The right mindset will be THE determining factor in building your dream life. I played sports growing up and into college and my coaches were always going on and on about how our mindset determines where we'll end up, attitude determines altitude, I probably heard this at least 1,000 times. I always thought it was a bunch of crap, but I finally got it just a few years ago and it's at that point when I started to notice major changes in my life and career.
I've never been an outwardly negative person, but internally I always questioned myself, questioned whether or not I was doing the right thing or if I was doing enough of the right things. I really limited myself because in my mind I was someone that was suppossed to be comfortable, but not wealthy. As I sit here today I have not yet achieved the level of wealth that I strive for, but since my mindset has changed I have seen noticeable improvements in my financial life in a relatively short period of time. I decided what it was I wanted, why I wanted it, and I set out to focus my mind on it each and every day. From there my mind took over and new opportunities began to pop up that I had never dreamed of!
There are some wonderful books you can read to learn more about how your thoughts impact your life. Here's a few:
As a Man Thinketh
Think & Grow Rich
The Secret
There are plenty more, but those are a few that I've read that are great. My personal favorite though is Think & Grow Rich. Written by Napoleon Hill, the book spends a lot of time discussing how your mindset directly impacts where you end up in life. Beyond just the general discussion regarding mindset Hill goes into specific action steps that can be taken to ensure your mind is well be fed each day with positive thoughts.
In Think & Grow Rich Napoleon Hill was engaged by Dale Carnegie to conduct a twenty year study of some of the most successful people in the world to find out if there was a common thread amongst them. What he discovered was that each person he studied had a mindset that forced them to become successful. One of my favorite stories in the book was the gentleman (the name escapes me) that made a decision that he would be a business partner with Thomas Edison. Bear in mind that he had never met Edison nor did he know anyone that knew Edison. In addition he had no way of traveling to Edison's place of business other than stowing away on a freight train, but he made a decision that he would be a partner of Edison's or he would die trying. Well, long story short, after many years of toil he did become a partner of Edison's and went onto achieve fabolous success.
The point here is that you really don't even have to know what you want to achieve in order to get the right mindset. Take the example above, the gentleman that wanted to work with Edison had no clue what he was ultimately going to do with Edison, he just knew that he wanted to work with him.
To summarize, the first step is understanding that the right mindset WILL allow you to build your dream life. Don't over complicate the process, spend time in a quiet place twice per day, at least 10 minutes, turn everything off, and just meditate on what you want to accomplish. By doing this will tap into your subconcious and begin to power your concious mind to focus on and develop plans for how you will accomplish whatever you desire. The mind is such a powerful tool that most of us just don't tap into. Spend some time in deep thought about what you want to accomplish and go about fixating your mind on it, you'll be amazed what you can accomplish!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
YOU, Inc., Doesn't Have Any Competition!
Do you remember how our parents and teachers used to tell us when we were younger, "there is only one you, you're special"? Well, in my case I thought maybe my parents were saying think God there is no one else like you! Maybe they were, who knows, anyway, I'm not sure if our parents and teachers realized how right they were and I'm positive that they weren't aware of how this message could have a direct impact on the success of your business.
You see I get asked all the time, how can I be successful when there are so many other people doing what I'm doing? I even asked this question when I got started in network marketing and the answer I got came from Mike Dillard and it blew me away. I guess the reality is that I didn't put enough value in myself and the lessons that I'd learned in both my offline and online businesses. We've all got something of value to bring to the table, but for whatever reason a lot of us seem to sell ourselves short, myself included.
Ok, back to the answer I got from Mike Dillard. My question, and the question of many Internet marketers and network marketers was how can I be successful when there are already so many others that are doing what I want to do? The answer is You, Inc.
