Business Focus Group

Business Networking - What you should never do

PREPARATION

1- Decide what your objectives are and write it down on a clean sheet of paper. There is nothing worse than to appear on a networking event without having a clear business goal. Others will discover quickly that you are rather vague and don’t want to interact with you if you don’t prepare this basic step. Let’s say, you want to increase your contacts in the real estate branche because you want to increase your business opportunities as a real estate broker.

2- Write down the three groups that could be relevant for you. Anything more will cause you to lose focus, so keep it to a maximum of 3.
- People who buy houses
- Project developers
- Insurance agents

3- Decide what you are going to wear (it should match the business audience) and make sure you have one distinct item that makes you stand out from the crowd. I usually wear a bright yellow tie which is an excellent topic for an ice-breaker and follow up discussions. “Remember me? I was the guy with the yellow tie”. Ensure you bring your business cards, 50 or more so you look prepared and don’t run out. Also you have plenty to give some more to people to distribute to others.

4- Repeat your 1 minute intro pitch with a great opening sentence that makes you stand out from the crowd.

Instead of “I am a real estate broker” say “I am helping others to stay dry and warm.” or say “I work with mortar and bricks”.

THE EVENT
Usually held in a grand hotel or in an exhibition place where people can mingle and have conversations. If you are on your own, you may find a little lost in the beginning. The worst thing to do is to start attacking multiple people randomly, just to look busy. Instead, stay cool, have a conversation with the business receptionists and observe who else is there.

Be on time but not the first person to arrive. You are not desperate!

Nobody is talking to you yet? No panic, you stand out by being cool and attract others easily this way. Make a phone call, walk around, study an object in the room. Again, never look lost or desperate.

Buffets are great by the way. Just make sure to stay close to the place where people get food which could be an easy conversation starter for you. It’s amazing how much people love to talk about food! Put small portions on your plate so you can go back multiple times.

Remember your target groups and find the right people. If the person you are talking with is not in your target group, end the conversation politely and move on. No need to give away your business card. Your time here is limited and you want to meet as many people as you can to follow up with later.

Of course you can talk to friends and people you already know but ensure to move on quickly to meet new people.

Ok, you found the right conversation partner. Have a little small talk and try to keep the initiative. After the small talk, come to the point quickly by asking what the other person is doing. Be genuinely interested. There is nothing worse as talking to a person who seems to wait until you have ‘finished your thing’ so be aware of it in your own approach.

“I am working with bricks and mortar” - “How is that, you don’t look like a construction worker” - Smiles - “That’s right, to be precise, I am in the business of real estate trading and here to meet more people interested in the same topic. How about you.”

...and so on… Get the point?

After having exchanged the information it is already time to move on. ALWAYS thank the other person for the good conversation and state that you would like her business card to keep in touch. Exchange cards at the end of the conversation and make sure to look the other person in the eyes when exchanging cards!

The impact of this simple habit can never be overestimated. They will remember you!

Leave the venue at the right time. When you are satisfied to have met the people you wanted to meet. Don’t go back to look for romance or friends, it is not worth it and damaging to your reputation. Believe me, I have made these mistakes and paid dearly for it so take my advice and go home. No need to stay until the very end. Business done - time to go.

FOLLOW UP

Your follow-up starts as soon as you leave the venue. Quickly review your new business cards on the way back and remember something special about the person from the card. The glasses, the hairstyle, the way they spoke. Whatever it is, it will help avoid embarrassing encounters later on when you struggle to recognize the persons name again on another event.

At home, use a card scanner or other scanner to quickly store the information acquired. Within 1 day, send a quick thankyou note to the people you met and 2 business days later, call the persons you would like to have a further conversation with. Don’t be afraid, they will be happy for the attention they get from you. If you can’t reach a person, no panic. Call back in a weeks time and if there is still no answer let it go. Maybe you will meet him or her on the next event.

By the way, once you start networking, it is a good idea to keep it ut for a while. Make sure to show up at multiple networking events in a short amount of time. To kick-start your business, decide on a solid period of networking events for let’s say 3 months with at least 1 networking event per week. This puts you in the flow, and people will start to recognize you and understand what you are all about.

That’s all. I love networking events and always have a lot of fun at the same time. It is great to meet new entrepreneurs and even greater to be able to help others to grow.

Franchise Entrepreneurs - Buying Yourself a Job?

A Franchise Opportunity - What Is This Exactly?

The best way to describe a franchise is to imagine it as a business that is delivered to you in a box at a certain cost and after approval. When you open the box, you will find marketing materials, contract templates, business plan templates. In short, everything you need to get legally started with a business, usually in an exclusive territory where only you can operate and sell.

Why Are Franchises Popular?

