myownbusinesses

Start a Green Manufacturing Business

2011-04-12T09:40:00.000-04:00

Good morning all I have some information on starting Green Business for all of those who have gone green and thinking about going green. This information was shared on Twitter this morning from Robin Breedon.

Let me know what cha think, it is indeed a good read as well as good opportunity for business. I enjoy reading and know about great business opportunities of every kind you never know.

Always I recommend to do your homework, read into several other publications and books. As well as checking with professional attorney, accountants, laws, etc before beginning any business ventures.

By Samuel Alexander July 2010

Organic and eco-friendly products are big business for environmentally minded entrepreneurs. A successful green business is one that benefits the environment and utilizes environmentally sound practices to distribute its products or services.

Step 1

Starting a green business is unique because the consumer base is exclusive and less concerned with price than with how your product or service contributes to the environment. There are many niche markets that are available where you can manufacture and sell green products. Cosmetics, cleaning supplies, manufacturing solar panels or halogen light bulbs, and growing organic products and foods are all expanding markets.

Step 2

Get a green seal or certification to show on your products. Apply to an organization recognized for setting eco-friendly standards, such as the U.S. Green Building Council, the Chlorine Free Products Association or the USDA National Organic Program. This label on your product, or beside your logo, will provide consumers with immediate recognition of your brand as 'eco-friendly.' It will boost sales and make and attract potential affiliates to your business.

Step 3

Team up with an industry partnership and product stewardship program. Groups like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will sponsor the production of your product if it meets their expectations. Network with eco-friendly organizations. Associate with activist groups for the environment. Focus on providing green solutions for small businesses trying to conserve energy or cut costs on supplies. Target homeowners interested in making housing renovations to capitalize on tax breaks provided by the government for more energy-efficient repairs.

Step 4

Advertise. The benefit of manufacturing green products is that there are many businesses that would like to be associated with your product. Be wary about associating your product with any publication, or advertising through any business, that might be locally known for not recycling, being wasteful, or just not being environmentally conscious. Make sure all fliers, or material used to advertise your business are recyclable or biodegradable. Don't be afraid to market your product to non-green consumers by presenting your product as a smarter alternative to the traditional form or method.

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

Discover How You Can Achieve Your ultimate Dream of Becoming a Professional Fashion Designer!

2011-04-07T13:20:00.000-04:00

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

The SECRETS to Becoming a Professional Fashion Designer!

''Discover How To Get Paid $1,000 p/week As A Professional Fashion Designer....''

Getting Started In The Fashion Industry Can Be Hard work- So Im Going to Let You in On the Professional Secrets to Getting The Killer Job You Have Always Wanted!

Within Minutes You Could End Years Of Frustration!

Another business opportunity presenatation 4 ya! look over the information. decide if this is 4 u. Let me know how it turns out!

Discover How You Can Achieve Your Ultimate Dream of Becoming a Professional Fashion Designer !!

Discover How to Draw Your Designs like a Pro!!

Get the Dream Job You've Always Wanted

Get Paid for What You Love Doing!

Start Your Very Own Fashion Line with Your Own Name!!

Hot Tips from the Pros! Learn the Fashion Industry Secrets!!

Save $$$ thousands on Fashion Course Fees!

Learn How to Start Your Own Fashion Business and Be Successful!

Trend Forecasting Tips- stay ahead of the fashion trends!

How to Find a Clothing Manufacturer to make Your Clothes!

Yes! Fashion Designers Get Paid $50-$100k A Year..

Yes its true. Fashion Designers are paid up to $100k a year. Why? Because it is hard to find good fashion talent out there. After-all, you are designing clothes for thousands of people to wear!

Yes! You Could Be The Next Successful Fashion Designer!

It doesn't matter how old you are: 14 or 40 years old- it's never to early or too late to start your fashion designing career! Yes -It's a shame for you not to make good money in this industry- when you have all the talent within you already. You just need to know how to get started!

Could Your Designs Be On This Catwalk?

You Are Born To Be A Fashion Designer If....

You spend your weekends at the mall/ shopping centre- you just LOVE fashion!

You have 'Passion' for your 'Fashion'

You have attention to detail

You are easily inspired and like being around creative and inspiring people

You have loads of ideas for clothes and accessories

You absolutely LOVE the new season trends and cant wait to get your hands on the latest new looks!

If It Has Been 'YOUR DREAM' To Become A Fashion Designer, Or Start Your Own Fashion Line- You Are In The Right Place At The Right Time!

Maybe You Could Be The Next 'Project- Runway' Winner ?

In The Fashion Industry Its Not 'What' You Know But Rather 'Who' You Know!

Annette Corrie- Director - La Mode College of Creative Industries

"With over 10 years experience in the fashion industry, I have worked as a Fashion Designer and Ladies-wear buyer and I get to travel overseas 3 times a year to Tokyo, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Sydney and L.A.

As a Professional Fashion Designer I developed a skill to be able to predict what was going to be in fashion next, and what was going to sell! Fashion isn't about how good you can draw or sketch, or how good you can sew a garment. Fashion Design is all about knowing what people want to wear and developing a garment that will sell at the right price to your customer!

Here are My Top 5 Tips for Getting Into The Fashion Industry:

1. Have Passion (for fashion)

2. Have Knowledge of new trends and emerging labels (know your competition)

3. Know what sells and what customers want to wear…

4. Be Prepared to do what it takes and work your way up

5. Know how the fashion industry and retail industry works.

I have put a fashion course together from my experience as a successful fashion designer to help fashionistas like yourself get into the industry and start their careers..

The Words 'Cannot' Or 'Impossible' Do Not Exist Because If I Can, You Can- And This E-book Manual Will Show You How!

It took me quite a few years to collate everything I have learned from the Fashion Industry- from trend research to product design- through to production....then getting your designs on the shop floor.

I have now put all of that information, into a very easy to follow steps. (I just wish that a detailed instructions like this was available when i first started out!- It would have saved me 3 years of full time study!)

'How To Become A Professional Fashion Designer E-book' Can Be Downloaded To Your Computer Instantly And Viewed At Your Own Leisure At Anytime.'

I Want You To Be Successful! So Here is some FREE BONUSES:

So To Get Started NOW And Become A Professional Fashion Designer- Order Your Copy Here...

Get Started NOW! - Only $37.00

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

100% Money Back Guarantee!

You should have absolutely no risk in ordering this manual- thats why we offer your 100% guarantee for 60 days. Simply Download it, and in the unlikely event you dont absolutely love it- you can return it for a full refund.

The 'SECRETS To Becoming A Professional Fashion Designer' Manual- Ebook:

INTRODUCTION TO FASHION

1. Introduction to the World of Fashion (pg 3)

2. Wholesale and Retail fashion: What's the Difference? (pg12)

3. The Evolution of Fashion: The Fashion Cycle: Why some trends disappear faster than others (pg5)

4. Where Trends Come From: and How to Predict the Trends ( pg 6)

5. The History of Fashion: Why does History Repeat in Fashion? (pg4)

6. Careers on Fashion- How to get the Job you Want! (pg16)

FASHION DEVELOPMENT AND DESIGN

7. How to Successfully Design a Clothing Range (pg 20)

8. Couture vs. Ready to Wear: Which one is for you? (pg 22)

9. Leading Designers: Are You the Next Big Designer? (pg 24)

10. Range Building: how you can build a successful range of clothing that sells! (pg 28)

11. How to Get Your line picked up by a Fashion Boutique or large Retailer (pg 30)

12. The Design Phase: Design Considerations : what MUST you know when designing your range?(pg 31)

13. Fashion Forecasting: How to be in 'style' at the right moment! ( pg 18)

14. The Fashion Calender: what trade shows are on and where? (pg 19)

15. How to Get Your Designs Made ( pg 40)

16. How to find your successful money making niche! (pg 46)

FASHION BUSINESS

18. How to start your own Fashion Label- Successfully! ( pg 48)

19. 8 STEPS to Starting a Business ( pg 52)

20. Raising Start Up Capital- How to get the loan for starting your range.. (pg 56)

21. Government Grants (pg 58)

22. Tips For Success (pg 60)

23. What you need to know before you go into business! ( pg 60)

24. Trade Shows: where can you sell your clothes to buyers? ( pg 62)

25. How to Write a Business Plan (pg 63)

''This is the Best Place To Start When Considering to Be a Fashion Designer...''

"What a great fashion manual- ebook! '' I Loved the Fashion Exercises at the end of Every Chapter- it really got me thinking, and developed my skills- plus I can use them for job interviews! I would Highly recommend this fashion manual to anyone interested in learning the ins and outs of the fashion design world! Kristie Trimm- USA.

''I Would Recommend This Manual To Anyone!''

As a fashion enthusiast, I have been following fashion trends and this course really helped me to understand the differences between them. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is thinking about taking a career in fashion, as well as those who wanted to get a job in the fashion industry.'' Bernadette Guadiz- USA.

