Insight

The post below is a trifle long but it is so full of useful info that I decided to keep it in. There are many tips that I resonate with that are straight out of the bible of many a top level marketer, on mindset, time management and personal 'bad' habits. Well worth persisting with right to the end.
Ray

How To Start and Run a Successful Lifestyle Business Online

A Personal Insight

Congratulations! You have chosen a really rewarding option into how your business and life will coexist happily ever after." That was a little note to myself when I chose the lifestyle business option, quite a far cry from a traditional start-up that I was running in the entertainment and events industry after quitting my 9-5 job. The latter required me to be in a specific physical location of course so as to reach and serve my clients.

Today, I run a digital business model and all I need is a laptop handy and an Internet connection. I then choose when I want to do some work and where I want to get that work done. And that my friend is what I call a perfect match! My life meets my business everywhere I go, anywhere I am. The general business rules remain pretty similar and herein I will share my own golden rules that new entrepreneurs will particularly find informative... But first... if you are about to quit your job, you are probably wondering

Can Starting A Lifestyle Business Change Your Life?

No more dreadful Monday morning train commutes to work and staring into a stranger's face seated across from me wearing sunnies on a cold morning, perhaps a subtle attempt to numb the pain of the lifeless surrounding. They are having the same thoughts as me. "Friday cannot come quick enough". Then I start thinking about my email box and that Monday morning meeting that I have not prepared for. I have to fill in my boss on the current project status before he can go into another meeting with more important people than me to tell them what I just told him!

I remember having those thoughts and it just makes me queasy as I write this. I know you get the drift. I remember suffering temporary amnesia as I walked out of the house, holding car keys and looking for them all over the kitchen and lounge. I had spent a whole hour pre-occupied in thought on how I will handle the stress that was about to unfold for the next 5 days of my life.

The Road Ahead

As exciting as this new journey is about to be you want to get a few things in order straight away in your new 'house' to make this transition process as smooth as you possibly can. That business idea is looking great, you have done lots of research, consulted a few souls preferably smarter than you. You have also been making some new friends. I really hope none of them is still working where you just quit! I soon found out that these friendships only flourished over the years because of shared interests such as office politics that tended to specially thrive on Friday night at the bar when we didn't have to whisper about overwhelming love for senior management.

The reality now is, you are in an elevated consciousness phase of your life, one that these friendships cannot exist. Your mindset needs to be fed with new insights and nurtured with refreshing thoughts about living a fulfilled life. You have some money saved up in the bank and probably have an actionable step-by-step business plan. There is something of value that you have to share and a strategy to get customers lined up ready to give your 'something' a warm welcome into this new world order.

But that is the easy part. I shall be completely honest here; apart from some money that I had saved up at the point of quitting, I really didn't have much more than a rough idea of what I was going to do. I was risking it all. When I left my day job some years ago, I was at a point where it was either that or I lose my mind.

7 Golden Rules

A New MIND-set:

As with all things new, your mind is the first guy you want to put in check. Let him know there is a new sheriff in town. If you are like me, you have been spending the better part of the last 6 - 12 months buried deep in business books and ripping them apart in your spare time. At some point, you found personal development material captivating. Eventually, you started finding out why that constant nagging feeling of life and lack of fulfilment was. As an example, I had read books like Richdad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and listened to the audio version of the same in case something was lost in translation! I had also read Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie's How To Win Friends and Influence People among others.

This is an activity that you will not want to let slip into the overflowing 'good habits to continue when I get time bucket'. I had one like that and needed no motivation adding more stock completely in autopilot. Mind food is paramount in this journey. You want to stay inspired a good chunk of the time because this is where the sowing is happening. The thing is as abstract as some of the ideas in this material may seem at this point; I found that with time, it all starts to fall into place as the journey progresses. So do not sweat any concepts that are not clear yet. Keeping the reading habit going is all you need. These books are not really designed for reading cover to cover. Think of them like the SAT NAV system your car or as you own version of a personal SIRI.

It is a known fact that our minds don't like disruption. Whether that disruption is good for us or not, it is not very welcome without some whip cracking. The mind has got everything figured out. It is a very well trained machine with thoughts and habits that shape your life and works even when you are sleeping, doing the 'regular chores around the house'.

The 9-5 routine mindset is still at this point deeply wired into your system. It's advisable to start setting up ground rules so that YOU and the MIND are both on the same page. This takes a while and certainly took me the better part of 2 years. Don't stress just know there are changes you will need to work on consistently in this area. Oh, remember when I mentioned who your new friends cannot be a little earlier?

Breaking The Bad:

I made the mistake of trying to keep a regular 9-5-like routine when I first started my entrepreneurial journey. Big mistake. What tends to happen as a result is, the mind in these early days of business life, is still largely unaware of the 'new life in construction progress'. It actively runs the old familiar version of 'code' from its 9-5 days in the background in stealth mode. You might know what happens when you try to run a new version of Microsoft Windows on old PC hardware? Yes, exactly right!

All sorts of weird compatibility issues are not unheard of.

