Lawren's Network Marketing Blog

In Failing Comes Success

2008-10-25T19:36:00.000-07:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

My first year in a home business, I was taught to put out fliers, make a list and talk to my warm market, as well as place advertisements in newspapers, which at times, cost me anywhere between $300-$500 dollars and more for a 30 day ad, that most times lead me nowhere but broke. I failed at my first business, but I don't entirely place the blame on the company, which was Herbalife. I did learn much about business during my 4 years as an Herbalife distributor.

My sponsor taught me my marketing methods. I am sure he taught me the marketing methods that his sponsor taught him. Although the marketing methods taught were not effective, I did learn other important aspects of building a business; such as setting goals, creating a marketing plan and tracking the marketing methods to determine their effectiveness, and much more.

Five years later, I have since learned more about marketing and about building a business. I now understand the importance of connecting with people and establishing relationships with people. I have brought in many people into my business, and I was told that this was a feat in itself because so often, many people find little success in recruiting business associates.

The point I am trying to make is this. Many people you bring in will drop out. This is the nature of the beast within network marketing. Building a successful business requires work. As leaders, we can only inspire those we bring into our business, but ultimately, the self-discipline, self motivation, and work ethic must come from within each of us as well as the individuals we recruit into our business opportunity.

Tracy Biller, a very successful network marketer who has written many articles and offers CD trainings on building a network marketing business, states that we should not get emotionally attached to our business, which, I realize is hard to put into practice, but is a must if we are to survive the ups and downs of the business building process.

I have personally discussed this very topic with members in my downline. It is not worth your time to get upset because someone dropped out or because one of the members in your downline is not following instructions or doing the work. Instead, when you encounter disappointing situations in your business, focus on the other aspects of building your business. You should be communicating with people and sharing your business products and/or services with as many people as you can. The internet makes this easy, but it should not be a tool you should totally rely on. Continue to focus on filling your pipeline with fresh new prospects. This way, despite the fact that you may be losing people, new people will continue to join your business, thus your business will continue to grow.

This also raises another issue; and I may have mentioned this in the past in one of my previous posts, the people you bring into your business should be business builders, meaning other network marketers. It is ok to have people who are just interested in your products and/or services; customers are always important. But, if you bring in people who are business seekers or have never had any interest in having a business but joined your business out of curiosity, then be realistic. Accept the HIGH possibility that these folks, will drop off your radar at some point and when he or she does, move on. This is business and therefore disappointments should be expected.

Lastly, if you are one who is not willing to do the work and if you find yourself easily discouraged by the problems you encounter during your business building process; such that you periodically stop engaging in activities to help your business grow, then when you fail, you should not be surprised. Placing the blame on the company or the individuals within the company is not going to help you achieve success anywhere. Accusing a company of being a scam is not going to help your cause, whatever that is, either.

Although I am still learning much about building a business and probably will be learning and growing for as long as I remain an entrepreneur, one thing is certain. This is my business; therefore I, as a business owner, must accept the results of my actions or lack there of and, since you too are business owners, the same holds true for you.

Owning a business is not easy. If it were, many more people would be starting their own business, but luckily, they are not. I say luckily because the fact that we are engaged in the activities of building a business makes us rare. Instead of following the path most traveled, we, as business builders, have chosen to create our own path; most rare indeed.

So, be proud and show that you are proud by sharing your business with as many people as you can. Stay motivated, be self-disciplined and do the work. No matter how difficult times may get, keep in mind that the "brick walls are there for a reason. They are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough."

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

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The Ultimate “Mind-Set” For Network Marketing Success

2008-10-11T21:45:00.000-07:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

Everyone should read, and read often.

The problem with many network marketers is that too many network marketers get locked into “seeking” instead of “doing”, and they spend too much time “reading” how-to books and not “doing”, thus they do not make any progress towards succeeding and making lots of money in network marketing.

It’s almost as if they are addicted to seeking some “secret” or “better way” to do the business, instead of simply doing that which has been repeatedly proven to work.

Here is a fact, although network companies (and their products and pay plans) will constantly come and go, the only thing that has “changed” in network marketing over the past 20-30 years are the tools we use to communicate with our prospects and downline. Other than that, everything else remains the same.

Usually, these perpetual seekers are always chasing the next hyped-up network marketing training book or training program.

There are no “secrets” in the network marketing industry. There are no “mystical” or “magical” strategies or tactics. There is only that which has been proven to work, and that which will always work.

Still…too many distributors simply can’t grasp the fact that success in network marketing is based upon ten simple factors, and that those factors must be in place in order for distributors to succeed and make a lot of money in network marketing.

Ten Success Factors:

You must join a network marketing company that actually presents you with the opportunity to succeed.
You must receive competent and effective training, and it must be repetitive.
You must hit your target market.
You must design and implement your own 90-day business plan.
You must be an effective leader to your downline.
You must speak well and communicate effectively.
You and your downline must produce large amounts of sales volume on an ongoing basis.
You must be self-motivated.
Your sales and marketing tools must be persuasive, and you must communicate persuasively.
You must be honest with yourself. To be specific, at the end of the day, ask yourself this question, “Was I productive today?”

I feel sorry for those individuals who continue to seek instead of doing because they will always be “seeking” and thus they will fail to achieve their objective in the network marketing industry.

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

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Choosing the Right Home Business Opportunity

2008-09-27T21:16:00.000-07:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Learn How to Have 100 Members A Month

When you choose a network marketing company, you have to select one that offers you the opportunity to succeed. Unfortunately, many people get involved with a network marketing company that they thought offered them the opportunity to succeed, but for some reason the company did not deliver.

Even if you are brand new to network marketing, you do not have to be a great analyzer and you do not have to be a network marketing historian to figure out whether a network marketing company presents you with the opportunity to succeed.

There are books and programs that help you to choose the right network marketing company. The problem with some of these books and programs is that for every rule that some experts tell you must be in place in order for the right company to exist; there are a lot of exceptions to those rules. Don’t buy into all those rules about picking the right company.

Often, it will be your common sense that will serve you best. So, here are the things to look for in selecting the right company to join. There are five key factors to look at and consider in choosing the right company. Now, it is quite possible that you are already with a great company. Well, take these five factors and incorporate them into your sales and marketing tools.

The first factor is that the products, services, and compensation plan must be appealing to you. Ask yourself this question. “Is this company going to appeal to my prospects and customers?” Ask yourself, “Can I sell this?” Next, ask yourself “Does the company and everything that comes with it, does it have mass appeal?”
Most important, the company must be owned and managed by people who are honest, experienced, and competent. The people running the company must be good decision makers.

If you look at the history of network marketing, you will see that the tens of thousands of people who have owned and managed network marketing companies, most have failed.

Despite the fact that many have failed, there are people who have made tremendous sums of money. If you know how to play the game, know how the tactics work, and know how to apply them, you can still make a lot of money with a company that has had a two to five year run.

Network marketing companies are much more fragile than traditional companies. One bad decision on the part of those who are running the company, can cause the sales of that company to plummet. It all comes to who is making the day to day decisions. Leaders within a network marketing company must be great decision makers. Thus, learn everything you can about who is running the company.
There must already be a demand in the market place for the products or services that the company offers. The bigger the demand, the better. If there isn’t, then that means you and your downline must create the market and this is a difficult thing to do. So, when making a decision on whether to join a particular network marketing company, ask yourself, “Is there already a demand for the products and/or services?”
The compensation plan must be fair to everyone across the board. However, it must also offer rewards for the overachievers so that the overachievers are compensated for their extra productivity, their hard work, their dedication, and their leadership.

Side Note: There are only 4 compensation plans. All of the others are a derivative of these four. Many people have made millions of dollars with each of the four plans.
Company must have something special about it. It must have something that makes it sizzle; something that makes the opportunity unique; something that makes it stand out from the crowd because this will be something you want to sell. This is something you can use to persuade others.

These five factors are all that you need to present you with the opportunity to succeed. From here on out, the ball is in your court. The success factors are about you and the decision you make.

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Master Internet Marketing for Less than $10 Bucks!

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Do What the Top Performing Network Marketers Do

2008-09-20T21:45:00.000-07:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

Today I am going to share with you something I recently learned. As business owners, more specifically, as business owners involved in network marketing, we often encounter frustrations with trying to find leaders or serious business builders. There are numerous reasons why it is so hard to find quality business partners. In this article, I will attempt to explain why this is and what should be done to solve this problem. Once I do explain, I believe you will agree that this solution is so obvious, but because of what we are taught, the obvious has become not so obvious.

First, when we join a network marketing business, for those of us who are fortunate enough to find a business opportunity that offers trainings, what are we taught to do to grow our business? Well, since I can’t speak for you, I will tell you what I was taught when I joined my first network marketing business.

When I started my first network marketing business, I was taught to talk to my warm market, make a list. This list not only included my family and friends, but also people I encounter throughout my daily life; such as, the mailman, dentist, hair stylist, etc. Other marketing methods I was taught, to help me grow my business, was to put out fliers, place newspaper ads, host home parties, and do one-on-one presentations.

Although, these marketing methods do work, the problem is that using these methods takes us through rabbit trails where we encounter people who are more curious than serious about building a business. These encounters lead to frustrations. As a serious business builder, I value my time and, maybe like you, I prefer to deal only with serious business builders. I do not want to waste my time with folks who are shopping and hopping around from one home business to another. If you are a serious business builder, you know that building a business requires a lot of work, persistence, consistence, and more work. Often in the past as well as in the present, I have had to deal with individuals who think they want a business. They know they want freedom and wealth, but doing all of the work and making all of the required sacrifice is too hard for them. Luckily, we only need a handful of leaders in our business to make our businesses successful. How do we, as serious business builders, avoid the curious and get to those leaders, the people who know what they want and know how to go get it?

The single most powerful, productive, and quickest way to build a large network marketing downline requires you to recruit from a target market. The target market , by definition, are people who have already exhibited the desire to buy what you are selling or, in this case, to do that which you are promoting, which in this case is network marketing.

First and foremost, what is our objective? To make money and ideally we want to be profitable as quickly as possible. Now what do you think is the best way to make a business profitable as quickly as possible? Do you think it is by contacting friends and family? Do you think it is by running classified ads or putting out fliers on cars? As a business owner, if you are smart, crafty, cunning and you think logically and rationally, and most importantly, if you have studied the network marketing industry and you copied what other people did before you who have proven is a successful strategy, what you would do as a business owner is find free agents, heavy hitters. These are men and women who have proven that they can build large downlines because they have done it in their past and they are looking for another opportunity to join. Why? Maybe because the program they are with is experiencing problems, sales are plummeting or perhaps the company they have been with has shutdown.

