Do you ever find that you are spinning around in circles with so many ideas that none of them every pay off?

Are you saying yes to products, programs or opportunities without the faintest idea how to make them pay off?

Let me share with you a story about a client of mine named Terri.

Terri would take any idea and move full steam ahead, which cost her thousands of dollars in wasted time and effort. Terri said, “I knew about Return on Investment (ROI) but never had a systematic method to test ideas against their potential returns (or losses!) Now it’s just part of my thinking,” I had Terri follow the steps in the ULTIMATE Success Generator which resulted in a huge payoff of $2,347 in 21 days!

Now my client Adam was another story. Attracting clients was easy, but staying focused was not. After using the ULTIMATE Success Generator program, Adam started doing things differently, by planning ahead and staying focused on his high pay-off activities. As a result, Adam says, “Following your methods helped me explode my income! In fact, over the last year, I was able to generate sales over $100,000 in coaching, consulting and product sales in just one weekend – and not just once – but twice!”

Staying focused on your highest payoff activities is one of the key success strategies for consistent 6 & 7 figure business – yet less than 20% of entrepreneurs actually do it.

Terri and Adam are not unique. They’re just a few of the many people who’ve put the ULTIMATE Success Generator to work and gotten massive results. I’ve seen this program do the same thing for all kinds of different people, in all kinds of different businesses—from legal documents to marketing to healthcare consulting.

Why does it work? Because the ULTIMATE Success Generator is more than a great tool or even a system—it’s method that can be applied to virtually any type of business situation.

At this time of year when our kids are going “back to school”, many of us actually have the bandwidth again to get focused on our business. So I’m offering the ULTIMATE Sales Generator at the sale price of just $247 – a $50 savings! http://www.ultimatesuccessgenerator.com/ through September 9th.

Remember, it doesn’t take a whole lot of time to put this method to work in your business. Just a few minutes a day over the next few months could add thousands to your bottom line—and make you the next ULTIMATE Success story!

PS. Act now and you’ll receive over $200 in bonuses designed to guarantee your success! Learn more at http://www.ultimatesuccessgenerator.com/

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How much debt do you have? That’s right, I’m just going to come straight out and ask. Is it $10,000? $20,000? $50,000? More?

And how did you get that debt? Investing in your business? Or was it buying TVs and traveling to Fiji? Chances are you obtained most of it while making purchases for your business like computers, coaching programs, and marketing tactics to help you grow. While you might refer to this as debt, it’s called leveraging Other People’s Money (OPM.)

Whatever you call it, the most important question is: How do you feel about that debt?

Do you feel worried? Lose sleep at night? Have a pit in your stomach that doesn’t go away? Excited?

Actually, debt is a just a tool.

The reality is that more than 60% of service-based businesses are built from credit-card financed start ups. Many of these business owners quickly find that they have under-estimated their start up needs and realize they need more money to grow quickly. With their credit cards maxed out, the entrepreneur begins to hold back from investing in much needed marketing, mentoring and resources because they don’t want to be irresponsible.

When you hold back, the life flow gets cut off (think stepping on a garden hose) and the inevitable happens. Your business growth stagnates, or worse yet, the business fails completely.

The reason: Many of us when we go into debt, we get into fear, and stop growing. We make up a story about debt based on other people’s beliefs and they have a disempowering awareness of how to leverage other people’s money to grow your business.

John Mackey, founder of Whole Foods, was interviewed in a CNBC series last year where he revealed that to start his company he borrowed money from family and friends. After the $10,000 he borrowed ran out, his father-in-law chastised him for being irresponsible and going into debt. John had a vision that was bigger than the immediate debt – he had a dream that he had to fulfill. Today the successful grocery chain has $10 billion in annual revenues and 300 stores nationwide.

If John had bought into his family’s beliefs about debt, Whole Foods organic health food stores would never have come to the masses.

Not too long ago a good friend of mine who has a multi million dollar company revealed that he has quite a bit of debt right now. It’s a number that made me squirm. When I asked about the strategy here is what he said:

“There is good debt and bad debt. Leveraging other people’s money
to grow your business is a solid business strategy.
It’s people’s beliefs about debt that makes it an issue.”