I did not understand this myself. The mindset driving my routine was still stuck in the old version. The correct term for this is the subconscious mind. So your poor conscious mind, which is pretty much what we operate on until new ways are 'learned' runs into a constant battle. It really wants to change the world for you, it's ready to work hard, promising to cut the Friday night binge that serves no purpose other than a regular headache which eats away the Saturday morning and pinky swears to cut down on addictive TV shows.

Someone, please explain why my favourite big screen stars are also hanging out in these TV shows... like really?

The Deal With Time Management:

As a new entrepreneur what quickly comes into awareness I would say is the time management beast and what seems to be like an endless stream of unmanageable distractions. In a lifestyle business that is run from home, the park, at the beach, the airport lounge or while on safari at The Mara, this can be a constant battle. Don't get too hang up on being perfect day one with this one. The more I tried to fight it the more I stressed about it. Stress did not improve my time management skills and only added to unfinished tasks that needed more worrying about... I thought! The time drama continued until I put measures to progressively learn how to improve time management.

Keep educating yourself on what works for your schedule and what sorts of distractions are overpowering you. I can tell you now it's going to be technology related!

It didn't matter that I was an early riser who wouldn't go to bed until my eyeballs were literally unlocking themselves from my sockets in protest. Occasionally I got the odd finger in this scuffle! And sometimes I still wouldn't give up. Now, this does not necessarily equate to being productive. The actual real result was a constant feeling of exhaustion, elevated stress levels, and anxiety.

Why You Need To Design A Routine That Works Around Your Lifestyle Business

I hadn't changed my routine so my mind would expect the usual treatment, 9 am we are active at work and then at 5 pm it expects that we are on the 'winding up for the day phase'. I, on the other hand, had with all good intent, added extra hours in front of the 9 and after the 5. Now you can see where the problem was once I kept this up for a while. Insane!!! Create a new routine and optimise around what works for you.

Decide When You Want To Work... Create A Routine... Then Follow It With Military Discipline

Perfecting this phase when you start a lifestyle business, which means your physical surroundings change constantly, it can feel daunting. However, with a well mapped out daily, and weekly routine that you have the discipline to stick with, you will start to see results. In no time, this will end up running on autopilot.

There's going to be a lot of 10 to 12 hour days, maybe longer but they don't and shouldn't be in your constant daily routine. After all, it's business around your lifestyle. I have 3-hour blocks and generally leave my 'heavy lifting work' for when I get into a state of flow, usually after midnight.

Understanding Your Personal Power and Peak Performance State:

This state starts becoming more regular with practice and awareness. Understand your highs (i.e. peak energy state), lows (this is no time to do the books and usually a good time to choose pizza toppings and make big decisions like thin or thick crust?) and my personal favourite flow state (this is creation mode and a good time to change the World). Pick a block of hours that works for you. Once new habits in your routine become solid you will have an easier time telling these states apart.

It's not unusual for me to get into flow while at the shops looking at apples and kiwi fruit fresh deals of the day. This state for me comes through an insightful thought or sometimes as a series of thoughts back to back, so please keep a hardcover notebook at all times for these moments. You might just stumble on your best business idea yet!

Time management and productivity is a continuous optimisation process. All you have to do is decide how many hours you want to work. Pay attention to your body clock and maximise for times when you are at peak energy states. Then learn to induce these states through rewarding practices like meditation.

Schedule Fun Times on Tuesdays:

Although it's not how I started off, I am lucky thus far to be working on businesses that allow me lots of flexibility as to when and where I actually work. If this tickles your fancy you are on the right track here. In my case, all I need is my mac book pro and decent wifi. Tip: When I am in a location where the menu has an under $10 dollar price tag frenzy going on, I move on swiftly.

About Tuesdays

Move all the things you used to do for fun on Saturday to this day. The Keyword here is FUN guys so if mowing the lawn is fun! Okay, you get my point. It doesn't matter what the activity is but I recommend you do it in the early days of your journey. The feeling is absolutely incredible. For me, it was reading the paper and a coffee down the road.

Do you guys wonder why we still print newspapers today?

So, usually, one or two local Moms will swing by the coffee shop and that is all the action there is. The rest of the 'real' world folks are at work. This is my opinion but what I found with being Mr Tuesday is that it gives me a boost of confidence and that sense of freedom where I feel, "yeah that's right, I can do what I want when I want".

I will point out here that this has nothing to do with money. I have done this even when the reality at that time was 'cash-flow challenges!'. I am not advocating that you should smile and be happy when you are broke, no no no. When you think about it, this is when you need your mind at a 100% and if all it takes is a series of 3-dollar coffees down the road, so be it. While on this topic, my ideal Tuesday day is on a yacht surrounded by endless views of blue seas at exactly 11 am and a safety vest in close proximity! Unwanted swimming lessons are not part of this plan.

What does your ideal Tuesday day look like?

Your Inner Circle... Your Players CLUB:

This is an interesting one because if you think about your ideal Tuesday above, how many people do you know today can do that? Initially, you will probably be alone or maybe with someone close to you like a partner, wife, girlfriend or somebody else who probably does what you do, or benefits directly from what you do. I found out that the friends I used to hang out with on Saturdays and Sundays in my previous life no longer fitted in the new life I was creating. It's a delicate balance but I had to make some changes. For the same reason, of course, the folks at your old job will probably not take Tuesday off to hang out at your newly found happy place to share happy coffee with you.

