Where are you going?

Every year, as the New Year rolls in, just about everyone
takes time to re-examine the course of their lives. It's a
time-honored tradition. We think about our health, our
weight, our financial standing and about the future. And
every year we make our resolutions and we vow that this
year we will actually keep them.Well. Since everyday that
you wake up it is the first day of the rest of your life,
you start a New Year right then. Thus any day is a good day
to start to re-examine the course of their lives.

Yet we know from experience that the odds are against us.
Sooner or later we are bound to give up. In fact, studies
show that most people who make resolutions break them by
the third week in January. One reason it is the thing to
do. I say break that habit and make today the day you
start. One issue is timing: Exhausted after the holidays,
people are not well-equipped to make life changes.
According to psychologist Ellen strow, "There is little
correspondence between what people say and what they do."
Are you a person of your word? Do your deeds match your
words? Are you just passing hot air and gas? Simply knowing
that our resolutions are good for us doesn't seem to be
enough. We know that losing weight and getting in shape
will allow us to feel better and live healthier, but it's
not enough. We know that getting into action and building
our businesses will bring with it better financial health
and even complete financial independence, but it's still
not enough. What's missing? Where are you really going?

Have you written your goals down on paper? Do you really
believe what you write down? Do you have a mentor to help
hold you accountable? We seem to envy those who have
achieved what we desire. We envy those who are in shape. We
envy those who have built strong businesses despite a
faltering economy. The key is not to envy or sulk but to
study and learn what makes these people capable of
achieving what we dream about. Regardless of your past
accomplishments or failures, you are fully capable of
achieving your dreams. The issue is not what you can or
cannot do today but what you are capable of learning and
applying in the future. The bottom line is that you are the
only person who can cheat you out of success. And you can
only do this when you give up. Just you not your spouse,
friends, family or anyone else other than the person that
lives between your ears.

People who achieve their goals know that nothing will be
handed to them on a silver plate. Diet products the world
over promise fast results with low effort. Anyone who has
every tried a diet product for more than a month knows that
there's a little more to losing weight and keeping it off
it than that. Some people realize this and take the other
actions needed to achieve results; namely they exercise and
watch their caloric intake - they make a lifestyle change.
The diet product can help in achieving results but it's not
a magic solution. Yet many people assume that when a diet
product fails, it's the fault of the diet product. And so,
like misguided children, they move from one diet product to
the next looking for a solution that doesn't exist. Success
in network marketing is no different. People often look to
a product or "system" to solve all of their marketing
problems and deliver success. It pains me how many times I
hear people blame others, their leads, their products,
their company, their upline, for their failure. But that's
human nature isn't it? We always blame ourselves last. And
that may be the real difference between those who achieve
their dreams and goals and those who don't. IT is you and
only you. Tough mirror to look into, easier to blame others.

Achievers take responsibility for their own actions. By
doing that, they know that they are the ones that need to
change. If they feel unmotivated, they don't blame their
upline, product or service. Instead they figure out how to
get motivated. If they have trouble getting into action,
they learn how to schedule and prioritize. They don't make
excuses. If they fear talking to prospects, they learn how
prospects think, what they expect and how to build rapport.
If they have trouble with technology they read a book or
take a class to overcome it. They go out and find a mentor
to help. Do you have a mentor that can teach and show you
how?

Taking responsibility for your own actions leaves you in
control. It empowers you to become the master of your own
destiny. This doesn't mean that systems won't fail or that
products and services will always be marketable. Those
corrections can be made at any time. But before you look
outside yourself for the problem, always look to yourself
first. What could you do differently, what could you learn
that could solve the problem? Then go out and do it. As you
make changes in your life, realize that chance can be
difficult. No matter what changes you are trying to make,
research indicates that you must maintain positive action
for at least three to six months before reaching a
stability level - before it becomes a part of "the new
you." Before stability, the danger always exists of
relapsing into old behaviors. Relapse is often looked at as
failure. But this doesn't have to be if you look at it as a
learning experience. The mark of an achiever is to
acknowledge that you didn't make it, figure out what you
need to do differently and go forward from there. Remember
Thomas Edison failed 73 times to get the light to light up.
He had over 100 items rejected by the patent office. He
never gave up no matter what.It's the start of a brand new
DAY. All possibilities are open to you. The choice between
success and failure is up to you. Where are you going?

