The Easiest Way to Start an Online Business

If you’ve caught the Internet entrepreneur bug, you probably can’t wait to get started making money with your own website. Of course, you’re going to need a few things first – namely, products and effective sales copy to sell them.

But while you’re working on your products and sales copy, there is a way to start bringing money in the door almost immediately. I’m talking about becoming an affiliate marketer.

As an affiliate marketer, you make a commission by selling other people’s products via your website. And they make it easy for you by providing both the products and proven marketing copy (such as banner ads and sales letters).

Your affiliate business can be up and running in a flash – and it requires very little in the way of start-up costs. All you really need to pay for at the beginning is your website domain and a website hosting service.

While working as an affiliate, you’ll hone marketing skills that you can use to make your “real” Internet business even better… if you decide to go ahead and launch it. Like many affiliates, you might make so much selling other people’s products that you never get around to creating and selling your own.$

[Ed. Note: David Wood – founder of Empower Network – and a handful of other Internet marketing experts have just revealed a powerful “blueprint” that’s responsible for generating over $70 million a year in Internet revenues. David's goal is to create 100 new millionaires per year! Right now, you can not only get your hands on this blueprint to creating lasting wealth… you can get expert, step-by-step instruction in how to make it work for YOU. Learn more here. WARNING – this offer ends soon. So make sure you snap up your copy of this incredible wealth blueprint – right now.]

Do You Have What It Takes to Succeed at Internet Marketing?

When you hear about all the folks who are making thousands of dollars a week in passive income by selling information products on the Internet… and “working” only a few hours a day…

… it’s tempting to want to jump on the bandwagon.

But before you take the leap, it pays to think about whether it is right for you.

On the surface, Internet information marketing sounds like everybody should be doing it. Of course, if that happened, who would fix your car… or trim your hedges… or prepare your tax returns?

But not everybody is going to go into Internet marketing — as tempting and attractive as it sounds.

Should you?

Let me start by saying that, as an Internet information marketer, what you will be selling is useful knowledge on a specialized topic. Therefore, if you already possess this specialized knowledge, you are in an advantageous position.

According to info marketer Gary North, most people do, in fact, have some specialized knowledge they can turn into a business.

“You possess a lot more knowledge than you think,” says Gary. “In many cases, that knowledge is valuable to those who don’t possess it.”

If it’s not immediately obvious to you what specialized knowledge you possess that other people would pay for, stop and take a personal inventory.

On a sheet of paper, list your formal education… degrees… job history… skills… hobbies… and interests. One or more of the items on that list most likely can be the basis of a blog that leas to a profitable Internet information marketing business.

Are you articulate? If you can express yourself well, that, too, positions you for success in the Internet information marketing business. You do not have to be a great writer. You just need the ability to express yourself clearly and concisely in a pleasing manner that people enjoy reading.

Another thing that gives you an advantage in this business is a strong desire to make more money than you are now making. That’s important, because there are a lot of people who publish online (blogs, articles, books, fiction) without caring if they make money by doing it.

These amateurs (and I am using the word in its literal meaning, not as a pejorative) post their stuff on the Web and give it away for free. Their reward is knowing that people are reading or looking at their work.

But putting up a website and posting content to it is easy. Getting people to pay you for it is a bit more of a challenge.

An interest in making money from your intellectual property will give you the impetus and motivation to do the extra work it takes to create and sell information products online. (We teach the entire process in our Empower Network Group business-building program.)

Have you studied copywriting? You do not need to be a good copywriter to have a successful Internet marketing business. But you do need the ability to know whether a promotion written for you by a freelance copywriter is any good, so you can tell the writer how you want it fixed.

If you are a good copywriter, that’s a bonus, because hiring top copywriters is expensive — and by writing your own sales copy, you can avoid their fees.

The key to success in Internet marketing is the marketing, not the content creation.

Quality content is important. But the people who make serious money online do so because they are good marketers, not because they are good writers.

Many people who love to write are enamored with the “creative” part of it, but aren’t good at the business side of things. If you go into Internet marketing, you will have to pay more attention to the business side. In particular, you need to know what you can realistically expect in terms of results from your promotions.

You do not need to have an aptitude for math. With Internet marketing, figuring out your return on investment (ROI) is very simple and can be done with a pocket calculator. But you do need to be conscious of revenue coming in and money going out. Starting and running an Internet marketing business does not cost a lot of money, but the cost is not zero.

The one thing you absolutely do not need is experience with computers or technical ability of any kind.

The most important skills for an Internet marketer are (1) marketing, (2) copywriting, and (3) communicating (the ability to create content in writing).

I advise Internet marketers to outsource all the technical tasks. That includes setting up their computer, installing their e-commerce software, broadcasting e-mail marketing messages, maintaining their subscriber list, and designing their information products and websites.

You can get people to handle all these tasks at dirt-cheap prices. On websites such as getresponse.com and buildingabrandonline.com, for example, you can find all the help you need at prices so low they will astonish you.

Even if you can do the technical stuff, I advise you not to.

Why?

Because with the limited number of hours you have available each day, you need to spend your time on tasks that give you a maximum return on time invested (ROTI).

The tasks with the highest ROTI revolve around thinking about your business and testing new products and marketing campaigns.

The technical stuff has the lowest ROTI. To be frank, it’s a waste of your valuable time. And the less efficient you are in running your Internet business, the more difficult it will be for you to achieve the “Internet marketing lifestyle” — making a six-figure passive income while working only a few hours a day.

So ask yourself:

• Do I have useful knowledge of a specialized topic that people will pay for?
• Can I express myself clearly in writing?
• Do I have a desire to earn more money from what I know?
• Can I develop some skill in copywriting?
• Do I understand the fundamentals of Internet marketing?

The more “yes” answers you gave, the better equipped you are to turn your knowledge into dollars.$

Join me and our successful mentors in Empower Network and I will show you how to do everything you need to do to make money online efficiently and effectively — as well as how to outsource the rest at bargain-basement prices.$

[Ed. Note: Ray's personal team will create 10 six-figure earners before the year is over. Our system walks you through the process of growing your profitable online business using a proven online business model. Ray shows you exactly what he did to grow his six-figure business. To find out more about Empower Network, go here.]

Three Essential Numbers for Your Finances

In marriage, there are three numbers you must know by heart: your spouse’s birthday (Nov. 27), your anniversary (May 8), and how many minutes you can be late before you are in trouble (twelve).

To run a business, there are also three vital numbers you must know: net cash flow, the cost of acquiring a new customer, and that customer’s lifetime value.

