Does It Take Money to Make Money?
“I’m just so tired of working for someone else and making them rich,” lamented my friend Mitch.
“You should start a small business on the side,” I replied. “Then, once it’s big enough, you can quit your job.”
Mitch shook his head glumly. “I don’t have enough money to start my own business, so I’m stuck.”
I get so frustrated when I hear people say that. Now don’t get me wrong. I admit that having substantial cash to begin a new business can be very helpful. But having a lot of money on the line also means you’re taking a bigger risk.
The truth is, money just doesn’t matter all that much when it comes to starting a business. I know from firsthand experience that it’s possible to start a profitable business with virtually nothing.
When I began my entrepreneurial career, I was a college student living at home with my mom. And while there was enough money to pay the bills, there wasn’t much more than that. I had a part-time job, but I was desperate to find a way to make more money. And though I had zero start-up capital, I had no trouble starting a pool service business. Before I knew it, I was earning three times as much as I had been making at my part-time job.
That business made over $100,000 its first year. Since then, I’ve started more than 20 profitable enterprises with under $100 in initial capital. So having minimal capital should never stop you from starting a new business. And it shouldn’t stop you from marketing your business either.
Some people assume that they need to throw around big piles of cash in order to “properly” market a business. But a little creativity can go a lot further than money. Here, for example, is one zero-cost strategy I used…
When I was looking for ways to promote my ballroom dance instruction business, I discovered that most cable companies have a public access channel that’s available to almost anyone in their viewing area. And there’s more to public access TV than nutty shows like “Wayne’s World.” If you create a format for a show that’s informative, it can become quite popular and bring in lots of business.
Keep in mind that cable access is supposed to benefit the community, so the cable companies can be finicky about too much blatant self-promotion. But they do allow you to say who you are or what company you’re with, so people can find you.
One exciting thing about these shows is that the cable company bears the expense of producing them. For my show, I brought on guests and gave them a dance lesson on the air. I would arrange to have my guests meet me at the cable company’s studio, where they had a director, three camera operators, and other stage help to produce the show. And I didn’t have to pay anything for it.
You’d be amazed by how many people watch cable access. I was getting stopped on the street by people who were excited to meet that “dancing guy” from television. The show increased my business by about 25 percent. (I know that because I asked every new client how they heard about me.) And remember, I got this bump without spending a penny.
Not only did I get a steady stream of new clients, but having a television program gave me more credibility as an expert dance instructor. I began including the fact that I hosted a local ballroom dance TV show in my marketing materials, and I mentioned it whenever a prospective client asked about my credentials.
Almost anyone with a business that has a local customer base can take advantage of this strategy. If you’re an attorney, you could have a program where you answer call-in legal questions. If you sell real estate, you could interview guest experts on your local market. If you’re a copywriter or public relations specialist, you could provide information to help small businesses get more out of their advertising budgets. If you’re a marriage counselor, you could work with couples on the air. If you run a restaurant, you could give cooking lessons. The possibilities are endless.
If you’re interested in having your own local cable access show, here are the basic steps:
1. Contact the cable companies in your area to find out about their local access programming.
You’ll want to know about any rules and regulations they have. If there are any costs that you’ll have to cover. When they shoot and how you get a slot on their schedule.
2. Come up with a format that will be entertaining but also have the potential to bring you business.
Interacting with guests on your show is a good way to demonstrate your expertise. And you won’t have any trouble finding local experts who will be excited to appear on television. Getting the exposure will often be enough of a payment for them. Or maybe you can do what I did and give your guests free instruction in your area of expertise in return for their participation.
3. Plan the show.
A half-hour can be a long time if you don’t plan it out well.
When professionals plan a television program, they plot it out visually on a “storyboard.” You can use a similar, though less formal, tool.
Let’s say you will be producing a 30-minute show. Take a piece of paper and draw a horizontal line across it. Mark off five-minute increments, and then write in what the audience will be seeing during each of those increments. The first five minutes will probably be your introduction. The next 10, you might spend interviewing guest number one. The next 10, you might spend with guest number two. And then you’ll give a five-minute closing.
4. Do it!
Most of the cable companies that produce public access programs are used to working with people who aren’t experienced, and they can help you a lot.
Help them by making sure that you and your guests arrive on set early. Have an outline of the show for the director, so he understands what will be shot. Bring any props or other items you might need on the air. And if you’re going to be interviewing your guests, be prepared with a list of questions.
[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence is the creator of the Quick and Easy Microbusiness System, ETR’s program for starting a business for under $100. Producing your own cable access show is just one method he teaches in his Cheapskate Marketing Program. Check out the details here.]
Cut to the Chase… Dammit!