----------------------------------------------------
If you want a Free cd about what the Heavy hitters of MLM
WILL not tell you or to Join "Robin's Renegagdes" you need
to contact Dr Robin Rushlo at blindguy55@msn.com or start
today at http://www.cashwithbooks .
Remember you can also learn more of the 35 years in Network
Marketing from Dr Robin Rushlo at http://www.blindgevity.com
Have a great day and get your other freebies at
MLMSTRIPPED@msn.com
Thanks

How to Cultivate The Trust Factor in Business

In today's highly competitive economy, it is difficult to
maintain a significant market advantage based on your
professional skills alone. Developing trusting
relationships with your clients is vital to your business
success as well. No matter what business you are in, the
most powerful value-added contribution you can make to any
business relationship is the trust factor.

The trust factor is even more critical in today's business
climate with the level of trust in Corporate America
continuing to be at an all-time low, and suspicion of "all
things corporate" remaining on the rise. To make matters
worse, large corporations and small businesses alike
continue to use antiquated techniques, such as gizmos and
gadgets, to try to win over new clients. When instead,
they should be trying to address the heart of the matter by
utilizing trust-building techniques that will most
effectively resonate with consumers and new prospects.

Clients and prospects are in search of trust in their
business relationships, but building trust and credibility
does not happen overnight. To cultivate trust, it takes the
risk of being open with clients and prospects. This enables
them to perceive you as a real person-one with strengths
and weaknesses that come into play as the relationship
develops. When trust is reciprocal, you will find that your
confidence in others is rewarded by their support and
reinforcement of what you also stand for as a business
entity.

What is Trust

What is trust? Trust can be defined as a firm belief in the
honesty of another and the absence of suspicion regarding
his motives or practices. The concept of trust in business
dealings is simple: Build on an individual's confidence in
you and eliminate fear as an operating principle.

Letting Go of Fear

Let go of fear, which restricts your ability to relate to
others. Letting go frees you of behavioral constraints that
can immobilize your emotional and professional development.
Fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of success, fear
of being hurt, fear of the unknown-all these are roadblocks
to developing and growing a trusting relationship with
clients. Let go of your fear of losing an account or not
having the right answers. Leave all your fears at the
client or prospect's doorstep.

Other critical steps in cultivating trust are knowing who
you are and knowing your potential value to your clients.
The relationship that forms because of this can have a
tremendous impact on your sales. People don't just buy from
anyone. They buy from people they can trust. The rapport
and credibility you can establish with the trust factor go
a long way toward building a client's confidence in your
ability to meet his business needs.

Trust has both an active and a passive component in a
business relationship. The active feeling of trust is
confidence in the leadership, veracity, and reliability of
the other party, based on a track record of performance.

The passive feeling of trust is the absence of worry or
suspicion. This absence is sometimes unrecognized and
frequently taken for granted in our most productive
relationships.

Building Trust With Care

So how do you build trust with clients? First, you need to
care about them. Obviously your clients care about your
knowledge, expertise, and accomplishments. However, they
care even more about the level of concern you have for
them. Successful trust building hinges on four actions:
engaging, listening, framing, and committing. The trust
factor can be realized once we understand these components
of trust and incorporate them in our daily lives.

Engaging clients and prospects occurs when you show genuine
concern and interest in their business and its problems.
Maintain good eye contact and body posture. Good eye
contact signifies openness and honesty. And your body
language and other forms of nonverbal communication speak
volumes about your attitude toward them. By the same token,
you want to be cognizant of your client's or prospect's eye
contact and body language.

Listening with understanding and empathy is possible if you
think client focus first. Let the client tell his story.
Put yourself in his shoes when you listen to his business
concerns, purpose, vision, and desires. Show approval or
understanding by nodding your head and smiling during the
conversation. Separate the process of taking in information
from the process of judging it. Just suspend your judgment
and focus on the client. Framing what the client or
prospect has said is the third action in trust building.
Make sure you have formed an accurate understanding of his
problems and concerns. Confirm what you think you heard by
asking open-ended questions such as "What do you mean by
that?" or "Help me to understood the major production
problems you are experiencing." After you have clarified
the problems, start to frame them in order of importance.
By identifying the areas in which you can help the client,
you offer him clarity in his own mind and continue to build
his trust.