I guess he’s right. Think Donald Trump. Do you think he leverages other people’s money to grow? You bet. So do the most successful entrepreneurs on the planet. The problem is that most people get very emotional about the debt and emotionally “check out” because they don’t have a strategy of how to manage or reduce the debt. Here are some suggestions that might help on how you can leverage other people’s money to catapult your business forward.

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It’s not what you know-it’s who you know. JV partners can provide the “who you know.” 

The best part is once you put the JV partnerships together, if you treat them right, they’re with you forever. In fact, I’ve made deals with people where they regularly sell my product, simply because it is a good fit for their customer, and they care about their customers. The integrity and partnership with these professionals is unparalleled, and the possibilities are endless.

Here are a couple of things to get you thinking about JVs…  

Millionaire Habit #2 to Transform your Life: 

Drawing a blank? 

You may be stalling in making connections as you don’t feel ready to do anything yet, to suggest a JV or even to make a deal or where to start.   

Well good news: it doesn’t matter.  

Simply, meet the right people, be yourself, help others and an opportunity will fall on your lap - you don’t have to create it yourself. 

Someone may be doing business in way that inspires a new business model for you or product idea or way to gain exposure that you think is brilliant.  Halleluiah!

Or

 Someone may look at what you’re doing and see what you’re doing is so cool, they make 2 phone calls on your behalf and connect you to someone who wants you to be a columnist in a local paper or speak at a college - all this happened to me in 2 days of meeting 1 person.  

It could happen to you. 

My good friend Stephanie Hartman has created a unique club to help you find and create powerful joint ventures for your business.

And by the way this person IS someone inside the club. I paid her nothing for her help and my INSTANT credibility and exposure.

 Remember I had NO AGENDA or plans or clue on who I would meet or how they could help me.  My only plan was to show people the real me and what I am up too! 

Through these meetings you will gain successful and fun friends, insight into what others are doing and you’ll begin to see new solutions and odors opening up for you that you were not aware of before.   

It happens naturally so just keep up this habit and opportunities will literally fall in your lap. 

Were you aware how powerful this strategy of simply is of connecting with the intention to show people who you are and discover who they are? 

So let’s turn this powerful strategy into a SUCCESS HABIT for your business. 

Here’s all you have to do: 

Once a month (mark in calendar so you remember) Log into the club and mark all the virtual cocktail parties and brainstorming sessions into your personal calendar. 

Then plan to show up for 10 mins, 20 mins or 60 minutes (whatever you can do) and showcase your expertise and who you are.  You never know when a ‘new friend’ will be somewhere else and recommend you to a powerful contact or put you in front of your target market. 

Do this so that you can showcase your expertise, make a bigger name for yourself, and get massive leads and clients, in addition to rubbing shoulders with some incredibly successful and all around fun, like-minded people.

 Answer questions and brainstorm with others on the THINK TANK nights.  Show them how brilliant you are and you’ll stand out to all those in the virtual room.

Have fun and just mingle on the cocktail party nights.  Quick tip: ask questions of others and that way you find out about other people while they reciprocate and learn about you. 

TIP: Use your web cam to maximize your ability to make an impression in the minds of others.  Not only can they hear you - but they can see you as well.  Many of us have visual memories.

 Result: Opportunities and connections falling on your lap!

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Would you like to your knowledge to be generating you way more income each month? What if you could your current annual income was your monthly income?

Many of today’s highest paid information marketers not only make over $100,000 per month but they also enjoy an ideal lifestyle!

Sound good? Then join me for our next Exclusive Monthly Wealth Mentor Call on Wednesday, August 27, 2008 at 4pm Pacific (7pm Eastern) with my special guest, Robert Skrob as we explore:

** How to Turn Your Knowledge Into *Profits*: How any service professionals can eliminate “hours per dollars” and create products that generate a continuous stream of *income*. **

In the last 30 years, information marketing has gone from “mail-order” to the much bigger, broader, hugely *profitable* arena of opportunities it is today. People now routinely go from zero to $10,000.00 to $100,000.00 a month and more, in just a matter of months.

