Real Estate Investing: How Are You Networking Yourself?

Regardless of your current marketing and lead generation strategy, you need to do more if you want to maintain your current level of success. The best way to grow your business is by networking yourself and constantly meeting new people. Sure, you may be able to close a few deals by sending letters or mailings, but when times get tough you need to be able to rely on your network and contacts for new deals. How you cultivate existing contacts, or meet new ones, will go a long way in determining how long you will be in the business.

Fortunately, networking yourself at meetings and investment clubs provides limitless possibilities. Regardless of where you live, you can probably find a real estate investing meeting in your area. These meetings usually have a headlining speaker to learn from, but that is not the only reason you should go. There are also dozens of area investors, realtors, mortgage brokers and attorneys that typically attend. Bring lots of business cards, as you should introduce yourself and pass out a card to everyone you come in contact with. You never know when networking yourself may lead to the deal of a lifetime.

In addition to physical meetings, you can gain contacts through social media. Nothing replaces physical meetings, but connecting with someone on these sites should lead to a quick cup of coffee or lunch. People want to work with people they feel comfortable with. You gain trust by talking to people about what they think, like or want out of the business. The more you continue networking yourself, the more opportunities that will come your way.

If you are not already, you have to find time every week to market yourself and connect with others. Your business will thank you for it.$

[Do you know how Facebook and Google became the most powerful companies in the world?

It’s NOT helping you share pics of last night’s dinner...
It’s NOT searching for drunken cat videos…

And it’s DEFINITELY NOT about free Gmail accounts.
 

The simple truth is Facebook and Google SELL TRAFFIC.

They SELL TRAFFIC to business owners, and that advertising revenue alone has turned them into billion dollar companies.
 

Traffic is the most valuable commodity on the internet, and that will never change.
 

This is why using the Traffic Authority business system is the ultimate way to make extra income in your business…]

It’s a Great Time to Start Your Internet Business!

Starting an Internet business is something you should consider, no matter what the economy looks like. Here’s why…

First, online sales have never been stronger. 

Second, remember that, unlike local brick-and-mortar businesses that are typically at the mercy of the local economy, you have access to an entire global market. So even if U.S. shoppers are feeling pinched, you’ll still have plenty of other customers to turn to.

Next, consider the start-up costs of an Internet business. Unlike traditional businesses, you can get your website running for less than the cost of a couple of nights out on the town. So you don’t need to tie up your “emergency” cash – or go into debt – to get started.

And speaking of debt, with such low initial costs, you won’t have to worry about trying to qualify for a start-up loan, something that’s likely to get much tougher during the current credit crunch.

Finally, remember that you can start your Internet business even while you’re working your “day” job, so you can continue to enjoy a regular source of income while you work on making your site successful. Try that with a brick-and-mortar business.

At the end of the day, starting your own Internet business during a "slow economy" (or whatever they’re calling it) is an excellent form of job security.

But before you jump in and start your website… remember that there’s one big (and I do mean BIG) newbie mistake you must avoid if you hope to build a successful online business in this turbulent economy.

To start a truly successful online business, you must first identify a “niche market.”

No matter how often I talk about it, I still see many well-intentioned people getting this wrong. (Lots of established site owners are getting it wrong, too.) When I get questions or when I look at comments on my blog, I hear and see the same things all the time:

“My niche market is young business professionals.”

“My niche market is women over 40 who are interested in their health.”

“My niche market is people who like to garden.”

These are NOT niche markets!!

These are huge and undefined groups of people who all have different goals, interests, and experiences. And trying to sell effectively to a diverse group like that is going to be an exercise in failure.

You’ll likely find yourself competing directly with the likes of Walmart, eBay, or Amazon (or all three)… and something tells me their marketing budgets are just a tiny bit bigger than yours, right?

But that’s the beauty of marketing to a true niche. It’s a much smaller, more defined target, so you can figure out exactly what everyone who visits your site wants… know where they hang out online… understand precisely how to speak to them… and offer the specific products that will make a difference in their lives.

At the same time, you can really concentrate on becoming a recognized expert in your chosen market, so you’ll be able to build really strong relationships of trust with your visitors.

Best of all, these smaller markets are often virtually ignored by the big guys, so you end up with much less competition. Then, even though you’re selling to far fewer people, you’ll actually end up making more sales.