I could go on and on about this inner circle area of the new life but what I realised and accepted was, I needed to decide as part of the journey, to be alone for a little while as more new quality friendships developed. This is still an ongoing process. As an example, a couple of months ago I was in HongKong for a week just by myself. I had a blast but would it have been nicer to share that escapade with someone familiar?

I met new people on that trip and did things I had never done before. I love travelling and it is one of the reasons why starting a lifestyle business was a brilliant model. The thing is, if I can make friends who also have time to be lazy on Tuesdays for happy coffee and random sun baking escapades, that is probably a good 'new friend barometer' check right there! Oh and hopefully of course what they do for money is generally not frowned upon by law!

On the real, though, I personally don't have many of these friends but I found that this is a good time for me to reflect inwards and to focus on my personal growth. If you are new into this game, this could be a good time to spend with a business mentor, perhaps meet other like-minded people in your local community, go deep into nature or maybe just hang out on social media platforms and engage and find out the latest buzz like who got a cat! Seriously the point here is, have a lot of choices in your back pocket that you can go crazy with and if you have bucket list ideas all figured out, check them off weekly without fail.

Family:

Family is very dear to me and I would imagine it's the same for you too. Perhaps, much so that you are making this decision to escape the 9-5 and really start learning new ways to make money outside the voluntary solitary confinement space (also known as office cubicle). One of my reasons for choosing this journey was my family. To be more available to them and to enhance my own life experiences. To fill those experiences with what I really want anytime I wanted it. The one thing I encountered and you probably might as well, those we love and care for dearly may not understand the new you. These moments may not be as dramatic such as waving placards in protest but you will see it vividly.

Remember how our minds don't like change?

It's not their fault and they are probably coming from a place of love for you. Embrace the response you get with love and remember your bigger mission. I had lots of strange conversations with people I love and would have like to be speaking a foreign language at the time. That way being misunderstood would have been spot on. Then one day I realised, they weren't really saying they disliked my new outlook on life and crazy ideas like giving up a six-figure income.

They were just saying, "We don't understand how to process this new information". Please show us how. You might also take consolation in the fact that how well you manage this close relationship is a reflection of how you will do 'out there' where the World is short of people like you and me, people who are lost in self-indulgence and totally unconscious of their daily actions will not understand you either!

Remember, training takes time. That's what it took for me until they somewhat understood. If you are lucky enough to get the all in response from them, great, if not, give them time and if need be, add the space element to it as well. Be kind to yourself.

At the time, I was on a roller coaster going through a myriad of changes both personal and business that required me to be very present. My first business was in an industry I did not know at all, the physical surroundings were not very familiar (I will discuss this in a later post) and a pending divorce as a result of a strained long-distance relationship. Now, this was a lot of action in one headspace!

In Summary

Your circumstances may be a little different from mine for wanting to come this way and choosing this journey. As you go along, it's reasonable to expect moments where you will be tried and tested by fate. Things will happen that will be out of your comfort zone or out of your control and sometimes both.

In the end, I find that clarity on my why I do what I do sails me through choppy waters. I embrace whatever comes my way with love. Answers to what I don't know come in the right time. I keep the bigger mission clear in my mind. Creating a life where I can live on my own terms is not free, there's a price to be paid.

Another really important thing to have a solid business system. I found my answer with the six-figure mentors. They have a step-by-step business system that shows you how to leverage the Internet and start your very own online business. What's, even more, is that if your goal is to start your own business say around your passion, the business skills you will learn are second to none. From experience with my first 2 ventures as a newbie without a mentor, I would recommend every new entrepreneur make getting a mentor, their number one priority. Looking at how I started my entrepreneurial journey, this was my single most expensive mistake up until today as I write this.

Final Thought

Along the way somewhere, I realised that I needed to give up the idea of perfection and get cosy with uncertainty about what will be tomorrow and experience some discomfort today because of the things that I don't know yet. I experience more growth as I continue to operate in that mental space. All I have to do TODAY is take to take the next best action. This post is unusually long so if you are still reading, I sincerely thank you. I hope you found some value in there. Feel free to share this post with someone else who will enjoy reading through the ideas and insights I have shared.

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Four Essential Reasons to Use Digital Marketing

The innovation of modern technologies has brought some interesting changes in every sphere of human lives. In such situations, businesses of no matter what size are trying their level best to keep up with this modified society. After years of research, business owners have realized that the only way by which they could keep up with this fast-changing era is if they invest their efforts in implementing digital marketing strategies.

In the modern times, almost every one of us has heard about digital marketing because this exceptional notion has managed to earn widespread recognition throughout the world. But how many of us really know what it is all about? Digital Marketing, also known as Online or Internet Marketing, is a wide term used to promote one's brand or services through the varied virtual channels, in order to reach a larger segment of the population. It has quite successfully replaced the traditional methods of promotion like print ads in newspapers or advertisements through television and radios.

Now that we know what digital marketing is, it is time to think that why must we use this technique. In the following discussion, we explore the reasons of using digital marketing.

Why Should You Engage In Digital Marketing?

1) In the present times, almost everyone uses the internet. Hence, if you want to reach your targeted audience and engage them, you have to do so through digitalized methods.

