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You may not know the name Lon Naylor but Lon has made it his mission to rid the world of crappy videos.
Lon has made videos for the likes of…
Sterling Valentine
Rich Schefren
Mike Filsaime
Jason James
Jeff Dedrick
and others
Check out his video below.
So if you know you need to use video or if you are already using videos you need to go check out Screencast Profits and let Lon make sure you don’t make crappy videos.
Personally I think Lon is a bit nuts for what he is giving away but do recommend you take advantage of it before he changes his mind.
One of the soap boxes I get up on all the time is the importance of testing and tracking your results. Guess today will be another time but this time there is a difference.
Robert Puddy has introduced a free level to his Hits Connect tracking system. Now there is no excuse not to get started tracking your results.
Yes it is limited for free members but once you start improving your results through tracking you will understand that tracking is one of those expenses that actually increases your income and becomes an asset not a liability.
After all if you double, triple or more your results you will realize the value and the savings more than offset the small cost.
Check out Hits Connect today and start improving your results today.
Need help using it properly check out the report I created and how tracking can improve your profits at Tracking Your Way To Profits. No sign up just download it from that link.
Is your own business really more risky than working for someone else?
Copyright 2009 - Mike Paetzold - All worldwide rights reserved
Starting your own business is risky but…
Isn’t it just as risky if not more so to be working for someone else?
If you have watched the news or read a paper over the past year I am sure that you realize that we are in a recession. The facts are indisputable.
Here in the US we have had the Wall Street bailout, the big 3 car companies have been to Washington with their hand out and the whole structure of the economy is changing.
The days of going to work for a company and it lasting your life time are gone. Rare is the person who has been with the same company for their whole career.
In our area when Bethlehem Steel went bankrupt quite a few people who had retired and thought they were set for their retirement lost their medical coverage completely. People who had worked for them for thirty plus years had now lost something that they were depending on.
This placed a huge burden on them and their families and they were totally unprepared for it.
Will this be happening for the Big 3? Not sure but it definitely is a huge risk for those that have retired and even more so for those that work there and are dependent upon a pension from them for their retirement. The bad part is that those companies are not alone.
It is becoming more and more common for this to happen in the new world environment.
Compare that to the risk of running your own business?
Either way you can fail and find yourself behind the eight ball but at least you have some control of your own fate with your own business.
The biggest thing that stops people from starting their own business is the costs not the risks. After all who wouldn’t want to be able to control their fate and not be at the whim of even the best companies. After all 40 years ago getting into one of the Big 3 car companies seemed like a perfect way to be set for life. Not so sure the average UAW member feels that way today.
For brick and mortar businesses the costs can be enormous. Want to start a Mc Donald’s franchise and it is a 7 figure investment. Even to start a small retail establishment can easily be into 6 figures.
That is the beauty of an online business. The costs are much less although despite what you will see from various sales letters there are costs involved.
Just as important though is that it is possible to start an online business with out giving up your current job. It also gives you access to a world wide market.
Start a store in your local community and you have a very limited reach. You are at the whim of the local economy. Despite all the bad news there are still areas of that world that are growing nicely.
For an example there is a specialty store in the next town over that makes kielbasy and is extremely well known through out the area. At the holidays when you go there to make your purchase it is not unusual to find people that have traveled 60 miles or more to get there.
They have a great reputation and a very specialized market thus their reach is probably double the average retail store.
But compare that to online where you can sell to people on the other side of the world. Their reach which seems great for a local retailer seems minuscule in comparison.
An online business can be started and become profitable with just a few monthly costs. You will need hosting, a domain name and an autoresponder.
That is all that is necessary to get started. Yes you will invest more as you grow but what business doesn’t?
So you answer the question we started with…
Is your own business really more risky than working for someone else?
So why not get started today.
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About the author - Mike Paetzold is a well known marketer and mentor. To discover more about starting a successful online business go to Mike Paetzold Recommends and sign up for his free report -”Build Your Business”. For free video training in getting started check out Videos For Beginners.
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You may use and reprint this article as long as it is posted in it’s entirety and all links and the resource box are included.
First and foremost Happy New Year to you and yours. I look forward to helping you make it your most successful so far.
Hopefully you have been following the planning series and are ready to kick of this year in a big way.
Have you checked out the smart planning video from Derek Gehl? You should have if not it is not too late.
The big thing to get you started is to make sure that you are doing something that is moving your business forward each day.
Now let’s define moving your business forward.
It is the things that actually are improving your business. It is not…
Answering email
Reviewing your favorite forum
Spending time on Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Reading the latest ebook on that new technique
and many more
Now all of those things may be necessary and I do all of them but the things that really help build your business are…
A new blog post
Submitting a new article
Creating a new report for your squeeze page
Creating a new product
Improving a sales process in some way
Improving your email follow up series
Creating and submitting a video to the various sites
and many more
Now the first list includes maintenance types of activities and they are important but they maintain or try to your business not increase it.
The key is that each day you spend time on the second list and do something to improve your business and not get wrapped up in the first list.