Make sense so far?

So, if “parents over 35″ or “balding men” aren’t niche markets, what is? Well, let’s look at some examples. These are actual niches that real people are getting wealthy in right now:

• Spanish-speaking architects looking for software, training, and resources
• People who want to make crafts with dried poppies
• Heavy-metal bands looking for sponsorship and branded clothing and accessories

See the difference? A niche market is super-specific and caters to a group of people who are all looking for the solution to a common problem.

If you’re worried that narrowing your market this much will limit your sales, consider this:

In a typical town, a business selling nothing but organic parrot food would likely struggle. Even the local pet store couldn’t sell enough of it to make it worthwhile. There just wouldn’t be enough demand.

But with over 3.2 billion people worldwide on the Internet, even if only one or two people in every town want that specific, hard-to-find product, that’s more than enough to make a market for a profitable business.

So start that website now, even though it may seem like the timing is bad. Just make sure you do your homework first.

By identifying a solid, tightly defined niche market, and then building your site and products around the problem your market is trying to solve, you’ll be taking the first giant step toward profits… and avoiding the kinds of disasters that small business start-ups can experience during uncertain economic times.

And that’s what I call job security!$

[Do you know how Facebook and Google became the most powerful companies in the world?

It’s NOT helping you share pics of last night’s dinner...
It’s NOT searching for drunken cat videos…

And it’s DEFINITELY NOT about free Gmail accounts.
 

The simple truth is Facebook and Google SELL TRAFFIC.

They SELL TRAFFIC to business owners, and that advertising revenue alone has turned them into billion dollar companies.
 

Traffic is the most valuable commodity on the internet, and that will never change.
 

This is why using the Traffic Authority business system is the ultimate way to make extra income in your business…
 

Click here to watch the video and start your own premium traffic business today!]

4 Steps to Get Rich

A reader wrote recently to say that although he’s “learned a lot from Seven Years to Seven Figures,” he feels that most of the advice is perfect for him. Why? Because he is 47 and has a net worth of only $25,000.

He is not interested in long-term saving strategies. “I don’t want a million dollars when I’m 70,” he says. “I want it now.”

He believes that many of the wealth-building strategies I recommend are for people like him.

“What’s the average person to do?” he asks. “He makes $27 per hour with no chance for overtime. He has debts. He needs a new car. He can’t invest in real estate. And he doesn’t write a newsletter with 100,000 subscribers that earns millions every year.”

Since I started writing this blog, I’ve gotten a number of emails like this. This tells me two things: I'm hitting a nerve by telling the truth, and there are lots of SYTSF readers who have few financial resources and are worried about the future.

If you have had some of the same thoughts or feelings, this message is for you.

You are middle-aged. Your net worth is meager. Your income is barely sufficient to meet expenses, and those expenses are going up. Instead of getting stronger, the economy seems to be teetering on the edge of collapse.

So should you give up your dream of retiring comfortably one day? Should you accept the prospect of living in a shabby apartment and subsisting on ramen noodles? Should you grow bitter? Should you curse big government and big banking and big business for putting you in this situation?

Or should you take responsibility for your future well-being?

That last question was, of course, rhetorical. Yet when I hear comments such as “What’s the average person to do?” I wonder if people understand that they have options.

You certainly don’t have any choice about how our government is going to spend your tax money. And you may not have a choice about whether the company you work for is going to be in business next year. But you can choose how you respond to your current financial worries.

I believe—no, I am sure—that anyone who has modest intelligence and a positive attitude can become financially independent in seven years or less if he or she is willing to work smart and hard.

But I also understand that when you are halfway through your life and barely making ends meet, it seems like the only chance to become financially secure is to win the lottery (either an actual lottery or the stock market equivalent).

If you feel that way, you are wrong. You are not wealthy now, not by a long shot. But you do not have to give up on is your dream of becoming wealthy.

It will take time and patience. You may have to change some of the thoughts and feelings you have about wealth. And you will certainly have to make changes in what you are doing, for what you have been doing has brought you to where you are.

Your path to financial independence begins with four simple steps.

1. First, accept the fact that you are solely and completely responsible for your current financial situation.

Before you react defensively, read that sentence again. I didn’t say you are the cause of your situation. I said you are responsible for it.