2) Almost every one of us tends to believe whatever is written on the internet. Thus, it is quite clear that digital reviews matter. Hence, if your brand gets some positive comments in the virtual world, you would most certainly get more loyal customers on that basis.

3) Recent research has shown that most of the consumers want brands that are reliable, companies that have a good reputation online, contents that are relevant and personalized and special offers that are custom-built to suit their needs and expectations. Well, digital marketing allows you to do just that.

4) This kind of marketing offers an analytics that is crucial for your ongoing strategies. Since, this promotional methods uses advanced tactics, you can easily comprehend what your consumers want and what they do not.

These are the four vital reasons for which more and more business owners are engaging in digital marketing. If you want maximum brand exposure, to increase sales and drive utmost traffic, you would need this technique and there is no doubt about it.

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One (Senior) Internet Marketing beginners experience

“Once upon a time I couldn’t even spell ‘Social Media Marketer’, now I are one”.

As I approached my 70^th birthday I recognised that something had to change. Having been retired for 7 years and feeling myself stagnating, I was in dire need of some stimulation and a challenge (not to mention some extra cash).

Several years ago, whilst in work, I dabbled with Internet Marketing but, frankly I did not have the right mindset to make a success of it at the time. All sorts of excuses were used to justify my lack of progress but in the end it was clear that I had become stuck in my own little pool of inactivity.

In an attempt to resolve this situation I attended a three day ‘Bootcamp’ in Brighton (Oct 2016) and was captivated by a number of the presentations which were light years ahead of those I saw back then.

One, in particular, stood out for me and it was to do with Social Media. I have two grown up children who use Facebook & Twitter incessantly (as well as Whatsapp amongst others) and frankly I was both bemused and dismissive of it all until I heard Paul OMahonys exhilarating talk at the show.

My reason for attending was principally that I was looking to develop a worthwhile activity which could not only provide some income but also give me the mental stimulus that I so badly needed.

Although I knew enough about the topic to realise that this is the way of ‘the future’ when I heard what Paul had to say it became clear that the potential/opportunity was even more vast than I had ever envisaged.

My mentor, Paul OMahony is one of the leading International experts in this field and has a bankroll to prove it. His collaboration with the top Marketers in the world has enabled him to produce a programme which is clear, thorough and comprehensive in its delivery.

Having only recently joined his online course I have to say the level of support is impressive, (which is just as well as my speed of picking up the intricacies of the internet is somewhat slower than that of your average 10 year old). Nevertheless, I am pleased with the steady progress I have made with the patient help of the team in his office, it is not claimed that success will be achieved overnight and participants are encouraged to plan well ahead setting realistic targets which are reachable within an appropriate timescale.

As far as the course itself is concerned I have access to a community website with a Helpdesk accessible 24/7 as well as 2 x monthly Skype calls with my personal mentor and a One-to-one meeting once a month with the man himself. The path to setting up a profitable business is clearly outlined and if followed diligently will enable even the most inexperienced participant towards a successful outcome.

There are also costs involved, although, if looked at as an investment in your future, they are relatively small. The risk factor in my experience is not extreme and is largely dependent on the level of commitment to the 'setting-up' programme, As with most things in life it is what you make of it and the criteria (at least on the programme I am on) is clearly laid out before you commit and from the very beginning the level of support is exceptional.

Don’t get me wrong there is a lot to learn and some of the terminology is a bit baffling to begin with but as I’ve already said the back-up support helpline is pretty much immediate and very thorough, above all I am finding it an enjoyable and stimulating challenge and I have made working contact with others of similar experience who share the same issues,fears and pressures and are happy to cooperate, sharing successful responses to any problems that may arise.

I am three months into a year long programme designed to build a profitable online business which I aim to pass on to my children / grandchildren. I have now gained a sense of purpose and feel as though once again I'm doing something worthwhile.

Suffice to say, I’ve got my ‘zip’ back again! Watch this space.

4 Tips for Effective Emails

Just like social media, email marketing has become a staple in how businesses drive sales and retain customers. Creating an effective email marketing campaign can result in significant increases in sales, retention, and customer satisfaction. Follow these four tips to start sending effective emails today:

Catchy Subject Lines

Just like a gatekeeper can block a person from getting to their intended recipient, a weak subject line may prevent your email from being opened. Think about it: the subject line is the first thing that the recipient will see. First and foremost: make sure you're consistent with your brand. If you tend to have more of a humorous approach to your communications, then keep your email subject line light. If you're all business, then keep the subject buttoned-up. While there's no silver bullet to creating a catchy subject line, consider some of the following ideas: 

• Ask a Question: "Is your business getting the most out of social media?" The idea here is that the recipient will have to open the email to find out.
• Mention a mutual connection: "John Doe told me to reach out." A personal connection is always a sure-fire way to grab someone's attention.
• Tell them what's inside: "New Updates to your platform inside!" This will make the recipient want to open your email to find out.
• Use actionable language: "Catch a pass from Tom Brady!" wins over something like "Local Sports Hero Visiting." It helps the reader visualize actually being there.

Think about the kind of language that piques your interests and gets you to open an email, and always keep it short and sweet.