It is no different when it comes to financial planning. The three numbers you should know are:

1. Your lifestyle burn rate (LBR)

2. Your start-over-again fund (SOF)

3. Your take-a-hike target (TaH)

If you don’t know these numbers, it is difficult to retire and nearly impossible to feel comfortable about the state of your finances.

And yet, most people go through their lives, striving for financial independence, without any idea of what these numbers are or should be. As a result, financial peace of mind is always around the next corner. (By the way, this is just as true for high earners as it is for working class people.)

Perusing wealth without a specific knowledge of these three numbers is like driving around a city searching for a particular restaurant without any idea of its address.

It doesn’t have to be that way. You can chart a direct path to wealth with these three numbers, and you can do it today. I’ll show you how.

Lifestyle Burn Rate

Your lifestyle burn rate (LBR) is how much you need to spend each year to enjoy the lifestyle you want.

It’s easy to determine this number. Simply calculate how much you are currently spending each year, and then increase that by the yearly cost of all the extra things you’d like to have that you don’t have now. (If you have everything you want, good for you.)

When you do the calculation, group the expenses into five categories: housing (including maintenance and taxes), basic living expenses (i.e., food, clothing, health care, etc.), education (if applicable), entertainment (including travel), and charity (if you believe in it).

This exercise may be enlightening. You may find that it alters your idea of a quality life. (I’m cutting back to one latte a day.) It will also make it easier to make adjustments in the future, if your lifestyle changes.

Don’t guess at these numbers. Guessing, in my experience, is synonymous with grossly underestimating. Use your actual costs from the past year. An hour or two with your check register is all the time you’ll need.

Your LBR is a critical number. Without it, you can’t make any other financial planning calculations. Your LBR tells you how much money you need to earn and how much money you can put aside each year for saving and investing.

The Three Stages of Your Financial Life

Your lifestyle burn rate (LBR) is likely to change three times.

The first stage is up until you have your first child. The second stage begins when you have your first child and continues until your children are gone and their college expenses (if you are paying them) are taken care of. The third stage begins after you are free and clear of dependencies, and it continues till you kick the bucket.

For most people, the first stage has the lowest burn rate. You are young and relatively unburdened. If you are wise, you will limit your expenses to necessities and drink cheap wine.

The second stage typically has the highest burn rate. You have larger home expenses, bigger basic living and entertainment expenses, and educational expenses for your children. For some people, this stage may be extended by the need to provide for aging family members.

The third stage has a burn rate that will likely be at least twice that of the first stage, but significantly less than the second stage. This is or can be a wonderful part of your life during which you can enjoy traveling, hobbies, and entertainment without working more than you want to.

To complete this exercise, you’ll need to calculate your LBR for your current stage and any stages you haven’t completed. If you are in stage one, you’ll need to figure out your current LBR and estimate it for the second and third stages as well.

Start Over Again Fund

The next of the three key numbers you need to know is your start-over-again (SOA) fund. This represents the amount of money you would need if for whatever reason you lost all your possessions and all of your savings.

Your SOA number is basically your monthly LBR expenses, multiplied by the number of months you would need to get back on your feet, plus whatever money you might need to start a new business (if you are an entrepreneur or professional).

Most financial planners recommend establishing an emergency fund of three to six months’ living expenses for “emergencies.” I hate that idea because it is arbitrary and vague. Why three to six months? What if you need twelve or eighteen months to get started again? You determine your SOA number based on what you calculate you would really need to start over.

The other reason I hate the emergency fund idea is that almost anything can be considered an emergency: an unexpected dental bill, a broken car axle, a Christmas bonus that was half of what you expected. These events are not true emergencies. They are part of everyone’s financial life. In planning your LBR, you must allow for them. My recommendation is to add 5% to 10% to your LBR. And then, if you are lucky and have no such little emergencies, you can save half of it at the end of the year and spend the other half as a reward for having an emergency-free year.

Your SOA money should sit in its own account, in CDs, or short-term bonds, appreciating for if you are lucky the rest of your life.

“Take a Hike” Number

The third number you need to know by heart is your “Take a Hike” (TaH) number. This is the amount of money you need socked away so that, if you ever want to, you can tell your boss to take a hike.

The TaH number is basically the amount of money you need to retire. Take your LBR, subtract any side-business income you have (and expect to continue to have after you quit your main job), and then multiply that by thirteen.

Why thirteen? Because your TaH money should be held in safe vehicles (such as municipal bonds, annuities or rental real estate) that distribute regular income. It’s reasonable to expect a 5% yield from municipal bonds and a 10%-plus return from rental real estate. If your TaH funds are divided fifty-fifty, this will give you an average return of 7.5%. And the inverse of that, in percentage terms, is thirteen.

As an example, say your LBR is $88,000 and you have a side business generating $1,500 a month or $18,000 a year. You’d subtract $18,000 from $88,000 (leaving you $70,000) and then multiply that by thirteen. This would give you a TaH number of $910,000, which would provide you with a tax-free income of $68,250 a year at 7.5%.

Do these three calculations today. Your LBR is first and foremost because it determines, as I said, whether you need to get a better job, add a second income, and adjust your expenses. It will also tell you how many years it will take you to accumulate your SOA and your TaH goals.

That’s the greatest advantage of determining these three numbers. They will give you a precise knowledge of what you have to do to achieve all your financial goals. More importantly, they will set a fire inside of you that will keep burning until you achieve them.$

[Ed. Note: Ray Buckner is offering a complete blueprint to helping you take control of your financial future with a web-based business that you can operate from anywhere in the world – including a coffee shop, your kitchen table, or anywhere around the world where there is Internet access. Discover how you can achieve the American Dream and your financial independence here. You’ve never seen anything like this before.]

4 Ways to Bullet-Proof Your Entrepreneurial Career

Even entrepreneurs have career paths, despite the fact that said paths wind far outside the bounds of traditional employment. When was the last time you thought about yours?

To be honest, I hadn’t really thought about my own business in these terms until I read the book, “Guerrilla Marketing for a Bulletproof Career,” by Andrew Neitlich and Jay Conrad Levinson (the man who coined the term “guerrilla marketing”).

But it makes sense. When it comes to their careers, people need to realize that they can be ambushed by any number of factors outside their control. The same is true for entrepreneurs who, at any given time, might face the kind of unexpected hurdles that threaten to bring a business to its knees.

So how do you prevent that? As the title of their book suggests, Neitlich and Conrad Levinson think you can borrow some career lessons from the guerrilla marketing toolkit. Here are some of their tips:

1. Be indispensable in 2 areas: technical expertise and relationships

“If you lack valued functional expertise as well as valued relationships, you’re basically what we call a ’sitting duck,’” says Neitlich. In other words, you have neither the skills nor the pull to be indispensable. At the other end of the scale are what the authors call “double spikers,” or those who have developed both to such a degree that they are able to meld the two to create highly successful businesses. That’s what you want to aim for.

