better recruiters.

Treat Your Writing as a Business

Writing is more than just a creative process. It's a business that can create a substantial income for you. First, however, you may need to change your entire mindset.

The dream of almost any unpublished writer is one day getting published. To have their material read by the masses of people who love to read. Then, secondary to that is the desire to even get paid for their work.

Writing is one of those passions that seem to rise up from deep within and whether money is involved or not, the writer is compelled to write. Words become a living entity that breathes life into the reader who consumes them.

This is fine except that when a writer needs to make a living, the business and financial end tend to land on the back cover of the entire publishing process.

It is important for any writer to realize that once they have completed a writing project, it is then time to stop being a writer and begin being a businessperson.

Time spent creating your work is time that should be charged to your company. If you're not sure what to charge as an hourly rate, ask yourself what it would cost you to hire someone to write it for you.

Publishing contracts and processes take on many faces and all are negotiable. Having your book tied up at a publisher who will take upwards of a year to evaluate your work, and possibly reject it, is like trying to buy a car while you wait for the salesman to decide if he wants your business or not. Besides, you wouldn't give someone a year to try out your couch before they decided if they wanted to buy it or not, so why would you do it with your livelihood?

A partnership with a publisher is essentially a joint venture between two companies - yours and theirs. Your mandate as a business owner is not to just hope that they will like your writing and decide to publish. Your job is to decide if your product and their company is a good match and to allow them to do the same. Whether you actually got paid or not, if you have billed your research and writing time to your company, then you are coming to the table with a major financial investment in your hands. If you couple that together with your talent and your ability to view the world in a way that others want to explore it then you have a valuable commodity to do business with. Never feel inferior.

Are you very creative? Can see things that others might not? Do you think that you can list and expand on all the benefits of a soup bowl? If so, then copywriting may be a style of writing you wish to consider as a business venture.

Copywriters write compelling advertisement copy for companies.

Have you ever bought a meal at a quality restaurant based solely on the succulent description you read in their menu? Or did you buy a product somewhere because of what you read in a magazine ad? What about the letters you read in your mail advertising everything from credit cards to antique grandfather clocks? Those are all the works of a copywriter.

This is a very lucrative field and copywriters can make thousands of dollars, if not tens of thousands of dollars, writing about just one product. Why? Because a seller knows that a good copywriter will generate far more money in product sales than what the seller paid for the copywriting itself.

If you want to see who is looking for writers, then go to elance.com online, or buy "The Writers Market" in your bookstore.

By changing how you view your writing, you can be both creative and financially rewarded.

Keep writing!

10 Steps for Choosing the Right Franchise

There are many well-known franchise opportunities available in almost every industry you can think of. Some are well established with proven systems and support structures in place, while others are relatively new. Choosing the franchise that suits you will reduce risk and raise the levels of success.

While specialist advisors are a necessity to assist you throughout your business venture, the following steps will help you to evaluate any franchise opportunity you are considering.

1. KNOW YOURSELF
The first topic of research will be you. Consider your strengths and weaknesses. What is your level of knowledge, where might you need development and are your skills transferable? Will you be able to manage the high level of personal energy required to get yourself started? Are you a team player, or do you prefer to work alone? Will you require staff? Only after you have analyzed the depth of commitment required to start a new business venture will you be in a position to make a specific choice.

2. KNOW YOUR FINANCIAL COMMITMENTS
The costs of a franchise can vary considerably. While smaller investments can be affordable through personal assets, most potential franchise owners will need to consider additional borrowing. The increase in small business ventures have compelled many banks to have business start up kits, which include information on the requirements of starting a business, self evaluation reports and financial planning forms. No matter how much security you can offer, banks need to be convinced that loans can be serviced. What the proposed business can afford is more important than what you have.

3. KNOW WHAT FRANCHISING IS
Find out all you can about franchising. In particular focus on the unique relationship that exists between franchisees and franchisors. Look for a Franchise Association closest to you to obtain guidance from. Once again the banks can provide a wealth of information in this regard; it is now within their interests to build relationships in an extremely competitive financial environment by providing separate departments that serve the franchise industry. Search the internet, but be aware that different countries will have different compliance issues. Even if you have a preference this early in the game, research is still a vital process that needs to be completed. There is also the chance that research will open up alternatives you may not have previously considered.

4. KNOW THE INDUSTRY
You have already analyzed your skills and knowledge; now look at the different types of businesses that you feel are potentially suitable. Identify the different companies that are offering opportunities in the area. Consider the requirements of the proposed industry and see if it matches your skills and aspirations. It is not necessary for you to have worked in this industry before, but you need to feel comfortable and happy working in this environment. How durable is the potential market? Who are your customers? Who are your competitors? Is it an international franchise or newly introduced to your area? Is the market large enough to sustain a long-term business? Get to know the franchisor. You need to be happy with the industry you will be working in and with the people you will be working with.

5. EVALUTE THE FRANCHISE
Once it is established that you are interested in a particular franchise, information will be sent to you. Read all the information you receive thoroughly noting any first impressions and any initial questions you may have. Discuss and clarify any concerns you have with the franchisor. The size of the franchise should not restrict the availability of information you need regarding the company's history and profile, market conditions, the franchisees role and the costs involved. Examine company records in detail, check credit references. Closely examine the outline of the franchise particularly the manner in which the franchise is sold and operated. Look at all the details of any commissions’ payable on the sale of the franchise and ask to see references of present franchises and company outlets. Make sure you understand the components that make up the franchise fees.

6. QUESTIONS FOR THE FRANCHISOR
The greatest source of information you will obtain regarding the franchise system is from the franchisor. Prepare for every meeting with your list of items that need to be clarified. Ask all the questions you need in relation to the franchise, products and services. Do not be afraid to ask questions relating to the profitable viability of the franchise. You need to find out the success of the franchise, talk to other franchisees as well. What training and support exists? Is the franchise bound by any code of practice?