Committing is the final action for developing the trust
factor. Communicate enthusiastically your plan of action
for solving the client's problems. Help the client see what
it will take to achieve the end result. Presumably, what
you have said up to this point has been important, but what
you do now-how you commit-is even more important. Remember
the old adage "Action speaks louder than words." Show you
want this client's business long term. Complete assignments
and projects on budget and on time. Then follow up with
clients periodically to see how your partnership is faring.

In the final analysis, trust stems from keeping our word.
If we say we will be there for our clients, then we should
honor that commitment by being there. Trust results from
putting the client's best interest before our own, from
being dependable, from being open and forthcoming with
relevant information. It is impossible to overestimate the
power of the trust factor in our professional lives. Truly,
trust is the basis of all enduring, long-term business
relationships.

----------------------------------------------------
Robert Moment is an innovative small business coach,
speaker and author. Robert specializes in teaching
entrepreneur how to start a small business that profits and
grow. Visit his website
http://www.howtostartyoursmallbusiness.com

and sign-up
for the FREE Small Business Coaching 7 day e-course titled,
"Turn Passion into Profits: Small Business Startup".

"Networking Groups" - Building Authentic Relationships in a Systematic Environment...

Now that you know your Vision, your Ideal Client, how to
Build Authentic Relationships, create Strategic Referral
Partnerships and Client Referral Strategies, you can
effectively take advantage of Networking Groups.

As you may recall, I mentioned in last month's article that
there are several marketing strategies to fundamentally
build a business. The strategies are simple but not always
easy, however if they are coupled with vision, vigor and a
little tenacity, both business and life can be enjoyed with
ease and results produced with velocity.

Remember as these strategies unfold in your reading each
month, I never said it would be easy, however I am saying,
it "can" be done with ease AND velocity with the right
energy going in the right direction.

And you must keep in mind that you will have to address
what I call the "human condition."

The thing that will come between you and success is the
"human condition"; your self imposed barriers, road blocks,
and what you think you already know. Be aware of the
barriers and road blocks as you read these.

Yes, I'm repeating this each month intentionally. Why? The
two most prominent reasons are: to shift how you think in a
way that builds your muscles to understand the fundamentals
of marketing AND to address the human condition that could
stop you from implementing the strategies and creating
extreme success.

Keep in mind that Vision must be first.… Another way to
market yourself and your business is through networking
groups.

Being a part of some kind of networking group can be
extremely beneficial.

Dictionary.com defines networking as: a supportive system
of sharing information and services among individuals and
groups having a common interest:

It is imperative to have a common interest. Your time spent
"networking" is most productive when you are genuinely
interested in others.

Now, let me switch the language a bit for education
purposes. I titled this article "networking" because in
the business world it is the term being used. Sometimes the
term is misconstrued as simply getting together to promote
or sell ones products or services – to sell, promote and do
business. My belief is that your purpose is to build
authentic relationships in a "systematic" environment just
as it is defined: a supportive system…

The ideal, best and most effective way to promote yourself
and your product is through your vision and passion for
what you do as well as being authentically interested in
your potential client or strategic partner's vision and
passion.

Yes, genuinely "interested"

There are a multitude of groups out there. There are many
books written on how to "network" and how to make the best
of networking. I suggest you have your vision in front of
you, know how to build authentic relationships, strategic
partnerships and alliances and then networking becomes
natural and automatic.

If you've studied and implemented the previous strategies
I've written this concept is not new or foreign.

What's next is finding the ideal group for you.

Because there are so many groups available, I would suggest
that you interview as many networking groups as possible.
There are a few steps to doing so:

1. Find out the networking group's vision and mission

2. Find out who the members are

3. Find out what some of the members vision and mission is

4. Find out who the leader is

5. Find out his/her vision and mission

6. Visit the networking group

7. Interview leader and members

Once this process is done, you're on your way to taking
advantage of the opportunity networking groups provide.

At these groups you will meet:

Strategic Partners. Strategic Alliances. Ideal Clients.
Joint Ventures. And may even Venture Capitalist and or
Investors.