2. Test yourself

Neitlich suggests asking yourself a series of questions to see how far you are from being a “double spiker,” including:

• What skills do you need to be truly valued in your industry?
• How does that compare to where you are now?
• What can you do to bridge that gap?
• Who are the movers and shakers in your industry?
• How well-connected are you to them?
• What can you do to meet more of them?

 Answering these, and then acting on the answers, will move you into a position of being able to take advantage of the best opportunities that arise.

  3. Guerrilla market your expertise

A book with “guerrilla marketing” in the title would not be complete without addressing this technique, now, would it? Here’s one of my favorite tactics from the book: Develop the three marketing messages every entrepreneur needs to communicate her value to others:

• Frame a one-sentence hook that describes exactly what results you produce, and for whom.
• Develop a concise but powerful “war story” that describes your most “jaw-dropping result.” The difference between this message and the first is that this second one will have concrete results in it, e.g. “by doing X in Y time frame, I got Z results.”
• Devise a third, “complete” marketing message that builds on the previous two, that you can use on your website, marketing materials, and so on.

Quite the quiver full of arrows, you might say. But I don’t mean to sound facetious; far too many businesses put far too little emphasis on creating good marketing messages, more often than not choosing to wing it, in my experience. Neitlich’s technique forces you to craft something purposeful, which I’m pretty sure is better than what you have now if you’ve been winging it.

4. Grow your “power base”

Interestingly, the authors tell you to stay away from the “six degrees of separation” theory. Instead, they want you to be one or, at most, two phone calls away from the power players.

Here’s how to do it:

Figure out how many phone calls away you are from people like: a billionaire; a millionaire; the president of the most important professional development association in your company; a CEO of a major bank; a news anchor; and so on. This is your power base.

Every few months, analyze your power base. Who provides you with value? Who could provide you with value? Whom do you provide with value? How? And so on.

List the 20 people you don’t know but should.

Develop a way to meet these 20 to start building a relationship.

Categorize your power base from A-D, “A” being the most influential and powerful, and “D” being on the periphery with little proven value but some potential.

Develop a system whereby you contact each of these people on a regular basis; you’ll reach out to your “A” list most regularly, and your “D” list least regularly.

Now you have a way to systematize it, understanding that the core of relationship-building (which Neitlich also stresses) is in being authentic and reciprocal in nature.

A last word

While “Guerrilla Marketing for a Bulletproof Career” has ample doses of motivational stories and self-help lingo, it’s not cheesy, primarily because of the numerous practical exercises and template you are given to put to work for yourself — if you choose to do so.$

[Ed. Note: Ray Buckner is offering a complete blueprint to helping you take control of your financial future with a web-based business that you can operate from anywhere in the world – including a coffee shop, your kitchen table, or anywhere around the world where there is Internet access. Discover how you can achieve the American Dream and your financial independence here. You’ve never seen anything like this before.]

Two Reasons Why You Haven't Been Successful In Your Network Marketing Business

It is said that over 97% of people fail in their Network Marketing Businesses, while 3% thrive, gracing stages at conventions, getting 97% of the money and living the life that the 97% can only dream of.


As I sit back and think about that statistic, it simply means that if we were all in back school, 97 people would flunk out, while only 3 people would graduate.... ARE YOU KIDDING Me!!!



How lame!

So what's the deal???



Why is it that so many people are flunking out of "Success School", although they're eagerly attending events, promoting their products, investing in personal development products and following their leaders?



What is it that has created this warped statistic???



I'll tell you what it is....



After getting ton's of complaints from people desperately in search for success, I took the time out to assess the common challenges that are faced by the 97%'ers, and have demystified the 3%'s Success Formula... that NO ONE is talking about.



The Top Two Challenges:



1. Sales. We are in the sales profession. Most people are not comfortable with the word sales, but it is the bottom line. Get comfortable with that word if you want to be successful. We all sell, in one way or another, every single day.



2. Marketing. Marketing must contain the sales component. Your social networking must generate leads to build your list. You must get the contact information AND follow up.



Make sure that you plug into the free training available at: www.7figurewealthcoach.info.



To Your Success,



Ray Buckner

7-Figure Wealth Coach

630-890-1458

Ray@7figurewealthcoach.info

Building Your List

Build Your List Three Ways


"How do I get more traffic to my website?" "How do I build a list?" "How can I make more money online?" These are three of the most common questions I get from aspiring Internet entrepreneurs, as well as seasoned online professionals.

Marketing guru Jay Abraham teaches that there are really only three ways to grow any business: Increase the number of customers, increase the number of purchases they make, or increase the average amount they spend on each purchase. Of course, in network marketing, I include building your baseshop.

In the world of online business, this translates into getting more traffic to your website and collecting their contact information. By building -- and marketing to -- your own in-house e-mail list, you'll find that you'll make more sales and gain more prospects. You'll also find that you can sell increasingly expensive products to those repeat customers.

There are hundreds (possibly thousands) of ways to get traffic to your website. The way I see it, all of them can be broken down into free traffic, paid traffic, and what I call leveraged traffic. Let's take a closer look at each one...

1. Free Traffic

As its name implies, free traffic is traffic that you don't have to pay for. The main benefit of this type of traffic is pretty obvious: It's free. And because of that, your potential return on investment (ROI) is almost unlimited.

The downside (relative to the other two types of traffic) is that it usually takes time to get a consistent, steady flow of visitors to your website, and it does take some work. The good news is that once you get it going, it builds on itself and the effect is long-term.

Here are my two favorite methods of generating free traffic...

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing the amount of traffic you get to your website from the search engines' natural or "organic" search results. In human language, that means getting your site listed by Google, Yahoo, and other search engines when people search for information related to what you're selling.

To get the most bang for your buck, you should identify the specific keywords that your potential customers are typing into the search engines, and create useful content for your website based on those keywords. Tools like SEO Book and Word Tracker will help you do this.

The idea, here, is that by adding valuable content to your website, the rankings will follow.

• Article Marketing -- submitting articles to other websites and article directories (like EzineArticles.com) -- is another good way to get free traffic to your website.

As with the content you create for your website, you write useful articles based on the keywords that your potential customers are searching for.

When submitting articles, I like to find websites related to my niche that already have high rankings in the search engines and already get a lot of traffic. Let's say you run a distributor for an energy drink company. To find likely websites to submit articles to, you might go to Google, type in "energy drinks," and make a list of the search results for that keyword. Then you'd do another search, this time for "sugar-free energy drinks." You'd repeat the process for 10 or 20 related keywords. Once you have a list of top-ranked websites, you'd contact them and offer to submit articles in exchange for a link back to your site.

