February 16, 2010

The Thought of Success Could Actually Be an Obstacle...
Visualize Your Victories... Recognize the Source of Your
Wealth... How to Protect Your Info Marketing Products... and More.

Recently, my wife decided to resurrect her acting career. Now, if you know anything about acting, it's probably one of the hardest businesses to be successful in. Whether a casting director likes your face or not can basically mean the difference between you making it or not.

It's also very unpredictable. You are usually called in for an audition at a moment's notice, usually during working hours.

So, my wife hummed and hawed for about a year on whether to get back into the acting game, which she's had mild success with, but nothing that has garnered her a reputation that would make getting auditions easier.

The reason for the delay was that she needed to make sure that, if she got called for an audition, there would be someone to watch our two small children while she was gone. And every time this concern came up, my answer was always, "Worry about that when it comes up."

But she kept putting it off, until one day I forced her to meet with an agent and get the ball rolling.

Since then, she's had dozens of auditions, and shot a TV commercial and a print ad. During those times, I've either come home to watch our kids or one of our mothers has dutifully helped out.

Either way, any time that my wife has to leave for a few hours or even a full day, there's a solution to the problem of what happens with our kids.

And to think she waited a year to get going on this, because she was concerned about this detail.

This is a common issue with people who are trying to get their businesses started. They are focusing on the "What ifs " and the obstacles that may come with them before the scenario plays out. This is only holding you back.

If you start a small business, but are afraid to take it to the next level because you are worried how it's going to affect your day job, then you will never grow your business. You have to take the plunge and then worry about the ripple effect of your decision afterwards.

My wife was worrying about what to do if she got an audition before she even got an agent. You might be worrying about how you're going to juggle a home business start-up and your day job, before you even start your business.

And the worst part about it: you're actually worried about succeeding! Sounds strange, but the only thing that would affect your day job is if your business was doing well and needed more of your attention.

So, if you think you might be successful and that thought is keeping you from moving forward, instead of fearing that overwhelming feeling of everything rushing in on you at once, embrace it and dive into it. Chances are good that, if things go well, you'll be able to adapt happily.

It's an old saying: anything the mind can conceive, it can achieve.

You can see a great example in one of my favorite movies of all time, "American Beauty." There's a great scene where Annette Bening, playing a realtor, chants the mantra, "I WILL sell this house," as she vacuums, dusts, and cleans the house from top to bottom in preparation to sell it.

A lot of people think it's hokey. At first I did, too. But when I learned that world-class athletes and high-level achievers were using this tool to increase their chances of getting what they wanted, my choice was clear.

Surprisingly, I had been using this direct marketing technique in my promotions. Whenever you are trying to sell to someone, you create a mental picture in their mind to give them a glimpse of the future that's headed their way. And it works!

I simply applied this proven strategy to my own life and began to visualize in my own mind the accounts that I wanted, the projects I wanted, the success I dreamed of. To be sure, you won't get everything you want overnight, but you will, in time, develop a change of attitude that could make you unstoppable in your pursuit of happiness.

I can't stress this enough. You could get everything you want in life if you picture it in your mind first. For nearly 20 years, I've used these same visualization techniques to achieve my life's biggest dreams.

When you follow them, you will be able to tap into your great potential and realize your vision of your future.

Learn to relax. Find a quiet spot. Relaxation and meditation techniques all begin the same way: sitting in a relaxed position and breathing slowly and deeply, visualizing the flow of your breath through your body and consciously relaxing all your muscle groups.

Visualize success. Cut out pictures, images, words that depict what you want. They will help you to get motivated to move in the right direction. Surround yourself with images or items that represent the things you long for in life.

Motivate yourself. Recall past instances in your life where you have succeeded and replay the entire events in your mind. Strive to break your own records.

Recharge yourself. Do things that make you feel positive and lose yourself in thoughts of your goals. Talking to objective friends about your ambitions could help you reach your optimal energy level and refocus on what you truly desire.

It sounds simple, but one of the most important parts of running a successful business is noticing where most of your profits are coming from. Think about it; you probably have some customers who spend more than others, while costing you less.

Therefore, at some point, you have to figure out who you want to focus on and who you want to get rid of as customers. The obvious question is, "Why the heck would I want to get rid of some customers? A dollar earned is a dollar earned!" That's true. A dollar in the cash register is a dollar in the cash register, there's no denying it.

However, some customers cost more to market to, spend less on your services and might, quite frankly, be a pain in your neck. Let's say 20%-30% of your customer base is where you make the majority of your money. They spend big, don't cost a lot to market to and mainly purchase the products and services that earn you the most profits. It's quite possible, in this case, that this 20%-30% is responsible for 80% of your company's profits.

