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Sunday, April 26, 2009

How to Make Money Online Honestly and Avoid the Scams

Make Money Online With Integrity

Wouldn't it be great to have an extra income? A few hundred dollars a month extra could make all the difference. What if you could make money online, sufficient to replace your present income and improve your standard of living considerably. Is making money online in a decent and honest way just a dream? Are there any people in the online marketing industry with integrity? I can tell you with absolute certainty that there are.

Sure there are plenty of scammers out there, to be avoided at all costs (I have fallen prey to a few of these over the years in my search for making money online programs that work). However if you take reasonable care and don't put your common sense on hold whenever you're faced with a well crafted sales letter, you will be okay.

How To Begin Making Money Online

One school of thought is to choose a subject that you are familiar with and have a keen interest and understanding, to form the basis of your first niche in which to market. This is alright providing there is sufficient interest in that subject. However a lot of research will still be necessary.

I prefer the copycat method. Find a program that is a proven success and copy it. (Think McDonalds/Burger King) you get the idea.

Affiliate Marketing A Good Place To Start

To make money online quickly and without a web site or technical knowledge is possible using affiliate marketing. It costs nothing to register with the various affiliate companies and you can start earning fairly quickly, depending on your marketing methods.

Most people start with "Clickbank" because it is free to register and there are no fees to marketers. You can set up an account very easily and they pay very good commissions up to 75% of the sale price. Of course if it was all so easy, everyone would be doing it. Well to make money online using Clickbank or any of the other affiliate programs requires knowledge. It really is no different to setting up a bricks and mortar business but without the huge costs involved.

Other popular affiliate programs are "Amazon" and Paydotcom. You will be amazed at just how many companies and some really well known brands have an affiliate program. However, for these you will at least need your own web site and some marketing skills. This is all easily learned if you have a desire to succeed and are willing to learn.

The best advice I can give you is not to fooled by the very flash websites promising you riches on "Autopilot" no knowledge needed. This is all pure hype but thousands fall for these snake oil sales pitches every day.

How To Make Money Online With Affiliate Marketing.

The reality is that making money online is not that difficult. As long as you have a good grasp of the basic concept, it is possible to get started with very little capital investment. The important thing is to get a good mentor or invest a little in a good make money online training course. I have reviewed most of the good stuff available and can steer you in the right direction.

Learn How to Earn a Good Income With a Solid Work From Home Business

Recession/ Depression, Does Not Mean the End - It Could Be A New beginning.

This dreadful economic downturn is taking its toll on many people who thought they had safe jobs and a reliable income. If you fall into this category. If unemployment or the threat of redundancy is in the air, or maybe you just want to "fire your boss", now is the perfect time to follow your dream of having your own successful work from home business.

Many people faced with this situation look at a franchise. After all if you have a capital sum from a redundancy package it is possible to buy a franchise, which at least gives you some help and expertise. The problem for most of us though is the cost.

The beauty of a work from home business is that it can be done on a very small budget. Of course if capital is available it will always make things easier to be able to buy the best tools, training and advertising. However you can still establish a successful work from home business with little money.

How Hard is It To Set Up A Successful Work From Home Business?

Not as difficult as it may first appear. Yes, I know it may look daunting if you have always enjoyed the security of an employed position but believe me, no one ever got rich working for someone else ( unless it was Bill Gates of course). A work from home business is the ideal for many.

Don't look upon these difficult times in a negative way. Instead seize the opportunity for an exciting new venture and complete change of lifestyle. One where you call the shots. Where you work the hours to suit your family and lifestyle. An impossible dream? Not if you follow my lead.

I was a washed up middle aged financial advisor, thrown on the scrap heap too old for the corporate world. Overqualified for some positions, under qualified for others. Was I doomed to a life of poverty? Not on Your life!
Forced to re-think a work from home business was the only answer.

I won't bore you with my personal history but suffice to say if I can achieve success working from home, you most certainly can.

Is It Possible To Succeed Without Previous Experience?

Yes, I am living proof of that. It has taken a few years ( but I am a bit slow on the technical stuff) and a huge investment in time and training but I got there and you can too. You can do it if you have the right mindset and a good deal of determination.

The most important thing is to avoid the costly mistakes I made along with thousands of other people, believing I could do it on my own. The best advice I can give you is save yourself a lot of heartache, time and money by getting some first rate training.

The reason 95% of people fail with a work from home business is a lack of guidance. We hate to ask for help. However if you want the kind of success which is available, just avoid the get rich quick merchants, arm yourself with a really good training program and your success is assured.

Remember if an old has been like me can achieve success at my time of life, what is stopping you?

5 Easy Ways You Can Make Money Online

With the economy down, money getting tight, and debt accumulating, everyone and their brother is out to make an extra buck or two through side jobs or other money-making opportunities. While an extra job will bring in the much-needed cash, it is also a hefty and regular time commitment. Other money-making opportunities may or may not pay the money promised. So, if you are strapped for cash and have limited or irregular hours to devote to making additional money, what can you do?

The answer lies in making money through online business opportunities. Unlike a side or full-time job, online work is performed at your own time and convenience. Usually, you devote as much time as possible to performing an online task, and are then paid accordingly.

You do not have to look far in order to find legitimate and well-paying online work. Depending on your time and talents, here are 5 easy ways you can make money online:

1.Freelance Writing. If you are good at writing and have an interest in researching various topics of interest, then freelance writing may be for you. You may choose to get paid by the article, by page views, or by a combination of both methods. Some excellent online freelance writing sites are Constant Content and Associated Content.

2.Online Surveys. Online survey sites are always on the lookout for new recruits with valuable information. Some surveys will pay you only a few pennies, while others go as high as $20 (or more). For examples of quality survey sites, please visit either InboxDollars or SendEarnings.

3.Affiliate Marketing. If you can perform keyword optimization research and set up web sites, affiliate marketing may be for you. The premise lies in you being a third party liaison between potential buyers and sellers. By posting quality content about the products being marketed, you draw customers to your web site. You will also monetize your web site, so that the traffic you drive can click on your ads and buy your advertised products. When this happens, you will receive a percentage of the sales profits.

4.Ebay Sales. Ebay is the world's largest garage sale, and more than likely you already have something that you need to get rid of. If you have stuff in your house that is just taking up room, you can certainly sell it on Ebay and make some quick cash. However, you can also become savvy at finding brand-name merchandise at low prices and then sell it on Ebay for profit. Alternatively, you may make quality merchandise on your own and sell it at an even greater profit.

5.Blogs. Blogs have become very hot in the last few years, and you probably already know someone who runs a blog. If you can start your own blog, either by purchasing your own domain name or by going to a public site like Wordpress, you stand to make a good amount of money. The key is to write about topics that are of interest to readers and so drive lots of traffic. Fresh, current, and quality content is therefore essential to your blogging success.

The following are just 5 ways that you can make extra money online. Other opportunities also exist, if you are diligent and do some additional research. These 5 ways are just some of the ways that you can start making easy money online.

Nine Great Website Marketing Strategies For Growing Your Business On Line

Planning your Website

Here is a great idea to help you grow your business on the internet. You want to do some site planning and analysis. Doing a competitive analysis of what others are doing on the internet with businesses similar to yours is useful to your site development.

Analyzing Competition

There are hundreds of thousands of websites you compete against. How will you make your website stand out amongst these? Look at what others are doing with their websites on line. You can learn what is working by studying these websites. You can save lots of time and money you would spend on research for your business by using this analysis method. They have likely spent a lot of time in developing their websites and it tells you what is working.

Create An Email List

You use any marketing you have in place and perhaps PPC advertising you can bring people to your website. As people come to your website, you will want to keep track of who is buying from what advertising you use. You will want to fine tune your website by placing tracking links to what is creating your sales. What about those that come to your website who are not buyers. You will want to create an email list capturing their emails and design email letters for future use as you have captured their interest. You write informative emails that capture you lists interest and bring them back to your website repeatedly.