Franchises are popular. Research was conducted by the International Federation Association and the National Franchise Association recently. In 2005, there were about 850.000 franchises operating in the U.S. alone in which around 10 million people are employed. Sales volume accounts for about 40% of all retail sales with around $1.5 billion.
At this point, I do not really know if there is any business left that has not been using the franchise model already. You can find restaurant franchises, cleaning services and even dental practices. Most popular franchise categories still seem to be the restaurant, deli and sandwich franchises.
Franchises all have a couple of things in common that makes them attractive to potential business owners:

1. Fast start up utilizing a working marketing system;
2. Peace of mind because it has been proven to work already;
3. Exclusive territory (in most cases).

There are known disadvantages as well. For example, a lot of franchise companies do not give the level of support they promise. Some of them can be overly strict with their branding and marketing requirements, which may be disappointing for a creative entrepreneur. And there is obviously the work pressure, especially when operating a franchise that requires staff as well.

Cost and Benefit Analysis - Quick Overview

Costs
The convenience and peace of mind comes at a certain price. Let's look at some typical startup fees.
The average investment level is around $250,000 excluding real estate. This is the average investment requirement for about 80% of the franchises.
A typical example is Rising Roll sandwiches who requests a total capital investment of $300,000 and a net worth requirement of $500,000.
So called low cost franchises can start with a capital investment typically in the range from $15,000 - $40,000.
A typical example is a video business card distributorship that comes at a cost of around $15,000.

Benefits
No exact figures are known but I found the following indications based upon figures researched by the International Franchise Association. They found that the annual gross income for a typical franchise ranges between $75,000 - $125,000 (before taxes).
With an investment level of let's say $250,000 you can expect a pay back time of around 3 years.
It is clear that becoming a franchisee requires cash to sustain yourself and the business in the first years. It also requires some sustained hard work to get the business off the ground so to speak.

Franchise Entrepreneurs - Are You Capable

An survey among Franchisors (by Franchise 500 and published in Entrepreneur Magazine Jan 2007) has revealed they are looking for the following characteristics in a person to be considered to become a successful franchisee.

1 - People Skills

94% of the franchisors that were interviewed mentioned this to be a key skill. Not really a surprise. Even if you do not have staff, to move goods in most industries, you need at least some communication skills.

2 - Coaching

If you are unwilling to learn or accept proven formulas and methods it is very unlikely that you will become successful. Reinventing the wheel is not what makes franchisees successful. A view shared by around 87% of franchisors that were surveyed.

3 - General Business Skills

This is an interesting one. The percentage agreeing with general business skills being a requirement to become successful is 86%. Interesting because you would expect proven methods and systems to be in place already. Not so. In order to make it all happen, you need to study financial information, cash flow, balance sheets on a regular basis. You need to make decisions on your own regarding additional investment, marketing strategies, staff and so on.

4 - Access to Capital

If you do not have any money to get your business off the ground, it's better not to start at all. Careful planning is the key combined with a preparedness to live a frugal lifestyle for years to come.

Conclusion
Buying a franchise is a popular thing to do nowadays but it never appealed to me. It always felt like buying your own job. The amount of investment combined with the amount of work to put in simply does not match with my personal lifestyle. I would rather invest a bit less and work less hours but with a much faster pay back time.
There are still plenty of opportunities with proven track records over a couple of years that are suitable for lifestyle entrepreneurs and that will generate good income for years to come.

-- Marius is full-time Lifestyle Entrepreneur. Helping others to become successful. Used to be a successful business development executive in IT industry. Already helped many people finding their path in life with concrete jobs, opportunities and contacts.
Do not miss our FREE weekly newsletter at www.lifestyle-entrepreneur.net

link

Expat Entrepreneur - Do You Have What It Takes

Expat entrepreneurs live a certain lifestyle that allows them to be at home in a foreign country so to speak. There are different reasons why people move abroad. Retirement, health reasons, family, the climate, the career of the other half for example. I have been living abroad for longer periods in my life and I have always enjoyed it. For me, being a Dutchman living in foreign countries has always been good. We meet each other in the so called expat communities and find ways to support each other on may occasions. This really is an article based upon my own experiences and observations.

Expat Entrepreneurs Categories

I have been observing quite a few people who moved abroad initially for job reasons. If they are not diplomats who are automatically rotated to next destinations, they usually end up in three categories after the expat contract has come to an end.
1. Accept a regular job
Usually, this happens if they get roots in their new country and need to make a living. Continuing the profession they had is the easiest way to keep themselves going in the host country. Big disadvantage usually is the drop in salary, bonuses and other nice perks that come with an expatriate contract. Life is all about choice.
2. Go back or move on
If they do not have roots in the host country, they are likely to move on again. Either to another location on another expatriate contract or they might simply go back to where they came from.
3. Become self employed
If you like to be in a foreign country and have saved up some cash from your expatriate assignment, becoming an entrepreneur is a very attractive option. Most of these entrepreneurs tend to choose something they can take with them should they decide to move on. Also, because they are not completely local or might not speak the language, they typically benefit from globalization allowing them to plug in from anywhere in the world.
This way, you can set up your own company, provide a service or sell products, make a good living and still keep your options open. I am obviously situated in this category and I love it!
I found the mindset of getting started in a foreign country and becoming an entrepreneur are not that dissimilar. They are both pioneers so to speak.