''This Book Has Allowed Me To Sell My Designs On-Line!''

The outcome of reading this manual is that I am now selling my designs at the local markets, and have recently started my own on-line store selling my creations!'' Jazmine- UK.

STOP!! Before You Register For Fashion School Why Don't You Learn Everything You Need To Know From A Professional Fashion Designer?

Many Fashion Schools are charging up to $1,200 for the information that I have included in this e-book. Yes, that means that you are getting the 'creme de le creme'!! I have kept the price as low as possible to make it affordable for young students, as I am passionate about sharing my knowledge of the industry with others!!

100% Money Back Guarantee! I Want To Help You By Making It Affordable To Become A Fashion Designer.

Like I said earlier, Many Fashion Schools are charging up to $1,200 for the information that I have included in this book. I Believe that this information should be available to people just like you who may not have the thousands to go to fashion school, SO I AM OFFERING YOU an UNBELIEVEABLE PRICE that EVERYONE CAN AFFORD- A Special Price that no matter how broke you are, you can afford to start your dreams of Becoming a Fashion Designer!! Afterall Dreams are Priceless!! This is why I am Offering an Incredible Deal, and I am Giving the priceless info away to you for ONLY $37.00!!!! (The Value of the Book is $99.00, AND You get 4 Free Books as well!!)

Save Your Parents Thousands on College Fees!

Even if you did have the money to pay thousands to Study Fashion at College, It makes sense that before you register into a Fashion School, that you learn everything you need to know for a fraction of the Cost!! That way you wont be wasting thousands on college fees, and you'll save your parents thousands too!! (Maybe you could get them to invest the college fees you'll save into your first collection?!!!)

(Please Note: just because this fashion book is cheap- it is NOT lesser quality. It has amazing insider tips and relevant fashion industry knowledge that will keep you ahead of the crowd. It has quality information about how to become a fashion designer step-by-step. This Fashion book has got the same high quality standards as the content of many other fashion courses out there.)

There Are LIMITED Copies Available- Due To CRAZY PRICING- ONLY $37.00!!

Because I am providing exceptional value for money, and Im practically giving away professional design secrets for nothing, I wont be selling this book to anyone and everyone. I dont want too many people to get this info, otherwise there will be more competition for everyone- I dont want you to be competing for jobs with 10 other people who have read this same book!! (I want to give YOU the advantage!! ) ( If you're serious about becoming a designer and want to be one of the SELECT few that have access to such PRIVILEDGED 'Fashion Design Secrets', don't hold back- get your copy now, before too many more people come across this site and beat you too it!

ORDER YOUR COPY NOW- To Get This Free 'Fashion Templates E- Book' So That You Can Draw Your Designs Professionally!

Get Started NOW! - Only $37.00

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

NOTE: We use ClickBank and Paypal services to process all orders. ClickBank and Paypal utilizes the strongest security and anti-fraud features available on the Internet and never stores your financial data on their system! They are approved by the Better Business Bureau.

Are You Afraid That You'll Never Find a Job That You Truely Love And That You Are Passionate About?

Well You Too Can Become A Famous Fashion Designer And Achieve Your Dreams! Discover The Secrets That Will Ensure Your Success....

Why not knowing how to predict Fashion Trends can send you Broke!

RIGHT and WRONG fashion designing methods

Little mistakes that keep budding Fashion Designers Poor

Why some Fashion designers are successful and others aren't

Why not knowing how to predict Fashion Trends can send you Broke!

Learn How to Draw Your Designs within Minutes- Nail a Fashion Job!

Here Are Some More Reasons To Order This Fashion Manual...

There is a job out there that you can get paid to design Clothes. And yes you don’t have to go to College or university for it. Actually most fashion designers haven’t even studied fashion, or have a degree!

What makes us unique is that this course is written by a REAL fashion designer who successful had her designs in Department stores around the country.

Real Fashion Industry Secrets that the professionals don’t want you to know about!

the MUST KNOW know things that a fashion designer needs to be successful

How to design a Successful Range.

What magazines you MUST read for the latest fashion goss and trends!

You can learn how to be a fashion designer from your own home! No boring classes to attend. You can fit in your study at your own pace.

No assignments to hand in. Only relevant information.

No high college fees, or College dept to pay off!

Tax deductable

STUDY at HOME in Your own time. There are no physical classes to attend.

More From Others Who Have Read This Fashion Manual-E-book:

Yes You Can Become a Fashion Designer! All You Need Is Someone In Your Corner ... To Guide You Step-By-Step!

Q 1: IS THIS A FASHION MANUAL OR A BOOK?

A. Well, its actually an electronic version of a manual, also called an E-book. The content in this Ebook is so comprehensive, that it could be referred to as a course. There is even activities in this ebook that are similar to activities that a fashion course would include. So think of it as having the opportunity to get 'fashion course' content , jammed into a Fast-Track Fashion E-book. You dont need to spend thousands of dollars or years of sitting through classes at a Fashion School to learn the ins and outs of the industry- you can learn everything to get started right here and now!

Q 2: WHAT'S AN E-BOOK?

A. An E-book is an electronic version of a paper book or manual. The advantage is that it can be downloaded straight to your computer, laptop or IPad, and can be viewed at any time. It is a special digital format that allows easy reading, and you can save it to your computer so you can refer back to it at anytime.

An Ebook saves you time waiting for delivery in the post, and it also helps save the environment, by reducing the amount of paper used. Of Course if you need to print out the e-book for any reason, you can easily do this by printing it out on your own home printer with a touch of a button

Q 3: HOW LARGE IS THE E-BOOK?

A. The Fashion Design Manual E-book is A4 in size, and 65 pages in length. The Bonus Ebooks range from 15-40 pages each in length. The Ebook is in Full-Colour and Includes Pictures, Graphics and Examples. The E-book is in PDF file format, ready for instant download to your computer.

Q 4: ARE THERE ANY ASSIGNMENTS TO DO?

A. Whilst there isn't assignments to do as such, there are fun and exciting activities at the end of each section of the E-book Manual to test your knowledge of the fashion industry, and help you build a portfolio of examples of your work that can help you be successful in a job interview.

Q 5: WHAT IF I HAVE QUESTIONS AFTER I HAVE DOWNLOADED AND PAID FOR THE EBOOK?

A. You are very welcome to ask as many questions about the Ebook content and the Bonuses as you like. You can drop us an email at: info@becomeafashionbuyer.com. I am happy to help you in anyway I can to be successful in your new career!

I Want You To Love This Fashion Manual E- Book!

Remember- You should have absolutely no risk in ordering this manual- thats why we offer your 100% guarantee for 60 days. Simply Download it, and If you don't find it helpful to you- you can return it for a full refund. Of course I would value your feedback - so that I can make this fashion manual even better!

Imagine How Jealous Your Friends Will Be When You Start to Become a Real Fashion Designer! ORDER NOW BEFORE YOU MISS OUT!!

HERE IS YOUR FINAL CHANCE TO ORDER:

Get Started NOW! - Only $37.00

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

Pay with Pay Pal

'You need to have creative vision and the desire to succeed' Coco Chanel

For Further enquiries, Please contact me at: info@becomeafashionbuyer.com

7 Secrets of Slim People

2011-04-05T10:37:00.000-04:00

7 Secrets of Slim People A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

Investor Spring Cleaning 2011 - Special Report - CNBC

2011-04-02T14:39:00.000-04:00

Investor Spring Cleaning 2011 - Special Report - CNBC

Dentist visit and discount

2011-03-09T12:25:00.000-05:00

www.nulegacyrxcard.com/mcqueend

Went to the dentist this week, you know wasn't a picnic, one great thing was getting a major discount on my prescriptions afterwards. You too can get discounts on your or your love ones prescriptions.

I provide the website to download the discount card.

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

Prescription Business/cutting cost

2011-02-26T12:43:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone:

I know sometime prescription cost can be overwhelming. I know that people need presciption filled to treated every condition to mind, body and skin.

I decide to share this opportunity to help assist with prescription cost with this new business, that I have joined.

Check the website out and let me know what you think and if you fulfill prescription or some one in your family or significant other can use, by all means down low the coupon and take it to your Pharmacy.

Note this service is not available in Kansas. Be sure to go to www.nulegacyrxcard.com/mcqueend to look at my new business and website to help others with the cost of prescriptions.

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

nicki minaj

2011-02-12T12:48:00.000-05:00

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A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

How To Spot the Internet Marketing Scams

2011-02-06T15:34:00.000-05:00

How To Spot The Internet Marketing Scams

Posted on February 6, 2011 by soren

Today we’re going to talk about how you can spot the many scams that are running rampant in the internet marketing world, and how you can avoid being sucked in. As I mentioned in the last post, this is all part of our little crusade and the preparation for the new version of IM Success Formula.