Get Right to the Point

Think about how you read your emails. Most email is scanned beginning with the subject line and preview pane, and not read in its entirety at all. Don't inundate the beginning of your emails with an over-abundance of images, icons, and introductory language. Instead, use that space to get to point of your email. If have images and other related copy, put it after the primary point at the beginning, and then restate it at the end.

Personalize

This works in two primary ways. If you have the recipients first name, use it in your introductory line. Something as simple as "Hi John," goes a long way. Many email marketing platforms such as MailChimp and Constant Contact have tools that automatically fill in your contacts first name in your emails blasts. Then, if you have a working relationship, following with a friendly greeting is a great way to truly personalize the message. Something as simple as "It was great speaking with you last week!" goes a long way as well.

Add Value

These days, everyone gets inundated with emails day-in, day-out. Before you send your email, think about what sets your email apart from others. By and large, people join email lists not only to learn more about their interests but also to receive something of value just for being signed up. Think of your email list as something of a VIP club and try to treat your subscribers as such. If you're sending a sales-related email, consider including an exclusive deal for your email subscribers. If it's an update to existing customers, try to give them something they can use - helpful tips and tricks, tools, or first access to new features.

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Where Do You Start With Email Marketing?

Nobody ever says "I wish I could receive more emails". So when somebody signs up to receive emails from you they are giving you very special permission to send them information.

Email marketing is about making real connections with real people who want to hear from you. As they receive your messages, they'll grow more attached to your brand, engage with your content and be much more likely to buy from you.

So where do you start with email marketing?

1. Determine Your Objective

What do you want email marketing to accomplish for you? Do you want to increase sales for your product or service? Do you want to develop relationships with subscribers? How will it fit with your overall marketing strategy?

2. Identify Your Ideal Subscriber

Your can't sell everything to everyone so the more focused you are your ideal subscriber, the easier it will be to connect to that individual. What problems can your product or service solve for them? How can you make their life easier or more comfortable?

3. How Will You Get Email Addresses?

You can't use email marketing if you don't have any email addresses to send your messages. The most common way to build a list of addresses is via an email opt-in form on your website. Or you can direct prospects to a specific landing page where they are offered something for free, like a report or eBook, in exchange for their email address.

4. What Are You Going To Email Them?

A lot of businesses know that they need email marketing to develop their business, but get stuck trying to decide what type of content to send their subscribers.There is a whole variety of options. You can send welcome emails when somebody joins your email list, educational emails about your niche or industry, newsletters, e-courses and, of course, promotional emails where you're offering products for sale.

5. How Often Should Use Email Marketing?

There's no one right or wrong answer for how often you should send emails. If you've got nothing of value to say via email, then don't send an email. If you send an email every day for two weeks then wait three weeks before sending the next one, your subscribers may have forgotten about you. Remain consistent. If you email once per week, stick to that schedule and ensure that every email you send provides value to your subscriber.

You have to give your prospects something of value in exchange for their email address. And if you're offering a boring, 'seen it all before' report that doesn't address your visitor's problems with any urgency, they won't be enticed to give you their email details.

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Ways to Improve Your Digital Marketing Strategies for 2017

As we have recently begun the new year, the opportunity has already come and gone to arrange our promoting technique of the year. Before drawing out an arrangement there are few upcoming patterns to be looked upon keeping in mind the end goal to make a successful plan to pull in the group of onlookers.

Roles of Videos:

Videos have turned out to be extremely famous in the late years which has a considerable measure of engagement and perspectives yet in 2017, advertisers shouldn't concentrate on a video yet rather concentrate on a live spilling video. The live video stream can be utilised by advertisers in different courses as in by catching an occasion or new item or a place, and so on as per the enthusiasm of your objective individuals. Live video streams will be in pattern this year since it is not any more costly than a pre-recorded video. It will increase high significance this year as it is a practical method.

"Purchase or Buy" Catches:

Web-based social networking "Purchase or Buy" Catches are the ones which permit a client to purchase online by tapping the catch in a web-based social networking. Despite the fact that there are a couple Purchase buttons officially existing in the web-based social networking, there is very little mindfulness among the online customers and furthermore they don't favour purchasing on clicking it as the items recorded are less. By posting huge items in online networking, this apparatus would be an extraordinary achievement this year.

Customise Information:

The progression in innovation has prompted to a gathering of the client's information which would be useful in framing a client profile with the way of their employment, age, sex, region, interests, and so on. In the present year advancement ought to be more engaged by their own profile. Prescient investigation can help the shopping procedure in a much quicker pace. Thus depending more upon the information would be extremely valuable in making a successful advertising methodology.

Personalise the Quality Content:

As there is huge content on the web, individuals wouldn't concentrate much on every last bit of it. Yet, with a specific end goal to make the substance significantly more successful, the substance ought to be customised by the objective gathering. With the individual profile information accessible, substance ought to be made appealing as in trademarks, subtitles, online journals, and so on which ought to mix their advantage.

It is All about Mobile, Mobile:

As indicated by the present situation, everything has turned out to be helpful. Individuals aren't keen on conveying a portable PC or lean toward being before a desktop rather they pick a Cell phone. Any business ought to center advertising in the cell phone. Be it a substantial substance or a little one, it ought to be alluring to the portable clients and furthermore easy to use applications ought to be created to get the best benefit.