By Rich Schefren
Do you ever end your day wondering, “Did I really get the important stuff done today?”
Most entrepreneurs, both online and off, often do. But today, I’ve got a quick strategy for you that’ll eradicate any lingering doubts you might possess about your productivity.
In my work coaching many of today’s top Internet marketers, these questions surface frequently:
- How can I stop wasting time?
- How can I get other people to stop wasting my time?
- How can I get more done in less time?
At the end of the day, how can I feel good about what I accomplished?
Do any of these questions sound familiar? If so, you know that increasing productivity means more than just working faster. In fact, it’s about discipline and purpose. Two traits entrepreneurs often struggle with.
Let’s talk about discipline first.
If you find yourself struggling to accomplish what’s on your to-do list, or sticking to your schedule, these tactics often do the trick:
- Take Advantage of a Powerful Part of Your Brain.
Identify your most important outcomes for the next day before you go to bed. You don’t necessarily need to know exactly how you will spend the day when you hit the sack. But, while you’re sleeping, being sure of the results you want gives your subconscious mind a chance to figure out the best ways to get it all done. The next morning, when you plan your schedule for the day, you’ll be surprised by what you come up with. - Include Anchor Activities in Your Schedule.
When planning your schedule for the day, make sure you include anchor activities to keep yourself on track. An anchor activity is a task that will force you to be disciplined.
For example, left to my own devices when I am talking to a friend/peer, the conversation might go on for hours. But if I have an important call to make 30 minutes later, I know I won’t spend longer than 30 minutes on the first call. So the second call is an anchor activity.
Anchor activities ensure that though you might lack discipline right now, it won’t interfere with what you must get done. - Do the Uncomfortable First.
Attack your most important, most intense, and highest leverage activities first. Doing so generates momentum and confidence you can ride the rest of the day. - Look at Yourself and Learn.
At the end of the day, evaluate your performance. If you did a good job, what, specifically, helped you get it done? If you got off track, what happened? And how can you prevent that from happening in the future? This step is frequently neglected… and that’s a shame. Because it’s the fastest path to ever-increasing productivity.
Now, let’s talk about being purposeful…
Far too many entrepreneurs don’t keep their eye on the prize. They go into meetings, make phone calls, talk to staff and contractors… without being clear about the specific outcome they want from each of these activities.
The solution? It’s simple. Get into the habit of asking yourself “What’s my outcome?” every time you transition into a new activity. To make asking this question a habit, put visual reminders where you can’t miss seeing them… until it becomes your default way of operating.
Write it in your daily schedule, on a Post-it on your desk, on an index card that you carry in your briefcase, and on a label on the bottom of your computer monitor. Having so many reminders makes it easy to be consistent when you’re trying to develop a new way of thinking. And anything you do consistently develops into a habit quickly.
So there you have it. You now have a four-part strategy to become more disciplined, more purposeful, and, ultimately, much more productive.
[Ed. Note: Rich Schefren’s businesses have done over $35 million in sales. A renowned business strategist, Rich coaches many of today’s top Internet gurus and service providers on streamlining their businesses while exploding their profits. Learn more at www.StrategicProfits.com.
Becoming more disciplined and more purposeful are two ways to make sure you accomplish your most important goals. You can learn dozens more strategies for achieving your dreams with ETR’s Total Success
Achievement program. Get the details here.]
How to Use Video to Cash In On the Rapidly Changing World Wide Web
By Jim Daniels
Fact: The Web is changing. In case you haven’t noticed, over the last couple years it has gotten much faster. As a result, the Internet experience is changing for millions of users. Today, I’d like to show you how to cash in on this important development…
Broadband high-speed access is finally reaching critical mass. More people now have high-speed access than those who are still stuck on slow dial-up. This means new technology and information delivery methods are finally becoming mainstream.
The rapid growth of high-speed Internet connections has given birth to one technology in particular that you need to be focused on: Video.
The businesses adopting video in this still-early stage are cashing in big-time. Even small mom and pop Web shops and affiliate marketers are seeing amazing results.
So exactly how do you cash in on this rapidly advancing technology?
As entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk has shown, all it takes is having a niche and a little creativity. You may have seen one of his wine videos. In just a few short years, they have helped him gain widespread recognition as the world’s “informal” wine expert. Gary’s videos are simple, yet effective. He sits on his couch, turns on his camera, and tastes wine. He then answers questions submitted via his Facebook application.
Perhaps you could become the next Gary Vaynerchuk in your niche. You have to admit, it sure would be a fun way to make a living. If you’d like to explore the possibilities, the following crash course on how to leverage video for profit will help you get started…
1. Use Video to Inform.
Video makes great content. More and more people are watching video online to learn new things.