7. TALK TO THE FRANCHISEES
The surest method of evaluating any franchise will be to talk to a number of franchisees in existing businesses. In this way, you will get a realistic assessment. What value have they got from their business, both financial and personal? Make sure you chose the franchisees to speak with. You may not get a balanced picture if you speak only to 'approved' franchisees. The perspective of international outlets can also be of use, but, remember to consider different conditions, population structures and competition.

8. SPECIALISED FINANCIAL ADVICE
There could be some reluctance on the part of the franchisor to reveal financial projections in case they are viewed as guaranteed. However, what reports are available should provide relevant figures based on the existing climate. Whether the projections you receive are forecasted or guaranteed, an accountant with franchise experience should be able to give you qualified advice. Encourage your accountant to work with the franchisor. The franchisor will be able to offer cash flow, borrowing and overdraft guidelines. Take all the advice you can get. As a new business owner you do not want to start your business under capitalized.

9. SPECIALISED LEGAL ADVICE
It is important to fully understand the terms and conditions of the franchise agreement. Understanding your obligations and the franchisors responsibilities need to be clear from the start. Use a lawyer that specializes in franchise agreements to define legal terms you have difficulty with to save you time and money

10. CHECK WHAT YOU ARE PAYING FOR
Before you sign on the dotted line, make sure you know what the up-front franchise fee includes and what refunds you may expect if you change your mind or fail the training. What are the performance criteria? You must also have a clear understanding of any ongoing costs. You need to know what fees are payable, how they are calculated and what they are for.

To maximize your chances of success it is imperative you do not rush your decision. Check out all aspects before you commit yourself. Be 100% certain that the franchise is right for you before you part with your money.

Is Time "Running Out" for You Too?

For some people it doesn't seem to matter how long their day is. They just never seem to have enough time. The clock is ticking and it's ticking too fast for comfort. It feels like they have a million things to do, a couple thousand of which were actually due last week and every new task is urgent and can't wait...

Sounds familiar? Well if it does you might be one of those people who just don't have a very good relationship with time. It is often a sign that you're not in control of your own day-planner. You may have some things on your to do list that you set out to accomplish, but anything and everything that you come across interferes with your plans. Someone or something else seems to be claiming your time to the extent that you never seem to get anything done. You might be asking yourself: "How can I possibly get everything done?" Good question. The answer is very simple: "You can't and you shouldn't want to".

Wanting to get everything done is probably the main reason why so many people are short on time. They're trying to do too many things and fail to realize that there are only so many tasks that one person can accomplish in a day. Instead of focusing on getting everything done, focus on those things that really need to get done. Separating what's important from what's not important will help you prioritize your tasks. And once you've done this, just remember that priorities are in order. That means that when you're working on something with a high priority it is okay to turn down someone asking you to do something that has a lower priority. Learning to say "no” is a huge time-saver. Of course you can also say "no" to yourself when you find yourself tempted to interrupt your work for another task that pops up. You will find that if you focus on the most important task that needs to get done during the day, the major things, you will probably have enough time left to fit in some of the minor things.

Time is an area where we can be absolutely sure that everyone is treated equally. No matter where you're from or what your background is everybody has the same amount of hours in a day. The difference is in how we choose to spend those hours. And that is why some people are considered miracle workers while others never get anything accomplished. Perhaps you've heard the story of the business consultant giving this simple piece of advice to one of his clients. His client was a CEO of a large corporation who felt he and his management team wasn’t performing to their best abilities. They just didn't seem to get the work done. The consultant listened intently for a while and then gave the following advice:

"Every night before your head hits the pillow, take a piece of paper and write down the six most important tasks you must accomplish the next day. Write them down in the order of importance. Then the next day, it at all possible, start on the first task and don't move on to the next task until the first has been finished. This may not always be possible because sometimes the most important thing can be something that comes up later during the day. For instance your most important task may be a certain presentation that is scheduled to take place somewhere late in the afternoon. In that case you would move on to point number two. You wouldn't want to be sitting idle all day, right?"

When the client asked for the price of this advice, he was told to simply put in into practice and then determine the value himself. After a certain period of time had past the client wired an amount of $25,000 to the business consultant. Apparently this little piece of advice had worked out quite well for him and the members of his management team. Do this for a while and you will see your effectiveness soar. A great side effect is that people around you are bound to see it too.

Some pointers that may help you in this direction:

Become more efficient in your communication. This means: on the phone, in emails or letters, and of course in face-to-face conversations. A lot of time spent in communication is very inefficient. This is especially wasteful because you're not just wasting your own time but also somebody else's.

Touch everything only once. This can be a really great time-saver. Every piece of information should preferably pass through your hands only once. This goes for mail, email, but also things like certain websites, articles, newspapers and other sources of information.

In order to do this successfully you will need to learn how to take decisions quickly. Some decisions just aren't worth too much of your valuable time. The ability to take decisions is the key to becoming successful anyway. So why wouldn't you want to speed that process up a little. The ability to take decisions quickly, especially minor ones, will free up a lot of time that can be spent on more important things. Aside from that, it increases self-confidence, which will help you in when taking decisions on more important issues.

How to Become a Better MLM Recruiter

The lifeblood of any multi level marketing business is recruiting. Without new distributors your business will not grow. Anyone that has been involved in an mlm business for any period of time knows this and yet it seems to be the hardest thing to do. Why is that? Here are a few recruiting tips that can help you and your group to not only grow, but flourish.

1. First of all when you are talking to a prospect you need to try and see your business through their eyes and ears. The longer you are involved in your business the harder this is to do. You begin to assume things about your business that a new prospect will not naturally know. They do not know how great your products are. Or they do not know how great your compensation plan is.

The key here is to never assume, but to ask questions and then listen to what your prospect is saying. They will lead you to what is important to them and then you can proceed from there.

2. Spend some time just building a little rapport outside of your business. This simply means talking to them about them. Everyone loves to talk about themselves. You will very quickly find out what their hot button is by finding out what they like to do in their spare time. What they do and don't like about their lives right now. Making a friend goes a long way when it comes time for them to listen about your business.

3. Work at becoming a better communicator. The best skill you can develop when it comes to communicating is to become a better listener. Have you ever been in a conversation and felt like the person you were talking to was not hearing what you said. Many time people are so busy thinking about what they are going to say next that it wouldn't matter what you were saying because they weren't listening anyway. You have 2 ears and one mouth for a reason.