Create A Blog On Your Website

Informative emails that you create can be used to create articles and these can be placed on your blog to be used to inform your visitors further. As you provide good informatin in your blogs, you vistiros will study your information more and will begin to see you as the expert and in turn they will trust you more. Your email list size will increase and your sales will increase. As your traffic increases there is a method to monetize your blog. As your traffic increases your blog will become noticed more by the search engines (google, MSN, Yahoo etc.). Using the right words and phrases on your blog can bring a large amount of new traffic to your business bringing new income to your blog and website and incresing your email list for future sales. Each of these activities continue to build on each other growing your business.

Use Article Marketing To Increase Your Business

You now take the information on your website and further distribute it as articles and press releases to other websites. This establishes you as the expert in your field and the more information you have across other websites, the more search engines will find you and the more people will read the information. This brings more people to your website to buy what you offer and increases your email list for more future sales.

Media Marketing

You can now turn your business information in to video and podcasts. Very few of the competitors are using this medium. Tapping into this will bring new visitors to your website bringing you more money and more people to your email building a large list of followsers and future customers.

What You Do With All Of Your Accumulated Information

Now that you have accumulated a large amount of information and articles, you can turn that into how to do guides and special reports that you can give away as bonuses to your customers or use as incentives to join your email list.

Creation of A Funded Proposal


You can monetize your information, if the information you have is valuable enough. Creating valuable information products and monetizing them with sales to your list can further enhance expanding your business and list by covering the costs of advertising promotions you can do and writing or purchasing articles to further expand your lis and your income.The current wave of traffic coming into your site can pay for the future wave of traffice to your website. Your marketing becomes self funded as the more people that come to your website pays for the expanded wave of people coming to your website. This will help pay for sales for your main products increasing your income.



Capitalize On What You Have Created

Next you will want to learn about joint ventures and affiliate products and capitalizing on people who are already on your website and email list The more traffic on your website, the more other businesses will want to join with you and the better deal you can make with them. If you have a product that is helpful to your list, offer it to other business as you can make a lot of money doing this. Creating your own affiliate program and offering it to other businesses for a percentage of the sale is the ultimate sale. You have no expenses as other marketers are professionally promoting your product and you are increasing your list for further sales.

Why is hiring a good website content writer as important as hiring a good webmaster

Are you planning to make a website of your own? Are you interested in making a lot of money with the help of this website? If your answer is ‘yes’, then you will need the help of two very important professionals, who will help you realize your dream. One professional is the website developer and the other is the website content writer. Now you can hire a writer directly or avail the services of reputed ghostwriter and writer services such as Writer4me.com With the help of a proper content writer, you can make your site much more informative and interesting for the people visiting it.

• For every website, the content is the king. It is the most important aspect that separates a good website from a bad website.
• The quality of content in the site determines the amount of traffic that it generates. The more the traffic, the more is the revenue. So, the website content is very important.
• If the website content is attractive and important, then people will love to come back again and again to the site and they will ask their friends to visit your site too.
• The website content writer will help you update the content at a frequent interval, so that your website remains always new, from the content perspective. This means that your website will be able to secure higher ranks in the search pages of the search engines.
• Good content is always a plus point for a good looking website. For the good looks of the website you will need a good website developer and for the best quality contents, you will need a good website content writer.

So, don’t waste anymore time. If you plan to build your own website, hire a content developer and a web developer and get cracking fast!

Friday, April 24, 2009

How to Communicate Effectively in Business

How would you decide to solve a jig-saw puzzle if you were only handed the pieces, without a clear picture of what it should look like when it's completed? This is what commonly happens when communication is unclear. Even though you have got the essential information, you can't seem to get to a productive final result.

In this era when everyone is pushing the outer limits with their personal time, precise and short communication is the key to unlocking the benefits of anonymity.

Imagine the feeling you would experience if you were no longer required to recite the same statements over and over again! Imagine if all of your employees got what you said at the drop of a hat! Yes, that's the power of effective communication. Letters and words - when painstakingly chosen, can turn your company around more rapidly than you can imagine. There is absolutely no doubt that listening and giving your attention to non-verbal cues comprises a significant part of interpersonal communication, but why not also work toward speaking with accuracy - sprinkled with charisma and magic, so that listeners can do nothing but follow and do as they're told.

Be as clear in what you say as possible, and don't leave any guess work for the listener. Any unclear aspects of your conversation stand equal chances of being understood or misunderstood entirely, so even if it's a supplier you've been dealing with for ages, don't rely on what you think should be 'obvious'. At the very minimum, what should be done in situations like these is to create a document that outlines all of the mutually 'understood' aspects, which you can then get the other person to agree to verbally - and if possible, sign it as well. Any new clause that you plan on introducing into the current agreement should be delivered to your partner as quickly as possible for their own individual consideration, and if both parties agree, add a written amendment with the place and time when the new clause becomes binding.

Dealing with internal and external customers also follows a similar plan. The employees (internal customers) should be given an exact position which they're to strive to reach. This should be stated in both qualitative and quantitative terms. Besides this, a career plan for each of them should be clearly charted out and broken down into an unmistakable time-line. Supplement this process with technological solutions to save time when transferring information. Motivate and train your employees to communicate effectively while preparing the reporting hierarchy (i.e. who is to report to whom). This will help them to acquire a broader picture of the organization and pave the way for long term benefits for your company.

Last - but never the least, always 'Keep Your Word'.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Twitter Following - Get More Followers Today


Twitter has grown in popularity almost exponentially since its arrival on the web. Twitter is a social networking site. People who start twitter accounts can you use them for various different things. The idea is to start connecting with other similarly minded individuals when you start an account. There will be people who will take interest in what you have to say and, or offer. The people that show interest will become known as your followers. The people who are classified as your followers will be simple for you to reach so that you can update them about things of various natures. Of course, you can also ask them questions or carry out any other conversations.

When you converse on Twitter, you are tweeting. A tweet is the unique 140 character message that allows you to communicate with others on Twitter. You may be thinking "why only 140 characters?" Don't worry the limit is actually a good thing. It keeps the conversation lively and prevents it from bogging down like a long email or chat.

Twitter can be used for both business and personal reasons. You can keep in touch with friends and family and quickly let them know what you are doing or where you are (you can tweet from your cell phone!) If you are running a business, Twitter can be a great way to broadcast news and updates to your customers.

Now that you know what twitter is, you may be wondering just exactly how you get followers. Of course, the first and obvious step is to begin communicating with other twitter users. This can be as simple as conversing about a website that is beneficial to you, a blog that interested you, any current events or a myriad of other things. Another good way to communicate is by answering questions or pointing people in the right direction. People will greatly appreciate your help and be more receptive to following you. These people may or may not tell other people about you, but there is always the chance that they do, which is highly beneficial to you. Being kind is another great way to gain followers on twitter. This step is closely linked to the latter step and is simple enough to accomplish. If someone on twitter does some sort of favor for you, whatever it may be, always make sure that you thank them. The word will spread about you more quickly if people like you.

Another obvious way to gain a larger twitter following is to add value to your network. By becoming a person who tweets mostly interesting links and other media, more people will follow you. This is because you are providing valuable information to them and so you are an asset. Of course, you will want to participate in other twitter websites. By being active in their blogs or buying their products, you can keep and build a larger following. Showing interest in your followers is a wise idea. You may also want to help your followers promote their products or media. This is just another chance to get your own name out there on the twitter network as much as possible.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

6 Ways to Desk For Success - How to Set Up Your Home Office

In the corporate world you need to Dress for Success. If you work from home in your favorite pair of slippers you will need to Desk for Success. By setting up your home office space properly you can maximize your time and energy to be outrageously successful.

Claim Your Space

Find a place in your home where you can stake out your boundaries and claim it for your business purposes. This can be a room, a desk or even the kitchen table. The important thing is that everybody knows the space is yours and off limits to Barbie and Barnie. Your space should be quiet with little distraction. Setting up next to the TV or the drum set is probably not a good idea.