By taking responsibility for your current situation—even if it was “not your fault”—you assume responsibility for your financial future. That is a good thing. Hoping for someone, something, or some event to fix your problems is futile and foolish. Time, precious time, ticks on as you sit and wait.

The sooner you accept the reality that you are going to be your own salvation, the sooner your fortune will start to change.

The first and most important benefit is that you will shed the anger and frustration you have been carrying around for so many years. And then gradually, as you apply your new thinking to taking action, you will begin to feel the opposite of anger and frustration. You will begin to feel financially powerful.

The feeling that you have the capacity to create wealth is the single most important tool in your wealth-building kit.

2. Second, set realistic expectations.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people scoff at the idea of making 8% or 12% returns. They tell me returns like those are “boring.” They want stocks that double and triple, they say, because that’s “the only way to acquire wealth.” 

10-to-1 returns do happen. But they rarely happen in the stock market. Your chances of building a fortune by seeking out 10-baggers (as we call them) is about the same as playing the lottery.

Know this: 8-12% is a high rate of return. If you get an 8% return, you’ll double your money every nine years. If you get a 12% return, you’ll do it in six years. You can get very rich by doubling your money every six years.

Think of it this way: Warren Buffett—the most successful investor of all time and the third-richest person on the planet—has averaged 19.8% on his investments over his entire career. Expecting to make returns that are five times what the greatest investor has made is just plain foolish.

3. The third thing you must do is to understand how wealth builders really create wealth.

The public today has been deceived on this important point by reading stories about individuals who invested every cent they had in a business idea that exploded into a billion-dollar bonanza. These are great, inspiring stories. But they are not normal. For every person who got rich this way, there are 999 who went broke doing the same thing.

I’m not diminishing these men and women. They were brilliant and shrewd. But they were also rare exceptions. Using them as models is like a kid deciding he’s going to get rich by becoming the next Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan.

4. Your fourth step to financial independence is to recognize that your net investible income (the amount of cash you have after spending and saving) is the single most important factor in determining how quickly you will become wealthy.

I will venture to say that you have never heard any other investment advisor say this. But it needs to be said. You simply cannot get wealthy by investing unless you invest enough money.

This leads us to being open to real estate and entrepreneurship. It also leads us to strategies for spending less of the income you earn on the things you are paying for now. I write about programs for each of these strategies. One of them—which I call the Golden Buckets—will give you a clear breakdown of how to spend less, save more, and invest wisely.

One more point I want to make here: The journey to millions of dollars is earned $100 at a time.

Many people I speak to, when I talk about extra income opportunities, tell me that they are interested only in opportunities with the potential to bring them tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of extra dollars per month. This is the same kind of foolishness I hear from people who are interested only in stocks that could maybe/possibly/perhaps give them a 100% return on their money.

To find an extra $10,000 to invest this year, you don’t need to come up with a $10,000 idea. It’s easier and smarter to come up with several $100 ideas and then repeat them over and over again.

If you are not yet wealthy and are worried that you will never be able to achieve financial independence, take heart. I’ll give you dozens of ways to develop real wealth—even if you are 47 years old and making $27 per hour.

The world of wealth is governed by universal dynamics—supply, demand, wealth, greed, etc. These dynamics are as old as civilization. Winning the wealth-building game is about recognizing and exploiting those dynamics, not denying them.

My job here is to highlight those dynamics on a weekly and monthly basis and then help you make smart, enriching decisions—the sort of decisions that have made men and women wealthy for thousands of years.

It’s not fun to realize, in the middle years of your life, that you haven’t acquired the wealth you want. But the good news is that you can begin to change your fortunes today by taking the four steps I just told you to take. And you can take all four of those steps in the next hour—if you simply open your mind to them.

Let me be a bit more specific:

• Accept responsibility for your future. Refuse to complain, criticize, or condemn. If you want us to help you achieve your goals, trust in and follow our advice. Stop doubting it. Stop denying it. Have faith.

• Give up the foolish notion that you must get rich “now.” Be happy to earn 8-12% on your stock market investments. Realize that if you make 8% to 12%, you will be ahead of 99% of your fellow investors. Embrace the huge impact this will have on your wealth over time.

• Begin to allocate your income according to the Golden Buckets system. With every paycheck you get, first cover your necessary expenses (bills, mortgage, etc.). Then put some money toward saving and some money toward investing. Then and only then—after you have “paid yourself”—do you add to your “spending” account.