For example, when visitors arrive at my new website for aspiring affiliate marketers, a video near the top of the page introduces them to the profit potential of affiliate marketing.
At another site, I invite visitors to watch a video featuring one of my clients. It shows them what it is really like to earn a living from the Internet, and provides some genuine insider advice on how to achieve this goal.
You no longer need expensive equipment to create videos and upload them to the Web. Any video camera from any electronics retailer will work just fine. If you have a video camera that you purchased within two or three years, its resolution will be good enough. Though, of course, any new camera will be far superior.
You can also use your computer to make “screen capture recordings.” That’s how I created the training videos for my ezWebBusinessBuilderprogram. I started by putting my lessons in PowerPoint format. I used a program called VoxProxy to create an animated narrator for them. Then I simply ran the PowerPoint presentation and recorded it using Camtasia (the best software for this). The result was a CD with a series of video lessons on how to build a Web business from scratch.
By the way, if the idea of creating your own videos doesn’t appeal to you, not a problem. There are lots of video-sharing sites where you can find informative videos that you can post at your site. Then all you have to do is paste the video’s “embed code” into your Web page. (I’ll give you a list of some video-sharing sites later in this article.)
2. Use Video to Grow Your Opt-In E-Mail List.
Developing an opt-in e-mail list is still one of the most powerful ways to expand a business online. It’s a process that you can set up once and then watch it grow.
The best way to use video to grow your subscriber list is with a “squeeze page”- a single Web page that has an informative video on it. After watching the video, your visitor can request more information about the subject - maybe in the form of a digital book or special report - through your autoresponder opt-in form.
Then, once the new subscriber has opted in to receive that information - as well as additional information they might be interested in - your autoresponder can (and should) follow up with relevant offers on a regular, pre-determined schedule. This makes sales for you literally while you sleep.
3. Use Video to “Pre-Sell.”
Whether you are selling your own products/services or you’re selling as an affiliate, there are several ways to use video to pre-sell.
For example, when I sell my software, I show my visitors a video review from one of my customers. I also show them a sample training video from the software itself. From the day I added those videos to my site, I saw an increase in sales.
A good way to get traffic to your “pre-selling videos” is to e-mail subscribers who’ve opted in at one of your squeeze page videos. Remember, these people have asked you to contact them when you have information they might be interested in.
One client of mine recently sold thousands of dollars’ worth of guitar lessons with a video about his emergency plumbing nightmare. It was hilarious… and it got people to buy. (You can find it at RockGuitarTechniques.com.)
No matter what you are selling, you can use video to increase sales. Make a video of your product or service being used. Ask one of your best customers to do a video testimonial. Search YouTube.com for existing customer reviews or demonstrations of the products or services you sell. You may be surprised to find something you can use right away.
4. Use Video to Generate Website Traffic.
There are many ways to get traffic using video. A simple way is to post videos about your product or service at the Web’s popular video-sharing sites. You simply create a free account… then upload the video. Make sure you put your website address in your video description, as well as in the video itself. That will help route traffic from the video to your site.
Here’s a list of the top video-sharing sites…
YouTube.com
Video.Google.com
Blip.tv
Revver.com
Jumpcut.com
After posting a video at one of these sites, don’t stop there. Continue sharing it at several social-networking (Web 2.0) sites. When done tactfully, this can create a nice flow of viral traffic that can actually be hard to slow down… even if you wanted to!
Top social-networking sites include…
Digg.com
Del.icio.us
Furl.com
Twango.com
Vsocial.com
The goal is to have your video create a buzz and be spread virally via these networks. Only the most entertaining (and even quirky) videos go viral, so try to think outside the box when creating yours for these sites.
I hope these ideas get you thinking about how you can use video to make money online - even if you’re brand-new to the Web.
In fact, I spoke with someone today who’s been using the video marketing strategy outlined above for just a couple months… and he’s already made $6,000. And he started from scratch by promoting affiliate products. So, yes, you can do it too!
[Ed. Note: Jim Daniels has been helping people earn their living online since 1996.
Learn how to profit from the video revolution here. Use coupon code “april2008″ and save $20 per month. Be sure to check out Jim’s site for examples of how you can use video in your Internet business. And learn how to set up an autoresponder here.
This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.]
Deal Making for Dummies
by MaryEllen Tribby (11/8/2007)
My son Connor turned seven years old a week ago Sunday. His birthday extravaganza started Friday at his school with a class party. Saturday, the festivities continued with 15 little boys at our local arcade. When he got home Saturday evening, he was surprised with an Xbox 360 from my husband and me. On Sunday, I took Connor down to the beach to experience his first sunrise, which was more of a present (and memory) for me. Later that day, we ended his birthday weekend with a family and friend gathering at our home.
