June 26, 2008

Are You a Producer?... Fulfill Your Promise and You Can
Decide What You're Worth... Introduce Yourself to Online
Marketing; Part 2... Cutting Costs on a Long Weekend; Part 2...
and More.

** Are You a Producer?
By Adrian Newman, Founder of e-Wealth Daily

Recently, while watching one of my favorite movies, I noticed something in the credits that had rarely caught my eye. I watched a few more videos with my children and, again, I noticed the same thing.

Right there, during the opening credits, were the names of the producers. These names appear at the beginning of television shows and basically anything else (aside from commercials) broadcast today.

What exactly is a producer? And why are they so important? Well, the producers of any film, television show or commercial are the ones who bring together the needed funding to get the show up and running. They oversee the costs and set the production budget. So, although they don't get the red carpet treatment like many of the stars, without them, the latest
the ground.

Now, you may be wondering what a big-shot producer has to do with you. Well, producers aren't your average moneymakers. Sure, they may work long hours, but you don't often go to college to become a producer. No, the expertise you need is life experience. You have to know where to go, whom to ask and how to wrangle million-dollar deals, and all of this is done long before the product is even made.

You see, being a producer is like being a professional negotiator. And, I'm sure you'll agree with me when I say that negotiating is a skill that you can use, each and every day.

To act like a producer in your business ventures, you must have confidence. A movie producer isn't going to back a film they think is terrible. There's a lot of money in play when creating even a short film, so being confident in your ability and the abilities of the people you're working with is essential.

Next, you have to stay in control, while letting other people do the grunt work. A producer won't set the lighting or adjust camera angles, but they will hire the people who do these jobs.

Take a look at your next business venture. Ask yourself if you're approaching the deal like a producer or if you've just settled into a grunt work role. I'm certain you'd much rather be the producer.

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** Fulfill Your Promise and You Can Decide What You're
Worth
By Doug D'Anna, the "Hundred-Million-Dollar Man"

As I continue say to my clients, "I charge more because I do more -- and because I guarantee better results."

The bottom line is that -- in a lot of cases -- how you position yourself with others will determine whether or not you get what you want from them. You can increase the quality of your work. That's always a good way to demand more money. But then what? When you are already the best at what you do, giving your work the most attention you can, then what?

Guarantee results.

Educating yourself and becoming an expert will only take you so far. To be sure, it will enable you to speak the language of the people you serve. The more useful you are, the more money you will make, regardless of how many hours you work or even the quality of your work.

If you want to rise up to the next level, then you need to think differently. You need to increase your perceived value. In my own business, it was simply a matter of putting my money where my mouth was and guaranteeing results. Look at the competition: What are they doing? How they are doing it? What did it take for them to get there? Most importantly, look for that "special something" that you can add to your repertoire, which will make you stand head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd.

If you're making far less money than you want to, or if you have any other unrealized dreams, now is the time to take a good, hard look at yourself and see what you can do to add value to yourself. I took a long, hard look at my skills and I realized that I could be demanding far more from my clients. I just needed to figure out how to approach them.

You need to identify the benefits you bring to your client, employer, or other contact. I have colleagues who have deprived themselves of millions of dollars by not identifying what their clients really want: added value. They never raise their rates because they are afraid that they will lose clients. This fear paralyzes them.

Trust me; people are more than willing to pay you more if you can make them more money or bring them more success, power, winnings, or whatever. I want you to remember something: If there was a layoff at your place of employment tomorrow, there is no way you could guarantee that you wouldn't be the first to go.

And I don't care what your position in the company is or how well your boss says you perform. I've seen top executives let go because of the company's spending cutbacks. And they all heard the same thing as they walked out the door, severance package in arm: "It's nothing personal."

So, why do we think that it's such a personal thing to ask for more money? You should never be afraid to negotiate your added value in any situation.

You need to make it your job to reshape your prospect's thinking about the value that you -- and only you -- bring to the table. It's that simple. If you want more money, you need to persuade the customer -- whether that customer is a client, your boss, or the man or woman of your dreams -- that you have value. Make that person understand the value that you bring to the table and how it will benefit him or her. But also learn to listen before you make your pitch.

