Not sure about you, but I love to hear about “hot trends”!

It is the closest thing to having a “crystal ball” in front of you predicting where things will go…

That’s why I want to invite you to participate on a really cool webinar called “13 trends that will shape the Internet on 2013″! This webinar is presented by Ernesto Verdugo.

Ernesto is the #1 Marketing Expert in the Middle East and he is based in Dubai, one of the most futuristic cities in the world…plus also one of the most technologically advanced environements in the world.

On this recorded webinar, you will discover why the Internet “as we know it” has ceased to exist and how the “NEW” Internet is taking shape.

Plus you will discover the following:

- Why Apple stock price is going down and where they “missed the boat” (again)

- The latest opportunities available for “aware” entrepreneurs

- A new technology Facebook is “Beta Testing” that will change the world of e-commerce

- What is Web 3.0 and why it is CRITICAL you upgrade your Internet Strategy.

- 2 Tweaks you must do to your website to benefit from a new source of traffic

- Where will the new source of Internet Millionaires will come from and how YOU can become one of them.

- The reason why over 16% of all offline businesses will be out of business in 2013

- The 3 Industries that are entering the Internet Marketing Space that will grow dramatically in 2013

- and much much more…

If you want a head start or just keep yourself above the brim in 2013, make sure to attend this one.

If you want to get more customers, grow your business and make more profit, then watch this video right now.

Eben Pagan explains the 9 things you must master if you want to build a strong, profitable business. Inside, you’ll learn:

> Why skills like creativity and productivity are key to building a business—and what you must do differently as an entrepreneur who is building a profitable business

> What you must get right in order to shift your business into “high growth mode”

> How to get access to the ultimate training for growing your business and making more profit and income

It’s a fact: there’s lots of money to be made in the lead generation for local businesses arena.

While there are lots of products that teach you how to make money from local businesses, the big problem is they don’t tell you that dealing with local businesses is a whole different animal and can be complicated and create headaches for you if local business owners can’t follow your solutions to the dot.

They can be difficult to deal with if they require a lot of handholding and that’s why many new local business consultants throw up their arms and quit before they begin to make any real money.

Now you can learn from the mistakes of consultants who have “been there, done that”, and discover one of the easiest ways to generate income from local businesses, just by focusing on generating leads for them, starting today.

* Local Lead Magician *

George Foreman has 3 fundamentals of business success: selling, integrity, and “the shotgun tactic”. Over a lifetime, Foreman has created the kind of well-rounded success that most people dream of. He is a profitable businessman, a community leader, a husband and a father. His life is full, but more importantly to Foreman, his life is meaningful.

With nearly 100 million George Foreman Grills sold since 1995, Foreman has had enormous influence in the wellness industry. He is also one of the highest-paid and most recognized celebrity endorsers in the world.

In 1999, Foreman signed a $137.5 million deal with Salton Inc. (recently merged with Applica Incorporated), entitling the grill manufacturer to global, unrestricted use of Foreman’s name in marketing the Lean, Mean, Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine and related products. The deal made Michael Jordan’s $40 million deal with Nike look small by comparison.

Before his endorsement of the grills, Foreman made business deals based primarily on a desire for income. “I was so successful,” he says. “All the ads I had done for sausages, you name it, [I was] mainly thinking about money. But then I went into the grill business.” He took the grills all over the country, making personal appearances and boosting sales. “I was meeting people who would say, ‘The doctor told me to get a George!’ I’m like, what are they talking about? Get a George?” He realized his product was making a difference in people’s health, and his perspective changed. “From that point on, you know, I can never go back to what I used to do where I just sell and sell,” he says. “Now everything I do has to be connected to something healthy.”

The Importance of Selling

Of course, Foreman’s business success started with his success as an athlete. Born in 1949 in Marshall, Texas, Foreman, nicknamed “Big George”, was one of seven children in a struggling home. By the time he was 15, he was a street thug and mugger in Houston’s dangerous 5th Ward. His life changed when he left for California to join the Job Corps and was introduced to the discipline of boxing. In 1968, Foreman won the Olympic Gold medal in Mexico City, in only his 25th amateur fight. A world champion was born.

