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I Hate Small Sales and Cheezy Deals

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

When I closed the stores I had operated for seventeen years, I went looking online for a legitimate home based business. Something that would not be really hard to learn, and would give me money fast.

Well, what I found online was a lot of things that I really didn’t resonate with. There were a lot of low-end business out there promising quick returns and no learning curve.

Suddenly I realized that I was recoiling from the pain of closing my stores. I forgot that when I opened my stores it took three to five years for each to get into profitability mode. I forgot that one has to work, if one expects to get results. There is no fast and easy ride. At least there isn’t one in retail, so why would the internet be any different?

I realized that all the offerings I was seeing were simply not for me. I didn’t rally believe them, when they said that everything would be really easy and the money would just start coming in. I have to admit that I lost a few dollars by joining one or two small little deals which promised fast returns. I went into them thinking “If this works it will be great.”

Here’s the deal: What it comes down to is that I thought there must be something better, and I did a bit more looking. I kept looking until I saw something which pretty-much matched what I knew must be out there.

I found a new internet business model which is not a get-rich-quick scheme, and it doesn’t promise to be easy. It doesn’t promise anything – other than the same things which franchises promise – a standardized way of doing business, and great training in how to operate this particular business on the internet.

Those two things really resonated with me, and then I saw an aspect of the business which completely got my attention: They offer the option of selling high ticket items.

I like selling high ticket items. My paintings sell for thousands of dollars. The furniture I sold in my stores was also expensive, with an average ticket of around a thousand dollars per sale. At last I found something which would yield me that kind of return on the internet.

This business model changed everything for me. It had the capability of replacing the income that I had from all of my stores when business was great.

And what I gave me was the training on how to operate on the internet. Honestly, when I first considered doing business online, I knew how to write emails and do searches, and a few other modest things, but I was no wiz.

I knew that there was advertising online, and thought it must be like the advertising I was used to, magazines and newspapers. I quickly learned that some aspects of advertising are the same in all media, but without specific training in internet marketing, business owners are sunk.

This company that I found actually gave me great training in how to market online. It was the start of a great, liberating adventure.

To learn more about how this can work for you, sign in here.


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Starting Business Online When My Stores Went O.O.B. (Out Of Business)

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

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Have you ever had a business fail, gone out of business and been faced with starting over in a new industry? I have been faced with that situation many times, and have always found a great solution. Here’s my story:

I am an artist and an entrepreneur. When I graduated from art school (MFA, School of The Art Institute of Chicago) over twenty-five years ago, I had no marketable skills, so I went to work at a job. That lasted about two years, and I realized that I had I really had to be an entrepreneur and make my own way by having businesses of my own. I have not had a real job since then.

What I have done is start many brick-and-mortar stores and other traditional types of ventures. Some thrived, some tanked. Some went through the entire cycle from startup to success to expiration. The last ones were a small chain of art galleries and upscale decorative accessory stores which I operated in Southwest Michigan and Chicago for seventeen years.

Of course, the economy slowed down and with that my businesses slowed down. I slid deeper and deeper downhill into debt just trying to meet payroll and finance the inventory, and finally I was forced to close them.

I tried MLM (multi-level-marketing) and was extremely disappointed with the results. After years of dealing with upscale merchandise and professional clients, selling low-cost items to masses of people held no appeal.

I went online looking for another business to start, but ended up disappointed. What I found were new versions of old-style MLM.

Then I changed focus. I began to realize that there were successful online businesses which did not follow that model. They also were not new versions of inventory-based enterprises like online stores.

I discovered a new internet business model.

As soon as I found out about it, everything started to change. Of course it took re-adjusting my ideas about how to do business, because I was used to brick-and-mortar. I didn’t know how to operate on the internet. But what I found was a solution to all that. I found training which allowed me to learn how to market successfully on the internet, and how to thrive.

I found a business model which was capable of restoring, and even going beyond, the income I was getting from all of my stores when they were going at full-speed profitability.

This new business model allowed me to start again in business without prohibitive startup costs like a franchise, without the limitations of territorial restrictions, without the problems of overhead, employees, inventory and debt and expenses which had dragged my stores into the ground. The new internet business model got me started in business again.

Information on the new internet business model can be found by signing in here.