More on these in future articles

All of these aforementioned create a burst of opportunities
for your vision and mission of your business.

Promotional events become easier to make happen and clients
rush to you for your products or services.

Critical points of this article!

• Know your vision

• Know your ideal client

• Know your strategic partners

• Interview parties within the networking group

• Visit as many groups as possible

• Create a collaborative effort and win/win for everyone

• Remember, you also must "implement" the strategies
channeling the right energy in the right direction to have
them be most effective and reflect success in your business.

Remember, you don't have to be in business alone or
struggle to make it successful.

----------------------------------------------------
The Power, Passion & Purpose Group, brings over twenty
years experience in business, relationship and individual
life coaching. Join the P3groups mailing list to receive
their online magazine - The P3 Power Boost Magazine for
Women at http://www.TheP3Group.com .

Is Your Business Lost At Sea?

Is your business just floating along with most of your
needs met, doing the same thing today that you did
yesterday? Have you lost that sense of excitement you felt
when you first started growing your business? Are most of
your decisions based on habit or the expectations of
others? Do you feel like you are selling yourself short or
settling for less than you should? Do you feel like your
business should be growing or moving in a different
direction but instead your are muddling along rudderless
and lost?

An effective Business Coach will show how to navigate out
of the doldrums and into the trade winds on the fast track
to somewhere else….somewhere more satisfying and more
lucrative.

The first thing a business coach will help you determine is
the best way for you to stop working in your business and
how to start working on your business. The end result of
this is that you will end up spending less time working and
will make more money. A good coach will also help you put
the fun and excitement back into your life.

As a business owner you are concerned with what it takes
day-to-day to make the amount of money necessary to run
your business and personal life. A good coach will
understand that and a good coach knows what its like to put
in the long hours it takes to realize (or re-realize) the
vision you have for yourself and your business. In fact
that is one of the main functions of an effective coach….to
help you manage all of those things. To help you discover
or rediscover your unique vision and to help you design the
necessary strategies and tactics to revitalize yourself and
your business.

By re-evaluating where you are and where you want to go you
can overcome that sense of sailing toward nowhere. You
will find your true heading. When you have a destination
you will also find that those old, forgotten feelings of
excitement and expectation have returned too.

A truly successful collaboration between yourself and your
coach will show you the way toward making your business a
profitable one that works without you. That's right one
that allows you to work on your business not in it.

One of the single most effective things you can do to
revitalize yourself and your business is to find an
effective business coach. Stop floundering around and not
getting where you should be. Let your business coach be
your rudder to point you and your business toward new and
exciting horizons.

----------------------------------------------------
Wendy Stevens as a single mom vaulted to the top of the
Direct Sales Industry in 8 short months. Wendy is a former
3-time Division I All American Lacrosse Player and NCAA
Division I National Champion. She established the women's
Lacrosse program at Vanderbilt University and led them to a
Top 20 ranking in 2 years. She is a hands-on professional
with a demonstrated record of success as a Division 1 NCAA
Head Coach, Teacher, Trainer, Mentor and Speaker. She is
one of the top 1% earners in the direct sales industry.
She has earned 7 figures in networking marketing. For more
information on Wendy, please visit
http://www.coachyoutosuccess.com

Conquering the Venture-Killers: Three Essentials for First-Year Practice Success

You've opened the doors to your new practice and you're
ready to go. Before you go off on your new business
venture, I'd like to tell you about three venture-killers
that you need to watch out for. If you can get control of
these three areas, you will be successful in your first
year; if you don't, you'll be among the statistics of
first-year business failures. Here they are:

Conserve: Be careful how you spend your money. The
biggest startup mistake is to spend too much money getting
started, only to find you have nothing left to pay the
bills while you wait for clients or patients to show up.
First-year business failures usually are due to lack of
"capital." This means they don't have enough money to pay
the bills. Cash is King, or, "Cash Rules." Harold Geneen
(former CEO of ITT) said, "If you run out of cash they take
you out of the game."

When you go to the bank for a loan, you'll be asking for an
amount for startup, to pay for the initial assets and fees
you'll need to open your doors. You should also ask for an
amount for "working capital;" i.e., capital (cash) to work
with. Most often, you'll be given a line of credit that
you can draw from as you need it. If you spend all of it
the first month, on stuff you're just sure you must have,
you won't have any to pay your employees (or the rent!) the
second month.