2. Paid Traffic

The advantage of paid traffic is that it is immediate. Also, as compared to most free traffic, it is quantifiable -- and, thus, it is easy to tell whether a paid traffic campaign is profitable or will be profitable in the future. The disadvantage is that it costs money, and you'll probably experience some losses up front when you begin testing.

Here are two of my favorite methods of generating paid website traffic...

• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising works in a way that is similar to SEO. When a user types a phrase into the search engine, they get a list of organic results. On the same page, they see a list of paid results -- ads placed by advertisers based on the keywords that had been typed in.

Getting started with PPC is fairly simple. You set up an account with one of the major PPC networks (like Google). You select the keywords you want to bid on and get listed for, and you write a short ad that will entice qualified prospects to click on your ad and visit your site. You can begin driving traffic to your website within minutes.

There are many factors that will determine your success with PPC, including how much you bid for the keywords and your ad copy. To make PPC work, you have to constantly test, test, and then test some more. It may take some trial and error, but once you find a winning combination, you can roll it out and be more aggressive.

• E-zine Advertising can help you reach a large group of highly targeted prospects. You can find e-zines and online newsletters that are related to your niche simply by doing a search on Google. Let's say you are in the credit repair niche. You might search Google for:"credit repair newsletter," "credit repair e-zine," and "credit repair e-newsletter." Then check with the e-zines/websites that come up to see if they run paid advertising. Those that do will probably offer several options, including short, inexpensive classified ads and more-expensive dedicated e-mail blasts.

Before testing an ad with an e-zine, I would first subscribe to it to see what it's like to be one of their subscribers. Do they send out good, useful content? Do they publish regularly? And do they have ads for products/services that are similar to those you plan to advertise? If the answer to those questions is yes, that publication is a good candidate for you.

Another tip is to look at the top ranked websites for your niche and see if they are acquiring names with any type of lead-capture or subscription box. If they are, contact them to see if they would be open to running your ad to their list.


3. Leveraged Traffic

What is unique about leveraged traffic is that it has all the positives of free and paid traffic without the negatives. It is both free and immediate -- and highly responsive, to boot. There are several ways to get leveraged traffic, including viral marketing and affiliate marketing. But I want to talk about my favorite: joint ventures (JVs).

JVs give you a quick and powerful way to get traffic to your website, build your list, make sales, and build your downline. It's one of the methods I used to start and grow my online business.
While there is no one way to do joint ventures, the most common JVs in the online world involve cross promotions, also known as e-mail swaps. Your JV partner sends an e-mail to their list promoting your product or service. In exchange, you send an e-mail to your list promoting their product or service.

With the kind of traffic generated this way, not only will you get a lot of it fast, but it will be much more responsive to your offer because it comes as the result of an endorsement from your partner (assuming you selected a good JV partner). And as you do more joint ventures, you'll build your in-house e-mail list and will be able to leverage off of that to do more joint ventures with the owners of larger lists.

So how do you find a joint venture partner? It's as simple as sending an e-mail, picking up the phone, or meeting someone at a conference or event. Introduce yourself, develop a relationship, and see if it makes sense for you to do business together. Once you experience the power of a joint venture, you'll never look back.

There you have it -- five specific ways to start driving traffic to your website and build your in-house e-list… five of the methods I use. As you can see, I use a multi-channel approach to online marketing, and so should you.

Improve on what you are already doing, and continue to learn new ways to generate more traffic and, ultimately, more sales and business partners.$

Pleast tweet or facebook this post if you found it useful. Thanks!

Using YouTube to Dominate Google

Back in 2006, Google shocked the world by purchasing YouTube for over $1.4 billion. Fortunately for you, Google is a smart company and isn't going to waste that investment.


As a result of this purchase, Google now gives YouTube videos a search engine ranking advantage. That means YouTube videos often come up on the front page of Google's search results - even if the videos are much newer additions to the Internet than established Web pages featuring written content.

Thanks to Google's self-interest in YouTube, here's how your business can benefit by using videos as a promotional tool...

•Your videos will get a high ranking in Google's search results - and, therefore, more views.

•You will get more traffic to your site.

•You will build more trust with your audience.

•You will add more people to your e-mail list.

•You will sign up more distributors and make more sales.

You can get your videos up on YouTube and start getting traffic and sales from those videos immediately. I have recently stumbled upon a few techniques that can help you get even more out of your YouTube videos.

So here's how to dominate Google via YouTube. (But don't tell anyone else!)

1. Film your video.

Create a 90-second (or shorter), content-rich video on a single topic. Short videos get watched more frequently. Once your video is done, upload it to YouTube. (Just follow the instructions you get when you create your free account.)

2. Name the video with appropriate keywords.

This is very important. You must name your video based on the keywords you expect people to type in when looking for the information in your video. (Note: Every word in your title has to be relevant. Don't include the date or location of the video, unless they have something to do with the keywords you expect people to search.)

Doing this can put your video on page one of Google's search results in only 24 hours, even if you are competing with popular articles that have been posted on the Internet for years. Remember, Google heavily favors the content on YouTube. (After all, it didn't pay $1.4 billion for nothing.)

Okay, so now you've filmed a short, content-rich video, uploaded it to YouTube, and named it with the right keywords. This alone should get you a good ranking on Google. But there are ways to supercharge your search engine position...

3. Get incoming links to your video with appropriate anchor text.

Anchor text is simply the visible text on a hyperlink. (For example, the words "anchor text" in the previous sentence is anchor text itself. Click on it, and you'll be hyperlinked to an article by Alexis Siemon.) On your website and/or blog, link back to your video using the keyword in your anchor text. Get other people with related blogs and websites to do the same.

By doing this, and having other sites do the same, it "tells" Google that your video is relevant to that keyword phrase. And if you weren't already right at the top of the Google rankings, this will remind Google to put you in the right spot, right away.

So now you've got yourself a top position on page one of Google for your search term. But how does this actually help you attract more prospects and sell more products?

4. Get people from YouTube to your website.

If you get a lot of people to find your video through a Google search, you can get them to visit your website. You're simply using YouTube as another form of lead generation.

Here's how you maximize the number of people that visit your site after they watch your video:

•First, make sure to mention your website name (or business location) during the video.

•Second, put up a screenshot at the start and end of your video encouraging viewers to visit your site. (You may want to offer them something in exchange for visiting your site. For instance, I tell viewers of my videos to visit my website to get a free report.)

•Third, you can use a watermark (stamping the video with your website name) that shows throughout the entire video.