I actually have two office spaces to maximize my productivity. One where I dump the stuff (AKA everything) and the second where I work. I have a large bay window in my master bedroom that overlooks the park. I can watch the birds and the kids and enjoy the sun while I am on the computer. My large glass table doesn't even have drawers. The actual room that is called the office receives less traffic and more storage of all the office stuff.

Take EVERYTHING Out of Your Office Space

Start with a clean slate. Shuffle everything into the garage or off to goodwill. You are not going to want the accumulation of the years in your way. If you haven't touched it since 1975 you don't need it in your office. Even the singing fish!

Fill Your Office Space with the Minimum to Start

Start with a Desk, Chair and Computer. Now add the very minimum. For instance I don't regularly use s printer so I don't have one at my desk. I don't have a stapler, shredder, hole punch or pen with a fluffy top. These items would just get in my way. Leave all the stuff in the boxes with the dust bunnies.

Don't go to the Office Supply Store

Don't use your home office as an excuse to go shopping. You are doing business to make money not spend it. You can easily spend hundreds of dollars on things you don't need. Worse, excessive things will hinder your focus. You can manage without the dusty trays and pile of pens. Your desk will get cluttered quickly, without you going shopping.

Add Items to your Office Space Only as Needed

If you only use a stapler once a week it doesn't need to be on your desk. Shove it in a drawer, out of your way. I know you love that electric pencil sharpener and find it aesthetically pleasing but it doesn't need to sit on your desk for you to stare at it!

Start with a Clean Slate Everyday

Because my business is internet based I have 4 items on my desk. First, my laptop Computer, this is the power center that drives my business. I don't have a fax, printer, speakers or unnecessary items connected to it. They would just get in the way. I have a day planner to write my daily schedule and goals, a dock for my ipod and a lamp to light the way. Every morning I start with these four items and then the accumulation begins. It is almost the end of the day and I have accumulated the cordless phone, car keys, cell phone, plate from lunch and the phone bill. I could easily leave all this on my desk and start tomorrow with half of a dry sandwich and a reminder of the hour I spent on the phone with AT&T tech support. Remove all the distractions every day and make some money.

What are the Benefits when you Rent to Own a Home?


There are many benefits to those that choose to rent to own a home. If you have felt the ability to get into your own home wasn’t possible you definitely need to look at this possibility. More and more owners of homes are offering it than before too which means you will have quite a good selection no matter where you happen to be looking for a home.

There are several ways in which rent to own homes can occur. For example you may sign a lease for one or two years. During this period of time you get to decide if you wish to buy the home. You can get a feel for how it works for you and your family. If you decide at the end of the lease period that you don’t want to be committed to the home you can move out and that is the end of it.

However, if you do wish to remain in the home and to make it legally yours, you can do so. You also will have the benefit of those payments you have made during the course of your lease going towards the purchase price of the home so you will be building up equity along the way.

Some people don’t have good enough credit for one reason or another to get a home loan. Yet the really don’t want to be tossing their money away on rent. With the rent to own option though they can get what they need and not have the roadblocks from lenders standing in their way of owning a great home. They can also avoid the issue of coming up with a large sum of money as a down payment. Most sellers of rent to own homes are very reasonable when it comes to the down payment.

When you find a home that you wish to rent to own, you can iron out all of the details with the seller. They are often going to be more flexible with you than traditional lenders are. For example they may allow you to choose the day of the month that your payments are due and other factors that can affect your budget.

Since you don’t need to wait for inspections or for a closing date, you can move in at a time that works for both you and the seller. If you need a home right away this can be the solution that allows you to move in very quickly. If you need to finish out a lease on another place first, you have the ability to work with the seller so that you can end one and start this new agreement at a time that will work well for you.

As the property you are purchasing continues to grow in value, the equity that you have in it is going to increase. Since you will have a set interest rate with the seller, you will also always know what your monthly payments are going to be. There won’t be any surprises with variable rates that can result in you owing more each month than your budget can afford. As your income grows you can also pay advanced payments so that you will completely own your home in less time.

There are certainly plenty of great benefits to going the rent to own route for a home. If you feel that it may work for you learn more about it. Then you can get out there and find homes being sold under this umbrella. The rent to own option can be the right path for you to successfully own the home of your dreams.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Working From Home Online, Is There A Secret


There are many business opportunities on the internet and you may be confused about which ones are legitimate. It is possible to work from home online and make a considerable amount of money. The key is to not waste your time on products and opportunities that are hard to sell.

The reasons why you want to work online at home is equally as important. You may have a several reasons for wanting to work from home. You may have small children that you want to be home with.

It is almost impossible to be a stay at home mom or dad in this day and age; both parents need to bring in an income in order to survive. Working from home gives parents the freedom to bring in additional income an the flexibility to take care of the kids.

This same thing is true if you have an aging parent or relative at home you are caring for, you can provide the care they need and also make an income. This is a problem more people are facing as people continue to live longer.

So how can you work from home online and make money doing it?

A great way to stay at home and make money is with network marketing. Of the many network marketing opportunities out there, you have to find out which one would be best for you and your business goals.

In order to build a good team you need to have good leadership qualities. If you are a leader your chances for succeeding are excellent network marketing is all about networking with people. As people try to build their own business and make money they will be drawn to you and want to network with you.

Leads are also a very important part of marketing and you need to make sure you are always generating new leads. It much easier to do this than in the old days
thanks to the internet.

Social networking sights such as Facebook and Twitter are a great way to generate leads and build an Internet network marketing business. You can accomplish this more easily than the by-gone days of prospecting.

You can work from home online and make a good living if you do some planning. Network marketing is great for those that want to build a team and be in charge. Network marketing could be right for you, if you have always dreamed about being your own boss.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Is It Good To Start A Free Work At Home Opportunity?

With the economy as bad as it is, few people have the money to spend starting a new business. The great thing about the internet is there are countless opportunities to pursue for those out of work. The question on everyone's mind is whether or not it is possible to start a free work at home opportunity?

Unfortunately, it is not entirely possible to start a free work at home opportunity. You can not avoid these expenses when starting a new business. You are going to have to pay for a domain name so that you have a web site address and you will have to pay for hosting so that your site is available for people to come to.

The great thing is both of these expenses are very cheap. When looking for a domain name, you will find that you can purchase one for as low as low as $5 a year. Yahoo offers domain names for $4.98 for a whole year's subcription. There is no comparing to the amount of money you can make from this web site.

You will see that hosting is not much more expensive even not quite as cheap. Several hosting companies on the internet are very cheap such as InMotion, Host Gator and Host Monster. Each of these companies will provide you with hosting for under $5 per month. Many times when purchasing hosting, you will find that you can get a free domain name.

As you look at it from afar, your total expenses for your business can be as low as $65 a year. That is not bad considering the amount of money you can potentially make from your business. Therefore, essentially it is possible to start a free work at home opportunity.

Anything else you choose to spend money on is up to you. There are a number of other things you can pay for to increase your business and web site. You can choose to pay for promoting to get results right away. In addition, there are several freelance services you can pay for to bring in fresh and enticing content, visually appealing design, or constant blog posts.

What you pay for your business is all up to you. Domain name and hosting are the two expenses you cannot get out of. You will find it is possible to start a free work at home opportunity.

24 Key Attitudes For Success In YOUR Business


The Key to Business Success

What is the most important factors of a business’s success?

· A Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?

· Having the lowest prices?

· Great sales people?

· The best location?

· The best products?

· Good customer service?

· A strong local economy?

While these are all factors, based on our experience working with all kinds of different businesses, the most important determinant is YOU – the business owner. History is riddled with examples of successful businesses that have failed with a new owner and lackluster businesses that have flourished under new ownership.

As a result, you are your most important business project. As such, you should be investing significantly in yourself. This includes reading books, examining your strengths and weaknesses, setting development goals for yourself, seeking outside advice, tracking your own personal development and getting a mentor to keep you on track. You probably spend plenty developing and maintaining your business’s physical assets. How much time and money do you spend on developing yourself?

