There Are Only 4 Things You Do In A Home Business

There are only 4 things only you do in a home business…

When one of the trainings I attended introduced this concept to me, I was all over it. 4 key things to focus on in business… and you are golden! Sounds simple? That’s because it is.

Yes, there are a lot of moving parts within these 4 things but they all fall into these 4 basic things.

The truth is, people tend to over-complicate things in business… always looking for more complex things to add to the equation, hoping that this other tool or that other opportunity will fix what is wrong but really if you just take a moment and focus on these 4 basic things to determine where there might be a gap, you may just alter your results in a profound way.

Learn those 4 things, focus on those 4 things… and everything will change. Some have dubbed these the 4 C’s of business, I call them the Fundamental Four:

Collect

Simply put, you need to have a way to “collect” viewers, eyeballs, visitors. In an online business, this could include Facebook lives, blogging, banner advertising and social media, to name a few methods. In any other business, it could include anything like print advertising, radio, television, signs… anything that gets people to see you and gets them through the door whether it be onto a website page, or literally through the doors of your place of business.

There could be thousands of ways. You should have a few that you focus on with consistency.

Ask yourself every day… what are you doing to get those “eyeballs”?

Capture

So, you have got them onto you site, in your store, at your open house… whatever the case may be for your business. Don’t fool yourself, they can be gone in an instant, never to be seen again. All that effort to get them there … wasted! But, it doesn’t need to be that way. The second C goes hand in hand with the first. Don’t bring them there, only to lose them. Instead, “Capture” them, get their info!

On the internet, in the home business arena, we us what we call a capture page, opt-in page or lead capture page – a way to have prospects, potential customers give you their information willingly, usually in exchange for something of value, basically giving you permission to market to them!

Other ways to do this, perhaps in an offline business would be to collect business cards, add visitors info to your phone, offer contests or discounts in exchange for their information.

Got an event going on… ask people to sign in!

Bottom line: How are you capturing people’s information so that you can speak to them over and over again? How are you generating leads? How are you maximizing the value of the “eyeballs” you are collecting ?

Communicate

Leads are useless unless you have a plan to communicate with them. You must have a method of communicating with people regularly until they are ready to make a buying decision.

Mail/Post cards

Facebook message

Social Media/ Facebook Groups/

Phone/ text and calls

Skype

Blogging

Once you have collected them, captured them …you absolutely need to have a plan to communicate with these people repeatedly and do it in a way that they want to receive the ongoing communication from you.

Send content and provide value via email or mail (an email autoresponder like Get Response or Aweber is essential). Send them something relevant to them and what had their eyeballs on you in the first place. Send them your blog posts, links to valuable videos. Let them know what’s new, when you have an upcoming event, a webinar … get them to love you and expect you in their inbox, their mailbox, their phone.

Close

You must also have a plan to get them in front of your offer so they can make a buying decision when they are ready. The key here is when they are ready.

They may not be ready when you first ” Collect” them. When you ” Capture” their info, they are just beginning to trust you… getting to know you enough to give you permission to market to them.

Communicating with them on a regular basis is where they are getting to really know you and decide if they like you and if what you are about is what they are really looking for. After these 3 are in place, and only then make sure your you have a way to present your offer.

It is essential that you learn to mass communicate and get your offer in front of a lot of people. Sometimes this is in the form of an email to your list, telling them about your offer. Sometimes, it is a webinar, tele-seminar, or event you invite your list to where you will present them your offer….

The point is… you need all 4 of these to be working in order to make sales…. and if you are not getting the results you want, there is a gap somewhere in the Fundamental Four that you need to evaluate and fill.

To your success and outrageous goals,

Productivity · Small business tips

My Love/Hate Relationship with Automation

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We live in an era of automation – push-button this and automatic that. The home-based business industry changed abruptly in the last decade introducing lead capture pages, funnels, autoresponders … and a whole lot of other stuff we were told we needed.

So, I got my autoresponder. I learned how to build a funnel. I bought the tools necessary for broadcast emails, lead capture pages, tracking clicks and off I went.

