I'm Sharing the Secret of My Success

When I first started reading about personal attraction and "The Secret" and "The Attractor Factor", I was extremely skeptical.  Who really believes you can simply attract what you want in your life solely by making your intentions known and then waiting for it to come to you?  Of course, there is much more to it than that. 

When I started in network marketing, I did all the things my upline told me to do.  I held business presentations everywhere I could.  I bought leads and followed up with each of them.  I handed out DVDs and CDs that talked about the business opportunity.  I went to networking events and handed out business cards to everyone who would take one.  All of this effort made me a grand total of $35.46 a month.  Yeah!  I was actually making money for the first time.  But not enough to meet my needs.  I needed to find a better way.

And so I started researching to find who actually was making REAL money in network marketing.  I mean 6-figures or better.  Sure, just about everyone in my upline was making more than me.  Who couldn't make more than $35.46?!  But how many network marketers were making $100,000 a year or more?  Actually, more than I expected.  And not one of them was doing the things my upline was telling me to do.  But what were they doing?  Well, today we call it attraction marketing.  They were somehow instinctively following the rules of attraction marketing before it even had a name.

 

Rule #1:  Provide Value!

These 6-figure earners shared their knowledge and provided value.  If you were lucky enough to be in their circle, they would teach you what they knew.  Even if you weren't on their team. This made them valuable.  And people want to be around others who are valuable.  And if you're looking for a business to join and a leader to follow, where will you look?  To the people who provide value!

Rule #2:  Have a Goal!

These leaders all had goals.  They knew exactly what they wanted and they were laser-focused on getting it.  How can you move ahead if you don't know where you are going?




Rule #3:  Be Confident in Your Business and Products!

All of these success stories were extremely self-confident.  They didn't hesitate at all to share their business opportunity or products if they knew it could help someone else.  Would you buy a car from a salesperson who didn't show confidence it would run?  If you don't have confidence in your business or products, it may be time to look at something else.

Rule #4:  Be Positive and Upbeat!

The leaders I met were always upbeat, positive, and optimistic.  In fact, sometimes it was a bit annoying.  Who can be that cheerful all the time?  Well as it turns out, no one.  Even they had moments when they were a bit down.  The difference is they didn't share that publicly and they very quickly talked themselves out of it.  Who wants to be around someone that is always negative and angry? 

Rule #5:  Have Respect!

These leaders had respect - for themselves and for those around them.  They took care of themselves, their families, their friends, and their team.  They didn't make excuses - and they didn't accept them either.  They took care of their business.

I didn't know about these rules back then.  I had no confidence in network marketing.  I still considered it somewhat sleazy, not a real business at all.  I had no goals.  Not really.  Just make more money.  I was stressed from trying to make a living and care for my family and care for my father.  Because of this I was often rude, angry, depressed, and would quickly unload on anyone unfortunate enough to ask me how I was on a bad day.  I had little self-respect and my appearance showed it most of time.  I would wear whatever was handy at the moment when I headed out the door to work.  I was only going to work.  Who cared what I looked like?  So what if I was doing a business presentation right after work.  My prospects would understand - wouldn't they?  And as for providing value - I knew nothing because I didn't take the time to actually learn the skills necessary.  All I did was pass along whatever came from my upline, which wasn't much.

No wonder it took me so long to become successful!!!

Thankfully, several years have passed and I have learned much since then.  I was blessed to meet some amazing mentors who took the time to teach me what I needed to know.  I'm not sure why, but they saw potential in the stressed-out mess that I was and supported and encouraged me through the process of becoming a professional network marketer.  I am forever in their debt.

I promised you the secret to success and here it is.  There is no secret.  It's as simple as following the rules listed here.

 

Provide value.  Learn the skills necessary to build your business and then share that knowledge with others freely. 

Have goals.  You have to know what you're working for.  Otherwise, how will you know when you get there?  Your goals will keep you pushing forward when everyone and everything else is telling you to quit.

Be confident in this business and your products.  If you aren't using your products, you need to start.  You can't promote what you don't use.  And if you have any doubts about the network marketing business model you need to either learn more about it so you can speak with confidence and authority or you need to consider another line of work.  This business isn't for everyone.  If you can't put your whole heart into it, walk away.