Typical Expat Entrepreneur Activities

Expat Entrepreneurs often do something that provides them with an experience and skill they can take with them should they decide to move on again. At least that is my experience when talking to people.
- Real estate. Many expats who stay go into real estate business. Helping others (foreigners) to find accommodation in a foreign country, like they did when they first came. I have a couple of real estate project going myself.
- Tourism related services. A friend of mine is a medical doctor offering medical tourism services in Central Europe where fees for medical or dental treatment are more affordable than in the US.
- Online services. I am working with a friend of mine currently to establish an online academic resource service. Once this is up and running, we can take it to anywhere we want to.
- Internet Marketing. My own core activity is around Internet Marketing and helping other setting up their businesses working from home. This is a fast growing industry and obviously meets my own criteria of flexibility and portability.
- I also have seen people bringing products and services from the US to Europe and the other way around. Mostly as franchise entrepreneurs (see on of my next articles).

Do You Have What It Takes To Be An Expat Entrepreneur

Mindset
To be successful as a entrepreneur requires you to adopt a certain mindset allowing success to happen. Worry, fear, procrastination are your worst enemies, so take action to eradicate those first. Beyond that, it helps if you adopt a mindset of persistence and growth.
Being in a foreign country gives an extra dimension to being an entrepreneur in terms of an extra excitement that keeps you moving ahead.

Cash flow
In terms of material things, it helps if you have some cash at hand allowing you to survive a couple of months when starting up your business. You also would need to get your infrastructure sorted in terms of computer access, Internet access and so on. The good news is that telephony has become virtually free by now using online Internet telephony services mostly. You can conduct business all over the world at extremely low cost levels now.

Attitude
In terms of your attitude, set goals and commit yourself to an action plan to achieve them. You need to be able to learn new things quickly rather than being slowed down by minor obstacles. For example, if you have a weakness in advertising online, get yourself trained up quickly, adopt it as a new skill and get the ball rolling again.
Being able to structure your own day obviously is very important. I follow a rigid exercise scheme to keep me motivated. I also ensure to meet enough friends for lunch or coffee to keep me socially engages as well.

If you like this type of lifestyle go for it is my honest advice. There are plenty of legitimate business opportunities around. Keep in mind that the price of success is much smaller than the price of failure, so it is wise to give it your full energy and overcome obstacles quickly.

-- Marius is full-time Lifestyle Entrepreneur since 4 years. Coaching others to success. Prior successful as business development executive in IT industry. Already helped many people finding their path in life with concrete jobs, opportunities and contacts.
Sign up for FREE weekly newsletter at www.lifestyle-entrepreneur.net

Be-Do-Have Principle for Home Business Entrepreneurs

If you want to become a multi-millionaire, you have to start being one first.

This is what an old friend told me a couple of years ago. Until recently, I never understood what he really meant.

How can you think like a multi-millionaire if you even don't have the money to back it up in the first place. That has been a big question for me for years until I started to learn about the Be-Do-Have principle which I am introducing to you here today.

Many people have ambitions and dreams they want to fulfill in their lives and at the same time they find it extremely difficult to reach their full potential.
They feel that there is always something missing or some kind of obstacle in their way that prevents them from reaching their goals, if they have goals.

I felt this myself for a long time.
I first need to have 100.000 USD in cash to start a business.
It would be better for me if I would not have a family to take care of, or, I should finish my study first and then look for a good job again.

Now I understand that all these things are merely excuses for not taking the action.

So what is the Be-Do-Have principle?

Most people operate their lives from some kind of Do-Have-Be perspective.

If you first do your study or work, then you can get further in your job and have a better position. With the money you make as a result, you can then finally buy the car and the house so you can become the person who you always wanted to be.

How successful is this approach?
Let's look at some statistics. In the US, almost 90% of the people by reaching age 65 is either dead or dead broke? Most of them have been working all their lives.

From a very early age, we are told that we cannot have the things unless we work for it and sacrifice ourselves for a while. This is so sad because it robs us from our identity as it demands from us to postpone our true being. This means that unless you can identify yourself completely with your job, you are in for a rather unfulfilling life this way.

There are two issues to consider.

First of all, you can never outperform your self-image. If you were made to believe that you are a just a worker satisfied with 12 USD an hour, this is all you will ever get. You are keeping yourself in some kind of comfort zone and will not likely start activities to improve your situation. It's OK and you got use to it anyway.

Secondly, if your dreams are bigger than what you are currently doing you most likely have a constant feeling of lack and missing something. This is bad because it creates an negative undercurrent of worry and fear for the future that influences our thoughts and activities today.