If you find these people and bring them into your program, hopefully, your home business has some special incentives for the top performers in your business; such as, extra commissions or bonuses. Network marketers have what? They have been sold on network marketing and they understand how the industry works to the degree that they are a lot more educated and knowledgeable of what this industry entails and what it is all about. More importantly, you bring in network marketers and the odds are overwhelming that they know some other network marketers that they too can recruit, which means basically, they too will be hitting their target market.

This is what the top performing network marketers do; they built their downlines quickly by recruiting from within the industry. This makes common sense.

This strategy has or is becoming a mantra throughout the network marketing industry. To get your business growing quickly is to get yourself a list of network marketers, a genealogy report, or distributor list, etc. Pick up the phone, start making those calls, do the 30 second pitch, get about a 30% or 35% “yes” ratio, get those people a host of marketing tools, follow-up, and close them. This strategy will be applicable 10, 20, 30 years or more because these are the strategies that work. It doesn’t change. This is the basics, these are the fundamentals that work.

This is what the top performing network marketers do in network marketing. But to make this method work, you must apply it correctly and consistently. When it doesn’t work, most people will tend to blame the leads, the mentor, the teachings, the company, or the industry.

If you hit your target market and do it correctly, if you have persuasive sales and marketing tools, if the company you represent is appealing, you are rich! That is how you succeed in network marketing. This is what the top performing marketers do. They have been doing this for decades and they will be doing it for many years to come.

If your desire is to make big money in network marketing, then do what the top performing marketers do, recruit from within the industry and when done correctly, you are on your way.

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Learn to Have 100 Members A Month!

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Old School MLM Versus Internet Marketing Benefits

2008-08-16T17:47:00.000-07:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Learn to Have 100 Members a Month!

Many people are confused about the difference between network marketing and MLM. When I made the decision to join my current company, the term “Network Marketing” and “net-web marketing” were used often. As a former member of a MLM, I initially did not understand the difference between MLM and network marketing.

But, since joining this company a year ago, what I have discovered is that these two terms are essentially the same. The difference lies in the way each does business.

Here, let me try to explain. As a member of a MLM, I spent a great deal of time putting out fliers, purchasing leads, cold calling, placing newspaper ads, and much more. I also spent a lot of money. I mean a lot of money. I sometimes spent as much as $300-$500 a month to place ads in newspapers and this was not all.

I did achieve some success with my business. I, at one point, I was making between $2500-$4000 a month. But, the problem was that much of the money went to pay off the money I spent advertising my business. Thus, my net profit was little to none. After two years, I felt that I was not making the kind of progress with my business that I should be making. Based on the amount of money being spent and the amount of effort I put into my business, the progress should have been much greater. After my third year, I became very discouraged and disappointed. Eventually, my business fell apart. During this time, I also discovered that in the four years I spent growing my business, I still had not acquired the business skills I needed to recover my business. I still had no skills in training my group and helping them to build their business. Thus, many of the members in my business left which lead to the downfall of my business and lead me to quit.

Because I had no desire of giving up on my dreams, and the thought of living the rest of my life working at a job was too depressing, I still had the drive and desire to continue my pursuit of finding a home business that would work for me. Therefore, I immediately started looking for another opportunity. I tried and failed at one or two of them and then, quite by accident, stumbled upon my current home business opportunity.

Now, at this point, I should mention that the MLM did help me in some ways. I did overcome my fear of talking to strangers on the phone. I had also acquired some offline marketing skills, which I still use today. They do work, but these marketing methods did not come into contact with the numbers of people I needed in order to build a successful business. For instance, the fliers I put out were thrown away by most people. Those that kept the fliers were not quality people; meaning they were not people who were willing to work hard on building a business.

What this means is that the MLM methods I learned were not enough. Instead of building up the self-esteem, the feelings of failure surfaced, which contributed to many people in my group, and me, to quit.

Thus, emerges a new kind of business referred to as “network marketing”, “internet marketing”, or “net-web marketing”. This type of marketing allowed for strangers to approach you online. Thus, you are not left to find prospects. Instead, they find you. All you need is a computer and a willingness to learn to follow a step-by-step program.

It does not matter what level you start at. A beginner or an expert in network marketing all stand to benefit using network marketing methods.

For me, a whole new world opened up. I was introduced to resources that helped me to earn money online. These resources included submitting articles to directories, blogging, using traffic swarm, participating in social networking sites and forums, etc.

The best part about network marketing methods is you don’t have to look for prospects. Usually, they find you. This is because of the number of articles, postings, etc that you have done on the internet. People will notice the work you have done online and seek you out. Also, after you have submitted your work, you are, for the most part, done. All that remains is an occasional tweaking here and there, your work is out there working for you 24-7.

I am already starting to see some MLM companies engage in network marketing methods. Even my former MLM company has started engaging in utilizing the internet more. What I find so unusual about this is when I was a member, they suggested to us to do more of the offline type marketing and less computers. What a turnaround. I think, in time, internet network marketing will become the future of all MLM’s.

About the Author:

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Master Internet Marketing for Less than $10 Bucks!

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Are You Treating Your Business Like A Job?

2008-08-02T19:08:00.000-07:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

One of my goals for my business is to get my business to a point where I am making more money, but working less. I tell people this and most respond by saying “Good Luck”. But, think about it for a moment. Why would I create a business that is just like a job? Yes, if I have a business, I will be working for me and that is a plus, but this is not the only reason I started a business. I started my business so that I can have the freedom of time to do the things I want and enjoy. I want more freedom as well as lifestyle.

Robert Kiyosaki stated in his book, “Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing” that the goal of creating a business should be to make more money working less. This is something he and other entrepreneurs have accomplished. I have always wanted a business that can generate money whether or not I am available. This is partly one of the reasons why I joined a network marketing company / MLM and why I want to get more into investing in commercial real estate. I don’t intend to be involved in the day to day activities of my businesses. I just want to oversee them from my home and when I feel there is a need or desire to check in and see how things are going, then I will do so, but otherwise, let the business run itself.

To accomplish a business that just about runs itself, it is helpful, but not necessary to get involved in something that you enjoy or are passionate about. Why? Because you will have a tendency to stay through the rough times, which you will experience plenty of. But, if your passion becomes more like a job and not like a business, you will not stay. This is because you will end up hating it due to the hours and hard work that you will be enduring. It is understandable that in the beginning you will be putting in the hours and hard work, but this is not where you want to remain. What you want is the ability where you put in the hours and hard work early in the business building process so that later, when your business has reached its full potential and bringing in a sizable income, you will have more freedom of time.

The way to create a business that gives you more freedom of time, energy and passion about your business is to manage your business less like a job and more like a business. You need to learn to love not only your business but also the marketing aspects of your business. For example, if you love writing articles but you do not love internet marketing, then the chances of finding success in your article writing is slim to none. Of course, there are always exceptions, but this is the rule. If you love having a business and you understand how to make money on the internet, then you will have a much better chance at becoming successful in your article writing.

I have stated in the past that in order to have success in any business, you need, at least, skills in marketing, sells, and communication. Without these three basic skills, you won’t be able to make money. These skills you need to help you with your marketing and sales.

To help you with your business, you also need to set some priorities. One of the first I suggest you do is to find a business model to follow, one that works. Most network marketing companies and MLM’s already have an established business model. If you are a member of a network marketing company or MLM, the business model along with marketing methods, should have already been presented to you. If not, find your upline or mentor and have him or her share with you the company’s business model and train you on how to market your business. If you are unable to find an upline member or mentor to help you, you might want to consider finding another company that does offer this. It will be very difficult to grow your business if you have no idea what the business model is and how to bring people to purchase your products or service.

If you own your own company, you will need to do some research and find a business model to follow, one that is actually making money. You want a business model that works. Find out how much money and how many hours are put into their business. If you are not willing to put in the same amount of hours, then find another business model. The goal is to find a business model that you know you can follow.

In conclusion, if your business doesn’t run without you, then you don’t own a business, you own a job. Another important fact to keep in mind is freedom can’t come unless you learn how to not only make money, but also learn how to manage money.
I hope this was helpful to you.

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Make Money From Home!

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Who Is To Blame?

2008-07-19T19:56:00.000-07:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

If you are not making any money in your business, who should you blame? Usually, when one is making little to no money in their business, the blame is usually placed upon some outside source; such as, the company or the people recruited, my kids, my husband, my wife, and the list goes on.

People often tend to point fingers at something or someone else as the reason for the failure of their business. It is easy to place the blame on something that we have little or no control over. But, who is really to blame for the failure of your business?

To determine fault, you should first access your own actions and see whether you are truly engaged each day in income producing activities. If so, how consistent are your activities? Are you engaged in building your business every other day, every other week, once a month? We all know as business owners, that having a business requires a lot of work. There is no magic potion or shortcuts out there that is going to make your business successful. A business does not become successful by itself. A business needs to be nurtured just like a plant needs to be nurtured. In other words, a business requires constant attention; constant care. Neglect will not bring you success and prosperity.

Success in business also requires one to step beyond the comfort zone. Allowing your fears to paralyze you; such that, you are scared to talk to people on the phone or in person, scared to communicate with the people who have joined your business, scared to confront the difficulties that one encounters as a business owner, and so on, will prohibit you from achieving the kind of success you are looking for within your business.

When we first start a business, we all have certain fears. We fear rejection, fear making mistakes, and fear failure. By avoiding confronting the pain of rejection or failure, we neglect engaging in the activities that could help our business attain success.

As a business owner, your fears should never get in the way of growth and development of your business. As an entrepreneur, we must be willing to withstand rejection, mistakes and failures and learn from them. This is the only way we are going to be able to overcome our fears and in doing so, we develop our problem solving skills, which are necessary in building a business.

Instead of hiding from your fears, you must be willing to step up and do the uncomfortable until it becomes comfortable. Never let your fears hold you back from achieving prosperity and success

More often than not, the blame of failure in your business is yours and yours alone. There is no outside force that prevented your business from achieving success. To achieve success in your business, you must be willing to make certain adjustments within you and in your efforts so that you are more productive.

You must be willing to withstand the pains of making mistakes and failing. Learn to deal with rejection. Don't take "No" personally. Often, the rejection is not about you. In fact, your business is really not about you at all, but about those your serve; which include your customers and your business associates.