Huh? That's what I said, huh? You, Inc. is you and how you position you will ultimately determine the success you have. We are all looking for leaders to help us get somewhere we're not sure we can get to on our own. People are not looking for a company, an opportunity, etc. They are looking for someone that is a leader in life that has achieved greatness (however you may define that). So You, Inc. truly doesn't have any competition because there is no one else on the planet with your talents, skills, experiences, etc. Don't get wrapped up in measuring success in terms of the amount of money you've made. I think success is better quantified in the number of opportunities you get on a daily basis to share your experiences, talents, and skills with others that want to improve themselves. When we look at it from this perspective it shifts our focus from I haven't made as much money as I want so I can't help people to I've GOT to share what I know with people becasue I can help them right now, today! Once I did this I noticed a major shift in my attitude and my eagerness to work with others and in turn the success of my business.
Thanks to Mike Dillard and others that have shared this with me I've been able to shift my focus and open my eyes to a new world!
You see I get asked all the time, how can I be successful when there are so many other people doing what I'm doing? I even asked this question when I got started in network marketing and the answer I got came from Mike Dillard and it blew me away. I guess the reality is that I didn't put enough value in myself and the lessons that I'd learned in both my offline and online businesses. We've all got something of value to bring to the table, but for whatever reason a lot of us seem to sell ourselves short, myself included.
Ok, back to the answer I got from Mike Dillard. My question, and the question of many Internet marketers and network marketers was how can I be successful when there are already so many others that are doing what I want to do? The answer is You, Inc.
Huh? That's what I said, huh? You, Inc. is you and how you position you will ultimately determine the success you have. We are all looking for leaders to help us get somewhere we're not sure we can get to on our own. People are not looking for a company, an opportunity, etc. They are looking for someone that is a leader in life that has achieved greatness (however you may define that). So You, Inc. truly doesn't have any competition because there is no one else on the planet with your talents, skills, experiences, etc. Don't get wrapped up in measuring success in terms of the amount of money you've made. I think success is better quantified in the number of opportunities you get on a daily basis to share your experiences, talents, and skills with others that want to improve themselves. When we look at it from this perspective it shifts our focus from I haven't made as much money as I want so I can't help people to I've GOT to share what I know with people becasue I can help them right now, today! Once I did this I noticed a major shift in my attitude and my eagerness to work with others and in turn the success of my business.
Thanks to Mike Dillard and others that have shared this with me I've been able to shift my focus and open my eyes to a new world!
Thursday, August 26, 2010
7 Reasons You Need to Have a Squidoo Lens
I'm gonna get right to it here.
1) It's a simple way to generate tons of free, laser-targeted traffic to your website. The way Squidoo is set up you can create a lens on any number of topics. In my case I want to use Squidoo to market myself and help brand myself as a leader in the Internet markting community. But you could just as easily market your plumbing business, consulting business, etc. And the beauty of Squidoo is that you'll be talking to those that are interested in your topic.
2) You can upload videos into your lens. This is an awesome tool for generating massive traffic and more views to your lens.
3) You have the ability to integrate your RSS feed to your lens so it updates every time you update content on your blog, website, etc.
4) It gives you instant credibility and helps you to brand yourself as an expert. I can't stress how important this is to your Internet marketing success. Personal branding will set you apart from all the other marketers that are constantly shoving their product down a prospects throat.
5) It takes probably five minutes to set up and it's completely free.
6) You can earn royalties from the traffic you generate. You'll have the ability to set this up in your account settings, but it's a great way to help fund paid marketing you'll need to do.
7) You also have the ability to earn affilitate commissions by promoting other products on your lens. Again, this is a fantastic way to fund paid marketing strategies and hopefully put some money in your pocket!
Here's a few more quick tips for your Squidoo lens:
-Add as many keywords as you can that are related to your topic.
-Add several streams of income through promoting affiliate products on your lens.
-Make more than one lens and link them to each other.
-Use social bookmarking sites like Digg & Stumbleupon to bookmarke your posts.
-Add Twitter to your lens by using the Twitter modules-people that see your lens can also start following you on Twitter.