The Be-do-have principle says that for example, in order to become a good writer, you must pretend that you already are a good writer every single day. This projection of a powerful self-image will then result in the activities that good writers do and the logical result of these actions are all the books that will be published generating the money for you as a byproduct.

This sounded fantastic to me but I could never do this.

For example, projecting to be a multimillionaire while I am not having all the cash to back it up always sounded like a lie to me. And people I spoke with also noticed in less than a second that I was lying.

I was taking the Be-do-have principle too literally and did not get the right results.

Fortunately, there is another way to apply the Be-Do-Have principle. This is to use a role model to guide your activities and decisions on a daily basis. This has been very powerful for me. There is nothing wrong than to keep learning from successful and inspiring people.

A couple of months ago, my Internet marketing approach was not working the way it should work. I did not generate enough leads. So I imagined myself to be Martha Stewart who already is an accomplished billionaire. What would Martha Stewart do if she were in exactly the same situation I am in now. Or how would Donald Trump act if confronted with the same marketing problem in his business and operating with a limited budget like myself.
In less than 4 weeks, I saw amazing results by making powerful decisions and taking the right actions to correct the situation.

Never allow your self image to be a limiting factor for your success. Replace it by a role model and you will start to act the right way again.

If you are going to do anything about a particular problem today, consider yourself to be a highly successful person. Pick someone who has made it already and who you admire. Study how this person works, operates and communicates and apply similar principles to your situation.

Start today, keep going and you will see astonishing results!

link

Lifestyle Entrepreneur - newsletter 23-FEB-2007

Lifestyle Entrepreneur

= =

NEWSLETTER 23-FEB-2007
THEME : Time Management for Balanced Lifestyle Entrepreneurs
ZONE: Action Zone

= =

Dear Reader,

I hope you had some fun with the exercise last week. Please don't take things too seriously as this is all about having fun and improve things along the way. Creativity comes with the right balance of focus and relaxation.

This week I decided to give you some very practical, instantly usable information.

An article that I had a lot of success with recently. It explains, based upon my personal experiences and personal effectiveness training once working in the corporate world, how to manage your time better. It gives you a very pragmatic way to optimize your time. Sit back, read and apply it today!

TIME MANAGEMENT - THE TO DO LIST

Most people, including myself earlier in my career make a big mistake: they keep an action list without setting priorities. It typically contains entries from top to bottom about calling people, filing documents, sending faxes, setting appointments. And at the end of the day, most of the actions have been done and people feel good about it. Nothing wrong with keeping track of activities and progress but if this is done outside the scope of your personal goals, you will not be able to achieve the successes over time.

WHAT'S WRONG HERE...

Any action list without proper priorities or categories may give you a temporary 'kick' when crossing off items, but it will not help you to reach your goals effectively. The 'mixed-bag' of activities very quickly leads to a behavior pattern that either focuses on the easy tasks or on tasks that are just urgent but not necessarily important.

Lifestyle Entrepreneurs are very careful about their time. They know that consistently working on their goals is the most important task to do, even if it means postponing a visit to a friend. They will never allow urgent tasks to take control over their day. Instead, they manage the amount of urgent tasks popping up by proper advance planning.

FOUR ACTIVITY LEVELS EXPLAINED

Structure your activities into 4 different categories, I call them zones.

A - THE PLANNING ZONE
Everything that is very important but not so urgent.

These are the things that if you do them will contribute in the longer run to reaching your objectives.
For example, working regularly on your long term strategy will help you generate future income. Meditation and visualization of goals are also activities that belong here.
Successful people spend most of their time here, some people even more than 80%.

B - THE PRODUCTION ZONE
Everything that is very important and very urgent.

Typically, these are the activities you are doing to generate income with your business.
Example: getting back to a prospect who has responded positively to your website or ad.
Make sure that part of your daily activities should always be in this area as this is usually the place where the money is generated.

If you are already fully set up and trained up, spend at least 40-60% of your time here.

C - THE WASTE ZONE
Everything that is not important and not urgent.

Mainly the fun stuff and the social chatter.
Let's be honest: watching the news on the Internet is not helping your business in any way unless you are somehow related to it. A party is nice but the impact on your business results is fairly minimal.
Interestingly enough, this is where most people who are not getting any results spend most of their time... Their action lists are full of activities in this area.

So be careful and spend only time here if you really can afford it. I suggest maximum 10% of your time.

D - THE LOSING ZONE
Everything that is not important but very urgent.

Crisis stuff causing stress and discomfort.
Your tax lawyer calls you because you have neglected administration for a while. Nothing to do with your business but extremely urgent right now, you have to sacrifice time for this.
Not many people know this but you can greatly minimize the waste here if you spend proper time in A - the planning zone.

Ideally you should spend 0% of your time here.

HOW TO HANDLE THE BORING STUFF?

From now on, time-box it! I used to be the worst person in the world taking care of expenses claims, administration, taxes and so on. I always felt that it sort of distracted me from my main goals.