• Stop complaining about making “only $27” per hour. That’s more than a lot of people make. Be grateful you earn that much. Commit to add to that with a second income. Make an honest count of the number of hours each month you devote to television and other non-productive activities. Devote those hours to wealth building instead. Cast aside the comfortable shoes of victimization. Put on the working boots of a financial hero.

If you are willing to do that, I can help you succeed. I am fully committed to giving my readers more valuable and realistic wealth-building advice than any other investment blog. I have the experience and the know-how to do it. I will deliver if you do.

Before I end this essay, I want to address two more things my 47-year-old correspondent said. And I am going to speak directly to him:

You are only 47, not 87. You have plenty more years to increase your income and grow your net worth. Don’t assume that all is lost when you have a wonderful life ahead of you, a life that can be rich in so many ways.

Everybody in your situation has the same choice: You can complain about it or you can dedicate yourself to changing it. I can show you how.

You have what you need to get your gravy train moving. But you are the engineer. Nobody can do it but you.$

[Do you know how Facebook and Google became the most powerful companies in the world?
It’s NOT helping you share pics of last night’s dinner...
It’s NOT searching for drunken cat videos…

And it’s DEFINITELY NOT about free Gmail accounts.
 

The simple truth is Facebook and Google SELL TRAFFIC.

They SELL TRAFFIC to business owners, and that advertising revenue alone has turned them into billion dollar companies.
 

Traffic is the most valuable commodity on the internet, and that will never change.
 

This is why using the Traffic Authority business system is the ultimate way to make extra income in your business…
 

Click here to watch the video and start your own premium traffic business today!]

How to Get the Right Traffic to Your Website

I know what you’re thinking. Every day you wake up wishing you could just “get more traffic” to your website, as if that alone would solve your online business – and money – problems. But it wouldn’t.

You could get 1 million visitors per day, but if it was the wrong traffic, and you didn’t have the right message on your page, you still wouldn’t make any money, and it would just crash your website.

That’s why you have to figure out what to sell – and how to sell it – first. To help you with that, I have some questions for you to make sure you’re on the right track. One of them you won’t like. You might even get upset with me for asking. Very upset. So I’ll start with the “easy” question first.

It’s a very simple question, one that I first heard while listening to my Dr. Nido Qubein marketing CD’s.

The question is simple, yet powerful.

Now in order to get traffic – and in order to find affiliates to promote your product – you need to first have a great product (duh!). You must be selling the RIGHT thing. But this is where 95% of people struggle. After all, you’re probably in a crowded market and you probably feel all of the good ideas are gone.

So Dr. Qubein – and I – want to ask you this question:

“What do your clients NOT have?”

Very simple.

What do your clients NOT have that they need to make their lives better?

Once you figure this out, you can build your business around providing this product or service to help people in your marketplace get results.

Let’s take a look at an example – this blog.

In the internet business world, there are plenty of experts and companies sending almost daily “pitches” trying to sell you everything from $1995 traffic-getting software to high-priced consulting to low-priced monthly membership “inner circle” programs.

But who is out there delivering daily tips, motivation, and guidance?

No one.

Heck, who is out there providing any CONTENT at all? Hardly anyone.

I noticed this opportunity, and so I started doing the opposite of everyone else, delivering a ton of free content here on Seven Years to Seven Figures.

Can you use that same strategy to identify a new product that your marketplace would like and doesn’t have already?

There is always a gap in the marketplace. Not every problem has been solved. Identify what is missing, and then create a unique product.

That’s today’s task for you. Look at your product you have now. Is it something that your marketplace can get somewhere else?

If it is, then spend some time identifying what your clients do NOT have that will make their lives better.

Solve their problems. Add value. Be a Go-Giver.

Get to work on that solution and I’ll be back with harder questions soon.

Take action today!$

[Do you know how Facebook and Google became the most powerful companies in the world?

It’s NOT helping you share pics of last night’s dinner...
It’s NOT searching for drunken cat videos…

And it’s DEFINITELY NOT about free Gmail accounts.
 

The simple truth is Facebook and Google SELL TRAFFIC.

They SELL TRAFFIC to business owners, and that advertising revenue alone has turned them into billion dollar companies.
 

Traffic is the most valuable commodity on the internet, and that will never change.
 