Squidoo can be an unreal resource for new marketers and especially those that are working on a tight budget. It can give you the ability to not only market your service, but also earn affiliate commissions which help to fund paid marketing strategies that will explode your business even further!
The key is to take action, don't get caught getting ready to get ready! Take action, NOW!
1) It's a simple way to generate tons of free, laser-targeted traffic to your website. The way Squidoo is set up you can create a lens on any number of topics. In my case I want to use Squidoo to market myself and help brand myself as a leader in the Internet markting community. But you could just as easily market your plumbing business, consulting business, etc. And the beauty of Squidoo is that you'll be talking to those that are interested in your topic.
2) You can upload videos into your lens. This is an awesome tool for generating massive traffic and more views to your lens.
3) You have the ability to integrate your RSS feed to your lens so it updates every time you update content on your blog, website, etc.
4) It gives you instant credibility and helps you to brand yourself as an expert. I can't stress how important this is to your Internet marketing success. Personal branding will set you apart from all the other marketers that are constantly shoving their product down a prospects throat.
5) It takes probably five minutes to set up and it's completely free.
6) You can earn royalties from the traffic you generate. You'll have the ability to set this up in your account settings, but it's a great way to help fund paid marketing you'll need to do.
7) You also have the ability to earn affilitate commissions by promoting other products on your lens. Again, this is a fantastic way to fund paid marketing strategies and hopefully put some money in your pocket!
Here's a few more quick tips for your Squidoo lens:
-Add as many keywords as you can that are related to your topic.
-Add several streams of income through promoting affiliate products on your lens.
-Make more than one lens and link them to each other.
-Use social bookmarking sites like Digg & Stumbleupon to bookmarke your posts.
-Add Twitter to your lens by using the Twitter modules-people that see your lens can also start following you on Twitter.
Squidoo can be an unreal resource for new marketers and especially those that are working on a tight budget. It can give you the ability to not only market your service, but also earn affiliate commissions which help to fund paid marketing strategies that will explode your business even further!
The key is to take action, don't get caught getting ready to get ready! Take action, NOW!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Internet Marketing, Pitcher or Catcher?
What I mean by this is basically are you providing value (catching) or just selling (pitching). As an internet marketer you must provide value, you must give, before you can receive. To take this one step further to be successful you must never expect anything in return. In other words you have to give with no expectation of ever receiving anything in return.
This seems like an easy concept to grasp, in fact we've been taught this our entire lives. The challenge though is that in business, well in life really, we all want to get before we give. Relationships though are built on giving selflessly and as an Internet marketer that's what we're doing, we're building relationships, we're giving, giving, giving with no anticipation of receiving anything back.
By giving selflessly though we are drawing or attracting other people to us that want help or want to learn about what we are doing. Mike Dillard, the king of Magnetic Sponsoring, has mastered this concept, but anyone can use this to achieve mega success.
Spend some time each day thinking about how you can provide value to others and I guarantee that you will be amazed at the returns that come back to you.
Chris Patterson
www.marketingsuccess4you.com
This seems like an easy concept to grasp, in fact we've been taught this our entire lives. The challenge though is that in business, well in life really, we all want to get before we give. Relationships though are built on giving selflessly and as an Internet marketer that's what we're doing, we're building relationships, we're giving, giving, giving with no anticipation of receiving anything back.
By giving selflessly though we are drawing or attracting other people to us that want help or want to learn about what we are doing. Mike Dillard, the king of Magnetic Sponsoring, has mastered this concept, but anyone can use this to achieve mega success.
Spend some time each day thinking about how you can provide value to others and I guarantee that you will be amazed at the returns that come back to you.
Chris Patterson
www.marketingsuccess4you.com
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Get Creative with Social Media for your Business
The power and novelty of social media marketing may be wearing off for some, but the potential remains to create a thoroughly stable business with social networking and media as your primary source of lead generation tools. In fact, the design of social media makes it simple to integrate a plan for generating leads, spreading the word about your business and growing your customer base.