A while back, one of my mastermind groups was sharing with me some of the insights of why this process has helped them catapult forward. Here are five of their insights of why a Mastermind helps you thrive:

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A few years ago I realized that as an entrepreneur, I needed something more than the traditional mastermind. So I began a new kind of mastermind group that was focused on the challenges that all small business owners face: thinking bigger, discovering what works (and what doesn’t) from your peers, leveraging each other’s skills and education, sharing proven resources, etc. I quickly realized that I craved that kind of connection time as a way to leap forward in my thinking and results.

Today, in addition to being in my own private mastermind for my business, I now also run mastermind groups for my clients. As I watch the members of these programs thrive, leap and finally get out of their own way there is truly something unique that can only happen when you allow others into your life and business through this process.

A while back, one of my mastermind groups was sharing with me some of the insights of why this process has helped them catapult forward. Here are five of their insights of why a Mastermind helps you thrive:

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Have you ever felt that achieving success is somewhat elusive? There’s always more to do, new marketing strategies, bigger accomplishments to pursue. So when is it that we actually can say, “I’m a success!”

In my coaching experience, people with the highest levels of stress are often the ones who have a general feeling of “I haven’t accomplished enough yet.” Interestingly, it’s typically tied to things like not having enough money, feeling overwhelmed with too many ideas, always having a 16 page to-do list that never gets done. But from my point of view, they are often quite successful and have plenty of cash flow.

So why do these people feel as if they aren’t successful enough?

Generally it stems from one of these three issues:

Issue #1: Comparing Yourself to Others

My client Jane often brings to our call a comment like, “Look at what Jeff/Alex/Mary/Shelby did in revenue last month. Why can’t I do that?” I often respond with, “Well, they have a system in place that allows them to market and sell products online. You are still setting your systems up.” Comparing ourselves to others creates negative energy. Negative energy attracts negative outcomes.

We are all exactly where we need to be. Mistakes, set backs, challenges, wins, accomplishments – it’s all a gigantic opportunity to understand who we need to be in order to fulfill our life’s purpose. When we compare ourselves to others who seem to be farther along we shortcut our own learning process. We also have no idea what life lessons that other person is dealing with…and trust me…they are there, somewhere!

Be willing to eliminate comparison and replace it with admiration. Admire what they’ve accomplished and ask yourself what you can learn from them that will help you on your journey. I often feel so much gratitude for my friends that are farther along the path than me…I get to implement short cuts because they worked out the bugs!

Issue #2: Setting Unrealistic Expectations

If you have four kids, two dogs, a working husband and have full responsibility for your domestic life, is it realistic to launch three new programs if you only have two hours a week to invest in your business? Setting unrealistic expectations is often a way in which we can fulfill our lifelong belief that we don’t deserve to be a success. It perpetuates tension because there is no way in which to fulfill our desire…only our negative beliefs.

Achieving success depends upon our ability to believe what we want is possible. If you believe in it, then you make it a priority and you will align yourself with the resources, time and energy necessary to make it happen. If you find yourself continually unable to meet your expectations of yourself (aka missing deadlines, always having big ideas but little results, etc.) then it’s time to evaluate your beliefs and do some “inner work.”

One of the exercises we teach clients in our Fast Track to a 6 & 7 Figure Lifestyle Business Mastermind is to upgrade your beliefs. Identify what the root cause is of that belief and then decide to create a new story that supports the success you desire. There are some great support systems out there to help you with this. If you aren’t a member of the Fast Track, perhaps book a breakthrough session with one of our coaches to get help with this process.

Issue #3: Pursuing Unmet Needs

An unmet need is often deeply rooted. It’s typically driven by security, love or self-esteem issues. Unfortunately for most of us, pursuing unmet needs basically means we make short-term choices that don’t align with our long term success goals. Or, we sabotage our success by not doing what works.

A simple “alignment” process can get you on track quickly. By becoming fully conscious about your values and priorities you can begin to make powerful choices that get you to your desired outcome quickly. The tool I recommend to align your needs and goals with the right action is the ULTIMATE Success Generator™.

If your measure of success has been off…then what steps can you take to get back on track quickly? As the saying goes, awareness is the first step towards the solution. Once you know what’s going on then you can take appropriate action to grow your business.

