Month: June 2012

How Successful People Start Their Days

Post author By Pamela Swift
Post date June 21, 2012

Article Contributed by Samantha Peters

Mornings are perhaps the most overlooked time of day to be productive. People often take them for granted as free time, or a period you have to suffer through to be fully awake. In reality, mornings are usually the time when you’re most rested and face the fewest interruptions.

Successful people realize the value of mornings and utilize them to their fullest potential with several tested strategies:

1. Track your time

In the morning, you have an opportunity not only to plan the upcoming day but evaluate the previous one. Look back on yesterday at how you could have better used your time, handled unexpected inconveniences, and been the most efficient and use that knowledge to modify your plans for the future.

Creating a daily and weekly schedule helps many people to stay on track and manage their time well. The morning is a good time to tweak your weekly schedule to meet daily realities. You can then make intelligent edits to your short term goals.

2. Make your morning enjoyable

Having a nice morning sets the tone for the rest of the day. Use this time to have a good breakfast and engage in some activities you may not have time for later. Read the paper, catch up on your favorite blog, or burn through a few more pages of that big novel you’re working on. Pray or meditate. Spend some time with the kids and help them get ready for school.

Even if you only spend this extra time sitting around doing nothing, you’re still giving yourself some much-needed rest and relaxation. For many people, this is a great way to recharge the body’s batteries from the previous day.

3. Strategize

What do you want with your life? Where do you want to be tomorrow? Next month? In five years? Twenty? What are you going to do today to help achieve those goals?

These are not questions that need to be answered overnight, but they should definitely be on your radar. These are the kinds of questions that are best asked in the morning, when you actually have some time to sit and think about the answers. Once the day progresses, you will be tied up with other obligations and responsibilities.

4. Make it a ritual

Productive mornings are a habit. Get used to going to sleep and getting up early. Adopt a ritual of events. When are you going to get up? What are you going to do first? Second? When will you eat and shower? When will you squeeze in some time to exercise and get that seratonin flowing? When will you set aside time to plan your day out and get in the right mindset? Perhaps most importantly, when are you going to get that pot of coffee started?

5. Adapt

Adjust your morning to fit your lifestyle and needs, and realize that those change. If you get a new job, move, or have a lifestyle change, your old morning ritual may no longer fit your needs. Sometimes it’s not your lifestyle, but you who are doing the changing. Either way, changing your habits may be challenging, but failing to adapt can spell disaster. If you’re struggling, try adjusting your rituals in small steps.

By following these steps and making some of your own, you too can make the most of your mornings and be a successful person like Gaston Cantens. Even if you’re “not a morning person,” you may still benefit from simply getting up earlier and giving yourself a couple of extra hours, or even just an extra hour, to knock out some additional chores or tasks. You’ll be amazed at what that extra time will do for your mindset and your productivity levels.

About the Author:

This Guest Post is written by c, an active blogger who enjoys writing about anything of interest to entrepreneurs and business start-ups.

How-To Guides

How to Build Targeted Traffic without Google: Part 3

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date June 20, 2012

In part 1 and part 2 of this series I’ve been outlining alternate ways to build targeted traffic without Google. Too many webmasters are frustrated with the Google Monster’s hijynx. You work your tail off to build steady traffic to your site only to have Google yank it back again through one of their infamous updates. These articles will help you outline a self-contained marketing plan that allows you to rely less on Google.

In part 1 of this series, I showed you a simple way to set up a very effective, automated list-building system using a special report. Part 2 introduced you to the real world of affiliate marketing. And in this installment, we’ll talk about promoting with video.

The Popularity & Reach of Video

There’s no doubt that video is enormously hot right now. People from all walks of life are clamoring around their computer monitors to view all sorts of clips from hilarious to educational.

You’ll even find video on web pages working with (or sometimes replacing) the sales copy. What’s even better… when people spot a video they love, they share it with all their friends/associates. Thanks to the huge reach of social media, it’s oh-so-simple to launch a video and have it go viral within a matter of hours.

Guess what else? People actually visit the websites mentioned in videos. Because the promo struck a chord, your prospects are more likely to click to your site to check out your offer. Just how big of a reach are we talking?

Video is Growing by Leaps and Bounds

According to Website Monitoring:

YouTube, the biggest video search engine, exceeds 2 billion views every day.
The average person spends 15 minutes a day on YouTube.
3 million people are connected to YouTube and auto-share to at least 1 social network.

But that’s just for individuals, right? Wrong! Businesspeople are just as into video as everyone else is.

MagnetVideo.com compiled some stats from various sources that show corporate folks watch their fair share, too.

Forbes reports that more than 75% of C-Suite Executives surveyed said they watch work-related online video on business-related website at least weekly. 65% of C-suite Executives report visiting a vendor’s website after watching their online video.
Online video usage by the leading 100 retailers increase by 18%.

Sounds Great, But I Don’t Know How to Make Videos

Yeah, neither did I. That is until I took a few courses and found some awesome resources online to help. I can honestly tell you that it isn’t as hard as you’d think. There are so many shortcuts and programs that do most of the work for you these days. In fact, you can literally be ready to produce and upload your very first video within a few hours.

If I – little miss non-tech – can create and produce videos, you can, too.