Lastly, don't be so hard on yourself. Just because you own a business does not mean that you are perfect or that you have to be perfect. Making mistakes and failing is just part of the business building process. Learn to love what you are doing and learn to love yourself.

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Learn How to Have 100 Members A Month!

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Why It Is Important to Have A Strong "Why"?

2008-06-21T18:49:00.000-07:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

This week I want to discuss the subject of finding the drive or motivation that keeps you working on developing your business. In other words, your “Why” for having a business.

I started my first home business almost five years ago. Since starting my business, I have never experienced problems of giving up on my dreams of having a successful home business. I guess at the time I had made the decision to start my home business; I was at a place in my life where I was burnt out from working at my job.

I used to love my career. For those of you who don’t know, I am a programmer. I develop business applications for companies. As an employee, my position is usually a programmer analyst or software engineer.

By the time I decided t start my home business, I had spent many long hours trying to meet deadlines, missing vacations, and having little time to spend with my friends or family. After all this, I still went through three downsizings. Along with this, I had awful managers.

Lastly, I watched my income go from making over $100,000 a year to an income level I was at four or five years ago. My vacation time decreased from two to three weeks to fifteen to twenty-three days of paid time off (PTO). This PTO included vacation, sick and personal. To make a long story short, I am now at a place where I have less time off and longer work hours with less pay.

If you still have to wonder why I want my own home business, then I am going to assume that you just don’t understand and probably never will; but others, who have gotten to know me a little, have discovered that I have an unwavering drive. When it comes to working on developing my business, I am one of the hardest working individuals.

How is it that my drive or my “Why” is so intense while others flounder with their “Why” about having their own business? I can only guess. One thing I will say is, if you started your business to make more money or to be wealthy, you will more than likely either quit on more than one occasion or you will jump from one business opportunity to another. The key to having a drive or motivation has to be tied to you emotionally. I think this is why I continue to work on my business day in and day out; even during times when I am making little to no money. I passionately hate working for other people. Working for someone else, to me, has become very painful.
Quitting or jumping from one home business opportunity to another is the reason why you are not successful and is probably why you never will be successful in your business. It is much harder t stay in a business of your own, working on it each day during the difficult times; in particular during times when you are not seeing any progress in the growth of your business.

Life is not easy and it is even harder once you have decided to add on the additional responsibility of developing your own business. It is during the difficult times that, those who decide to stay in the fight of developing a home business grow the most. Your inner strength can only get stronger when you fight for your business. But, if you don’t have a strong drive or the motivation to remain in developing your business, where do you go? This is something you, as an entrepreneur, need to figure out. How badly do you want a business? Personal development can help, but there are days when even this does not work.

So, what do you do? This is where you have to make a decision on what to do. Your mentor, sponsor, senior partner, your parents, nor anyone else can help you. Whatever decision you make, you have to be responsible for the decision as well as any activities that follow. Hopefully, the choices you make will leave you standing; continuing to work on your home business.

In thinking about this subject, I recall a scene in a movie called, “Rocky Balboa” where Rocky is talking to his son about life. I don’t know whether any of you have seen the movie; granted, it was not a very good movie (in my opinion), but I recently saw it on cable and the scene between father and son touched me. As you watch this scene, think about your situation and consider finding ways to motivate you. Discover what your strong “Why” is because without it, success will continue to evade you because of the poor decisions you make. If you have a strong drive, quitting is not an option.

In conclusion, I will leave you with this, “We all have 2 choices. We can either make a living or we can design a life”

Here is the scene from “Rocky Balboa”: Rocky Balboa Movie

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Become Your Own Boss & Work At Home!

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Rumors in Network Marketing

2008-06-07T21:08:00.000-07:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

Network marketing is more commonly known as multi-level marketing or word of mouth marketing. Network marketing has helped spawn many of today’s most successful companies; such as, Mary Kay, Herbalife, and Avon, to name a few.

Many people have a negative attitude towards network marketing business opportunities; which is ironic because many of these individuals have not participated in any of these business opportunities. Their attitudes often stem from word of mouth or from bad advertising. The truth of the matter is, network marketing, multi-level marketing, or whatever name you want to refer them to, have made many people wealthy. In fact, there have been more millionaires generated from home-based businesses than any other business.

When people, who have never owned a business, decide to start a network marketing business, their views about the wealth and benefits of owning a home business are usually unrealistic. Often, the views stem from the promises they heard from other members within the home business that interest them or from people they have encountered in their research for a company to join. The home-based business industry purposely makes such promises to entice individuals to join the business opportunity. There are promises of making thousands of dollars in a matter of weeks or even months. Of course such promises are going to arouse interest in many people, but when the results fall short, people become discouraged and either quit, never to return to owning a business or they move on to another business opportunity with hopes of wealth and freedom.

Such story-telling on the part of the home-business participants cause the rumors and contribute to the high failure rate of home-businesses. It is because of such marketing ploys, on the part of these bad practices of the men and women who are members in the business opportunity, that people in search of a home business should approach any business opportunity with caution. Yes, you can make a lot of money and in many instances become millionaires, but it won’t happen overnight and it will take a lot of hard work. This is why I suggest that if you are looking for a network marketing or multi-level marketing business to join, that you look for certain criteria and based on these criteria, if the business opportunities meet the criteria, then that should be the business of choice. In other words, don’t just look at the money that you can make. If the criteria are met and you benefit from them, the money will come.

What criteria am I talking about? I am referring to training and mentoring. If the opportunity offers these and you have seen that this is provided by the company, then this is a company that you should consider joining. Of course continue to do your due diligence and look to see whether the company is legitimate. If it is not legitimate and you see too many bad marks against the company based on your research, of course don’t join.

Why is training and mentoring so important? It isn’t so much if you already possess skills in selling, marketing and communication as well as some experience in managing a business. If you already have these skills in place, then it really won’t matter which business you join, as long as it is legitimate, there is the possibility of success for you.

The folks I am referring to who need to look for a home business that offers training and mentoring, are those who have never owned a business and who have little to no skills in selling, marketing, and communication.

First, you need a marketing plan. Well, the good thing is, most network marketing businesses have this in place. Another thing you need is a product or a service to market. Well, most if not all home businesses do offer a service or a product. What about effective communication? This is something some home-based businesses may not have in place. This will have to come through by way of training and/or mentoring. Knowing how to talk to people about your service or product is a skill that must be in place. Effectively communicating can be learned with practice and you will learn the right way if you have someone who is willing to work with you.

Home-based businesses are no different than any other business. They do require hard work; especially in the early stages of development. But the process of building a business also requires the business owner to develop his or her skills. Experience is also a necessity to have in owning a business, but this can only be acquired while in the process of developing a business.

Success in business is a process and because it is a process it will take time to reach success. This is why when looking for a business opportunity to join, that you don’t get caught up in the hype and promises you hear. Pay particular attention to the businesses that offer trainings and mentoring. The only way you will learn about owning a business is through the trainings and mentoring. If there is none, move on. You can achieve success in a home-business if you have the skills. Don’t let bad information or rumors prevent you from joining a home business. It is only through one’s own personal experience that the facts begin to surface.

Network marketing and multi-level marketing businesses can change one’s life for the better. Why give up on your dreams of a better lifestyle just because of poor word of mouth. Choose a home business that is right for you; something that you think you will enjoy, but make sure that, if you need some skills and knowledge, you choose one that will mentor and train you. The money will come once you have the skills in place.

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Work at Home & Get Paid!

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You Only Need A Handful

2008-05-24T19:12:00.000-07:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

I have been involved I network marketing for almost ten months. In the brief amount of time, I have learned a lot about many things; such as, building an online business.

One thing I learned to do is to recognize the leaders and the serious business builders from those who are not serious. Although the signs of the non-serious folks won’t show for months, most will quickly disappear within the first three months of joining a business.

Often, people will join a business because they believe they can make a lot of money in a reasonably short amount of time. These people have unrealistic goals and dreams. Most times, if you are new to owning a business and you have little to no marketing or sells skills, you will more than likely not see much money, or any money for that matter, for the first three to five years of starting a business.

Although three to five years sounds like a lot of time, think of it this way, if you decide to work hard for three to five years, within that time span, you could have a successful business.

Consider the amount of time it takes to go to college. One usually goes to college to learn some skills so that when he or she graduates, he or she can get a good paying job. It takes about four to five years to get a college education. This is similar to the approach of building a business. You take three to five years to build a business, learn some new skills and gain some experience. Once you have the skills and experience under your belt, you could also have a very successful business. I think this is a much better outcome than having to spend the next twenty, thirty, forty years working at a job, only to retire on a fixed income. Can you imagine living on a fixed income these days? The gas, food, and utilities keep going up, except your income. Not me. I would prefer to take the three to five year route and live a life of plenty.

But, most people are used to the immediate gratifications that come in the form of a paycheck. Therefore, when individuals, who are used to working for someone else, go looking for a home business opportunity, they usually expect the same outcome as a job. They want to get paid immediately.

It took me a while to understand the difference between working at a job versus working for you. There were many days, weeks, and months that I would be angry because I felt I was not making any progress in my business. I was not seeing the rewards of my hard work. But I was making progress in my business, I just didn’t know it. How you may ask? I was learning how to market. I was learning how to sell. I was learning how to become a better communicator. Today, when I look back to when I first started my business and compare those early days to the present, it is like night and day. What I was not receiving monetarily, I was receiving in the form of business skills and experience in building a business.

My point is, you will get more people who are not serious about building a business. They really want the rewards in the form of wealth and freedom. When you see that you are getting more non-serious people than serious, realize that this is only part of the business building process. More people will join your business and quit than will remain. This is because most people looking to start a home business still have that employee mindset; the need for the immediate gratification in the form of a monetary reward. It may take time, but many of these individuals will either discover that their approach to having a business is all wrong and correct it, like I did or they will quit and return to their jobs and remain employees for much of the remainder of their lives. Let them make their choice. All you have to do is present them the opportunity and show them how to build a business. You cannot make it happen for them and it is not your job to do so. It is theirs.

Once you accept this as inevitable, then you won’t be as disappointed. I learned to accept this as just part of the business process. I also found that I enjoy more working with people who are serious, hard-working, and excited about their business. I do not enjoy working with people that need to be constantly forced to do what they should already be doing to build their business.
Here is some news to get excited about. To become successful in a home business, you only need a handful of serious individuals. That is right. You only need a handful. Here is what I discovered a few years back. Herbalife International, which is a home business opportunity I was affiliated with for almost four years, had tons of people join only to quit. In fact, more people quit than remained with the business. But despite this, Herbalife International still went on to become a multi-billion dollar company and do you know how? Just four individuals helped this company to become the company it is today; just four. Wouldn’t you want those four individuals working for you? I would.