Be positive and upbeat.  Think about it.  What is the number one complaint you hear about social media today?  Too much drama!  If you know someone who is always complaining about something, do you socialize with them much?  Probably not.  People want to be around those who are encouraging and optimistic.  Most of us already have enough negativity in our lives without inviting more.

Have respect.  You are valuable.  Take care of yourself.  Eat right.  Get enough sleep.  Get enough exercise.  Allow yourself some down time to recharge and reenergize.

Your family and friends are valuable.  Don't forget them in your push to reach your goals.  Set aside time for family and socializing.  Your business will always be there in some form if you want.  Your family and friends might not.  

 

Your time is valuable.  Don't waste it on non-productive activities. 

Your team members are valuable.  Respect their time and their feelings.  Let them know you believe in them and that you won't accept excuses for their behavior.  If they will do the work, help them all you can.  But don't accept responsibility for their lack of effort.  Have enough respect for them to hold them accountable

. 

Your business is valuable.  Treat it like a genuine business.  Not a hobby.  Not something to do when you don't have anything else to do.  Schedule time each day to do something - ANYTHING - to move your business forward.

Now you have everything you need to be a network marketing success.  You just need to learn to perfect it and then to use it and then to share it. 

 


Ready?  Let's do this! 

 

 

How to Easily Create a Professional Web Presence

Probably the biggest reason so many websites are powered by WordPress or SoloBuildIt is because they're just so easy to customize. You can install a new site and make it look good in just a few minutes with the power of themes.

But you want to be careful. Remember, this is your online “storefront” so you want to make sure you offer a good first impression for potential customers.

Choosing the Right Theme

SoloBuildIt and WordPress offer thousands of freely available themes. You’ll find them in hundreds of layout variations and limitless color combinations. Some are easily customizable with point and click dashboards, and some offer special functions designed for specific business structures.

There are so many options, in fact, that many new website owners become overwhelmed just trying to choose the right theme.

Here are a few guidelines to help you make a good choice:

1. For a professional look, more white space is better. Themes that are too busy are distracting for visitors.
2. With very few exceptions, you should choose dark text on a light background.
3. Watch for links in the footer. The last thing your service provider website should do is link out to gambling or insurance sites.

Also, once you choose a theme – stick with it for a while. Constantly tweaking your theme might make you feel as if you’re accomplishing something, but in reality it’s a form of procrastination and will prevent you from getting real work done. Not only that, but if your potential customers notice that your site is changing all the time, they may think you’re not quite ready for business.

Spend Money Where it Counts

You might also choose a premium – or paid – theme. StudioPress, Elegant Themes, and Woo Themes are some of the most popular choices, and all offer beautiful, professionally designed themes at affordable prices.

If you want complete control – including the links that are in your footer – you might want to opt for a premium theme. Another purchase to consider is your header design. While most themes allow for a text only header – just your site name and tagline – a well-done graphic will have more eye appeal.

Another place you might want to spend a little money is on your content. Professionally written website copy can help with SEO and entice potential customers to trust you with their important projects.

While you certainly don’t have to spend money to create a good looking website, if your budget allows, consider investing in these three areas. You won’t regret it.

4 Ways to Effectively Advertise Your Network Marketing Business

If you have decided to enter the world of network marketing, advertising is critical.  And if you have not yet created a website, you should start thinking about it now.  Because hosting, promoting and adding quality content to your own web site or blog is the easiest way to create a killer advertising, network marketing, lead generation machine.


It's very easy to build a website today.  There are many tools available to help.  It can be as simple as a blog on Blogger or WordPress.  Or you can do something bigger with tools such as SoloBuildIt.  Yes, I know.  Many companies offer free or very inexpensive replicated websites.  Forget them!  If you have one, think about it....so does every other rep!  And unless you are a marketing whiz, it will be difficult to set your site apart from all the others that look just like it.  That's why I recommend building your own unique site.


Of course, building your site is only half the battle.  It may be easy to do and easy to use, but it will have to be promoted and advertised.  You won't get traffic to your site if you don't get out there and promote it.  If you are going to rely mainly on SEO, you may never get significant amounts of traffic.  Unless, of course, you are and SEO genius!


There are a lots of places and plenty of strategies to promote your site:


1.  Forums 


Participate in forums that allow "do follow" links. This means that every time you post on a forum related to your product or service, you can place a link to your site, and can click through and get more information.