4. You get paid in your mlm business to get a yes or no out of your prospect. The sooner you find this out the better off for both of you. As you are talking to your prospect you basically go through the whole process just to find out if they are interested in joining you or not. Don't be afraid to find this out. If the answer is no that's o.k. because you can quickly move on to your next prospect.

To summarize this article, asking questions, becoming a better listener, and arriving at a final decision is the fastest way to make your network marketing business grow. Doing this over and over and getting your group to do the same will make all of you better recruiters.

Constructive Life vs. Destructive Life

Which life do you lead? Do you consider your life to be constructive or would you describe it as destructive to you and all around you. Both result from a chain reaction, one leading to a downward spiral and the other leading to an upward spiral.

Living a Destructive Life

What do you remember about your childhood, early adulthood? Is it failing exams, being told off for not going to school, failing your driving test, leaving your first job because you kept making mistakes and thought they would probably sack you anyway....?

This perception of your early life can only lead to a negative self image. Your subconscious mind constantly focuses on these negative situations. When a new situation comes into your life, say you get a new job; your subconscious gets to work analyzing this new set of information. It takes it apart and compares it to what has gone before.

'...only stays a maximum of 18 months in a job so will have to move on in a year or so.'

'...had trouble with the boss in most past jobs so will have trouble with this one.’

'...got on with colleagues for the first six months then relationships went downhill so will have problems with colleagues by the end of the year.’

Your subconscious mind does not rationalize - it simply takes the facts that have gone before and acts on them. In this case it sees a new job as something temporary and tells your conscious mind that you should expect all of the problems you have had before.

This leads to a negative perception of your job. A negative perception leads to lack of confidence, lack of motivation and ultimately depression. What chance does your new job have - none! This will impact on your wider life making it harder and harder to get what you want in life - so you sink deeper and deeper into depression.

Living a Constructive Life

What do you remember about your childhood, early adulthood? Is it playing with friends and siblings, holidays you have enjoyed, getting a mention from your teacher because you took an injured dog you found in your garden to the vet, getting your first job...?

This person's subconscious mind is very busy! Busy relating new situations to all the good things that have gone before! If this person decided to set up their own business their subconscious would be saying something like this:

'..Well this is new but I have been successful in my career so far so I will just use those skills and experience to succeed in my business.’

'..I will have to find new customers but that is OK because I have always been very good at developing customer relations.’

'..Once I am up and running I will need new staff but that will be fine because I have always got on well with the people reporting to me.'

What do you think is happening in this person's life? Because they are focusing on success, they are looking forward to achieving it. This makes them feel motivated, which in turn leads them to take action. This action gets results so they feel more motivated (and happy!) and so it goes on.

Which life are you leading?

Using Third Party Credibility

It's no secret that the best form of advertising is word of mouth. Always has been and always will be. Even in today’s information age, where it's nearly impossible to shield ourselves from the daily blaze of information coming at us through various media channels. Mass marketing communication has pervaded pretty much all areas of our lives, but still it lacks the power of good old word of mouth.

The direct selling and network marketing industries were built upon this foundation and both are thriving these days. One of the reasons for this is that as we are bombarded with mass communication messages, the value of a more personal message from a trusted source increases. Traditional companies are starting to pick up on this and are trying to implement programs to stimulate word of mouth by their existing customers. For many companies this transition proves to be slightly more difficult than they anticipated - hardly a surprise to those that have been successful in that area. The approach to using good word of mouth advertising differs very much from regular advertising.

Even though there are many differences between regular marketing and word of mouth, there are also some important similarities. One of them is the power of the use of a third party. Of course it's nice if you say how great your company is and how wonderful your products and services are. But that's kind of like your mother saying you're such a nice person. It's not that it's not true. It's just that the source isn't considered to be very objective. A third party is. It doesn't necessarily mean that the third party is completely objective but at least it's considered to be at least more objective than your mother, or your company, or you.

In everything we do, we seem to have a natural tendency to follow the people around us or people we look up to. Since the latter aren't always present we usually reside to the people around us. Another tendency most people have is to distrust the seller or at least question the truthfulness of what they're saying. These two tendencies combined lead to a situation where almost all our purchases are driven largely by what the people around us say and think about certain products and services. When the selling party advises you on a certain purchase he or she usually has an interest in making a sale and therefore may not be completely objective. When a neighbor gives you advice, you don't worry about this and therefore you find it easier to trust him. Your neighbor just served as a third party.

We generally tend to like testimonials better than commercials, probably because they don't involve hard selling, or at least not to the same extent. The impact of a good testimonial is a lot bigger than that of an advertisement. Especially when it is delivered by someone we know and respect. So the point is to find a third party that can endorse you or refer people to you - preferably someone that has credibility. This point is well understood by many network marketing companies. After decades of aggressive growth this industry still deals with something of a credibility issue. Of course to anyone that has done their due diligence, the validity and opportunity of network marketing should be crystal clear. Unfortunately for many individuals in the industry, most prospects haven't done their due diligence and wouldn't even know where to begin. That's where the importance of third party credibility comes in.

Some network marketing companies have earned endorsements from people that are widely recognized as successful and are using their influence to boost company growth. They know how people will react to an endorsement by a world famous millionaire or even billionaire; "If successful people like that say it's OK, it probably is...” This phenomenon can be seen in every business, in every country and in every city. The opinions of the movers and shakers in any area just seem to have more effect on people. The point is whether you're in network marketing or in a traditional business, using third party credibility can greatly improve your results. Unfortunately very few people seem to actively use this strategy.

If you are in business for yourself you can at least see if you can take advantage of this. Get some testimonials from your existing customers, especially from those customers that seem to have some influence in the community.

Try to find out what kind of person would be good match for your prospective customers. Determine some characteristics and then search your existing customer base to see if you can find any people meeting these criteria. If you do, simply contact them and ask them if they would help you out by sharing their story. In most cases you won't have to compensate them for this, but it wouldn't hurt if you did a little extra to make it worth their while. After all, you're asking them to help you out.