An example of this social media integration is Facebook and Twitter. Facebook contains an app that allows businesses and individuals to automatically link Twitter accounts. This means that your Facebook fans and friends can turn into your followers on Twitter. Of course, linking each of your social media accounts should be the first step you take in setting everything up, anyway.
Creating the Content
Aside from the viral nature of social media, the issue at stake--which you can control every aspect--is the content you create and post to your social media accounts. You can control how much content you create, the quality of the content and how often you post and update regular followers. In essence, your reputation and authority hang in the balance with each and every post you make or status you update on your social networking accounts.
If social media marketing is going to be your primary lead generation method, your content needs to stand on its own legs. In other words, the videos you share on Facebook should be short, to the point and well-designed. You should design a YouTube channel that shows your business specifically, answers frequently asked questions and gives real value to potential leads and customers. Blogs need to be updated daily and content that involves important issues to your target market should be discussed.
Relationship Marketing
For lead generation, social media accounts can be used for relationship marketing and connecting with the prospect or customer. Not only is it important to update your accounts on a regular basis to maintain activity and continuity with leads, but it's also important to listen to what people are saying. Pay attention to your leads' comments on your Facebook or Twitter accounts about your business or product. Create polls and surveys that ask customers and leads for insight on what to improve or what they want. Making the customer your focus of your social media efforts can only help your long-term goals and strategies; social media marketing makes this pretty easy to do.
Promoting your Content
In addition to creating the content for your social media accounts and websites, you also need to share the content. Promoting your content is as crucial as creating it in the first place. For example, you need to submit your blog posts to Digg, StumbleUpon and BlogCatalog. You need to create RSS feeds so that other people can follow and read what you write or blog about on a regular basis.
All in all, social media marketing can be huge lead generation tools if you take the time to develop the content, set up your accounts and maintain them on a regular basis. Whether you need to outsource some of the work to freelancers or do it all yourself, it's important to concentrate not only on developing your following through social media promotions as well as authority in your niche, but also on maintaining the relationships you have with leads and customers.
Chris Patterson
www.marketingsuccess4you.com
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
DMO, WTH?
A DMO is a daily method of operation. This is critical to your Internet marketing success, ask me how I know. If you're running a home based business the only thing that's going to keep you from being distracted is..........YOU! If you don't have a plan each and every day, you'll look at the latest funny video on FB, check out some tweets, maybe do some dishes. My point is you'll do a ton of crap that keeps you from getting closer to your goal.
The DMO is a list of generally 3-5 key items that you have to accomplish that day to keep your business moving forward. We all know the Internet is a vast abyss of useless junk that we could use 24/7 for the rest of our lives and never get anywhere. It's vital to your success to have your DMO in place before you do anything else each and every day!
Continued success!
www.marketingsuccess4you.com
The DMO is a list of generally 3-5 key items that you have to accomplish that day to keep your business moving forward. We all know the Internet is a vast abyss of useless junk that we could use 24/7 for the rest of our lives and never get anywhere. It's vital to your success to have your DMO in place before you do anything else each and every day!
Continued success!
www.marketingsuccess4you.com
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Quick, Free Leads
How to Use Social Media for Lead Generation
Social media and networking websites can be an absolute goldmine for getting your message out there, establishing popularity and recognition and generating leads for your business. Knowing the ins and outs of how to operate Twitter, Facebook and MySpace accounts are only the tip of the iceberg. When using social media to promote yourself and your business to generate leads, you must use all free forms of advertising available, and that includes other social media websites like YouTube, LinkedIn, Ning, and even social bookmarking sites like Reddit, Delicious and Digg.
Landing Pages and Sales Pages
Perhaps the first step you need to take before establishing your social media strategy is getting all your websites, landing pages and sales pages together. For example, does your sales page have testimonials? Does it make readers want your product or does it just leave more questions? Does it offer a solution to the target market which you're trying to attract? Does your website accurately and fully describe all the features and benefits of having that product which you're promoting? All of these are questions which desperately need to be asked of the websites and landing pages you create since these will be an integral part of your online social media strategies.