As I tucked Connor in Sunday night, I asked him what his favorite part of his birthday celebration was. Expecting to hear rave reviews about the Xbox, I was astonished when he replied, “Going to the beach with you, Mom.” As I held back my tears, I asked him why. His answer was simple and honest: “Because it was just you and me talking.”
This got me thinking about all the partnerships and deal making I have done over the past 22 years. The best deals were not made sitting in a boardroom around a huge mahogany table with 10 or 12 people. They were done one-on-one over lunch or dinner with simple and honest communication leading to mutually beneficial agreements.
Early in my career, for example, I worked for a well-known publisher in NYC, and we wanted to partner with another well-known publisher in Boston. We had a great idea for a new product that would benefit both sets of customers. We organized a special task force comprised of marketers, editors, and customer service people. The other publisher did the same. We had in-person meetings that required flying eight people 300 miles to the other publisher’s office. This was followed up by endless conference calls with 12 to 16 people on the phone.
The entire time this was going on, my gut was telling me that this was not the way to do it. But everyone else was convinced that we needed the “collective brilliance” of the team. You do need input from smart people when you’re working on the product… but these meetings were just on contract negotiation. This was just to get the deal done!
You probably won’t be surprised to hear that we never agreed upon the terms (someone would always chime in with a last-minute concern), and hundreds of thousands of customers missed out on what would have been a great product. Plus, both my company and the other publisher lost the potential for millions of dollars in revenue.
Since that time, I try to do all my deals on a one-to-one basis.
My deal making success rate is high because I follow three simple guidelines. These apply to everything from making joint venture deals to developing new departments within the company to hiring copywriters. They even apply to vendor and service relationships, such as e-mail deployment, printing and media buying, and hiring freelancers. Here they are:
Rule #1. Know the person behind the business.
To the best of my ability, I try to meet, in person, everyone I do business with. This is the best way to gauge their business ethics and integrity. I will fly cross-country for lunch, or meet them at an industry event and have a drink. I’m not saying you have to like everyone you do business with, but personal contact helps expedite the deal and solidify the end result.
Earlier this year, I wanted to find a partner who could help our customers understand the importance of product launches. I mentioned this to my friend and business colleague Rich Schefren. Well, it just so happened he was flying to Denver in two days to speak at a conference being put on by Jeff Walker, the foremost expert in product launches. I ended up on the plane with Rich, met Jeff, and three weeks later Jeff was speaking at ETR’s sold-out “Five Days in July” Internet marketing conference.
But this is not an anomaly for me.
My friend and colleague David Cross introduced me via e-mail to Tim Ferriss, the author of The 4-Hour Work Week, and I phoned Tim immediately. After discovering that we were both going to be in New York the following week, we made a breakfast date. Two weeks later, Tim’s articles - including one that you may remember about creating a “paperless life” - started appearing in ETR.
These deals happened fast because not only did I get credible references from Rich and David, two people I respect and trust, I also took the time to meet Jeff Walker and Tim Ferriss in person.
Even if you can’t meet everyone in person, make sure you have reliable references. Always do your due diligence. Make it your goal to understand not just the company you want to partner with but the person behind the company.
Rule #2. Only make deals that will benefit your customers.
You may be passing up millions of dollars initially, but if a deal is not in the best interests of your customers, it will cost you more in the long run in dollars, time, and reputation.
Just this past summer, a “friend” in the industry came to us with a product he had developed. He showed us sales reports from his launch. He showed us his brilliantly written marketing copy. Our first impression was: “Our customers need this. They will love it. And it will be a nice contribution to our bottom line.”
Patrick Coffey, Charlie Byrne, and I told him, “Great. Just send us a sample of the product so we can evaluate it. If it is as good as you say it is, we are sure we can promote it to our customers.”
Well, our “friend” was a bit taken aback. He did not understand why we wanted to see the product when he had already shared his sales report.
We tried to explain that this is our policy - that we had to believe in the product.
He said if we would not just take his word for it, he would take it to our competitor. Well, he did. And we heard through the grapevine that it was a tremendous hit. Customers were buying it up, both parties were making tons of money - and I secretly questioned my decision.
But just recently, the word in the industry is that the product did not live up to the marketing hype. Refunds were coming in like gangbusters, and our “friend’s” new partner does not want to work with him anymore.
Had our competitor lived by the same rule that prompted us to say no to this particular deal, he would not have wasted his resources and lost the respect of his customers.
If you follow this rule, you may miss out on a good opportunity every once in a while. But you will also be able to pass up deals that just won’t satisfy your customers.
Rule #3. Only make deals that will benefit your organization.