Within a few years of turning professional, Foreman’s record was 37 wins—most by knockout—and no losses. In 1973, he defeated Joe Frazier to become heavyweight champion of the world. Despite his fame, he maintained a cold distance from the public, and his surly demeanor earned him occasional boos in the ring. He defended his title twice before losing it to Muhammad Ali in the “Rumble in the Jungle” in 1974.

A few years later, Foreman announced what he thought was his retirement. A religious awakening led him to pursue a life in the church. He didn’t know at the time that the seeds of his business success lay in these days of personal transformation.

“It started because I left boxing in 1977 and worked in evangelism at a church in Marshall,” he says. Foreman had made a fortune in boxing, but now turned his attention fully to his faith. “I spent all my time preaching with lots of money. Lots of money.” But he didn’t preach like a rich man. He spent countless nights out on the streets of Houston, in all weather. Just as in his boxing career, he was relentless.

He also made good on a personal pledge to help at-risk youth, just as he had been helped during his early days as a teenage thug. After he joined the Job Corps, a counselor saw young George’s potential and got him involved in boxing, possibly saving him from a life of crime or jail or worse. Foreman wanted to provide the same kind of opportunities for young people and in 1984 founded The George Foreman Youth & Community Center, which offers scholastic and athletic activities including, of course, boxing.

But 10 years after he left boxing, he says he looked up and was on the verge of bankruptcy. “I had to go back into boxing for our survival, to feed my family.” Fortunately, his years spent preaching on the streets of Houston had taught him valuable lessons that would carry him into a second career as a businessman. “What I found was the 10 years I was out of boxing, I was preaching on the street corner and I’d make people stop. They didn’t know me,” he says, “the old George with an afro and all that. So I realized I could stop these people, who are always headed somewhere, for a second and sell my message. That’s what I learned to do on the street corner.”

He tried applying his newfound skills in the boxing world. “So I went back to boxing trying to sell the old George Foreman heavyweight champion of the world,” he says. “Nobody wanted to buy it, though.” Foreman was 38 when he returned to the ring, a tough sell for any athletic comeback. But the man in front of the camera this time wasn’t cool or removed. He had a gentleness about him that contrasted his toughness in the ring, and that appealed to the public.

“In time, I learned the importance of selling,” he says. Foreman realized he had power outside the ring to influence how people viewed him. In 1994, at the age of 44, Foreman reclaimed the heavyweight title. “That’s when people started to say, ‘This guy can sell himself. Let’s let him sell Doritos or Kentucky Fried or McDonald’s.’ ” And sell, he did. In addition to promoting these companies, Foreman became the spokesman for Meineke Car Care Centers. The boxer and preacher was now an advertiser’s dream come true.

But he says his athletic ability was less a factor in his business success than his selling skills. “If you learn to sell, it’s worth more than a degree,” he says.” It’s worth more than the heavyweight championship of the world. It’s even more important than having a million dollars in the bank. Learn to sell and you’ll never starve.”

Integrity: His Greatest Asset

“The greatest asset, even in this country, is not oil and gas,” Foreman says. “It’s integrity. Everyone is searching for it, asking, ‘Who can I do business with that I can trust?’”

By 1994, Foreman’s life was again on the upswing. When he took the opportunity to endorse what is now the George Foreman Lean, Mean, Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine, he found a new drive to help people improve their lives by improving their health. Now he won’t settle for anything less when it comes to endorsements. “One of the biggest things is to fight,” he says. “Just don’t go absolutely for the buck.”

Foreman learned after his first retirement that to go back into boxing he had to protect the brand of George Foreman. “So now I understand you must preserve the quality of your name, your integrity,” he says. “You don’t want to lie about anything. And it’s something that people will be happy about once they get to know you. Because people count on you. You know, a contract you can easily break. I’ve found in business, everyone signs a contract to make a business deal, and they always leave a loophole so they can break them.

Foreman says people with integrity are in high demand. “There are a lot of guys who are successful, they make a lot of big money, I mean millions overnight with a contract, and they don’t understand the evaporation. It evaporates. You’re always back to square one. I found that out, so integrity is how I do business. That’s my main asset.”

This attitude is one he intends to impart to his kids. He has 10 children—five with his current wife, Mary “Joan” Martelly. George III, nicknamed “Monk”, is Foreman’s business manager. “Your children are looking at exactly what you do,” he says. “You’ve got to believe in something. And you’ve got a line that you can’t cross. I point this out.

