How to Use the Recession to Your Advantage, Part 1

How to Use the Recession to Your Advantage, Part 1
Are we in a recession? The official answer is no, however,
most consumers and businesses are definitely feeling the
purse strings tighten.

As a business, believe it or not, periods of recession or
economic downturns can offer many opportunities - if you
know what to look for.

It is very common during these tough times for businesses
to reduce their marketing budgets. This means they are
taking fewer ads on the radio, television and in newspapers
and magazines.

What does this mean for you? Quite a bit.

Shrinking advertising budgets mean that radio stations,
publications, etc. are seeing a decline in the number of
ads placed. Where they may have had a steady advertiser in
the past, there may now be a vacancy. Their revenue is
dropping.

Advertising outlets tend to offer greater incentives during
these tough economic times. They still have to produce
their show or publish their paper or magazine. Ad dollars
pay for all that and they still need to generate revenue,
even if it is discounted.

Often they entice new, or existing advertisers with things
like:
2 for 1 deals
Full color for the price of black and white
Free design of your print ad
Free production of your radio or TV spot
Discounts if you take an ad in a sister publication

In most cases, the ad sales rep will be anxious to tell you
the specials they have available. If they don't offer,
ask. You may feel uncomfortable, but it's OK to ask for a
discount. That's how ad agencies get great pricing for
their clients.

Tell them that you really like their publication and you
feel it would be a good fit to help you reach your target
market and if it is, you'd like to make it a permanent part
of your marketing plan. However you've only got a specific
amount to spend each week or month. "Is there any way we
can work together so that I can allocate my ad dollars to
your publication?"

Don't expect an answer right on the spot. Very often the
ad sales rep will have to talk to their supervisor to see
if there's something they can work out.

Because of the difficult economic times, your competition
is likely cutting back on their advertising. If you can
make your dollars go further, you can start to take hold of
your market. While your competition is cutting back you
can be capturing a bigger piece of the pie - and for less
expense.

In an economic downturn, you can seize the opportunity to
achieve top of mind awareness for your company.

----------------------------------------------------
Nicole Shields is a marketing veteran and the creator of
the 7 Step Marketing Plan System which quickly develops
effective marketing plans for small, offline businesses
market. Her system allows business owners to generate
higher sales and profits, immediately. She provides lots of
f'ree resources including a F'ree Marketing Course and
F'ree Audio Class which walks you through the 7 steps at
http://www.7stepmarketingplan.com

Book Signings: A Goldmine of PR and Sales

Book Signings: A Goldmine of PR and Sales
There are obvious benefits to doing book-signings, such as
meeting prospective book-buyers in person; the market
research that can only come from talking directly to your
audience; the local exposure you'll experience and the
overall promotion that's part of this entire activity
....but there are hidden benefits in doing book signings
that are even more valuable than everything I've just
mentioned!

HIDDEN VALUE #1:Distribution in Every Market. It's a known
fact that distribution is a problem for publishers of all
sizes. The reason is simple — with over 170,000 new books
coming out each year, bookstores have to be very selective
about the inventory of titles they choose to keep on their
shelves. But, you can use book-signing events to force
your book into distribution because when a bookstore agrees
to schedule a book signing, they will automatically order a
significant number of copies to sell through in their store!

HIDDEN VALUE #2: Free Advertising and Promotion. Let's face
it - stores are highly motivated to promote book signings,
as these events are known to be a successful action for
driving in customers and stimulating sales. Book signings
after all are two way streets: they draw attention to you,
but you also draw attention to the store. So promotional
mailings to customers, announcements in newsletters,
newspaper ads, media interviews, internet banners are all
promotional actions some bookstores will take to draw
attention to your arrival - priceless promotions that cost
you nothing!

HIDDEN VALUE #3: Free Merchandising. Another tool the store
uses for promoting a scheduled book signing is through high
profile display materials (provided by you or your
publisher) that are set up at a table in front of the
store, usually about a week prior to your event, with a
prominent display of your book along with any other high
quality promotional material you can provide them. What
great positioning for you to all those customers who walk
through that store.

HIDDEN VALUE #4: Word of Mouth Promotion. After all the
advertising you do, it's word-of-mouth marketing that will
either crown or drown you. The smart author knows
this...and will try to infect bookstore employees every
opportunity they can. When authors are at book signings
they have the opportunity to meet all the store employees
there at the time. Those authors smart enough to recognize
the value of this opportunity will take the time to
introduce themselves, shake hands, talk about their book in
memorable "soundbites" and make each person feel singled
out and important (as they are!).