The internet, with its promise of international riches combined with all these tools were sure to make us all rich right?

The truth about automation

All these tools are amazing. That is the truth.

But… they are tools. That’s it.

I love that I have a sales presentation that works for me 24 hours a day, even when I am sleeping.

I love that my clients can download a PDF from me, anytime.

I love that I can reach thousands of people at the click of a button. That’s leverage!

I love that there is a way I can share my knowledge and value beyond the one on one’s from the “olden days” .

I love that some of the systems I use have “done for you” traffic and sales.

Systems are awesome. I love it!

But all this comes with a price. What it’s costing this industry saddens me.

I HATE that newcomers to the industry think that riches and success are just a push of a button away and this is what they are being sold on.

They are selling you on lack of action and work. They are selling the tools as the means versus selling them as tools to make your business run smoother and easier….Something you may or may not need depending on the level you are at.

Uploading a bunch of pre-written emails into an autoresponder is easy sure…. But if you are building long term clients and relationships, are you connecting with people who are interested in your offer? Only you can do that.

That snazzy blogging platform doesn’t brand you. YOU brand you.

Tracking clicks and conversions… awesome.. But you shouldn’t even be looking into that until you know what you are doing. There are many who are told to get tracking links yet they don’t even know what they are tracking, how to read the information they get and what to do with that information. Sad isn’t it?

And so the madness goes on and that’s how it started… my love/hate relationship with automation in this industry.

So a while ago, I decided to stop the madness in my own business. I sent out an email to my list announcing that I was turning off all my autoresponders! And I did. I have one email that goes out to new subscribers that let’s them know who I am, what I do and where to find me if they want to connect with me and then I try to connect with each and every person that reaches out to me.

I make sure that I don’t get too caught up in the automation, that I connect with the people I need to connect with.

Don’t get me wrong. As an Internet Marketer, I buy into the automation to make life easier. A laptop lifestyle is possible with the help of these tools but not because of these tools. Something got lost in the message of outrageous goals and dreams that I believe in so much.

More than ever, I am dedicated to helping people leverage this wonderful thing called the internet to build a business. Let’s just keep the focus where it needs to be.

To your success and outrageous goals,

Productivity · Small business tips · Uncategorized

Combining Value and Leverage in Your Life

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Years ago someone shared with me a valuable tip about creating and providing value. It was so obvious, but so often neglected. I wrote about it in my previous blog post here.

Your earnings are directly related to the amount of value your business provides, I was told.

There are many ways employees and entrepreneurs can provide more value:

They can increase their value by educating themselves, learning more skills and thus being more valuable simply because their skillset has improved and are able to offer their employer or customers more.

They can always work harder and longer. They can put in more hours, show up early and work late… There is nothing wrong with this by the way. Working hard, putting in long hours is the way a lot of people make a living and are able to pay their bills, put the kids through school, save for retirement and live very fulfilling lives. …

It has it’s limitations, however.

The problem with the latter, is that many people are already working as much as they can work. They simply can’t give any more of their time but have hit a ceiling in their income. There’s nothing more to give.

That’s where leverage comes in.

Combining value and the power of leverage in your life can not only increase your income but your time freedom too.

Business owners know about leverage. They know that when they increase their productivity with employees, with more tools or machinery, they are leveraging these tools to create more without sacrificing more time. They know the importance of having the means of scaling their production, distribution and their customer base via tools, employees, teams, the internet, automated systems.

Real Estate brokerages, insurance brokerages and mortgage brokerages use leverage by hiring agents. They generate income from the efforts of the agents, while the agents bring in the customers and build the brand.

Network Marketers build teams. They continue to provide value to the customers but by building and training their teams, they increase the value they are bringing to the world, without compromising their time freedom.

Franchises are another way that businesses can grow by leveraging systems that have been created to save them time, both on the learning curve of running a new business as well as the time frame it would normally take to build a new brand and customer base.