At first glance, this rule might seem to contradict Rule #2. On the contrary, these two rules need to work in unison.
Let’s say you are asked to hire a vendor because he is the husband of your wife’s best friend. You know him, and you know his product will be good for your customers. But his prices are outrageous and you can get a better price and equal quality from another vendor. What do you do?
To me, this is a no-brainer. You go with the other vendor. That is a better decision for your company - and for your customers. Never forget: You are running (or starting) a business, and good businesspeople have to make tough decisions.
Deal making takes a lot of time. But it’s worth it, because you want to build relationships that last. You can’t make a good deal without a good partnership. You can’t have a good partnership without a personal relationship. And you can’t build a personal relationship through phone calls or e-mails or in a conference room. Know your potential partner well, understand his expectations and needs, and make sure he understands yours. Both companies will benefit.
[Ed. Note: MaryEllen Tribby is Publisher and CEO of Early to Rise. ETR has created a brand-new Info Marketing program - an all-inclusive, A-to-Z blueprint for starting your own powerhouse Internet business. Learn how to pick a product and set up a website. Discover copywriting secrets from the masters, techniques to help you create an e-mail list, the best ways to market your product, and more. We’ve limited the number of spots to 250, and, as of today, we’ve only got a few spots left. So sign up now to be part of this exciting new program.
This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.]
The Secret to Entrepreneurial Success
by Clayton Makepeace (03/7/2008)
To achieve entrepreneurial success, you need five things:
- A product that delivers a benefit people already want at a price they’re willing to pay…
- A strategy that puts your sales copy in front of your best prospects…
- Great headlines and lead copy that compel them to read your sales message…
- Sales copy that convincingly presents the reasons why the prospect should buy and overcomes any objections he might have, and…
- A quick, easy way for him to order.
Now you can do all that with a product that has already been proven to appeal to prospects, and where you’ll go head to head with well-established competitors. Or you can attempt to be a pioneer with something completely new.
If you decide to become a pioneer, you can do items 2 through 5 brilliantly and still fail miserably if your product misses the mark - if it doesn’t deliver a benefit your prospect intensely desires at a price he’s willing to pay. And when you’re a pioneer, your chances of missing the mark are substantial.
Pioneers are famous for winding up with arrows in their keesters. Given the choice, I’d rather compete in an established area.
[Ed. Note: Clayton Makepeace has spent the last 35 years creating direct-mail, Internet, and print promotions that have sold well over $1 billion worth of products. He publishes the highly acclaimed e-zine The Total Package to help business owners and copywriters accelerate their sales and profits.]
This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.]
Using Daily Task Lists to Accomplish Your Goals
I didn’t always plan my days. For most of my career, in fact, I didn’t.
I had written goals. And I referred to them regularly. My goals kept me pointed in the right direction, but I was always moving back and forth. Often for no good reason.
Driving to work in the morning, I would think about my goals. That helped motivate me and often gave me specific ideas about what tasks I should accomplish that day. I’d walk into work meaning to complete those tasks… but by the end of the day, many of them were not done.
What happened? The same thing that may be happening to you right now. You sit down at your desk, and there is a pile of new mail in your inbox. You pick up the phone, and 15 messages are waiting for you. You open your computer, and find that you’ve received 50 new e-mails since you last checked. You tell yourself that you will get to your important tasks later. Right now, you have to “clean up” all these little emergencies.
Before you know it, the day is over and you haven’t taken a single step toward achieving your important goals. You make an effort to do something, but you are tired. Tomorrow, you tell yourself, you will do better.
Does that sound familiar?
If so, don’t feel bad. You are in good company. Most people deal with their work that way. Even people who set goals and achieve them. Over the long term, they get everything done. But on a day-to-day basis, they are constantly frustrated.
You can be successful without planning your days… but you will have to work a lot longer and harder. The reason? When you don’t plan your days, you end up working for other people - not just for yourself. You feel that before you get to your own work, you should first deal with their requests.
Starting your day by clearing out your inbox, voicemail inbox, and e-mail inbox is just plain dumb. Most of what is waiting for you every morning has nothing to do with your goals and aspirations. It is work that other people want you to do for them.
If you want to be the captain of your soul and the master of your future, you have to be in charge of your time. And the best way to be in charge of your time is to structure your day around a task list that you, and only you, create.
As I said, simply writing down my goals helped me accomplish a good deal. But my productivity quadrupled when I started managing my schedule with a daily task list. If you use the system I’m going to recommend, I’ll bet you see the same improvement.
I have used many standard organizing systems over the years, but was never entirely satisfied with any of them. The system I use now is my own - based on the best of what I found elsewhere.