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Goals And Developing Positive Mindset In Online Business

Sunday, September 13th, 2009

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If you have an internet business, perhaps you have run into some frustrations along the way.  It is not the easiest thing in the world to learn how to market and how to set up an online business.  There are a lot of disappointments and dead ends. Things do not always progress as quickly as you  would like them to.

Does it seem that sometimes the computer is out to ruin your day?  Or your week?  Online business owners must learn to get through rough patches in their setup and operations.

If you are having problems as you learn new skills, and they seem insurmountable, you may want to consider taking some personal development training.  It can help you attain a positive mindset, and train you to keep focused on whatever goal is important to you.

Without a clear goal, little things like a bad computer day can become a huge obstacle.  That is when many people give up.

However, if you know where you want to go (your goal) you will realize that just because one path may be blocked, like a bridge being washed-out in the road ahead, it doesn’t mean that you cannot get to your destination by a different route.

If you have a positive mindset, the washed-out bridge will seem like a minor inconvenience.  In that mindset, you might consider the options available to get to the other side:  a detour; waiting for the bridge to be fixed; or jumping across.  The obstacle will not mean the end of your journey.

It is tremendously important for internet entrepreneurs to develop goals and a positive mindset.  It all starts with stating a goal, and keeping that goal very clear in front of you.  Write it out.  Keep a picture of it on your desktop.  Find a way to be constantly reminded of that goal several times a day.

Adjust your mind every time an obstacle comes up.  Think of that goal, whatever it is, and  find a way around the obstacle.  Practice turning bad situations into a beneficial ones, and you will develop the strength and resourcefulness to succeed.

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23 Questions About Starting Business Online.

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Is starting an online business the answer to your future security?

Every day, owners of traditional businesses ranging from franchises to retail stores to real estate and financial offices are going online seeking a new business model.  They look to the internet as a way to escape the heavy overhead, geographic/demographic restrictions, and prohibitive start up requirements of their current businesses.

Another group has joined them in this search for a new business model, but for different reasons.  They are network marketers who are disappointed with the old-fashioned approach to marketing which is the norm in their industry.

Are you considering a such a change? Looking for a new way to run a business and work from home?

As a former owner of traditional brick-and-mortar businesses (Stores and an investment service) and a member of  both online and traditional network marketing companies, perhaps I can help you out.

You know, I get asked the same questions over and over and over again about doing business on the Internet, and have spent hours, days and weeks answering them.

From now on, I’ll simply refer every question to this blog.  You see, I made a series 23 videos and a download-able pdf report answering the twelve questions I get asked most often about starting business online, and eleven questions I think everyone should be asking.

Before I get going on this report, let me tell you that I am not here to try to sell you on any particular company. I have been associated with several online companies, and have taught marketing to people in more online businesses than I have cared to write down. These questions apply to all of them.

I just want to let you know the answers to some very basic questions that everyone seems to have about every business, and you can get the entire presentation by signing in here.

Here’s the twelve most asked questions:

· 1. Do I Need Computer Skills?
· 2. How Much Will It Cost?
· 3. How Soon Will I Make Money?
· 4. How Many Hours A Week?
· 5. What is Social Media & Do I Need It?
· 6. Can I Hire Someone To Do It For Me?
· 7. Who Will Help Me?
· 8. How Do I Get Paid?
· 9. Is It Legitimate?
· 10. Do I Have To Make Phone Calls?
· 11. Do I Have To Make A Website?
· 12. What Is Marketing?

And the questions which SHOULD be asked:

· 1. Am I Ready?
· 2. Can I Work Alone?
· 3. What Personal Traits Do I Need?
· 4. Do I Have Support?
· 5. Do I Have The Drive?
· 6. What If?
· 7. Am I Willing To Learn?
· 8. Is This About Love?
· 9. Will This Business Satisfy Me?
· 10. Who Will I Be Associating With?
· 11. Am I An Investor?

If you already know the answers, great.  You’re way ahead of where I was when I started looking online.  But if there is even one question you’re fuzzy on, go through the entire presentation.

Hopefully these videos and this report will help you out in your quest!

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Are You Willing To Learn?

Saturday, August 29th, 2009

Here is something you should ask yourself if you are considering being self-employed or starting an online business.

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Are You Willing To Learn?