Here are a few things to start doing now.

Solution #1: Get Clear On What Success Means To You

How do you define success – for you? Not your friends, mentors, gurus or clients but for you. Is it how much fr.ee time you have? How much money you are making? How you feel inside knowing that you do what you love? Is it being able to check off action steps from the list?

When you take a vacation do you head off to the airport and just jump on the next plane leaving – no matter where it’s going? No, probably not. You would know what your destination is, buy a guidebook on the location, plan your excursions, buy some new outfits, etc. You would take action that is going to get you to your desired outcome.

It’s no different when you are creating a plan for success. You must be clear about what it will look like when you get there…or else you’ll continue to think you have to keep working hard. That doesn’t mean you won’t evolve your goals and want to continue to grow. What it means is at some point you have to be able to know you’ve achieved the outcome so you can feel that sense of accomplishment. There is nothing more exhausting than feeling like you are chasing success and never arriving.

Solution #2: Create Measures To Know When You Are On Track

A measure is a way of keeping track. It can be a well defined goal, an amount of money, or maybe even certain feelings or emotions that are present. When you have a way of keeping score then you have the ability to know where you are on the path to your desired outcome.

One of the exercises we have our Fast Track members do early on in the program is to design their 6 – 12 month roadmap. We identify what financial and lifestyle goals they aim to accomplish and then decide how they will track their progress.

This technique is essential if you have a team approach to getting things done. If you are delegating to someone whom you are paying, you will want to measure the success of this investment in your business. If you establish specific items they need to accomplish within a certain time, then measure the success of meeting these outcomes on time, then you will know what your return on investment truly is…and if this process is paying off for you.

Solution #3: Focus on What’s Working

My last suggestion is one that can work for every area of our success. Remember Jane from the example above? Well the one thing she found worked the fastest was changing her focus. If you spend your time focusing on what you don’t have, who has more than you or what you haven’t yet accomplished then you will always feel down and depleted. The simple act of being grateful for what you do have can shift your energy from the negative to the positive immediately. It sounds oversimplified sometimes but it works.

It’s amazing how much more successful we can feel when we view the world through the lens of “wow, look at all I’ve accomplished” vs. “crap, I still have so far to go!”

Remember that the law of attraction works by bringing more to you of what your focus is on. Just like a flashlight in a dark room, what we shine our light on is what we see. Shine the light on the good stuff and you’ll be amazed at how successful you already are!

About the Coach:

Melanie Benson Strick, The Million Dollar Lifestyle Business Coach, teaches entrepreneurs how to stop feeling overwhelmed so they can create more money, more freedom and more prestige.

Get the Entrepreneur’s Secret Weapon to revolutionize your results and get on the fast-track to a freedom based business at www.thepowerofthevirtualteam.com

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If you let your inner-technician run your day to day operations then you are ruining your business. Join me on Thursday, July 24th at 530pm Pacific / 830pm Eastern for a special 75-minute hot seat coaching opportunity on:

“How to Release your Inner-Technician so you can Unleash More Freedom”

Be sure to lock in your opportunity to get a seat on this call as you will also have an opportunity to get coached live! Register now at:

http://www.successconnections.com/teleclass/

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So why then is James spending so much time and energy learning how to do the shopping cart so he can outsource it to someone else? Why is Amy investing $2000 on a “learning to blog system” when there are other’s who can do it better, faster and cheaper than her?

Maybe it’s the compelling feeling that many of us have to learn. The quest for knowledge that somehow validates a deep need to know it all. And I think for some, it provides a sense of security or control to know how everything is supposed to work. But is it really serving you to spend your valuable time, money and energy learning all the ins & outs of your business?

I remember the feeling I had when I graduated from San Diego State with my Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management. After getting past the culture shock of not having piles of assignments and the constant pressure of assignments due, I felt like there was a big gaping hole in my life. I missed learning.

So what did I do? I of course took on more learning…taking every class that Motorola offered on leadership, team building, project management, and soon found my way to my Master’s program in Organizational Management. Not too long after graduating again…there was that old “void” again. I needed my learning fix…and I started taking spiritual classes at my church (which 8 years later resulted in my spiritual counselor license) and at the same time I decided to get trained as a coach. Then it was on to marketing, online traffic generation, blogs, social networking…you get the point I think.

