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.]

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]

Business Is Selling

"Understand that you need to sell you and your ideas in order to advance your career, gain more respect, and increase your success, influence, and income."  Jay Abraham


As I keep telling you, just about anyone can start a business. But there's an important caveat - and it jumped to mind when I got an e-mail from Lynn, who wants advice on starting a newsletter. She writes:

"I've worn many hats, juggled them off and on in my years as Mother, Grandmother, Realtor, Concessionaire, and Artist Retailer/Wholesaler. Love, divorce, custody issues, death, inheritance, bankruptcy, accidents, health issues, friendship, betrayal. I've either been through it or carried someone through it.

"What I seem to do best is calm nerves and give good advice, to the point where it often interferes with other endeavors. I've seriously thought about your copywriting/ Internet ideas, but I'm wary of selling things. It seems that, among family and friends at least, I am the oracle of issues, the witchy woman matriarch with the final answer. The trendy term 'life coach' isn't quite it. I want to be like an e-mail comforter. A listener of last resort. A sounding board.

"It's the only thing I think I'm really quite good at. Could this be a business?"

Yes, it could be a business. But not if you are leery of selling.

Business is selling. You can't make money unless you sell something. As Robert Louis Stevenson said, "I find it useful to remember, everyone lives by selling something."

So the first thing Lynn needs to determine is what it is she is going to sell.

People will pay for comfort... but not if it's billed as comfort. Think about what therapists do. They charge pretty good money to give people comforting advice. Yes, there are some who deliver discomfort, but they don't stay in business very long. People pay money to have their therapists make them feel good. If you've ever been in therapy with a successful therapist, you already know that.

But if therapists said that they were in the business of comforting their clients, no one would take them seriously and no one would pay them good money for their comforting advice. Rather than advertise what they are really selling, therapists advertise their methodology (Freudian, Behaviorist, etc.) or the type of "problems" they deal with (addiction, obsessive compulsive disorders, etc.).

Since Lynn isn't a trained psychotherapist, she can't honestly advertise those sorts of things. So she will have to come up with her own ideas about why people get themselves into trouble and how they can find solutions. These ideas will form themselves into a unified whole, if she thinks about them long enough. This unified whole is what we call an "intellectual franchise." That's what Lynn needs to develop. And then she needs to test it and see if it sells.

Remember, starting a business and making it a success is not just a matter of having a good idea. The idea has to be one that people will be happy to pay money for.

So if you are in Lynn's position - looking to turn your idea into a profitable business - you have to become comfortable with selling.

How do you develop the skill of selling when you are "wary" of selling, as Lynn puts it?

The first step is to understand that there are really two kinds of selling:

1. pushing people (to buy things they don't want)

2. helping people (to select those things they do want to buy)


Pushy salespeople - the telemarketer who calls you while you're eating dinner, the broker who calls you on the weekend with a "hot deal," the proverbial used-car salesman - take delight in persuading you to do what you don't want to do. Such salespeople see the selling process as a kind of battle where they bully and beat you into submission. It's an ego game for them, and your acquiescence - even if you really do want the product - is an indication of submission.

Such salespeople should be tarred and feathered, run out of town, dunked, and pilloried. They are the same people who delight in not letting you merge in traffic and cutting ahead of you in the supermarket line.

Helpful salespeople are actually more common than their obnoxious cousins.

If you understand that the job of a salesperson is to solve a customer's problem or help him meet a need, selling won't seem so odious to you.

Let's say your prospect's main concern is the future of his marriage. What you would do, in this case, is ask him questions about it and find out, in as much detail as possible, what his worries are. Having done this, you are then in a great position to address each one - to explain how your product (in Lynn's case, her advice) can give him effective solutions. By driving home the benefits of your product that the prospect cares about, you are making a very strong sales presentation. You are telling him exactly what he wants to hear.

Remember - your prospect wants to be sold. So long as you help him understand how your product can help him achieve his desires or solve his problems, he will be prejudiced in your favor. You lose your prospect when you start talking about other things - your interests, for example, or product features that he doesn't really care about.

So don't sell him, help him. Begin by finding out what he wants and needs. And then (if and only if you can really help him), make the strongest, most specific case you can make to convince him that his desires will be achieved and his problems solved.

Once you've figured out how to sell your product, and have gotten over your distaste of selling, you need to start testing... preferably on the Internet... until you find some way to position the product that catches on.

And then, to grow your business, you will have to produce lots of products that tie into your initial business idea and lots of sales letters to convince people to buy them.
Does this sound like something you can do? If so, you are on your way!$

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.$