Too bad. We all have to do the boring stuff.

This works fantastic for me right now: Block out a limited time, let's say 1 hour per day during which you only execute the boring stuff that you have to do anyway. After that, treat yourself, relax with your favorite drink and feel accomplished because you deserve it.

This way, you avoid the 'negative vibes' of boring tasks and are ready to move ahead with the more exciting things again.

= =

WHO IS WHO
As promised. Bob Proctor.
Bob Proctor, grew up in Ontario, has taken the knowledge of old masters like Wallace Wattles (science of getting rich) and Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich) to a whole new level. He has been active in the industry of personal development and growth since the '70's and if often referred to as godfather of personal development.

He is best known as a key note speaker and seminar organizer for small and large audiences alike. He is also the brains behind a recent very popular movie 'the secret' that's available online at http://www.thesecret.tv. Watch this movie if you are new to personal development and creative ways of thinking. It's worth the $5 believe me.

Most famous book: You Were Born Rich. Upcoming title: You Can Have It!
Rumor has it that he is going to join us on one of our upcoming events. Wow!

= =

EXERCISE
Take a piece of paper, divide it in 4 quadrants, mark them A,B,C,D as explained above. From now on, instead of keeping a regular action list, use this to manage your time better. You will be astonished by the results and the amount of time that remains available to you! Focus is very important. Focus on your goals daily and don't give up. Never.

= =

BOOKS
The Seat of the Soul - G. Zukav
This is a book that started a thinking process inside me that hasn't stopped ever since. And I am still learning and improving as well. Ever wondered why and how intuition seems to work for some people and not for others? Ever wondered where addictions come from and how on a spiritual level you can cure them? Read this book. It's an old book I know but I get a lot of fresh insights from old books.

= =

Have a great weekend and see you next week!

Marius
Lifestyle Entrepreneur

= =

you receive this newsletter because you have registered with lifestyle-entrepreneur.net. or were invited by a friend. to no longer receive information, write a blank message to this email address (reply) with subject=unsubsribe.

--
Marius Tesselaar

Subscribe to our FREE newsletter at http://www.lifestyle-entrepreneur.net

What Lifestyle Entrepreneurs Never Do

Most people, including myself earlier in my career make a big mistake: they keep an action list without setting priorities. It typically contains entries from top to bottom about calling people, filing documents, sending faxes, setting appointments. And at the end of the day, most of the actions have been done and people feel good about it. Nothing wrong with keeping track of activities and progress but if this is done outside the scope of your personal goals, you will not be able to achieve the successes over time.

What's wrong here?

Any action list without proper priorities or categories may give you a temporary 'kick' when crossing off items, but it will not help you to reach your goals effectively. The 'mixed-bag' of activities very quickly leads to a behavior pattern that either focuses on the easy tasks or on tasks that are just urgent but not necessarily important.
Lifestyle Entrepreneurs are very careful about their time. They know that consistently working on their goals is the most important task to do, even if it means postponing a visit to a friend. They will never allow urgent tasks to take control over their day. Instead, they manage the amount of urgent tasks popping up by proper advance planning.

Read on for a very practical approach to get back on track.

Four Activity Levels Explained

Structure your activities into 4 different categories, I call them zones.

A - The Planning Zone
Everything that is very important but not so urgent.

These are the things that if you do them will contribute in the longer run to reaching your objectives.
For example, working regularly on your long term strategy will help you generate future income. Meditation and visualization of goals are also activities that belong here.
Successful people spend most of their time here, some people even more than 80%.

B - The Production Zone
Everything that is very important and very urgent.

Typically, these are the activities you are doing to generate income with your business.
Example: getting back to a prospect who has responded positively to your website or ad.
Make sure that part of your daily activities should always be in this area as this is usually the place where the money is generated.

If you are already fully set up and trained up, spend at least 40-60% of your time here.

C - The Waste Zone
Everything that is not important and not urgent.

Mainly the fun stuff and the social chatter.
Let's be honest: watching the news on the Internet is not helping your business in any way unless you are somehow related to it. A party is nice but the impact on your business results is fairly minimal.
Interestingly enough, this is where most people who are not getting any results spend most of their time... Their action lists are full of activities in this area.

So be careful and spend only time here if you really can afford it. I suggest maximum 10% of your time.

D - The Losing Zone
Everything that is not important but very urgent.

Crisis stuff causing stress and discomfort.
Your tax lawyer calls you because you have neglected administration for a while. Nothing to do with your business but extremely urgent right now, you have to sacrifice time for this.
Not many people know this but you can greatly minimize the waste here if you spend proper time in A - the planning zone.

Ideally you should spend 0% of your time here.

How To Handle Boring Stuff?

From now on, time-box it! I used to be the worst person in the world taking care of expenses claims, administration, taxes and so on. I always felt that it sort of distracted me from my main goals.