The great motivator and speaker E. James Rohn advises: “Work harder on yourself than you do on your job”. In my opinion, if you are serious about your business and what you want to get out of life, you simply must dedicate 5-10% of your time to self-development… And, yes, you must set aside some money to pay for it. Rest assured, this money will likely give you the highest ROI (return on investment) possible. After all, you are the person that can increase your profits by 50% or more.

There is no better time than now to make a commitment to yourself. Get out your calendar right now and block off 30-60 minutes every day for self development, for the next 12 months. Next, write down specifically what you are going to do with this time for the next two weeks. At the end of two weeks, you should be in a position to detail your development plan for the next month, then the next quarter.

Another great quote, also from Jim Rohn: “Never wish your job were easier, wish you were better”. Think about it. If you are better, you will get better results. If you wish for it then you are more likely to find a way to make it happen. If, on the other hand, your job were to be easier, then everyone would want to do it and you would be back to square one.

1. The Winning Attitude

The journey towards extraordinary profits begins here. There is no greater factor responsible for success, or failure, than your own mental attitude! As a result, it is imperative that you begin by preparing your mind with the attitudes and perspectives that will set you free to achieve your business goals. I am not talking about psyching yourself with positive thoughts, although at times this can help. What I am talking about is adopting ways of thinking that will free your mind to find the solutions to your business challenges.

How you think and what you believe to be true about how you do business is what brought you to where you are right now. Before you can find a better way of doing business, you must learn a new way of thinking about business.

It is a simple truth that it does not matter if you think you can, or you think you cannot, either way you will be right!

Stop blaming, denying or making excuses and start taking ownership, being responsible and winning.

2. In Business There Are No Mistakes

Did you know that Edison had tried over 500 times, unsuccessfully, to make a light bulb. One day he got asked “you have failed 500 times, how can you go on?” Edison quickly responded “I have not failed once! I now know 500 ways not to make a light bulb.” The only failure is the failure to Participate.

If you want to be successful in business, you must be prepared to take calculated risks. Many things you try will not work the first, or second, time. You learned to walk by falling down. It is the same in business. You probably had parents or that gave you a safe environment in which to learn. In business, you can seek out a mentor to help give you a safer environment.

3. What if Contrary Information was “Interesting”?

Have you ever had an argument? You knew you were right and the other person was wrong. However, the argument was vigorous because the other person, who was also bright and articulate, was convinced they were right. So, there you had it, two people both right and both wrong at the same time. You argued but the other person would not relent. Several days later, you still were thinking about it when you realised that you were wrong after all.

Brad Sugars, the remarkable entrepreneur has an approach which has enabled him to continually innovate. When Brad hears an opinion that is contrary to his he says, “isn't that interesting?” This then opens his mind to the possibility that he will learn a new way.

You see if there is an up, then there must be a down, and a left and a right… If you have to prove yourself right, then you cut off all possibility that there may be a better way.

If you truly want to change the success of your business, you must be willing to change the way you think and the way you behave. Isn’t that interesting?

4. I Know – the 2 most dangerous impediments to Business Innovation

Teenagers KNOW everything. Just ask them. Now that you are a little older you realise that it is probably not polite to say, “I know” out loud to everyone. So as an adult we listen politely, cross our arms, all the while in the back of our mind saying, “I know”.

Try this exercise. Close both your fists tightly. Now try to button your jacket or make a phone call or compose an e-mail. Your mind is like those closed fists. There are very few things it can do well when it is closed.

You need to forget the mindset that says “I know”. It is what you learn when you think you know everything that counts

Open your mind up, it is not the major realizations that will make you a fortune, it is the fine distinctions that gives you the edge over the rest of the population. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little bit extra.

5. Business is Fun!

You have decided to go into business for a number of reasons; more money, more control over your time, more free time. Unfortunately, if you are like many business owners, you let the business take control of you. It may even suck the life out of you… but life should be fun. Since owning a business should give you more life, it only stands to reason that business should be fun! To have fun, I suggest you treat it like a game. First, learn the rules. Second, keep score. Finally, have fun

6. Time is Your Most Valuable Asset

If you spend every penny you have you can go out and earn more money. In this sense the amount of money we can have access-to is infinite. Unfortunately, we all have a finite amount of time on this earth. If we waste a minute, we have lost it forever.

While this may seem intuitively obvious, amongst the business owners I meet, this one simple principle is the most important yet under appreciated principle of business. Let me describe one conversation that is representative of conversations I have had time and time again with different business owners. We will call the business owner Mark

Peter: Tell me how your business is performing relative to your goals.

Mark: Well we are doing OK but I know we can do better.

Peter: If you know what to do, what is keeping you from doing it?

Mark: I always get interrupted and I can never find the time to do the new things.

Peter: Is your business profitable?

Mark: Yes it is. But I know I could easily do better.

Peter: How much would you like to make in the next twelve months?

Mark: After all expenses £150,000.

Peter: Do you believe that this is a realistic objective

Mark: Absolutely.

Peter: How many hours a week would you like to work?

Mark: 50 hours per week and I would like to take 5 weeks vacation (including holidays).

Peter: So Mark, that means you would like your business to earn about $64 for every hour that you work. (£150,000/(50 hours x 47 weeks)).

After an examination of Mark’s workweek, it was obvious that he was involved in a number of activities that were not worth £64 per hour. If Mark spends 35% of his time working on tasks that could be handled by a £15/hour employee he is either going to have to work a lot more hours than he wants to, or he is going to have to get his business earning more like £90 per hour for the balance of the time he works.

Now, I am quick to advise owners to be careful with how they spend money. But Mark’s penny pinching was not in his best interest. Mark was trying to save paying more wages (about £17,000 per year). But, by trying to save money it was costing him considerably more. He was not having fun and he could have been implementing changes that would yield him more like £50,000 in additional profit (3 times what he thought he was saving).

As an owner, the most important decision you make is what you spend your time doing. Owners that I meet who work too many hours and do not make as much as they want, often treat their time very causally. Typically, they do not plan their day and tend to be reactive. Often they do not even keep a calendar. Rarely can they tell you how they actually spent their time. Conversely, successful owners plan and track their days and their week as carefully as they spend their money.

I recommend that you emulate the successful owners. Think about what will give you the best long term ROI [Return On Investment] for your time. Do not be distracted by saving a few short-term pounds if you have an opportunity to create something that will generate returns for you year after year.

7. Questions are more important than answers

One night at dinner, a young man asked his wife, “Why do you cut the ends off the roast?” Her reply, “I am not sure. It is what my mother used to do”.

Some time went by before they visited her mother for dinner, and when they did, they had roast for dinner. So he asked, “why do you cut the ends off the roast?” Her reply, “I’m not sure, my mother always did it that way”. So he made a phone call to his wife’s grandmother and asked, “why do you cut the ends off the roast?” Her reply, “well, I’ve only got a small baking tray”.

So, often we do things, just because it is the way we have always done them, having absolutely no idea why it was done that way to start with. Ever notice how new people tend to question things? As an owner you should question why your business runs the way it does. The only way to perform substantially better than your competitors is to be substantially different from them. In business, following the crowd will almost certainly lead you to slaughter. Looking at it another way, have you ever seen a flock of eagles?

To succeed in business, you often have to depart from conventional wisdom. For many people this will be difficult – especially those who did well in school. After all, we were taught in school what we had to do to be successful – quite often it involved conforming.

In an increasingly competitive environment, you must distinguish yourself by more than just price. You do this by being different. Think about what makes you unique and then tell the world.

8. Take a look in the Mirror

Ever notice that when you are having a good sales week that the next week just seems to get better and you keep closing more accounts with little or no effort. Or maybe you have had a slow couple of weeks and all the prospects that you meet seem to have trouble deciding. You have to make multiple sales calls, answer question, after question, after question. The people you attract in your life are a mirror of where you are at.