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It's Never Too Late To Start A New Beginning

Do you think you're too old or too inexperienced to start your own online business? Success has nothing to do with age. Or experience. It has everything to do with determination and faith in yourself.

When you first start your own internet business, it can be frightening and even seem impossible, no matter what age you are or experience you have. It's the old dilemma about how can you get experience without having experience. But, when you start your own online business, you can make your own experience and prove your expertise with just a little work.

Why An Internet Business?

The number of people buying products and services online is growing every year. This increase in online spending being moved from conventional offline stores to the internet has produced an incredible opportunity for people of all ages and experience. The set up costs are low, the learning curve is quick and you can pretty much build a profitable internet business without any previous experience.

Start With A Business Plan

First, you need a clear business plan. You have to know what you're going to sell and who you're going to sell it to. These are all things that you can learn how to do. You don't even have to develop your own products and services. You can sell items that have been created by other people and they'll pay you a commission for every sale you make.

Build A Website (It's Not As Difficult As You Think)

You may be worried about the technological side of an online business. But there's plenty of help out there if you simply take the time to find it. If you can use a search engine to find something on the internet and send an email, then you're ready to go.There are forums and blogs, websites and videos which can bolster your faith in yourself and help you build a website much quicker than you think. If you do find it too complicated, you can outsource the whole thing for a very reasonable cost.

Provide Useful Content For Your Audience

You don't have to be an expert to start your own online business. You just have to know a little more than your target market and be willing to do some work learn more. On your website, provide your audience with content discussing the problems that your audience have and how you can help solve them. It's a great way to get traffic to your website and it's also a great way to demonstrate your knowledge.

Be Yourself

Set yourself apart from other marketers and stop telling yourself you don't have a chance. People have different styles. Everyone has an audience who will relate to the way that they conduct their business. Remember that people by from people they know, like and trust. Believe in yourself and your audience will believe in you too.

Regardless of your age, education, technical skills or qualifications there are no specific requirements for starting your own online business. But you might feel that you're too old, too young or too inexperienced. Take look at the 5 steps every online entrepreneur will need to take when creating a business on the internet:

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The UAE Business Directory - A Goldmine for Marketers

The UAE business directory is truly a goldmine for online marketers, as it is a targeted list for direct marketing communication via email, SMS and/ or phone. This database is so well structured and so simple to use, that it will suit all your wants.

It will make it 100x easier for you to reach out to a large number of companies and individuals with just one click.

A comprehensive list of businesses and companies in the GCC, the Dubai Marketing Database includes all possible sectors, from automobile and fashion to engineering and tourism.

The email marketing databases are of different types:

1. Emirates wise firm database: So you can choose according to your preferred geographical location.
2. Sector wise UAE database: You can see companies only from your aimed sector in the UAE.
3. GCC sector wise database: You can see companies only from your aimed sector in the GCC.
4. Dubai Healthcare Directory: All hospital and clinic contact information is combined in this database.
5. UAE malls: All the malls from biggest to smallest are present in this list.
6. Nationality wise database: based on the nationality of the owner of the company. You can select according to your nationality so you don't feel like a fish out of water in your workplace.

The information in the databases include:

• Names of the companies/ people
• HR email ID's
• Vacancy page URL
• Registration page URL
• Website URL, etc

How this database will help you:

For Candidates Searching For Jobs- it will give you a direct list of all the companies you want. This is time saving because the contact information is right in front of you.

Businesses can use it for marketing of products as well as services and gain clients.

Considering UAE has amongst the highest disposable incomes in the world, luxury products and services can be marketed to companies as well as individuals.

B2B (business-to-business) marketing is marketing of products to businesses or other companies for raw materials to use in the production of goods, for other general purposes like direct use, or for resale to the final consumers (wholesalers to retailers). Even services can be marketed to other businesses.

B2B marketing can be done by companies in the UAE to companies in the UAE or by companies in the other parts of the world to companies in the UAE.

B2C (business-to-consumer) marketing is done by companies dealing directly with the end user or consumer of the product or service.

The UAE Business Directory Is The Only Resource You Will Ever Need For Your Email Marketing in UAE. Being continuously updated, it is always fresh and accurate. Quality data provided to you by the best Professional CV Writers in Dubai.

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Guides To Make Money Online

If someone were to ask you what the #1 'secret' to making money online was, what would you say?

Any guesses?  Maybe you'd say it's to find a starving crowd. Or to build and nurture a list. Or to get in on the beginning of a hot new trend. All of these are good answers.

And all of these are wrong.

THE big secret to making money online is one that crosses all niches, applies to all markets and marketers, and works just about every single time to make REAL money.  It's how six and seven figure incomes are almost always earned. And it's also how YOU can begin earning 6 figures in the next 12 months.

Now then - before I reveal this 'secret,' let me warn you that you might have heard it before.

In fact, some online marketers have to hear this a dozen times or more before it really starts to sink in.

That's because the most powerful techniques often masquerade as something a bit boring. Or tedious. Or uninteresting.

After all, taking a wheelbarrow full of cash to the bank is exciting. Earning it is often something altogether different.