Too bad. We all have to do the boring stuff.

This works fantastic for me right now: Block out a limited time, let's say 1 hour per day during which you only execute the boring stuff that you have to do anyway. After that, treat yourself, relax with your favorite drink and feel accomplished because you deserve it.

This way, you avoid the 'negative vibes' of boring tasks and are ready to move ahead with the more exciting things again.

-- Marius is full-time Lifestyle Entrepreneur since 4 years. Coaching others to success. Prior successful as business development executive in IT industry. Already helped many people finding their path in life with concrete jobs, opportunities and contacts.
Sign up for FREE weekly newsletter at www.lifestyle-entrepreneur.net

Internet Marketing for Lifestyle Entrepreneurs - Case Study

This is a small case study with input from leading professionals in this industry. Take advantage of the information, I did a lot of the grunt-work myself and will be happy if I can help you avoid it.

What Happened?

Last year was great. I had a couple of very simply marketing pages and the only thing I worried about was keyword marketing using Google's pay per click system. On a daily basis, I got over 400 clicks on my pages, good for between 8-10 qualified leads per day. Keywords included 'home business', 'money', 'million' etcetera.
Life was good!
Until November... Because it was then that I learned that the cost per click had skyrocketed from about $0.10 per click to $5.00, $10.00 and in some cases even $25.00 per click... Given the fact that about 30 clicks generate one lead, I was looking at a cost per lead going from 3.00 to anywhere between USD 150 to USD 750 PER LEAD!
I was dead.
I needed some serious time to rethink my options and strategy. Not willing to give up my business, I was forced to think outside the box again and restart my marketing efforts.

The 'Be-Do-Have Principle' in Action

If you have read my previous articles about Lifestyle Entrepreneurship, you probably know that I am a great believer in the Be-Do-Have principle.
In short: it requires that you concentrate on who you really are in business and let the actions (Do) and the results (Have) follow logically. This eliminates a constant feeling of 'lacking' that tends to blocks positive action. It also eliminates endless analysis and procrastination, which is another sure cause of failure.

BE - My Target Situation

I asked myself 2 questions:

1- Imagine that I am already in the top-10 of Google for all my keywords, then who are the other 9 leaders here?
2- Imagine that I am one of these 9 leaders. What should I be doing that I haven't been doing up till now?

Very quickly I learned that the top rankers all have the following things in common:
- they seem to operate in some kind of 'keyword niche' they occupy and keep
- they have a lot of reciprocal links but not excessive
- they do have good textual content that is very much in accordance with the keywords

DO - Action Plan

By constantly reminding me of my purpose: I am in the top-10, I started to carry out the following actions:

Step 1 - Define Niche

I chose 'balanced lifestyle entrepreneur' as this is something I could identify myself with and it is still a niche area that I can defend.
A keyword niche is hard to find nowadays. Try 'Home Based Business' or 'Money' for example and there are over 700 million pages awaiting your attention... But if you try 'Vip Entrepreneur', you are looking at about 650 thousand pages. This is a number you can work with.

Step 2 - Relevant Content

I did a lot of reading, educated myself and discussed topics with other leaders.
Balanced content on a site is something search engines like. Everything on the page has to be in accordance with the keywords so the reader gets what he was looking for is the underlying concept apparently.

Step 3 - Links

Here's what I did. I created links with the sites similarly to whatever the other 9 people in the top-10 created. Using a free tool from the Internet, it was easy to figure out who is linking to whom.
It's a well known fact by now that you need to have links to your site from relevant other sites. Not too many too quickly as it makes the search engines suspicious, resulting in a lower ranking.

Step 4 - Clean up

Finally, I cleaned up my sites, restructured the content and the code.
Search engines tend to look beyond the surface as well so make sure your page is 'clean' and optimized somehow, it loads quickly and all links are working. Use code validators (W3C.org offers a free service) and use your keywords in different phrases. Again, don't exaggerate.

Intermediate Results

After about 4 weeks, entries of mine started to appear in the top-20 of Google, one week later I was in the top-10 of Google. These were mostly blogs and articles I wrote with links to my sites. After that, one of my own sites started to appear in the top-10 which was really exciting. Another thing happened as a nice surprise: one of my sites suddenly got a PR of 3. A huge improvement from the PR=0 that it had up till now.

A 3-Month Objective

My three month objective is to start generating all my leads 'organically' again rather than from banners. These leads really are the best leads you can get as they represent people looking exactly for what you are offering.
I will simply keep doing what I am doing now and get better at it.

Key Lessons

I want to conclude this short case study with some of the things you may find useful as well:

1. Define what exactly you want your niche to be. If up till now you used keywords like 'make money' as your main theme, get creative and use something else for example 'happy money maker'.
2. Design your theme around this topic using stories, content related to this. Get educated again if necessary.
3. Figure out who else in the top-10 is using your theme and figure out to whom they are linking. Create similar links as well.
4. Start writing blogs and articles. Make sure the content is again relevant to your main theme.
5. Keep it up. It is important to keep the effort going or you may experience a drop back again. Stay motivated and keep improving as you go.

