Do You Have The Courage To Ignore The Experts?

Do You Have The Courage To Ignore The Experts?

by: Graham and Julie

Do you have the courage to ignore the experts? Do you have the willingness and ability to understand and use the power that is within you? Courage is that state of mind when you do something that you know is right for you and your loved ones and the rest of the world thinks you’re mad. The ability to make the decision and then make it happen. Courage is not progressing through life with gay abandon, ignoring all the fears. Quite the contrary. Courage is an understanding of fear. An understanding of what to fear and what not to fear. Courage is the ability to challenge what is deemed to be common sense.

The world will constantly knock the courageous because they want mediocrity. They want mediocre players and people. People who don’t rock the boat. People who do what they are told. People who willingly stay within the rules even though they know they are causing harm to others.

Pause for a moment. Just think . Does it take courage to make the latest technology go faster, make it bigger, more complex than the last edition? Does it take courage to add to what already exists? For us, courage is shown by those who fight for something new. Follow their dream and see the benefit of going in the opposite direction.

The question is do you have the courage to do what you want? To touch your potential. Do you have the courage to speak out for what you believe in? Do you have the courage to go for it? Remember when you were a child. Were you curious? Were you a risk taker then? No doubt you had lots of courage when you were a child. You did many things based on a focus and no evidence. As a child no doubt you trusted the processes of life. So what’s different now?

If you are now feeling a huge resistance to going forward to naming your aim and objective, to realising your potential. Don’t worry it’s normal. The resistance is a normal way of moving forward. It’s your natural brake that is saying hang on a minute lets have another look at this. Every time you meet resistance within yourself or others it means you are growing because only as you start to think and state something outside your box do you encounter opposition. So don’t be discouraged and write yourself off. Stay with it.

You see, the feeling of fear and not following your beliefs was no doubt planted in your childhood. The time when you were told that you ought to value money. That you ought to save. You need to be careful, you need to have heroes and follow others. Perhaps instead we should have been taught to respect money but to be generous with it rather than be thrifty. Perhaps we should have been taught to go for our dreams rather than settle for security. As Andrea Dworkin, the feminist and civil rights activist, stated in one of her speeches:

By the time we are women, fear is as familiar to us as air. It is our element. We live in it, we inhale it, we exhale it, and most of the time we do not even notice it.

We think it applies to men as well as women. Well at least Graham says it applies to him. Every time he thinks of stepping out of his box, fear is present.

So there isn’t a fearless state. We just have to accept it and carry on. What is that phrase? ขFeel the fear and do it anywayข. Start by looking at your aim and objective. What is your aim? Do you have one? Is it a general I want to earn $50,000 a year or is it more focussed on an activity. For example, I want to tap into, understand and use the power that is within me. I want to assist others to do the same. All you need is an aim and the willingness, the courage to make effort to implement it.

Once you have your aim the hard work really starts. Now it’s time to practice, practice, practice. To read all you can around your subject. To buy all the books that will help you. Go on courses that will help. Meet successful people in the sphere of your chosen aim. Pick everyone’s brain. Whatever needs to be done to reach your aim.

Don’t worry about your capabilities they will come. If you have chosen the aim from your heart, from your subconscious then the capabilities will follow. How do you know your aim is chosen from your subconscious? Because you have no doubts about it. It feels comfortable. More than that it makes you get up in the morning.

As they say, the journey begins with a first step. Now; do you have the courage to take it? Do you have the courage to ignore the experts and do what you really want to do in the world?

It’s up to you.

Courage charms us, because it indicates that a man loves an idea better than all things in the world,

that he is thinking neither of his bed,

nor his dinner, nor his money, but will venture all to

put in action the invisible thought of his mind.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 1882)

Good Luck

Graham and Julie

www.desktopmeditation.com

About The Author

Graham and Julie

To see more of our work please go to: www.desktopmeditation.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 21, 2004

by Graham and Julie

Do You Have a Wealthy Attitude?

Do You Have a Wealthy Attitude?

by: Rosalind Gardner

Wealthy people are conniving, selfish, lazy monsters who will steal your last penny if you let them, or so thatกs what I was raised to believe.

Fortunately, through my work and various associations, Iกve spent time with many of these กmonstersก, and discovered that nothing could be farther from the truth.

In fact, over the years Iกve learned that wealthy people are the hardest working, most generous people one could ever meet.

Obviously, the fearbased attitudes about money that were instilled during my childhood were not only incorrect, they didn’t produce more for me than a steady job.

And no job, no paycheck. No matter how wellpaid you are, thatกs not wealth, thatกs a dangerous rut.

To me, wealth means income that is generated on a continuous and ongoing basis, whether or not Iกm working specifically on that project or investment at any given time.

I knew that if I wanted to live a richer, fuller life, Iกd have to let go of my old beliefs and adopt healthier, more productive attitudes to acquiring wealth.

So I set out to learn about the commonly held beliefs and values shared by wealthy people.

The first commonality was obvious. Wealthy people all value their time too highly to exchange it for a paycheck, and therefore they work for themselves. The exception to this is made when theyกll work for a company in their chosen industry to gain experience or be mentored.

Truly wealthy folks know that there is no such thing as กget r*ch quickก and understand that businesses are built, and wealth is acquired, through being of service to others. They find a need and fill it with excellent products and highly quality customer service. Having their customersก trust and support, their businesses stand the test of time.

All, without fail, regularly give a portion of their time and money to help those less fortunate.

The wealthy also place great emphasis on healthy nutrition and regular exercise. After their work day is over, rather than flop on the couch to watch a rerun of กFriendsก (and West Wing, and Coronation Street, and Frasier…) theyกll opt for a run or a friendly game of squash. They understand that exercise is an activity that creates energy, whereas succumbing to the temptation to กflakeoutก leaves you feeling even more exhausted.

While out on that run, they put the increased oxygen flow to good use by thinking, thinking and thinking some more. They forumulate business plans and strategies for the short, medium and longterm. They know that their vision for a happy, solid future for themselves and their familes is built on goals and the specific plans to achieve them.

Family is their top priority. Everything they do is for the purpose of helping to improve the lives of their family members.

Above all, they approach life with gratitude. They know in their hearts that there is more than enough wealth on the planet for everyone to share. They know that whatever effort they make, whatever they choose to give, will be returned to them many times over.