This is why using the Traffic Authority business system is the ultimate way to make extra income in your business…
 

Click here to watch the video and start your own premium traffic business today!]

Seven Years to Seven Figures: The One Thing That Changes Everything

One indispensable quality affects every relationship in your life.

It holds together all your associations. It determines whether you realize your dreams, both personal and professional.

And it virtually defines you to others. Without it, true success is impossible.

Stephen M.R. Covey is even more emphatic. He writes:

“There is one thing that is common to every individual, relationship, team, family, organization, nation, economy, and civilization throughout the world — one thing which, if removed, will destroy the most powerful government, the most thriving economy, the most influential leadership, the greatest friendship, the strongest character, the deepest love.

“On the other hand, if developed and leveraged, that one thing has the potential to create unparalleled success and prosperity in every dimension of life. Yet, it is the least understood, most neglected, and most underestimated possibility of our time.

“That one thing is trust.”

Simply put, trust is confidence. It is other people feeling good about relying on you.

And its value can hardly be overstated. Trustworthiness is the universally accepted test of good character.

When you trust someone, you have confidence in his honesty and abilities. You can delegate things easily and effectively. You can relax. You have peace of mind.

But when you doubt someone’s integrity, question his accomplishments, or worry about his agenda, confidence is replaced by suspicion and anxiety.

Take a moment and picture someone you trust implicitly. It could be a spouse, a parent, a sibling, a friend, or a business associate. How does this relationship make you feel? How easily do you communicate? How quickly do things get done?

Now imagine someone you distrust. How does this relationship feel? How easily do you communicate? Do you enjoy this relationship? Or is it complicated, cumbersome, and draining?

The difference between a high-trust and low-trust relationship is night and day. In a high-trust relationship, you can say the wrong thing and your listener still understands you. In a low-trust relationship, you can choose your words carefully, be very precise, and you may still be misunderstood.

Sadly, trust is at an ebb in our society. A Harris poll reveals that only 27 percent of Americans trust the government. Only 22 percent trust the media. Only 12 percent trust big companies. And only 8 percent trust political parties.

Personal trust is waning, too. Many people look back on contracts or commitments as something to negotiate. Half of all marriages end in divorce. Many (perhaps most) founder on a lack of trust.

We naturally gravitate away from individuals we can’t believe or rely on and towards those we can. Low trust is the very definition of a bad relationship. And once you forfeit someone’s confidence, it’s awfully hard to win it back.

This is particularly true in business.

We all survive by selling a product, service, or skill. Yet every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust.

If trust is lacking, forget the other four. You’re done. The moment someone suspects your motives, everything you do becomes tainted.$

[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.]

Entrepreneurship: Don’t Take a Chance on Luck

Luck seems to have a peculiar attachment to work. I’m sure that you have heard the Dave Thomas quote: “It seems the harder I work, the luckier I get.”

I would tend to agree with that statement, but I think there are a few other conditions that affect your “luck” — things like instinct, timing, market conditions, and public opinion, to name a few. I know plenty of folks that have worked their heads and hearts off, but for some reason or another, they just aren’t successful in what they accomplish.

On the other hand, I have witnessed others who seem to have fallen into a bed of roses — businesswise or financially. Predictably, most of their friends are totally amazed and can’t figure out how or why this person made it. Pure luck? Probably not. More likely, they were in the right business at the right time. Oh, we should all be so “lucky.”

Call it whatever you like, but I prefer not to rely on luck when it comes to business. I leave that for Las Vegas.

What is the correlation between luck and success? Frankly, I think Dave Thomas, who founded the Wendy’s chain, had it right. As for my business life, I prefer to do everything in my power to make my own “luck” — long hours, clear goals, calculated risks, good hires, expert advice, and a reasonable amount of fear have guided me.

I’ve had plenty of incentive too, like putting my name out there and building my personal brand. Nothing makes you try harder than putting your identity on the line.

Was it luck that led to the creation of so many well-known products? I think not. Rather, it was creativity and the courage to redevelop already invented products. For example, Coca-Cola started out as a headache medicine. Post-it Notes originated when a 3M inventor created bookmarks for his prayer/song book. Levi jeans — with rivets instead of buttons — were made out of leftover tent canvas when miners needed pants.