Most businesses are a clear reflection of its owner. Some owners want to control everything and wonder why none of their team ever takes any initiative. Some hate selling and love paperwork, so they have always got their numbers done, but never really sell much.

When I look back at my life I can clearly see times when my successes lead to more successes. Success follows success. This brings me back again to the key to success in business – you. Make sure you invest in you.

9. Business is a Self-fulfilling Prophecy

Remember the last time you bought a car. You chose something that you thought was distinctive. Then after you got it you started to notice that you were seeing the same car all over the place. Or, another example, try right now to NOT picture a purple cow in your mind. What happened…. You are seeing a purple cow… Your brain has an amazing power to create whatever you focus on. It is called your Reticular Activating System (RAS) and it is like your personal compass.

Your RAS will find proof that the earth is flat if you want it to. In fact, it will find proof that November is a slow month if you want it to. In other words, attention determines direction. Just like the last time you said to yourself; “Do not forget, do not forget, do not forget... ” And, what happened, you forgot. Change your wording to “remember” get rid of the negative ‘do not’.

Another example, if you were to ask a person how their day has been, and they answered, “Not bad”. What is their benchmark on life? BAD, and today is not that. Your RAS is an amazing tool and it will find whatever you ask it to find, so you had better ask for very positive things. Remember to ask for the things you want, NOT to push away what you do not want.

Every day your business meets your true expectations. In other words, if you believe you have to work hard to make money, then that will always be your reality. If you believe you can never get good people then that will be your reality. You generally make true that which you believe to be so. So, choose your beliefs carefully.

10. Listen to the Taps on Your Shoulder

Traveling down the road of life, it is easy to be distracted, get off track and lose sight of the big picture. You have heard the old saying, “can’t see the forest for the trees”. However, every day you are getting little taps on the shoulder, an idea that you should change what you are doing, a suggestion from someone, a hint. These taps are just like the cats eyes in the center of the road and the small slits in the shoulder that serve as warnings. You feel little taps if you stray too far one way or the other. Either you learn to listen to the taps and adjust your course, or eventually you will run into the sign posts at the side of the road, or worse, oncoming traffic.

In business, we get taps all the time. Unfortunately, they are a lot more subtle than the taps we get on the road. They are however, just as important for the health of your business. If you do not want your business to be run over by the proverbial ‘hit by a bus’, it is imperative that you become adept at listening to the taps.

The most successful business people are very perceptive. They have perfected the craft of surrounding themselves with other people and then listening - really listening - to what they have to say.

So, be sure to listen for the taps and look for the signs. Sticking your head in the sand never helped anyone.

11. Build a Business do not Buy a Job

From what I have found, people start their own business for one thing and one thing only: FREEDOM; whether that freedom comes from working for yourself, having more time to yourself, financial freedom, or just the freedom of knowing that you are in charge of your life.

With a successful business, this freedom is truly liberating. Now your friends that have never had any interest in captaining their own ship (those who work for others) may argue that you are far from “in charge” when exposed to the volatility of owning a business. What they do not realize is that if you have 100 different customers and you lose half of your customers you still have 50 left. Your friends on the other hand have only one customer – their boss. If they lose that “customer” then they are out on the street!

Unfortunately, most business owners never achieve the freedom they seek. In fact, about 80 per cent of businesses started this year will be gone in 5 years time. Moreover, for those businesses that are still operating, most of their owners seem to work harder than any of their people and many seem to make less income than they could make elsewhere. Most end up having the business run them, instead of them running the business. In fact, they end up with the very thing they did not want, a JOB. And that job may even come with the worst boss they ever had – themselves! In effect, they have taken great risks and expended vast energy and all they have done is bought employment.

12. A business needs to be profitable and work without YOU!

If you want to achieve that freedom that all business owners seek, then you should adopt this definition of a business:

A business is - A commercial profitable enterprise that works without YOU!

Why build a job for yourself when you can build an income stream that keeps on growing whether you are there or not. Remember the business exists solely to serve you – the owner; not your customers, or your employees. Yes, customers and staff are important, but the reason you start a business has nothing to do with them. It is essential that you adopt this attitude.

13. The only reason you would ever start a business is to sell it.

If you want to achieve true success and freedom then you need to think of your business as your product. It is what you are building and it is where you are ultimately going to make your profit - selling the business. That is right; you start by thinking about how you can build your business so that lots of people will be competing with each other to buy your business.

Very few people ever make a fortune running their business, but many people make a fortune selling businesses. Look at Bill Gates for instance. Yes, he has made a lot of money selling software, but he became the richest man in the world by selling his business - shares of Microsoft.

Are you too involved in your business? Ask yourself: could I pick up the phone in the morning and tell whoever answered, “you guys look after things, I am taking three months off”.

If you are like the vast majority of business owners out there, the answer is definitely NO.

14. Working “ON” not “IN” the Business

Ultimately, you have to get yourself out of the day to day of the business. Stop working 9 till 5, doing the work of your business. Else be like most small builders… they spend all day using a hammer and nails, working IN their business.

Imagine when you started your business that you built it in your mind, and then you put down that picture of what your business would be like when it was finished. If you are going to sell a product, you must know when it is finished. It is the same with a business. You have to finish a business at some stage and have it ready for sale.

As an example, let us say you wanted to buy a new sofa. How much would you pay a furniture shop for a partially completed sofa? Likely, only a very small fraction of what a completed sofa would cost. In fact, if you are like most people you would not even be interested in paying anything. It is the same thing for a business.

When people try to sell a business that is not finished, at most they are really only selling a JOB. As a result, these people only get a few people interested and they only ever get a fraction of the potential price.

When you have the finished picture of what your business will look like, then you go to work creating the business. This way you are working ON the business, rather than just working IN the business. You should be designing your business to run whether you are there or not. If you do this then you have a choice, and choice gives you freedom. You can work in the business or you can spend your time more creatively. You can keep the business, or you can sell it. I like good choices like these.

15. You work hard because your business doesn’t

Imagine a business where you did not have to work there - would the business WORK? I mean, would it function properly? Would all of the systems and the people integrate to get the result you wanted, the result the customer wanted? Of course it would.

Almost every business owner I have ever met works so hard (too hard) for this exact reason. Their business does not work, they do. Everything about the business is in their head, and they are the only one who can do anything, so they are trapped.

Most are like this because the owners do not trust anyone else to do the job. For some reason they believe that no one can do it as well as they can. This need to be in control prevents them from growing their business.

Take the step, start to document how everything in your business gets done, put systems in place, teach other people and give them the responsibility to get the job done. (If you need more convincing, Read Michael Gerber’s book - The E-Myth Revisited.

16. Assign Tasks. Don’t Delegate Just To Abdicate

All great leaders are good at delegating so you must start off-loading tasks as soon as possible. Remember, time is your most precious commodity. Since delegation is so important, you must prepare properly for it. You must make sure that the person that will be doing the task knows what to do. The worst thing you can do is to abdicate a task to someone. By this, I mean telling them to do something when they do not have the skills or the training to handle the task. It is essential that you carefully explain what you want done, how you want it done and what you consider a successful outcome to be.

This may come as a shock, or at least seem like overkill, but you must document how you want your processes and tasks to be completed. From my experience, most owners just give their staff a (quite often limited) set of verbal instructions. The owner then assumes that the employee knows what to do and the employee then assumes what he thinks the owner wants done. While well intentioned, this feeble attempt at delegation often does not produce the desired results. You see, it is a simple but important fact about human learning that only about 20% of people are auditory learners – people that receive and easily comprehend verbal information. The rest of us are either visual or kinaesthetic learners. That is, we need to see (a picture, diagram or read) what to do, or we need to actually do something before we fully understand. (I have some simple, but effective tools that can help you successfully delegate.)

After you have properly prepared, trained and given your team member the job to do, then let them do it. Do not jump in and save them or they will never learn how to get the job done. If you do, they will “learn” that you are the only one who can fix things. Guess what, they will be right. You have to let them fall off the bike to learn how to stay on.