A few comments on the last post asked me to name and shame people… I won’t do that though. Not because I don’t dare, but because it defies the purpose of this lesson. If I gave you a list of names to avoid, it would just give you false security… what about the hundreds of bad products I didn’t name (products not even launched yet)? … What I want to do is give you an understanding of how the market is today and how you can weed out the bad stuff whenever you see it.

You’ve seen the countless number of scammy products released last year (and a stunning amount already in January this year) – You know what I’m talking about… the blind sales letters promising you thousands of dollars at the click of a mouse, without telling you anything about what you are actually buying.

This all started with the recession hitting and for good reason… Suddenly there were (and still are) millions of people all over the world losing their jobs, losing their houses, not able to make their car payments etc. In other words a lot of people who desperately need to make some extra cash right now! People who are new to IM – they don’t want to buy information, scripts or tools, they want to buy HOPE. But it’s not only the newbies who get sucked in, a lot of more seasoned marketers have fallen for the BS too – some of these products have sold over 40,000 copies! Of course the more shady side of internet marketing caught on fast and…

Here’s How The Scumbags Operate…

■They launch product after product (usually only months apart, if that), because none of their stuff is actually sustainable. They don’t make money from their “teachings”, they need the product launches.

■They cater to negative emotions like desperation and frustration, offering hope and dreams

■The systems they sell do not work. These guys sit around masterminding what you would buy – then they create the whole sales process… only then do they “create” some random junk product to justify the rip off.

■The “product” only has to good enough to avoid too many refunds – but in fact they are counting on the vast majority of customers to never use it. The product is an afterthought in this process!

■They don’t use these “systems” themselves – all the Clickbank income shots on their sales page are from their other launches.

■The product you purchase is just a teaser. It is designed to be just enough for you to grasp the concept, but leaving you unable to apply it, unless you buy the upsells.

■The product is priced low (usually $37). In itself is not a bad thing, but in this case it’s all about sucking as many people in to the upsells as possible.

■They will usually also have a gazillion exit pop ups, offering you the exact same product at increasing discounts.

■And the list goes on… but this is already getting too depressing

A Word On Automation

Overly simplified you can say that, in order to make money online you need: a website that takes orders and you need traffic to that website. Both sides of that equation can be automated to some degree.

You can buy ready-made websites, site builders etc. to get a site – and you can have traffic software that automatically submits to say articles sites. In both cases it’s rarely 100% automated though, there’s still some setting up or writing of articles. But if a product promises to automate one of the things (site or traffic), it’s not necessarily evil. There are very good products out there that can do this (or at least make your task a whole lot easier). The shit hits the proverbial fan when a product promises you to automate everything.

Let me be honest with you here… If I ever developed a system that would automate both traffic and site/selling (and I’m still trying) – I wouldn’t sell it, ever! If I could press a button and make thousands, I would keep pressing that button instead of worrying about a product launch.

Here’s an example, we have a product called Clickbank Pirate. It automates the selling side of things, but you have to drive the traffic. If we could do both (with traffic in sufficient numbers) there would be no reason for us to sell that. But in this case we need people to drive traffic, and they need our system to monetize their traffic.

Bottomline… beware of people telling you that everything is automated and works with the click of a mouse. Such a system does not exist – and if it does… it doesn’t work!

How To Spot The Bad “Products

This is fortunately very easy, when you apply some of the logic we spoke about in the last post. Here are the tell-tale warning signs to look for:

■The sales copy is completely blind – meaning it does not tell you what the product actually is.

■Instead it tells you everything it’s not, or what you don’t have to do (without mentioning what you have to do).

■There’s usually some fake scarcity tactic – with only 300 copies available (all the while they are mailing their JV partners gloating about 2000 copies sold in the first hour)

■The copy is filled with income “proof” – endless amounts of screenshots that aren’t created by the product they are selling (just proof of their success as product launchers or image thieves).

■You see the same guy launching a product month after month. If their shit worked he wouldn’t have to (note that there are exceptions to this rule, some very prolific marketers churn out a lot of good stuff)

■It promises income without work. Click a few buttons, exploit this loophole etc.

There’s an old saying: “if it’s too good to be true, it usually is” and that is 100% correct. And let me add to that: “if you don’t know what you a buying, then don’t press the bloody order button!”

Hype Is Not Always Bad

Don’t get me wrong, this is marketing and we’re all marketers. We’re supposed to sell stuff (and make our wares look appealing). There’s nothing wrong with hype and clever marketing, done right! The key is to actually have a good product that works and to be honest in your sales pitch – then you can gloss it up as much as you like (and in fact you should).

Just think of shampoo commercials… A bottle of expensive designer shampoo is not going to make me a supermodel, but damn it, it will wash my hair… without the need to buy the upsell. In this case the upsell would be the conditioner, which compliments and enhances the shampoo, but is not needed to make it work. And they never actually promise to make you a supermodel, they just happen to have pretty people on the telly

On the other hand… You can dress up a turd as much as you like, but it’s still just a turd.

Clickbank Pirate As An Example

If we look at Clickbank Pirate again you’ll notice a few things that separate our sales copy from the scumbag’s.

■It clearly tells you what you are buying, what you get, and gives details about the various components.

■It tells you what you don’t have to do, what is automated – but more importantly it does tell you what YOU have to do, in this case drive the traffic.

■The income proof on the site is actually real – in fact none of these scumbags would ever consider using screenshots like that.

■What do you think about the criteria and examples I used above

■Have you been burned by any of these scams, have you learned from it

■Got anything to add, better ways to spot and filter out the crap?

■Anything at all – we want your feedback

Yes it’s hyped up – but the hype is backed by a solid product. I’m not saying this to get you to rush and buy it – more to illustrate the difference in marketing. But with a product like Clickbank Pirate you have the ability to see what you are getting and then make an informed decision whether your need it or not… With one of the scammy products you don’t have that ability and they are banking on the fact that you have to buy it to know what’s in it!

Another Example

Dylan Loh, Edmund Loh and Tony Sanders recently launched a new product called Clickbank Gamers – a very good product, about cashing in on a very hot niche.

When you look at the sales page for Clickbank Gamers you’ll notice that, at first glance, it looks a lot like the scammy products mentioned above. They have clearly opted to follow a template and price point, that has been proven to work (albeit mostly for scammy stuff), and you can’t really blame them for doing it that way.

But if you actually look at the sales page you’ll notice that the copy is not blind, they tell you exactly what you are buying. And they don’t use BS tactics like fake scarcity, discount pop ups etc. I happen to know that the proof on the page is very real too – that is screen shots of Tony’s various accounts and stats (from selling in this niche).

Anyway… Just wanted to show you that even though a product that “looks” like some of the scammy one, it can be a great product. It is not enough to look at the site “template” – you have to read the page to be sure. But remember the golden rule: “if they don’t tell you what you are buying – run away fast!”

I also wanted to get this point across… You should not stop buying products altogether. If you want to run an internet marketing business, you need knowledge, information, scripts and tools (there’s no way around that); but I want you to start thinking about what you buy…

Stop Buying This Stuff!

We’ve now armed you with some knowledge and tools that will help you avoid some of the crap out there. But here’s the thing.

Last time I checked it was NOT illegal to sell a sub-par product, and you have to be really bad to be shut down for misleading advertising (they government has no way of effectively policing that online anyway). And the capitalist inside me can blame the scam peddlers, they are filling a “want” in the market and it’s not that different from some of the other weird stuff people waste their money on.

Fact is that as long as it’s profitable to launch these crappy products, people will keep launching them. The only way we can rid internet marketing of this cancer… is if you stop buying the products!

Use the logic I talked about in last post, combined with the lessons here today and start voting with your mouse fingers, don’t buy into the scams. And tell your friends to do the same, it’s the only way we can change this.

This post is already getting way too long, so I’d better turn it over to you…

It’s Your Turn Now – And We Need Your Help

1. Take the time to Share this post using the button below – tweet it, Facebook it, let your friends know etc.

2. Click on the banner below to grab a free copy of the “Affiliate Mastery & Traffic Training Videos”. This will also get you on the notification list for new blog posts and ultimately for the release of the new IM Success Formula.

3. And finally please post your comments below – we want to know:

That’s it for now, we’ll be back soon with the next post… Thanks for reading

- Soren Jordansen, John Merrick & Cindy Battye

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

Venus Williams on How to Make Smart Decisions for Your Brand

2010-10-29T10:22:00.000-04:00

BlackEnterprise
Article by: Tomika Anderson

This is a powerpack article featuring Tennis Star Venus Williams it is a must read for all those entrepreneur who are inspire to build a name brand.