>From that perspective, they have no fear, and itกs fear, not money, that is the root of all evil. Fear causes people to hold on tight and act in greedy, selfish ways. Give to receive.. itกs really that simple.

The กgood lifeก may seem like a lot of hard work, and it is! But if you truly want to enjoy the good life, then do the กworkก of setting goals, staying healthy, and being of service to others with joy and an open heart. Youกll be delighted by the rewards work can bring when you approach life with a wealthy attitude.

About The Author

Article by Rosalind Gardner, author of the bestselling กSuper Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other Peopleกs Stuff Onlineก. To learn how you too can suceed in Internet and affiliate marketing, go to: http://NetProfitsToday.com.

This article was posted on March 30

by Rosalind Gardner

Achievements Outweigh Education and Experience

Achievements Outweigh Education and Experience

by: Tim Knox

QUESTION:

When it comes to succeeding in business, which is more important: education or experience? Regina M.

ANSWER:

Regina, have you seen the television show, Fear Factor? If you haven’t seen it you’ve probably heard about it. Fear Factor is the show where they put contestants through all sorts of pseudodeath defying feats like bungee jumping off a bridge over a pool of crocodiles and driving a car through a wall of fire (you know, the stuff we did for fun in high school). The contestant who overcomes their personal fear factor wins the cash and prizes (usually at the cost of their dignity, but I digress).

The highlight of Fear Factor is the eating competition. That’s when contestants are invited to partake of all sorts of culinary fare. Yummy stuff like monkey brains, all manner of live bugs and spiders, moose intestines, old fruitcake (the horror!), and my personal favorite, live giant worms. At this point the competition becomes not so much who can overcome their fear factor, but who has the lowest gag reflex.

Your question makes me feel a little like those contestants, Regina, because no matter how I answer I am opening a can of giant worms that I will undoubtedly be forced to eat later. My highly educated peers will argue that education is much more important than experience, while my highly experienced peers will argue that experience is more important. Either way, it’s worms ala carte for me.

Oh well, I’ve eaten more than my share of crow over the years. How much worse can worms be?

It’s important to understand that the success of an entrepreneur is not measured by how much education he or she has or how many years of experience are under his or her belt. An entrepreneur’s success is measured by achievements, not words on a resume.

By definition, an entrepreneur is a risktaking businessperson: someone who sets up and finances new commercial enterprises to make a profit. Entrepreneurs start businesses. The smart ones then hire MBAs to run them.

Let’s start with education. Is a Bachelor’s degree or better required to succeed in business? Of course not. An MBA from Harvard might give you a leg up in a job interview, but it certainly doesn’t guarantee that you will succeed in business. Nor does it automatically mean that you will be a better business person than someone who didn’t finish high school. Knowledge is a good thing if you know what to do with it.

Perhaps it is the academic environment itself that turns mere mortal nerds into budding entrepreneurs. The late ‘90s proved that college students with no experience beyond organizing a frat keg party could start businesses that would exceed all expectations. Many would argue that the key to success for most of these ventures was that the founders (or the VC financing them) were smart enough to know that while they had an abundance of education, they needed experienced managers to really run the show.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin were college students when they started the company that would become Google. They were smart enough to bring in Eric Schmidt to be chairman and CEO when the business took off. Schmidt was the former CEO of Novell and CTO of Sun Microsystems. A PhD, Schmidt is a man of education and experience.

Jerry Yang and David Filo were candidates in Electrical Engineering at Stanford when they started YAHOO (Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle) in 1994. They brought in Tim Koogle from Motorola to run things shortly thereafter and now the company is led by Terry Semel, who previously spent 24 years running Warner Bros.

Now on to experience. Is experience a prerequisite of business success? Again, not at all. Many experienced entrepreneurs gained their experience in failed businesses, so experience does not instantly translate to success.

So, when it comes to succeeding in business, which is more important: education or experience? While neither is as helpful as a rich relative, here’s the answer that will hopefully help me avoid those worms: Both education and experience can play a large part in business success. The more important question is can you succeed in business without one or the other, or even without both? And the answer to that one is: yes. Can I get ketchup with those worms?

Many successful businesses were started by first time entrepreneurs who never went to college. Natural talent, ambition, drive, determination, and good old dumb luck have fueled many success entrepreneurs, myself included. I don’t have a degree (I drove past a college once. It looked hard, so I kept going). Would a degree have helped make my business trek easier? Perhaps. Then again, I know people with advanced degrees who are flipping burgers at McDonalds. It’s good experience, I suppose.

A combination of education and experience (and a variety of other things) is the best recipe for success. As the old saying goes, ขThere is no better education than that which comes from experience.ข

In the end, it really doesn’t matter how much education, experience, talent, luck or money you have. It’s what you do with it that matters.

About The Author

Small Business Q&A is written by veteran entrepreneur and syndicated columnist, Tim Knox.

Timกs latest books include กSmall Business Success Secretsก and ‘the 30 Day Blueprint For Success!ก

Related Links:

www.smallbusinessqa.com

www.dropshipwholesale.net

http://www.30dayblueprint.com

http://www.timknox.com

This article was posted on February 08

by Tim Knox

Your EBusiness Strategy: Is It Love … Or Fear?

Your EBusiness Strategy: Is It Love … Or Fear?

by: Steve Shaw

I read recently that every human thought originates from either love or fear. The more I thought about it, the more true it became. I began to apply it to business after all, every business success or failure originates ultimately from human thought. This article examines the effects that love or fear can have on your ebusiness is it love, or is it fear, that dominates the way you do business online?

If itกs fear, you fear you’re missing the กone big thingก, and so you attempt to try absolutely everything in case thatกs the thing you’re missing. You read every email that comes in promising business success, and attempt to follow what they suggest.

The only problem is you are attempting to follow several strategies at once, but thereกs only one of you and not enough hours in the day. You end up barely touching the surface of each strategy, and you become disillusioned and despondent. You tell everyone who will listen that everything you have tried simply doesn’t work, and that the Internet is a moneymaking myth.

You are constantly fearful of your competition. You worry they are doing more business than you, that their offer is better than yours, that they will drive you out of business. You try to copy them, and emulate their style, but somehow it just doesn’t work and your heart isn’t in it. You feel like you’re always following some way behind, rather than out in front, leading the pack.