“I’ll give you an example. I had the opportunity to go into the restaurant business. A chain of restaurants, the George Foreman restaurants. And it was an opportunity right out to make lots of money.” But Foreman is opposed to selling liquor in his establishments, in accordance with his religious beliefs. “And they said, ‘Well, this is what will make more profi ts. You can just donate them to charity.’ I said, ‘No, I can’t do that.’ And my sons, who were in business with me, watching me put this deal together, they could not understand it. They just couldn’t understand. Not to say that they have to have the same feelings I have about things. But at least have something you believe in and you cannot be talked out of by dollars and cents. And that’s what I try to pass on.”

The Old Shotgun Tactic

Foreman is approached by hundreds of potential business partners every year. He reviews offers daily with George III, and asks for input from his wife and children before he signs a deal. So how does he choose from all the opportunities he sees? “I call it the old shotgun tactic,” he says. “My grandfather used to go out hunting during the days of the Depression. The good shooters, the marksmen, shot with one shell.” But during the Great Depression, you couldn’t put all your bets on one bullet because those bullets were expensive. “If you missed the squirrel, so to speak, you don’t have anything but an excuse on the table,” Foreman says. “But if you buy these cheap shots, which are buckshots, they scatter. You come back in with a squirrel. Although you got a lot of buckshot in it, you got a decent meal on the table.

“So now I use the same thing, although you’ve got to be selective because you have a name to protect.” Foreman believes that one of the many opportunities he investigates will hit it big. “You know you put out a lot of buckshot, you’re going to strike one,” he says. “You’ve got to start out early in the morning and look at hundreds, literally hundreds of things, looking for that quality. And it may take a year, it may take three or four years, but you’re going to hit something so you have something to put on the table for your family.”

Foreman’s company, George Foreman Enterprises, consistently strikes new deals for products and services that meet Foreman’s requirements of being high-quality and beneficial to the consumer. He has lent his name to a line of clothing for big and tall men sold by Casual Male and endorsed a new brand of shoes for diabetics by InStride as well as a health-food restaurant chain called UFood Grill.

“And then we have the green cleaning products, which I’ve been working on for a couple years,” he says. “We finally got it absolutely, totally biodegradable.” He hopes that using biodegradable products, like George Foreman’s Knock-Out Household Cleaning System, will help preserve the land for his grandchildren. His other hope is that the established cleaning-product manufacturers will follow suit. “This is going to be so good it’s going to make the big companies jealous, and they’re going to outdo me. And I still win,” he says. “I still win. Because it makes the planet much better.”

But it doesn’t end there. Through Foreman’s website, visitors can purchase cookbooks, memoirs and autographed boxing gloves. His 10 books, 3 of which were published by Thomas Nelson in the last 2 years, offer inspirational insights into life, comebacks and fatherhood. And then there are the grills. The newest version, the 360 Grill, is selling well and is one of several George Foreman brand small kitchen appliances, including the Lean Mean Fryer for reduced-fat frying and the Grill & Roast for convection cooking.

He’s also become a star of the small screen; his reality series Family Foreman starring him and his family debuted in 2008 on the cable channel TV Land, and an ABC sitcom starring Foreman ran for nine episodes in 1993-94.

Foreman has succeeded in creating more than a brand. He has created a relationship with consumers based on integrity and a gift for making the sale. This relationship allows him to transfer his brand to a wide range of products and succeed in staying diversified. “The bottom line is, you make a decision you’ll be able to sleep with, wake up the next day, look in the mirror and feel good about yourself,” Foreman says.

“You want to leave something, you really do,” he says. “I mean, in the end, statues and all those things, that doesn’t mean anything. Leave something that we’re all going to benefit from. I think that’s what I’d like to do.

Apply Foreman’s philosophies for success in your life:

1. Belief: “You have to have something you believe in. It could be someone you believe in, too. But at least have something you believe in and you cannot be talked out of by dollars and cents.”

2. Integrity: “You must preserve the quality of your name, your integrity. You don’t want to lie about anything. And it’s something that people will be happy about once they get to know you. Because people count on you.”

3. Sales: “Learn to sell and you’ll never starve.”

4. Resilience: “You’re going to fail if you do enough business. But you can always come back because you’ve got some integrity, and people need that.”

5. Persistence: “It may take a year, it may take three or four years, but you’re going to hit something so you have something to put on the table for your family.”