The Linkwheel
A second issue you need to consider is how to use each social media website to fit in with your linkwheel. Specifically, you need to find a static hub from which to attach all other accounts. This could be your main website, community forum, or even your own social networking group made from a platform such as KickApps or Ning. All of your social networking accounts, including Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, need to be linked from this central hub to allow the free-flow of traffic in and out of your community.
In addition to the central hub, all of your social networking accounts (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc.) need to be joined. The inter-linking of these accounts creates continuity and helps your "fans" and even lurkers track you everywhere on the internet so that they can see your next move and where you go. Facebook contains built-in tools for integrating Twitter and vice versa, so you must take advantage of all of these to gain the maximum exposure.
Lead Collection
Of equal importance to the whole concept of social media is the method being used to collect the leads. When it comes to requesting details, such as name and email address from your potential leads, you want to give your leads ample opportunity to sign up. In other words, this means updating your status and posting special announcements and Tweets that lead to landing pages that act as lead generation tools.
Throughout the entire lead generation process, interaction must be a major part. Instead of simply posting links to all your accounts and expecting unbeknownst individuals to sign up, you must do something to encourage participation. Give something away for free, such as an eBook, podcast or special report. Start a contest or a drawing. Conversing with your potential leads can lead into sales conversions.
As you can see, social media marketing is absolutely crucial for your business. With the plethora of tools and social websites that are free to use, using them correctly and efficiently can net you some huge gains in the long run.
http://www.marketingsuccess4you.com/
Social media and networking websites can be an absolute goldmine for getting your message out there, establishing popularity and recognition and generating leads for your business. Knowing the ins and outs of how to operate Twitter, Facebook and MySpace accounts are only the tip of the iceberg. When using social media to promote yourself and your business to generate leads, you must use all free forms of advertising available, and that includes other social media websites like YouTube, LinkedIn, Ning, and even social bookmarking sites like Reddit, Delicious and Digg.
Landing Pages and Sales Pages
Perhaps the first step you need to take before establishing your social media strategy is getting all your websites, landing pages and sales pages together. For example, does your sales page have testimonials? Does it make readers want your product or does it just leave more questions? Does it offer a solution to the target market which you're trying to attract? Does your website accurately and fully describe all the features and benefits of having that product which you're promoting? All of these are questions which desperately need to be asked of the websites and landing pages you create since these will be an integral part of your online social media strategies.
The Linkwheel
A second issue you need to consider is how to use each social media website to fit in with your linkwheel. Specifically, you need to find a static hub from which to attach all other accounts. This could be your main website, community forum, or even your own social networking group made from a platform such as KickApps or Ning. All of your social networking accounts, including Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, need to be linked from this central hub to allow the free-flow of traffic in and out of your community.
In addition to the central hub, all of your social networking accounts (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc.) need to be joined. The inter-linking of these accounts creates continuity and helps your "fans" and even lurkers track you everywhere on the internet so that they can see your next move and where you go. Facebook contains built-in tools for integrating Twitter and vice versa, so you must take advantage of all of these to gain the maximum exposure.
Lead Collection
Of equal importance to the whole concept of social media is the method being used to collect the leads. When it comes to requesting details, such as name and email address from your potential leads, you want to give your leads ample opportunity to sign up. In other words, this means updating your status and posting special announcements and Tweets that lead to landing pages that act as lead generation tools.
Throughout the entire lead generation process, interaction must be a major part. Instead of simply posting links to all your accounts and expecting unbeknownst individuals to sign up, you must do something to encourage participation. Give something away for free, such as an eBook, podcast or special report. Start a contest or a drawing. Conversing with your potential leads can lead into sales conversions.
As you can see, social media marketing is absolutely crucial for your business. With the plethora of tools and social websites that are free to use, using them correctly and efficiently can net you some huge gains in the long run.
http://www.marketingsuccess4you.com/
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