Needless to say, the next time a customer comes into the
store asking for a book on your topic - they will be proud
to boast about your book and that they shook your hand.

HIDDEN VALUE #5: Valuable Market Knowledge. Going through
the process of scheduling and executing successful book
signings can open your eyes to not only the world of retail
publishing, but also the door to the secrets of your
market. You will be researching the cities that are
suitable for your promotion which in turn will give you
valuable marketing information. You will find out where
your book is most relevant and where the most demand may be.

Finding out this information will enable you to fine tune
your marketing plan and target the best markets, saving not
only your valuable promotional dollars but your valuable
time! - Book signings are definitely a worthwhile
investment of your time as long as you understand that they
are so much more than just signing autographs! Not only
are they a publicity goldmine, if executed effectively they
will greatly increase your profile on a local level and
create an awesome buzz.

----------------------------------------------------
Marsha Friedman has been a leading authority on publicity
for authors for nearly two decades as CEO of Event
Management Services, Inc (EMSI). If you would like to
receive her free Ebook "How to Be a Great Talk Radio Guest"
visit http://www.emsincorporated.com .

Career Success Requires Your Visionary Talent

Career Success Requires Your Visionary Talent
If your career choice is to find a new employer, you won't
go wrong asking important questions about the company
visionary.

If they say, we don't have a visionary, then move on
quickly to your next interview.

DO NOT accept employment with any firm that fails to have
visionary talent, a leader, that someone who works ON the
business vision, it's future, searching, seeking,
networking, doing all the important functions necessary for
success.

Have you ever wondered why so many companies end up in
bankruptcy or floundering, year after year, you have just
discovered the firm without a LEADER, the pace setter, the
visionary.

Every firm needs a leader, a visionary ~ a very controlled
risk taker, one with exceptional smarts, however, not
someone "out of control" with the firms financial stability
or net worth.

Do you know what I mean? Some folks "think" they are
leaders by raiding the cash box, or stealing the company
blind from the inside.

A few years back, we saw white collar crimes happening from
"inside" the executive suites. We want to skirt around
these guys and find an honest place with integrity to land
our dream job.

I'm confident that you can find your dream job or career
choice by using your own visionary talent to uncover some
hidden treasures or flaws in most firms.

You have to become a private eye, investigator, even a
snoop to dig out the underlying stability or weakness
within your future employer as well as the staff, including
the executives and owners.

Work on your contact list of prospective employers,
networking through the Chamber of Commerce, go back to your
alumni group or college friends, find out where they are,
discover their career choice and if it makes sense for you
to seek a position in the same field, even with the same
employer if a position is available.

INTERVIEWING every competitor in a niche industry is a
major KEY to your future success. For example, if you've
chosen the banking industry, or the insurance field, then
ask all of them to grant you an interview.

Your head will be spinning with all the insider details
gleaned from these interviews with competing firms.

SAVE your TOP PICK potential employer to interview at the
end of your search. Our #1 goal is to get the inside scoop
on what's happening within the ranks, to learn which
competitors you don't want as your future employer.

Get educated about what's happening within a niche market,
which firms are making money, which ones have been losing
their market share.

Some firms in your chosen niche may be experiencing
financial troubles, going backwards rather than moving
forward, where YOU certainly don't want your career choice
to be.

FOCUS ~ SEARCH ~ NEWWORK ~

A SUCCESSFUL COMPANY ~ has a visionary LEADER ~ never work
for a firm that only has Managers. Keep your eyes and ears
tuned to the pipeline where you'll learn all the inside
scoop within the industry.

Use the Internet to do in-depth research once you've begun
to focus on a selected niche industry. Get help from a
friend if necessary. If you have a mentor or mastermind
group then you're way ahead of most folks seeking their
career choice or career change in the marketplace.

----------------------------------------------------
Don Monteith spent 32 years as co-owner of several
franchises and a personnel/staffing business. Every year,
his firm placed hundreds of job candidates in their dream
job. Today, Don shares his business and career expertise
through published articles and his newest websites on the
Internet. Lots of FREE ideas - suggestions - ready for your
perusal and study.
http://www.HowToGetYourDreamJob.com

Press Release Writing and your Internet Business Marketing Strategy

Press Release Writing and your Internet Business Marketing Strategy
What is press release writing ?

Publicity is key to your marketing strategy. You have to
induce the customers to have faith in you and convince them
that you can do better than others. Press release writing
can achieve this.

Press releases are news reporting. It can be done either
through online publication or traditional media. It is good
for promotion as well as advertising. A good news format is
powerful.