6. Legacy: “You want to leave something, you really do. I mean, in the end, statues and all those things, they don’t mean anything. Leave something that we’re all going to benefit from.”

Last week subscriber JK e-mailed me and said, “It sounds to me that the freelancer’s life is not it’s all cracked up to be.

“Although the money and the prestige sound important, getting clients and keeping them happy, along with knowing your craft and producing results sounds like the key. It involves LOTs of work!

“I may be dead wrong but correct me on this if I am. This e-mail is going to you and you alone…and not to put you on the spot.”

The short answer is: JK is right: Getting clients and keeping them happy, along with knowing your craft and producing results, is the key—and it involves lots of hard work.

JK is not putting me on the spot, because I have never claimed otherwise.

There’s an old saying: “An entrepreneur is someone who will work 60 hours a week for himself in order to avoid working 40 hours a week for someone else.”

Freelancing and any other type of small service business are labor-intensive, because they generate only active income, meaning you only get paid when you are working, whether you charge a flat fee or hourly rate.

Dentists have a saying about this: the more you drill and fill, the more you bill.

Internet marketing and other product businesses have the advantage of generating passive income, meaning you make money even when you’re not working.

For instance, I just returned to my desk from a 10-minute coffee break, and during that time my Internet marketing business received 3 orders totaling $291 in sales, even though I was not working.

By comparison, the income of my freelance copywriting business during that break was zero: I only make money as a copywriter when I am copywriting.

However, the notion that passive income requires zero work is grossly mistaken.

True, you can generate orders even when you’re away or sleeping.

But it takes an enormous amount of work up front—including building an e-list, creating or sourcing products, producing websites, writing e-newsletters and e-mail marketing messages, writing blog posts, writing articles, optimizing your website for search engines—before the passive income can start flowing. And at the beginning, when your numbers are small, so are your sales.

For instance, say you have a subscriber list of 1,000 names. The click-through rate on your e-mail to the list is 2%, so you get 20 clicks per e-mail sent to your landing page.

The landing page conversion rate is 5%, so those 20 clicks generate only a single order. If you are selling a $29 e-book, you made only $29.

On the other hand, when you build your list up to 100,000 names, those same performance metrics would result in $2,900 in orders for a single e-mail blast to the list.

If you then improve the landing page conversion rate to 10%, that single e-mail would bring $5,800 in sales.

To summarize, passive income businesses require a huge investment of labor up front in exchange for a stream of passive income, generated with relatively little additional labor, down the road.

Active income businesses require almost nothing to start up—you can begin with just a PC, phone, and Internet connection—but take continual labor to generate continual income.

Neither, however, is little or no work, as some promoters of “make money as a copywriter” and “make money in Internet marketing” claim. There is a lot to do for each type of business. Plus, you must learn how to do it, and then practice until you can do it well. All of which takes time.

A good rule of thumb for evaluating business opportunities: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

I encourage you to be an entrepreneur if—and only if—that’s your strong desire. But go into it with realistic expectations and your eyes wide open.

Bob Bly is the author of “World’s Best Copywriting Secrets” and has written copy for more than 100 companies including IBM, Boardroom, Medical Economics and AT&T. He is the author of more than 75 books and a columnist for Target Marketing, Early To Rise and The Writer. McGraw-Hill calls him “America’s top copywriter”.

Eben Pagan has just released a new free report that shares 4 powerful steps to build your brand and market your products and services.

Inside, you’ll learn:

* The two types of branding and why most companies use the WRONG one when they spend money to market themselves

* What branding actually is, and how it works on a psychological and emotional level

* How to combine your direct marketing and branding together to make both a lot more powerful

* How to use these strategies to get a lot more customers, grow your business, and also grow your profit and income

The report also comes with a couple of PDF exercise downloads, and a video from Eben walking you through the steps to identifying your own brand “hot buttons” and using the strategies to build your brand and your sales.

You can get it all here by just opting in.

Go download and read the report now, and learn how to profitably brand and market your products and services.

Productivity for us entrepreneurs is about doing the things that increase the growth and profit of our businesses, so we can increase our income.

Yet as the business grows in size, productivity becomes a challenge that gets bigger all the time, to a point where if entrepreneurs do not have the right strategies to tackle it, business growth will hit a plateau and may even regress while they suffer complete burnout.