In sales seminars, they teach you that it is wrong to go to a client, lay your product or service on the table, and talk about how it's just what the client needs. Instead, they teach you that you must find out your client's primary buying motive before you speak. You must determine their needs and their wants first.

Listen to the responses before you position yourself. Customers will buy into you for their own reasons, not yours, and they are in control, not you. Find out what those reasons are. When you let people speak, they get a feeling of being in control. Little by little, they remove barriers during the conversation and begin to share with you the information that you need. If you take the stance of a salesperson, you will present yourself as someone
who genuinely wants to fill a need.

The same techniques used by honest salespeople could also work for you in achieving what you want: the money you want, the contract you want, the position you want, or the raise you want.

** Introduce Yourself to Online Marketing; Part 2
By John Hurd, Chief Wealth Researcher

Yesterday, I introduced you to a few basics of online marketing. Your main goal with Internet advertising should be finding ways to get customers to make purchases quickly and avoid unnecessary clutter. Sounds fairly obvious, I know. But, I can't count the number of times I've encountered frustrating web sites that completely turn me off of a potential purchase.

You see, when surfing online, most people's attention spans drop significantly. There's a lot of information to be found and, unlike shopping in a brick and mortar store, your customers are more likely to move on quite quickly if they can't immediately find what they want.

So, when designing a web page, you want to allow your customers to quickly search your site for what they want and help direct them towards the sale. For reference, take a look at a web site where you recently made a purchase. How easy was it for you to find what you wanted? How many times did you have to click forward before your purchase was complete? Did you receive confirmation that your order was processed?

Remember, just like in your store, your customers are going to have questions. Make sure your contact information is easy to find and be sure to respond as quickly as you can.

Now that you have your web site set up, you're going to need to find customers, or I should say you're going to have to make it easy for them to find you.

If your company or product has a unique name, then you may eventually find your web site appearing on search engines. However, since truly unique products are few and far between, you're going to find that when you pull up a search engine, your product is nowhere to be found.

That means you're going to need to take matters into your own hands.

You can start by searching for advertising opportunities on other sites. Your local chamber of commerce may offer some help for local options, but you can also look at online news sources.

Another option is offering an affiliate link for your product. You pay others a commission based on sales and they do the legwork looking for customers.

When it comes to advertising online, your potential to make big money is almost unlimited. However, sorting through the mess and finding a marketing plan that works for you will take some trial and error work before you may discover online success.

With the holiday long weekend right around the corner and the cost of living rising on a daily basis, finding a way to enjoy your time off may take a little bit more creativity this year than it has in the past. But don't worry; you have more options than you think when it comes to spending some quality time with family friends under the sun! On Wednesday, I introduced a couple of inexpensive ideas that can help you have a great long weekend, and I'm going to share even more with you today.

One of the best ways to spend a long weekend is a few days at a national park for some camping. Of course, it's unlikely most of you live near such locations. Well, if you're looking for a way to make a cheap vacation a little bit cheaper, try camping with a crew. This means you should contact some friends and see if they are interested in venturing into the woods with you.

This way, you can save money on gas and on accommodations. Instead of both taking a vehicle, try renting a van to save you a little bit more money, and it will give you ample space to pack your gear. Finally, if you have a trailer; leave it at home. Attaching a trailer to your car will suck the gas out faster than you can count to five; so opt for renting a tent if you don't own one.

Of course, if you're not into the great outdoors, then maybe kicking around the house is more your speed. First of all, if you stick around the house, it's almost a guarantee you'll find something that needs doing. Maybe the windows need cleaning or the garage could use some tidying. Either way, there are undoubtedly numerous tasks you'll have the time to perform.

That being said, now is as good a time as any to put some thought into your future and decide what you want out of life. Are you looking for a way to take your business to the next level, or trying to fine-tune your next moneymaking idea? If so, dedicate some time over your Independence Day long weekend to focus on achieving financial independence.