Press release can boost your profits and sales. Press
release will keep your company in limelight while
increasing your sales and profit.

Points you must pay attention to for quality press release
writing

If you follow a few simple rules you should be able to
write good press releases in a short time. These are as
follows :

You should be clear what is the purpose of your press
release, merely to convey news, to update the readers or to
boost your business.

You should know who is the targeted party. It is important
when and where you release it.

The opening line of the press release has to attractive and
powerful

The language of press release should be simple and easy to
understand. Do not use too many adjectives.

Be concise and grammatically correct.

Put helpful and newsworthy information in the press release.

Good press release writing should point out how your
company and product / service is beneficial to the people.

Be truthful. Include factual information only, this way you
will gain trust. If you have to make subjective statements
such as describing the benefits be sober whilst praising a
product or a service.

Give the press release a twist to attract attention while
being accurate. It should be different and distinct from
other press releases.

The order of contents is important. The news first and
after that its source. Give all information to enable the
targeted party to contact you.

It should not be more than one or two pages.It better be
black and white, or sober colors in clear and readable
fonts.

Press releases need not be a put off

The language used in press release writing has to be
simple, clear cut and precise and not to show of your
knowledge of vocabulary and adjectives.

It is possible to generate interest of the reader even for
an otherwise not so exciting subject. However in a press
release you have to generate interest whilst still being
sober and not going over the top.

One way to achieve this is to aim to present the facts in
an interesting way rather than as boring numbers or
statements.

Another method is to generate curiosity by asking a
question at the start of the release and then give the
answer towards the end. However this needs to be done
carefully and should not appear to insult the intelligence
of the reader.

----------------------------------------------------
To learn more successful internet marketing strategies from
Maury Wilks, visit http://JoinMaury.com
For more information on creating a successful Internet
Business, visit http://TheInternetBusinessAuthority.com

The Shocking Truth About How To Start An Internet Business......Part 5

The Shocking Truth About How To Start An Internet Business......Part 5
Launching Your Plan and Building Momentum

Once months of preparation and planning are behind you, its
tempting to focus solely on business as usual. After all,
that's what brings in revenue. But as the economy shifts,
seasons change and business grows, so should your plans and
objectives.

Did you know that the number one reason businesses fail in
the first few years is poor management? Management and
strategy are key functions in any start-up. Your initial
business and marketing plans were created using forecasted
or estimated information. As your business matures, this
information becomes more predictable. You'll learn who your
customers really are, what they want and how much they're
willing to spend. You'll also discover actual budget
figures, with longer histories giving a more accurate
financial landscape.

Revisit major forecasts and strategies annually, if not
quarterly, to see where you stand. Then make adjustments
accordingly. This includes your business and departmental
budgets, your business, marketing and advertising plans and
strategies. Ask yourself the following questions to make
sure your company stays as effective and efficient as
possible.

- Do you qualify for greater bulk product discounts as a
result of new purchasing habits?

- Can you phase down marketing or advertising and still
sustain your current sales momentum?

- Is your website structure still relevant to your target
audience?

- Could you improve website features or functionality to
strengthen your users' experience?

- What seasonal sales fluctuations can you proactively
address to maximize profitability?

- Do you see any operational or organizational
inefficiencies?

- Does increased or decreased staffing make sense?

- Could you improve your relationships with key vendors and
suppliers?

- Could you streamline or improve order fulfillment?

Set your ongoing strategy and continually review your goals
on a routine basis. With the right map, you're sure to
reach your intended destination.

Final Thoughts

Ebusiness freedom has a compelling draw, which is precisely
why so many men and women have worked hard creating and
developing their Internet company. When you own an
ebusiness, you set your own hours, avoid the 'location,
location, location' doldrums, living where you choose,
working from home if you prefer, keeping start-up costs low
and staying at your day job until unnecessary. But perks
aside, ebusiness development still requires a great deal of
planning, strategy and skilled execution to succeed.

Keep your customers loyal by paying considerable attention
to all of the important bricks-and-mortar service
techniques like delivering high levels of customer service,
offering valuable products and services, managing
complaints and returns effectively, offering various
payment options, processing sales quickly and committing to
ongoing sales and marketing efforts. Everything you do,
whether local or global, start-up or blue chip, should
consistently reinforce your initial business purpose and
vision. While a strong brand and niche can set your company
apart from the competition, you'll need to stay true to
your original brand throughout growth and expansion to
ensure your founding purpose isn't derailed.