The trick is, as one wise doctor told me once, "DSATM" –
"Don't spend all the money." Think carefully about "needs"
vs. "wants." Do you really need that Blackberry when you
have a computer and cell phone at your command all the
time? Do you really need the newest, most powerful digital
x-ray equipment? Be creative – how could you get it done
for a while without spending a lot of money?

Collect: Getting the Money. Your wonderful clients or
patients may be flocking to your door. And you may be
providing wonderful service for them. But if you don't
collect the money they owe you, you could be out of
business before you first anniversary. Here are three
strategies for assuring you will get your money: 1. Set
up the expectation of payment with new patients. From the
very first conversation you have with your clients, make
certain they understand that they are responsible for
paying all bills at the time of service. Just having a
sign in your office won't do it. Your staff must talk to
the new patient and explain payment procedures. Have the
person sign a financial responsibility statement. If there
is insurance involved, explain that the patient is
responsible for what insurance won't pay, or that you will
help with the insurance submission but they must pay you up
front. 2. Make it easy for people to pay and keep
reminding them of their obligation. Set up a script for all
patients as they are leaving "How will you be paying today,
by check or credit card?" Offer credit and debit card
payment options. Offer payment plans for slow or
no-payers. 3. Review your Accounts Receivable Aging
report monthly and set up a process to get payment from
slow payers. The cardinal rule of collections is "The
longer the bill has been outstanding, the less likely you
are to get paid." Be prepared to follow up and send an
account to a collections agency or take it to small claims
court.

Connect: Establish Relationships with Patients and
Clients. This one is the most important and also the most
difficult; without connection, you won't have the patients
or clients to provide the income for your practice. The
more quickly you can connect with people, the more people
will come to your practice, and the more people will stay.
People will continue to come to your practice if they are
receiving value, and if they feel they are liked and
appreciated. Learning how to connect with people is a
skill, that comes with practice. Three quick tips for
connecting: 1. Remember names; people love it when you
remember their name. 2. Learn to listen; really listen to
what people are saying, about their fears and joys and
about what matters to them. 2. Find something common and
remember it. If you can learn how to connect with people,
manage collections, and keep your spending under control,
you can have a great first year in practice!

----------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2007 Jean Wilson Murray, MBA, PhD.
Dr. Jean Murray has been advising small business owners
since 1974. As the founder of Planning for Practice
Success, she specializes in assisting health care
professionals with business plan construction and startup
details. She can help you gain the knowledge to act and the
confidence to begin. Learn more at

http://www.professionalpracticesuccess.com

When Innocent Questions Turn Into Hours Of Unpaid Time.

Someone calls you up and is interested in your offer. So,
they start asking questions. And more questions. And more
questions.

Suddenly, you've been on the phone for over an hour. And,
when you hang up, they still didn't sign up for your offer.

You spent enough time on the phone, and answered enough
questions that if they were a client, you would've sent an
invoice.

When is it okay to say "I charge for that" and turn the
meter on?

Why so many questions? And why do you spend so much time on
the phone with them?

Questions aren't always what they appear to be. In many
instances, the answer to the question asked isn't what they
are -really- looking for.

"Are you my mommy?"

In a children's book "Are you my mommy?" a small bird
becomes separated from her mother, and goes searching from
animal to animal. She asks a dog, a pig, a horse, "Are you
my mommy?"

The little bird was feeling lost and needing help. As a
little chick, she asked directly: "Are you my mommy? Is
this home?"

As adults, we've learned that the world is sometimes a
scary place, and it doesn't feel safe to be vulnerable. So
we don't ask, "Is it safe here?" Instead, the questions
tend to come out, "What are all the components to this
class? What are all the ingredients in this product?"

Until that person gets their real question answered, they
are going to keep asking. And asking. And asking.

Wouldn't you?

The real question they are asking is...

They are asking if you are going to care for, support, and
guide them. Can they rely on you? Is what you're offering
really going to work? An hour's worth of questions
basically trying to find out if there is enough safety,
connection and trust here for them to say, "Yes."

So, how do you answer their questions that will help them
become a client, without spending an hour, being rude, or
treating them like a child (which they aren't)?