If you can't find a suitable candidate amongst your existing customers, try the rest of your network. Perhaps you can find some people there that aren't buying from you yet, but would be happy to become your customer and endorse you. In this case you would probably have to do a little more in the form of compensation to sway them.

Perhaps you could throw in a discount or provide a part or all of your service free of charge. Yes, this will cost you some money, but it's probably a lot cheaper than running an ad in the local newspaper. And it will probably generate a lot more business for you.

Success Is All in Your Mind!

How do you measure success? It's probably not exactly the same for any two people. While athletes measure success by wins or their personal best, a business owner may measure success by the amount of money their business nets every year.

Regardless of how you measure success, it all starts in your mind.....your subconscious mind, to be exact. While most people are familiar with the concept of the subconscious mind, few truly understand how to use its power to create the success (and happiness) that they desire.

To take advantage of this incredibly powerful tool, you must first program your subconscious mind for the success you are seeking. Without a clear, consistent "picture" of the results you seek, your subconscious mind can actually sabotage even your best efforts.

Any time there is confusion, your subconscious will struggle to help you achieve your goals. That's why the more concise your goal and your mental image of its results, the better the chances you'll achieve it. By creating and focusing on this concise concept of what you want to achieve, you're helping your subconscious mind manifest that result in your reality.

It's very important to monitor what you tell your subconscious verbally and silently. Most people are surprised to find when they actually start to "listen" to the words they use on a daily basis that they are issuing counterproductive "requests" to their subconscious.

Make sure to use positive descriptions when speaking aloud or to yourself silently about your goals. Instead of saying "I won't be overweight anymore", phrase your request in a positive way: "I am thin.”

Also, it's important to use a present tense, not a future tense like "I will be thin" as your subconscious takes everything literally. If your request is in the future, it will think that it doesn't need to change anything now. It lives in the present.

Be careful not to use negative words accidentally: such as "I'm not going to be poor any more." Your subconscious mind doesn't understand words like "not", "doesn't" or "won't". It will automatically delete those words from your request which will almost always create the opposite meaning and results of your goal!

There are many techniques you can use to create clear pictures of your completed goal. Most find that imagining a movie in their mind of what it will be like when you achieve your goal to replay in your thoughts to be very effective. For example, if you're trying to wipe out your credit card debt, imagine yourself receiving statements from your credit card companies with a $0 balance on the payment section.

Remember, what you focus on expands. If you constantly see yourself overweight, or in debt, that's what your subconscious mind will continue to create for you in your reality. It's very simple and takes very little time to mentally produce a "movie" that gives your subconscious a clear idea of what results you want. With consistent attention and effort toward what you DO want, you'll be amazed at the results you can create with your mind!

What is the Foundation of Your Marketing Business?

If someone were to ask you what the foundation of your Internet Marketing business endeavors consisted of, would you have an answer? If you find yourself hesitating for even a moment, then it may be time to review this age old concept and analyze how it impacts your online ventures.

From a very early age, we were all taught that a building is only as strong as its foundation. This analogy was usually used when teaching a life lesson - whether to enforce the importance of a strong foundation in matters of family, emotions, friendships, education, or business endeavors. And for brick and mortar businesses, the concept of a solid foundation is usually not lost on most people either.

When it comes to online marketing however, this principle often eludes Internet Marketing Professionals. The apparent reason is the vast amount of options and diversity of revenue streams that are available and the ease of their implementation.

Because it is much easier to institute an online business than a traditional brick and mortar, the importance of creating a solid foundation is often overlooked in the swiftness of the inception of new niche products or marketing efforts.

In Internet Marketing circles, you frequently hear a lot of talk about the importance of focus, and this certainly touches upon the concept of creating a solid foundation; but just being admonished to maintain focus is not going to suddenly manifest a solid foundation for your online pursuits.

The idea behind a foundation is to uphold the entire structure. When Internet Marketers are told to focus, what should really be stated is the importance of focusing on the foundation. Not just focusing on a given product, or a specific project or a dedicated niche. To the contrary, the foundation of your online business is the glue that holds your products, projects and niches together.

You don't have to look far to see the effects of a lack of foundation. In fact, all you have to do is listen to the panic that ensues every time Google has one of their infamous algorithm changes. This is akin to putting all of one's eggs in one basket and has caught many a marketing guru in the proverbial cross.

With Internet Marketing, the prospect of laying a proper foundation is a double edge sword. On the one hand, it is not advisable to jump from one project to anther; but on the other hand, it is critical to stay current with trends and technology. While trying to maintain a balance between these two, you walk a fine line in establishing a solid foundation that will be both dynamic as well properly grounded.

Whether you have been marketing online for a while or are just beginning to assess your place in the Internet Marketing world, take stock of the direction you are going and where it may leave you in the months and year to come.

For example, when choosing a niche, by its very definition it is based upon consumer demand. And that demand is largely dependent upon current fads, available technology, market need or some combination of all three. Regardless of whether you choose to serve that niche through email marketing, affiliate programs, blogging, or authority sites, in each instance you will be rising to meet the current trends.

So using the above example, a typical scenario would be to capitalize on a niche topic like MP3, podcasting, or something similar. However, the moment that technology makes these things obsolete and replaces it with the latest and greatest electronic wonder, the profitability of this niche would swiftly decline.

If however, you choose a niche such as consumer electronics or audio video equipment, then your foundation would remain much more solid and have the ability to stand the test of time. Establishing yourself as an authority in the consumer electronics niche -- albeit through promotion of iPods, MP3s and podcasting today -- gives you the reach for incorporating anything else that may turn to favor tomorrow.

These are the types of things that need to be considered when addressing a proper foundation for your Internet Marketing endeavors. Utilizing this method of reasoning will insure longevity and to do otherwise will insure only short term success at best.

Integrity Before Success!

If you are going to be successful on the internet or any home business as far as that is concerned, then, integrity must come before your financial success. Many people are financially successful on the internet, but some have forgotten the meaning of true success.