And so Eben Pagan has just released a new report and video teaching the 5 steps to increase your productivity as an entrepreneur. I highly recommend that you read it and watch the video if you want to learn how to increase the results and profit in your business.

You’ll learn how to:

* See the hidden obstacles that get in the way of business productivity and profit (many of these are actually emotional, so we don’t even notice them)

* Identify the specific actions inside of your own business that result in growth and profit

* Create an environment that puts you into the ‘flow’ state and almost forces you to do the things that result in making higher income

* Inspire and motivate yourself emotionally, to focus all of your energy on doing those things that grow your business and the money you get from it

A quick tip: Read the report and print out the 2 exercises that go along with it before you watch the video. The video walks you through the steps in the exercises, and it will save you some time if you already have them printed out.

If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you had a dream to start your own business to honor who you are and what you want to create in this life (including a great income!). You’ve got the inspiration, and you’re putting in the perspiration…but where is it all going?

Entrepreneur mentor Ali Brown says, “If you’re just trying to get clients and customers here and there, and feel like you don’t have a focused system for making this happen, you could be in big trouble. Nothing breaks my heart more than seeing a woman give up on her entrepreneurial dream, simply because the money isn’t coming in. You see, most small business owners are floundering because they simply haven’t put together their Profit Map.”

Well, mark your calendars for Wednesday, May 15, 2013. Ali is giving you access to her FREE 4-hour workshop with the coaches from her online business training program ‘Elevate’, and they’re all going to show you how to make your Profit Map happen!

You’ll get a unique mix of ‘live’ training, in-depth exercises, and Q&A that you can implement immediately in your business. Ali’s even unveiling some juicy video footage from her Thrive Live! training event, a closed-door workshop she hosted strictly for members of ‘Elevate’.

If you’re looking for a real treat, go here for all the details and easy sign-up.

My friend Matt Bush has been quietly cleaning up making a very comfortable living to the tune of 5 figures per month performing a very unique kind of ‘arbitrage’.

And after endless requests, he’s agreed to put together an extremely thorough case study and mindmap detailing every step.

He is exposing 4 very self-limiting MYTHS regarding this thriving model and why anyone, including YOU, can get paid monthly recurring income following this proven system.

He put the case study in DVD format, printed a very limited amount of copies, and you can get a FREE copy today.

One of the ways in which small businesspeople, especially those in service businesses, promote themselves is by networking at meetings.

Is this a smart thing? In some ways, no.

The main reason I am negative on networking is that it is a time suck.

By the time you drive back and forth to the location, have the lunch or dinner if one is served, hear the speaker if they have one, and schmooze with fellow attendees, you have eaten up half a day. If you work 5 days a week, that’s 10% of your billable time that you can’t bill anyone for.

I have also found a Murphy’s Law effect: I frequently get offered a big assignment on a rush job the day I am supposed to go to a networking meeting, and I regret having committed to attending, which I may have done months in advance.

The best places to network are local chapters of professional or trade associations whose members are your prospects. For instance, I am a member of the Business Marketing Association, a group catering to B2B marketing professionals. I am also a member of the Specialized Information Publishers Association, a group of newsletter publishers.

The worst places to network are groups formed specifically for networking purposes and that attract local business owners, often one-person businesses.

My advice: Don’t join a networking group full of financial planners, HVAC guys, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, lawyers, contractors, landscapers, and chiropractors.

Why not? Because you will get leads to other tiny businesses with no money – and no sense of the value of professional services.

Even with associations, I have some warnings. First, don’t, as many self-promotion experts advise, become overly involved with the group, such as becoming an officer of the chapter or working on a committee. It will give you visibility. But it is an enormous time suck.

Second, don’t attend every meeting. Potential clients seem to ignore vendors who are always there looking for business.

Here is how I have used both local chapters and national professional associations to get new clients:

1) Write an article for the group’s newsletter, if they have one. You can usually repurpose something you have already written, so the investment of time can be less than an hour.

2) Offer to be the speaker at a meeting. This way, you can go to one meeting a year instead of 12. As the speaker, you are the center of attention, so you don’t have to “work the room” for networking. Attendees flock to the speaker. Also, the speaker stands out from the crowd and is perceived as an expert.