Ready?  Here's the 'secret... '  "Find a profitable formula - and then SCALE it up."  Yup. That's it. Pretty simple, I know. Yet 98% of marketers will never do it. And 97% of marketers will stay broke because of it.

Let's say you spend time making the perfect product for a super hungry niche. You tweak the offer to get it converting sky high. You bring on affiliates to help you promote. Everything is in place. You launch, you have an extremely profitable week...... and then what?

For most marketers, they will turn their attention to creating the next product and doing the entire process again. And because of that, they will leave a tremendous amount of money on the table.

If your offer sells for $19 and you're converting at 5%, then you're making $95 for every 100 people you send to your site. This doesn't even include the list you're building and will market to over and over again.

Now then, if you can buy those 100 visitors for $40, you've just make a profit of $55. Buy 1,000 visitors and you've made $550.  Buy 10,000 visitors and you've made $5,500. But wait, there's more!

What if you add a backend product? Just one sale per 100 visitors of a $100 product increases your profit from $55 to $155.  10,000 visitors? $15,500 profit.

You can also add coaching, continuity (membership) programs, etc. for even more profit.

Are you following me here?  Let's use an analogy: Someone invests 3 months to open a hair salon. They have a big grand opening with lots of customers. And when that dies down, they close shop, move across town and do it all over again.

Yeah, that would be pretty crazy.  Yet that's what 98% of online marketers do.  They create a product, launch it, have a great week and then start all over again. 

And they wonder why they are still struggling.

So what's the takeaway?  Invest time in building a profitable, high-converting funnel. Test it out and do the math - how much can you spend on advertising and still make money?

Start by investing small and ramp your way up. Don't forget to build your list - your funnel is your upfront money, and your list is your "go to" money. That is, whenever you need funds or simply want to boost your income, you can go to your list and make them an offer.

What will derail you in this process:  Getting lured away by the glamour of creating another new product funnel when you should be scaling up the one you already have.

· Fear of spending money to make money. Yes, spending $1000 or more to make sales is scary. That's why you want to start small, make sure your entire funnel is working, and then scale up. And up. And Up. Your biggest mistake - would be brushing this advice off. 

Fortunes have been made simply by creating a profitable funnel and then scaling it up.

FORTUNES.

As in nearly 7 figures made from one ClickBank product...Per MONTH.  That's right - 6 Pack Abs at the pinnacle of its success was earning over $11 million per year. Your results will vary.

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Internet Marketing For Beginners - 13 Tips For Massive Traffic

Tips To Succeed In A Network Marketing Business

I was thinking of making the title "How To Succeed In Business" because perhaps these tips could be applied to any business and not just in network marketing (or MLM). Business is business right? I am going to write and see if perhaps I come up with something unique to network marketing... if I do maybe I will rewrite a little... but in the mean time...

Have Your Own Brand

The first step to succeeding in business is to have your own brand. If you are Joe, the XYZ distributor, you are promoting the XYZ company. Create your own brand... perhaps Joe Smith, Network Marketing Coach, or Joe Smith Company; something to differentiate yourself from all the other distributors in your company.

Add Value

If you are just "You can buy from me too", you are adding no value. You must add some sort of value. For instance, a while back we made great looking baskets and sold them as a product. By reorganizing the product the way we did, we added value to the product.

If you do home delivery, write books, consult with other network marketers; you are adding value. Perhaps extras that you could charge for. The extras are definitely what customers want, otherwise they will just go for the lowest cost product the closest to home.

Have Your Own Product

In network marketing, we typically represent a company and its products but... we could potentially have our own product, such as a recipe book that features our products (for instance). We have our own "Attraction Marketing" or "Black Box Recruiting" site, which is a service that is free, but it counts as a product itself. You could also consider our blog a product. Brainstorm to see what kinds of products you could offer to your customers or to others who might join your business.

Consider Your Image

Image is very important in business. Having your own business name. Positioning yourself as an expert. Being uniquely an expert in something is even better. Having a resume that people want to be associated with. Not necessarily a Word resume, but accomplishments that you can point to. If you do not have accomplishments that would relate, you can build lists of accomplishments over time.

Avoid negative things that could tarnish your image. Treat your customers right. Do not do illegal or unethical things. Be prepared for challenges and consider your options carefully.

Make The Numbers Important

While all of the above are foundations of a good business, the numbers are your measurement of success. Most importantly profit. Profit is your businesses revenue (income) less expenses. Without profit... at some point... no business can survive.

Cash flow is also an important measurement. While sales is great (or commissions), keeping cash in your business is life or death. Often we sell on credit, i.e. we invoice somebody, and if they take too long to pay that can be extremely stressful. If we run out of money, we are out of business.

We can improve cash flow by selling at a certain margin. Margin is the price sold less cost, divided by price sold... usually provided in percentage form. For instance, an item that costs $10 sold at $15 has a 50% margin. Many items are bought, or manufactured, at a very low cost and sold at a margin of 100% or more. The higher the margin, the better. Especially when you get to the point of having to cover a slow paying customer.

For instance, you sell to a customer for $10,000 monthly at 100% margin. That means your cost is $5,000. If they pay in 30 days, once they have paid the first time you have two month's worth of cost covered. So your business survives for two months before you need more cash (for example purposes only because we are not considering other expenses). If your margin is lower, you have more risk of running into cash flow issues; if higher, you have less risk. Your optimal margin is something that is different business to business.