17. Work for Yourself and go the extra mile

What if you do not own a business yet – that is, you work for someone else? I suggest that you think like You Inc. Treat your boss like he is your customer. You want your customer to be thrilled with You Inc. You want him to continue to buy more and higher value services from You Inc. At a minimum, adopting this attitude will be great experience. Think of your job as market research (for your business) that someone else is paying you to do. But remember, what goes around comes around, so give it everything you have. Your boss may even spot a future business partner in you. Always go that little bit further than you are asked to, give a little extra and you will go far. If you are asked to stay until 5:00 PM, stay until 5.30 PM, just do a little more than were asked.

18. The key to success is laziness

Which would you prefer – 1% of 100 people’s income or 100 % of your own income. I would prefer the former, not just because I am lazy, but also because with this attitude my income can be unlimited. On my own, I can only earn 100% of my own income. On the other hand, there is nothing stopping me from working with 101 people or 1000 people. (why stop there?)

If you have ever thought that you will succeed if you just work a little harder, put in some extra time, or just do more of what you are doing right now, then it is time you lifted your head and took a look around you. You probably know several hundred people who work hard. How many of them are really getting somewhere?

The aim of the game is not to work harder; it is to create better results with less effort - finding ways of achieving more with less. In other words, to continually leverage your time, your efforts, your money and your knowledge.

If you are paid an hourly wage, you will never earn more than the number of hours you work, but if you and your business are set up so that you are paid whether you work or not, then you have truly understood one of the key principles of success – Leverage. Leverage is simply - the ability to do more with less. The aim of the game is to create an income stream that flows whether you work or not. Build assets that yield income.

There are numerous ways to create Leverage. You can leverage yourself through people, systems & processes, marketing and finance.

19. Your Business is Like A Tree

It is important to view your businesses as a living organism – like a tree. Your business is either growing or it is dying. When does a tree stop growing – when it is dying. The same is true for a business. You see the world does not stand still. New products, services and competitors are cropping up everyday. If your business does not evolve, then it will die.

20. Change – The Only Constant

It is important to consider your business in the context of the wider business community and the world economy. Consider the Agrarian, Industrial, Information ages.

In the Agrarian age (which lasted until early in the 20th century) 95 per cent of the population worked the land and the wealthiest people were the landowners.

In the Industrial age (which lasted until about 1980) those that owned the factories created the most wealth.

In the Information age those that owned the computers and software production, the telecommunications and have the information and corresponding managing tools created the great wealth.

By considering just the length of time that these ages have lasted we can easily see that the pace of change continues to accelerate at an increasingly rapid rate. In the information age we are living through, it only takes about 18 months for the available information on the planet to double, where it took about 50 years a century ago.

Some would argue that we have already left the Information age. With constant change, occurring at an increasingly rapid rate, it has never been more important for owners to:

1. Work ON their business, rather than IN their business

2. Work harder on themselves than their job

3. Surround themselves with experts that can give them every competitive advantage

21. How Do You Compete?

With information moving so fast, people can copy, reproduce and have ready for sale any product or service in a matter of weeks. In today’s economy, you cannot be cheaper than your competitors can for long. Therefore, the 21st key is that you have to know what information is important for your business success.

The only way you can stay ahead of the market is to out-think, out-sell, out-market and out-maneuver your competitors. Your marketing, sales and customer service is crucial. You do not have to have the world’s best hamburger to sell billions of them.

The next time you have a group of people in a room ask them “who thinks McDonald’s have the best hamburgers in the world?” I will bet that not one person puts up their hand. Yet, who sells more hamburgers than anyone else does?

Then ask the same group, who thinks they can build a better sales, marketing and distribution system for hamburgers than McDonald’s. Once again, no one will put up his or her hand.

22. Ask for more

If you are going to build a great business, if you are going to make your fortune through business then you have got to ask for a whole lot more than you do right now.

If you shoot for the stars, at least you will make it to the moon. If you do not ask, the answer is always NO. If you start to ask for more, and be grateful for it, you just might start receiving. Just remember, those who are grateful always receive more than those who just complain about life.

Do not be afraid of someone saying NO. They are not rejecting you, it is just that your request may have come at a bad time or their goals are not quite aligned with yours. Do not take offence ... every NO gets you closer to a YES.

23. Abundance vs. Scarcity

For most people getting more means that someone else has to go without. As intuitive as this may seem, nothing could be further from the truth! There is literally more than enough to go around.

To succeed in business, you often have to depart from conventional wisdom. Because, as I mentioned earlier, the crowd is often wrong.

Scarcity was first espoused by English Preacher Thomas Malthus, who concluded that England would run out of food as there were too many people for the available food production. Yet, even to this day we still produce more than enough food to feed the entire planet. Because we believe in scarcity; or more commonly known as supply and demand, much of it gets thrown away.

In business, you have got to realize that there is always more than enough money to go around. When will you go out and get your share?

Abundance is a mindset, a mindset that understands how technology has removed scarcity; how the old thoughts in economics are exactly that - old. (Read Paul Zane Pilzer’s book - Unlimited Wealth for more on this.)

24. Work Smarter, not Harder

Just to prove that thinking differently is so important, write down how much money you earned last year. Now add a zero to the end of it. You have just increased your income tenfold. To make that much money doing exactly what you are doing right now, how hard do you have to work?

You have to stop working harder and start working smarter. Remember, people with jobs earn money while business owners and entrepreneurs make and create money.

Some final words

We have been discussing some key attitudinal concepts that will be fundamental to the success of your business. Yes, there are a lot of other important concepts about Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, Operations, Employee Development, Finance, Cash Management and Administration. There is a lot that can be done to help you develop your business in all these areas.

However, years of experience tell us that it is the fundamental attitude that you must embrace first. Your attitude is the essence of who you must BE as a business owner if you are to get what you truly want from your business.

This experience is also consistent with the simple BE-DO-HAVE goal attainment philosophy. This philosophy says that in order to HAVE the things you want in life you must DO the right things. Before you can do those things, you must BE the person that is capable of doing the right things.

A Complete Waste of Time!

Now let me be brutally honest with you. Most of the people reading this article will gain absolutely no lasting benefit from having done so. It will have been a complete waste of time!

Why would I say that? Do I not believe that what we have written has benefit? Absolutely it does…. but then again, there are many great business books. Most of them have a lasting impact for only a few people.

In order for you to get any lasting benefit from the information I have presented, you must take some action. Otherwise, nothing will have changed for you. If you do not change anything, you will get the same result that you are already getting.

The Career Makeover: 7 Steps to Achieving Your Goals



Makeovers on television shows and in magazines are enticing for women the world over. Of course the reason they are so popular, is because the idea of getting a fresh start in life is a golden key we have all dreamt about at one time or another. No matter what their lives are like, everyone has something they wish could be different – their home, their body, their friends, and even their career.

Career makeovers are not a new concept and if you think about it, making over your career will automatically set a chain reaction in motion that will affect all aspects of your life, particularly those that are unsatisfactory. If you’ve ever changed jobs or industries, worked with a recruiter, drafted a new resume or pursued additional education to increase your job prospects or opportunities, you’ve already taken steps to improve or “make over” your career.

Here are some ideas which can take your career makeover to a whole new level!

1. Look inside yourself. How do you perceive yourself? Are you confident? Do you like yourself? Are you proud of your accomplishments? What is your attitude to life, on working, on the value that you bring to your job? How do you feel about your career? Do you feel in control of your future? Working on your “inner self” is of critical importance when it comes to creating a career makeover. If your internal thoughts are not consistent with the actions that you need to take, you’ll continually feel a sense of disconnect. Others will feel it too. All change starts on the inside. If you need support in this area, consider counseling or coaching, whichever is most appropriate for your situation. Until the inner issues are resolved or healed, it can be very challenging to take the necessary steps that lead to a fulfilling career.