To take an example from the first list that book you are reading about the latest technique is wasting your time unless…
You apply and test the technique.
That way even if it does not work you did try it and now know that is or is not for your business. They all won’t be but too often we get tied up in the learning curve and ignore the action curve.
So stating today let’s both take at least one action that takes our business forward. I am are you?
Well here in Pennsylvania there are less than 14 hours left for 2008. I know in some parts it is already 2009 so first a big Happy New Year to everyone.
Maude and I will be staying in and laying low. Just the tv and us. Hate being on the road on amateur night. Just a nice dinner and some together time.
Now to help you with your plans for next year check out this video on smart goal setting from Derek Gehl. If you sign up after the video he will also give you a great planning calendar and access to an upcoming free webinar. Having attended his past webinars it is definitely something worth the time investment. Check it out
Today is the last day for the subscriber special at WordPress Made Easy so check out this video to see what is happening and take advantage of it today. It will go away when I get up tomorrow morning so it may be there a couple extra hours but it will be gone tomorrow.
It is almost the end of the year. Yep just checked and there are only two more days and it will be 2009. Where did it go?
Have not been posting as much this past week simply because it has been a time to reflect and plan for next year and to go listen to a young lady get all excited about Santa. Every time she saw a picture of him we heard “Santa”.
The only thing that got this cute young lady (yes I am a prejudiced grandfather ) more excited is reading the Elmo books. He even outranks Santa for excitement.
Well I joined with some friends so we could play “Santa”.
I wanted to do a list of the items I use regularly. These are all resources that have increased my income and are used regularly in my business. I split them into three categories.
Scripts
Graphics
Education
Of the three categories education is by far the most valuable. Scripts and tools for graphics make things possible but the education aspect and applying them is the real key.
Scripts
Launch Formula Marketing - I use this regularly to run membership sites. Have a few sites running on this right now and one in the process of being created that will launch early in the new year.
It is easy to use and has been updated numerous times to make it even better and easier to use. Allows you to add in one time offers, login offers and timed content delivery. Easy to add affiliate tools and every member is automatically an affiliate.
Rapid Action Profits - Another script that is easy to set up for product sales. Built in affiliate program and can be used with a free or paid front end. Allows for a one time offer and easy to add affiliate tools.
Great way to get PLR and resell rights products up on line easily and allow you to have affiliates at the same time. Works well for monetizing your list building too.
Graphics
Primarily I outsource my graphics but …
That can be very frustrating when you need something small and you need it now. For big projects I always outsource and use a professional. Still for little things both of these have been extremely useful.
Design Dashboard - Disclaimer - I use and recommend a lot of Marlon Sanders products. They are always quality and this won’t be the only one on this list. This is the product that showed me exactly how to start creating my own graphics.
Easy step by step method shows through written and video lessons exactly how to create the graphic elements for any website. The real value though is in the explanations of why and how to use various elements to improve your results.
Instant Banner Creator - Three easy steps to creating not only banners but headers, footers, buttons and even peel away ads. Banners are an excellent traffic resource but you need to test them. This is perfect for those (like me ) that can just point and click and not suffer the learning curve of using graphics programs.
Education
Often overlooked by those looking for the next shiny object. All of the items below are references that I refer to regularly. One of the keys for me is to go back and review these regularly. It is always amazing to me what I pick up on the second, thirdand fourth times. It is very helpful too, when you start to get off track to review things again.
Evergreen Free Traffic System - If you blog this is a must have item. It not only shows you how to generate blog traffic but also article marketing and various social networks. Lots of different ways to generate free traffic to your sites. This resource probably has made me a larger return than anything I have bought all year.
PLR Video Tutorial - Not just for PLR videos but a very useful resource for anyone creating video products. It is also extremely useful for anyone using regular PLR products and resell rights products to increase your return through some of the back end add ons.
Info Product Dashboard - Another great tool from Marlon. Step by step plan to set up your full marketing funnel. Going through this will make sure that you set up a proper funnel and show you exactly how to do it.
Could easily keep going as there are numerous others but these were the top items for me. The key though is to re-consume the products that have helped you as each time you will..
Pick up something new
Realize what you are skipping
The latter being the key as often that one little thing skyrockets something from so so to a great success.
Hope you find this list useful and let me know what products have worked to help your business.
Mike Paetzold
P.S. As I mentioned Marlon Sanders is someone that I strongly recommend and you can grab a free gift “The Best of Marlon Sanders” to see why I follow him regularly.
If you have already defined your business and reviewed your results from last year you are ready to start your planning.
Look at what worked last year and take some time to figure out why it worked. The reasons could be…
Picked a good niche
Generated lots of traffic
Got great affiliate support
or many other things depending on your business model
Now once you understand why it worked can any of those things be applied to the projects that did not do well or should they be killed off. (One of the toughest things to do is to kill off a project that does not work after you have a huge investment of time or money in it.)
You now have an idea of what to continue with and what not to continue. Add in new projects that will fit with what you are doing.