If you think tennis icon Venus Williams is a force to be reckoned with on the court, just peep her game off of it. This year alone the three-time Olympic gold-medalist released her first book, Come To Win (co-authored with Kelly E. Carter), which scored number five on the New York Times bestsellers list; debuted her own videogame, Venus: The Case of the Grand Slam Queen; and teamed up with EA Sports to launch an innovative new fitness program. Consider Williams’ already mile-long list of entrepreneurial achievements—including her interior design firm, V Starr Designs; fashion line, EleVen; and part-ownership of the Miami Dolphins—and she is easily one of the most successful African American sports/businesswomen on the planet.

But the multitasking “Queen of Wimbledon," who UNESCO recently named global “Promoter of Gender Equality,” didn’t push her brand to the forefront by being one of those celebrities who leaps at the first business opportunity to present itself. Williams tells BlackEnterprise.com that she attributes her stellar track record to her parents’ mentorship and the three guiding principles that inform any decision she makes.

“The first is preparation,” says the recent fashion design school graduate, who joined forces with former retailer Steve & Barry's in 2007 to establish the largest clothing line ever launched by a female athlete. “How prepared am I to do this and do it well?” she says. “I [want to] be the best—whether that’s the best in the world or my personal best.”

Another major factor Williams considers is how established and reliable her business partners are. “It’s important to surround yourself with people you can trust,” shares the 30-year-old world champion, whose historic 2000 deal with sneaker giant Reebok for a record $40 million—at the time the most lucrative endorsement deal ever for a female athlete—underlies her point. “Your partners have to share your vision,” she continues. “Plus the kind of relationship you have with them depends on who you are as a person. If you’re untrustworthy, you won’t have good things gravitate toward you.”

The third rule, Williams says, is to pick projects that appeal to her inner child. “I do things I enjoy,” she says simply. The tennis titan, along with sister Serena, became the first African American females to buy a share of an NFL franchise in 2009 when they invested in the Miami Dolphins. “Between [football, my other business ventures], tennis and charity work,” she says, referring to her work with The Owl Foundation Tennis Challenge and other philanthropic endeavors, “I’m living my dreams!”

But nothing, perhaps, has been more fun for Venus than developing her own videogame and being named global brand ambassador for EA Sports Active 2 earlier this month. “I’ve partnered with [EA Sports] to help people live healthier lives,” explains Williams, who last year was named one of the "Top 100 Most Powerful Celebrities" by Forbes magazine. “I do all the workouts you see in the program—the squats, jumps and other moves,” she says of the interactive game, available on Xbox, Playstation 3 and Wii. “It’s a new way of helping people get fit. You don’t have to go to the gym. You don’t have to count calories. You just have to be willing to get up and move. And helping other people reach their highest potential is always fun for me.”

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

7 Spending Tips From Frugal Billionaires

2010-09-15T14:54:00.000-04:00

7 Spending Tips From Frugal Billionaires

by Jean Folger

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Carlos Slim Helu (Carlos Slim), a telecom tycoon and billionaire with well-known frugal tendencies, has a net worth of $60.6 billion, according to Forbes. Assuming no changes in his net worth, he could spend $1,150 a minute for the next 100 years before he ran out of money. To put this in perspective, he could spend in 13 minutes what a minimum-wage earner brings home after an entire year of the daily grind.

Granted, the world's billionaires (all 1,011 of them) are in the debatably enviable position of having, quite literally, more money than they can possibly spend, yet some are still living well below their means, and save money in surprising places. Even non-billionaires (currently 6,864,605,142 of us) can partake in these seven spending tips from frugal billionaires:

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1. Keep Your Home Simple

Billionaires can afford to live in the most exclusive mansions imaginable -- and many do, including Bill Gates' sprawling 66,000 square foot, $147.5 million dollar mansion in Medina, Wash. -- yet frugal billionaires like Warren Buffett choose to keep it simple. Buffett still lives in the five-bedroom house in Omaha that he purchased in 1957 for $31,500. Likewise, Carlos Slim has lived in the same house for more than 40 years.

2. Use Self-Powered or Public Transportation

Thrifty billionaires including John Caudwell, David Cheriton and Chuck Feeney prefer to walk, bike or use public transportation when getting around town. Certainly these wealthy individuals could afford to take a helicopter to their lunch meetings, or ride in chauffeur-driven Bentleys, but they choose to get a little exercise and take advantage of public transportation instead. Good for the bank account and great for the environment.

3. Buy Your Clothes off the Rack

While some people, regardless of their net value, place a huge emphasis on wearing designer clothes and shoes, some frugal billionaires decide it's simply not worth the effort, or expense. You can find David Cheriton, the Stanford professor who matched Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page to the venture capitalists at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers (resulting in a large reward of Google stock), wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of the furniture company Ikea, avoids wearing suits, and John Caudwell, mobile phone mogul, buys his clothes off the rack instead of spending his wealth on designer clothes.

4. Keep your Scissors Sharp

The average haircut costs about $45, but people can and do spend up to $800 per cut and style. Multiply that by 8.6 (to account for a cut every six weeks) and it adds up to $7,200 per year, not including tips. These billionaires can certainly afford the most stylish haircuts, buy many cannot be bothered by the time it takes or the high price tag for the posh salons. Billionaires like John Caudwell and David Cheriton opt for cutting their own hair at home.

[Stock Picks From the World's Greatest Investors]

5. Drive a Regular Car

While billionaires like Larry Ellison (co-founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation) enjoy spending millions on cars, boats and planes, others remain low key with their vehicles of choice. Jim Walton (of the Wal-Mart clan) drives a 15-year-old pickup truck. Azim Premji, an Indian business tycoon, reportedly drives a Toyota Corolla. And Ingvar Kamprad of Ikea drives a 10-year-old Volvo. The idea is to buy a dependable car, and drive it into the ground. No need for a different car each day of the week for these frugal billionaires.

6. Skip Luxury Items

It may surprise some of us, but the world's wealthiest person, Carlos Slim (the one who could spend more than a thousand dollars a minute and not run out of money for one hundred years) does not own a yacht or a plane. (Reducing the amount you spend is the easiest way to make your money grow.)

Many other billionaires have chosen to skip these luxury items. Warren Buffett also avoids these lavish material items, stating, "Most toys are just a pain in the neck."

What We Can Learn

Some of the world's billionaires have frugal tendencies. Perhaps this thrifty nature even helped them make some of their money. Regardless, they have chosen to avoid some unnecessary spending (at least on their scale) and the 6,864,605,142 non-billionaires out there can follow suit, eliminating excessive, keep-up-with-the-Jones style spending. No matter what a person's income bracket is, most can usually find a way to cut back on frivolous spending, just like a few frugal billionaires.

___

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

The world'syoungest Airline owner

2010-09-02T14:16:00.000-04:00

I've always had entrepreneur in my blood since a child, I didn't connect with it the entrepreneur spirit until way in my adulthood. Better late then never right. Read this amazing story of 17 year old owning an Airline called HIAir.

Meet Joseph Hayat, the world's youngest airline owner. At 17, he recently launched HIAir, his own airline charter company in England, providing a bespoke service to customers (though he has yet to have a paying customer fly his airline), according to the BBC.

He is the youngest person ever to start an airline (Richard Branson started Virgin Atlantic at 34). Not only that, but he started an IT consultancy with a classmate last year.

He told the BBC that "anyone could do it, whatever their age is."

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

Rev Al Sharpton on MSNBC 11:00a.m Eastern STandard Time

2010-08-20T11:21:00.000-04:00

Tune in live at 11 10 AM EST to MSNBC this morning. I will be discussing some current issues.

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

How can i manage a bongus internet review that's harming my business

2010-08-20T11:02:00.000-04:00

How can I manage a bogus internet review that's harming my business?

My veterinary hospital performs humane euthanasias for a local municipality. While this is sad, sometimes it is necessary and it is legal. A local dog rescue group has posted false reviews online about my business.

Asked by Loramiller

Posted: Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Found in Advertising & PR

More answers by Michael Kaleikini Answer by Michael Kaleikini

First off, if you truly wish to erase the awful comments that are being made, you may wish to invest in a paid listing on the reviews site for a couple reasons:

1. You'll be able to find the people that you are looking for.

2. You will have a paid listing for your business that could get you more good exposure and it may help get your rankings up in the search engines.

So here are a couple thoughts I have about this as I have had to deal with issues of this nature in the past with a couple of former clients.

If you are worried about getting rid of a bad review that someone has written on the bathroom wall, you're wasting your time. It's not coming off no matter what the cost. Once something has been indexed the only way to get it out of sight is to write article after article that promotes your business using the same keywords they are using to harass your business.

Let's face it, the internet is the easiest place to throw up anything you want in regards to a business. We actually had to hire writers to help create a ton of articles to stay ahead of the people that were trying to bang up my clients. It was nerve racking, but we got it done over a period of about six months. It may be much easier to just ignore it, and allow people to come see for themselves how it is humane and how you help animals legally find peace when necessary.