As Jim Rohn (One of the all time favorite motivational speakers) says, quite often, it is far more important of who you are becoming, then, what you are earning. Jim even goes so far as to say that you should work toward becoming a millionaire, not for the money, but because of who you will become in achieving the goal.

The stress is on becoming a better person. A person who has integrity. Integrity is being able to be counted on, to be depended upon, if you say that you are going to provide a service or product for a certain amount of money, then you do it. You are looking out for your customers, as well as yourself.

In most cases your reputation will precede you! You may think that no one is discovering your flawed business manners, but actually, the word is spreading and on the net, it spreads quite rapidly.

One of the universal laws of success is that financial success follows hard work with honesty. In other words, "help enough people get what they want and you will find that you receive what you want." However, if you are just looking out for you, you are only hurting yourself in the long run. Wouldn't the internet be so much better if we were all watching out for each other?

One important lesson I have learned when it comes to making a sale is that people buy from those whom they trust. If they trust you they will buy from you. If your integrity is guiding you as you make your presentation to others it will come across to your potential buyer. You are more likely to make that sell with your integrity guiding you, then, any other aspect in your presentation.

It does not matter how well you intellectually present your service or product, if they detect flaws in your character you might as well close up your brief case and go home.

Perhaps, even of a greater reward for being a man or women of integrity is that you will sleep better at night just knowing you did your best to sincerely help others achieve their dreams. What can be more rewarding, then, to help others reach their goals?

If you have children, perhaps, that would be the ultimate reason to permit integrity to lead you. Your children will have someone that they can be proud of and more importantly someone whom they can trust!

How to Make More Money with Email Marketing

The number one rule in effective email marketing is to ALWAYS capture every email address of every possible prospect. Here is the way to get started building a large customer list to promote your products and make more money in the process.

First you will need to sign up for a paid membership at a respected autoresponder service. This is not very expensive. It usually costs no more than $20 per month. Either Aweber.com or Getresponse.com are two good recommended autoresponder services. Here is the outline for using your autoresponder to create campaigns that will sell products for you consistently.

Tip #1. Place a sign-up box on every website you own to capture email addesses from your prospects.

Offer them a FREE report or eBook for signing up to your new newsletter.

You will use this newsletter to 'broadcast' news, special offers, discounts and clearance sales to your 'active' list of prospects at different times as needed. A good tip is to keep your prospect audience 'on the hook' and always receptive to your email messages. Build good rapport with your subscribers.

By capturing as many email addresses as you can and broadcasting a newsletter to your customers on a frequent basis (once every 2 to 3 weeks is O.K. for most businesses), you will increase your sales and profits.

Tip #2. When sending out a broadcast, give your prospective customers a FREE offer that complements the product or service that you are promoting in the email.

This could be a FREE eBook or report that might make them more interested in the product that you are selling. Include in the free eBook or report a hyperlink to your product sales page just in case they decide to go ahead and buy your product after reading the FREE eBook or report. You always want to make it as easy as possible for your customers to read, review and purchase your product.

Tip #3. Then in the same email broadcast, give your customers a "preview" of your next email offer. Also include a line or two about the next FREE bonus offer that will accompany your upcoming email to interest them and set up your next product mailing.

It all comes down to meeting the expectations of your customers. They will know what is coming to their inbox next. Who knows, your customer might already be sold on the next offer as soon as it arrives!

Tip #4. When advertising your product in ezine ads, always give the people that are reading your ad the opportunity to get on your mailing list.

In fact, you should be advertising your product for the purpose of capturing the prospect's email address. You are going to make your sales and profits on the back-end. Avoid trying to sell your product from the ad itself.

To do this, you offer them FREE information, and MORE DETAILS about the product that you are promoting in your ad. Then have the prospect send a blank email to your autoresponder. Follow-up using your autoresponder with a message of your choice that includes the promised information. Also add these prospects to your newsletter mailing list.

Refer to the instructions at your autoresponder service on how to make the hyperlink to your autoresponder and how to organize your new email addresses.

Email marketing makes you more money when it is done right. Follow the tips above and cash in on your company's new email marketing strategies with ease.

Now you have a way to get people to see your offers at a minimal cost. And you have built up a high level of trust and loyalty with your subscribers. Plus in the eyes of your customers, you always overdeliver. That's a triple winning combination for your marketing mix. And you did it all automatically!

Two Words that Separate the Online Winners from the Quitters

Ask five people what to do to be successful when starting a business and you will probably get five different answers. Everything from, "you absolutely have to have a business plan" to "failure is eminent without my new software." Although a business plan is very important and there are some very valuable software applications to grow a business, there is one aspect of success that seems to be very hard for many people to overcome.

Here's a story to illustrate the point. A friend, named Joe wanted to start an internet marketing business. Before he began selling anything he hired someone to coach him. The coach did not have any really revolutionary ideas, pretty much the same as the other guru's but he was honest with Joe when he needed to hear the truth. Joe followed his instructions on researching profitable niches. Once Joe's coach emailed him with a suggestion that he thought would make it easier for Joe, but Joe responded saying that he thought the suggestion made by his coach was nearly impossible. Joe told him, "I cannot do that, it's too hard." The response from the coach was paramount to Joe's success. It changed everything for Joe. He replied saying, "Joe, if you think you can't then you're probably right."

Joe understood what his coach was getting at. Joe's own thoughts about what he thought he could and could not do were holding him back. Joe decided that very day that he could in fact do what his coach suggested to find a profitable niche. That's right, he made a decision that he could do it and that he would not give up. Not only did Joe find a very profitable niche, he found ten profitable niches. Joe quickly started his first internet business selling a hard good product and it turned out to be a total success. This rest as they say is history.

Ask yourself, what could you do if you removed "I can't" from your vocabulary and weren't hindered by what you think are your abilities. Joe knew nothing about the niche he started in and even so his business took off like gangbusters. He learned about his product as he went along. He didn't know how to build a website but he learned. Joe's success had nothing to do with a large starting capital because he started with less than $300.