3) I have joined associations just to get access to their mailing list or member directory, and profitably promoted myself to members via direct mail. I have found advertising in their online member bulletins far less effective.

4) Sponsor one of the monthly meetings. The chairperson of the meeting will single you out to thank you for your sponsorship, which gets you noticed. Sponsorships vary; some give you a table to market yourself or your products, e.g., you can sell your book there.

One other tip: when you speak at a meeting, offer to send attendees something of value like a PDF of your PowerPoint; to get it, they have to give you their business card. That way you can quickly build a small but responsive list of qualified prospects.

Bob Bly is the author of “World’s Best Copywriting Secrets” and has written copy for more than 100 companies including IBM, Boardroom, Medical Economics and AT&T. He is the author of more than 75 books and a columnist for Target Marketing, Early To Rise and The Writer. McGraw-Hill calls him “America’s top copywriter”.

Marketing can be a daunting task for some. “I don’t want to feel like I’m selling.” Does this sound familiar? It is a common mental refrain inside most people’s heads (we just don’t openly admit it). The truth is, if your passion is not coming through in your marketing, it becomes the elephant in the room. Your prospective client sees your lack of confidence and off they go.

Beth Woodward delivers her book (also available as an e-book) packed full of successful marketing stories. Buried within a book is a powerful message that you too can market yourself and your business authentically. Allow these stories to inspire you to see new ways of marketing the business you love, in ways you may have never imagined! Get your copy of “How To Market From Your Comfort Zone” today.

There’s little room for followers in today’s fast-paced world. Whatever your role, you’re responsible for getting something done. And the way to meet that goal is to be a good coach. A manager can tell people what to do, when to do it, and how to do it but only a good coach can motivate them to give the job their full attention. While others may point out problems, a coach is there to help solve them. Many in leadership positions will hold a carrot out for people to go after. But a coach will motivate the individual to want to achieve the highest performance possible. Below are some guidelines to help you be a better leader by coaching your employees:

1. Listen.

Conduct an “innerview.” Get to know the individual better. Discuss the family situation, the high points and low points in their lives. Find out how they survived low points

2. Ask insightful questions.

Whenever your employees complete an assignment, ask them three things they felt were accomplished effectively in the project and find out which one area that could be improved. If they were on target with the area that needed improvement, praise them for the good work.

3. Don’t avoid the negative.

An effective team considers every member’s input and ideas. Although it is sometimes easier to dismiss negative or contradicting feedback and comments, take into account that the team members who are in the most disagreement, can also be a strong advocate of the solution and can provide valuable insight from a different perspective.

4. Don’t pretend you’re perfect.

It is important to realize that there are times you need to criticize as a leader. Criticism need not always have a negative connotation to it. You can build rapport. Try relating similar issues you faced and talk about how you resolved them. Focus on the behavior or action, not the individual. Reassure the employee that he or she isn’t a bad person.

5. Build self-esteem.

What we are actually and frequently coaching most of the time is really fear and self-confidence. Recognize the employee’s achievement. Or encourage people by telling them how valuable their work is.

6. Believe in what you do.

Coaching is hard work. It’s rarely given the limelight. Yet, by being a strong coach, you can move your team to work wonders while giving individuals the sense of accomplishment they need.

Contributed by Dale Carnegie Training.

1. Create strategies with a global context. Even many solopreneurs now operate globally.

2. Know when affordability trumps innovation. In many markets, users don’t care about innovation; they care about basic, affordable functionality.

3. Be more adept at building relationships than filing lawsuits. Businesses need to lose the crutch of legal systems to ensure contractual commitments are met.

4. Become fascinated with world events. What happens in Asia, Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Australia affects America.

5. Learn what motivates employees. Motivating employees will be key to the productivity gains necessary to compete with rivals operating with lower costs.

6. Embrace new bottom lines. Managers in the 21st century will need to become super motivators who drive productivity and innovation, create competitive products, and generate more sales and increased profits.

7. Maintain a strong moral compass. This will be essential to building trust and relationships, the business “currency” in many countries.

Source: News and Experts, 3/4/13.

There are 8 STEPS that you need to take in order to secure a profitable, dependable income stream no matter WHAT the economy is doing.

Have you seen the step-by-step directions yet?

If you missed them, watch this very controversial free video series now.

Note: some people aren’t going to like these videos…it’s got some tough truths in it.