At the beginning of the year, I lay out my goals for the next 12 months. I ask myself “What do I need to achieve in January, February, etc. to keep myself on track?” Then, at the beginning of each month, I lay out my weekly objectives. Finally, every day, I create a very specific daily task list.
Here’s how I do it…
My Personal Daily Task List
I begin each day the day before.
What I mean by that is that I create my daily task list at the end of the prior day. I create Tuesday’s task list at the end of Monday’s workday. I create Wednesday’s at the end of Tuesday’s workday.
I begin by reviewing the current day’s list. I note which tasks I’ve done and which I have failed to do. My new list - the next day’s task list - begins with those uncompleted tasks. I then look at my weekly objectives to see if there are any other tasks that I want to add. Then I look through my inbox and decide what to do with what’s there. I may schedule some of those items for the following day. Most of them, I schedule for later or trash or redirect to someone else.
I do all this in pen on a 6″ x 9″ pad of lined paper. I divide the paper vertically to create columns for the tasks, for the time I estimate it will take to do each one, and for the actual time it takes me to complete it. I also create a column for tasks I will delegate to my assistant.
On most days, I end up with about 20 15-minute to one-hour tasks.
I like doing this by hand, in pen and ink. You may prefer to do it on your computer. The point is to enjoy the process.
Because longer tasks tend to be fatiguing, I seldom schedule anything that will take more than an hour. If you have a task that will take several hours, break it up into pieces and do it over a few days. It will be easier to accomplish. Plus, you will probably do a better job because you’ll be doing it with more energy and with time to review and revise your work as you go.
A typical day for me includes two or three one-hour tasks, three or four half-hour tasks, and a dozen or so 15-minute tasks. The kind of work you do may be different, but I like that balance. It gives me flexibility. I can match my energy level throughout the day to my task list.
Ideally, you should get all of your important tasks and most of your less important tasks done almost every day. You want to accomplish a lot so you can achieve your long-term goals as quickly as possible. But you also want to feel good about yourself at the end of the day.
You may find, as I did, that when you begin using this system you will be overzealous - scheduling more tasks than you can possibly handle. So set realistic time estimates when you write down your tasks. And double-check them at the end of the day by filling in the actual time you spent on each one.
When you complete a task, scratch it off your list. One task done! On to the next one! I’ve been doing this for years, and I still get a little burst of pleasure every time.
Creating each daily task list should take you less than 15 minutes. The secret is to work from your weekly objectives - which are based on your monthly and yearly goals.
This system may not work for you, but I urge you to give it a try. I think you’ll like it.
Before your colleagues, competitors, and coworkers are even sipping their first cup of coffee, you’ll have figured out everything you need to do that day to make you healthier, wealthier, and wiser. You will know what to do, you will know what your priorities are, and you will already be thinking about some of them. You will not have to worry about forgetting something important. And you will have a strong sense of energy and excitement, confident that your day is going to be a productive one.
[Ed. Note: Achieve all your personal, social, financial, and business goals with the help of ETR’s Total Success Achievement Program . Learn more by clicking here.
This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.]
A Small Business Success Formula
Stuart and I clinked glasses, toasting our upcoming success. It was New Year’s Eve about 20 years ago. My entrepreneurial career had just begun. I was a college student living at home with my mom. I didn’t have much money, but I felt good about the $500 each of us had just invested.
About six weeks later, we’d lost our precious money.
We’d been suckered into investing in a poor business idea. The idea? Buying the rights to distribute video memberships where customers could rent videos through the mail for 35 cents. It sounded good, but there were a couple of catches. For one thing, the customer had to purchase an expensive membership. For another, the customer had to pay an exchange fee on every transaction. (Details that weren’t included in the sales literature we saw.)
Eventually, I picked myself up from the disappointment of that first business failure. But several other failures followed. And they all fit the same general pattern: Identifying a product that seemed great, trying to sell it, and then discovering it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
For the longest time, I couldn’t see what I was doing wrong. In fact, it took me several years before I figured it out and made a major change in the way I did business. That single change had an enormous effect on my success as an entrepreneur. By implementing it, I was able to create a string of profitable small businesses.
What I’m talking about here is a strategy I call the F.A.N. (”Fill A Need”) Formula.
What I had been doing was first coming up with the product or service to sell, and then going out into the marketplace to see if anyone would buy it. But with the F.A.N. Formula, I first studied the marketplace to look for customer needs that were not being met. Only if I discovered a hole would I create or find something and try to sell it.
And it’s not hard. You don’t have to come up with revolutionary new ideas. Sometimes you can find a need for a “bread and butter” type of business that just has to be tweaked a bit to make it stand out from the competition.