Therefore, instead of wasting time and emotion trying to get people motivated about building their business, focus more on looking for leaders or serious business builders. When you find them, work with them. Build a good working relationship with them for these are the individuals that will help you build your business. Remember, you only need a handful of leaders and business builders to reach your goal of establishing a successful home business.

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Work From Home and Get Paid!

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Your Growth Determines the Success of Your Business

2008-04-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

The topic of my article today is going to cover the subject of growth in business. I decided to focus on this topic because recently the subject came up during one of Purple Cowboy Marketing’s live trainings. One of the leaders within the company made the following profound statement; “If you don’t grow, your business won’t grow.” When she made this comment, I immediately thought to myself, “This is exactly what I have been trying to tell people for a while.” In fact, it was Jim Rohn, a motivational speaker, I had the opportunity to see, who stated that when one first starts a business, he or she should first focus on developing their skills before focusing on developing their business. You see, in order for your business to grow, you first must grow.

Why is your growth the determining factor in the having success in your business? Well, first of all, one must have some skills. I believe I may have discussed this in one of my articles before. The importance of skills; such as, sells, marketing and effective communication are necessary in business.

How is one to acquire these skills? For most of us, we certainly will not learn them in school, nor will we learn them at a job. Often, it is not until we start a business that one begins to go through the process where we begin to understand the need for skills. Is it possible to become successful without these skills? Yes. But, more than likely, there are probably another set of skills that are required; such as, understanding keywords, meta tags, and search engine optimization, to get your website ranked high on the engines so that your website can receive more visitors. In any case, one needs skills at doing some kind of action in order to have their business reach some level of success.

The unfortunate aspect of all of this is that many people will never recognize that their inability to achieve success in business is not the product, the service or the business itself, but their own lack of knowledge and skills. The process of building a business is very difficult. There will be some successes along the way, but in the early stages, there will be more mistakes and even failures. But, mistakes and failures are typical during any learning process. Take for example the process of learning how to ride a bike. When you first started to learn how to ride a bike, didn’t you fall a lot more in the beginning? As you got better, there were less falls. After a little while longer, there were just the occasional falls, probably from you trying to do something crazy.

Unless you have inner strength to endure the pains and sufferings that come with trying to build a business, you will not achieve success. Most people new to owning a business quit during their struggles and never return to attempting another business.

The employee mind-set is used to immediate gratification, which is the paycheck. When starting a business, there may not be any income for a while. People new to owning a business do not understand this and are not willing to go without getting paid. But, this is part of the process of growth and development of you as well as the business. Often one will not see the benefits of their hard work for quite a while. Of course, I believe they are there. Usually the benefits will come in the form of your improvement in the areas of your knowledge and skills. But they may be so small that one will not recognize them. We tend to neglect the small things and only notice the significant things in life. One will not reap the rewards until the skills in managing and developing a business are in place. For some the learning curve of building a business is very short and direct, but for many others the learning curve is very steep and high. But, no matter what learning curve we may encounter, by keeping in action while continuing to learn along the way, whatever mistakes or failures occur along the way, are only ways to indicate what we are doing wrong in our business. By learning from them, the next time we encounter a situation that brought us disaster in the past, we then know not to do it again and we are thus forced to come up with an alternative solution. I like to think of mistakes and failures as stepping stones that lead to success. We remember the last stone that caused us to fall. The next time we come across that stone, we hopefully have learned to go around it. In doing so, we are a little further ahead than we were last time.

In conclusion, developing a business is a process and it s a process that can be very challenging. But, no matter what challenges are presented to us, we must face them willingly and be open to learning from them, for they are our teachers. Recognize also that success in business requires growth in our ability to find solutions to problems. The more quickly and skillfully we can fix the problems the faster we can move forward to success. Once we have attained the necessary knowledge and skills in business, there is not much that we can’t do that will prevent us from reaching any goal we have set for ourselves.

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Become A Business Owner!

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When Your Job Matters to You More than Your Health

2008-04-19T20:03:00.000-07:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

This week I had trouble coming up with a topic for my blog. I have been hampered by an illness that no doctor thus far has been able to explain and cure. I have an appointment on Monday, April 21st, to see an ENT doctor. For those who don’t know what an ENT doctor is, he or she is a doctor who specializes in ear, nose and throat.

So far, I have been to a general practitioner and a neurologist. I have had x-rays, blood tests, and a MRI done and no one has been able to help me with my condition. What is my condition? I have been extremely dizzy and light-headed going on 4 weeks now.

At first, the dizzy spells were occasional. But, last Monday it lasted the whole day and continued on through Tuesday. It was on Tuesday that I decided to leave work early, around noon, and go see a doctor. The doctor gave me a prescription and told me to just rest; not to go back to the work.

I was not able to return to work until that following Monday. During my time out from work, do you know what I was thinking and stressing out about? I was thinking that if I don’t go back to work soon, I may get fired. The other thing that kept crossing my mind was whether I had enough sick time to take off and if I didn’t, how much of my vacation time I would have to use. I mean I was more concerned about the possible problems and situations at my job than I was about my health. How stupid was this?

But, my experiences with working for corporations have not been positive ones. I have seen employees fired or laid off due to long illnesses. In fact, one of my best friends, who had just gone into remission for breast cancer, was having some health problems with her stamina and her sister was also just diagnosed with breast cancer. My best friend wanted to spend some time with her sister to help her through this difficult period. When she asked to work part-time, her company laid her off and in order for her to receive her severance package; she had to sign some papers stating that she would not sue them.

I have also had my battles with management over sick and vacation time. When I look back at the benefits I used to have versus what I am getting today, there has been a substantial decrease in what companies give today for benefits. I recognize that there are still companies who are generous with their employee benefits packages, but somehow I have not been fortunate to work for these companies. I keep working for the stingy, greedy companies who watch everything you do.

I have discussed in the past about how important it is to have a strong “why” while building your business. Your “why” is what is going to pull you through the difficult times. Well, based on what I have just explained to you, I would hope you can guess what my “why” is. If you can’t, then let me tell you. My “why” for wanting a business of my own is I can no longer endure the pain, suffering and stress, as well as the unfair practices of a company. When you start to worry more about the job than you do about your health, something is definitely wrong with your thinking, not to mention, your priorities.

Anytime, I start to feel compelled to get lazy with my business or if I even consider the thought of giving up on my dreams of owning a very successful business, I am usually slapped with the realization of how much I hate working for corporations. I recognize that I can no longer endure working for someone else anymore. I have put in more than twenty years of my life towards making other people wealthy. It is time for me to leave the life of an employee and begin a new life as a business owner. After all, I know that I can and will do more for me and my family than any company can or will.

About the Author:

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Master Internet Marketing for Less than $10 Bucks!

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What Do You Consider To Be A Quality Life?

2008-04-12T22:09:00.000-07:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

Everyone has an opinion on the topic of quality of life. For some, it is the simple things that life has to offer. For others, the subject of quality of life is much more complicated.

When I first embarked into the realm of entrepreneurship, I was seeking freedom. I wanted freedom from the demands of a job. For me the demands of a job constituted driving , to and from work in traffic, getting up early for work, dealing with deadlines, managers, coworkers, the disappearance of benefits like sick and vacation time, less time with my family, and of course now, the realities of downsizing, and the list goes on.

When I looked at my life and realized how much my career was consuming my personal time, in essence, my life, I knew something had to change. Thus, began my adventure into securing a quality life; one that offered more freedom.

During my journey into developing a successful business, my definition of a quality of life grew to include other factors. My definition of quality went from being simple, to being more complicated. The word “freedom” no longer just included leaving my job, but freedom now meant financial freedom, freedom from debt, freedom to live anywhere, freedom to travel, freedom to make more choices.

Besides the change in my meaning of quality of life, my dreams got bigger. The cause of my bigger dreams possibly stem from hearing of other successful people’s rags to riches stories. But, I think the biggest contribution to my bigger dreams is my belief in myself grew. My path to developing a successful business caused a change in me I did not expect. First other people started to notice this change, and then I started to notice this change in me.

I guess it is not surprising that this change started to take place. Often when one decides to begin a new life, it is hard to avoid the forces that begin to affect one’s life and inevitably cause a change in one’s thinking and in one’s abilities. Learning from life’s experiences causes one to grow which, in turn, contributes to one’s evolution to become a new person.

There have been bumps and bruises along this path towards freedom, but the pains that I have suffered along the way are what has brought about the changes in me and in time will help lead me to having a successful business. As long as I learn from my mistakes and failures, I will grow. The path to success is rarely easy. This is why most people choose to take the easier, more traveled path in life.

But the easier, more traveled path in life is not for me. Psychologically, I am no longer employable. This is part of what has changed me. My eyes have opened to the realities of what exists in the world of the employee. This world can no longer offer me happiness because it is not one that offers freedom. I want freedom and freedom to me is where quality of life begins.

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Fire Your Boss! Become A Business Owner!

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April is Autism Awareness Month

2008-04-05T20:35:00.000-07:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

This week I am not going to discuss anything regarding network marketing. Because April is Autism Awareness month, I am going to focus my discussion on the topic of autism. This subject is close to my heart because my nephew is autistic. He was diagnosed with autism around the age of two or more. I too was recently diagnosed with a form of autism called “asperger syndrome”.

First, I will describe “what is autism?” According to Autism Society of America, autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and is the result of neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain, impacting development in areas of social interaction and communication skills.

Both children and adults with autism typically show difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication, social interactions, and leisure or play activities. One should keep in mind that autism is a spectrum disorder, and it affects each individual differently and at varying degrees. This is why early diagnosis is so crucial.

According to MayoClinic, in general, children with autism have problems in three crucial areas of development-social skills, language, and behavior. The most severe autism is marked by a complete inability to communicate or interact with other people.

Below are a list of the signs:

Social Skills:

Fails to respond to his or her name.
Has poor eye contact.
Appears to not hear you at times.
Resists cuddling or holding.
Appears unaware of other’s feelings.
Seems to prefer playing alone-retreats into his or her “own world”

Language:

Starts talking later than other children.
Loses previously acquired ability to say words or sentences.
Does not make eye contact when making requests.
Speaks with an abnormal tone or rhythm-may use a singsong voice or robot-like speech.
Can’t start a conversation or keep it going.
May repeat words or phrases verbatim, but doesn’t understand how to use them.