Your success at any business venture has very little to do with talent, money you have to invest, knowledge about the product and a whole host of other excuses that people come up with about why they can't start an internet business. Your success does have everything to do with your determination to succeed and perseverance when challenges come your way. Now don't go and throw money down the toilet because you don't want to give up, please use common sense. If you haven't made any money after a couple months don't decide that online marketing isn't for you. Consider moving on to find another niche. There are millions of hungry buyers in thousands of niches waiting to buy. Keep plugging away until you find a need to meet in a specific niche and fill that need. It will only take a few months to get to know your market.

Every single month, there are millions of people searching for information on how to make money on the internet, yet less than 3% of those people ever actually make any money. The difference among those that succeed and those that do not is that the ones who make money don't back down when faced with the same challenges that all online marketers face. It comes down to this, you have to delete the phrase, "I can't" from your vocabulary. Don't be one of the 97% that give up right before you strike gold.

The Power of Sharing

It has been said that "If you give, you shall receive". This saying is often used to refer to giving of your time, your effort, your money or other material things before you can reasonably expect to receive any of these things from others. All of these things can be very valuable, but one of the most powerful things to share, and also one of the easiest, is thoughts and ideas.

When we consider sharing something, we often think of this as parting with something. Share some of your money and you will no longer be able to spend it yourself. Share some chocolate and whoever you share it with gets to taste this delicious substance, not you. At least you won't taste all of it. Sharing, in these cases, means parting with. It means you give something away that you will no longer benefit from directly. This is not the case with thoughts and ideas. When you share a thought or a good idea that doesn't mean you lose it. It doesn't even mean there is any less left for you. As a matter of fact, quite the opposite is true. You can truly be enriched by the thoughts and ideas you share with other people. Share some wisdom with someone else and now two can benefit from it. Even though there was no cost involved for you in sharing it, to the person on the receiving end it could represent a huge value.

Unfortunately we often try to keep things for ourselves in order to keep a competitive advantage. To 'keep the edge' so to speak. This is understandable and can sometimes be a good strategy. Certain information can be extremely valuable and if it really gives you this 'edge' then keeping it to yourself may be the smart thing to do. In reality however most of us don't possess any information that really offers sustainable advantage over others. The truth is that the real advantage in this day and age, with the Internet at everybody's fingertips, is no longer in any single piece of information. The people that have been most successful have done so by combining ideas and concepts into combinations that others haven't thought of. From this perspective not sharing your ideas may actually rob you of many opportunities and as such cost you a great deal.

In business, as well as in personal life, breakthroughs often come from a combination of ideas. Rarely is one man's creative idea completely fabricated by his own mind. The tossing back and forth of ideas and concepts usually plays a critical role in the development of new ideas. In discussing the potential application of a certain technology with a customer, this customer can come up with ideas that you would have never thought of. After all it's the customer's business and he probably knows more about it than you do. Especially when you're talking to an entrepreneurial type of individual. Most entrepreneurs are always looking for new opportunities to improve their bottom line and expand their business. Now why would he share his ideas with you if you haven't shared anything with him? Good question. You could of course turn the situation around; why share anything with him if he hasn't shared anything with you? Although this may be a fair question, it isn't really relevant. After all this is exactly the deadlock situation that hampers so much creativity. Of course there is always a risk of someone running off with one of your ideas. So it wouldn't be a bad idea to protect your idea or at least a part of it. You could for instance leave out some details that aren't necessary to paint the big picture but would surely be critical in bringing the idea to fruition.

The human brain makes connections based on our frame of reference. Since every persons frame of reference is unique it's possible for a group of 1000 individuals to listen to one and the same speech, talk or idea and yet, have all of them interpret it differently. As a matter of fact, this is not just possible, it will inevitably be the case. Since no two persons share the exact same background, body of knowledge and life experiences. These differences in interpretations could therefore lead to very different concepts and ideas a person could come up with. That is where one of the most powerful aspects of sharing comes into play. Your ideas may spark a new idea in someone else that you would never have thought of by yourself, which in turn sparks another idea in you that they would never have thought of by themselves. Of course this doesn't have to be a conscious sharing of ideas. Most of the time it will happen without you actually being aware of it. A thought will come up that you think is your own when in fact it was initially put their by someone else. In your quest for ideas your mind dug up this idea and perhaps linked it to some other fragments in your memory banks that, put together, formed a new breakthrough idea.

Even though this is mostly unconscious, it's still a good strategy to share more ideas on a consistent basis. Think of it like this; every time you share something a number of things happen. For starters, you deposit something into someone else's memory bank. You never know what this little piece of information, this concept will do for the person you share it with. Perhaps it does nothing for them but it eventually does for someone else they share it with. This person may or may not share something with you in return. But there is a universal law that states that: "If you give out, something is coming back". The law doesn't say that it's coming back on Thursday morning at 10.00, when you might need it the most. It just says "It's coming back". In many cases when you share something, that person will feel obligated to share something with you. Perhaps right away, perhaps a month from now. Not necessarily out of obligation, but out of human nature. This is the law of reciprocity at work. Whenever they share something with you, that concept will be stored inside your head. Perhaps you may not see an immediate use for it. In many cases you probably never will. However you never know when and in what situation their idea may turn out to be useful. Perhaps in combination with some other ideas that have yet to be shared with you by other people.

But guess what? If you don't share your thoughts with them, they may not share theirs with you. And because you didn't share you missed out on that one little idea that you needed to put everything in its place. Who knows how much you will miss out on because of that? It's safe to say that not sharing could cost you infinitely more than keeping it all to yourself would ever earn you. And that is just too much of a price to pay. So whenever you have the opportunity to share some worthwhile thoughts with another person, do so. It may work wonders, for you and them, and it won't cost a thing.

Just Do It NOW!

Just do it. Put on your Nike shoes and run with it. Yeah! Jump on it. Go for it. Right now is the moment. Apply the wisdom from Confucius, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Use the philosophy of Ansonius who says, "To begin is to achieve." So start with zero hesitation. Dare to live your dream. Use initiative to annihilate procrastination. Heed the words of Edward Young about procrastination, "Procrastination is the thief of time: Year after year it steals, till all are fled, And to the mercies of a moment leaves The vast concerns of an eternal scene." Procrastination is stasis and stasis is the clammy frozen death of dreams.