BUT Here is my favourite example of combining leverage and value …

Internet Marketers, bloggers and digital franchise owners understand the power of combining value and leverage very well. Constantly providing value, via trainings, blog posts, youtube videos but leveraging the internet ( so that their content is available 24-7) as well as systems (lead capture pages, sales videos working day and night, and often coaches and sales teams working on their behalf).

The result is more than just increased earnings. The result is a message, a product a vision that needs to be seen, heard and utilized reaching more people with less effort.

Here are some of the ways I create value and use leverage to increase my reach:

I blog. I write content and I leverage the internet so that my content is available anytime, anywhere there is an internet connection.
I use automation. Auto-responders and software help me get my message out.
I use Social Media and leverage the power of my connections, my friends and the ability for my content to go viral.
I outsource things that aren’t my strength or do not produce income for me. Not only does this speed things up for me but it allows me to focus on productive activities that don’t take up too much of my time.
I use systems. My business has a system in place that I did not create. It’s filled with valuable trainings. Coaches speak to new members and prospective clients. Payment processing is in place. The system works for me while I sleep. The system allows me to spend my time, blogging, creating videos and my free time with my family while it works for me.

Ask yourself if there are ways you leverage your efforts and the value you bring to the world. How can you scale things so that your efforts are more productive and profitable without compromising your time. How can you reach more people? How can you stop trading hours for dollars?

To your success and outrageous goals,

P.S There’s an unusual new business model that allows you to earn huge commissions while the huge lifting is “done for you” in the back end. Learn more about this “digital style franchise” here.

21 Day Blogging Challenge · Blogging · Network Marketing Business Tips · Small business tips · Uncategorized

How Any Business Can Incorporate a Blog in Their Marketing Efforts

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It’s no secret that blogging great content and updating a blog regularly is a phenomenal way of attracting potential customers, getting leads and eventually sales. Every time a business creates a quality blog post and shares it, they are creating more incoming links to their blog, strengthening their brand and increasing customer loyalty.

Every time a blog is updated, it’s another opportunity for Google and other search engines to pick up activity on your blog. It increases your “findability” on-line.

With all the craze around blogging though, I often get asked “How can a business like mine incorporate a blog?” So, I thought it valuable to provide some specific examples of how specific industries and niches could use a blog to grow a business, aside from just creating an on-line presence. Small businesses don’t always have big budgets for marketing but they don’t necessarily need to either.

Below are some real examples that illustrate HOW a business can use a blog to grow business, increase their reach and their bottom line.

Local Restaurant/Pizzeria

Blogging could be an especially lucrative way for a local business like a restaurant to increase their reach.

Imagine for a moment, a restaurant blogging about their specials, local activities and contests. Imagine them blogging about their specific events at the restaurant, sharing those posts on Social Media, as well.

For this type of business, I would suggest an opt-in to a freebie/ a coupon for a discount or a give-away that would allow the local business to 1) Collect potential customers info for future marketing and promotion and 2) Encourage the customer to visit the restaurant to collect their freebie or discount.

Contests and freebies are extremely shareable. People absolutely love to spread the word about freebies and contests and since they are location specific, it is very easy for a business to reach a very targeted local market fairly quickly using these means.

The “opting-in” or collecting of emails in exchange for something of value, is not to be taken lightly. It’s powerful and it is KEY to long-term marketing efforts. A local restaurant would be wise to combine off-line and on-line marketing efforts via newspapers, postcards and flyers encouraging customers to visit the blog, enter their email address and in turn proving the business with a way to continuously build a relationship with their subscribers.

Pretty cool isn’t it?

Network Marketing/ Direct Sales

Most network marketers are still being taught to make a list of friends and family and target anyone with a heartbeat.

I am certainly not discouraging traditional off-line efforts, especially if you enjoy it and are having success with it. However, I truly believe that by providing valuable content on a blog about your Network Marketing/Direct Sales niche, you could increase your reach, become the hunted, not the hunter and potentially make money while you sleep. I have included two specific Direct Sales niches below and specific ways those businesses could grow exponentially via blogging.