But inside of the 3rd video, you’ll discover the exact 8 steps you need to take in order to
secure your financial freedom NO MATTER WHAT the economy is doing.

The truth is hard to stomach, but it’s too important not to watch.

If you are a business owner. What type? Most people will answer that they are a “lawn mowing” or “novelty shop” owner. Only a few very successful people seem to realize that they are in the business of marketing and say “I am in business to market lawn mowing services” or “I am in the business of marketing novelty items”.

Think about the local video store. How many have you seen close down. How much marketing did you see from those who have closed down? I would hazard a guess that you didn’t see much and if you did, it never tried to sell you the experience of watching a new release movie or old classic from the comfort of your own home. Typically store owners get so caught up with the day to day running they forget the need to market their products or services to continue to bring in new customers or clients and just continue to market their store name.

Let me try and provide anther example. You have a novelty shop with a physical storefront location and have named it “Joan’s Store”. That is not your business. In fact, the store itself is usually an extra expense of running a business. If you are like many business owners, you put up a sign out the front with your store name and run an ad in the local paper telling people your store name and location. How will anyone know that your shop (Joan’s Store) sells novelty items? How differently would your business grow if instead of advertising just your store name, you advertise your novelty items and their benefits? Or if your marketing efforts sell the experience (or sizzle) of getting many laughs?

Your real business is the marketing of the novelty items…you just use the store front as a way to sell your novelty items. Instead of a store you could also use mail order, a phone order line, a website, or stores owned by others to sell your products and services. Your real business job is to drive potential customers (or traffic) into your store to buy your novelty products. There are hundreds of ways to drive traffic to your store and its products; and that is the art of marketing.

Marketing can include: advertising, direct mail campaigns, classified ads, TV infomercials, e-mail courses, e-mail mailing lists, banners, sponsorship, direct mail, postcards, events and contests, drawings, JV’s, open houses, press releases, logo branding, etc. Marketing is anything which brands your product or services, brings them to the attention of potential customers and drives them to do business with you.

If you are looking to develop start-up or if you want to expand your business to new areas, proper planning is inevitable. You can improve and develop your business plans by constructing an apparent perspective of what your company may progress in the long run. Write an intricate explanation of whom your clients are and the kind of items or services you provide. Consider the employees you may need to employ. Write a mission declaration that explains business features. Focus on your business activities. Analyse which activities will bring the highest development. Concentrate on the activities that will supply the most development with the minimum amount of chance and effort.

Business Plan: Create a complete and detailed business blueprint. Create a database of the items and services your company offers. Explain the kind of clients who will benefit from your business. Evaluate your company’s advantages, vulnerabilities, opportunities and challenges. Incorporate a promotion plan for your company. Analyse how much money will be required for advancement.

List of Goals: Construct a checklist of intentions for your business. Create goals that are targeted and realistic with a timeline for achieving them. Disclose the prerequisites with your employees. Create a record of motion that is necessary to meet your development goals.

Marketing: Market your company to provide more items or services to your current consumers. Access fresh uses for the items or services you offer. Expand your product sales range by promoting your items on the Web or via catalogue sales.

Good Employees: You have to hire talented employees to run your company. Look for candidates who can work hard to improve your business.

Diversify: Broaden your business items or services. Open a series of divisions of the business, so if one department slows the other is prepared to maintain the weight. Look for specialised niche business privileges.

Outsourcing: Bring in other companies to help with business growth. Buy your competitor’s business. Purchase brands or distributing businesses that your company uses.

Funding: Find business funding resources. You need to find the research entrepreneurs or investors who are engaged in funding your company. Analyse banks to determine, if the development is eligible for a loan.

Online Presence: Market your company with the help of online. Develop a website which markets your business. Set up a virtual store to offer your items. Generate an e-mail newsletter to reach more users.

Be Ready for Change: Improve and change with the world. Stay knowledgeable about what your clients want. Provide advantages to keep customers loyal.

Patience: Patience is a virtue, especially when it comes to business. Don’t just look for immediate growth, it normally happens on a sliding scale. One day business may be up and the next it could be down. Developing a successful business mainly hinges on the relationship your company builds with the client or customer base it acquires. Good communication and customer services are the main key elements. When your company builds a strong and dedicated customer base, you will see growth.