As visitors use your website and process orders, listen and
respond to their needs. Customer service can be a challenge
when dealing with electronic correspondence and website
interfaces. But remember, every ecommerce website is asking
its customer to process his or her own payment, similar to
asking a walk-in customer to run the cash register. So make
check-our quick, intuitive and easy. Confirm orders
immediately via email. Thank your customers for their
business. Always remember that they could have chosen many
other companies to conduct business with, but they chose
you. Ship items quickly and respond to inquiries in a
timely and courteous manner within 24 to 48 hours. You'll
invest less in customer retention than you will in earning
new customers, both in marketing dollars and time.

Stick to your budget, ensuring your lenders and investors
are on the top of your priority list. After all, they had
enough faith in you to put their money in your concept from
day one. As revenue grows, use these funds to responsibly
invest in ongoing promotion while keeping debt low. Give
your business a good three years to establish footing,
maintaining enough in the bank to cover expenses should you
hit a slow week or month.

Finally treat your employees well. They're company
representatives who can make or break customer deals,
influence investor opinion, sway the media, cut costs and
maximize profits. As you grow from one or a handful of
founders into a larger business or enterprise, your
employees act on your behalf when conducting day-to-day
business. Ensure they have a motivating, pleasant and
rewarding atmosphere with which to spend their days. You'll
be rewarded ten-fold.

If you're willing to put the necessary time and effort into
your ebusiness dream, your opportunity for entrepreneurial
freedom awaits. Move over Ebay, here you come.

----------------------------------------------------
Clinton Douglas IV, writes E-Business articles for people
who want to achieve more online success. Learn Today, "How
to Start an Online Business in less than 30 Days starting
from Scratch"! Free Special Report - Limited Time! Plus,
weekly newsletter from Online Empire Secrets (A $400
Value). Click Here ==>
http://www.successful-onlineempire.com/ To get Your FREE
REPORT!

Women...You Need a Mentor!

Women...You Need a Mentor!
One obstacle that women create for themselves in Corporate
America is not asking for what they need. At a conference
I attended, a female CEO told the story of how when she
became CEO, the men lined up outside her office to ask her
to be their mentor. She said not one woman did; she had to
go out and initiate the mentoring relationships with women
(which most CEOs will not take the time to do!).

At one of my recent leadership development classes for
women, one of the participants said she liked the
assignment of getting a mentor. "Being encouraged (or
forced)" was beneficial, she said. Well, consider yourself
forced!

Increasingly, management experts view mentoring not just as
a one-on-one relationship but also as a component of
networking. You gain valuable knowledge by interacting with
many experienced people. You can (and should) have multiple
mentors and mentor many others. Mentoring is mutually
beneficial.

Benefits of being mentored include:
* Competency development
* Management visibility and exposure
* Deeper and wider network
* Enhanced career/life planning skills
* Opportunity to gain feedback

Benefits to the mentors include:
* Greater job satisfaction
* Management visibility
* Enhanced learning and development in own career
* Deeper and wider network
* Enhanced career/life planning skills
* A better understanding of the more junior people they
oversee
* Building a legacy

How to find a mentor:
1. Decide what qualities and competencies you want in a
mentor. Think about the qualities that you want to develop
in yourself.
2. Try and pick people who are not just like you. It is
more helpful to have diversity in your mentor relationships.
3. After meeting and establishing that there is a good
chemistry, ask the person to be your mentor. Let them know
what you respect about them and how you feel the
relationship can be beneficial for both of you.
4. Be specific about your needs. Don't be broad. Let your
mentor know if you want to meet once a week, once a month
or twice a year. Maybe you just want to be able to call
this person when you have a question or a crisis.
5. Be respectful of their limited time, but realize that
there are also benefits to them of being a mentor.
6. Take direction. Show sincerity in the relationship. When
you ask something, make sure you are listening to the
response. Make it clear that you value your mentor's input.
Valuing someone's input means you actually act on some of
it.
7. Follow-up (just like networking). Send thank-you notes.
Let them know what advice you took and what happened.

Now ... in the words of Nike, just do it!

----------------------------------------------------
Kerrie Halmi of Halmi Performance Consulting specializes in
increasing women's success in business through speaking,
coaching and facilitation. Kerrie has over fifteen years
of experience in the Human Resources field with such
clients as eBay, Wells Fargo and Kaiser. She received her
MBA from the University of Michigan and is certified in
coaching with Corporate Coach University International.
See
http://www.halmiperformance.com

Significant Changes Drive Profits: But Is New Information Static or an Important Statistic?