Skin Care Direct Sales company

If you want to attract people interested in skin care, does it not make sense to provide incredible value and education on skin care that people are actively looking for?

Give. Give. Give.

The people on-line who will find you are looking for what you are selling. The Network Marketing rep of XYZ company is no longer chasing, you see, but is being hunted by people who are actually interested all because they are actively and consistently providing content and solutions for the people looking for answers in the skin care niche.

Here’s a tip for this type of company: I would personally capture those leads by collecting an email address in exchange for a “how to” on skin care. For example ” 20 steps to radiant skin without harsh chemicals” or ” 10 Ingredients you should avoid at all cost in your cosmetics”.

Building your Direct Sales team? Why not direct the to watch the video explaining how they too can earn an income sharing your product?

Are you beginning to see the trend here?” Get targeted traffic by creating and sharing valuable, niche specific content, collect prospect information by providing valuable information in exchange for their personal information and then follow up by building a relationship with them via email, continuously providing them value until they are ready to buy. This is where a powerful system using a blog, a Lead capture page, and an auto-responder (more on that later) can truly work for you 24-7, making you sales while you sleep!

Weight loss Direct Sales Company

While this is a very popular niche, if approached correctly, with the use of a blog you can truly differentiate yourself from the competition and dominate this niche. Similarly to the skin care example, there are many create things a weight loss blog can do to attract visitors and buyers and it could be a lot of fun too: Exercise videos, recipes, 30 Day Weight Loss challenges (everyone loves a good before and after story! and an opportunity to be part of it!)

Here’s my take on using a 30 Day Weight Loss Challenge on your blog: Share your own journey and your challenge. Blog about it. Have a Call to Action inviting others to partake in your challenge…and as part of your challenge, they buy your product. Offer support. Add them to a private Facebook group where challengers can support each other, be part of something, stay excited, motivate and refer others. You’ve just created a loyal tribe!

These are just a couple of examples of Network Marketing niches using a blog as part of their system. You can use a blog to compliment your Home Party Jewellery business (there’s only so many hours in the day to host home parties), your non-toxic home care products, herbal supplements… whatever niche you are in. Just be creative, give value and be consistent and the leads can start pouring in.

Real Estate and Mortgage Industry blogs

This is an industry I am fairly familiar with and all too often I see agents promoting their generic company website, and just posting their listings or, in the mortgage industry,-posting rates …on the off chance that their target market may come across a listing. How can blogging help with your mortgage business or your real estate business? While I can say with certainty that these are industries where you can’t exactly sell a home or close a mortgage while you sleep, there is no reason why you can’t collect leads while you sleep and have a blog working for you while you sleep.

Mortgage Brokers and Real Estate agents are busy. They don’t have time to spend a lot of time blogging. I get that. But, having a well planned strategy around a blog and using it correctly can differentiate them from all the rest and does not need to take a lot of time. Incorporating that blog with Social Media and an email marketing campaign can do far more than just sharing new listings on a generic site. Imagine sharing listings and rates with an list of 1000’s that opted in to your list and LIKE you because of who you are and the value you provide!

Here are just a few quick ways an agent can blog without spending too much time:

– Share financial tips

– Share credit tips

– Share short personal stories or case studies related to your niche

– Share a variety of tips regarding preparing your home for sale

– Re-purpose content by sharing it via video post or written post

– Share other people’s videos

– Share excerpts to industry articles with just a paragraph with your take on the article

… and again, you should have something of value that your target market will give you their email in exchange for, such as :

– a video series on how” xyz City” citizens can be mortgage free faster or

– Secrets to selling your home in “xyz city” at over asking price quickly and easily.

Set it up so that an autoresponder will send them regular emails. That is a time saver in itself. Set it up once and have the system do the work for you while you are out getting listings. Then, occasionally send a broadcast email to your entire list regarding a hot new listing or the crazy great mortgage rates we are seeing.

Non-profit/ Charities / Organizations / Churches and Ministries.