My first successful business was a pool maintenance service. I was cleaning my mom’s pool when a neighbor peeked over the fence and said, “Hey! You’re doing a good job!” Then he started complaining about how expensive and unreliable his pool company was.
A light bulb went off over my head. I realized that there was a big need right there in my own neighborhood. And where there is a need, there is an opportunity for an entrepreneur to make money.
I printed up some flyers advertising my “reliable pool cleaning services at good prices,” and began distributing them. Within hours of posting the first ones, my phone was ringing. This led to what eventually became a six-figure business… a nice accomplishment for a college student with no capital.
Later in my entrepreneurial career, I became interested in the ballroom dance industry. While working in a dance studio, I discovered two holes in the market. First, virtually every dance studio in the area aggressively sold “packages” and persuaded clients to learn all the dances. Second, I noticed that it was hard for many busy people to make the time to get into the studio.
So I came up with the idea of “pay as you go” lessons. People didn’t have to buy a package, and they could learn only the dance or dances they were interested in. Plus, they didn’t have to come to a studio. They could take the lessons at home.
My approach was so novel that several major metropolitan newspapers did feature stories about me. (Free publicity!) And the business took off. I was soon earning $40,000-$50,000 a year with it. And since I was only working that business part-time, I was able to develop other businesses simultaneously.
Applying the F.A.N. Formula to Your Own Ventures
Here’s how to start a business with the F.A.N. Formula:
1. Pay careful attention to markets that interest you. Then search out information about customer needs that aren’t being served efficiently.
Keep your eyes open. Just look around for things that annoy YOU. Keep your ears open too. You can sometimes hear about a need that’s not being met straight from a disgruntled customer. (That’s what got me started on my pool cleaning service.) You should also read local newspapers, particularly stories about consumer problems. And articles in national magazines can help you identify trends that could inspire you to come up with a business idea.
2. Once you’ve pinpointed a need in the market, figure out how you can fill it. What will your product or service offer? How will it benefit the customer?
My dance instruction business had three main selling points:
No contracts to sign or packages to buy
Learn only the dances you’re interested in
Convenient, private in-home lessons available
3. Evaluate the feasibility of the business.
Just because you see a need for the product or service you intend to offer doesn’t mean you can sell it profitably. Sometimes, the reason nobody is doing it is because there’s not enough of a market for it. So crunch the numbers first.
With my pool cleaning business, I figured out that by being a “no frills” operator with little overhead I could undercut the competition by about 20 percent. And I found that I could still make an acceptable profit even if I hired other people to do the work.
Operating your own small business is rewarding in many ways. It offers you job security. (You’ll never be afraid of a boss letting you go.) It’s a good way to accumulate wealth. And it allows you to spend your days doing something you can enjoy and be proud of. By using the F.A.N. Formula, your odds of success will increase exponentially. Try it.
[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence is the creator of the Quick and Easy Microbusiness System, ETR’s program for starting a business for under $100. The F.A.N. Formula is just one of the techniques Paul teaches in his “Smallbiz Rocket Launcher Program.” Check out the details here.]
This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.
A Quick Start Guide for the Internet Entrepreneur
I recently got an e-mail from a man I’ll call Jim, a longtime ETR reader. His question is probably the most common question I get. If you are interested in breaking into the Internet, pay attention. What I have to say to Jim might give you the information you need to get started.
Jim writes:
“I have been struggling with the idea of starting my own Internet-based business. The question is, how and with what product or service?
“I have been a loyal fan of ETR for many years now, and you guys throw so many sound ideas and businesses at me it gets a little confusing. I would like to start small with some proven methods and techniques and build from there. I do not have countless thousands of dollars to experiment with, nor do I have the luxury of being able to sit in front of my computer day in and day out. I need your help to get me started in the right direction with a system that will hopefully start generating some return fairly quickly.
“I believe in and trust your advice more so than anyone out there when it comes to building an Internet-based business - or any other type of business, for that matter. Please help me make this the year I finally took the plunge and started achieving success!”
Everybody knows what a great opportunity the Internet offers. It is the only medium where someone without a lot of money can start a multimillion-dollar company. There are lots of good programs available that teach the ins and outs of Internet marketing. But choosing the right product or service to market… there’s the rub!
I’m going to give Jim some general advice. And then MaryEllen Tribby (ETR’s publisher and CEO) and Patrick Coffey (ETR’s Director of Internet Marketing) will jump in with some specific suggestions.
Which product to choose is a big question. Not the kind that can be answered simply and quickly. It depends so much on you - who you are, who you want to be, what you know, what you don’t know, etc.
That said, a few general suggestions apply.
First, and most important, it is always best to start a business in or around an industry/area that you understand. So many of the most expensive mistakes first-time entrepreneurs make are “outsider” mistakes - errors that someone with experience in the field would not have made.