Author bio: Hello everybody, I am Leo from Chester, Cheshire, England. I am into guest blogging. I have written articles on PPI claims. Catch me on @financeport.

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When my kids were little, they would crack themselves up by preparing strange concoctions in the kitchen, feeding them to me, and watching me grimace.

My eyes were closed, so luckily, I never knew what I was about to ingest.

One time, when it was dog biscuits, I was shocked at how terrible they tasted, despite pictures and copy on the box that made them look like a gourmet meal at a 5-star restaurant.

I pondered that dogs were willing to do a lot—come, sit, fetch, roll over, play dead—for really small rewards.

And then it gradually dawned on me that people are the same way—a fact you can use to good advantage in your marketing.

Example: back in the 80s, a friend of mine worked at a medical ad agency.

The agency specialized in creating direct mail (DM) that invited doctors to medical symposia. These seminars were supposed to deliver content on the treatment of a specific disease, but the bottom-line goal was to promote the sponsor’s drug.

My friend did an A/B split test with a DM invitation to a symposium. The only difference between the test cells was that A offered a free pocket diary as a bonus gift to doctors who attended and B did not offer the premium.

When the agency mailed the test, mailing A offering the free pocket diary generated 6 times more response than mailing B without it. We were all amazed because it was a cheap little pocket diary that cost the client about a dollar each, and the audience was doctors earning 6-figure incomes.

“Don’t be amazed,” the client told us. “When doctors at our symposia ask our staff where the pay phone is, nine times out of ten they also ask us if we have a quarter they can use to make a call!” (Remember pay phones?)

In my first job out of college, I worked in the marketing department for Westinghouse Defense, whose major client was the U.S. military. We were tasked with maintaining a supply cabinet full of promotional items for Westinghouse salespeople to give to the high-ranking military personnel who were our prospects.

The most in-demand item was Westinghouse golf tees—plain white tees imprinted with the famous “circle W” Westinghouse logo in blue. The salespeople and their customers were so crazy for free golf tees we could not keep them in stock.

People, even wealthy ones, are eager to get free stuff and discounts. Recently a new bank opened in the upper-class town next to ours. They did the usual free balloons and hot dogs for the grand opening, and their parking lot was packed to overflowing. I love hot dogs, but I’m not going to fight for a parking space to get a free one.

Any free gift given with inquiry or order is called a “premium”. A “freemium” is a free gift enclosed with the mailing; e.g., rosary beads or a crucifix enclosed with a Catholic charities fundraising letter.

A “keeper” is a premium the consumer keeps even if he returns the product for a refund; e.g. The Folio Society offers a free 2-volume book set The Greek Myths when you order the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary for $19.95.

They ship the whole thing when you mail the return coupon from their ad; no payment with order is required. If you wish, you can just pack up and return the Dictionary when it arrives, pulling out and keeping The Greek Myths as a totally free gift.

I know: I’ve done it. A consumer who orders just to get the keeper premium and then returns the product is known as a “premium bandit.” Some direct marketers identify premium bandits with a code attached to the record in their database, and do not fulfill the premium bandit’s requests for keeper premiums.

Premium bandits are not actually thieves because all we are doing is taking advantage of an offer the marketer willingly makes.

The marketer knows in advance that a small percentage of orders will be from premium bandits, and this is part of their cost of doing business. “No biggish,” as the kids say.

I can also tell you that on more than one occasion, I was planning just on keeping the keeper premium, but when I saw the product, I liked it so much that I changed my mind and paid the invoice.

The premiums that work best (a) have a high perceived value, (b) are unique, and (c) are relevant to the product.

A great example is Gevalia Coffee giving away a beautiful high-quality coffee maker (I know; we have two) when you signed up for monthly shipments of gourmet flavored coffee. We ordered to get the coffee maker, but the flavors were so good we kept our subscription for a few months, which is what Gevalia was banking on.

Action step: think about what items would make good premiums complementing your offers. Source these items, incorporate them into your offer copy, and measure the change in response rate vs. the same offer with no premium.

Bob Bly is the author of “World’s Best Copywriting Secrets” and has written copy for more than 100 companies including IBM, Boardroom, Medical Economics and AT&T. He is the author of more than 75 books and a columnist for Target Marketing, Early To Rise and The Writer. McGraw-Hill calls him “America’s top copywriter”.

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