Can you see how following a similar strategy to the ones in the examples above can help various organizations and causes spread the word? In the advent of “internet-everything”, non-profits have an opportunity to have a voice on the internet and reach the masses, as well. A church can share sermons and words of wisdom on a blog and provide daily bible quotes, prayers, and keep local residents in the loop when it comes to local church events. It can be a powerful way to fund-raise and accept donations beyond just local reach.

Tools referenced

I referenced a few tools I use and recommend when you are getting started with your blog, namely a Lead Capture page and an auto-responder. If you are just starting out, adding tools to your blog does not need to be complicated or expensive. You can start with a free newsletter like Mailchimp (it has its limitations) you can use a relatively inexpensive option but with many more features. The auto-responder I use for most of my lists and email campaigns is Get Response. (tip: Get response also now has unlimited lead pages included in one of their packages). I use MLSP for my Lead Capture page and a built in CRM

Cashing in on your passion

The above examples reference just some of the ways any business can use a blog. Most recently, I have seen bloggers blogging about their passions… yoga, cross fit, gardening, personal development.. and then they market and sell products that are completely unrelated to their niche. Their reasoning? They blog about something they love and provide such unbelievably great value, regularly and consistently that they attract tons of traffic . The more eyeballs they have reading their passion based blog leads to a greater number of people viewing the products they are selling. More views… more interest… more leads and sales and happy customers.

Cool way to make a living isn’t it?

To your success,

P.S You can learn more about getting more authority, more leads, more sales, and more income with blogging here.

21 Day Blogging Challenge · Network Marketing Business Tips · Recommendations · Small business tips

The key to earning automated income online and it’s not what you think

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I believe in people and I believe in people doing amazing wonderful things with their talents, their perseverance and their hard work. If you read my past blogs, you know that I am all about outrageous goals . I am about taking the steps necessary to achieve those outrageous goals. I LOVE people and I love personal development.

…so it might seem a little odd that here I am writing about automated income online.

…but bear with me.

There’s a slight misconception about what an automated internet business really looks like.

First off, there’s a picture in my head that I get (because I have been there) of someone either searching Google for an “automated business” , “ turnkey internet business”, “automated income online” after hearing about success story after success story of people who made it big on the internet by just “clicking on the link”.

I personally couldn’t help but wonder if there was some truth to it and so, yes, I have often “Clicked on the link” in search of freedom. Isn’t that what most of us want when we get into business.. freedom?

The truth is, most of the time, when someone goes to click on a link and buy an automated online business, they are given another link and told to promote and left hung out to dry. And even if you are a go-getter, and try your best there are some missing elements that were implied or promised that just aren’t there. Without those elements it is near impossible to succeed. No personal contact. No training. No real business.

Yet, I personally kept looking and through my failures, my training, my perseverance and belief, I realized some key elements in a home business in the online business area. There are some essential criteria in creating the freedom you are looking for:

Systems

Grasp the importance of this and you will achieve amazing results in your business:

I will never forget when I was at an important family event last summer, outdoors, all day without a computer. I remember coming home that evening to an inbox full of new leads and sales.

I wasn’t working but I still had prospects interested in my business and product offerings. I had the ability to make sales even though I was outside away from my desk all day. I had a system in place to take care of the interested prospects for me.

I was collecting emails

The system was presenting the product, making sales and accepting credit cards.

There was a follow up system in place to aid them in the buying decision.

Step by Step Training

While this may not be necessary for the seasoned pro, someone just starting online and checking out an opportunity does not want to have to figure everything out from scratch.

… and they shouldn’t have to. Not in this type of business.

And most importantly… (at least in my mind)……is the personal touch.

The Personal Touch

What good would McDonald’s, Subway, Tim Hortons etc be to a business owner if the business owner couldn’t contact Customer support or if the franchise was provided with no training?

I truly believe that this is the secret sauce.

I have seen a lot of great systems out there. You can automate your lead capture page, your email follow up, your website presentation. There can be a wonderful, flawless payment system in place for your customers and an automated way of you getting paid too but if you have no one to contact when you are stuck, when you need a hand or perhaps just a little nudge in the right direction… then you can end up right back where you started.