Until recently, I thought I was limited to the three options above. But then I stumbled on a way to get a direct link to my website without the video - and this method turned out to be a real success secret. In fact, it was so obvious, I'm a little embarrassed to say I wasted months not having a live link to my site. After all, people are lazy and, in most cases, aren't going to bother typing your website name into their browser. But if you give them a live hyperlink to your site, they'll click on it.

Here's how you do that on YouTube...

In the "About This Video" section, post your website name (being sure to include http:// at the beginning of it). By doing this, you get a live link that allows viewers of your video to simply click a button on their mouse and get transferred to your website.$



Once they're there, your sales copy will persuade them to opt in to your newsletter or purchase your product. And it will be easier than it ever was before, because you will already have made a personal connection with them through your video.$

What Did You Accomplish Last Month?

"What did you accomplish last month?"

Most ambitious people set goals and use task lists. I've seen those task lists. They are usually handwritten on lined paper. Pages and pages of "things to do" with no way to sort out what's important.

I used to do that. But I was never, ever able to accomplish my important long-term goals that way. I doubt those people do either.

The system I use now is more detailed. And it requires you to fool with it twice a day. When you see it, you might think it's obsessive-compulsive and nerdy -- definitely not something that truly bright and cool people would do.

But it works.

In fact, I'm amazed by how well it works.

But, if I had to report what I had done in a typical month 10 years ago, my list would be a fraction of the size of what it is now. Oh, I did a lot of  "busy work", but nothing that really advanced my long-term goals. I was very busy. And I made good money. But my life was speeding by without any hope of being able to look back at it and think, "I did what I wanted to do."



What system are you currently using, if any? Are you happy with your results? Are you moving towards your goals, or are you frustrated with your lack of progress?

Have you done what you wanted to do? Really?


Think back to when you were younger. Did you have aspirations that you eventually closeted away as being unrealistic?

Did you ever want to act in a play? Or write a book? Or learn Italian cooking?

Did you ever want to travel to Egypt or South Africa or Greece?

Do you imagine yourself retired on a beachfront property in some exotic island?

There are so many wonderful things to do before you die. But you have to start making those things happen now... or, chances are, you never will.

We live in difficult times. The economy is bad -- much worse than the government and the media owns up to. And you have many pressing responsibilities. You have to earn a living. You have to pay your bills. You have to be a good spouse/parent/child, etc.

But those are not reasons for preventing you from accomplishing your buried dreams. Those should  be among the reasons that you SHOULD be accomplishing your buried dreams! Never use your family or other responsibilities as an excuse NOT to pursue your dreams.$

[Ed. Note: Ray Buckner is offering a complete blueprint to helping you take control of your financial future with a web-based business that you can operate from anywhere in the world – including a coffee shop, your kitchen table, or anywhere around the world where there is Internet access. Discover how you can achieve the American Dream and your financial independence here. You’ve never seen anything like this before.]

Hard Work Or Talent?

I believe there is a direct relationship between hard work and success. Those who work harder achieve more. And that applies equally to individuals, families, ethnic groups, and nations.


Yes, talent helps. But talent is not something we can choose. It is given to us, as are so many other “advantages”: the kind of family we are born into, the color of our skin, and even our native intelligence.

You can’t increase your natural talents. But you can work hard to get better at any skill. And if you work hard enough, sometimes you arrive at a point where it looks like natural talent. People say to you, “Well, such and such is easy for you. You have a gift for it.”

There are many talented people out there doing nothing, achieving nothing, and living unhappy lives. Because talent is a two-edged sword.

Having a gift for a certain something can rob you of the habit of hard work. If you don’t have to try as hard, you never develop your potential. In the beginning, you are a natural leader in the field — but as time passes, the less-talented overtake you.
So let me ask you… how hard are you working?

[Ed. Note: If you're not happy with your financial situation, you're in the perfect position to change it for the better – right now. Ray has just released a special video that covers an online business system that you can use to start growing your wealth. To watch this short video, click the following link: http://www.raybuckner.com]

Be Relentless in Pursuit of Your Dreams

Are You Prepared to Do What It Takes?

Although virtually everyone agrees that "time is money," I'm convinced most people only pay lip service to this truism. If you're really serious about it, you need to come to grips with the reality that the key ingredient for converting time into money is self-discipline.

The greatest catalyst for an undisciplined person is pain, and pain comes in many forms.

Physical pain, for instance, can be the catalyst for becoming self-disciplined when it comes to exercise and healthy eating. Financial pain can be the catalyst for having the self-discipline to work when you're tired or sick, or when you'd rather be out having fun. And then there's the pain that comes from a lost love, which can give you the self-discipline to be a better partner when love comes your way again.

Well, I've certainly been in the financial pain category! I know that many of you have been in the same situation: Going to a job every day, that you knew in your heart would never give you the life you dream of.
Seeing others "living the life", while your were struggling just to make ends meet. Feeling that you were just as good as those in positions that you reported to. Oh, and how about missing family events or time with your friends because you couldn't find someone to cover your shift.

Unfortunately, most people in this situation eventually give up on their dreams over time. They just settle for their lot in life, as they see it. A small percentage of this group, about 20%, stay opportunity-minded, looking for a way to make their dreams come true. But, again, about 97% of this smaller group, give up when they feel they are not making progress. That leaves about 3% that are absolutely relentless in the pursuit of their dreams.

In my years in direct sales, I have seen many people come and go. The initial excitement soon fades into disappointment and discouragement. Some have unrealistic expectations, while others let family and friends get inside their heads. Lack of leadership is also a huge detriment.

The bottom line is that you have to be persistent and determined to make it, no matter what. Your future depends on you sticking it out. You will work harder on yourself than you have on anything else in your life. Success is not easy, but you must not give yourself the option of failure.

Self-discipline is about restraining, or regulating, your actions -- repressing the instinct to act impulsively in favor of taking rational, long-term-oriented actions. I was not very self-disciplined earlier, and it really set me back. Now I realize that self-discipline -- a trait that every human being has the capacity to develop -- gives me the power to outperform people who may be more intelligent and talented than I am.$

[Ed. Note: If you're not happy with your financial situation, you're in the perfect position to change it for the better – right now. Ray has just released a special video that covers an online business system that you can use to start growing your wealth. To watch this short video, click the following link: http://www.raybuckner.com]

The Magic Formula For Online Business

If you’d like to run an Internet business but have no clue what type of business, what you need is an idea.

But coming up with the right idea — one that will not only get you excited and motivated but also generate profitable sales — can be elusive. And even if you have an idea, putting it into action, and making it work, can be even more of a challenge.