Significant Changes Drive Profits: But Is New Information Static or an Important Statistic?
Profits flow like water over Niagara Falls when you have
the benefit of irresistible forces. But when is a raindrop
the start of such a stream and when it is it just a
raindrop?

Like static heard on a radio during a passing thunderstorm,
some random events will always be occurring. If these
events don't constitute a shift in irresistible forces, do
nothing.

When you gather a lot of reports that could mean something,
you need to be carefully discriminating in interpreting the
data.

By considering two circumstances differently -- the degree
of shift and the duration of shifts in behavior -- you can
approach the ideal best practice for locating changes in
irresistible forces. If the degree of shift is great
enough, it can be an irresistible force even if it doesn't
last very long.

For example, suppose you announce a new service to begin in
six months, and then orders suddenly dry up for your
existing service. Unless you do something now, your
announcement will have a large, negative impact on your
business.

On the other hand, the degree of shift can be modest; but
by continuing over a long period of time, the shift can
become very significant.

For example, customer loyalty (continuing to be a customer
with the same or a higher level of purchases) dropping by
one percentage point a year only becomes a crisis if it
continues long enough. Keeping an existing customer is
usually at least four times more profitable than adding a
new one.

If you have to replace too many customers, your profits and
cash flow will all vanish at some point.

You need to expand on that perspective to consider variance
from the most you could possibly accomplish in light of the
current conditions.

For example, if competitors' customers start buying twice
as much, and no more from you, this change won't affect
your performance versus budget, but your share of industry
profits will become much smaller. Presumably, there was
some profitable way that you could have captured some of
this increased volume for your business.

A great help in selecting data that are important versus
data that are not is to identify areas that have large
economic significance and to track them in some visual way
(like a graph).

Such visuals are even more effective if they have a
historical trend line or the extrapolation of that trend
displayed on them. New data falling significantly above or
below the trend line can be the first sign that something
new is going on.

Copyright 2008 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved

----------------------------------------------------
Donald Mitchell is chairman of Mitchell and Company, a
strategy and financial consulting firm in Weston, MA. He is
coauthor of seven books including Adventures of an
Optimist, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The
Ultimate Competitive Advantage. You can find free tips for
accomplishing 20 times more by registering at:
====> http://www.2000percentsolution.com .

The story of the old man and motivation

The story of the old man and motivation
Picture the scene. There's an old man who lives by himself
in a house at the end of a cul-de-sac. More than anything
else in life this old man values his privacy and peace and
quiet. He lives a hermit-like existence and if he had his
way would have nothing to do with the rest of the world.

He wakes one day to the sound of three small boys playing
football in the street just outside his house. There not
being yobbish in any way, but it's a warm day in the school
holidays and they're having fun and making noise.

We might expect that the old man would react to this by
storming out of the house, waving his arms in the air and
swearing profusely, but this old man - who knows a thing or
two about motivation - responds very differently.

"Boys!" he booms as he walks down the path, "How nice it is
to see young people enjoying themselves. All I read about
is kids being stuck in front of their Playstations all day
and yet her you are enjoying the sun and having a good
time. I used to play football when I grew up a few streets
from here and I can tell you that watching you has brought
back some lovely memories. You've cheered me up so much I
think you deserve a reward. Here's £5 each!"

The boys are naturally wary, but they decide to pocket the
money and they return to playing football as the old man
returns in doors.

The next day they're back and once again the old man comes
out to speak to them. "Ah boys", he says enthusiastically,
"I was thinking about what happened yesterday and I decided
to phone my boyhood friend Eric; we haven't spoken in
years. We've decided to go for a pint on Saturday. I can't
tell you how happy this has made me so, go on, have another
£5 each"

The boys willingly accept the money and as the old man goes
back into his house, they begin to discuss the different
ways they could spend their windfall. They're back the next
day and the same thing happens. They come back the day
after and the same thing happens.

On the fifth day the old man comes out to greet them but
without any of the cheerfulness at all.

"Boys", he says in a grave tone "You must believe
everything I've told you. You have cheered me up and I'm
really, really pleased that we met up, but It's a while
before my next pension payment and things are very tight
financially. Tell you what, how about a penny each?"

"A penny! Are you serious?" asks the oldest boy, "We've
been used to getting a fiver! I can't believe this. Come on
we're going."

With that he and his friends scoop up their ball and
disappear never to be seen again. The old man has his peace
and quiet returned for a mere £60 which is very good
value as far as he is concerned.

If you want to destroy motivation, take a group of people
who are performing learning and enjoying (as the boys were
to begin with) and orient them towards financial rewards
instead. Then meddle with them or take them away and I
guarantee motivation will never recover.