2.  Social Media Advertising


Facebook is the current ruler of social media and if you aren't using to promote your business, you are missing out.  Facebook allows you to set up a page for your business that is separate from your profile page.  You can also promote your products on Facebook with Facebook ads.  Once you know how to create a good Facebook ad, you can reach literally millions of prospects for a very reasonable amount of money.  Facebook's ability to target the demographics best suited for your business are amazing.  When I am promoting my skin care products, I can zero right in on middle-aged women.  I can even further hone my targeting to those that are interested in all natural skin care products. 


This is huge!  Think about it!  Instead of placing an ad just out there on the internet and hoping my target market finds it, I can actually ensure it gets right in front of them.  So now I'm confident that the people I want to have eyes on my offer are actually the ones seeing it and not some teenager who thinks they will be young forever and doesn't care about skin care or a guy that thinks skin care isn't "manly". 


3.  YouTube/Video Advertising


Yes, YouTube is a social media site.  But I'm mentioning it separately because it is one of the best places for advertising your business.  And it is all about video and video is HOT right now. 


You don't need much to get started.  I do my videos right on my smartphone.  If you want to get more sophisticated, you can get a microphone and a camera.  But what's important is that with video, you can quickly brand yourself and your product.  And if you do it properly, it is one of the best places to build a following and make some sales.


4.  Article Marketing


Write informative and useful articles about your product, or about network marketing, or just marketing and business in general.  Then submit these to article sites.  My favorite is EZine Articles.  Each article will contain a "bio box" which tells a bit about you AND contains a link to your website.  So when search engines pick up the keywords in your articles, you can get tons of exposure which can result in plenty of traffic.  So make sure you are carefully selecting your keywords to reach your target market.


You need to create a network marketing advertising machine to help generate leads.  Lots and lots of leads.  Because leads are the name of the game.  These are just four ways to advertise your products or business.  There are countless others.  Some are more effective than others.  So how do you possibly learn all there is to know to make the right choices and then use that method in the most effective way?  You don't.  You use a system that has already done all that for you.  Take a look at the best marketing system I have ever seen.  One that will help you create hundreds of leads on demand and help you build your downline fast!   

Be The Boss Of You To Reduce Home Office Stress

If you have been working from home for some time now, you may have fallen victim to a strange phenomenon:  the I'm-Not-The-Boss-Of-Me syndrome. You may have started out being the 'boss of you' in your home office, but since then have noticed some boss-worker lines getting blurred.

Perhaps you're shrugging off responsibility for deadlines, or letting the office turn into a catch-all for the flotsam-and-jetsam of the house, or wandering into your home office only after reruns of your favorite show have ended. Or maybe you're a tyrant boss, not allowing yourself any breaks or fun. Perhaps you are a boss who is not providing your employee with the tools needed to get the job done properly. No matter what's happening, the balance has tilted uncomfortably.

These scenarios are not unusual. As a matter of fact, most work-at-home people find themselves at one point lapsing into a routine that is not conducive to productivity and a good working environment. The employer-employee relationship is strained. Pulling yourself up by the boot straps and getting back to work takes some re-thinking of your employer-employee relationship.

Let's take a look at a few things the Boss (you) can do for the Employee (you) to relieve  stress and get your home office running smoothly again.

Time Management Tools

The home office environment has some unique time management hurdles to clear. Everyone stresses when time is not being used well. Deadlines are missed and you have to answer to your clients at the same time you're trying to figure out how to motivate yourself to get the job done. As both the boss and the employee, you have some serious decisions to make.

Start by providing yourself with the best time management tools you can find. There are many programs and applications for tracking productivity to help identify the areas that need work. Keep track of tasks and the time it takes to do them and you'll soon understand where to focus and make changes.

Break Time

Every good boss knows how valuable time away from the desk can be. Employees, especially dedicated employees like you, often work long hours, skipping lunch and breaks to get a project done. The fact is, when working without a break the quality of the work suffers. Clarity and focus are lost as the brain gets stuck in slow-motion.

As your boss, you need to remind yourself that you are not a machine. Step outside and take a little walk. Fresh air can work wonders on the creative juices. If you need to, set a timer for breaks, lunch, and, yes, even the end of the work day.

