August 17, 2009

Your Odds for Success: Better than the Lottery... Take a
Vacation for Less and Recharge Your Batteries... Seven More
Character Traits for Success... How to Get Paid in Information
Marketing... and More.

If you want to make it big, you have to think big first. The most successful and wealthiest people throughout history were all overachievers, and the only thing that separates them from you in the pursuit of wealth and happiness could be the ability to think big.

Your goals don't always have to appear practical to others in order to be achievable. Dreamers are the ones who invent things; they create and bring about new, revolutionary ideas and concepts that we all benefit from. Dreamers improve and change our world. Dreamers think big -- they don't worry about the people who say that ideas can't be accomplished or that dreams will never become reality. They accomplish big things, because they dared to take that big leap into the unknown.

The big thinkers of the world know that they are capable of accomplishing great things. They know that they are able to achieve greatness -- and they know how to enlist the help of others in the pursuit of greatness. They are able to envision their goals as already accomplished, and it is this vision that keeps them motivated to achieve more.

You will need to develop a thought process where you are able to make the right decisions. You don't necessarily have to work harder, or do more than others do, but you do have to make well-thought-out moves and work smarter. The decisions you make are important, and you should always think big when you make them.

The odds of winning the lottery are probably higher than the odds of getting struck by lightning, so you need to be comfortable with making your own dreams come true on your own merit. It's true that smaller dreams are easier to achieve -- but big dreams are the stuff that legends are made of. The bigger you dare to dream, the bigger the results you will achieve. Don't be content with just being comfortable; think big and you will never have regrets in life.

Feeling burnt out? Tired? Stressed? Are you having a tougher time every passing morning when it comes to making the commute to work? Well, maybe it's time you took a vacation. It's a fact that you have to allow your body to rest and that you need to recharge your batteries. 
 
Your mind and body can only take so much work and stress before you start physically and mentally suffering from it as a result. You have to get the rest you need and deserve. This means taking full advantage of weekends and of your vacation time away from work. 
 
We all deserve to take a vacation every year, but there is no reason any of us should drop a huge sum of money on travel. You can travel for le! ss by keeping the following tips in mind:
 
-- Buy package deals. This is a great means of getting your flight, accommodations and meals all for one low price. Package deals often go on sale and they can translate into some great savings. Ask your travel agent about this option.
 
-- Go online for great savings. There are many great online travel brokerages that can offer you amazing deals on airfare and vacation packages. Go online to check this option out.
 
-- Consider taking advantage of stand-by. This is a tried-and- true method of saving money on vacationing. If you are willing to book last-minute travel packages, or fly stand-by, you could save serious money on your vacation. Plus, if you have a sense of adventure, packing your bags and heading out last-minute to an exotic location for a fraction of the cost could prove to be the experience of a! lifetime.
 
-- Go on vacation during the off-! season. This is a tip you may have heard of before. Going during off-season months, such as mid-spring and late fall, can also help you save on travel costs. Plus, there are fewer tourists to deal with; you could have a resort practically all to yourself, allowing you to really relax and unwind.
 
-- Do your homework. Shop around and look into all the different options for booking your vacation. You can find the lowest deals by simply doing a couple hours' worth of research.

A vacation is not a luxury -- it's a necessity, so make sure that you take advantage of your well-deserved time off.

Last Thursday, I began talking about the important character traits shared by entrepreneurs. Today, I'll go over the final seven.

Sense of Ability and Confidence: In addition to having a thick skin, you have to have a true belief in yourself that you can succeed. This means trusting your ability and having confidence in yourself to get your business off the ground. Being a successful entrepreneur can be mentally challenging, and maintaining a high perspective of yourself can really help add to your success. If you are always thinking you're going to fail, you probably will.

Relative Grasp on Reality: The reason I say a "relative grasp on reality" is because, to be a successful entrepreneur, you must know what is possible and in the realm of reality, but at times you also must be able to completely ignore it. This means that you want to keep your goals realistic, but set your sights on things that may appear larger than life. Ask yourself the all- important "what if" questions and imagine a realm of possibility for which your plans could materialize.

Creativity and Vision: It's important to be creative in your business approach, as well as have a vision of where you'd like your business to be. It will be these visions that will help you set your goals, and let you track progress and stay hungry. Hunger is a key to becoming a successful entrepreneur, and exercising creativity and building a vision provide fuel.