Lots of first-time health publishers, for example, spend too much time explaining the disease or health problem they hope to cure. They do so both in the publications they create and the promotions they use to sell those publications. What these novices don’t understand is that the most active health buyers don’t need to know more about their problems. They can find out all they want to know on the Internet - for free. What they need are solutions.
So the first thing you must do is make a list of all the things you know about. Start with the business you are in (or employed by). But don’t stop there. Include all your hobbies and interests too. You don’t have to have any professional experience to know enough about a subject to start a business based on it.
I have a friend who started a successful business providing advice about astrology. She’d never taken a course in it or received certification. But she’d read about it for 30 years, and her knowledge was deep and wide. Because of that, she began her enterprise with a good idea of what kind of astrology she would practice and what kind of products and pricing would work.
Another friend started a successful Internet business selling martial arts information. He was a world-class black belt who had been competing for 20 years. He knew the industry inside and out. So he had some good ideas about new and exciting instructional videos he could produce that really caught fire.
This brings us to my second-most-important suggestion: If you are not an expert at direct marketing, you should become one before you spend a nickel on your new business.
I cannot overstate the importance of understanding the techniques of direct-response marketing. Direct marketing is the primary method for generating profits on the Internet. Other forms of advertising - from public relations to event marketing to social media and branding - are usually not nearly as effective.
Luckily, there are plenty of good information products and educational programs available that teach direct marketing for the Internet. On top of the list, I’d put ETR’s own Internet Money Club, The Magic Button, and Instant Internet Income. But I’d also recommend Bob Bly’s Internet Marketing Retirement Plan.
My third and final suggestion is this: In addition to focusing on an industry you are already familiar with and becoming an expert at direct marketing, you must learn the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. Starting a business can be a daunting task for the beginner. Most of those who try fail. And with good reason: They make some very basic mistakes.
The biggest mistake first-time entrepreneurs make is spending too much of their time and money on all sorts of secondary business concerns (getting business cards, setting up a website, finding a business location). But when you’re starting any new business, your priority has to be on making sales. In fact, at this stage of the game, at least 80 percent of your time should be devoted to selling.
To bring yourself up to speed, I recommend that you read Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat. The book is based on my own experiences with building small businesses. It’s all about how to get your business off the ground and continue to grow it.
Okay. Those are my general suggestions. Now, here’s some specific advice from MaryEllen and Patrick:
To develop your marketing materials, hire a copywriter who has in-depth and up-to-date knowledge of your niche. They should be on the cutting-edge of their specialty and always learning, whether it’s the financial markets or alternative health. “I never hire a copywriter who says they can write about anything,” says MaryEllen.
Do some quick research, then TEST your idea. Says Patrick, “One of the biggest problems I see is that people will take too much time analyzing what market to get into. I’ll talk to people who have been studying one of our programs for months and they’ll say, ‘I’m still in the market research stage.’ In my opinion, market research for a new online business should take no more than a week.”
A week is plenty of time to decide what to sell. In fact, it’s a generous amount of time. At ETR’s annual 5 Days In July Internet Marketing Conference, attendees have to make this decision in a day.
To figure out what market to enter, you need to look for two things:
1. Are people looking for this information?
2. Are people buying this information?
“And,” says Patrick, “you can get the answers to these questions very quickly with a few key strokes.
“One of the best ways to find out who is looking for what is with a free tool like WordTracker. And to determine if people are buying, simply enter a few search phrases for your product in Google. Then check the Web pages of the advertisers that come up. The fact that they’re paying for advertising and selling stuff is a good indicator that the market they’re selling to is buying.
“Sign up for e-mail lists of potential competitors, study their marketing materials, and even purchase some of their products. After that, you immediately begin working on your own offer so you can start testing. That’s what students of our Internet marketing programs who become most successful do.”
Will all the ideas you’ll come up with work? No. But the only way you’ll find out is by trying to sell to the market. If an idea does not work, simply try to re-work the offer or explore a new idea.
Remember that starting an Internet business - just like beginning any worthwhile venture - will take work. In his e-mail, Jim talked about wanting to generate some return “fairly quickly,” despite the fact that he does not “have the luxury of being able to sit in front of [his] computer day in and day out.” You need to have realistic expectations when you begin a new business. And one thing you must be prepared for is that it takes time and energy.
One last piece of advice from Charlie Byrne, ETR’s Editorial and Creative Director: Get started. Now. By no means is this all you need to know about starting an Internet business. But the best way to get it going is to begin. Ready, Fire, Aim. You can take time to adjust your product or marketing later. What’s most important is taking that initial leap.
This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.