Behavior:

Performs repetitive movements, such as rocking, spinning, or hand-flipping.
Develops specific routines or rituals.
Become disturbed at the slightest change in rituals or routines.
Moves constantly.
May be fascinated by parts of an object, such as the spinning wheels of a toy car.
Maybe unusually sensitive to light, sound and touch.

Other Autism Spectrum Disorders

Asperger’s Syndrome – A child with asperger’s disorder has the same common problems as children with autism however they don’t have language development problems of a autistic child.

Pervasive Development Disorder – and not otherwise specified (PDD – NOS) – This child has autism but doesn’t meet the criteria for high functioning autism.

High-Functioning Autism – This child has autism but has normal learning and cognitive and learning skills. Learning development is different initially but they become proficient eventually.

How is Autism Treated?

There is no cure for autism, but doctors, therapists, and special teachers can help kids with autism overtime or adjust to may difficulties.

Different kids need different kinds of help, but learning how to communicate is always an important first step. Spoken language can be hard for kids with autism to learn. Most understand words better by seeing them, so therapists teach them how to communicate by pointing or using pictures or sign language. This makes learning other things easier and eventually, many kids with autism learn to talk.

Therapists also help kids learn social skills, such as how to greet people, wait for a turn, and follow directions. Some kids need special help with learning skills (like brushing teeth or making a bed). Others have trouble sitting still or controlling their tempers and need therapy to help their moods and behavior, but there’s no medicine that will make a kid’s autism go away.

Students with mild autism sometimes can go to regular school. But most kids with autism need calmer, more orderly surroundings. They also need teachers trained to understand the problems they have with communicating and learning. They may learn at home or in special classes at public or private schools.

Living with Autism

Some kids with mild autism will grow up and be able to live on their own. Those with more serious problems will always need some kind of help. But, all kids with autism have brighter futures with the support and understanding of doctors, teachers, caregivers, parents, brothers, sisters, and friends.

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Ridin' With The Purple Cowboys!

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How to Build A Business Part-Time?

2008-03-29T20:32:00.000-07:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

How many of you are building a business part-time? If you are building a business part-time, you are not alone. Most people starting a business of their own are doing so part-time. In fact, it is recommended that if you are starting your own business, don’t quit your day job. There is much work that needs to get done and there is much to learn about building a business.

When you first start your business, be sure you have all of the tools and supplies necessary. For example, most times you will need a computer. If you an afford it, I recommend you have two computers. Often computers will encounter technical problems or viruses that prevent the computer from functioning properly. When this happens, you may find yourself without a computer for a while and this can impact your business. It happened to me. I was without my computer for about three weeks or so. I had to go to Kinko’s and pay to use their computer so that I could get my emails and get some online tasks completed. Since this mishap, I purchased another computer. One I use as my primary computer and the other is my backup.

This also raises another issue. You should backup your computer often. I backup my computer at least once a week. Usually, I backup only the files I use for my business and my file from Microsoft Outlook.

Do not spend too much time trying to get all of your tools and supplies together. Once you have the most important ones, you can get any other tools and supplies as you go. You don’t want this one activity to prevent you from moving forward on getting yourself into action with your business.

Once you are ready to get into action, the first thing I recommend you start working on are your skill-sets. The skill-sets I am referring to are: sells, marketing, and effective communication. These skills are extremely important to having a successful business. You will not achieve success until these skills are in place. I recognize that talking to people is something most people starting a business want to avoid at all cost, but this is not realistic. One cannot sale products or services without getting customers.

So, how does one get customers? The first step to getting customers is to get their attention through some form of marketing. You should have some kind of marketing strategy in place. If you don’t, you need to create one immediately. If you don’t know how, there are books, online resources, and courses that will teach you about marketing. I suggest that you have at least three different ways of marketing for your business. This is if one marketing method does not work, at least there are others that will.

Once you have your marketing plan together, put together a schedule for you. This schedule should include the days of the week, the number of hours, and the tasks you are going to work on for that day. You may not follow this schedule strictly but you should be doing something for your business at least five days a week, maybe even six days a week; especially early on in your business. The more you do, the faster you will learn from your mistakes, failures, and move forward.

I mention failures and mistakes because inevitably you will encounter them. No matter how much you wish to avoid them, they are necessary in order to achieve success in your business. Therefore, expect and welcome them. Mistakes and failures are your friends and they will put you on the right path to success.

Now that you have your tools, marketing strategy and your schedule in place, the next step is to begin marketing your business. Try to keep track of which marketing methods are working and which ones are not. Give your marketing plan 90 days. After 90 days, anything that is not working replace with a new marketing method. Anything that is working, continue to use in your marketing plan.

Once you have your marketing running, you should start to see customers. Now begins the part of the business that most new business owners tend to avoid; talking to customers. Communicating with customers can be the part of the business that causes new business owners paralysis. What do I do? How do I handle bad customers? The only thing I can say about this is you will learn as you do. Getting out of your comfort zone is the only way you will learn. This is what I had to do.

Starting out, I was horrible at talking to customers. I got more phone hang-ups than sales. But I continued moving forward. I currently rarely get a phone hang up. I am currently getting more sales. I feel much more comfortable at talking to people. Keep working on your communication skills. These skills will develop over time. Once they do, you will be making more sales. In addition to making the sales, follow-up is also important. You want happy customers. Happy customers lead to referrals. It is much easier to build a business based on existing customers than to have to go find new ones.

If you are trying to build a business by recruiting, the same rules, as selling products, apply to recruiting. If you stay in constant communication with your recruits, work with them, train them, your organization will grow. Remember, people will only stay around when they feel that their needs are being met. Your business is not about you, but about those you serve. Those you serve are your customers and your business associates.

In conclusion, once you follow most if not all of the topics covered in this article, you should be well on your way to developing a successful business. You may not become successful overnight, but it will come when you have fully acquired the necessary skills; which include, sells, marketing and communication. When these skills are in place and if you are consistent and persistent in your marketing efforts; as well as continue to learn from your mistakes and failures, you should start to see the signs of success. Being successful in business is a process. You must earn success by doing the work.

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Ridin' With The Purple Cowboys!

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Interested in Becoming A Successful Business Owner?

2008-03-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

Each week that goes by, I see myself growing more and more. This week was the first time I did the live training for the business opportunity I am a member of, called $9.97MakeMoneyNow, also known as Purple Cowboy Marketing.

I was asked to do the live training by my sponsor. He and his family were going on vacation this week for spring break. He wanted to spend some time with his wife and four kids. I said that I would, but in the back of my mind I was already thinking “Can I really do this?”

The reason I accepted the offer from my sponsor to do the training is because I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to work on developing my leadership and communication skills. I often have thoughts of the kind of leader I want to be some day and this is the time I need to work on myself so that I can one day achieve my goal of being a leader.

Another reason why I accepted is, at some point, as my company grows, I am going to need to start my own trainings. I don’t see the founders of the company continuing to train everyone’s group. That would be too much for them.

Everyone who starts a business should expect to become a leader and expect to attain more leadership roles. I look forward to the time when I can start my own trainings. This is because by the time I am training the members in my group, I am probably already at a point in my business where I am successful. I will also have already established myself as a leader within my group. After I have achieved the role of a leader in my company, my next step is to find the leaders in my company. To accomplish this, I will probably go through the very same steps the founders in $9.97MakeMoneNow did when they found me and others like me.

Since I have been involved in the work from home industry, I often see so many people jumping from one business to another. I suspect they are looking for that one opportunity that is going to make them rich. Most people, erroneously, feel that they are not making money because of the product or service. They believe that if they find the right opportunity, then things will change.

The truth of the matter is, it is not the business opportunity or the products or services. In actuality, it is the individual who is at fault. They lack the necessary skills to grow a business to the level of success. In order to have success in your business, you must possess sells, marketing, and effective communication skills.

There are other skills that are necessary to managing a business, but to get your business started on the right path, sells, marketing, and effective communication skills are a must. Once one has acquired these skills, other skills, knowledge and success will soon follow.

Once one stops blaming others, then one can begin the process of focusing on the real problem. The next is discovering where to go to learn these skills. There are courses one can attend to learn these skills. There are also books and online resources that will teach one these skills.

I still have much to learn in these areas, but I am well on my way because I not only have started learning the subjects from books and online resources, but I have been putting into practice what I have learned. I do this by doing what is uncomfortable until it becomes comfortable; such as, participating as a leader on training calls.

Learning new skills can be challenging at first, but once you dispel the negative thoughts, and apply yourself to the task at hand, you’ll soon discover that fear can no longer hold you back. You will have found that you now have the power within you to do whatever you set your mind to. You are now the master salesperson, the master marketer, and the master communicator. No one but you can stand in your way of success.

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Come Ride With The Purple Cowboys!

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Why the Rich Keep Getting Richer?

2008-03-15T21:57:00.001-07:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

Once I am a successful business woman, and I have a lot of money, I want to invest. I am just not sure where to begin with my investing. Because of my lack of knowledge in investing, I started to engage in some research on the subject of investing. A coworker of mine gave me a book he had read written by Robert Kiyosaki called “Guide to Investing”. In Robert’s book, he talks about what the rich invest in that the poor and middle class do not.

What is interesting is that the rich have available to them investments to invest in that the poor and middle class are not allowed. In fact, the SEC prohibits the poor and middle class from investing in these investments. The reason is that the SEC wants to protect the public from the bad investments, but in doing so, they are also keeping the poor and middle class from the best investments.

The kinds of investments that the poor and middle class are allowed to invest in are referred to as the sanitized investments.

Robert does go on to discuss much more in depth the subject of investing, but I don’t want to get too much involved in discussing the more complicated aspects of the subject of investments because it would make this article too long and too involved. I want to focus on the topic of investing for the rich versus investing for the poor and middle class. I want to show, to some degree, why there is an ever growing gap between the classes.

One reason for this gap between the wealthy and other classes is, as mentioned above, the kinds of investments that the rich can participate in, that the poor and middle class cannot.

Another reason is the way the tax system works. The poor and the middle class focus on earned income which is the wages and paychecks. The rich focus on passive and portfolio income.

Earned income is taxed at a higher rate because they provide various forms of “social insurance”. Social insurance stands for payments the government makes to various people. Examples of social insurance include the following, social security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance.

Income taxes are taxed on top of social insurance taxes.

Passive and portfolio income are not subject to social insurance. The rich don’t work hard for their money. They have their money work for them.