For me, the Be-Do-Have principle works. Instead of time-consuming analysis and procrastination I started to work immediately and took actions in line with my goals.

===
Marius is full-time Lifestyle Entrepreneur since 4 years. Coaching others to success. Prior successful as business development executive in IT industry. Already helped many people finding their path in life with concrete jobs, opportunities and contacts.
Sign up for FREE information at www.lifestyle-entrepreneur.net

links

BLACKSACADEMY

Business Focus Group is proud to be associated with and be working together with Blacksacademy. Study relevant articles about: Start Up Customer Matrix Market Conditions Marketing Organization Marketing Models Market Structure and Resource Allocation Competitive Strategy Advertising And Promotion Channels of Distribution Marketing Mix BLACKSACADEMY

Lifestyle Entrepreneur - newsletter 16-Feb-2007

Lifestyle Entrepreneur
= =
NEWSLETTER 16-FEB-2007
THEME : Be Do Have principle
ZONE: Action Zone
= =

Dear Reader,

Today, I am going to discuss a principle that has been quoted I believe first time by Robert Kiyosaki in his bestseller Rich Dad Poor Dad. The Be Do Have principle. Since then, it has been widely used by others as well who are active in the field of personal development and training.

BROKE
A lot of failures have to do with lack of persistence, lack of motivation. There is a sad statistic that says that around 97% of people by the age of 65 are either dead or dead broke...

But at the same time, in the US, 8 million people having a net worth of over 1 million usd. Did you know that 600.000 became millionair last year. About 400,000 households have a net worth of over 10 million usd.

What are these people doing differently? And why are so many people currently waking up to a new paradigm?

They apply the Be-Do-Have principle!

STORY
An old friend once told me that in order to become a millionaire you first need to be like one.

I never really understood that until I started to study wealth.

When we are kids, parents and teachers teach us all kinds of things. And a lot of things are actually being said to us to exercise some kind of control. First, you must work hard in school and study (DO), then you will get a good job (HAVE) so that finally you can become a rich man (BE).

What's wrong here?

The activity of the child (working hard at school) is 'poisoned' with a feeling of lack and neediness. Conventional thinking teaches us that we are not even 'allowed' to think about being rich unless we study hard and get a good job first. How can you stay motivated, go the extra mile, how can you take the right decisions in later life to actually become rich. The feeling of lack is very disempowering. Many people compensate for this by identifying themselves with the subject they are studying: this creates all the broke scientists, broke teachers and broke writers. Others give up the hard work and settle for an existence, doing something simple...

That's why so many people stay broke all their lives... They either did not have a dream, or they gave up on their dreams or they completely forgot about their dreams because they focused so much on Doing and Having...

METHOD
If you can visualize and feel yourself in the role of being a rich and successful person, your actions and decisions will become such that they will favor wealth. Because you attract who you are, not who you want to be. Just imagine yourself having dominant thoughts around success, wealth all day long rather than thinking about broke or debt. Your actions, vocabulary, voice etc will be different as well which is not an accident but a logical observation of how thing actually work. Your ways of working, ways of talking are all finding their origins in your brain where you most dominant thoughts are. Fix these thoughts and you will see incredible results.

ROLE MODELS
The easiest way?
Simply take on the role of already being successful, wealthy, a good parent, whatever you feel you deserve to be in your life. Now, your brain doesn't accept lies so in case you haven't made it yet, the easiest way is to get familiar with a person on this planet already in that role. Any time you need to make a decision, ask: what would Larry Ellison do? Or, how would I approach this challenge if I were Tiger Woods?

Now start to act and don't worry about the results, they will follow as a natural cause.

(If this is all new for you, please go ahead and watch the movie 'the secret' on http://www.thesecret.tv).

= =
WHO IS WHO
Ran out of time for proper profile.. Next week, focus on Bob Procter, godfather of personal development.
= =
EXERCISE
Write down a problem you have been wrestling with over the last couple of weeks. Now, decide who you want to be. Study the lifestyle and ways of someone you admire and who is a role model for you. What kind of house, job, car do they have, how do they talk. Then, every night before going to sleep, visualize yourself as if you are your role model and aks the question: how would I decide and act to reach this goal or tackle this problem? You will be amazed how many creative impulses you will get next morning.
= =
BOOKS
The Power Of The Subconscious Mind - J. Murphy
How using the other 95% of your brain will get you where you want to be
= =

Have a great weekend and see you next week!

Marius
Lifestyle Entrepreneur

= =
you receive this newsletter because you have registered with lifestyle-entrepreneur.net. to no longer receive information, write a blank message to this email address (reply) with subject=unsubsribe.