You have no idea where your sales are coming from, and when you have a couple of กdry daysก with no sales at all, you’re panic stricken, and all you can think about is business failure. Youกve been running your business blind, you have no idea whatกs been working well and what hasn’t, so you have no foundation on which to base your decision making, and no faith that what you are doing is working.

You begin to feel unfulfilled, overworked, overstressed, and you can feel yourself burning out. The motivation for your business begins to disappear, and you soon end up with no business.

Instead, if itกs love, you concentrate on Strategy A fully, before even considering B or C. You do your homework first you read all the literature, you know itกs been very successful for many people, and you believe you can do it too. You studiously, deliberately and methodically follow the strategy. Rather than diluting your energy by pouring it into many different moulds, you pour all of it into this one, persistently and with considerable dedication.

You don’t see much happening at first, but you still have faith, and you reexamine the strategy to ensure you are maximizing the possible outcome. Over time, you begin to see the positive results. This reinforces your energy and motivation, and increases the beneficial effects you experience.

You tell everyone who will listen how well it works for you others try it too, and begin to see positive results for their own businesses.

You look for ways in which you can work with your competition for mutual benefit. You think about a JV, and approach your competition with it, even ensuring that the benefits for them outweigh your own. Your competition can see how much benefit your proposal could be for both parties and agree to it. The end result is a highly positive outcome for both sides, and you agree to work more closely together in future.

You concentrate on your own USP, and inject your business with a sense of your own style, confidence, and overall business strategy. You see others beginning to emulate you, which you take as a token of admiration, boosting your selfesteem, and thereby further improving the way you do business. You find yourself leading the marketplace.

You have a couple of dry days, but you know that occasionally this happens for whatever reason, that your targeted traffic comes from multiple sources, which show excellent conversion rates. Instead of fearing business failure, you quickly check everything is okay with your merchant account or payment processor and check your site is functioning normally, and you know sales will pick up normally again very soon. You concentrate your energies instead into new avenues of promotion.

Instead of running your business on fear, and consequently witnessing it shrivelling up and dying, you run it on love you have a passion for what you do, you always take positive action, and the more successful you become, the more it fires that passion.

Your business expands and becomes more successful. And the positive energy from your own business begins to rub off on others.

Can you see how a simple change in approach could transform your business?

Steve Shaw develops software and systems for effective emarketing. For example, his PopUpMaster Pro software allows you to add popups to your web site that beat the popup blockers, and vastly improve your response rates. For more information please go to http://popupmaster.com.

About The Author

Steve Shaw has been marketing fulltime online since March 2002, developing software products and systems for emarketing, including PopUpMaster Pro, the Click Bank Toolkit, ListInferno.com, and http://SubmitYOURArticle.com.

This article was posted on January 22, 2004

by Steve Shaw

Entrepreneurial Traits that Drive Sales

Entrepreneurial Traits that Drive Sales

by: Sharron Senter

Frequently overlooked and hidden deep within our marketing tool box is the ultimate marketing vehicle for your business – you! Many small business owners are so busy figuring out how to increase sales and revenue they forget to grow themselves as business owners. If you aren’t evolving yourself, aren’t you being counterproductive to your business development? Marketing our businesses isn’t just about what ads to buy or what networking event to go to next; it’s about us as people, as entrepreneurs. The following marketing traits are often overlooked by entrepreneurs but are pivotal to your longterm success. What’s more, they cost very little yet earn a savvy entrepreneur a lot. Show Your Personality Customers want to know who you are. That’s great that you offer the fastest tax services in town, or your gift baskets can be custommade and delivered anywhere in 24 hours. But who are you? Your customers and prospects want to know. Especially if you’re facilitating business on the Internet, building trust is key to making a prospect feel comfortable buying from you. One of the most effective ways to build trust is to express your personality.

How can you express personality? Even conservative introverts can develop indirect methods of exhibiting their personalities. Here are some examples If you own a store, at the entrance, try displaying a professional portrait of you and your family and your personal story describing how your business began. If you’re an attorney, try displaying a small 8.5ข X 11ข picture frame on your desk that describes your background, your personal interests and hobbies. If this is too personal for you, try displaying a few photos on your office wall, including the photo of you rowing in college or the one that depicts your fabulous smile playing soccer with your sixyearold. If you’re not the smilingtype, a human interest photo showing you in a common setting will help put your prospect at ease. Ultimately this person will see the photo of you and your son above your shoulder and think, ขHe’s a dad too. He knows what I’m going through.ข When you allow your customers and prospects a ขpeekข at who you really are, they’ll begin to feel more comfortable and able to express their needs, an incredible competitive edge. You’ll see a notable increase in sales as customers identify more with you.

Use Your Fear One of my greatest fears is having to return to the workforce. I’ve been selfemployed for almost three years. However, I didn’t just one day decide to start a business. Although I’d always dreamed of working for myself, the dread of failure held me back. It wasn’t until the company I worked for was purchased by another and I was laid off that I decided to launch my business. I use this same fear to push me to succeed. As you know, fear can freeze an entrepreneur right in her tracks. I’ve seen it time and time again. Fear can consume us, keep us from making any marketing decisions at all. Rather than wrestle with your fear, acknowledge it, let it push you to where you need to go. Use it to make marketing decisions, rather than no decisions at all. It’s better to have several failed marketing programs then none at all.

Smile and Applaud Whether you have employees or you’re a oneperson show, it doesn’t matter. You must smile at and applaud the people within your network including employees, associates, vendors, friends and family. When you say ‘thank you,ก กplease,ก กnice job,ก ขI love the design you did for me,ข ขI really appreciate your waiting for that report,ข ขthanks for delivering it,ข ขIt was nice meeting you,ข ขI enjoyed your presentation,ข you leave a positive lasting impression on people. As a small business owner, you can’t afford to miss out on what I call, ขmoments of positive impressions.ข These moments accumulate over time. Before you know it, you’ve created a positive reputation for yourself. Smiling and applauding are fairly easy traits to acquire and can be the competitive edge you need to separate you from the stuffy entrepreneur down the street.

Keep Away from Certain People Nothing will stop you dead in your tracks faster than someone who’s ขquestioningข your entrepreneurial instincts. I’m not saying ignore these people altogether, because they may have a good point; however, don’t stop doing what you’re doing just because people don’t completely support your ideas. Many of these naysayers are employed by someone else. How could they understand or support your ideas? They’re on a completely different life track than you. They can’t possibly understand what it’s like to have to be responsible for making your own money. Surround yourself with other successfulminded people who have to make their own money.