One may be thinking, at this point, that this is unfair. You know, you are right. It is unfair. But there is a good reason why our tax system is so unfair. It is because the tax system was created by the rich, for the rich. This is a known fact, at least by the powers that be. Most of the poor and the middle class are not aware of this and maybe it is best that they don’t.

Along with this is what is known as the 90/10 Rule. The 90/10 Rule means that 10% of the people always make 90% of the money. Who are these folks? Again, these folks are the wealthy.

In other words, although there are more people investing these days, the rich continue to get richer.

Reading this book has opened my eyes even more about the discrepancy that exists in the American society. It pays to not be average. Jobs keep people in debt and most people don’t even know this. Most people continue to work at their jobs, pay their bills, living unfulfilled lives until they retire.

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Ridn' With The Purple Cowboys!

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8 Traits of an Effective Leader

2008-03-08T19:01:00.000-08:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Fire Your Boss! Become a Business Owner

This week, I want to focus my article on the topic of leadership.

How many of you have worked for a manager or boss who did not possess the skills of a leader? I can count on one hand the number of bosses that I consider qualified to be a manager. Most of the other managers I feel needed to get more training as a manager.

My experience with awful managers is one of the reasons why I decided to start my own business.

My reason for choosing this as a topic of discussion is because last week, one of my coworkers informed me that our boss pretty much told him that if he is interested in looking for a job, then go on ahead.

I felt bad for this young man because he went to his boss to talk to him and share with him some personal issues that was currently going on at the job that he was not happy about. He wanted some help from his boss and instead was told to go on and leave; in so many words.

That same week, I received an email that contained an article written by Hank Marquis, CTO of itSM Solutions, LLC. The article focuses on the technical industry, but I believe that the content of this article would and should apply to any industry, including home-based businesses.

As an owner of my own home-based, I am striving to become a leader for those who have joined me in my business. I am working hard to accomplish this. I do this by staying in touch with the members in group by calling them, but this can be difficult because I am so short on time. Time has been my nemesis.

To compensate for my inability to call everyone, I send out weekly notices to everyone informing them of the events that took place in 997MakeMoneyNow. I know this can’t replace the personal touch of a phone call; but it does allow me to stay in communication with everyone.

The article mentions that four out of five workers say they feel stressed before they even to work. The top reason listed is “lack of support, increasing pressure, interruptions and bullying behavior” from their direct manager.

The report lists other reasons: workload, feeling undervalued, deadlines, type of work people have to do, having to take on other people’s work, lack of job satisfaction, lack of control over the working day, having to work long hours, and frustration with the working environment.

Here is a list of the 8 traits of an effective leader:

Leadership means focusing on the needs of others, not yourself.
Leadership comes from your actions, not your title.
Leadership makes you accountable, even if it is not your fault.
Leadership is not a 9-to-5 activity.
Leadership takes trust from your followers.
Leaders get their best ideas from their team.
Leadership thrives on diversity.
Leadership comes from continuous communication.

People will tend to see you as a leader when you pay attention to their needs. By listening to their needs and addressing their issues, you demonstrate leadership.

The next time you are dealing with someone who has joined your business or purchased a product from you, keep in mind the 8 traits of a lesser. People will only stay around when they feel that their needs are being met. Your business is not about you, but is about those whom you serve, which are your customers and your business associates.

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Purple Cowboy Marketing

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Fear of Risk

2008-03-01T20:02:00.000-08:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

Many people fear starting a business because they feel that there is too much risk associated with starting a business of their own. Often, I ask these individuals why they fear starting a business and why they don’t fear working at a job. After experiencing six downsizings, three within the past three years, I fear working at a job more then I fear having a business of my own. It is speculated by many economists that this will be a difficult year for many companies. Has anybody heard about the financial woes of Starbucks?

Many companies that are planning to downsize keep it a secret and then spring on their employees when they least expect it. I hate this. I have been downsized three times and each time I went through it, I cried. I remember the feelings of depression, sadness, and fear of not being able to pay my bills. These experiences have left me not trusting companies. I now watch for signs and have gotten very good at detecting upcoming problems within the company.

Because of my experiences in downsizing, I have decided that I don’t ever want to go through another one, so my plan is to get out of working for other people and just work for myself.

But, back to my original question, why do so many people fear starting a business of their own? Well the biggest reason is fear; fear of risk, fear of failure. While researching this topic, I came upon an article called “Take A Risk” by Kathleen Stebbins in RGJ.com.

In this article, Kathleen Stebbins talks about a study that was conducted by UCLA in 2007 where the brain activity of volunteers was mapped. The volunteers were presented with a variety of risky gambles. What was discovered is that some people are quite sensitive to the possibility of loss relative to gain and hence avoid risk.

Risk takers, on the other hand, were less sensitive to loss as the stakes increased, suggesting the ability to shake off an unfavorable outcome is essential to taking a risk.

It is also stated in this article that finding passion in your dreams can help pull one forward. I believe that is my current situation. I absolutely hate working for other people. I also no longer enjoy my career field which is in the technical industry. I long to be working in my own home, doing something I enjoy, where I am in control of the events that take place in my life.

For many people, they have not found their purpose in life yet. They make money and pay their bills but they are not fulfilled; they continue on this path of being unfulfilled until they retire.

I can’t do this. Living a life where you are unfulfilled until retirement is too high of a price to pay and life is too short. I want to enjoy my life and the only way I can see to make this happen is to find a way to have my own business; doing something that I enjoy; that will allow me more freedom of time and a better quality of life. I also want to become debt free. I won’t accomplish any of this at a job. In fact, the same holds true for most people who continue to work at a job.

If you are interested in starting your own business, I suggest you get started. Find something you are passionate about and get out there. Do not let your fear paralyze you from moving forward. There is always risk in anything you do and yes, you will encounter ups and downs during the growth of your business.

There is no way to go through life risk free, but there are ways to reduce risk:

Start by creating a business plan; one that includes marketing strategies.
Hire an attorney and an accountant. Make sure that the business reputations of these individuals are astounding.
Never stop studying your craft. Read and learn as much as you can about owning and managing a business. For most entrepreneurs, this is something that should be done for the remainder of the time that they are in business for themselves.
Get more involved in personal development. Focus on things that motivate and inspire you.

There are very few problems that cannot be resolved. Often it is the way we view and handle problems that determines our success and failures in life. Keep moving forward.

Those who risk, win!

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Ridin' With The Purple Cowboys!

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Work Harder on Yourself and Success Will Come

2008-02-23T23:10:00.000-08:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

Focus On Income Producing Activities:

Since my move, I am slowly getting back on track with my marketing. I am posting to forums, updating my blogs weekly, updating my social networking sites periodically, and placing ads in free advertising websites. More visitors are hitting my website each week.

Since I am still in the early stages of my business, it will take more work and more time until I have achieved momentum in my business where I do not have to put in quite as much time as I am currently. I will still always need to engage in marketing efforts in order to continue to grow my business, but by doing the ground work now, I will be able to accomplish the same kind of results in half the time say after 2 or 3 years of marketing my business.

In two or three years, three to four hours will be all that is required to market my business. Of course by then, I will need to setup times for live trainings or one-on-one trainings and such, but these too can be setup based on my availability. I also hope at some point to get an assistant and/or secretary to answer phone calls. I am basing this on other successful work at home entrepreneurs I have encountered. Many successful entrepreneurs have more freedom because they have learned how to delegate work to others who can help them in their business. This too is my goal. This also means I have much to do and much to learn.

Changing My Thinking to Think Positively:

One of the other things I am attempting to work on is my mindset. I tend to stay on the dark side; meaning I tend to focus more on the negative instead of the positive.

I run almost every day; except for Saturday. I recently had a phone call from one of the owners of Purple Cowboy Marketing. He said that what I should start doing, while I am running on my treadmill, is to think about me making $40,000 or more per month effortlessly. He said that I do not need to do this kind of thinking throughout the day, but by taking some time out of my day to focus on something positive, will help me when I am distracted by problems or confronted with difficult situations in my life.

I was a member of an MLM for almost 4 years and although I did well for a little while, and I still failed, one of the things I was taught by Jim Rohn is that if you work harder on yourself than you do your business, you will have a successful business. It took me a while to fully understand this concept.

Now, I can see how this can be true. Most people who start a home-based business have little to no skills for running a business; let alone a successful business. This means that new business owners should focus on acquiring skills; such as managing finances, marketing, sales, effective communication and other business skills. Without these business skills, how can one expect to manage or grow a business? But, many people do believe they can still have a successful business without any skills. I attribute this to the fact that no one has informed these new home-based business owners the truths about needing skills in place for a running business. Instead, many new work at home business owners are made empty promises and given unrealistic goals.

Inevitably, the person who introduced the new work from home business owner to the business opportunity, moves on to continue his or her recruiting of other members and the new member who was just brought in to the business opportunity is left on their own. There is usually little to no training given to new recruits. So, is it a wonder why so many fail at work from home businesses?

The reality is that to have a successful home-based business or any business for that matter, one needs some business skills in place. I suggest that when one starts a business, immediately begin reading or taking classes on advertising, selling, marketing, communication, and any other skills that are necessary. Once you develop and apply these skills, one will begin to see growth in their business.

The 3D's:

Along with these business skills, there are some additional inner qualities that are necessary. When one encounters problems in their business or situations that may be difficult in overcoming, these qualities will either make or break you. It is almost a guarantee that problems or difficult situations in your business will surface. This is where one will need to develop problem solving skills.

I have been reading one of Robert Kiyosaki’s books where he talks about the 3D’s. The 3D’s are: a Dream, Dedication, and Drive. Without the 3D’s, it is almost a guarantee that one will fail in business. It is these skills that will carry you through difficulties and problems that invariably will pop-up throughout the lifetime of a business owner. So, if you don’t already have these skills, I suggest you start developing them first; before any other business skills because if you are to have anything in the way of a business, these qualities must already be in place.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, if you want to be able to work at home and have success at it, focus on building your business skills, not only those skills; such as, managing finances, sales, marketing, communication, and such, but also focus on developing your inner qualities. The inner qualities I am speaking are a dream, dedication, and drive. If all of these skills are in place and you are working on income producing activities each and every day, in no time you will be running a lean, mean money making machine, from within your home. You will be well on your way towards achieving the goal of having lifestyle and freedom for you and your family. Just be sure to dream big!

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Ridin' With The Purple Cowboys!

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Overcoming One’s Emotions

2008-02-16T22:50:00.000-08:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

Since taking some time off, I have been having a difficult time getting back into my regular schedule. I still care very much about my business, but I guess I am still tired from my move. I continue working my schedule but my energy level is not there.