--
Marius Tesselaar

Subscribe to our FREE newsletter at http://www.lifestyle-entrepreneur.net

Home Business Entrepreneur - 9 Proven Criteria to Get Started

After having interviewed literally hundreds of potential entrepreneurs I have found that there are three categories:

Wannabees

People who choose something more or less randomly with a very low financial investment not really committing themselves.

They typically buy a book they can resell, or they will start typing ads or surveys from home. Programs typically costing less than $50 to get them going. If it doesn�t work, they will try something else. It�s hard to believe they will become successful but at the other end, they didn�t risk anything.

Scared

The sheer amount of possibilities and the enormous amounts of money apparently available in this market makes them scared. They give up before they even try because they believe everything is a scam anyway. They simply don�t want to make any changes to their current situation or life.

Committed Entrepreneurs

People who understand that there are indeed ultra smart ways of making a very good living online provided you do your homework and stay committed. Provided they are able to protect themselves from negative circles of influence, they are ready to investigate a serious opportunity as it presents itself. Existing home based entrepreneurs are happy to help these people as it will allow them to coach serious, next generation leaders building the foundation for a strong and dedicated community of entrepreneurs.

The information in this article is for the latter group of entrepreneurs.

New to Home Business?

If you plan to start a home based business for the first time, criteria 1-6 are most applicable to you. Your main concern is the level of support and training. Becoming your own boss for the next period in your life means that you have to start to think a little different about business. Be prepared to take personal responsibility for your actions and learn multiple tasks. Even some personal development might be required to become more effective and self-reliant.

Experienced in Home Business?

If you have been working out of your home once before but are in the process of changing, focus on criteria 7-9. You want to make sure that your efforts will pay off this time� You have a big advantage in terms of a much shorter learning curve and your developed sense for business working from home.

1-Company

Always select a company that really exists, with real people and that has been in business for at least 5 years:

- They have proven themselves in time and are likely to stay alive successfully.

- Most likely, they have been scrutinized and investigated by different bureaus and administrations and survived different levels of allegations. This is a natural filtering process that happens to any company with a certain size and functions like a filter. This filter always works and weeds out the illegitimate schemes and unsuccessful businesses. So use it to your advantage!

2-Products

These should be real and marketable. Pyramid schemes where only money is passed around are 100% illegal and cannot exist for a long time. Just be aware of them and avoid them. More over, make sure you are excited about the products yourself. Believe me it helps when talking to others and when overcoming obstacles�

3-Training

Step-by-step program works best with personal contact to your coach. This allows you to learn from the professionals and make corrections as you go. Make sure the business plan has been proven to work and is generating results for those following the steps. Ideally, the training system should help you to become a problem solver who can handle small obstacles with confidence.

4-Slightly Challenging

Important: if you select an extremely simple business like typing ads or filling questionnaires working from home, you cannot expect any great rewards. Anyone in the world can do this and most of it can be automated anyway at lowest cost. How motivated will you be after 3 weeks typing the same ads over and over again�

5-Longevity

You want to do something for a longer time, become a specialist and this way you make sure the opportunity remains challenging and motivating enough for you to stay involved and focused. There is nothing worse than having to restart your learning curve over and over again and not make any progress�

6-Team

You learn faster and stay motivated if you can interact with an enthusiastic team. Make sure the team works professionally and is ready to help. There is nothing worse than to work at home without any one to interact with for support.

7-Investment

Common question of many people: �how much should I invest�. Difficult to answer. Some of us invest in powerful computers and large desks while others use the kitchen table and a simple laptop. What is important here is the level of flexibility to be able to make your own business decisions. Being your own boss means that you make your own decisions.

8-MLM?

You decide! Multi-level marketing business has created successful companies and I do know people who have become extremely successful in this business. The fact is that for this type of business you need to be a very good sales guy. If, like myself, you are not, then keep your eyes open. Because there are opportunities out there that don�t require you to change somebody�s brains around�

9-Compensation

Last but not least, how do you get paid? In many cases there is a balance between profits on products sold and a rewards for building teams in the organization (creating some kind of leverage). Compensation plans can be very sophisticated. Bottom line: spend enough time to check it out and ensure that the compensation plan has been proven to work already over a period of at least 5 years. Also remember, these is no value in getting compensated solely for enrolling other people in a program. These plans cannot be sustained for a long time and they might be illegal as well in certain states.

Once you have chosen your business, congratulations! The groundwork is done. Treat your new venture as an aeroplane on the runway. Load it with fuel and go full throttle. Don�t hold back so you don�t crash at the end of the runway�

Enjoy your day!

===
About the Author - Marius is full-time Lifestyle Entrepreneur since 4 years. Coaching others to success. Prior successful as business development executive in IT industry. Already helped many people finding their path in life with concrete jobs, opportunities and contacts.
Sign up for FREE information at http://www.lifestyle-entrepreneur.net
==
Resources - Link Exchange
==