This is exactly how I learned. I started with Bob “The Teacher” Jenkins’ SIMPLE Video Course. I was actually making videos after the first 3 modules. There are 10 modules total that walk you through everything you need to know to get started. By the time you’re finished, you’ll be equipped to make:

List-building videos
Talking head videos
Animated videos
PowerPoint videos (my fav!)
Product creation videos
Screencasts (screen captures) (another fav!)
Training courses
Webinars
And more

It also goes into how to upload the videos to a bunch of different places so you get maximum exposure.

Then, I found a whole boatload of cool templates, graphics, music and other stuff for cheap at Screencast Studios.

What, Exactly, Am I Supposed to Do With the Videos?

The options are limitless.

Give away training videos as a list-building technique.
Promote your products or online events with talking head videos.
Start a viral campaign with cute, animated videos.
Make webinars or products to sell with PowerPoint videos.
Show people how to use your product or how to solve a problem with screencast videos.
But videos on your sales page to enhance your copy.
And way more.

Want to see some of the videos I’ve done? Click over to my YouTube channel for a little inspiration.

Seriously, it didn’t take me but a few minutes each to make the videos you see here. And they’ll live on YouTube, my blog and other video sites forever generating qualified traffic to my site.

Sales & Marketing

3 Powerful Ways To Increase Your Sales

Post author By Pamela Swift
Post date June 19, 2012

Article Contributed by David Lynch

Everyone in sales goes through difficult moments, even those who are very experienced and highly skilled. The great news is that it’s much easier to get out of the negative zone and back into the positive one if you use the right methods:

1. Elevate Yourself

One of the main problems of going through a bad period in sales is the change of mental state that occurs. It doesn’t matter how strong you are mentally, you will find it difficult to escape this drop in confidence. Well, the only way out is to elevate your state of belief and get yourself back into the perfect frame of mind for selling. You need to trick your subconscious mind into believing that things are going fantastically well, and the good news is that our brain is sufficiently stupid to accept it as the truth. Take a sheet of paper and start writing a series of positive affirmations about your capabilities in selling. Make sure they are always in the present! Do this for about 10 minutes, anything less will not be enough. The positive affirmations will be translated into “truth” and “reality” by your subconscious and this should get you back on track in no time.

2. Get Yourself a Mentor

I discovered this one in recent years because previously I had always thought that I could solve my own problems. This is a common mistake among sales people who love to take responsibility on their own shoulders and just ride the storm alone. Well I now realise that this is not really the smartest way of giving yourself a boost. Find someone such as a motivational coach and listen to their audio or video training. If you like this person and admire their approach, it cannot fail to influence your state. Try this one because it really works. I like Tony Robbins because he has energy levels that I could only dream of. If I can take 20 per cent of his drive, it can carry me for the rest of the day.

3. Be Grateful For What you Already Have

This is a problem that we all face in western civilisation today. People have got so much they have forgotten what it was like for our ancestors. If you sit in silence for a few minutes and think of how people in third world countries need to walk for miles to carry fresh water in heavy containers to keep their children alive. Millions of people work for less than a dollar a day and they still manage to survive. Then we look at our problems in selling. Okay a few people told you to go away and stop annoying them. This is nothing compared to the difficulties that others face in the world. Get up off your chair, take some fresh air and go back to selling and enjoy it like it’s a privilege.

About the Author

David Lynch is a Sales Training Designer & Accomplished Author. He has more than 20 years’ experience in a variety of industries including software, insurance & hospitality. If you would like to learn more sales skills from David you can download a Free Copy of his E-book “25 Mistakes To Avoid When Selling” at http://www.saleswillgrow.com/freesalestraining2.html

Sales & Marketing

Can Being in Sales be a True Spiritual Approach to Business and Life?

Post author By
Post date June 18, 2012

Can being in sales be a true spiritual approach to business and life?

Jim Cartcart was recently on our radio program (WELW.com every Wednesday from 4:30 to 5:30 PM EST) and he gave a definition of selling that transformed my view on sales, how I sell and the contribution I make on the lives of others.

Jim Carthcart’s definition of sales is “Changing the lives of others – profitably.”

When I sell the Business Growth Experience Sales Rainmaker program I no longer feel as if I am selling. I know the material I teach will change their lives of people who participate and I am proud to call myself a sales professional. I feel good asking to be paid because of the value I am providing.

But is sales a spiritual approach to life?

Why would I say that?

Most people don’t get into sales because they want to be in sales. They get into sales to help solve a problem and being in sales is a byproduct of accomplishing a larger goal, a higher purpose.

I started looking at doctors, teachers, priests, and other helping professions and I realized I am doing the same things they do: solving a problem to make a persons’ life better.

I like to think of what we teach as using sales skills that you will use in every area of your life. These skills will work with friends, family, children and significant others and you will be a better person for it as I feel I am a better person for teaching it.

If you are a small business owner who is struggling with sales, give me a call. The first thing we will do is help you understand how you can use your product or service to change someone’s life for the better. This is a great first step in realizing the meaning and purpose in what you do.

When I wake up in the morning and I know I am having a positive impact on the lives of others, I am inspired, motivated and compelled to work harder because I know I am making life better for others.

In the business growth experience here is what we do: We tell people to stop selling and teach others to buy. We do that by combining sales and marketing so that our clients know more about their customer then the customers know about themselves. Then we teach them to sell the way the customer wants to buy. That way the product sells itself. When you master this process life gets easier, sales is fun and life is more rewarding.

To a more spiritual approach to selling!

Thanks Jim Cathcart. You changed another life!