Ability to Deal with Risk: The best way to deal with risk is to be confident in your decisions. After all, if you approach something thinking you're going to succeed, is it really a risk or is it simply another task? Once you build the confidence to believe you will succeed and visualize results, decisions and actions will begin to feel less risky and more like opportunities you must seize. That being said, it's always important to asses the gain/loss ratio to see if you're making a worthwhile decision.

Ability to Separate Your Ego from Your Ideas: No matter how great you think your idea is, you must do your best to avoid falling in love it, and realize that it is fallible. At certain times, you'll need to rely on the advice of others or realize when something just isn't working. At this point, you may consider taking your idea back to the drawing board, making some changes and trying again.

People Skills: If you're looking for capital or other forms of assistance, you'll want to know how to network and talk to people. You'll have to be able to make them trust you, while being able to concisely and accurately explain your ideas. Basically, you'll need to develop excellent communication skills to articulate your ideas. Also, when seeking funding from venture capitalists, it always recommended that you can show them at least one other investor or partner who has become involved.

Knowing When to Get Out: Many entrepreneurs operate mainly on instinct when it comes to making the important decisions about their business. However, when things get to a certain point and the operation gets too big, it may be worthwhile taking a good offer when it's presented. There is nothing wrong with rewarding yourself with a big payday after selling your company, then heading back to the drawing board and doing it all again!

** How to Get Paid in Information Marketing
By James Burt, Online Marketing Expert

So...you've done the work and it's been hard. The content, the processing, the distribution, everything. Now it's time for your clients to ante up and deliver what's coming to you: money.

Say what you want about money, it's always nice to get paid for something that you've really earned. Whether it was cleaning up that Amazon-jungle-grade backyard in elementary school for five dollars an hour or closing a big sale for enough to make a down payment on a house, it's all the same. You've been working to earn a living and now you can collect the fruits of your labors.

Getting paid in information marketing is a great feeling and something you can hang your mental hat on as an accomplishment. I've written before about collecting payments and customers who may or may not be loyal in honoring their fees, so I will not dwell on such negative subject matters in this message. Instead, I will focus on the process of getting paid itself.

Payment should be an easy process, but like a lot of things these days, it's changing. But this can be good if you are ready to adapt to some of the changes or you can just run with some of the older methods. Either is usually acceptable.

Here are some things to be prepared for in getting paid in info marketing:

--- Write up an invoice: For tax and client receipt reasons, you should always do up an invoice. It should be neat and well- quantified, including your client's name, address, their account number with you, your contact info, and a table showing what you provided them, a description of the service itself plus the fee you are charging. I would advise a digital program to do this on, as it can easily make your invoice look professional and easy to read. Personally, I use "Microsoft Excel," as I find it an easy program to create all the necessary columns and rows for this information. If you find another -- i.e. the table-creating mechanism on "Microsoft Word" -- by all means use it.

--- Be exact and professional: Nobody likes being charged for something they never bought. It's important that you include only the necessary information when billing your clients. If you charge tax, do so, but only if you have the right credentials. When messaging your client, be polite and courteous, but avoid small talk. Stick to the professional matters at hand no matter how close you are with them.

--- Offer different methods of payment: Like I mentioned earlier, payment methods are changing. For a freelance Web content job I did a year ago, I was paid online via PayPal. Back in my in-house publishing days, I did direct deposit through the publisher's accounting department. Other times I have gotten an old-fashioned paper paycheck. Let's be honest: it really doesn't matter how you get paid, as long as it comes through. Find the best method for yourself and don't be afraid to try the new online money transfers. I have found them to be very safe and secure.

--- Keep all of your payment records: I have seen friends with their own business either misplace or discard their payment receipts. Do not do this EVER. Get in the habit of saving your receipts in a well-organized binder or file folder. You will need them come tax time to give details of your earnings and what you will have to pay the government.

An old colleague just got his first payment from a client for doing some customized woodworking, his life's love and now his profession. I've never seen him so happy. He knew he earned it and celebrated in style by taking his girlfriend out for a very nice night on the town. As an information marketer, you know you are entitled to such things,, too. Provided you are as professional in your payment collection as you are in your work, you will always bear that happy feeling of accomplishment when you get the cash you deserve.

Good luck!