And this is where I can help you…

1. If you have no ideas whatsoever: Surely there’s something that piques your interest, even if just a bit. Maybe some sport or hobby. Identify a product related to that interest, and start your business with that.

There are two ways to do it — instantly and without having to buy or worry about holding inventory: You can work with a company that “drop-ships” products you think you can sell. (You take the order and payment online. They fulfill the order. The website worldwidebrands.com has a good selection of companies that do this.) Or you can become an affiliate for a company with a product line that appeals to you. (As an affiliate, you get a commission every time you sell something for them.)


2. If you have loads of ideas, but haven’t taken action on any of them: Maybe you haven’t yet come up with an idea you truly believe in. Or maybe the problem is a lack of self-confidence.

Don’t let that hold you back. It’s okay to be unsure of your idea, yourself, or your abilities. Even people with all the skills and resources they need fail to take action — delaying, planning, and procrastinating. “Procrastiplanning,” as I call it.

Planning how your business could work but still not taking any action — well, it’s like trading on the stock market with paper money. You can shake this off today by picking one of your ideas — any one — and starting on it. Try a few pay-per-click ads on Google. Or buy a domain name and set up a blog. Even starting with dingdongdang123.com right now is better than waiting until you can think of the “perfect” domain name. Start. You can always makes some changes later on.

3. If you’ve started an Internet business, but it stalled or flopped: My grade school science teacher used to say that even the result of a “failed” experiment is a result. The question is, how fast did you fail? More important, what did you learn from that failure? Based on what you learned, start again… perhaps taking a slightly different approach. In my experience, even a small shift in direction can make a big difference.


Don’t Try for Perfection

As every successful businessperson knows, perfection isn’t possible. Even handmade Swiss chronometers — the finest mechanisms on the planet — are only 99.99 percent perfect, with a tolerance of -4/+6 seconds per day.

So don’t get caught in the trap of trying to make everything perfect before attempting to launch your Internet business.$

[Ed. Note: If you're not happy with your financial situation, you're in the perfect position to change it for the better – right now. Ray has just released a special video that covers an online business system that you can use to start growing your wealth. To watch this short video, click the following link: http://www.raybuckner.com]

No Time Like The Present

What's your excuse for not working toward your most cherished dream?


It could be to start your own Internet business or learn a new language or travel to Asia.

Do you think you're too old? Too inexperienced and unqualified? Too busy with other things? Too broke?

Age means nothing, other than time is running out for you to act. And other obstacles can be overcome easily... with the right attitude.


Spend Most of Your Time on What You Know Best


You may be used to working as part of a team. Somebody does the graphics. Somebody writes promotional copy. Somebody else develops the marketing plan. But when you're solo, you're in charge of everything.

Some tasks you can just ditch. And some you can delegate. Establish your priorities. Should you spend time on the phone with your website hosting provider? No, you should delegate that. Should you spend time on content and offers geared toward your market, which you know better than anyone else? Yes.)

Make Technology Your Friend

You may be used to letting others handle the "tech" stuff in your workplace. But when you're running your own business, you're the tech guy. And, as you will discover, it turns out much of it is pretty easy. For things you can't figure out, take a class. If it's really complicated, hire a freelancer.

You don't have to know everything. But you need to know enough so you're not at the mercy of your outsourced help. You don't want to be overcharged or told something is impossible when they just don't want to do it.

Don't Ask for Favors, Ask for Advice

At meeting with the mega-successful entrepreneur Richard Branson, MaryEllen Tribby was invited to talk about her business. Instead of asking for help, she simply explained what her venture was about and asked for suggestions. Richard offered his support. And, already, his charitable organization, Virgin United, has been in touch with her.

You don't have to know Richard Branson to take advantage of this approach. Just think about it. If you're constantly asking people for favors... how long will they feel like granting them?

Create a Network You Can Brag About

Get the best people in your industry in your network. Not people you've only met once or see once a year. I'm talking about people you can call at any time. People who will do anything for you. (Of course, you have to be willing to do anything for them, too.)

When you're starting out, you probably won't be in touch with industry giants. But you can still make great contacts. Start with likeminded people who are as focused as you are on growing their businesses. As your businesses grow, you will be able to help each other.

Create Accountability Partners

You are 65 percent more likely to accomplish your goals if you have someone watching over your shoulder. It probably has a lot to do with not wanting to admit to not doing what you said you would do. That fear keeps you motivated.

So set up a time to speak with a colleague or business partner once a week. Talk to each other about what you've been doing with your businesses. Call them out if they've been slacking. Ask them to do the same for you.

Understand Your Market Intimately

One of the first things you should do is research your market and your competitors. Using keyword research tools from Google, you can find the number of searches a month for search terms related to your ideal market. Visit every site in the organic results and pay-per-click ads.

Look in depth at their site layouts, sales letters, offers, products, and marketing strategies. Figure out what other marketers are doing right. And what they are doing wrong. (For example, many don't have sign-up boxes on their home pages to build their e-mail lists.)

Work on Your Business Every Day

You can't just work on the weekends. You have to do something every single day to advance your business. If it's important to you, you'll do it. Get up extra early if you have to.

If you want to sell supplements online, for example, you could start researching which products are hot right now. You could contact some suppliers. Buy a domain name. Build your website.

Learn, Understand, and Strive to Master Direct-Response Marketing

Direct marketing is the key to online success. An e-commerce site like Amazon may work. But you're not Amazon. You can't wait for customers to find your site. You must reach out to them, get their contact information, and start building relationships that lead to sales.

Don't Fall Victim to the Biggest Entrepreneurial Curse

Four projects halfway done yields ZERO revenue. One project 100 percent finished brings cash in the door.

Focus on one thing at a time -- the one most important thing -- and complete it before you start another project.

Stop trying to come up with rationalizations for not taking action. The truth is, now is always the best time to start a business.$

[Ed. Note: If you're not happy with your financial situation, you're in the perfect position to change it for the better – right now. Ray has just released a special video that covers an online business system that you can use to start growing your wealth. To watch this short video, click the following link: http://www.raybuckner.com]
www.raybuckner.retirevillage.com

^^^ Please Tweet or Facebook this article if you find it useful ^^^

Why Common Knowledge Kills Success

Picture this:

A hot prospect stumbles across your blog...

... pulls up a recent post...

... starts to read it...

... stops midway through...

... leaves your site...

... and never returns again!

An unfortunate, costly event? YES, but...

It Happens All the Time

What can you do about it? PLENTY! (Just keep reading.)

There are six types of content that immunizes your website from the sad story above... six types of content that sucks your prospects in, instead of sending them away.

Briefly, here they are:

1. Counter-intuitive content -- an approach to solving a problem that runs counter to conventional thinking.

2. Complex made simple -- where you take something that seems complex, then break it apart and make it simple to understand and use.