Lighten Up

All work and no play makes for a very unhappy crew. When you are both the boss and the employee, it can be difficult to remember to have a laugh or two during the day. Your boss-self is driving you to work, work, work, while your employee-self is all in trying to make the boss happy.

Find something funny to read or watch each and every day. In fact, schedule yourself a  'laugh break' so you don't forget. It is the job of the boss to set the tone for the office, so go ahead, boss, get that laugh memo out to yourself and enjoy some giggles.

Creating a work environment in your home office when you are both the boss and employee can be a challenge. Taking a look at your work day schedule from both perspectives is the only way to keep both you and your boss happy. Yes, you ARE the boss of you so treat yourself like the valuable employee you are.

Your Website Infrastructure: Domains, Hosting, and Platform

Before you can begin building your website, you need to make some important decisions regarding where your site will live, how you’ll manage it, and what your site address will be.  

Choosing a Good Domain

Your domain name is your URL – it’s what you’ll tell people when they ask “What’s your website.” It’s a decision you’ll likely have to live with for a long time, so it pays to put some thought into it and not buy the first one that comes to mind.

These days, finding an available domain name can be a frustrating task that often leads new website owners to choose less-than-ideal URLs. You can save yourself a lot of trouble by following a few established “rules”:

• Always choose .com – You might be tempted to use .net or .org if your preferred domain is taken, but please do not do that. You will lose traffic to the holder of the .com when your potential clients fail to remember that your site is .net.
• Avoid ambiguous spelling, repeated letters, and numbers – Using transcription4u.com might seem fun, but imagine having to explain how it’s spelled every time you tell someone what your domain name is.
• Avoid hyphens – For the same reason as stated above. Imagine yourself on a podcast and having to say “www dot quality dash transcription dash services dot com.” It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.

Always give your potential domain the talk test – say it out loud – and then ask a few friends to look at it. You might just be surprised at what they’ll see that you didn’t expect.

Choosing a Good Hosting Provider

In order to have the most flexibility with your new site, it’s important that your hosting provider:

• Is NOT the same as your domain registrar – Hosting and registering with the same company gives them far too much control over your business assets.
• Has cPanel access – While not critical, it is much easier to find someone to help you with any technical problems you might have if your host uses this familiar format.
• Has a great reputation – Two of the best are Hostgator and Bluehost. They’re inexpensive and well-known, and both offer excellent customer service.
• Is NOT free – Blogger, Weebly, and other free sites might be attractive from a monetary standpoint, but they won’t convey the professional image you want.

Choosing Your Website Platform

Finally, before you can build your site, you’ll need to decide what will power it. You have a lot of choices here, from HTML you build yourself using Dreamweaver or a similar program to proprietary software offered by your hosting account. All have their good and bad points, but for most new website owners, the absolute best choice is SoloBuildIt.

It’s simple to use, offers nearly endless customization options, and with a huge community of users and developers available, it’s super easy to get help if you need it. You can customize your site with one of thousands of themes so it looks exactly the way you want it to look, and you’ll never have to dig into the code to make changes – unless you want to, that is.  And they do provide hosting as well as domain registration (the only exception to rule #1 above in my opinion) plus all the analytics you could want.

Is Your Personal Filter On/

Walk around your home and I'll bet you have plenty of filters.  Water filters to keep our water clean and pure.  Home heating and AC filters to reduce allergens.  We have all of these to protect our health and the health of our families. 


It's amazing what we'll do to protect things that are important to us.  So, then, why do we put more emphasis on protecting our possessions than the most important asset we own - our mindset?


Have you ever gotten up in the morning excited and ready to work on building your dream?  And then things happen.  Your spouse is cranky.  You stop for coffee and your waiter is rude.  Your best friend laughs at your latest plan for greatness.  You turn on the TV or radio and hear supposed adults - government leaders, religious leaders, business leaders - bickering and arguing like children.  You go shopping or out for lunch and all around you people are making hateful and hurtful comments about others.  And before you know it, you are sucked into all of THAT.  No wonder you don't feel like pursuing your goals.


Filter what goes into your mind.  If your filter is off, it's like a glaring light that affects your sight.  You CAN choose what you let into your life.  For example, in my home, we have stopped watching the evening news.  Why?  Because I don't like all the drama and negativity.  I already know the world is not as it should be.  I don't need to be reminded daily.