Stay Focused You must stop flip flopping with your marketing ideas. Pick 10 of them, and repeat them continuously for more than a year. Pick a direction and stick with it!

About The Author

Sharron Senter is a New Englandbased marketing consultant, speaker, writer and founder of Senter & Associates, a marketing communications firm that helps small businesses deploy lowcost marketing strategies. Sharron is best known for her free weekly emailed marketing tips, found at http://www.sharronsenter.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 11, 2003

by Sharron Senter

Secrets To Buying Without Being Sold

Secrets To Buying Without Being Sold

by: Dan Auito

Have you ever asked yourself, now how did I let that guy sell me on something that I had no real need for at the time? Do you ever get a sneaking suspicion that your probably not going to really use whatever it is that your buying in the way that it was presented? If this is true which is often the case, then why in the heck do we give up our hard earned money for something that until we heard some sales spiel, we really had no need or want to have.

Please allow me to expose what marketers do to us on a regular basis in an effort to develop those perceived wants, needs and desires in us which drive us to buy what is being offered.

Let me first tell you that My wife Kimberly was at one time a true life consumer protection agent for Pinellas county Florida and I along with her have the same bent attitude towards protecting people as opposed to seeing them being taken advantage of, If you can let your guard down for a minute I think you’ll absorb these keys to understanding better and you’ll get more out of what I’m about to tell you.

Secrets that marketers don’t want you to know!

(When you buy, use logic not emotion)

• • A good marketer or salesman will always make it as easy as possible for you to buy whatever they are selling, check, cash, credit, fax, phone, mail or on line, That’s fine we want that, but almost without question once you have decided that your ready to check out you’ll find the upsell pitch almost preventing you from completing the transaction. The upsell is where once they have you sold on the least expensive item or package deal, they attempt to upgrade you to a more expensive premium feature, option or package.

A Variation of this technique is the crosssell, this is where they start adding options to the item that you have decided to buy, cars are a good example with undercoating, floor mats, premium sound systems, Sport packages etc… these are things that enhance the desirability of the original product sold.

Key: Don’t fall for the sale, after the sale.

• • The next tactic relied upon by many is to prey upon your fears, there is a rule that says people will buy ten times more often to relieve fear then they will to obtain pleasure, insurance companies use this tactic by instilling fear and guilt in you by saying you will be leaving your family broke, destitute and homeless if you fail to provide this protection through the products they sell. Once they have the fear established then you would see the focus put into selling the benefits that would result from your wise decision to buy today.

KEY: Recognize when someone is trying to instill or plant fear into you and also remember who initiated the conversation. Did you originally need this protection or has someone made you feel that way through a mind altering sales script.

• • Their next ploy is the takeaway, here they employ the factors of scarcity, greed and time, you often see it used in the following manner; You must act now on this exclusive offer, we only have a limited supply at this price, this won’t last long call now! In this case they make it appear there’s not many, it’s a great deal and it will be gone, you are about to lose the advantage, the edge, the deal, the benefit, the opportunity will be gone.

Again the fear of loss and the loss of pleasure are being used to get you to logically make an emotional decision based on fear, they want you to act fast so you don’t have time to think!

Key: Know that the deal will most often be there tomorrow and think logically when making your decision on whether or not to buy, use time as your ally.

The ability to make quick decisions and stick to them is an admirable quality, but you must insure you indeed did make the right decision to start.

• • You must be aware or beware of savvy salesman, one trademark quality of this type of individual is his or her ability to lower your resistance to their pitch, often you find them criticizing the product or service before you get the chance, this is known as Objection Resolution. Based on their experience they know what often will prevent a sale before they begin, so they bring it up first to effectively remove their biggest obstacle to the sale.

Key: Ask yourself if this feature is critically important to the products ability to solve, provide for, or deliver the results that you intend to buy it for, if not? Then you may consider dwelling awhile on the defect to get a price concession or discount based on that fact. Don’t allow your resistance to be lowered through dissolving, disabling or disarming sales double talk.

• • Another orchestrated event you’ll often see is the use of the image plant or involvement device these are designed to get you into an ownership state of mind as if the product or service being sold is already yours and the benefit will now be achieved. By getting you to envision some great outcome or result they tout how much better your life will be, IE… Slimmer, stronger, healthier, happier, WEALTHIER! When dealing with hard goods they ask you to hold it, feel it and smell how nice it is, by getting you to investigate further they increase the odds that you will take ownership. How about a free test drive?

Key: Remember! A generous offer often comes with a hefty price tag, don’t allow yourself to get involved to quickly in what seems to be the deal of a lifetime.

• • Moving on to the super smooth and accomplished salesperson we find an even more persuasive individual who is adept at patterning and mirroring you yourself! These people will move as you move, adjust the tone and dialect of their speech patterns to your type and style while getting you to respond with as many yes answers as possible, if they can get you nodding and saying yes to obvious questions that evoke that response then you could say that they are conditioning you to continue agreeing with what will come next, that question being: And how would like to pay for that? Will that be cash or charge? Would you like that in red or blue? That is the close or what is called assuming the sale.

As you can see these types are very well healed and they actually are using a little acting and showmanship on you, They use scripts to control the sales event and they don’t leave much to chance, if your weak and unprepared then consider yourself vulnerable to being persuaded by this professional at work.

Key: Ask your own questions to take them out of their script, and when they prompt you for that affirmative yes answer, say to yourself: I’d like to think about that for a moment. Again slow the process down to see what’s going on before it’s too late.

• • One last Character and we’ll rap this thing up, this fellow presents the good ole boy image, the friendly type who spends a great deal of time conditioning you to buy through storytelling, he’ll give you examples of others who received extraordinary results, benefits, satisfaction, performance, reliability or a hundred other favorable outcomes from taking his advice.

Key: If you find yourself being captivated by good storytelling then you should recognize that your tendency to buy is slowly being increased. Once you recognize the method you should immediately refocus on your specific needs and what the product or service actually delivers. Again you’ll need to use logic to avoid the emotional images being conjured and implanted throughout the presentation.