As I got serious about my business I had to reflect on how much time and energy I was spending learning new things. What was my time worth and did it really make sense to keep investing in all this learning? What was it getting me? I began to ask myself the tough question with every learning opportunity “Is this going to make me more money?”.

The truth is I was just feeding a little gremlin inside of me. For me, learning gave me a sense of control and power. If I knew what to do and when to do it, then maybe I’d be good enough to have my dream lifestyle and business. What I realized is that learning kept me from doing what would actually make me successful. It was like a big cozy comfortable blanket that kept me safe…and kept my worst fear in front of me…a real lack of financial results.

At some point I had one of the “I should have had a V-8 moments”. It hit me that no matter how much I learned it was not helping me get there any faster. It was much more cost effective to hire someone who knew how to do it so it would get done faster and hence, make a lot more money. If I had to learn it first, then I became the bottleneck!

The key to mastering delegation is adopting this CEO Mindset:

“Know enough to set the vision, goals and desired results. Delegate the tactics to people who can do it faster, cheaper or better than you.”

Here is an example. I have absolutely no idea how to update my website. I know what I want it to look like, what should happen when a visitor is on the site and even what experience I want them to have. But I made it a point to not learn how to update it.

Same thing with most of our marketing efforts. I know what I want done and I hire talented people who already know how to do it. I have a vague idea of what steps my team goes through each month to publish this ezine but I have no idea how to publish one myself. Set up a bridge line? Nope. I’m talented enough that I could probably figure it out (and I know my team has the system published in our online procedures guide) but why bother?

My job as CEO is to stay focused on my top 5 – 10 high payoff activities like writing, mentoring entrepreneurs on how to create their ideal business, designing powerful programs that serve my clients, and planning out where I want to be in 90 days to 5 years from now!

My challenge to you is to look at where you are holding yourself back by being the bottleneck. Where is your need to learn and be in control getting in the way of what you delegate? What are your false beliefs about what can be delegated well costing you playing the bigger game?

If you haven’t yet downloaded our free report on the 101 Ways to Triple Your Income by Outsourcing Your High Payoff Activities, I highly encourage you to do it now. This process will help you get clear on your highest payoff activities and bust this delegation dilemma for good!

About the Coach:

Melanie Benson Strick, The Million Dollar Lifestyle Business Coach, teaches entrepreneurs how to stop feeling overwhelmed so they can create more money, more freedom and more prestige.

Get the Entrepreneur’s Secret Weapon to revolutionize your results and get on the fast-track to a freedom based business at  www.thepowerofthevirtualteam.com

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Ever wonder how anyone can make any money in today’s economy? Oddly enough, many entrepreneurs are making money by “investing” in their businesses and utilizing the concept of ‘virtual teams.’

Learn how you can accomplish ten times or more by handing off non-core components of their business to a group of talented individuals.  They’re not employees, eliminating the burden of payroll taxes and other liabilities.  However, what they are is simply trained and experienced in all the areas that the entrepreneur is not.  Not an accountant?  Have someone else do it.  Not a web designer?  No problem.  Find someone who is.  And thus the virtual team is born.
 
You just can’t do everything yourself and expect to be as productive or successful as you would like. If you find yourself getting stuck, or spending too much time on projects that aren’t generating any revenue for you, then you know it’s time to change the way you do business. 

Though the concept sounds easy enough, it can be tricky to find the right mix of outsourcing for any given entrepreneur.  That’s why the Virtual Team Building Tele-Bootcamp program has been so successful.  Small business owners can learn the ropes of having a virtual team without sacrificing what they already have in place, and save themselves countless dollars on the learning curve. 

Ready to get YOUR limited edition Virtual Team Building Tele-Bootcamp in a Box?

Here’s the thing, though: I’m only going to be offering 162 copies of my Virtual Team Building Tele-Bootcamp in a Box. So if you want to get in on this exclusive, limited time only opportunity, you’re going to have to ACT NOW!

Information about how to order Virtual Team Building Bootcamp in a Box can be found at www.virtualteambuildinginabox.com.

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