Ponder and learn from these words of William Shakespeare's King Richard the Second. "I wasted time, and now doth time waste me; For now hath time made me his numbering clock: My thoughts are minutes; and with sighs they jar Their watches on unto mine eyes, the outward watch, Whereto my finger, like a dial's point, Is pointing still, in cleansing them from tears. Now sir, the sound that tells what hour it is Are clamorous groans, which strike upon my heart, Which is the bell: so sighs and tears and groans Show minutes, times, and hours."

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe who is Germany's "Shakespeare" is attributed with the statement, "Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."

It is said that everything is attitude and attitude is everything. You have just read five quotes, but think of them as tools for shaping your attitude. The correct attitude is a can do, will do, right now is everything, can't wait to get started attitude. Throw on Van Halen's song "Right Now" and crank it up for even more inspiration. Joseph Addison sums it up with this proverb, "Swift and resolute action leads to success; self-doubt is a prelude to disaster." That is from the 1713 work called "Cato."

What work is it you want to do? Do it now! Without question! Do not wait, for you will wait forever, and it will get done never. No mistake about it, the simple choice comes down to two. Do it or lose it. Positively YES is the answer that moves mountains and simultaneously makes them into molehills. Take action. Here is the sublime mantra of magical manifestation - DO IT, DO IT, DO IT, JUST DO IT NOW!

Are You Passionate about Your Internet Marketing Niche?

Internet Marketing offers many benefits that traditional employment does not including the ability to set your own hours, an unlimited stream of income, the flexibility of choosing a niche that you are passionate about, and the opportunity to help others.

By virtue of the fact that a large portion of Internet Marketing revolves around the sale of information products, the opportunity to help others is by far the strongest draw that online ventures provide. Not only is the marketing professional able to make hundreds, if not thousands of dollars by pursuing their passion, in the process they are contributing to the education or training of others at the same time.

There are very few careers that afford the instant gratification this arrangement provides. Many traditional jobs provide an education or service, but the end result or the consumer that acquires the benefit is so far removed from the supply chain, that the employee never gets to see first hand the difference they are making in someone else's life.

On the other hand, an Internet Marketing professional many times will not only see first hand the difference they are making, they are directly involved in the process while it is evolving. This is a very strong draw for those who seek and gain their gratification from helping others.

Because the claims of making an overnight fortune are so plentiful, it is often believed that it is the financial gain that drives online entrepreneurs. And while that is certainly one of the overwhelming benefits to online opportunities, more often than not you will see the people making the most money are the ones that are the most passionate about what they are doing.

This passion is what will stand the test of time. There are plenty of online marketing opportunities that fade into the background as fast as they originally appeared, but someone who puts their heart and soul into every aspect of their product or service almost always backs the ones that have the greatest longevity.

This model is one that does not get a lot of exposure, because too often the headlines we see are designed for shock value and the easiest way to capture the attention of an audience is through the income potential. But looking beyond that, if you see someone with passion, you will most likely see someone who is going to be around for quite a while or has already been around for a long time. It is a common denominator that is shared by many of the top Internet Marketing Gurus today and will remain so for a long while to come.

New entrepreneurs who aspire to reach great heights in the Internet Marketing community will do well to recognize and emulate this business model. There is no limit to the amount of ways that someone can make a living online, but if care is taken to choose a topic that is also part of your passion, then the odds of a long and successful career in this business greatly increase.

Parttime Entrepreneurs

Today’s economy is characterized by is a lot of insecurity in the workplace. People are becoming aware of the fact that job security is now really a thing of the past. Some have replaced job security with the idea of employment security. Employment security is a concept that states that if you concern yourself with being a valuable person and employee, someone that is of value to an employer, you may not be guaranteed to keep your job but you will most certainly be able to get another one. To a large extent this will probably hold up in many situations. However it still assumes an employer - employee relationship.

The original relationship between the employer and the employee will probably be around for a long time. However in the future it will not be as commonplace as it is today. People who used to work in a single department in a single function for most of their professional lives are now getting used to working more on a project by project basis. In most situations they are still on the same company's payroll, however this is already starting to change.

Many employers are starting to outsource some of the work that was traditionally performed by employees to freelancers and small businesses. The disadvantages of having people on the payroll are starting to weigh in on their hiring decisions. With today's high speed of technological change the necessary expertise to perform certain functions can literally change from year to year. In some areas it's even more extreme. In many of these cases it's simply easier and cheaper to hire different people on a limited time basis instead of continuously having one employee trying to keep up with all the different tricks of the trade.

This trend will have far reaching consequences for today’s workforce. Even the more experienced employees will have to stay sharp. They can't sit on their laurels anymore because they will continuously have to prove their worth in new situations, more now than ever before.

Some consider this a huge threat to their career. The truth is, they probably should. Then again, some seem to be adapting to this phenomenon by looking at the opportunity that this brings them. More and more people today are starting their own part time businesses. Many do this while still working on their day job, either full- or part time. Scott Adams, author of the famous Dilbert comic, identifies this trend in his book "The Dilbert Future". He claims this trend will become more prevalent in the years to come. Many of these newborn entrepreneurs start businesses that perform a function that was formerly performed by an employee. Sometimes people even come back to their original employer who has now become their customer.

Everybody knows running your own business can make you more money. There are a number of reasons for this. Of course you are probably more motivated and more results oriented than you would be working for someone else. You can also control your overhead better. Larger companies are not as efficient as they should be in many areas. Company policy sometimes drives up operating costs significantly. Certain companies hand out cell phones and laptops to all employees without taking proper notice of the need for such items. Also employees are less aware of many costs and business expenses. The bottom line is simply not a priority for them. If they had to pay for everything out of their own pocket this would probably be very different. The fact is: when you are in you're own business you have to keep a very close eye on your bottom line or you'll probably be out of business in no time.