If you'd prefer to see motivation improve do it the other
way round. Use coaching to help discover the opportunities
for performance, learning and enjoyment in any role and
relax as financial rewards cease to be the be all and end
all.

----------------------------------------------------
Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. For a bumper load of
coaching tips and tricks - including FREE resources - visit
http://www.mattsomers.com

Home Business Success: Thwarted Plans

Home Business Success: Thwarted Plans
Thwart: to frustrate, foil, block, stop, or to obstruct,
hinder or hamper.

Many of us are quitting before we've actually had the
chance to put our business plans into motion. We often
find that we're coming up with these great ideas and plans,
but when the ball is ready to roll, we end it there. The
reality is, plain and simply, we aren't ready to run a
business. We like playing around with the idea of being in
business for ourselves; who wouldn't? It's very
empowering, enlightening and uplifting.

But then the realness of running a business comes into full
view. You wake up and realize that, wow this really is
hard work and the romantic idea of being an entrepreneur
fades. You now understand that being in business for
yourself is a huge challenge. It takes bravery, dedication
and commitment on a daily basis. If you don't work, and
decide to play for the day, you'll know it because your
accounts will register a big fat zero at the end of the
day. Quite frankly, if you don't work, you don't eat.

So like many dreamers you stuff the greatest business idea
of the millennium into a file folder and bury it. You bury
it way deep down inside your drawer where you'll hopefully
forget all about it, and so it collects dust. But here's a
revelation. Why not just make things easy and throw it out
with the rest of the garbage?

You hold on to this folder with the remarkable idea because
depositing it into the trash disrespects the dignity of it
somehow. You know that it doesn't belong in there, yet
you're not ready to let go of it completely. Now we're
getting somewhere aren't we?

Truth is, you were hoping that someday you would actually
be ready to run your own enterprise with that awesome idea
you created.

Do you think that it might be time to do some personal
housekeeping in preparation for when someday finally
arrives?

In the meantime, here are a few things for you to reflect
upon:

(1) What do you really want to see happen?

No, this isn't a rhetorical question. It's one that you
must answer. Finding out what you really want, knowing your
vision for your personal future and your life is key. This
is the starting point because it has a whole lot to do with
the type of business you'll operate and how you'll do it.

(2) If everything fell totally into place, what would be
the one thing that would keep you from realizing success?

Many of us know the answer to this question, but this tends
to be a bit vague. For instance, you may already know that
you tend not to communicate very well, but that's much too
general. You'll need to do some in-depth exploring to find
out what's specifically in your way. Knowing this, you'll
be able to set a plan in motion that will help you fix the
problem--before you begin your business.

(3) Understand that you must have a desire to fill a need.

That's what being in business is all about: filling the
needs/demands of society. You find a whole and fill it. If
you find a service or product that can be improved upon,
you do just that--improve it. If you have no desire to do
this, trust that being an entrepreneur is not for you. It
is impossible to be successful in business if you don't
have a desire to fill the needs and demands of the people.
This means listening to what they say, or paying attention
to what they want versus what they don't. It's not about
you; it's always about them.

----------------------------------------------------
Aunice Reed is a Professional Success Coach and NLP Master
Specialist, specializing in Women's Personal Achievement &
Self-Discovery Work. Visit:
http://www.myunlimitedsuccess.com to learn more about her
practice.

Overcoming the Single Biggest Hurdle in Copywriting - Being Boring

Overcoming the Single Biggest Hurdle in Copywriting - Being Boring
Have you had time to look at the mail that dumps itself in
to your inbox, or thuds onto your mat?

Is any of it compelling, exciting, inspiring. Does any of
it want to make you want to bolt the door, read every
single word that's written on the letter, to then want to
instantly get out your wallet and willingly hand over your
cash?

Hmmm...

What about your marketing and advertising messages? Would
you feel compelled enough to buy your own product or
service, based on the strength on your messages in print?

Don't worry. It's not your fault. You see, there probably
wasn't a specific class you could take, or a practical book
you could easily follow that could teach you how to make
your copy sparkle.

Well hey, that's why you wisely subscribed to Nick James.
com, right?

Translating marketing messages from deadly dull, brain
numbing nonsense, into compelling, irresistible sparkling
emotionally paced language is what'll set you apart from
all others in your competitive market place.

Using a thesaurus and phrase dictationary will help liven
your copy and add another dimension to what you want to say
and convey.

For example, instead of saying, "he walked down the road",
you could use -- he ambled, he strutted, he sauntered --.