During times in which I am struggling with my emotions and/or energy, I start reading books that get me back on track. I am currently reading “Guide to Investing” by Robert Kiyosaki. It is an excellent book that discusses how the rich invest.

Reading this book has helped to keep things in perspective. Therefore, I have continued to work on my business despite my emotions.

Making Changes to Forum Posting:

I have started posting to forums again but there is one forum that I don’t feel comfortable posting to so I have replaced it with another forum. This particular forum is one that is geared specifically to women. We’ll see how this goes. The last women’s forum I participated in did not work out well. Many of the women seemed to have anger management problems. I am a business woman who is interested in growing a business. Therefore I am looking for a place that will support my efforts in trying to establish positive relationships with people who are about sharing and learning from others. I was not interested in being subjected to a negative environment, so I decided to move on. I hope this women’s forum supports my needs.

Updating the Social Networking Sites:

I am going to update all of my social networking sites, maybe join a few more, but I am going to make some changes to my personal information. I think the information I have included is a little too business-like. I will try to soften up the presentation of me. Having a business is about establishing relationships, it would possibly improve my relationship building capabilities if my blog is less professional and more personal.

Adding Pay-Per-Click Websites:

Another thing I have added to my marketing arsenal is pay-per-click websites. It is not Google. I am not yet ready to compete in the Google-world. This one pay-per-click site is on a much smaller scale than Google. It is called “goClick.com”. I am paying $10.00 and I am using this site as a vehicle to help me improve my skill-sets in pay-per-click websites.

A while back, I purchased a training manual on how to use Google. I think I paid less than $5.00 (This includes shipping) to learn about creating keywords. I am going to put my research to the test and see what happens.

Once I start getting some good results, I will first try some other pay-per-click sites before venturing back to Google.

Changes in My Blogs – Modifying Keywords and Submitting to Search Engines

One last change I will make is to update the keywords in both of my blogs and submit my blogs to the three major search engines, MSN, Yahoo, and Google. I completed some research on submitting the blogs to the search engines and will be applying what I have learned to both my blogs.

Possibly, once things start working, I will post what I have learned to my blog.

Conclusion:

As entrepreneurs, we are always learning. I have spent quite a bit of time doing research on different subject matters; such as, keywords and submitting blogs to search engines. I continue to do research on different topics that I feel will help me with my business. If you want to be an entrepreneur, learning is a requirement. You cannot and should not stop learning, ever.

As entrepreneurs, success can only come if one stays in action; meaning if one is persistent in their actions. Never let your emotions; especially when you are down, tired, or just don’t feel like working, prevent you from moving forward in your business.

These past two weeks have been quite difficult for me because I have been tired from my move, but here I am at almost 11:00 on a Saturday night working; and it looks like I am going to be up quite late because I don’t stop until the work gets done. Since I am the boss of my own company, there is no one driving me forward other than me. This is not my hobby and therefore I will not treat it as such. I treat my business like a business.

There will be many days when you don’t feel like working, so my suggestion is to find ways to overcome these emotions. Once you discover what helps you to overcome the emotions of being down or negative in any way, you can rely on them to help your work through your emotions and keep you in action and on track to growing your business.

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Ridin' With The Purple Cowboys!

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I Am Back In Business

2008-02-09T21:12:00.000-08:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

I have been away from my business for about a week. I just moved and I had no access to the internet.

I don’t know what it is with many of the companies that provide a service; such as, the cable companies. On three different occasions, the internet service provider, who also provides my home cable, either canceled or rescheduled my appointment on three different occasions. The cancellation occurred without me even knowing about it. It wasn’t until the window of the scheduled appointment had almost passed that I called and was told by the representative that it was canceled. What made things worse was the technician stated that he canceled the appointment because no one was home. Well, I was home all day. He also said that he tried to call me and left a notice on my door. None of these events took place. There was no phone call or no notice on my door. What made this whole scenario worse is that the policy of this internet service provider is to believe the technician over the customer. Hmmm I had always been told that it was the customer who is always right. It just goes to show how much things have changed with businesses that supposedly provide a service.

But, I am back online and I am glad to be back. Although I have been away from my business activities for about a week, I missed it. Also, I am still early in my business; therefore, I feel any amount of time I am away, can impact the performance of my business.

Luckily, I did have some things in place that allowed people to continue to visit my web site. During the time I was out, I had four people visit my web site and one person signup as a member. I was away but my business continued to grow. I can just imagine as I continue to put out more of my footprints on the internet, the number of visitors to my web site will continue to grow.

This proves to me, and should prove to others, that if you treat your business as a business, and you are consistent and persistent in your marketing efforts, in time, your business will respond positively.

What I mean by this is that people will effortlessly show up at your web site and either join your business opportunity or purchase your products or both. It can be that easy, but first, you have to do the work. After all, this is your business and nothing worth while is for free.

In the upcoming weeks, I will be working very hard on trying to increase traffic to my web site. I have gotten behind in my activities. For example, I have not updated either one of my blogs, posted to forums, I have tons of emails to respond to, update many of the social networking sites I am a member of, and my Veretekk account has not been managed. All of these activities have been neglected during my absence. I intend to address these activities first and then incorporate some new activities. Two of the activities are press releases and pay-per-click search engines.

I talked to one of the members in my downline and she was telling me about the press releases she is doing to help her business. I had always known that press releases were a good method of marketing to use, but just could not find time to implement it.

Another thing she mentioned was pay-per-click search engines. Now, we have all heard of google and yahoo. These are the most popular and thus the more expensive pay-per-click sites. But did you know that there are some other pay-per-click search engines that are not nearly as expensive, but are just as effective; depending on how well you set them up? One of the pay-per-click sites I am looking at is goclick.com. You can setup an account for as low as $10.00. There are many other pay-per-click search engine sites; such as, Enhance, 7Search, and Search123, to name a few. Research and select a few. It can’t hurt because many of them are very cheap.

Conclusion:
There is so much to do and so little time. Thus, I will spend much of my time working hard to catch up with my business and then engage in the other activities that I mentioned above.

Having a business is a lot of work; especially in the beginning. This is why having passion about your business; meaning having a strong why is so important. Your “why” should be something other than just money. If it isn’t, more than likely if you encounter a bump in the road, it could cause you to quit, so be sure you have a strong “why” like your family or better quality of life, or even like my reason; I want freedom. I want to be in control of my life where I select what to do every day. In addition, since I have never been a morning person, I would love to have the opportunity where I am able to get up when I am finished sleeping, not before.

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Ride With The Purple Cowboys!

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Tips On Blogging For Profit

2008-01-26T19:53:00.000-08:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Purple Cowboy Marketing

Because I had spent a lot of time training others on how to setup their Veretekk account so that it is pulling in a lot of leads each day, last week my article focused on the topic of Veretekk.

This week I am going to focus my article on blogging. I have decided to focus my blog on this subject for the same reason I wrote an article on Veretekk. I have been training a number of people on how to create a blog.

I also want to mention that the tool I used to create my blog was blogger; therefore, I will be discussing some of the aspects of blogger. I chose blogger because I tried to use WordPress and discovered that the learning curve was too high. Since I did not have the time to spend going through the learning curve, I selected blogger and in doing so was able to create my first blog using blogger in half an hour.

Since I am new to network marketing, my article will be geared to others who are also new to network marketing and new to blogging. The more experienced bloggers may find this training to be boring. I am sorry. Although I believe that the materials in this training are good and useful, my suggestion is if you find it boring, it may not be worth your while to read the whole article.

What is a Blog?

Anyway, here it goes. First, what is the definition of a blog? According to Wikipedia.com, a weblog, which is usually a shortened to blog, is a web site where regular entries made (such as in a journal or diary) and presented in reverse chronological order. Blogs often offer commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. Most blogs are primarily textual although many focus on photographs, videos or audio. The word blog can be used as a verb, meaning adding an entry to a blog.

Create a Google Account:

To access blogger, you go to www.blogger.com. To create a Google Account,

Enter your email address.
Choose a password.
Retype your password.
Choose a display name, this will be displayed on all of your blogs.
Type the word verification that is displayed on YOUR sign-up page.
Check off the Accept Terms.
After all is done, click continue.

You will be “Name Your Blog” page

Name Your Blog:

Select a blog title that best fits your blog subject. This is only for your personal information for categorizing your blogs in your blogs account page.
Select your blog address URL – This is what will appear in your url address you place in your internet browser. If you are creating a Dog Training blog, then try something like “dogtrainingmastery” as an example. So if you chose this as your blog address Url, your complete URL address would be http://dogtrainingmastery.blogspot.com. This is how others will be able to access your blog web site.
After all has been completed, click Continue.

You can now “Choose Your Template” layout.

Choose Your Template Layout:

You can choose from a variety of template layouts. This is how your blog will appear when someone clicks on it. After you finished your selection, click Continue. You will then be taken to a screen to start posting. Click on the Start Posting.

Posting To Your Blog:

Selecting a Title:

You first will need to select a title for your blog. For instance, if you are writing a blog on dog training, then you can select a title like “Dog Training Tips”. Thus, you use a very popular keyword for the search engine in you title. The search engines use this to index you for search results.

You can go to Google’s Keyword Tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) for a keyword-selecting tool that will help you select popular keywords for your blog titiles. The site is Icon Interactive; you will type in a broad word and all related searches using that word are displayed with the number of times it has been searched on in a month’s period. Using our dog training as an example, you would type a search for “DOGS” or “DOG TRAINING” and find related search terms that are relevant to the subject you are searching. Don’t always choose the keywords that get searched the most, choose the ones that best fit your subject. You would see that DOGS gets searched 100 times more than DOG TRAINING, but Dogs would be too broad of a search term as compared to DOG TRAINING which is what you are typing your article about.

Once you have your Title, you can type out your article. Once you are satisfied with your blog, click on “Publish” to publish your blog to the Internet. After you have published your blog, you will be taken to a screen that says “Your blog post published successfully!”

Adding Meta Tags:

This is one of the most important parts of getting your blog indexed to the search engines. You want to add what is called meta tags to the html code of your blog. This will allow search engines; such as, Google, MSN, and Yahoo to properly read your blog.

The first thing is to edit the following Meta Tag BEFORE you insert it into your blog. I will use a meta tag for pctv blog.