Another thing you can do is launch a PR campaign that will allow your story to get out on the news and into your community. Make sure you get a copy of it and post it to YouTube.

One more thing, I understand your concern, but sometimes this type of publicity makes more for opportunity than hardship. Look at this is for what it is. A mere smear campaign that won't really affect the smart, especially when you educate them with the truth.

Michael H Kaleikini is a business development consultant and VP of Marketing and Business development with Corporate Rain Makers, LLC in Las Vegas, Nev.

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

Michael Baisden Update

2010-08-20T10:14:00.002-04:00

Twitter fans be sure to post on baisdenlive on FB and tell all your friends we're doing some serious networking on Facebook and twitter

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

President Obama

2010-08-20T10:13:00.000-04:00

Information from the Commander in Chief President Obama check it out the link for further information.

Let’s put aside partisanship and work together for small businesses, employees, and the communities that depend on them. http://j.mp/dot0uc

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

How Sweet It Is

2010-08-18T09:32:00.000-04:00

What a very sweet business story, you must read from Black Entreprise Magazine by Alfred Edmond Jr feature with Angelique Westerfield interviewing . Andra Hall, founder and co-owner, along with husband Curtis Hall, of CamiCakes.

Not just a typical story of someone in a dead-end job needing another chapter in their lives. But a husband and wife who's daughter needs brought about a new chapter in their lives.

How Sweet It Is

A health hardship leads to cupcake commerce

Black Entreprise Magazine
Written By:Alfred Edmond Jr.

This week on The Urban Business Roundtable, UBR Contributor Angelique Westerfield speaks with Andra Hall, founder and co-owner, along with husband Curtis Hall, of CamiCakes, a baked-goods company that generated $1.1 million in revenues in 2009. With locations in Orange Park, Fla.; Jacksonville, Fla; and Atlanta, Hall shares how she launched her business while working the graveyard shift at a local hotel.

For Andra Hall, entrepreneurship was a matter of medical necessity. In 2004, her 1-year-old daughter underwent a string of surgeries to correct a severe case of sleep apnea. “I did major soul-searching to come up with something that would be flexible enough to let me be there when Camille needed me,” she recalls.

Settling on her longtime interest in baking, Hall created a business plan and by 2006, she and her husband, Curtis, refinanced their house to obtain the $40,000 they needed to launch CamiCakes Cupcakes (www.camicakes.com; 404-748-4288). The money allowed them to buy secondhand equipment, create marketing materials, and put down a security deposit on the Orange Park, Florida, space they would rent.

In 2008, another store opened in Jacksonville, Florida, and a third store the following year in Atlanta. CamiCakes, named for the couple’s daughter, generated $1.1 million in revenues in 2009 and anticipates $2 million by year-end. But Hall’s path to business ownership wasn’t all sweet.

With 18 cupcake flavors—the most popular being red velvet, sweet potato, and carrot cake—CamiCakes’ rapid growth was one of Hall’s greatest challenges.

The baking began each day at 6 a.m., and the doors were open to customers from 10:30 a.m. until 9 p.m. When she opened the Georgia store, Hall drove the 350 miles between there and the Florida stores to oversee the baking and customer service in each store and handle all the paperwork. “I was just doing too much,” the 38-year-old recalls. “And then I got really, really sick and was down for more than two weeks.”

At that point, Hall knew she had to come up with a way to make sure each store could run without her constant attention. First, over the course of two months, she created a manual of operations so each store would have the same written standard operating procedures ranging from the recipes used to the steps to take if a register went down. “I’m more of a do er, so it was a challenge to have to stop and make sure everything was clearly documented for other people to understand,” Hall says.

Next, she chose one store to focus most of her energy on. Because Atlanta was the biggest market and the store there was the most profitable, Hall moved her family there and established it as CamiCakes’ headquarters. The third step, loosening the reins, was the hardest. Hall made the transition somewhat easier by hiring from within rather than seeking outsiders to manage the Florida stores. “I had faith that they could do the job,” she says.

Even with delegating some of the work, Hall has a lot to keep her occupied. She balances raising a now healthy 6-year-old Camille with managing her growing empire. By fall, she will launch a van that travels to festivals, parties, and conferences. Besides bringing the cupcakes to where the crowds are, it will give CamiCakes another mode of advertising and should increase in-store sales by at least 10%. “A store, excluding salaries, for us is about $7,000 or $8,000 a month,” she adds about the savings in overhead.

Hall is also scouting out other cities in the Southeast to expand the 30-employee firm. But no matter how much success she experiences, Hall says nothing is better than spending her days doing something she loves. “Being able to make a living from it is just the cherry on top.”

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

How to get a Green E-Business Off the Ground

2010-08-18T09:15:00.000-04:00

Just when you thought of all the businesses you can start or go into how about a Green E-business, Steffany from Entrepreneur Magazine offers lots information on starting an Green E-Business.

How to Get a Green E-Business Off the Ground

The keys are market research, a suitable partner and a reliable website.
Entrepreneur Magazine

By: Steffany Boldrini
08/15/2010

If you're thinking about starting a green e-business, the first thing I'd ask is: Are you really passionate about this way of life? Because if you're just doing it for the hype, you won't get very far. I constantly see companies "greenwashing," saying they're "green" when they're pretty much "black." This catches up with them sooner than they think.

Now that we're clear about that, let's get to the fun part: starting your green e-business. I launched EcoBold.com about seven months ago, when I posted my first video review of a green product. But I had been working on it for at least a couple of years from idea to launch. I expect to be profitable by the end of the year, through selling the products I review at a small profit, and charging companies that want to reach green-oriented buyers.

My initial idea (accompanied by a full-blown business plan) was to be the Amazon.com of green products. But it wasn't so easy: I searched for a partner who could do the website coding, but I couldn't find anyone as driven, hard-working and passionate about the subject as I was. When I thought I had found someone, he ultimately chose a different path. I didn't give up: I just shifted my focus to what I could do on my own.

Here's what I've learned about starting a green e-business and how to make your dream become a reality.

1.Market research. The first thing you'll have to do is conduct market research for the kind of service or product you're thinking of providing. Beware, ladies--there are many, many handbag, clothing and skin-care resellers out there already; these industries are currently oversaturated, even in the green world.

What you need to do is find a niche. Right now there are many opportunities and untapped markets, so your imagination can run wild. I recently came across a company that's making 100 percent natural and safe pesticides, and the product is already being sold at Home Depot and Walmart. It's the only safe pesticide I've seen to date.

Here are some additional ideas: What do you use right now that could be made with bamboo? Or with biodegradable materials? How about hemp, or recycled bottles? These are all sustainable materials that can be used to make exotic and eco-friendly new products.

If fashion or personal care is truly your passion, find something that hasn't been done before or where you'd have very few competitors. For example: I've never seen a bikini made out of recycled materials or a nail polish that's 100 percent safe.

2.Look for a partner. Before I started my business, I looked everywhere: high-tech meet-ups, green conferences, Craigslist and college competitions. I met with more than 25 people, and none of them felt like a good fit. As exhausting as the search is, you have to be as picky as you'd be marrying someone, because you'll likely be spending a lot more time with your business partner than with your significant other. And unless you have thousands of dollars to pay employees, you'll need to share the load with someone. There are so many things you'll be doing. I'm still looking for a partner because I truly believe it's essential to get your business to great places.

3.Hire someone to build your website. Make sure you know exactly what you want, where you want it, and what you want to happen when visitors click a link. If you have friends who can recommend someone reliable and inexpensive, that's ideal and will save you a lot of time. If not, you can post your job on Craigslist, Odesk.com and vWorker.com.

Make sure your ad states exactly what you want, and ask for a quote. I got quotes ranging from $200 to $5,000. Yes, I went with the $200, and everything I wanted was done. One last thing--if you can manage to work with someone here in the United States, I'd strongly recommend that. I've worked with people outside of the country, and the language barrier and time differences cost me a lot more than I thought they would. It wasn't worth it.

Now it's time to launch. Here are the first things I did when I launched:

1.Send all friends a personalized e-mail telling them what you're doing and asking them to support you and subscribe, and "Digg" it, Facebook it or tweet it.

2.Create a Facebook fan page (for a guide on how to create a page, watch this video), and invite all your friends to join.

3.Create a Twitter account and start following and interacting with people in the industry. An easy way to find them is to search for who's talking about green. You can find out through this site.

4.Send all of your other contacts a personalized e-mail (at the least, include their first name in the e-mail).

5.Start contacting people in the industry and get them talking about your website. Google "top 100 green blogs" and e-mail every one of them; try to find the reporter's contact information instead of sending an e-mail through the blog's "contact us" form.

6.Contact local journalists and radio stations and tell them how your site will be beneficial to their readers or listeners.