The replacement words help to create a more vivid image in
the readers mind, helps them to picture and feel
emotionally tied to you and your offer.

How can you use that simple strategy to improve the
language and words you use?

Compare the following:

(A) "Ace Dry cleaning. All types of clothes cleaned by an
established company that has been in business for 20 years.
Dedicated to serve you in a way that is unbeatable"

And

(B) "Give us any 4 garments that you want dry cleaned,
we'll not only charge you for only 2, we'll throw in a
Special report that'll show you how to make your clothes
last longer! PLUS, if you don't think it's the best clean
you've ever seen, we'll do it again... FREE!"

As you can see, it's pretty easy to steer away from the "me
too crowd" whilst giving your audience great value.

Another tip: In reading your sales letters, emails, ads,
website copy messages out aloud, you'll be able to detect
any stumbling blocks that hinder the fluidity of the piece.

That simple tip can help clear out the complex, the
stifling, the pompous and the intellectualism that strikes
most marketing messages. And, it'll save your customers
from having to read another message that's similar to the
mediocre majority.

Stand apart from the crowd. Let others be boring. You be
the one that creates personality driven, emotionally based
copy. Your clients will love you.

----------------------------------------------------
Nick James is a UK based direct marketer and product
developer. During the last 5 years Nick has sold in excess
of £1.6 Million Pounds worth of products and sevices
online. Subscribe to his Free Tip Of The Week email at:
http://www.Nick-James.com

How Are Your Relationships Affecting Your Business and Your Life?

How Are Your Relationships Affecting Your Business and Your Life?
As an entrepreneur, you may not think about the number of
different relationships that you are in. However, the
relationships that you are in will actually affect the
quality of your business, your life and your success. You
may have never wondered what your supportive girlfriend or
your brilliant mentor has done for your career before.

To get clarity you need to put your relationships into one
of three categories. Are they nice, nasty or necessary?
If they are nice you may want to expand them. If they are
nasty you must look for ways of limiting them or deleting
them. If they are necessary then these need to be limited.

The facts are that discouraging and disbelieving people
will de-energize and de-focus you while positive, uplifting
ones will move you to your goals quicker. Regardless, the
truth is that relationships do have a huge effect on you
and your life.

Relationships with Like Minded Entrepreneurs

When you have relationships with other entrepreneurs who
are motivated, ambitious and confident, you will benefit
greatly. You are exposed to this positive business
thinking and it affects you positively.

It's similar to kids in school. If a child is involved
with a group of children who are very smart and motivated
to make good grades, they will inspire him or her to do
well also. That child will want to make good grades, will
have the secrets for making good grades and will have a
positive support system in place in order to help make good
grades.

This is the same way you will be affected when you spend
time with entrepreneurs like the ones described above. So,
appreciate your friends and business associates who are
very smart and motivated! They are, after all, helping
your own career or business to grow.

Relationships with Those Who are Lacking in Motivation and
Confidence

When you have relationships with people who have low
motivation, self-confidence or ambition, they will affect
your life and your career negatively. Taking the same
comparison with children, if a child spends time with
children who don't want to behave, who are lazy and do not
do schoolwork or homework and who don't care about their
grades, that child will be affected. He or she will feel
pressure to be like the rest of the group and will
eventually begin to display characteristics like those of
the other kids. This child will most likely start to
receive bad grades and do poorly in school as well. This
is the same for an entrepreneur. Those who are around
entrepreneurs who are disorganized, unmotivated and who
have other negative traits will be dragged down along with
them.

Take care with what kind of relationships you form and the
people that you spend time with. The way they affect you
can end up boosting your career or costing you your career.
It is important to remember that you can always spend more
money, but you can't spend more time. Look at your
relationships and the time you are investing in them. When
you do you will better use your time to chart the course
for your success.

----------------------------------------------------
Steve Scott is a business/life coach and a business
development consultant. He specializes in teaching
entrepreneurs and solo and sales professionals to create
their own unique success stategies-bringing them balance,
more freedom and greater abundance.
http://www.progresssetfree.com

Coaching is a must for Team Management

Coaching is a must for Team Management
When you hear the word "coach", a football team with a man
pacing to and fro and calling out the names of the players
or a basketball team with a man/woman shouting out
directions jumping up and down pointing like a commander on
a battlefield comes to mind.

Coaching is not for sports anymore, it is now one of the
key concepts in leadership and management. What makes
coaching so popular? Coaching levels the playing field and
helps all involved to grow and find their best.