There’s an old saying that says the more you tell the more you sell, I can agree with that to some extent but I come back to the fact that if something is of great value at a low price, it sells itself! with only enough advertising to get word of mouth to do the rest.

By now I probably have you afraid to leave the house after telling you how these individuals go about their craft, fear not educated consumer we have a solution!

Simply by understanding and recognizing the simple tactics used in the trade we can effectively neutralize them and continue on our way to getting the best deals on the products and services that we truly need, want and desire.

Lets recap and create our own script or methods to counter the professional salesman’s effort.

How can we neutralize Upsells, Crosssells, Fear of loss, Use of guilt and shame, takea ways, preemptive resolutions, Image plants and involvement devices, Patterning and Mirroring, Assumptive closes, and good storytelling? Simply by recognizing that they are being used to stir our emotions in a sales situation!

Once you are aware of the tactic and recognize that it is being employed you can defend against it, now you know the rules of the game and can make an effective corresponding move to counter the well thought out strategy of the seller.

How can we make the buying events easier on ourselves other than just keeping our guard up for all these different emotional appeals?

I believe the #1 way to insure a great deal is to know whom your dealing with! By using referrals, reviewing unbiased testimonials and obtaining proof in cases where you don’t actually know the person or company in question you will be one step closer towards feeling as though you will receive more than an average benefit from the transaction. Note: If you can cut out the middleman than I encourage you to do so whenever possible.

Try to buy direct from the source through friends or their referrals to people they know, reputations are put on the line and personal service with care is more often rendered, this is where having a large network to rely on will help you to achieve better pricing on guaranteed products and services

Again this is the first step in stacking the deck in your favor, once you have come this far its time to interview the seller to insure again that they aren’t going to use those classic tactics we’ve become so accustomed to.

They may be friends, acquaintances, or rock solid referrals however we still need to ask tough questions to determine various levels of competence, product knowledge and proficiency to determine their credibility. As they say, actions speak louder than words, do they have integrity are they honest? Can they be relied upon as an authority regarding the business dealings you’re undertaking?

You need to ask tough questions in order to get the correct answers in these fact finding missions, this pays big dividends in the long run, because you strengthen your resources while gaining the respect you deserve as a paying customer.

In the end your not going to be able to use a single script like a person or company who sells the same products or services day in and day out but you can understand how those companies operate and thereby be an informed and educated buyer when your needs arise for the products and services they sell.

This report was written to help you buy right without being sold!

Sincerely yours, Dan Auito.

About The Author

Dan Auito is a duallicensed real estate agent and appraisal assistant. Dan is a 20year veteran of the United States Coast Guard. He has acquired over 1.3 million in real estate assets in 14 years while also founding a nonprofit drug prevention corporation, a real estate consulting group and is the author of ขMagic Bullets in Real Estate.ข This 300page powerpacked book (due out in early July 2004) comes with a website that further supports its readers. Dan lives with his wife Kimberly and their two children, Brandon and Briana, on the emerald isle of Kodiak Island, Alaska. Dan may be reached at [email protected] or by visiting www.magicbullets.com. Call 1 907 4816300 or write 1619 Three Sisters Way Kodiak AK 99615

This article was posted on April 25, 2004

by Dan Auito

How To Be Creative

How To Be Creative

by: Dave Cole

Network marketing is an art as much as it is an applied science. To take a blank sheet of paper or canvas and draw or paint an interesting picture, youกve got to have an imagination and creativity.

The other day, I was watching some video tapes I had made of my son when he was between 2 and 6 years old. One thing that impressed me was the total freedom he had to express his imagination and creativity.

He was always coming off with some unique or interesting new way of looking at things, or saying something. It was actually a refreshing experience for me to watch and remember the fun and zest he had for life at that age.

Life was so very new and interesting at that age. Every day was a new adventure and presented new opportunities to learn new things. Getting up every morning was something he looked forward to.

He hadn’t yet learned or developed some basic fears, like the fear of being criticized or of what others might think of him. His actions and words were not hampered by thoughts of "what will others think if I say or do this".

There was no fear that blocked or stifled his imagination and creativity. He was never concerned that mom or dad might think less of him because of his actions or words.

One of the areas we need to be creative in is our ad writing. Ad writing is an applied skill, it is an art, and it is a science. It doesn’t happen over night, ad writing takes a lot of practice, and a lot of learning to do before you get good at it.

Weกll discuss the science of ad writing in a future article, but for now we are going to focus on just being creative with your writing.

Why do we need to be creative? Consider this: if a lot of people are selling or pushing the same product as you are, and using the same ad as you are, then there are going to be an awful lot of ads out there all looking the same. If a thousand other ads look just like yours, just how many clicks do you reasonably expect to come to you?

Creativity in your ad writing allows you to "break out of the pack" and sparkle your ad with dynamic and imaginative ideas. Something that will capture your readerกs attention and get them to want to click on your ad.

Your ad has to stand out and be noticed above all others!

Itกs said that you have 3 seconds to attract your readerกs attention before they click on to greener pastures.

The human mind constantly seeks for new and more exciting ideas and words to stimulate it. A person viewing the same boring headline or ad over and over again, will become numb to it and will simply ignore itกs presence.

Itกs your job as an ad writer to capture that attention and give the readerกs mind a new and refreshing experience.

Using your creativity and imagination to accomplish these objectives is a must do. Writing an ad is a challenging, exciting, and stimulating adventure for the ad writer. If you get that "charge" out of writing an ad, then most likely it will stimulate the reader also.

If ad writing is a "chore" for you, and itกs something that you just feel you "have to do", then don’t expect really good results either.

Itกs actually fun to think up new ways to say the same old thing. Itกs a challenge to see what new headline will attract anotherกs attention. Itกs always exciting to see that a lot of people have been attracted to a headline and clicked through on it.

There are 2 things that will destroy your creativity. Distractions and fear.

A mind that is filled with thoughts telling it all the other things it must or should be doing will be a mind that is not capable of being expressive. That mind is worried, disturbed, and is unproductive. Go do what ever else you have to do first, then when you can be free, write your ads.

The great painters and artists of our world history had the unique ability to totally block out the world and focus only on what they were doing at the time.

The second thing that you must do is get over any fears of criticism.If you are concerned about what others will think when they view your ad, you’re in big trouble.