7.Contact companies that might be interested in your product or service. One of my favorite resources is the Green Festival. Find one near you and connect with the vendors there. You might even want to have a booth if you have the funds. You can also share a booth with another company and split the cost. One last hint: If you're in the San Francisco area, the best time to have a booth is at the November event.

With time, you'll see that you have too many things to juggle as an entrepreneur, and you need help. The problem will be money to pay for it. My solution has been to post offers for nonpaid internships at local colleges. That doesn't mean an intern will be your personal secretary. You have to be a teacher; you have to guide the intern and be a mentor to him or her. The current economy means it's a good time to find great interns.

A few last thoughts:

Remember that your biggest problem can become your biggest asset. Just hang in there and look for a solution. I searched for a partner for more than a year until I realized I just couldn't wait for a "marriageable" partner. That's when I came up with the idea of doing video reviews.

I researched the idea and realized no one else was doing it. So I found a student who was willing to shoot the reviews. I requested samples from the companies I'd been researching for the previous two years, and we shot about 20 reviews in a couple of weeks. When the videos somehow disappeared from the student's camera, I shed a few tears, then realized I had to buy my own camera equipment and learn how to edit. My website became a bigger success than it probably would have had I stuck with my original idea of simply providing a written description to sell the products.

First lesson learned: If there's a will, there's a way.

EcoBold is only a few months old, but it has come a long way from that first video. Recently, we launched green coupons. Since we're on track to become profitable by the end of the year, maybe one day we will become the Amazon.com of green products.

Steffany Boldrini is the founder of EcoBold.com, which does video reviews of green products and interviews green manufacturers. Boldrini's goal is to make all green products affordable for everyone.

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

Victor Hansen Self Publishing

2010-08-18T09:04:00.000-04:00

Ever thought about going into self-publishing? I know I have in fact have heard great testimonies from self-publishing authors. Mark Victor Hensen offers some great advice to we inspired self-publish authors to be. Take a good read very helpful, encouraging and enlighting.

Self-Publishing

By Mark Victor Hansen
America Ambassador of Possibly

One of the biggest challenges a self-published author faces is generating awareness and demand for their books. This struggle is not unlike the struggle that many businesses are facing today. Chicken Soup for the Soul was born from humble beginnings as a self-published book. Jack Canfield and I had big dreams for our collection of inspirational and uplifting stories, but unfortunately, we didn't have a very big budget. It took two years for the first Chicken Soup for the Soul book to reach the best-seller list. Because it was self-published, Jack and I had to be very creative, innovative, and effective in how we marketed. Our families were depending on us, and we couldn't afford to fail.

During those two years we experimented with many different forms of marketing and advertising. These are the top 3 techniques that we used to attract the demand necessary to transform our humble self-published book into a dominating million-dollar business empire:

We spoke-up: Jack and I were both (and still are) professional speakers and always used Chicken Soup for the Soul stories during our talks to warm up the crowd and reinforce our lessons. After our talks were over, we would always hear the crowd buzzing about how great the stories were. Even if you aren't a professional speaker, you can utilize this subtle, yet powerful approach! Today, many people use social networking to spread the word, but I still believe that there is nothing more persuasive than an honest referral from a friend. Be sure to always keep a copy of your book with you. If someone finds advice the advice you have given, or a story you have told helpful, you can give them a signed copy of your book. If they enjoy it, they will be sure to tell a friend.

We made key contacts: During those two years Jack and I travelled A LOT. At the time, I did a lot of coaching for BIG sales departments at BIG companies. We inevitably met the who's who within the company. These key contacts helped us to get more speaking engagements and to gain traction with a more powerful demographic. When you begin to acquire high-powered fans (or clients) you will gain more credibility, which makes you instantly more in-demand. If you're in business, make friends with your top competitors, you never know when you'll be able to offer something they can't or vice-versa. You can also use these relationships to create symbiotic marketing campaigns. (Think: Restaurants offering discounts with a movie stub.)

We never compromised our quality: Every page in Chicken Soup for the Soul went through a screening process, even the cartoons. Our book was self-published, and we knew that if we wanted to be in the big leagues, we had to have a big-league quality product. We had to do more than talk Chicken Soup, we had to be Chicken Soup. We were consistent and authentic in how we represented our brand and our message in every aspect of our marketing, our lives and ourselves. Do you use the advice you give in your book? Does your book (or business) have the quality of your most successful competitors?

The truth is that only a handful of self-published books reach the best-sellers list, and only a handful of businesses will reach a Forbes list. This fact doesn't reduce the importance of every book that is self-published or any small business. Hard work, dedication, and passion can take you very far in this world. Don't give up because you don't see success immediately. Remember, it took us two years to reach our goal of best-sellerdom, but today, because of hard work and persistence, we hold the world record for having the most books on a bestsellers list at one time. Don't be discouraged if you don't reach your goal immediately, if you are seeing growth and progress, you will get what you want, just keep working and innovating!

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

The Art of Delegation

2010-08-10T08:53:00.000-04:00

Richard Branson is one of my favorite business mentor. The Art of Delegation is a business read for your business, especially if you have employees.

Delegation is not easy for some people who thrive ego wise of doing things themselves, as your business grows that may not be a good decision or choice to run your company in that fashion.

Richard Branson owns multiple mult- million to billions dollar businesses, his advice and wisdom is priceless.

I am often asked how I manage to keep my finger on the pulse with so many different companies and ideas to think about. This is all about the art of delegation.

From a very early time, when we went from one company to two companies, I realised I couldn't do everything myself. I had to learn the art of delegation and try to find people who are better than me to run the companies – that wasn't that difficult!

Also, finding people who are more managerially-inclined rather than entrepreneurially-inclined was important. So from an early age I would always try to put myself out of business so I would be free to think about how to take the Virgin Group into a new era. One of the jobs was to find a great managing director for the Virgin Group, which I did in Stephen Murphy.

Another important task is to make sure the companies don't get too big too quickly. If anything, we have a bias to keep things smaller rather than larger. The feeling and the way that we run them, with delegation that we push down into the companies, is not a very corporate fashion. We tend to manage our businesses in a much more delegated style, where we empower the managements to manage.

The record company division was quite a good example. Where we had 100 people in a record company. I would go in and ask to see the deputy managing director, the deputy sales manager, the deputy marketing manager and say: "You are now the managing director, the marketing manager, the sales manager of a new company and you can take 50 people from this company and go to another building."

Then when those two companies got to another 100 people each we did it again. In the Notting Hill Gate area we ended up having 18 different record companies. 18 different switchboards too, we didn't try to save on central costs. With the combination of them put together, we had the biggest independent record company in the world – the fifth biggest overall.

We would have never got there if we just had one manager; we couldn't have been creative in that environment. It worked extremely well for us. We haven't managed to do that in all companies ever since, but we try to keep that general feeling as much as we can within the Virgin Group.

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

Why, When and How to Move Your Business

2010-08-05T09:20:00.000-04:00

Randy in this articles talk about business relocation, sometimes the spot your doing business maybe the ultimate location, and sometime you may need to seek out edition or different locations that will boost business in a major way. Take a good read, see if some of Randy's pointview on relocating suite your business needs.

Why, When and How to Move Your Business

Plan carefully to make the process as rewarding and stress-free as possible.

By Randy Myers
July 30, 2010

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Christine White knew it was time to find a new home for her spa products business, Scandle LLC, when a Japanese distributor reported that some of her candle tins were arriving with rust on them. The culprit? A leaky warehouse roof her landlord in Texas just couldn't get around to fixing.

Denise Mazan knew it was time to move her Culver City, California, dance studio when her landlord tried to raise her rent and Mazan, inspired to look for a better deal, found that she could lease space nearby that was almost three times bigger and cost $1 less per square foot.

Businesses move for lots of reasons--to accommodate growth, save money, get closer to customers or vendors, maybe just enjoy a nicer neighborhood. But it can be stressful for employees (who may balk if faced with a longer commute) and for customers (who may not find the new location convenient). Even a move designed to save money will trigger short-term costs, from hiring movers to finishing and furnishing the new space.

Moving can also be a logistical challenge filled with unexpected pitfalls. Junction Networks, a VoIP phone system provider based in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, was just about to move earlier this year when it discovered, at the last minute, that the building it had chosen was not wired for internet service. Costs for wiring were prohibitive, so it had to pull out of the deal and hastily find another space.

Business owners who've gone through the moving process cite three keys to a successful move. The first is to be realistic about what you can afford. "Make sure you have enough money," stresses Stephanie Somogyi Miller, president of public relations firm Spread PR , a Miller/Hamilton company in New York City. "Just because you have a good six months does not mean you can support a new space for a three-year lease."

Miller stayed in her 400-square-foot office in Manhattan's Murray Hill neighborhood until it was "bursting at the seams." She moved her company in May to a 1,000-square-foot location on West 39th Street.