Speaking of leftovers, that’s how the Swanson TV dinner was created. It was Thanksgiving 1952 and the Swanson Company had 260 tons of leftover turkeys. The company filled 10 refrigerated boxcars and let the frozen turkeys ride around the country until they figured out what to do with their fowl problem. A salesman developed a three-compartment tray for the frozen turkey and two side dishes because he remembered from his Army days how he hated when his food ran together. Management gobbled up the idea. So did Swanson’s customers.

Ice cream sodas were invented not so much by luck as by necessity. In 1874, 16 years after the first soda fountain opened, Robert M. Green was mixing his popular drink, consisting of sweet cream, syrup, and carbonated water. When he ran out of sweet cream and there was no way to get more that day, he started substituting vanilla ice cream, hoping no one would notice. Everyone noticed — and he went from grossing $6 a day to $600.

Yo-yos were used as weapons in the ancient Far East. Sixteenth century hunters in the Philippine Islands tied wooden disks together with a long piece of rope or twine. They would sit in trees and fling the weapon at prey. If it missed, they would pull it back quickly and try again. Donald Duncan saw the yo-yo in action in the early 1920s, changed the design, and created a child’s toy, now a longtime favorite.

Even Avon Cosmetics got its start when a door-to-door book salesman named David H. McConnell decided to offer a small sample of perfume to women. Soon the perfume became more popular than the books and McConnell established the California Perfume Company, which changed its name to Avon Products in 1939.

Lucky? No. Good business. Taking risks, being creative, and reading and reacting to markets will trump luck every day. You can bet on that.

Good luck usually depends on good judgment.$

[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.]

#1 Key for an American Dream Success Story

At a Dan Kennedy seminar, Dr. Nido Qubein of High Point University shared his #1 secret to success. It worked for him in building a $250,000 investment into a bank worth billions, growing the Great Harvest Bread company through the dark days of the Atkins Diet, and getting donors to commit to over $1.2 billion in improvements to the campus of High Point University in North Carolina.

His secret is Relational Capital. “Your relationships bring you luck,” said Dr. Qubein. “Who you spend your time with determines your success.”

Like many other success stories, Dr. Qubein came to America without knowing a word of English. He was sent by his mother to capitalize on the opportunity only available in the land of the free. He went to work, learning English on his own while earning money at any job he could find. He studied hard, earning a scholarship at High Point University, the school where he would later become President after his successful career as an entrepreneur. He has what is  called, “The Immigrant Edge,” the desire to succeed in a land of opportunity that was not available back home in Dr. Qubein’s native Lebanon.

In his early 20’s Dr. Qubein began selling information products, and he soon became one of the top corporate speakers in America. All of his success, he says, came from the people he met and helped along the way. “Luck is a who, not a what,” he preached that evening. “Put yourself into a big pond,” he urged, “and like a Koi fish you will adapt and grow bigger, you will survive and thrive.” 

You must get out of your comfort zone. You can’t expect natural talent or even your hard earned skills to take you to your dreams. You can’t do it all yourself. You need the help of other people. Get out there and build your relational capital today.

As you become successful, it will be your turn to “send the elevator back down,” as actor Kevin Spacey says. Getting a mentor is another key to success, but becoming a mentor to others helps you even more. When you teach, you learn. When you show people the way, you increase your commitment to living according to your core values. When you are a mentor, it is required of you to make the right decisions. You shed the skin of the hypocrite. You become a leader. You grow others. And you get better as a result.

Recently I began following another piece of advice, “you must leave everyone better than you found them.” That has changed my outlook on every interaction, including email discussions, in-person chats with friends, and small talk while standing in line at the airport with strangers.  What advice, what kind word, what gesture, can I deliver that will leave the other person feeling even slightly better than they were before our interaction?

It’s such a simple premise, but it works both ways. It gives hope and encouragement to others while making me wiser and overcoming my natural tendency towards selfishness and shyness.

It is a real-world example of Maya Angelou’s memorable words, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Her quote has had a great impact on my life.  In my daily interactions, I’ve found this to be true, as I’m sure Dr. Qubein has also found from the thousands of speeches he’s delivered in his career.

How you make someone feel builds relationship capital. This brings you luck. Luck brings you wealth, success, and most importantly, more great relationships. The people you spend your time with determine where you will go and how you will grow in life.