If you are going to be creating a masterpiece of literature in your ad writing, you cannot allow those thoughts to belong in your head!

Iกm going to let you in on a little secret Iกve never told anybody. When I write an ad I pretend. I pretend Iกm one of the worldกs great writers who is creating one of his great works of literature. And I pretend that no one will ever see what I write.

Itกs easy to write to a computer screen that has no feelings or emotions or words that spit back at me, "This is no good, no one will ever read this garbage". I pretend that as soon as I write this stuff, it will get deleted.

Thereกs no fear when I write! I can be like a little kid again and be free to express my creativity. After all, the only thing that will ever see this is my trash bin, right? I can type whatever I want with no fear of being criticized or condemned by what comes off the keyboard.

I can be 4 years old again and say what I want. I can be free to be creative and let the creativeimaginative juices flow.

About The Author

Dave Cole Editor/Publisher of the Prosperity: The Choice Is Yours Ezine To read the current issue online and past articles by Dave: http://choosetoprosper.com

This article was posted on January 20, 2002

by Dave Cole

7 Steps to Selling Artwork

7 Steps to Selling Artwork

by: Steven Popkin

Selling arwork is easy when you follow a road map. In this article you learn the step by step guide to marketing art for profits. Now onto the plan!

1. Decide that you want to sell your artwork!

Now, I know this sounds ridiculous on the surface but look at it a little deeper. Many artists love just creating art, they have no desire to sell what they make. Selling their work becomes unfortunately a necessary evil. Suffice to say…Supplies, tools, food and housing costs money. If you want to be a full time artist you either have to have money saved up, work another full time job or learn how to sell some of your work. Many artists look at this last alternative as something they dread doing. I hear all the time…กI want to be an artist not a salesperson!ก I couldn’t agree more! But…and here is the big but…you have to learn easy methods to help you sell your art where the art basically sells itself.

2. Decide what you want to sell.

Many artists don’t have a clue what to sell. This causes them a lot of stress. They will say that their work is too time consuming and they will never recoup the cost or time involved in making the piece. If this is the case, you will need to do some research to find out what is selling and if your work has a market for it. You should not create dozens if not hundreds of pieces to find out that there is no market or interest in that particular artwork. A little research ahead of time goes along way. If you have artwork that falls into the category of being one of a kind, expensive and time intensive to produce you will also have to decide the marketability of the piece. There are easy ways to do this research ahead of time you just have to be educated in the proper steps on how to do it. Failing to do it could bankrupt you before you get started.

3. Decide where you are going to sell it.

Once again, a little research goes a long way! For example, where do you think you would do better selling Southwest (United States that is) style artwork… in Phoenix, Arizona or New York City? Now some of you reading this may say well there could be some buyers for this type of artwork in New York City. And your right… there could be some. But isn’t it easier to catch a fish where the fish are biting? In other words find the buyers for your style of artwork where they live, work or shop. You need to learn how to investigate art shows, galleries, websites and the like where your buyers visit. Not doing this crucial step will not only cause you heartache but lead to wasted opportunities. As you can see, this step builds upon the previous two. Now onto number 4!

4. Decide how much you are going to sell your work for.

Artists either do one of two things…under price their work or overprice it. Most never get it right from the get go. Trial and error seems to be the name of the game. Well, until you figure out the right prices for your work, much money or lost sales probably have slipped thru your fingers. There are several strategies to speed up this process to determine what price point will work best for your style of work. In my course I teach specific points in setting your prices from the start. I have heard that this information has created peace of mind for many people for it gives them a logical road map to follow. It also allows you latitude to know when to raise your prices and situations where you will be more profitable reducing your prices. Believe me, some of my best profitable pieces come from items that I could sell all day long for under $20. Now before you say, กI have no interest in selling for that price point…ก What if I told you that these are pieces that I would normally give away and they take me less than 2 minutes of my time to make? Found money which exposes people to my more expensive pieces which I sell for thousands of dollars.

5. Set up an efficient shop and process to produce your work.

This sounds pretty simple doesn’t it? But how many of you reading this could honestly say that your workspace is productive, efficient and could handle multiple projects at once? Artists tend to get rapped up in their work and lose track of time, space, equipment, materials and everything in between. I know Iกve been there. I would go into my studio about 7:30 at night just to complete a simple part of a project I was working on. I put on some กmood musicก, turn off the phones and get into the zone. The next thing I know it is 3 in the morning and I just can’t stop. I love it! But the shop can become a disaster when I get going. Cutting glass for my stained glass windows, scrap glass lying around, airbrushes and the like…things pile up quick! Setting up your shop for production helps keep you working productively. Once I tightened this area up I was spending more time creating art and less time cleaning up and organizing all the supplies and materials that I just finished using. You are probably saying to yourself, กSteve, this sounds like common senseก, and it is, but we all fall into this trap. If you are going to start selling your artwork you are going to need to learn to ‘tightenก up the shop. This will be the only way to be productive and profitable.

6. Organize your schedule.

This includes specific things such as: 1. Buying supplies and materials 2. Talking to prospective customers and current customers 3. Working on your art 4. Planning your marketing activities 5. Daily & monthly business activities such as taxes, bills, paying utilities, registering for artshows and the like 6. Having fun outside the studio! This step directly follows step 5 above. If you กfly by the seat of your pantsก plan to be stressed and overwhelmed. Take time to write out all the tasks that you need to accomplish in a typical day, week or month and create a ‘to doก list. I have done this successfully for many years and have found it to be the most productive use of my time. Give it a try and watch how you multiply your accomplishments!

7. Create art & Sell it!

This involves putting it all together. Just do it in a systemized fashion. The above will help you get started. Learning how to sell your artwork is really easy once you have the conceptual understanding and tools of how to do it. My advance course can easily help you do it. For the price that I am offering to you I truly don’t understand why you have not gotten at this point.

Remember, FEAR, is simple กfalse evidence appearing realก. The reason artists don’t like selling their work is because of fear, fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of the กI told you soก from family members. This fear is false! You can prove all your critics wrong and most importantly become HAPPY! Why not live the life you want, the life you dream about, the life you deserve. Happiness should not be a hopeful goal down the road but a major component of the journey. Isn’t that what lifeกs about? Go for it!