The second key to a successful move is to do your homework before settling on a new location. When Wendy Diamond, owner of Flag Fables Inc., a retailer of outdoor decorative products, realized that her previous location was becoming too small and the neighborhood too unsafe, she spent three years vetting alternatives. She finally moved to her current location in West Springfield, Massachusetts, in late 2007. Before uprooting her company, though, she drafted a list of requirements for a new location: a safe retail environment, better visibility from the street, more passing traffic, and room for her manufacturing, warehousing and shipping operations--all at a price that made sense for her budget.

To minimize the risk of choosing the wrong space, Diamond assessed as many hard facts as she could for each property she visited, including traffic numbers, proximity to major highways, price per square foot, NNN costs (real estate lingo for property taxes, insurance and operating expenses on buildings offering "triple net lease" terms), estimated build-out costs, the landlord's reputation, the presence of adjacent stores and businesses, and space for growth. She ultimately chose to lease a 3,300-square-foot facility that met all of her search criteria.

The final key to a successful move is planning the move itself. Prasad Thammineni, co-founder and CEO of OfficeDrop , a document-scanning company, created a Google Docs spreadsheet before moving his company from Waltham, Massachusetts, to nearby Cambridge. The spreadsheet "broke down specific categories and responsibilities for each employee, covering everything from coffee mugs to the change of our address on our website," reports Healy Jones, OfficeDrop's vice president of marketing. "We referenced this plan before, during and after the move, and it was an incredibly effective guide to keep things going smoothly."

To ensure uninterrupted receipt of its customers' documents, OfficeDrop arranged to have mail delivered to both its old and new locations for two weeks before and after the move. It also established internet and phone service to the new site prior to the move, and stationed an employee there--online and with live phone service--during the move itself.

Making sure phone and internet connections work before the move is important, confirms Joshua Kelly, chief operating officer of Fine Design Group , a digital branding and Web design firm with two West Coast locations. His company endured several months of sporadic video-conferencing and VoIP phone service failures after moving into its San Francisco office last year. "Do not skimp on the up-front cost of IT advice if connectivity is important to your business," Kelly says.

Moving your business can be an exciting and important step in its long-term growth, so plan carefully to make the move as rewarding and stress-free as possible.

© 2010 Business on Main

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

Don't Lose Prospects to The Black Hole"

2010-07-28T13:17:00.000-04:00

Everyone, I thought this read would be very helpful in assisting with maintaining current and new clients or customer. See if you agree or is this article right on the money.

Don't Lose Prospects to 'The Black Hole'

Implement a variety of strategies to ensure more prospects become clients.

By: Jill Konrath
07/26/2010

Have you ever had hot prospects who suddenly stopped returning your calls? Then you know how disconcerting it can be--especially when they'd expressed so much interest in your product or service only days before.

At first, you assume their lack of responsiveness is an isolated situation that will quickly self-correct. But after repeated failed attempts to connect, you start to question your own sanity.

You could have sworn they were interested, but their current behavior indicates otherwise. And, not wanting to appear too desperate or to come across as a real pest, you're stymied in terms of what your next steps should be.

Why They Disappeared

As a seller, it's always important to analyze what may be causing this behavior before taking action. Here are typical reasons prospects disappear into "The Black Hole":

1.They're totally swamped. Without a doubt, this is the most common reason. In virtually every company today, people have way too much to do and not nearly enough time to get it all done. They fully intend to continue the conversation, but not right now.

2.Priorities changed. This can happen overnight. Changing market conditions, bad third-quarter results and new leadership are just a few of the possible root causes. When this happens, it's nearly impossible to regain your momentum in the short term.

3.Lack of urgency. Sometimes sellers confuse a prospect's interest level with a desire to take action today. As such, they share all the glorious details about their offering instead of building a business case for immediate change.

4.Column fodder. Occasionally prospects just need comparative bids/pricing to justify their decision to go with another company.

5.They know everything. When prospects feel they have all the information they need, there's literally no reason to talk with you any further.

Different reasons call for different actions. Some you can prevent by doing things differently in your customer interactions. Always be open to this possibility, since prevention is your best cure.

In any case, you need answers. Is it "yea" or "nay"? Is the prospect still interested? Should you keep pursuing him or find new prospects?

What You Can Do

When you don't know what's behind a prospect's silence, figuring out how to respond can be a dilemma--especially since you don't want to be a pest. I suggest the following:

1.Just keep trying. Realize that prospects expect you to carry the "keep in touch" burden--so do it. It might take eight to 10 attempts before you reach them again. Don't panic. This is normal in today's business environment.

2.Make each connection valuable. Don't just leave a voice mail saying, "Hi, Eric. Just getting back to you as I promised about your xxx decision. If you have any questions, give me a call."

Instead, you might say, "Eric, based on our conversation last week, I know how important it is to you to shorten your sales cycle. There's a white paper on our website that addresses this issue. I'll be sending you a link via e-mail shortly."

3.Have a sense of humor. After four to five voice mails, leave a funny message such as, "Eric. I know you're swamped. But I also know that shortening your sales cycle is important to you. That's why I keep bugging you. I'm looking forward to finally reconnecting."

4.Leverage a variety of mediums. Mix up phone calls with e-mails, mailings, invitations to upcoming events, sending articles, etc. To position yourself as a resource, make sure each connection educates, informs or adds insights.

5.Create multiple entry points. Never let one person be your total gateway to a company. Identify and nurture multiple relationships concurrently. Just explain matter-of-factly to your contact, "It's how I can best serve your company's needs." When appropriate, reference others you're talking to in your messages and e-mails.

6.Assess whether they're really switching. To avoid being column fodder, find out if they're serious about making a change from the status quo. Ask, "What's causing you to look at other companies instead of staying with your current provider?"

7.Re-evaluate your initial connection. If you've told them everything about your offering, they have no need to meet with you again. To avoid this extremely common mistake, spend only a little time talking about what you do. Instead, focus on understanding their business issues, challenges and objectives. Then suggest a follow-up meeting to go over your ideas on how to help them in these areas.

8.Increase the urgency. Keep up-to-date on their current business priorities. If operational efficiency is a key driver, focus on how your offering can help in this area. If driving revenue growth is most important, align with that. This is essential in order to stay top-of-mind in their crazy-busy environment.

9.Plan your next step now. Never leave one meeting without a homework assignment (for you and the customer) and a firm follow-up appointment. If the prospect is unwilling to do this, it's an indicator that something may not be quite right--which should prompt you to explore the prospect's need and urgency in greater depth.

10.Let them off the hook. Send an e-mail stating that you thought they were interested, but perhaps you misjudged the situation since you haven't heard back from them in six weeks. Believe it or not, this strategy often gets a response and an explanation from a prospect who is feeling guilty about not reconnecting.

11.Reduce your contact frequency. If you haven't heard from a prospect after 10 touches, start contacting him less often. A quarterly schedule might be more appropriate. Or, you might want to keep on top of what's happening in the account and reconnect at a more appropriate time.

By leveraging one or more of these strategies, you'll often be able to re-engage a prospect who has disappeared into "The Black Hole." Not always, but often. And if you've continually provided value and focused on the impact your offering makes, that prospect will likely be ready to implement your solution yesterday.

Jill Konrath is a sales strategist, speaker and author. Her latest book is is SNAP Selling: Speed Up Sales and Win More Business With Today's Frazzled Customers. She also wrote Selling to Big Companies. Konrath brings you fresh strategies and practical advice that actually works when selling to today's crazy-busy prospects.

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

Build a Professional Powerful Network

2010-07-23T10:50:00.000-04:00

I enjoyed reading the ten ways to Build A Powerful Professional Network, most of the people, I already have on my professional team. It is never to late to build or rebuild your professional network.

How To Build A Powerful Professional Network

by Tai Goodwin
Want to get ahead? Here are 10 key people you'll need in your network to help you succeed.

It is important to know the two Q's as you build out your network: quality and quantity. But have you considered the importance of having a well-rounded network?

In this job market, having a strong network is critical to your professional survival. There are plenty of tips and articles on where to find people, how and when to connect to them and even what you need to say to attract and maintain your network. This article focuses on who should be in your network.

Here are the top 10 people that should be in your network:

1. The Mentor: This is the person who has reached the level of success you aspire to have. You can learn from their success as well as their mistakes. Heed their wisdom and experience. This relationship offers a unique perspective because they have known you through several peaks and valleys in your life and watched you evolve.

2. The Coach: The coach is someone who comes in at different times in your life. They help with critical decisions and transitions and offer an objective perspective with no strings attached.

3. The Industry Insider: This is someone in your chosen field who has expert-level information or access to it. This person will keep you informed of what's happening now and what the next big thing is. Invite them to be a sounding board for your next innovative idea.

Very good point. In each season of my personal and professional life, I have tried to have 3 key players: someone who knows more than I do, someone who is a partner, and someone whom I can mentor. He....