3. A unique process -- where you solve a problem or challenge your prospects face with a process you developed that's easy to execute.

4. Paradigm shift on the problem -- where you share a new perspective that gets your prospects looking at their problem in a new and different way.

5. A powerful tool -- where you give your prospects a tool that transforms something that was difficult into something easy.

6. Fast shortcuts to time-intensive activities – this is where you take an important task or activity that usually takes considerable time to complete and make it push-button to finish.

Let's expand on content strategy #1 -- Counter-Intuitive Content. Here goes...

First, let's define counter-intuitive content:

Counter-intuitive content expresses an idea that doesn't seem likely to be true. Often, it contradicts common wisdom, conventional thinking, or common sense.

Still unsure? Here are some examples...

• Give your best ideas away for free to get rich...
• Do less to achieve more...
• Self-help can ruin your life...
• Fail more to succeed...
•  Learning more tactics will make you fail faster...
• Send fewer e-mails to make more sales...

 Do you notice how each of these examples stirs up your curiosity?

They stimulate the little voice in your head to say...

  

"SAY WHAT?"

 And that's the reason counter-intuitive ideas are so powerful. They provoke your readers to want more.

Let's contrast that with an idea that isn't counter-intuitive: Persistence, discipline, and hard work lead to success.

  

Ho-hum. That's common knowledge, right? So repeating it is unnecessary and won't have a WOW effect on your readers.

In fact, common knowledge bores your readers into bailing on your content and your site... often permanently.

But if common knowledge says one thing and your content proves the opposite...

  

Your idea is counter-intuitive. It's original. And...

It's More Valuable!

Okay.

So how do you go about creating counter-intuitive content?

Glad you asked. Here's how...

Step 1. Make a list of the common problems and goals of your prospects...

Step 2. List as many conventional, common-wisdom solutions as you can -- next to each of those problems and goals...

Step 3. Brainstorm ideas that contradict the solutions you came up with in Step 2...

Step 4. Highlight the ideas (from Step 3) that you believe are true or could be true in certain situations...

Step 5. Circle the ideas you can back up with your own experience or the experience of others...

Step 6. Pick the idea that you feel like riffing on.

That's it. It's a simple process. But make no mistake, it...

Boosts Readership...

Multiplies Traffic, and...

Increases Your Influence.

Easy-peezy, right?

  

Well, one more important point.

  

In order for your counter-intuitive content to work, you need more than just the idea.

  

You need to back up that idea with enough evidence, logic, and persuasion to make your readers believe it's true. Which is why I told you to circle the ideas you can back up with experience or the experience of others (Step 5). Because if you don't back up your idea... all you have is a clever headline and an unresolved promise.

  

And don't make the mistake of thinking that what I just shared with you is only for your blog. In fact, it can be used on your website, in your e-mails and presentations, and practically anywhere else that communication occurs.

  

But one of the best things to populate with counter-intuitive ideas is your information products. Because it gets your prospects excited... and referring others to you in droves.$

Your Optimum Selling Strategy

I hope, by this time, I have convinced you that when you are starting a new business, selling must be your primary job. (For network marketers, that includes selling your opportunity as well)

This is true even if you don't know anything about selling, if you've never taken a course in marketing and never sold so much as a glass of lemonade on a street corner. As an entrepreneur, you have to become your company's number one salesperson - even if you fear or hate the very idea of selling.

Selling is not optional for the Stage One entrepreneur: it's essential.

And if selling is essential, learning to sell (i.e., developing the knowledge and skills needed to sell your company's main product) is an obligation, not a choice.

In this blog post and the next several, I will show you how to become an expert at selling your lead product. Don't worry if you don't know anything about selling. Everything you are about to learn is easy. I will teach you one concept and four secrets. You will learn the concept in about five minutes. And it will take you about half an hour to understand the four secrets.

Discovering how to apply the four secrets to your particular business and your particular product - well, that will take a little time. But I am talking about  days or possibly weeks, not months.

Your educational objective during the start-up stage of your business is very narrow. All you really want to learn is how to sell one particular product to one particular market. You don't need to acquire any generalized marketing expertise or dozens of selling skills that won't apply to your situation. In essence, you are going to become a one-trick pony - someone who can do one thing, and perhaps only one thing, very well: selling the hell out of your lead product/opportunity.

If you have faith in this concept and the four secrets you are about to discover, your success at getting your business from zero to a six-figure income, from Stage One to Stage Two - will be virtually guaranteed. In fact, it's very possible that you could see your business grow on the fast-track, simply by repeating this trick over and over again. As long as it keeps working, you should keep doing it. Later, you will acquire other selling skills. For now, this one thing is enough.

The Optimum Selling Strategy

I believe that for every business at any given time there is one best way to acquire new customers. That best way is the way that meets the company's greatest current need. For the Stage One entrepreneur, generating positive cash flow is usually - or should be- the greatest need. Therefore, Stage One entrepreneurs should focus on that: figuring out how to acquire customers/prospects in a way that creates cash flow.

Most entrepreneurs never stop to think about cash flow or long-term profits when they are starting out. They are so excited about their product/opportunity that they imagine it selling itself.

Nothing could be further from the truth. How you sell your product/opportunity - the specific decisions you make about presenting and talking about it - has a huge impact on whether you will be successful.

The product/opportunity is important but almost never sells itself. To start your business and successfully take it to the next level, you have to discover what is called your optimum selling strategy (OSS).

Discovering the OSS for your product/opportunity will put your business on the right track. It will make everything that happens afterward easier. Problems will be easier to solve. Obstacles will be easier to overcome. And objectives will be easier to reach. Your business will grow quickly, because you will have taken care of its biggest problem: acquiring new customers/prospects without depleting your bank account.

Discovering the OSS for your product/opportunity has other benefits too. For one thing, you will always understand the most important secret of your business: how to acquire new customers/prospects. This understanding will allow you to lead your team with confidence as the business grows, and to help them fix problems if and when they arise later. There are many problems that can occur as a business grows, but there is only one that is deadly - and that is the inability to bring in new customers/prospects.

When you understand the basics of how to sell to your marketplace, nobody can fool your with worthless marketing strategies and idiotic sales programs.

By establishing your marketing credentials during the first stage (beginning), when you are just learning the selling secrets of your business, you will gain a deep understanding of your business that will serve you well for the rest of your career.$

The Supremacy Of Selling

Of the major functions of business - product development, customer service, accounting, operations, and marketing - the one that should always be given top priority in an entrepreneurial venture is marketing.