Now lay out what needs to be done for each part. This could be any of the following
List building
New products
More affiliates
More traffic
and many more items
Create an action plan and write it down for the year. Sort it into a monthly plan and then further into weekly and daily activities. Prioritize these and you now have a plan to increase your business.
One of the things that was asked by quite a few people for this series was specifics on things like
how many subscribers a day
how much income a day
how many new things to add
The problem is that each of these answers will be dependent on where you are at in your business. Adding 20 new subscribers a day may seem like a lot to one person and adding 200 a day may seem low to someone else.
The big thing is to break things into a daily and monthly plan, Measure your results at least monthly and if you are increasing reset your goals to be higher. If you are not increasing then check your plan and what you are actually doing. Make sure that you are actually getting results from what you are doing and that you are doing what you have planned.
It is very easy to get side tracked dealing with email, Twitter, Facebook, your favorite forum and not do the things that actually add to your business.
Finally revise as needed and measure your results against you and not what others are doing.
As always your questions and comments are welcomed.
Wow this is probably the last issue of the Week In Review for 2008. Somehow doubt that I will have time next week with the holidays, visiting family and friends and travel. Love this time of year except for the white stuff we had yesterday. The snow isn’t bad but the freezing rain on top of it has made a bit of work for me to deal with here.
I know you are busy too so lets get right into it. We’ll start with the blogs.
Instant Banner Creator - Great new resource from Soren Jordansen and John Merrick that does much more than banners in a simple 1,2,3 fashion that even a graphically challenged old bald guy like me can use.
Traffic Holiday - Howie Schwartz is having a holiday Firesale and has included some unbelievable never released content in the package for a very cheap price.
Stomper Video - Andy Jenkins was back in the editing room and is making some unbelievable claims in a kick butt 2 minute video. It always pays to watch what these guys are doing. There are always marketing lessons to be learned from their free content and way of getting ready to launch a new product.
Project Quick Cash - Alok Jain has discounted this for a special holiday promotion. Save $50 through Christmas Eve. 5 underground techniques that can generate quick cash form no to little investment. Does take a bit of that work thing though. Check it out.
PLR Special Offers - from Jimmy D Brown just opened. Jimmy usually does a PLR special once a year and did earlier this month but now is creating a free to join club for members where you can receive special offers at ridiculously low prices.
Desktop Genius - Bishop Anders has a new software and you need to see the sales letter and read it to the bottom. You have to actually see what it does to appreciate it. Great marketing lesson. Viral marketing to a new level.
So as you can see it has been a very busy week. I have started the year end planning series and the first two are below so get your year end planning started if you haven’t already and make 2009 your most successful year ever.
As always your questions and comments are welcomed.
Now a warning here - You may not like what you are seeing doing this exercise especially if your business is mediocre to poor. Even if you are doing well though don’t skip this step because you will find things here to be addressed for improvement.
If you have been keeping good financial records this will be easy. If you have not then it is time to start. Some of these things will be specific to what I have found for me but…
You will be able to apply the same items to your business model.
Look at everything you have purchased and see if you are actually using it. If you are not using it should you be? If it fits into your business and you are paying for a service but not using it this may be an easy way to increase your results.
If you are not using it and it does not fit your business get rid of it.
Now depending on your business model these items will be different.
For me I use a variety of PLR products to create additional revenue streams in various niches. One of the things I found when doing this was a new product with a domain that I had purchased and then forgot about it.
Usually I add that type of thing on my to do list on Free Mind immediately but for some reason got interrupted and never added it. So I ended up with the costs of a domain and the PLR pack with no hopes of a return because I had done nothing with it.
Now look at what is working and generating income. Is it increasing each month? Is it a seasonal product that you need to schedule some promotion for next year. I have a few of these and set reminders a few months ahead of time to freshen them up.
Doing this allowed me to find a niche product that did well for 6 months but had been tailing off now. I looked at the web stats and saw that traffic had decreased but as this was a year round niche all it needed was some fresh content to build the traffic up. So something to add to the to do list and easy to outsource because the product had proven to sell if it got traffic so spending for content was an easy decision.
It allowed me to set up reminders to add additional content every few months and check the stats to make sure of the traffic it was getting.
There were other items that had not done anything despite decent traffic. On this one I just set the domains to expire and a note to delete the account when they did. Now if I thought there would be good ongoing potential I may have worked on the site and not set it to delete but in this case for me it was a dud.
As I continue to review all of these items I try to cut wasteful expenditures and add to what is working. I also create items for the to do list and reminders for the coming year.
Next I look at what has been successful and how I can increase it. If a certain niche has proven out what else can I do there to increase my profits. Expanding where you have success and leveraging it can be much easier than trying something new.
Next time I will talk about looking at your systems and improving them.
As always your questions and comments are welcomed.
It is almost the end of the year. Yep just checked and there are only two more days and it will be 2009. Where did it go?
) more excited is reading the Elmo books. He even outranks Santa for excitement.