4. The Trendsetter: This is someone outside of your chosen industry who always has the latest buzz. It can be on any topic that you find interesting. The goal in having this person in your network is to look for those connections that spark innovation via the unconventional. It will also help you keep your conversations interesting.

5. The Connector: This is a person who has access to people, resources and information. As soon as they come across something related to you, they are sending you an e-mail or picking up the phone. Connectors are great at uncovering unique ways to make connections, finding resources and opportunities that most people would overlook.

6. The Idealist: This is the person in your network you can dream with. No matter how "out there" your latest idea is, this is the person who will help you brainstorm ways to make it happen. Without judgment, they are focused on helping you flesh out your dreams in high definition, even if you don't have a solid plan yet on how to make it happen.

7. The Realist: On the flip side, you still need the person who will help you keep it real. This is the person who will give you the raised eyebrow when your expectations exceed your effort. These are not people who knock down your dreams, rather they challenge you to actively make your dream happen.

8. The Visionary: Visionary people inspire you by their journey. They are similar to the Idealist, but the visionary can help you envision an actual plan to reach your goal. One personal encounter with this type of person can powerfully change the direction of your thinking and life.

9. The Partner: You need to have someone who is in a similar place and on a similar path to share with. In fact, partners do a lot of sharing. This is a person you can share the wins and woes with. Partners will also share resources, opportunities and information.

10. The Wanna-Be: This is someone you can serve as mentor to. Someone you can help shape and guide based on your experiences. One of the best ways to tell that you understand something is to be able to explain it to someone else. And sometimes, one of the best motivators for pushing through obstacles and hardship is knowing that someone is watching.

Obviously you will want to have more than 10 people in your network. The trick is to make sure you are building a diverse network by adding people from different industries, backgrounds, age groups, ethnic groups, etc. … that fit into the roles listed above. Building a deep network by only including people from your current profession or business focus leaves too many stones unturned, limiting potential opportunities.

Serious about building a strong professional network that can actually provide the leverage you need to make progress at work or in your business? Evaluate your current network and get started filling in the gaps.

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

Trimming Payroll

2010-07-16T10:06:00.000-04:00

Trimming Payroll is subject sometimes that unvoidable, whether large or small. This unique articles gives a suggest as to how to do it with tact.

Small-business owners looking to stay afloat in today's choppy economy have a lot riding against them. Raw materials are pricier. The U.S. dollar is worth less. Credit is harder to come by. And the cost of health care continues to rise. As a result, many entrepreneurs are slashing one of their biggest expenses: payroll.

In fact, nearly half of small-business owners polled in a recent survey said they plan to lay off workers, curtail raises or offer days off instead of wage increases as a result of the economic downturn. The survey was conducted by PayCycle, an online payroll service in Palo Alto, Calif.

While layoffs may be necessary at some small businesses, employers should avoid sharpening the ax. Here's why: Not only do employees contribute to the company's productivity and bottom line, they're often well-schooled (at a great cost) on your specific business methods. Conduct layoffs now, and you'll spend even more to train a whole new batch once the economy picks back up.

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Instead, consider these other payroll-trimming strategies:

Keep employees working. If there isn't enough work to go around, consider switching up people's duties, suggests Ray Friedman, a management professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. "I have seen big companies make it through downturns by having factory workers do maintenance work [such as] painting, fixing tools" and the like, he says. Small companies, he adds, can receive similar cost savings by having current employees perform jobs that you would otherwise hire someone to do.

While such a role reversal will likely upset some workers, Christopher J. Collins, an associate professor of human-resource studies at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., says that "complete honesty is really important." If you articulate to your employees that such a job shift is only temporary, they may appreciate your resourcefulness and pitch in where they can.

Explore alternatives. As you converse honestly with employees about your business's struggles, ask them for their cost-reduction thoughts, suggests Collins. "They may have creative ideas that have to do with nonpayroll ways to save money." For instance, there may be some inefficient processes that an employee may have noticed that, if fixed, could save the company a bundle.

Ask for volunteers. You might also ask employees to consider a voluntary furlough, which is typically an unpaid temporary layoff or leave of absence. "Some employees may want time off," says Friedman. "It's better to let those who want, and can afford, time off to not work, rather than forcing it on everyone." Some employees might consider using the time off to take a vacation, spend time with family or work on a personal project if they're promised a job when the furlough is over.

Offer other incentives. Look into other forms of compensation, says Gene Marks, a small-business consultant in Philadelphia. For instance, providing stock options in lieu of payment may be acceptable for a short period. Additionally, if your company regularly provides bonuses but can't afford them this year, consider offering nonpayment incentives instead, Marks says. "If you have anything like a vacation home or a timeshare that you can give to an employee that doesn't cost you really anything, offer it," he says. Just make sure you're upfront about the switcheroo, as (understandably) many employees will chafe at having their bonuses disappear.

Install shorter work weeks. Reducing your employee's hours may do the trick as well. For instance, Tray-Pak, a custom plastic packaging maker in Reading, Penn., has for the past two years instituted a four-day workweek during the typically slow months from February until April. "In our slow period, we really don't need full staff," says Ken Ritter, the company's chief financial officer. Historically, he adds "we would have laid those people off." However, Tray-Pak has found that it's worth keeping the employees on because the training process, which takes three weeks, is so costly.

Reduce pay. If all else fails, consider reducing employees' pay, says Collins from Cornell. This is obviously going to be controversial. However, since a person's livelihood is on the line, a pay cut vs. a job cut, for many employees, may be preferable. The key to this predicament, he adds, is to "keep employees involved." It will be a difficult conversation, but after relaying to your staff that the business is being squeezed and its overall stability is in question, a pay cut may be an easier pill to swallow.

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Write to Diana Ransom at dransom@smartmoney.com.

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

Switch and Bate Business

2010-07-14T10:58:00.000-04:00

I know I love the business side as owner preffered, but sometime you may need to have few jobs on the side until you become full time entrepreneur. I found this interesting read.

Business Group Accuses Obama of Neglecting Jobs

Published: Wednesday, 14 Jul 2010
10:02 AM ET Text Size By: ReutersDiggBuzz FacebookTwitter More Share

One of the most influential U.S. business groups accused President Barack Obama on Wednesday of neglecting job creation and sowing economic uncertainty with burdensome tax and regulatory policies.

Photo by : Pete Souza

President Barack Obama

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress to shift their approach to "unlock frozen capital and jolt our economy back to life."

The group released the letter before a "Jobs for America" summit it is hosting and on the same day Obama's Council of Economic advisers is releasing a report that shows the president's policies are creating jobs and stimulating the economy.

The letter adds to growing criticism the Obama administration has faced lately from the business sector.

Four months before November congressional elections in which Obama's Democrats are struggling to preserve their dominance, Republicans have pounced on the criticisms to try to paint Obama as "anti-business."

The Chamber gave Obama credit for stabilizing the economy and heading off another Great Depression.

"But once accomplished, the congressional leadership and the administration took their eyes off the ball," the letter said. "They neglected America's number one priority — creating the more than 20 million jobs we need over the next 10 years for those who lost their jobs, have left the job market, or were cut to part-time status - as well as new entrants into our workforce."

The Chamber's jobs event, which takes place in Washington, will begin at 12:30 p.m. Republican Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana are among the speakers.

Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, leaders of a panel appointed by Obama on deficit reduction, are also scheduled to speak.

The healthcare reform legislation, financial regulatory reform and proposals to cap carbon emissions are cited by some in corporate America as examples of regulatory overreach. Business groups have also criticized Obama's fiscal policies, warning of the danger of high deficits.

Business groups also oppose Obama's plans to allow President George W. Bush's tax cuts on higher-income Americans expire at the end of this year.

A rift with the business community could pose other problems for Obama.

U.S. businesses are holding onto some $1.8 trillion in cash. The Obama administration wants to encourage them to invest some of that money to help jump-start the economic recovery.

Copyright 2010 Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Topics:Republicans
Democrats
Barack Obama
Economy (U.S.)
White House

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

Another Business Venture

2010-06-24T14:30:00.000-04:00

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINNER-YOU ARE A WINNER!

Today, I attended hedge fund webinar for the first time Hedge Fund Cetificiation. This seminar was set up to answer the most asked questions about the hedge fund industry. I have attended other business webinar, but this was unique in I have been interested in entering the hedge fund field for some time. I was first introduce to this field through my favorite channel CNBC of course the national business channel.

I am still researching this company Hedge Fund Group out of Portland Oregon, Richard Wilson CEO works international as well and their Hedge Fund Certification online course. I checked with the BBB nothing came up as always do your homework and background check on any company or start of business. Check with attoryney too. But it still maybe worth your time to consider working or business in the hedge fund industry or security for tha fact of the matter.

I am also studying series 7, & 63 and whole lot more, You know me a constant business venture geek guru!!! Check out the website, let me know what you think, and is this a industry you want to add to your business portifolio.