{meta name="revisit-after" content="5 days"}{/meta}
{meta name="classification" content="Entertainment - Site"}{/meta}
{meta name="description" content="A review of pc tv services"}{/meta}
{meta name="MSSmartTagsPreventParsing" content="TRUE"}{/meta}
{meta name="keywords" content="watch tv on pc,tv for pc,watch tv on computer,tv for your pc"}{/meta}
{meta name="robots" content="FOLLOW"}{/meta}
{meta name="distribution" content="Global"}{/meta}
{meta name="rating" content="Safe For Kids"}{/meta}
{meta name="author" content="Purple Cowboys"}{/meta}
{meta http-equiv="reply-to" content="997makemoneynow.com"}{/meta}
{meta name="language" content="English"}{/meta}
{meta name="doc-type" content="Public"}{/meta}

Note: { is the same as <
} is the same as >

Only edit what is in RED to match the subject and content of your blog.

"Classification" - Will be a general category for your blog subject.
"Description" - A brief description of your blog's subject.
"Keywords" - This is where you can add keywords that best fit your blog subject. Use the Icon Interactive tool to help you choose keywords. Add about 4-6 good keywords that really explain what your blog is about.

"Author" - This can be either your blog nickname or your real name
"Reply-To" - Add your e-mail address here

After you have edited this code to match your content, you insert this ENTIRE code into your blog as follows.

1st – Go to your Template Page again.
2nd – Click on Edit HTML
3rd – At the top of the page you will see the following codes

Copy and Paste the COMPLETE code you have edited between the following tags.

The code will be under the:

{b:include data='blog' name='all-head-content'/}
{title}{data:blog.pageTitle/}{/title}

And above the:
{b:skin}{![CDATA[/*

Note: { is the same as <
} is the same as >

4th- After you have pasted the code in the template, click on “Save Template”.

Changing Settings:

All of the default settings in Blogger.com are fine. There is only one setting you will neeed to change. The setting is to notify Weblogs.com of any changes to your blogs. This helps to tell the search engines that postings have been made.

1. Go to “Settings” in Blogger.com for your blog.
2. Click on “Publishing”
3. Change Notify Weblogs.com settings to YES.
4. Click ‘Save Settings”.

You are done setting up you blog. Remember to make new postings to you blog at least every month. You want to always Create NEW postings. This will add fresh content to your blogs and help index your blogs to the search engines much quicker. The postings after your original article do not have to be long. Your article can be just a paragraph in length.

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Ridin' With The Purple Cowboys!

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Veretekk: Leads Generating System

2008-01-20T13:55:00.000-08:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

This week I have spent a lot of time training others on some of the different online marketing techniques; such as, forum posting, blogging, and using Veretekk.

Since I spent most of my time this week helping people with setting up their Veretekk accounts, I am going to focus the topic of this blog on Veretekk.

What Is Veretekk?

Veretekk is a fully integrated suite of cutting edge, state of the art, marketing tool for online success.

This is a top of the line marketing automation that is easy to use, easy to afford, and easy to implement. Veretekk also provides live support and expert trainings 5-10 times per week. Veretekk leads the industry in marketing automation and provides instant productivity and control for thousands of marketers.

The purpose of Veretekk system is the unique traffic, lead generating site. These sites intelligently promote themselves. The push button systems make it easy to turn them on and set them loose one by one.

You can setup each portal to have a different set of sequential autoreponders that start mailing when the lead verifies your email address. The system fully integrates with Intekk’s Veretrap systems. What this means is that Veretrap subscribers can automatically choose to have their leads automatically enrolled into Veretrap’s tag root automated recruiting system.

Lead Generation Web Sites:

Known as Traffic Portals, Veretekk was invented in 1996. Traffic Portals attract entrepreneurial minded professionals who want to do business with you.

Veretekk hosts all of your Traffic Portals and each Traffic Portal is its own unique domain address (makes it easy to get them in the search engines).

Blastomatic:

It is the most powerful Ad submission system in the world. You get to give it away for FREE!

FREEFFAS.com

Give away free ads for life. This site has better quality leads than the other FFA leads systems; such as, Links2u, FFAnet, etc. You also give this away for free.

eTracking.net:

This is an extremely viral tool that allows you to generate massive leads directly, as well as, indirectly by giving away additional etracking search engines.

FFAFarm:

You get your own FFA system. The FFAFarm is the oldest FFA system on the internet. You can promote this but it already brings in a large number of leads. The FFAFarm is a permanent LINK exchange. One post equals millions of links with verification.

Lead Generation:

With the unique Traffic Portals, you are assured of attaining the best, unique, exclusive lead data.

Verification:

All data, traffic and search engine rankings for each Traffic Portal is fully verified and verifiable. The system fully accounts for every action you ake outside of the system or on other sites. You control the reports.

Traffic Initiation:

Once you activate the full portfolio of marketing and promotion tools for each portal, the traffic and leads start rolling in. Just push a few buttons and you are on your way.

Custom Configuration:

Each one of your traffic portals has its own unique domain name. You can edit the Title, Meta Tags, Hidden copy and text, links, photos, and look at each one of your portals.

How I am Using the Veretekk System?

I have setup my Vertekk account and I am utilizing a schedule to help me bring in leads into my Veretekk system. I have created about eight letters that point to my Purple Cowboy Website. I collect my leads twice a week and save them to a text delimited file. I also upload my leads twice a week to the autoresponder that I have setup with my letters. You are also able to space out the number of days that pass between each letter that is sent by the autoresponder.
The first time I went to collect my leads, I had over 1400 leads. The next day, I had over 1300. Two days later, I had over 4000. The next time I want to collect them, I had over 14,000 leads. I am averaging about maybe 5000 to 6000 leads per week now.

Needless to say the system is working. I still have some things I need to iron out. For example, I recently discovered that the links in my letters were not working so I had to spend one day this past week correcting the links so that they were clickable and went to my Purple Cowboy Marketing web site; not an error page.

When you upload the leads into the autoreponder, you select the type of Veretekk verification email you want sent out. I just learned today, during a training I was conducting with a customer, that the best verification email to use are either the Mars or Smart verification emails.

I am also looking at changing the content of the letters. I think they are too long. So, I will shorten them and make them a little easier for people to read quickly.

If interested in taking a look at the Veretkk system, you can create a free membership called a Silver membership. It will last you about 30 days. This is more than enough time to become somewhat familiar with the system. You will at least be able to attend the online trainings. At some point, it will become necessary for you to join as a paid member and I think there is a signup fee and and a monthly fee in the amount of $41.95 per month.

It is well worth the money, but of course you do need to learn how to use the system. To learn, you can attend the online trainings. I have never gone to the trainings other than the ones presented by one of the founders of the Purple Cowboy Marketing, Mo Youngs. I am also privy to be able to use a training web site created by one of the members in our company. In any event, the trainings are important because the system is a lot to learn and understand.

Once you do have your Veretekk account, you need to put yourself on a schedule so that you can continue to receive leads to your system. Like anything, when marketing your business, you need to be consistent in your efforts and Veretekk is no different.

If you want to take a look at it and maybe try it, here is the link: Click Here

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Master Internet Marketing for Less than $10 Bucks!

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Success Comes in Baby Steps

2008-01-12T21:06:00.000-08:00

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

Another great week in network marketing!

Purple Cowboy's Offers Its First Effective Communication Course

Friday night, Purple Cowboy Marketing had their first training on how to effectively communicate with people. A number of people participated in the training course. Many were not members of Purple Cowboy Marketing, but the purpose of the training was to help people who are interested in communicating effectively with others. The training almost lasted three hours. I learned a lot during this training.

Tanya is the name of the trainer. She is an American who currently lives in British Columbia, Canada. She has trained individuals in a number of life skills. The include, communication, public speaking, public relations, and the field of psychic phenomena. Tanya is the author of the materials she delivers on these courses. A lot of fun learning is the way the courses are designed.

The course is called the CEO Seminar Pack, Communication: A Powerful Tool

The training was recorded and there will be subsequent courses offered over the following weeks. I look forward to participating in all of them. Learning how to better communicate with people is one of my primary goals for the new year.

I am also getting more visitors to my web site. This week I signed up more people into my business. I also awarded one of my members in my group by placing one of the new members into her downline. She deserved it. She has been working very hard and is gradually getting more people into her business. She told me today that more people have joined her in her business today. She is someone I believe who will do well. She has my drive and we are both about the same age.

Helping others make their dreams come true is one of the things I enjoy most about having a home-based business.

All I need are essentially four or five people who are doing exactly like me; working hard each day, bringing in more people every day. You may not think that having just four or five people can make you very, very successful. Let me share something with you. Not too long ago I was a member of Herbalife. I was a member for about 4 years. Well, the founder of the company, Mark Hughes brought in many thousands of people. But, out of all of those thousands, only about four or five stuck it out and gradually helped him to grow his business. Herbalife is a three to four billion dollar company today and this just based on a handful of people. Just goes to show you that you can accomplish a very successful business off a handful of people.

Retailing the Coffee

I am also a member of Gano Excel which sells coffee, tea, hot chocolate, mocha, etc. Gano Excel is one of the additional streams of income in Purple Cowboy Marketing. This Saturday I met with one of my new customers to give her a box of the classic black coffee she ordered. She has already asked me to order more. I placed another order today. Another customer, who received one of my business cards, emailed me and asked me to send her some samples. I did as she requested. I will be following up with her on Monday.

The Leads Just Keep Coming In From Veretekk

Veretekk continues to bring in more leads. Veretekk is a leads generating system. The last two times I checked the number of leads that had come through, on Wednesday I saw that over 14,000 leads had come in. Saturday, there were over 7000 leads. I uploaded the 14,000 leads into the autoresponder that is available in Veretekk. I am also getting requests from people to teach them how to setup their Veretekk accounts.

The Purple Cowboy Web Site

More members in my group are signing up into the other streams of income. I will soon have two or more people coming into my Gano Excel business and others are already signing up under me in DirectMatches and Veretekk. I am excited about what I am seeing in my business.

Conclusion

As you can see, my business is gradually growing. The reason is I am committed to doing income producing activities every day. I post to forums, participate in social networking sites, update my Veretekk account to keep the leads coming in, and much more.

If you want a successful business, you have to treat your business like it is a business; not like it is a hobby. Also, keep in mind that anything worth while is worth waiting for. Promises of making a lot of money in a short amount of time are usually empty promises. Hard work, persistence, consistence are what will pay you dividends in your business. It is not just your business that needs to grow to be successful; it is YOU who needs to grow. If you work harder on yourself than you do on your business, success can come sooner than later.

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Master Internet Marketing for Less than $10 Bucks!

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