About The Author

Steve Popkin, a veteran glass artist, makes it easy for artists to become successful. Learn the secrets most artists and craftsmen will never know about selling artwork in his complimentary ecourse just visit http://www.thethrivingartist.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 08

by Steven Popkin

HOW to Use Fear to Your Advantage

HOW to Use Fear to Your Advantage

by: Jason Tarasi

The invisible force surrounded him, squeezing tightly around his chest. His eyes became wide and bewildered.

Suddenly his mind raced with dark thoughts, his stomach churned, and he became engulfed with a sense of hopelessness.

This man had just come face to face with FEAR. Now he had a life altering choice to make, one that we all must face: Fight it off, or let it destroy his dreams.

You will never face a more worthy adversary than your own fear. It knows all of your weaknesses, and it will try to use them against you.

The thing about fear, is that it preys on your innermost demons. You can’t hide these thoughts, because this dark force lives inside you. It hides in the shadows of your mind, eagerly awaiting the opportunity to pounce and create selfdoubt.

Fear will manifest itself in many ways, and the more you feed it, the more control it has over your life.

If you want to be a successful online marketer, you must prepare yourself mentally to wage a personal battle against your inner demons and selfdoubt.

Your family and friends can only offer you so much support and encouragement, but in the end, you must fight this battle alone.

If you are serious about making money online, you must strive to become a professional marketer.

In a nutshell, a professional is someone who does their job, no matter what the circumstances are.

They have fear just like you, but they don’t let it control them. In fact, many professionals use it as a motivating factor to achieve their goals (I.e. fear of failure).

Learning how to control your fear won’t happen overnight, but with practice, it can be done.

Becoming selfconfident isn’t something that just happens. It is a state of mind you must put yourself into.

You must teach your mind how to react to negative thoughts, and push these thoughts away with positive thinking.

Fear is simply a negative thought about a future event, which often times is something you have total control over.

Dr. Jill AmmonWexler has written a powerful selfhelp course that teaches you how to use positive thinking to power up your selfconfidence.

http://www.freeclassifiedlinks.com/selfhelp.html

It is astounding how many people overlook the importance of these kind of courses. Most of the successful people I know, attribute their success directly to a selfhelp course.

To become a successful online marketer, it is almost a requirement that you think in a positive way. You must visualize your own success, even before it happens.

Remember, if you allow fear to control your life, you will have something much worse to live with:

Regret.

Sadly, you can’t control regret, because it is an emotion based on a past event. It is no longer something you can change.

I can think of nothing worse than waking up one day and saying to myself กWhat if…ก

Copyright 2005 Jason Tarasi

About The Author

Jason Tarasi publishes the newsletter กMy Secrets To Success.ก Subscribe now and DISCOVER the Rags to Riches stories from some of the most successful Internet marketers online. Claim you free lifetime subscription now by visiting: http://www.mysecretstosuccess.com/.

This article was posted on March 17

by Jason Tarasi

Dr. Robert Anthony Reveals How To Use Quantum Phys

Dr. Robert Anthony Reveals How To Use Quantum Physics To Supercharge Your Internet Marketing Success

by: Rick Miller

What secret dreams do you have for your Internet marketing business? Would you like to quickly expand your list to giant proportions? Would you love to have a list of thousands or even millions of people bringing in money every day as they buy the products you offer?

What if you could have anything you wanted simply by using your mind in a certain revolutionary way?

Undoubtedly, Dr. Robert Anthony, author of 15 bestselling books, including the Beyond Positive Thinking, is the undisputed master of teaching people to manifest their desires and turn them into reality.

He offers these words of advice to give you complete and total control over your brain and mind in accomplishing whatever you want to accomplish.

The most important thing, he says, is to realize that you’ve caused whatever outcome you currently have in your life. Are you still struggling to make a living online? The fact is that, consciously or unconsciously, you are causing your lack of success.

You are not a victim of circumstances. Simply by becoming aware of the tremendous effect of your thoughts and emotions you can turn become a creator of your circumstances and have whatever you want in your life. In fact, you can virtually guarantee a successful outcome.

One universal law and principle that Dr. Anthony reveals is: ข You attract what you focus on.ข In other words, what you focus on expands. So it follows, if you don’t have the life or Internet marketing success that you want, it’s due to focusing on the wrong things.

According to Quantum Physics, focusing actually causes changes in energy fields that automatically produce a physical change in your surroundings.

Instead of focusing on the problem, you need to focus on the solution—the outcome that you desire. Unfortunately 95% percent of people focus on what they fear, instead of what they want out of life.

It’s kind of like driving down the road and seeing a pothole. If you focus intently on staring at the pothole, intending to miss it, what happens? Of course! You run smack dab into it.

It’s the same with life and business. When you focus on your fears, you make them reality.

Do you worry about spending money educating yourself in marketing? Are you afraid that you may be throwing away money that you may never see again? Are you operating in a spirit of fear?

As Sir Winston Churchill is so often quoted, ขThe only thing we have to fear is fear itself.ข This statement hits the nail on the head. It literally is 100 percent true.

Focus instead on realizing that you must have the proper tools and education to succeed.

You wouldn’t try to build a house without a good set of tools and some construction knowledge.

Focus on doing exactly what it takes to get the outcome you want.

With that in mind, the key to success is the more you focus on what you want, the more your desires will manifest themselves in your life.

Copyright 2004 Rick Miller

About The Author

Rick Miller is the Internet Mind Control expert and a Certified Master of Web Copywriting. What if you could build your optin list to one million in 6 months? Weกve arranged for you to access Dr. Robert Anthony’s complete audio training for free, along with training from Jay Abraham, Joe Vitale, John Gray, Mark Victor Hansen, Stephen Pierce, and other experts. Go to: http://www.ScientificInternetMarketing.com/freetraining

This article was posted on October 20, 2004

by Rick Miller

Discover How To Make The Success Generating Imagin

Discover How To Make The Success Generating Imagination Work For You

by: Fernando Soave

The secret power of positive thinkers is their faith. And this faith is the power of God working through their imagination. A sparked imagination is a sacred channel through which God performs his great projects.

How can you make your imagination work for you ?

1. Pick a goal.

Positive thinkers are people who believe in setting goals for personal achievement. Almost, at first inception, these goals, are unrealistic. But the positive thinker inuitively knows that nothing is ompossible until he stops setting goals.