Now, let me ask you what makes more sense -- spending more to keep your less profitable customers around or slightly ramping up your efforts to the profitable bunch?

Just think, for what would likely be a fraction of the cost to upgrade sales efforts to your profitable customers (heck, maybe even raise prices a touch to make up the difference), you could earn more and have less to worry about!

Of course, if you plan on focusing more heavily on a smaller number of customers, you'll want to strengthen the relationship through interaction and benefits. This way, they'll feel appreciated and more likely to spend. On the other hand, you'll have to inform your least profitable customers that you're taking your business in a new direction. Something you'll want to do gracefully. After all, you don't want to burn any bridges. Who knows what the future will hold!

One of the things you can do is to tell them that you're overhauling your prices and services. After hearing this, they may decide for themselves that the relationship should come to a close. In order to make it easier on them, however, refer them to other companies that can get them the services they need. Follow up later on to make sure things worked out. By keeping the lines of communication open, there is the potential to take advantage of future situations where they could, once again, become a customer.

** How to Protect Your Info Marketing Products
By James Burt, Online Marketing Expert

"How dare they?!!!"

When my friend got mad, the Earth shook. Man, was he mad that day! I sat in his home office, cup of coffee in hand, watching him pace up and down in a fury. He had been robbed but not of money. He had had his information stolen.

On his desk computer was a blog screen from a business of unknown location that had a new posting. It was a slightly rewritten copy of a newsletter my friend had sent out to his clients regarding some financial advice. His wife had found it online the night before doing a random search.

"This isn't right," he said. "What can I do about this?"

A good question and one that is tough to answer. Information "theft" has been going on since information began being shared on the Internet. Long before transferable music files began causing controversy after being exchanged online, whole chunks of publications and news articles were being copied and pasted on other people's web sites. You may think that there's nothing really that bad about this. But you need to know two things: it's flat-out theft and nobody gets paid when someone else takes their info content without asking.

The Internet threw the whole world for a loop. By the dawn of the millennium, the big honchos who were used to getting royalties and a new Porsche every year for copies of published work -- record company executives, book publishers, film distribution companies -- suddenly found themselves powerless. They had no idea how to rectify the situation and are still struggling with it over 10 years later.

I won't get into a debate about the ethics of all this here, as I've committed a literary crime or two myself back in my school days. But I will not deny it hurts entrepreneurs. I felt really sorry for the friend that I mentioned above. He worked hard and now someone else is taking his stuff and perhaps profiting off it. Copyright laws for the 'Net are still in development and legal action is time-consuming and costly, and often comes to nothing.

If you are suffering from info theft online, there are some methods you can use to deal with the situation:

--- Do some detective work: Right from the get-go, it's a good idea to play it cool and start doing some investigative work. First, make sure you can prove that the stolen content is yours. Examine everything and look for matching phrases, paragraphs, and other plagiarized material. Also try to find out more about the culprit, such as where their business is located and their contact information. You will probably have to get ahold of them at some point, so this information is important.

--- Check with a legal pro: Once you're sure you've had theft happen to you and think it's a case worth pursuing, I would advise a legal professional who is up on the recent laws for online content copyright. Most city centers have lawyers who specialize in commercial and intellectual property. He or she can counsel you to see if you can take the case to the next step and pursue it further.

--- Issue a professional request: Regardless of whether you can make a case or not, it's good to issue a professional warning to cease and desist to whoever has stolen your content. This stuff is yours and they are welcome to it in exchange for some compensation. But be sure to issue a written letter either via e- mail, mail, or fax advising them that they are not permitted to use any further content without permission from you. This can be tough and you might have to perform a confrontation, but it is often necessary in order to prevent any further "borrowing" of your material.

--- Beating them vs. joining them: These situations can leave a scar. Always be sure to trademark all future material and be wary of who gets your content. But be open to other possibilities, too, as there are some cases I have come across where the incident of info content theft actually had some positive ramifications. Some info marketers have tracked down the thieving party, confronted them on the issue, and actually found that they could not only resolve the issue, but also work together as joint info partners to build both their businesses. This might sound like that climax of an after-school TV special, but it can happen. I always like positive endings to these kinds of stories and I do recommend it to parties who have the potential to make the best of a seemingly negative situation.

Being stolen from is something that can strike you right to the core. Many info marketers feel that they are powerless to deal with the situation. But they aren't. Deal with this problem like you would any other one in the most professional way possible and you can avoid having it happen again.