One day, when wealth no longer matters to you, you’ll realize that what was important in life was the people that you met, knew, and loved, and the experiences that you had with others. It won’t be about the wealth you created while working long hours on your own. It will be about the legacy you leave in the people that you loved.

“Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be,” Ophelia says in Hamlet. She was right. It’s not until we build our relationships, plan our work and work our plan, and begin to share our good luck with others that we finally reach the destination of our full potential.

Get out there today and harness the power of the Immigrant Edge that is available to all of us. Do something worthwhile with someone worthwhile. Do it with a deep desire and urgency for improvement. “Plan your work and work your plan,” Dr. Qubein counsels, “for school is never out for the professional.” Learning and loving never ends. Build your relationships, grow your luck, and unlock your own American Dream success story with this key.

[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.]

How to Find High-Demand Products That Sell Like Hotcakes

You can’t sell a product if you don’t have someone to sell it to! Online Keyword Selector Tools can help you find out whether the product you want to sell is in high demand.

You can supplement the product demand information you gather from your keyword research with the following:

• Go to PayPal.com. Click on the Shops link at the bottom of page. All 42,000 websites that accept PayPal are listed here by category. There’s a Categories column on the left side of the page. Click on the category of the product you’re researching. PayPal will display the top shops in that category, ranked by volume (the number of sales made through PayPal).

If, for example, you’re thinking of selling tooth whiteners, you’d click on the Health and Nutritioncategory. And one of the things you’d find is a listing for a company that sold 16,736 of their bleaching kits through PayPal. Since that company seems to have robust sales, they’re obviously making money. A tooth whitener, therefore, is a good product to sell.

• Go to groups.Google.com.  In the search box, type in the kind of product you’re interested in selling – let’s say, a supplement that has something to do with human growth hormone. The search results will list all the news groups that are discussing human growth hormone (40,200). Click on the links and you’ll find out how many people are posting to those news groups. If there are lots of them, that tells you there is a great deal of interest in human growth hormone, and a supplement like yours will probably be very popular.
• Go to Amazon.com.  Click on the Best Sellers tab. The items featured there are organized by category and updated hourly. Amazon may be best known for being an online bookseller, but they also sell a wide variety of other products – computers, jewelry, apparel, automotive, personal care, cellphones, and electronics, among many others. This will give you a good idea of what people are buying on the Internet.
• Go to eBay.com. In the search box, type in the product you’re interested in selling. eBay will display how many items are available for sale in that category. If you type in “yoga mats,” for example, you’d find that 455 such items are available. That’s good information, but what you really want to know is how well those yoga mats are selling. So click on the Sell tab at the top of eBay’s home page. Then click on the Seller Central link at the bottom of the Sell page. Scroll down the page, and click on the What’s Hot link, then click on Hot Items by Category. This is where you find out which categories and products are HOT – and where demand is outpacing supply!

[Ed. Note: Ready to step up to the plate and start your own Internet business? If so, online marketing expert Ray Buckner and his team of friendly experts are standing by to help you. Start with nothing – no product, no marketing skills, no technical know-how – and build your own online business. Check out this FREE video presentation! No experience required.]

The New Benchmark for Achievement: Are You Reaching For it?

We all set goals and rate our success according to how close we get to achieving them.

We zero in, shut out distractions, and pour all our time and energy into reaching our own desired standard for success.

As a nation, we are busy, busy, busy! (I am totally guilty of this — I cringe when I hear myself say it aloud). But what if we have inadvertently created a problem by spreading ourselves so thin?

I recently read this headline about 2015’s wellness trends and it grabbed my attention:

“Balance is the New Achievement.”

It got me thinking about my life, my goals, and my benchmarks for success. For the past five years I have strived to find more balance in my life — yet I admit that sometimes I still feel too busy.

I had to ask my self some questions. As a coach, I encourage you to do the same:

• Does working 80 hours a week to bring home a nice chunk of change really feel like success if you find your life void of purpose?
• If your health takes a downward spiral, does the almighty dollar lose its luster?
• When friends and family tug for your attention, do you shrug and turn back to your computer screen for fear of getting fired or losing a sale?

“If you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life.”

Being so deeply engaged with your job that you can’t stop doing it can be a great thing. But problems soon arise when you neglect other important areas of your life.

If the following areas are left unbalanced, they will negatively influence your ability to be successful, healthy, and — ultimately — happy.