This personal touch goes beyond technical issues and support calls. It’s the live trainings, the live events, the teams that you get to know both online and offline that help you with your outrageous goals.

I remember hearing once that in order for a product or business to be super successful, it needed to either be 1)First of its kind 2) the only one of its kind or 3) have the WOW factor. I believe I have found all three and more.

The online system I plugged into is as automated as it gets without leaving you high and dry. Average people are making their first money online after clicking link after link in other opportunities only to be disappointed.

It has all the elements above and more, to get you on the right track as well as ongoing training and support in business and personal development. (my kind of company). The WOW factor for me is the personal coaches, available to help you build your business.

They are aligned with my beliefs and have my seal of approval. You can check them out here.

To your success,

21 Day Blogging Challenge · Personal Development · Small business tips

Are you creating and providing enough value in your business?

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Do you think that $100,000/month is out of your reach. Is it too much for you to earn in your business?

What about a million a month? Too outrageous?

A concept was presented to me recently that you may have heard a million times before but my hope is that you will really let this sink in, especially if you are struggling to get clients and make money. Perhaps your ideas about the amount of money you think is possible for you to earn may change.

Your earnings are directly related to the amount of value your business provides.

The more value you provide, the more money you will make.

In the Direct Sales/Network Marketing industry, this is especially true as you are not only able to provide value to your clients but also build a team and teach them to provide value to others as well. Pretty powerful.

Deliver value to the marketplace. That’s it period.

Don’t just try to sell. It won’t work unless the product you are selling provides value. It definitely won’t work if you don’t BELIEVE the product or service provides value. BUT your business will explode if YOU yourself provide incredible value that exceeds your customer’s expectations.

Before anyone even buys, you should be giving away lessons and value.

If you are selling a healthy skin care line, TEACH your prospects about skin, about parabens. Perhaps give them tips on taking care of their skin or healthy diet tips for their skin.

If you are selling them personal development products, share your knowledge, share what YOU have learned from your products. Make videos sharing tips that can help them in their personal growth.

Once you really grasp that you as a business owner have the power and ability to increase your income by providing incredible value to your prospects on a daily basis, those outrageous monthly goals are not so outrageous. The “Buy now” button is not making you money. That sales presentation is not increasing your earnings. That automated sales funnel is not making you rich. YOU and the value you provide on a daily basis can make you rich.

To your success,

Personal Development · Small business tips

Embracing Change in your business

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Some say change has the ability to bring your business to a screeching halt while others say change is always good for business.

Truth is, change will happen whether you like it or not and the best thing we can do is embrace it:

Be prepared for it. Know that at any time, things can and will change that will need you to be prepared to ‘roll with the punches’. Run your business in a way that if changes do happen, you are prepared to do what’s necessary to adapt.

Allow it to happen. Don’t deny or ignore. Accepting what’s changed and that you need to adapt either with government regulations, compensation plans, technology or any influencing body will help you deal with it more efficiently.

Look for the gold. Ask yourself, “Where’s the opportunity here.? How can this be good for me, my family and those I serve?”

When mortgage rules changed in Canada, approvals became increasingly difficult for mortgage brokers and agents alike. By accepting these changes, educating ourselves and being able to prepare and edcuate clients for their upcoming mortgages we were able to continue as a leading mortgage brokerage. Change was inevitable – we had no control over it but we could prepare our clients for larger downpayments, improved credit scores, decreased debts.

Not only did that differentiate us in the industry and provide an opportunity for growth but allowed people who thought their dreams of home ownership were over an opportunity to prepare themselves and ultimately buy their dream home.

Are you stuck because something has changed in your industry and you don’t know what to do? Perhaps you are doing the same things over and over again without any success and you NEED to change your strategy or daily activity for new results. Take a moment and analyze the situation. Don’t see change as the enemy. It may be as simple as a few small tweaks in your daily activity that could make the world of difference.

“Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future”

John F. Kennedy

To your success,