Make up your mind that goal setting is absolutely necessary. Goals give meaning to living. Goals are necessary to motivate you. They are essential to really keep you alive. ขNot having a goal is more to be feared than not reaching a goal.ข

2. Imagine a variety of possible ways to reach your goal.

You should have at least three or more possible ways to reach your goal before you plunge. Whatever your goal may be, draft a possibility list of ways in which you could concievably reach your desired objective.

3. Get fear out of your imagination.

Don’t let fear push you down. It is amazing how fear will creep in as you begin to imagine yourself moving forward in an enterprise. Once you have created a noble goal in your mind you must discipline your thinking, prohibiting that fear from making his entrance into you imagination. It is amazing what fears can rise and none rises more quickly than the fear of failure. Think : ข I would rather attempt to do something great and fail than attempt to do nothing and succeed !ข

If you are tempted to fear that you might not make your goals, remember this : ขNot failure but low aim is a crime.ข

Fear nothing more than fear itself.

4. Imagine yourself getting started.

The hardest part of any job is getting started. It requires very little to begin something big. The first sale is always the hardest. The odds are great that if you will begin, you will achieve. For, positive ideas are immortal. Even if your dream seems impossible, begin !

Begin by writing your idea on paper. Sketch an impression of what you hope to build or the name of the business you hope to launch.

5. Imagine goals beyond your goals.

The positive thinker holds goals beyond his goals in the back of his imagination. He realizes that he must never be caught in a position where he ขarrivesข and ขweepsข because he has no more worlds to conquer. Challenge and achievement are the very ebb and flow of the tide of life. Without challenge and achievement we are living as dead men. When you catch up with your goals you are in trouble.

What are you hunting for ? A job ? An education ? A marriage ? A business ? Whatever it is, you will never succeed at anything until you turn your imagination loose and imagine success at it. There are opportunities all around you !

Imagination is the power of the universe.

Fernando Soave

Editor and Publisher

CUTTING EDGE MLM

http://www.cuttingedgemlm.tk

Free Cutting Edge MLM Newsletter.

mailto:[email protected]

This article comes with reprint rights. Feel free to reprint and distribute as needed. All that we ask is that you do not make any changes and to be sure that the web site address

http://www.cuttingedgemlm.tk and

mailto:[email protected] is hyperlinked correctly.

About The Author

Fernando Soave is the author of กCutting Edge MLM News.ก He has been in marketing for 20 years and is helping individuals succeed online. Visit his site to find out how you can get free reports.

http://www.cuttingedgemlm.tk or Subscribe to the

Free Cutting Edge MLM Newsletter and receive your +$585 MLM Value Pack.

mailto:[email protected]

[email protected]

This article was posted on October 10, 2003

by Fernando Soave

Increase Business by Squashing Your Fear of Phones

Increase Business by Squashing Your Fear of Phones

by: Trent Brownrigg

Phone skills are very important when you have your own home business. If you are like me, when I started out, then you may think you are going to work entirely online and not use the phone. However, there will come times in your business when you must talk on the phone. In fact, you will probably talk on the phone a lot when you have an ขonlineข home business.

There are times when you will need to call prospects, talk to business partners, answer questions that someone has, or some other business task that requires the phone. You may be saying, ขNo matter what I guarantee I will never call anyoneข but what if someone calls you? You will need phone skills then too!

The problem with this phone fact is that most people are scared to talk business on the phone. We have a fear of failure or rejection on the phone that causes us to make mistakes in our speech, forget what we want to say, or just totally freeze up. Don’t let this fear stop you or slow you down. You can actually develop great phone skills rather quickly.

If you want to reap all the benefits of being your own boss then you will have to overcome your fear sooner or later. In order to complete this task you must develop a strong desire to have good phone skills and let nothing stand in your way.

Think about it, when you are on the phone the other person can’t see you. They don’t know if you have messed up or said something wrong. They don’t know that you haven’t showered today. They can’t see that you are nervous or scared. Also, if you really get bogged down, and need to get out, all you have to do is hangup. So, what are you really scared of? If it’s still rejection then get used to it! You will get rejected more times than not. We all do!

Don’t know how to start? Here are five basic techniques to help you in acquiring your new phone skills:

1) The OpeningIf you are the one doing the calling then you must have a good way to open up the conversation. You really only have a few seconds before the person on the other end decides whether they are going to listen or not. There are a few things in your opening that you need to have; your name, the reason for the call, and why they should care about what you have to say. You should also be prepared with some basic opening information in case someone calls you out of the blue. Rehearse all of your openings often so it becomes like second nature to you.

2) Your AttitudeSmile during the conversation. It’s true that they can’t see you but smiling will make your voice sound positive, upbeat, and friendly. You also need to be confident. Your confidence will show them that you truly stand by your product or business. They must believe that they really need you. Remember ขNOข might really mean ขI still need to be convinced.ข

3) MannersIt’s really easy to get caught up in a conversation and start talking like you do with your friends. Remember this is a professional call. Avoid repeated phrases or nervous laughs. Don’t chew gum or eat while on the phone. Also, keep your mouth a few inches from the phone so you aren’t too loud or muffled. Most of all, watch your language. Nothing will end your conversation faster than letting one of those naughty 4letter words slip out.

4) SurroundingsIt is best to be in a quiet and comfortable place away from distractions. If you are interrupted you may forget what you were saying causing you to sound very unprofessional.

5) InformationIt is a very good idea to have everything you may need readily available. Have all information organized and accessible within seconds. At the very least you should have your website open, the compensation plan in front of you, and a list of answers to frequently asked questions handy. Another very important tool to have is a script. With a script you have your lines in front of you ready to go. However, it’s best not to totally rely on a script. I say this because the conversation can stray from it very easily.

Well, there you go! Now you have some basic techniques to help you squash your fear of phones and become more professional. I doubt you will be able to do it in one day but with some practice, repetition, and persistence you will sound like a veteran in no time. Trust me if you face your fear now it will pay off big later!

Copyright© Trent Brownrigg

http://www.workathomejobsiowa.com

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included and the article is not changed in any way (grammatical corrections accepted). A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.

About The Author

Trent Brownrigg is a successful home business entrepreneur, webmaster, and author of work at home articles. Check out My Top 10 Ways for You to Earn and Learn at: http://www.workathomejobsiowa.com/top_10.html

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 19, 2004

by Trent Brownrigg