2. Get balanced. A key component of effectively managing your career starts with managing your time efficiently. Do you keep your work life separate from your home life? Do you take work home in the evenings or weekends? Do you talk about work ALL THE TIME? Do you take time to recharge your batteries so that you feel refreshed? This is probably one of the most difficult areas when it comes to career makeovers. It takes a lot of courage to “draw the line” when it comes to balancing your life. Many women feel that if they don’t give everything to their job, then they won’t have a job, yet, the opposite is actually true. If you’re working for a company which does not allow you to set boundaries around your time, you WILL burn out. Before this happens it is probably best that you start looking for a new position. It’s a difficult choice to make, but ultimately it’s up to you to set boundaries around what types of treatment you will accept from others – including your employer. If you can’t achieve work/life balance in your current job, you will never be able to give it your best, simply because you will not be at your best which in turn will affect your future career prospects.

3. Get your relationships in check. They say birds of a feather flock together. Are your friends dragging you down? ( I was told my friends were holding me back by a naturopath when I was in my early 20’s I was VERY angry with him and protective of my friends – but a year later when I had taken a grip of my life and moved on, I realized he had been completely right!) Is your network of friends and associates supportive of you and your goals, or are they constantly telling you that your dreams are too lofty? Do they drag you into their gossip or do they inspire you with thoughtful conversation? In essence your ambition can be affected by the people around you and because of this your personal and professional relationships will have a tremendous influence on your career success. Therefore, to get your relationships in check, evaluate your friendships and acquaintances. It might be time to start gently letting go of some of the relationships that aren’t serving you, which will allow you to fill the empty spaces with new friends who will support you. Make sure you’re forging relationships with the people who see your value, and surround yourself with mentors who are helpful in assisting you to move forward.

4. Begin with a vision. Having an idea of where you want to go is one of the most important steps in your career makeover. Until you know where you want to be or what you want to have, it’s impossible to decide on the correct steps to get you there. How do you envision your ideal life? What type of job would make you happy? What brings you the most joy? What type of position would you like to see yourself working in 5 years time? Give yourself permission to think about what you really want, dare to dream a little. Remember what seems impossible today is only so because you haven’t had the opportunity to break the journey from here to there down into manageable chunks – now you are ready to start working on your career makeover.

5. Be the change. Once you have a vision of what you think you might want. It’s now time to assess where you are now. What are your strengths and your weaknesses? What skills do you have? Which ones will you need in order to achieve your career vision? You need to know where you are now versus where you want to be in the future. The rest is about managing the “gap” in between. Here is where the career makeover really takes place and this is the secret to making it possible…

6. Start at the end and work backwards. Imagine you have your dream job and are living your dream life. What was the final step you had to take to make this all possible, now what was the step before that? Work this process through until you arrive back at where you are today. Now you are aware of these steps, you know what you have to do to achieve your goals in manageable chunks. Your next course of action is to develop a plan for achieving these goals thereby giving each part of the process a timeline.

7. Now hone your skills. One of the most obvious ways to create a career makeover is to work on your skills. Whether you go back to school to earn an advanced degree or take training classes here and there, anything that you can do to improve yourself can benefit your career. Learn more about your industry; attend conferences where you can keep abreast of the latest trends. Network with possible mentors. Buy books written by leaders in your field. Read industry periodicals and other materials that deep your knowledge. Check with your human resources department to find out what types of internal training opportunities are available. Take advantage of your company’s tuition reimbursement programs. Continuing your education is essential no matter how you do it. Studying will not be a chore. If you are doing work you love you will be passionate about absorbing as much information about your field as you can!

And finally plan for the future.
No matter who you are or whom you know, you career will have its ups and downs. These days it’s unrealistic to think you’ll have a job for life. You might be transferred, demoted, or get a new boss that you don’t enjoy. You could even lose your job because of a downturn in your industry. These are realities of work life today. To lessen the possibility of your becoming an economic statistic it’s always a good idea to have options. This means you need to think about your exit plan. What would you do if you wanted to leave, or lost your job for whatever reason? Even the people who are happy in their jobs today should have an exit strategy, so take my advice and start working on it now. Don’t wait until it’s too late and you’re in panic mode.

In conclusion, always remember, no matter what career or life choices you make, ALL women need a strategic career plan. Your career makeover is ultimately your responsibility. You are the master of your life and it’s up to you to make a plan. Once you have a clear plan, take the steps that lead you to fulfilling your ultimate vision. One powerful way of helping you stay on track is by working with a coach who can help you make the transition more quickly. A good coach gives you support you need, helps you to stay focused and on track. With proper guidance, you will quickly find yourself achieving your career goals.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

4 Proven Steps To Making Money Online Creating Products


Unless you fall in the minority you may have lost your job or be facing a potential layoff. Unfortunately this is probably a reflection of the economy and not of your job performance.

This is forcing people to look for additional ways to earn money. One way to do that is through product creation and selling unique products online.

Here are four proven steps to creating products that can have you making money very quickly.

1. Create products that offer useful information. This gives you the opportunity to make money selling online because people access the Internet everyday for information.

These are not hard to create and can be done in the form of ebooks, ecourses, tutorials, audio products, articles, and reports. Focus on answering questions and solving problems in your product creation efforts. Do this and you will never run out of ideas for your next info product.

2. Focus your efforts on targeting a market where money is being spent. Understanding your target market is very easy to do when you think like your potential customers.

All you have to do is look around you to get an idea what people are spending money on. You need to target your customers needs, interests, and desires with the products that you create.

3. The Internet is very competitive and you can use this to your advantage. Take the look at your competitors, and the type of products they are creating, to see if you can improve on those. There are many professional Internet marketers making six and seven figure incomes selling information products and this can be a good training ground for you.

4. Once your product is created you must spend the majority of your time marketing it. There are numerous ways to get your product out into the marketplace.

These include pay per click advertising, social media such as videos and audio s, article marketing, forum marketing, and much more. No matter how good the product is you have created, if you do not get it online where people can find it, you will never make any money.

You can certainly make more money by creating products people have a need for if you pay attention to these four steps. By concentrating on information products you will never run out of ideas and these are easy to sell.

Put all of your efforts into creating useful products and marketing them and you will make more money.

Find Out How to Get Started Making Money Online


Many people are now starting to see the benefits of having an online business. More and more consumers are doing all their shopping online, therefore increasing internet business demands. If you want to start a business, you'll need to know how to get started making money online. Despite anything you may hear about e-commerce and the dwindling economy, the only thing that can ever truly hold you back from making money online is YOU.

If you want to get started making money online, you need to realize that the sky is the limit. Don't be skeptical or cynical. In fact, the more you believe in yourself and strive for success, the more money you'll make. Your journey may not be an easy one, however, and just as you shouldn't be cynical, you also needn't be naïve. You must have a clear head when it comes to internet business.

So, how can you get started making money online? To begin with, think about your own interests and talents. Do you enjoy writing? Are you a creative artist? Do you consider yourself business-savvy? Are you great at making sales? You have a certain hobby or subject you're interested in that you can go on and on forever about? All you have to do is figure out what you're best at and what you have the most interest in and you can get started making money online!

If you enjoy writing, you could become an internet copywriter. If you're creative, then you can learn how to make and design graphics. Online companies will pay you to make their website layouts and logos! If you have a particular topic or hobby that you consider yourself an expert on, then you can create an informative website about that topic. Add all the content and information you can so that your website will have a lot to offer. You can earn money by selling ad space on your site through programs such as Google AdSense.

One of the most obvious ways to get started making money online can also be one of the hardest sometimes. This is affiliate marketing. If you want to sell your own products, you can create a website, sign up for an affiliate program where you will be connected with affiliates. They will take care of your advertising and marketing, and in return, you will allow them to keep a commission for each sale they make for you.

On the other hand, if you don't have your own products to sell, then you can get started making money online by being an affiliate yourself! You can sell products on behalf of internet businesses and keep a percentage for every sale you make. It may be hard at first, since many other affiliates will be trying the same thing, but if you stick with it and stay persistent, then you can make a lot of money!