The other functions are important, but without marketing you will not have sales (or build massive downline) and without sales you will not have cash flow and without cash flow you will not be able to pay for all the other functions. Put differently:

Without sales, it is very hard to sustain an ongoing business.

Consider this to be Rule Number One of Entrepreneurship.

It's amazing how selling is not emphasized by business gurus and even business schools. Even at Harvard Business School, there are dozens of courses on marketing but not a single one on selling. It was if selling was something secondary and unappealing.

The Real Business Every Businessperson Is In

Most of a business owner's time should be spent on the real business that every business owner is in - selling. As a business owner, selling should be your number one priority - and you must act accordingly. This means spending the lion's share of your time on marketing and sales- related activities.

It doesn't matter what sort of expertise you bring into a new venture - whether you are a numbers person, a people person, or a systems person. To be a truly effective entrepreneur, you must become your business's first and foremost expert at selling.

There are many ways to get busy with a new business, but none that is more urgent than making the first sale (and helping your new business associates make their first sales). Making the first sale is critical for two reasons.

1. You need to create cash flow to keep your business going.
2. You will never really know whether your decision to go into business is a good one until you give it the ultimate test in the marketplace.

Think of it this way: When you begin a new business, you have no idea whether it will work out for you. The faster you find out, the better for you.$

The Four Ws Of Career Satisfaction

They say that the three most important decisions in life are:

1. What you do.
2. Where you do it.
3. With whom you do it.

I think that is true. To have a great career, you must choose work that gives you satisfaction, a working environment that is pleasing, and coworkers/business partners who make it easier for you to achieve your objectives.

To those three Ws, I'd add a fourth: when - as in when you work and when you don't. Being in charge of the hours you work and the vacations you take is an important element in the mix that makes up the perfect working lifestyle.

This blog is all about business, about taking your business to the next level. But it is also a blog about personal power and satisfaction, about changing the way you work so that you can become increasingly in charge of the four Ws of career satisfaction and thus be able to say, "I have the greatest job in the world!"

Being In Control Of Your Time

My working time used to be directed by other people and measured by a time clock. When I went into business for myself, I began with the happy illusion that I could work the hours I wanted. But I soon discovered the truth about entrepreneurship: that the freedom it gives you is usually the freedom to work twice as long and twice as hard as you ever did, even if you thought you were working too much for someone else.

Nowadays, though, I don't work that hard. In fact, most days I don't do any "work work" until about two o'clock in the afternoon.

For me, "work work" is interviewing prospects for my business and helping families with their financial situations.

What I do during the rest of my day is pretty much up to me. Most mornings I spend writing and planning. I work out every day at 10 am. Sometimes I lunch with business colleagues, and sometimes I lunch with friends. Once or twice a week, I'll have hour-long brainstorming sessions with creative people - not because I need to but because I like to. I spend 15 minutes with my personal assistant every day, and that's about it.

Doing What You Like To Do

Except for about an hour a day of e-mail drudgery, my time is entirely my own and entirely enjoyable. I take off early when I want to and come in late anytime I wish. I have eliminated all the stress that used to characterize most of my workday.

The majority of my day is spent doing things I love to do:

1. Writing down my thoughts and experiences.
2. Having lunch with successful people.
3. Reading and learning.
4. Working out and playing sports.

This is, as you can see, pretty much what I always hoped my retirement years would be like, except that I'm getting paid to spend my time like this now. If you can do exactly what you want, where and when you want to do it, and get paid well for it - that's about all you can ask for.

Except for one more thing: I couldn't tell you that I have the greatest job in the world if I didn't also work only with people I want to work with.

Hanging Out With Great People

In determining where you want to work, when you want to work, and what you want to do, no consideration is more important than who you choose to work with. That's because if you fill your working life with really good people, the problems that usually hamper and plague a business at every stage of growth will be easy to solve and will eventually disappear.

Great people make all the difference.

Many times I have been told by an ordinary business partner that certain problems were impossible to overcome...only to find another partner who went ahead and fixed them so that they were never again troublesome.

That's the difference between an ordinary partner and a superstar.

Have you ever had a business that failed because your partner turned out to be unreliable, untrustworthy, or incompetent?

By surrounding myself with the right whos - lots of hardworking, problem-solving superstars - I have been able to master the whens, wheres, and whats of my business life.

I really do have the world's best job. And, by the way, I make a pretty good living at it.$

Self-Discipline - The Single Most Important Prerequisite For Success

Self-discipline just doesn't sound like fun, does it? Most people equate anything to do with discipline with pain and suffering, like fingernails dragging across a chalkboard. Hearing the word discipline almost makes you want to rebel, as though you were a school kid who knows that it must mean trouble.

Recognize that self-discipline has the potential of being one of your greatest assets. It offers the ability to distinguish you from your competition. It can make all of the difference for you in every area of your life.

Your willingness to apply self-discipline to your life will separate you from the average person, as clearly as the difference between a great attitude and a terrible one. This is one of those areas in life where you have the ability to choose which side of the line you want to live on. You can live on the side that exercises self-discipline or the side that exercises immediate gratification with no thought about the long-term consequences of your actions or inactions. Which side of the line you choose on a moment-by-moment basis will have a direct effect on the quality of your life and the magnitude of your achievements. This is an area of your life just like attitude, where you have total control if you make the decision to exercise it.

Self-discipline is about making a decision or choice to deny yourself pleasure at the moment in trade for a better moment sometime in the future. It is a willing to listen to the voice that opts for excellence instead of settling for just being average.

You will have a higher degree of satisfaction in your life and will accomplish so much more as a human being if you learn how to discipline your decisions with a long-term perspective. As you make your decisions, you must consider the long-term consequences of the decision, that you are making that moment. Every decision you make today, to act or not, will have future ramifications.

Your ability to exercise self-discipline is dramatically increased if you have goals in your life that motivate you to be in action with an expectation that these actions will be productive in bringing about your desired results. If you have a goal to be in shape, if you have a goal to be respected by your peers, if you have a goal of personal excellence in business or in your personal life, the goal puts the immediate decision in a different framework.

It is important to realize that if you are in a business today, appearance counts. Keep in mind, however, that appearance has to do with more than the clothes you are wearing and the makeup you have on. Your daily habits that reflect self-discipline (or not) will speak volumes to other people about who you are. People are much quicker to respect, believe in, and follow someone who exercises self-discipline and delayed gratification than someone who lives just for the moment with no strong sense of commitment to greater goals and dreams.$

[Ed. Note: If you're not happy with your financial situation, you're in the perfect position to change it for the better – right now. Ray has just released a special video that covers an online business system that you can use to start growing your wealth. To watch this short video, click the following link: http://www.raybuckner.com]