Keys to Turning on the Meter

* What questions do people ask you repeatedly?

If you've had a number of these conversations, you've
probably heard certain questions over and over again.
Brainstorm those questions, write up the answers, and put
them on a web page, pdf, or some other document you can
email them.

Because the people who are calling you aren't children,
they do need some information. Write it up and give it to
them.

* Close the book and take charge.

I'm guessing you may approach a conversation with a
prospect using an 'open book' approach. You become an open
book, and you invite them to ask any questions they may
have.

Except that you are the expert. If you were to ask a brain
surgeon about brain surgery, and you needed an operation,
what kind of questions would you ask? "Uh... does it hurt?"
That's right, you don't know what the most important
questions are, so you'll just keep throwing darts in the
dark, hoping that your need for connection, safety and
trust will be met.

I don't know about you, but I'd be nervous if a brain
surgeon invited me to just ask her questions, before she
had assessed me or asked me any questions of her own.
Questions designed to help the surgeon know what's really
going on and how best to procede. And also questions
designed to set me at ease, as the patient.

Your work may not be brain surgery, but the questions you
ask communicate: "I'm confident. I know what's going on.
I'm going to take care of you. We will get you help."

* What do you recommend?

After 15 or 20 minutes of questioning a prospect, I'm
guessing you'll know as much as you need to know in order
to make a recommendation: "I can help you, and I believe
that ten sessions will probably get you the results you
want, or at least help you make a LOT of progress in that
direction."

Of course, it is polite to let them ask you questions. But,
after questioning them, and having a clear picture of how
to work with them, it will be much easier to say: "The
question you are asking is an excellent one. Here is a
piece of the answer: X-Y-Z. And, I'm wondering what you
think of my recommendation."

* Advanced tip: Web forms.

You can take a handful of your preliminary questions that
you would ask almost anyone, and put them into a form on a
webpage that they can fill out. The same page that has the
answers to frequently asked questions.

If someone is willing to fill out your form, it's more
probable that they are serious in their inquiry. And, you
will have a place to start having an informed conversation
with them.

----------------------------------------------------
Mark Silver is the author of Unveiling the Heart of Your
Business: How Money, Marketing and Sales can Deepen Your
Heart, Heal the World, and Still Add to Your Bottom Line.
He has helped hundreds of small business owners around the
globe succeed in business without lousing their hearts. Get
three free chapters of the book online:
http://www.heartofbusiness.com

A Skilled Business Coach Is Worth Their Weight In Gold

A Business Coach can be a very effective developmental tool
for leadership development, as well as producing financial
and intangible benefits for any business. A good coach
can provide you and your employees with a rich learning
environment that allows the learning to be applied to a
variety of business situations. Key skills such as
decision-making, team performance and the motivation of
others can be strengthened and enhanced.

In a recent study of a Fortune 500 company that had
launched a business coaching program they were able to
identify specific financial and intangible benefits that
came as a result of their coaching.

The two things most significantly impacted by business
coaching were productivity and employee satisfaction.
These two items alone underscore just how valuable a good
coach can be to your business. Happy employees are not
only more productive they are more creative and more
willing to go the extra mile. They are also more willing
to "think outside the box" which is where lucrative
innovations originate.

The next areas most significantly impacted by business
coaching were work output and work quality. Twenty percent
of the respondents said they could clearly identify a
financial benefit directly related to their increased
output. Imagine how even a ten percent increase in work
output by you and your employees could impact you bottom
line! That alone would more than reimburse you for the
costs associated with a quality business coach.

The same study found that when program costs were tabulated
to determine a return on investment their business coaching
program produced a 788% return on the investment. In this
case the company in question had experienced downsizing and
other factors impacting employee retention. When they
excluded the financial benefits related to employee
retention they still found the coaching program produced a
529% return on their investment. While those who had
customer or people responsibilities produced proportionally
greater financial benefits, the realization of benefits to
the business was fairly widespread throughout the group
involved in this study. What other single thing could you
do for your business that could make such a huge impact?!