I am going to help you explore coaching. It is one of the
six emotional leadership styles proposed by Daniel Goleman.
For those who may not know of him here is a short bio about
Daniel:

Daniel Goleman is an internationally known psychologist who
lectures frequently to professional groups, business
audiences, and on college campuses. Working as a science
journalist, Goleman reported on the brain and behavioral
sciences for The New York Times for many years. His 1995
book, Emotional Intelligence (Bantam Books) was on The New
York Times bestseller list for a year-and-a-half; with more
than 5,000,000 copies in print worldwide in 30 languages,
and has been a best seller in many countries

Moreover, it is a behavior or role that leaders enforce in
the context of situational leadership. As a leadership
style, coaching is used when the members of a group or team
are competent and motivated, but do not have an idea of the
long-term goals of an organization. This involves two
levels of coaching: team and individual. Team coaching
makes members work together. In a group of individuals, not
everyone may have nor share the same level of competence
and commitment to a goal. A group may be a mix of highly
competent and moderately competent members with varying
levels of commitment. These differences can cause friction
among the members. The coaching leader helps the members
level their expectations. Also, the coaching leader manages
differing perspectives so that the common goal succeeds
over personal goals and interests. In a big organization,
leaders need to align the staffs' personal values and goals
with that of the organization so that long-term directions
can be pursued.

Coaching builds up confidence and competence.

Individual coaching is an example of situational leadership
at work. It aims to mentor one-on-one building up the
confidence of members by affirming good performance during
regular feedbacks; and increase competence by helping the
member assess his/her strengths and weaknesses towards
career planning and professional development. Depending on
the individual's level of competence and commitment, a
leader may exercise more coaching behavior for the
less-experienced members. Usually, this happens in the case
of new staffs. The direct supervisor gives more defined
tasks and holds regular feedbacks for the new staff, and
gradually lessens the amount of coaching, directing, and
supporting roles to favor delegating as competence and
confidence increase.

Coaching promotes individual and team excellence.

Excellence is a product of habitual good practice. The
regularity of meetings and constructive feedback is
important in establishing habits. Members catch the habit
of constantly assessing themselves for their strengths and
areas for improvement that they themselves perceive what
knowledge, skills, and attitudes they need to acquire to
attain team goals. In the process, they attain individually
excellence as well. An example is in the case of a musical
orchestra: each member plays a different instrument. In
order to achieve harmony of music from the different
instrument, members will polish their part in the piece,
aside from practicing as an ensemble. Consequently, they
improve individually as an instrument player.

Coaching develops high commitment to common goals.

A coaching leader balances the attainment of immediate
targets with long-term goals towards the vision of an
organization. As mentioned earlier, with the alignment of
personal goals with organizational or team goals, personal
interests are kept in check. By constantly communicating
the vision through formal and informal conversations, the
members are inspired and motivated. Setting short-term team
goals aligned with organizational goals; and making an
action plan to attain these goals can help sustain the
increased motivation and commitment to common goals of the
members.

Coaching produces valuable leaders.

Leadership by example is important in coaching. A coaching
leader loses credibility when he/she cannot practice what
he/she preaches. This means that a coaching leader should
be well organized, highly competent is his/her field,
communicates openly and encourages feedback, and has a
clear idea of the organization's vision-mission-goals. By
vicarious and purposive learning, members catch the same
good practices and attitudes from the coaching leader,
turning them into coaching leaders themselves. If a member
experiences good coaching, he/she is most likely to do the
same things when entrusted with formal leadership roles.

Some words of caution though: coaching is just one of the
styles of leadership. It can be done in combination with
the other five emotional leadership styles depending on the
profile of the emerging team. Moreover, coaching as a
leadership style requires that you are physically,
emotionally, and mentally fit most of the time since it
involves two levels of coaching: individual and team. Your
members expect you to be the last one to give up or bail
out in any situation especially during times of crises. A
coaching leader must be conscious that coaching entails
investing time on each individual, and on the whole team.
Moreover, that the responsibilities are greater since while
you are coaching members, you are also developing future
coaches as well.

So as you see coaching can help you find the path that your
and your company needs to be traveling over. Coaching is
not mentoring in the true sense so you must look deep and
find out what you need coaching or mentoring.

----------------------------------------------------
"Dr. Robin", is a well known MLM Radio personality and is
nationally recognized as an expert in the network marketing
business.He is the current host of the radio show,
"Networking with the Blindguy"live daily from Gorilla
Broadcasting Network,and Guerilla Marketing Talk Radio
Network,providing Success and Retention Training for the
network marketing industry. You can listen to him at
Gorilla Talk Radio. http://gorillatalkradio.com