As you get started making money online, you may be confused over all the options. Whatever you do, don't just head first into the world of e-commerce. Take some time to do research and to evaluate your research, so that you'll know what to expect. To get started making money online may take some time, but it will eventually pay off.

A Smart Loan Option For Businesses - Commercial Mortgage Loans


If your business needs to buy commercial property for a start-up or expansion, a commercial mortgage loan can provide the funding needed for your project. Commercial mortgage loans are offered by banks, private lenders, and other lending institutions, each with varying lending programs to offer and options for repayment to meet your needs. Commercial real estate loans are often larger and more complicated than regular home mortgages. Therefore, these are sometimes more difficult to obtain. The approval process may be lengthier, with more requirements and paperwork than the typical home mortgage. When applying for a commercial mortgage loan, it`s important to know the requirements going in so you can have everything ready during the approval process.

Getting Started Before ever starting the loan approval process, you must find a building or property to purchase. You`ll need to have the property appraised and be able to provide proof that the building is environmentally safe. Also, check your own credit report and credit score to be sure your credit record will be appealing to lenders. If there are negative records showing on your credit report or outstanding balances, you might want to pay these off and wait a little while longer before applying for your loan. These will remain on your credit report for a certain number of years, but showing you`ve paid the balance proves you made an effort to clear your negative credit. Also, create a list of positives about your business and what you plan to do with the property. The lender will want to know your goals, and will likely want to see a business plan. You should also be able to show a positive debt/income ratio and/or a stable, profitable business history.

Types of Commercial Mortgage Loans There are many types of commercial mortgage loans, with fixed and variable rates being the two most popular choices. Fixed commercial real estate loans carry a fixed interest rate, which gives you a fixed monthly payment. The usual length is 15 to 25 years for commercial mortgage loans. Variable mortgages often have lower initial rates, but then the interest rate can increase ever so often, thus, increasing your monthly payment. You might start with a variable rate to get the lower rate and then refinance later on when the fixed rates drop in the credit market. Interest-only commercial real estate mortgages are loans in which the monthly payments are made toward only the interest for the first three to five years.

The initial monthly payments are lower, which can help improve the cash flow in your business. Balloon mortgages are shorter-term loans in which the initial payments are very small but then a very large "balloon" payment is required at the end of your loan. Commercial Mortgage Lenders The choices are numerous when it comes to lenders for commercial mortgage loans. You can approach a traditional lender such as a bank or try non-traditional lenders such as private lenders or investors that are willing to loan money. A loan broker can help you choose the right avenue for your needs, and offer advice about possible payback plans. You can choose a loan broker and lender locally or find one online. It`s good to know all your options before applying for your loan. You can also apply for a commercial mortgage loan if you need to refinance an existing business property. This process is usually much faster than a new loan because you already own the property and have the documentation needed to acquire the loan. Commercial Loan Fees When buying commercial property, be prepared for all the fees that will show up before or during closing.

These include a valuation fee or appraisal fee, environmental surveys (for potentially dangerous properties), broker fees, legal fees, due diligence fees (for credit and background checks), and application and processing fees. Also, be sure to question your lender or broker about early repayment penalties and balloon payments. Whether using a bank or private lender, get everything in writing before moving forward. The key to obtaining a commercial mortgage loan is to take time to read all the requirements, speak with a broker (ask plenty of questions), and keep your credit rating as high as possible. There are many websites online to help you with the process. Contact a broker today to find the best type of loan to help your business.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

7 Steps to Eliminate Your Debt



The quick way to shed debt is common sense: "Pay for everything in cash and don't incur any debt." That's easily said if you have a high household income and no kids. But not everyone has that luxury, and even those who do find it hard to resist the temptation to borrow.

I don't know anyone who purchased a home with cash. Other situations that arise -- like medical and family emergencies, unexpected car failure -- only add to the list of times when borrowing is mandatory. So the fact that you carry some debt doesn't necessarily imply that you've mismanaged your entire financial life.

But when your debt gets to the point where protesters are showing up at the UN demanding a reduction in your burden, it's time to consider a quick diet for debt reduction.

Step 1: Stop incurring more debt -- unless it's an emergency.

One thing I really hate doing is telling people how to spend their money. I prefer to help people identify the best lending deals. Unfortunately, the truth is that if you want to freeze your debt, you must freeze your spending, especially if you don't have the income to support that debt. No spending, no debt. Real simple.


Step 2: Evaluate your financial condition -- get a plan.

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail," goes the old saw, and it's true. Creating a plan involves many steps, like taking a close look at every creditor you owe, understanding exactly how much it's costing you to have each particular debt, and reviewing your payment history with all creditors Did you pay on time? Who charges what for late fees? Etc.

Your plan must be a roadmap that takes you from debt to debtless. To do that you need to know how much your total debt is and how long it will take to pay it off, given your current payments. Once you know that, you can look forward to a specific target day when your debt is gone.

Step 3: There are money-saving options available so keep your eye out for those opportunities.

Ever notice that when you become interested in buying a particular car you suddenly see cars of that model driving around, where before you didn't see any? Well, those cars didn't just get there; they've been there all along. The same is true when searching for debt-reduction options. As you start to dig into debt management and closely examine your situation, you'll start seeing opportunities to save money, like offers for low-interest credit cards that you find in your mailbox almost every day.

Bankrate.com's credit card search engineoffers an instant look at the average rates on various types of cards, as well as links to the best credit card deals, the best credit cards for frequent fliers, the cards with the lowest intro rate, and much more.

Last year, banks mailed some 2.5 billion of these offers. Many of them will save you money if you transfer debt from a higher-interest card, but you need to read the fine print and be able to calculate if their offer is truly something you can use to your advantage. Stay tuned for future articles to learn how to evaluate those offers.


Step 4: TAKE ACTION!

Knowledge is useless unless you put your plan into action. Don't be lazy! Formulate your moneysaving plan today and follow through on it! Simply knowing the route from your home to your destination won't get you there until you actually start traveling.

Step 5: Track credit card offers and loan offers.

You know those low rate offers I was talking about before? Well, you need to track them and save them in a box or file. When you need to turn to another bank for cheaper financing, you'll have already done the research and know which banks to contact -- you may even be pre-approved for some. Also track offers from your existing credit accounts. They'll be the easiest to take advantage of since you already have a history with them -- if you've done it right, a clean, on-time payment history.

The difference the rate makes can be staggering. Say you owe $20,000 on a credit card at 18 percent and you want to pay off the whole thing in 10 years without ever borrowing another cent. You're looking at monthly payments of $360.37 -- a total of $43,244! But if you put that same debt on an 8 percent card, your payment is a much more manageable $242.66, and the $29,119 total saves you more than $14,000 in interest.

Step 6: Don't be hasty in closing credit-card accounts.

When you cut up your credit cards, you cut out your options. As long as your current credit-card accounts (and lines of credit) aren't charging you any fees for inactivity, then it's in your best interest to hang on to that account. What I do is put zero-balance cards in a file called the "credit-card graveyard." When they notice that I'm not using them and send an offer along that saves me money, I "exhume" them.

The problem with closing your accounts is that you're at the mercy of whatever bank(s) you decide to keep. That's the same as saying that you'll shop at one store no matter how good the prices are at other stores. Don't give any bank a monopoly on your business; keep your options open.

Step 7: PAY ON TIME -- no matter what it takes!

If there is sin in debt repayment, it is paying late. The late fees hurt you immediately, and would be better used to reduce your debt. They're also a strike against your future bargaining power. But most importantly, if you pay late you may not be able to get the best rates and deals when you need them most, like on a mortgage. In the long run, that kind of negligence can cost you thousands of dollars. I would, and have, borrowed money to make sure my payments get there on time. The result is that my rates have been under 8 percent APR for all my credit cards for over 10 years.

Debt management is a continuous process so stay on top of your situation and keep more of your money.

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