Another way I protect my mindset it to filter who I spend time with, especially on social media where it seems that the level of negativity and outright hatred has reached epidemic proportions. Almost every social media platform has a way to unfollow, unfriend, and block someone.  And I know how to use them all! 


It's the same with people I interact with face-to-face.  If you are always negative, judgmental, whining and complaining, chances are we won't spend much time together. 


I'm not saying that you will never have a disagreement with someone.  And I know that you can't shut out the entire world.  Sometimes you have to see the negative stuff if you are going to help change it.  And yes, even I get frustrated and angry from time to time.  But I'm talking about the consistent offenders.  Disconnect from those who constantly seek to bring you down.  They will probably never see your vision.  Why allow them to cast their shadow on it?  Seek out people who lift you up.  Look for those who have a clear vision of their own. 


Many coaches, no matter what their specialty, will encourage you to visualize your goals as a way to help reach them.  But it's not enough to just visualize what you want. You can't just create good thoughts and hope they will overwhelm the bad ones.  You have to actually ensure that you do not allow negative things to alter your vision or your goals.


So add one more filter to the filters you already use.  Protect your mindset.  Filter out negativity, anger, hatred, fear.  Release it and you just might find your path to your goals just became much clearer.

Don't Let Work At Home Benefits Backfire

If you are like me, there are a lot of reasons you decided to work from home.  At the time you made the decision, all those reasons sounded like wonderful solutions to the problems of working outside; commuting, childcare, and restrictive schedules, to name a few.

You now have you home office arranged and you're enjoying the good life and all the benefits of working from home.

Except...

Some of the benefits have actually morphed into unexpected trouble. Let's take a look at a few of the ways work at home assets can turn into liabilities, and how to correct it.

I Can Spend More Time With My Family

Skipping the commute and time at work for a day at home with the kids, spouse, and pets is a common reason for working from home. Everyone is happy you're right there in your office, close at hand, all day long, accessible at the drop of a hat.

The problem is, of course, you don't get any work done. You are just a few steps away from everyone's wants and needs, so why wouldn't they call on you? The solution is to set up boundaries and schedules. You have to treat your workday as if you were gone from the house. Schedule in plenty of play time, as well, and you will enjoy that extra time with the family that you wanted.

I Can Get Housework Done While I Work

If you worked outside the home for any amount of time, you'll remember how much you disliked having to spend your evenings and weekends doing household chores. Now that you're working at home, you can easily get those chores done during the day.

The problem created by this benefit of working at home is you lose focus rather quickly. On the way down the hall you pick up the laundry. Then as you head to the laundry room, you see dishes in the sink. Each little chore will end up growing into larger chores if you allow it. Instead, choose an hour during your day to catch up on a few things that would have otherwise waiting until you arrived home at night after work. Your evenings are free, like you wanted, and the housework gets done.

I Can Work When I Want And How I Want

The image of pajama-clad work at home folks is not that far-fetched. Many people like the idea of getting the kids off to school and spouse off to work, then getting cozy with another cup of coffee and snuggling on the couch with their laptop, answering emails and starting their work day.

Unfortunately, this lovely scenario can backfire. When we are in this cozy mode, we can lose track of time. The day disappears and we are still in our pajamas and deadlines are looming. Now we are stuck working into the night trying to get things done. This is not the 'when and how' we planned. In order to make this benefit work is to, again, set a schedule. Treat your work day like, well, a work day by punching a time-clock you create for yourself. Get ready, get dressed, and get to work.

I Can Have My Own Peaceful Little Office

Having your own space after perhaps sharing desks or cubbies with other workers sounds like a nice thought. No more office politics. No more gossiping. No more stress. Right? Just the peace and quiet of your own keyboard clicking away.

Peace and quiet. And more peace and quiet. Now you're feeling lonely and isolated. You begin to miss the camaraderie of having co-workers. The solution is to create a similar circle of co-workers in your work at home situation. Reach out to people in the same type of work, either through professional groups or social media. Find forums that are engaging and purposeful. And don't forget to wander out of the house routinely to meet up with friends for some face-to-face fellowship.

 

There appears to be a common thread among people who work from a home office. Most work-at-home folks say they chose this career path for family, convenience, and for a more relaxing work environment. All these benefits of working from home are possible to achieve, but they each have pitfalls, which are avoidable once you recognize the risks.