While this study was dealing specifically with a large
company, any company of any size can benefit exponentially
by adding a skilled business coach to their team. Small
businesses especially can find that a good business coach
can help them manage their time and business more
efficiently, effectively propelling their business to the
next level. A good coach can also help you find ways to
balance your work and personal life. Do yourself a favor
and schedule a consultation today and see where your
business can be tomorrow

----------------------------------------------------
Wendy Stevens as a single mom vaulted to the top of the
Direct Sales Industry in 8 short months. Wendy is a former
3-time Division I All American Lacrosse Player and NCAA
Division I National Champion. She established the women's
Lacrosse program at Vanderbilt University and led them to a
Top 20 ranking in 2 years. She is a hands-on professional
with a demonstrated record of success as a Division 1 NCAA
Head Coach, Teacher, Trainer, Mentor and Speaker. She is
one of the top 1% earners in the direct sales industry.
She has earned 7 figures in networking marketing. For more
information on Wendy, please visit
http://www.coachyoutosuccess.com

Copyrights, Trademarks and Patents, Oh My! Understanding Intellectual Property

You are a business owner with a web presence. During a
routine Google search for your page ranking, you discover
something disturbing. There is another company out there
with a name very similar to yours and almost identical
content on their website. What do you do? Is your company
name and website content automatically protected by
copyright law? Should you have registered your company
name as a trademark? Can you demand that they change their
name and dismantle their website immediately?

Intellectual Property can be a confusing topic, and one
that all business owners should know about. Sadly however,
many entrepreneurs simply don't. Intellectual property is
in very simple terms an idea that legally belongs to
somebody, be they a company or an individual. Only the
owner of that idea, or somebody the owner has a legal
agreement with can use the idea. Generally, the owner of
the idea is usually its creator unless someone paid them to
create the idea, in which case the idea's owner is the
person who paid for the idea. There are different kinds of
intellectual property, but for the purpose of this article,
we will focus on copyright, patent and trademark.

Patent – A patent protects the creators of new inventions.
An invention can include anything from a new product or
business method to a recipe. If you decide to patent your
invention, there a few things you should know. First, you
will need to apply for a patent in every country where you
would like your invention to be protected. Secondly,
getting a patent is going to cost you a pretty penny. You
will have to pay thousands of dollars to patent your idea
and it will take a minimum of 2 years (probably more)
before you are granted a patent. Also, your precious
invention will no longer remain a secret since your patent
application will be made public once your application is
submitted. If all of this wasn't enough bad news, patent
protection generally only lasts for twenty years from the
date of your application. Phew! On the up side, once your
patent is accepted, you can sue anyone who tries to
manufacture or sell your invention.

It's worth mentioning here that another method to keep your
invention protected is to keep the method of manufacturing
it a 'trade secret'. If you choose this process, of
course, in order to manufacture your product, you will have
to tell somebody. You would have to have anyone who would
learn your secret sign a confidentiality agreement.
Consult a lawyer if you plan to use this method.

Trademark – Trademarks are the marks used to distinguish
one company's products or services from another's. They
can include a product name, a slogan, and any other mark
that is deemed to be unique to a company such as a logo or
unique packaging. As a rule, you can't trademark
descriptive words, geographical names or a person's name.
You also cannot register a business' name. You can
however, register part of a name used to identify a product
or service. For example "Kellogg's Company" is the owner
of the "Kellogg's" trademark and the "Rice Krispies"
trademark. You cannot register a trademark similar to one
that is already in use by another company. Beware; a
trademark does not have to be registered in order to
prevent others from using it. If a company is using an
unregistered trademark in your geographical area, they can
still prevent you from using it. You could perform a
search in a trademark database and find later that you are
using another company's unregistered trademark. If you find
another company in a completely different industry using
your unregistered trademark, you probably won't be able to
do anything about it if they are not your competitors or if
they are not in your geographical vicinity. Protection of
a registered trademark however, is much stronger than an
unregistered one, and once you have a registered trademark,
you can prevent competitors from using it, or confusingly
similar ones anywhere in the country in which your
trademark is registered.

Copyright – Any written text, artistic work, or computer
program is automatically protected by copyright. Anything
you or I write, be it published, online text or
unpublished, handwritten text, is copyrighted. Also
anything we draw, paint, photograph, film, or compose is
also protected by copyright. Copyright can be registered,
but it doesn't have to be in order for it to be illegal for
individuals to copy someone else's work. Copyright also
lasts for an extremely long time. Usually it lasts the
duration of the author's life plus fifty years at which
point it becomes a part of the public domain and can be
used by anyone.