• Time Management
• Quality Sleep and Nutrition
• Exercise, Fun, and Recreation
• Time with Family and Friends
• Down Time and Travel

Ignoring these important factors can lead to total disengagement, or even depression. Guilt from not spending quality time with loved ones can create stress. Stress leads to disruptions in sleep, mood, and energy. Food choices may become erratic and self-soothing. Before you know it, you’ve found yourself in a state of burnout fueled by anxiety and impending failure.

Burnout: “A state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed and unable to meet constant demands.”

Placing less on your to-do list will grant you more time during the day to successfully accomplish what really matters.

Finding balance offers you the opportunity to restore healthy sleeping patterns, develop clear thinking, make healthy decisions, and spark creativity. Most importantly, you can reverse stress-related health issues by honoring time for work, rest, and play.

Here are 4 Tips to Help You Balance Work and Leisure:

1. Organize to-do lists by compartmentalizing tasks into what needs to be done now vs. what can be done later. For example, put only what must be done today on today’s list rather than everything that needs to be accomplished this week.
2. Write out tomorrow’s tasks before you leave work. This will prevent you from stewing all night or worrying you’ll forget about what needs to get done next.
3. Carve out device-free time zones each evening and on weekends (or on your days off). Turn off the phone and computer so you can focus, think, and relax.
4. Connect with the people and activities that help you recharge and have fun; spend time with your family, get back on an exercise plan, or focus on a forgotten hobby.

Today, more than ever, we must be proactive and disciplined about creating balance in our lives.

Develop a system that is right for you. Shift your perspective to understand how you operate best personally and professionally and you will find that deeper sense of accomplishment you’ve been searching for.$

[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.]

A Guaranteed Way to Grow Your Online Business

“How do I get more traffic to my website?” That’s one of the most common questions I get from aspiring Internet entrepreneurs, as well as seasoned online professionals. And with good reason. Because getting more traffic to your website increases the number of prospective customers you can sell your products to.

So that’s what I’m going to show you how to do today.

There are literally hundreds (possibly thousands) of ways to get traffic to your website. The way I see it, all of them can be broken down into three primary categories: 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 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, MSN, and other search engines when people search for information related to your topic.To get the most bang for your buck, you should identify the specific keywords that your prospects and potential customers are actually typing into the search engines, and create content on your website based on those keywords. Tools like SEO Book and Word Tracker will help you do this.
  The idea, here, is that if you consistently add valuable content to your website, the rankings will follow.
• Article Marketing – submitting your articles to other websites and article directories (like EzineArticles.com) – is another good way to get free traffic.As with the content you create on your website, write useful articles based on the keywords that your prospects and potential customers are searching for. Also, to get even greater visibility for your key terms, use “anchor text” with your keywords.
  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 business that sells stationery. To find likely websites to submit articles to, you might go to Google, type in “wedding stationery,” and make a list of the search results for that keyword. Then you’d do another search, this time for “bridal shower note cards.” You’d repeat the process for 10 or 20 related keywords. Once you have a list of top-ranked websites, 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 very quantifiable and 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. Set up an account with one of the major PPC networks (Google, MSN, or Yahoo). Select the keywords you want to bid on and get listed for, and 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, your ad copy, and your landing page copy. To make this method 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. In most cases, there will be 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 answers to those questions is yes, then 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 form of leveraged traffic: joint ventures.

Joint ventures (JVs) give you a quick and powerful way to get traffic to your website, build your list, and make sales. It’s one of the methods I used to start and grow my online business. And it’s a key strategy for big, growing companies like Early to Rise.

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/service. In exchange, you send an e-mail to your list promoting their product/service.

Not only will you get a lot of traffic – fast – the traffic will be very responsive to your offer because it comes as the result of an endorsement from your partner (assuming you selected a good JV partner). 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.

In this article, I described five specific ways you can start driving traffic to your website and build your in-house e-list – five of the most effective methods that I have used. As you can see, I use a multi-channel approach to online marketing, and so should you.$

[Ed. Note: You can help speed your business to profitability with the traffic-building strategies Ray revealed today. And you can discover more powerful, profit-accelerating marketing channels that can take your business to new levels of success. All you have to do is join our Traffic Authority. There are limited spots (in order to make sure every member gets personal attention).]