This raises questions for many people who currently hold a job as well as the people they work for. Which functions will continue to be performed by employees and which jobs will be outsourced? It would be hard if not impossible to make an easy distinction at this point. Some companies may choose to retain employees for the same jobs that are outsourced by other companies. Each may have their reasons and who's to say what's right. It will depend on many different factors like: the importance of the job for that particular business, the ability to attract the right people and the company's culture. Nobody could accurately predict what the situation will be ten to fifteen years from today.

One thing is for sure though: for many of us it will be vastly different than our current situation. The question is: Are you ready for it?

How To Promote Your Business By Speaking in Public

As an entrepreneur, public speaking has to be one of the most effective ways of marketing yourself. There are countless opportunities out there for you to get yourself in front of your target market. There is no better way to have a captive audience full of prospects. It is the fastest way of establishing yourself as an expert.

You don’t have to be a professional speaker to speak in public. Just doing a reasonable job is better than not doing anything at all.

Prospects are much more likely to engage your services if they’ve seen you speak. Let’s look at the following example. Say you were looking for an accountant. Would you be more inclined to trust someone you had found in the Yellow Pages, or someone you had heard speak knowledgeably at the local Chamber of Commerce?

Look into opportunities in your local area where you can offer to speak for free. Professional associations, networking groups, Chambers of Commerce, educational bodies and Rotary Clubs are all potential public speaking venues. They often look out for speakers for their events, meetings and workshops.

Also research the audience that is going to be at your talk. For example, what industries are they likely to represent? Are they from large or small companies? What would interest them? What angle should your presentation take?

When it comes to finalizing your speech topic, be sure to make it sound enticing and interesting. People often decide whether to attend a talk based on just the title so put some serious thought into this.

Practice is key to coming across in a professional manner and reducing nerves. Write your speech out in full, but never read it verbatim. Have an outline prepared and available for you to refer to.

Check with the event organizer how long you have for your talk. Include timing in your practice runs. There is nothing worse than having a speaker run over time.

Get the most mileage out of your presentation by having some promotional material at the back of the room, for example some business cards, flyers or brochures that people can take with them if they wish.

You can be even more proactive and set up a newsletter before starting to give speeches. At the end of your presentation you can encourage your audience to sign up for your newsletter in exchange for a promotional gift or free e-book. That way you have also added valuable contacts to your database.

Many entrepreneurs swear by public speaking as a way of building and maintaining a steady stream of clients for their businesses.

Preparing to Sell a Business while Keeping Your Customers Happy

Preparing to sell a business may not be as straightforward as it seems. Selling a business requires a balance between enticing buyers for the business and, at the same time, keeping the current customers happy. If the customers are unhappy then the business value drops and the sale may not go as planned. If a person goes into selling a business without planning or the knowledge of how to do so, they may end up losing money.

The following list explains the first steps a person should take to prepare to sell while also keeping customers happy.

Get a quote on the value of the business. This is extremely important. If a business owner asks too much, they may have a hard time selling, but if they do not ask enough they are losing out on valuable revenue. A professional can help with this because they usually know how certain time and economic factors can contribute to the value of a business. But you should also do your own research. You are the best source to know your own niche market. This appraisal should be done before selling to get the actual value.

Determine if the sale will be public or private. If there is a chance that customers will be lost once they find out the business is sold, then it is wise to do a private sell. This way the new owner will have a chance to gain their business. Also, will the employees stay or will they leave for fear of the upheaval of new ownership? Most buyers would like to see that a business could withstand any changes that can come about with a sale. These factors should be considered when determining if a sale should be public or private.

Set up a marketing campaign. Just as a business owner needs to advertise their products, they need to advertise the sale. The marketing efforts will be largely based on the type of sale, either public or private. In the case of the private sale, an example of this may just put the business name out in the public by advertising donations to charities. Just remember, the appearance of the business can help determine the value. This goes for physical appearance as well as just appearing financially secure and stable.

Prepare all information to show buyers. Potential buyers will likely be interested in seeing all the details of the business. They will want to know why the business is being sold and will need to see financial statements and tax returns in order to make an informed purchase. A business is perceived as much riskier with no solid financial history and that can decrease the sale value.

Preparing by doing these four steps can make selling a business easier. The key is they can be done up to years before the actual sale. But, they are also just the tip of the iceberg. They do not cover every aspect, like legal and financial considerations, so a business owner should contact their lawyer, accountant, and other professional assistance to ensure everything is done correctly.

Moonlighting Your Way to a Full-Time Copywriting Career

If you are moonlighting as a copywriter and want to go full-time, you can. But be sure to have a plan in place first. Owning your own business can be great, but not if you fail to plan for the first year's up-and-down income.

1. Be sure you know why you want to go full-time.
Reason: "I want more freedom and flexibility."

Full-time copywriting is great for more flexibility during your workweek, but taking longer breaks like vacations can be tricky. You will need to plan for this.

"I'll make more money as a full-time copywriter than I do as a [fill-in-the-blank]."

You well may! Full-time copywriters easily earn from $50,000 a year to $85,000 and many of them earn more. It is not uncommon to earn $120,000 a year for an in-demand copywriter, and this is NOT the stratosphere. But be aware that it takes some time to get there! Plan to buy your own health insurance and plan to get slammed with self-employment taxes. And cash flow can be very challenging.

"I have always wanted to own my own business."

Good for you! It's a fantastic way to go, especially for parents who want to be more available to their kids. Go for it, just plan for it.

2. Make a financial plan.

- Have clients ready to go so you know you will get paid right away. If you've been moonlighting as a freelancer, then this should not be a problem. You will need to ramp up to full-time, so ramp up your networking and marketing outreach.

- Whittle down the expenses. Boat, 2nd mortgage, credit card debt... you do not want to get into working for yourself and be laden with debt at the same time.

- See if you can add your employer as a client. It happens more often than you think.

3. Make a timeline.

Plan your planning! Decide when you are going to have your financial plan ready, including when and how you are going to cut out unnecessary expenses and/or pay off debt while you are still employed. Then plan your marketing and pump up your client list. You will be really busy for a while until you quit your job, so take care of your health!

Then write that resignation letter! Be bold, dream, don't be afraid. You can do this!