Factual information cannot be copyrighted. For example,
this article is based on fact. Although you cannot copy my
article and claim to have authored it yourself, you can
take the facts included in the article and use them in your
own written material. If you would like to use a very
small portion of someone else's written work, this is
usually acceptable as long as you credit the author.

Finally, what do you do if someone uses your work without
your permission? Your first step should be to contact the
individual. You can usually either go to the contact page
on the offender's web site or go to www.whois.com and enter
the offender's domain to find contact information. If your
initial communication doesn't get results, you should then
send a 'cease and desist order'. For sample orders, just
perform a search on 'cease and desist orders'. Finally if
still no action is taken by the offending party, contact
their web host and advise them of the situation and
finally, contact search engines and make them aware of the
situation. These actions should render the offender's
website useless or in the very least give them enough
trouble to convince them to remove the copied material.

For more information on intellectual property in Canada,
visit the Canadian Intellectual Property Office at
www.cipo.ca, for the U.S., visit the United States Patent
and Trademark Office at www.uspto.gov and for Europe please
visit the European Patent Office at
www.european-patent-office.org.

----------------------------------------------------
Kelly Sims is a Virtual Assistant and President of
Virtually There VA Services. Please visit her website to
sign up for her free monthly newsletter providing useful
information that enhances and simplifies the lives of busy
entrepreneurs. => http://www.virtuallythereva.com .

Hidden Psychology Behind Online Surveys

No matter what you sell online, you can sell more!

Simple surveys provide the fastest way to collect the
information and marketing intelligence you need to make
more sales.

Whether you sell gift baskets, software, custom homes,
ebooks, DVDs, personal services, or even antiques, accept
the fact that surveys pave the way to increased sales
online.

First, by doing a survey before trying to sell people
anything (or even create it in the first place), you don't
guess on what they want to buy. They will flat out tell
you!

Second, if you use a simple survey in the correct way, it
can help you compile your own best prospect list.

Run the survey and compile a list of people who respond
favorably to certain key questions regarding a product or
service, just make sure the people taking your survey
understand that you will contact them later.

Then offer them a special deal or advanced access to the
product because they responded to the survey questions.

A simple survey also operates with several hidden
psychological benefits for boosting your sales.

On the subconscious level for existing customers or
prospects it shows them that you actually care about what
they think.

Conducting a survey demonstrates your concern for what they
really want, instead of just trying to force-feed them a
on-size-fits-all product or service! People appreciate
that type of attitude and it shows up in increased sales
for you down the road.

A simple survey also gets the audience thinking and
wondering about WHY you did the survey in the first place.
"Will he bring out something really different and good?"
"How can I get it?" "How much will it cost?" "Will it help
me?"

The survey also builds anticipation for a product or
service, even if you don't offer it yet!

Doesn't it sound great to get people mentally waiting in
line so they can buy?

It all comes from just running a simple survey which asks
their opinions.

Make sure you structure your survey questions properly to
find out what you need to know, but avoid getting answers
that will actually throw you off track.

You need to take a three pronged approach in designing your
survey so you get the meaningful information you need.

First ask if they fall into a certain specialized group or
interest like Realtor, gourmet chef, or thoroughbred
racehorse trainer?

Then, if they do fall into your target niche, ask them what
they specifically want to buy.

For example: a software developer could ask Realtors about
their specific needs for prospecting software and if
certain features were important or not.

The third type of question pinpoints the level of interest:
very interested, kind of interested, or just barely
interested.

By conducting your surveys this way, you not only get the
valuable marketing intelligence you need, but you build
goodwill and anticipation in the marketplace, along with a
targeted prospect list to boot. What a deal!

----------------------------------------------------
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
creator of an amazing course that will teach you
step-by-step and click-by-click..."A Quick and Easy Way For
YOU to Painlessly Set Up Your OWN Moneymaking 'Mini'
Websites... Without Being a Computer Geek, Buying Expensive
Software, or Paying Outrageous Fees To A Webmaster!"
Click Here => http://www.MiniSiteCreator.com