Now if you are only earning commissions, margin does not mean much, you just need to keep your commissions well above your business expenses.

If you are using an accounting package like QuickBooks, you will want to keep an eye on your profit/loss statement and your cash flow statement.

Adapted from an article on The SplashPlan Blog at http://splashplan.net.

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How Your Life Experiences Can Benefit Your MLM Business

"Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do" - Pele. 

Life experiences are a built-in encyclopedia of situations learned and burned into the mind. You may want to tap into it as situations arise in your MLM business. So, this brings us to the question: How your life experiences can benefit your business? We will get to that question and explore how you can apply your past experiences to your current objectives.

Your life experience can pay off big in your MLM business...
Now that you own an MLM business, you're probably wondering if your previous experiences can help you chart out a course for lifelong success. It can help you achieve your goals, in almost every business, life experiences are transferable. There are repetitive events that are so similar, the only differences are the timing and place of the event itself. If you have experience in the retail industry, especially with customers. You can use your experiences to work with your prospects. You'll have an edge up on others that are just starting out in this industry.

Everyone has dealt with stressful points in their careers before moving into the MLM business industry. How did you deal with the stress in your last career or job? Maybe you had a routine set up to deal with the pent-up frustration. You could apply your knowledge in stress management in a series of blogs or marketing content for others. As you think about your experiences, can you develop them into marketing material for your business? In this business, you're here to help others on their journey as either as a new team member or as a consumer looking to improve their health or fitness aspects.

Applying Life Experiences to Business goals and Achieving Results

Your life experiences can mean the difference for someone out there right now. What you have experienced is different than others. However, everyone is built differently in the learning aspect. Perhaps you can shed some light on a subject matter that others could not. You have a treasure chest of knowledge and you must use it to help others gain traction in life. Your business goals may be designed from your life experiences in mind. Perhaps a goal could mean improving the way that you market to new prospects. You have gained experienced already in marketing unless you're just starting out. Your mistakes are good points to improve upon for this goal.






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5 Incredibly Effective Digital Marketing Strategies That Most Marketers Are Too Afraid To Try

What are you doing to embrace and tackle marketing industry changes? Are you afraid to try new things? Or are you fearless?

One of the reasons I am so passionate about the marketing industry is the anticipation of changes, and ability to experiment with new marketing tactics and efforts.

Taking chances is often what separates top marketing professionals from novices. But how can you separate fads from educated risks? Take a look at the top strategies I’ve identified that most marketers might deem risky, may not be aware of, or not fully understand.

These are risks, yes, but they are risks that are worth taking.

1. Switch from outbound to content marketing -  In the past, it was enough to highlight your product or service and the hundreds of fantastic features and capabilities. These days, you have to add value to your brand and product/service with content that teaches and establishes you as a thought leader and an expert. Why should your customers believe in what you’re selling?

It might scare you to switch to an inbound format that teaches and nurtures your prospects. How will they know what you offer, you ask? How will we sell and generate leads without pushing our product? Content marketing can be scary to adopt because it relies on your expertise and puts the ball in your prospects court.

In contrast, content marketing is shown to drive more traffic and leads than outbound marketing. According to Demandmetric content marketing generates as many as three times more leads than outbound marketing.

2. Interactive content -  As content marketing rises in popularity, pushing through the clutter is becoming more and more difficult for all of us. But even though we know we must differentiate ourselves from the pack, we can be hesitant to make our basic content more interactive and exciting.

Interactive content can draw more attention to your messaging while increasing your engagement on powerful social media sites. Quizzes, ROI calculators and interactive infographics can help you convey your brand’s story in a more dynamic fashion.

As a bonus, eye-catching, interactive, fun content can draw the attention or industry publications in addition to attracting prospects. As a result, you can extend your reach and continue driving traffic and high quality links to your site and blog.

3. Embrace up-and-coming social media channels -  While there remains a place for LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, new social media channels will allow you to reach consumers in new and exciting ways. Additionally, new channels allow you to explore more creative methods of telling your stories and conveying who you are.

Snapchat, Instant Articles on Facebook, and Instagram Stories provide companies and even professionals a channel to experiment and target specific groups and audiences. As a bonus, new and exciting social media channels are often a great place to promote the interactive content discussed above.

4. Developing content for real people, not algorithms  -  As a marketer, you may have gotten in the habit of developing and creating content that will highlight your company, blog, business or ideas at the top of the search engines.

These days you’ve got to step out of your box and think about your content in the context of your reader’s desires, fears, worries and needs.

Creating content that is displayed in front of thousands of sets of eyes is no longer enough to set you apart. Instead, readers expect real ideas that are well written and display complex and interesting ideas and thoughts.

While SEO is still very important, don’t be afraid to put your audience and their needs and wants first and consider your page rank secondarily.

Instead of using keywords to draw more traffic from search engines and their algorithms, use keywords to highlight your points and draw readers in by providing information that is valuable to your audience.

5. Reuse and repurpose your top content  -  Even your loyal readers may not see your content initially. It could take several touches and multiple channels to get through to them. Try reposting your top blog posts with refreshed titles or new visuals.

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