You may think twice about this: Are you ready to learn new skills?
I run into people all the time who answer yes to that. They very enthusiastically say YES, they are ready to learn new skills, and they are ready to do what it takes.

They think that working on the Internet is just like pushing a few buttons, or maybe as easy as sending an email.

The reality is that it is really not easy, and there are skill sets which need to be learned.  And these are perhaps things which you can not even imagine right now, and you certainly don’t know how to do things yet.

So, think about how you have approached new things your whole life. Were you a quick study in school? Are you still a quick study? Or did it take you a lot of effort to learn, or maybe you have something which holds you back, like a form of dyslexia.

If this question is something you have not considered before, perhaps you will benefit from knowing about the other twenty-two questions I have answered in a special report you can get by signing in here.

I have worked with people of all aptitudes, and what it takes is for them to have the drive and discipline to do what it takes for them to learn these new skills.

So, be prepared to learn. Consider if you are really ready and willing to learn new skills. Are you willing to go back to school? How did you think about it when you were in school? Couldn’t wait to get out? Or were you excited to learn the next thing?

You need to have an openness to learning when you do business online, because things change quite quickly. Often there are skills you will learn, and then a short time later you will need to learn to modify what you have learned, to adapt to new conditions.

Things change constantly on the Internet. It’s really a wild and wonderful place. So be prepared to learn things. And if you’re not prepared to learn, or if you have always hated to learn things,  just save yourself and your sponsor a headache and don’t do it, okay?

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Outsourcing Online Marketing: Can I Pay Somebody?

Friday, August 14th, 2009

When it comes to outsourcing online marketing, new Internet business owners are often confused by their responsibilities. There are an awful lot of people who don’t want to put in any effort at all. They want to outsource, to pay someone to make money for them. Whether it is from fear of learning new skills, a genuine (or perceived) lack of time, or just plain laziness, they will seek to hire someone to do some or all of their business setup and marketing for them.

Although the answer is yes, it’s possible to pay someone to make money for you, that may not be the best route to for a new online marketer to take.

What happens in that scenario is a situation where the business owner has total dependence on what other people create for them. It is ultimately more advantageous for online marketers to develop their own skill sets.

Later, when one has an understanding of what needs to be done, repetitive and time consuming tasks can be outsourced.

The important point here is that a business owner should know how to judge the work they are contracting for.. That means knowing how to do things for ones self before you go pay others to do anything for you.

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Outsourcing your online marketing before your business has cash flow will also put the business owner in a position of having to make proportionately larger gross sales to become profitable. If all the business’ capital is tied up in paying other people, you have to recoup that. You are in business, after all, and the result should be profits.

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Do I Need Computer Skills?

Friday, August 7th, 2009

The Number One question that I get asked all the time is “What if I don’t know much about the Internet?”  and “What if I don’t know how to do business online?”

(Which is  basically telling me that someone is not comfortable using a computer.)

People tell me that they have a fear of the computer, and of doing things “wrong” and ruining the internet or their computer, or both!

There are a couple of answers to this.  The first is that yes, you should have some rudimentary  Internet skills.  I like to say that if you have the basic ability to send an email, and attach a photo to an email, and to do simple word processing (which is basically being able to write and edit an email and use spell-check) that you have the start of what you need to get you going.

But you do have to be open to the idea of learning a few things.  So don’t be afraid of it!  Internet marketing simply requires learning a new skill set.  No one is born knowing it!

People think that kids know this stuff, but the reality is that everyone learns by doing things over and over again, and learning things that they need to know, as they go along.

I made a report about this and several other points which I think are important for anyone interested in doing a network marketing business online.  You can get the report and subscribe to my private marketing newsletter by signing in here.

So that’s how you should approach this.  Just keep in mint that you will be learning things as you go.  You’re going to be involved in a lot of new concepts. So be open to that.  Treat it like you’re back in school, and you will learn these skills that you need to know  — one by one – and get along on the Internet!

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Creativity & Marketing

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

Many people have remarked that they think it is unusual for an artist to also have business skills.  In my world, the two are inseparable, and this video reveals a bit of how I use creativity to excel at both.

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I‘m a full-time internet marketer, and a painter, too.  People talk to me about the paintings quite a bit.  They will say “Oh, you’re so blessed to have such talent,”  and Click to continue »

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