Saluting Women Entrepreneurs…
Posted on 24. Oct, 2009 by Kelly Brown.
Women are a Driving Force on the Internet. Women Entrepreneurs are true Successes!! Before the invention of the Internet, women have played a critical in the development of many major inventions. I have chosen to highlight four prominent Women Entrepreneurs below.
Few women sought patents in the 19th century because, in many states, they couldn’t legally own property independent of their husbands. As a result, women didn’t bother to patent their inventions, sought patents in their husband’s names or sold the rights to their inventions–often for a paltry sum–to hide their gender.
Women accounted for 10.9 percent of patents overall in 2002, the last year for which the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has data available.
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In honor of Women Entrepreneurs, we decided to highlight four women inventors of the past whose inventions made a significant impact on society.
First woman to receive a U.S. patent in her own nameMary Kies Patented: May 5, 1809 Mary Kies, a Connecticut native, invented a process for weaving straw with silk or thread. The technique proved valuable for making cost-effective bonnets for women who worked in the fields.
First Lady Dolley Madison honored Kies for bolstering New England’s economy during an embargo her husband, President James Madison, placed on imported European goods. The embargo was introduced to maintain America’s neutrality during the Napoleonic wars, and the first couple hoped Kies’ invention would boost American manufacturing.
Several industrialists invested in Kies’ straw-weaving process, but changing tastes in fashion soon robbed her hat-making technique of commercial value. A fire at the U.S. Patent Office destroyed Kies’ original patent file in 1986. A year later, Kies died penniless in Brooklyn, N.Y. Her grave in the Old South Killingly Cemetery lacked a headstone until 1965, when the local Grange erected a monument. Today, two samples of the straw fabric woven by Mary Kies are on display at the Killingly Public Library in Danielson, Conn. Other samples are on display in the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford, Conn.
DishwasherJosephine Garis Cochrane Patented: 1886
Josephine Garis Cochrane wasn’t the only inventor in her family. Her father, John Garis, invented a hydraulic pump for draining marshes and her great-grandfather, John Fitch, obtained a patent for a steamboat design in 1791.
Married to William A. Cochran, she Europeanized her married name by adding an “e” after her husband died in 1883. Shortly thereafter, she invented the dishwasher to preserve her family treasures. It’s said that Cochrane, a wealthy Illinois socialite, was tired of her servants chipping her heirloom china. She reportedly proclaimed, “If nobody else is going to invent a dishwashing machine, I’ll do it myself.”
She measured her dishes and built a set of wire compartments, each designed to fit plates, cups or saucers. The compartments were placed inside a wheel that lay flat inside a copper boiler. A motor turned the wheel, pumping hot, soapy water from the bottom of the boiler to rain down on the dishes.
Cochrane unveiled her dishwasher at the 1883 Chicago World’s Fair, where restaurants bought all nine that she had made. Cochrane founded the Garis-Cochran Dish-Washing Co., naming it for her father and her husband, to manufacture and market the machines. But at the time, most homes’ hot water heaters couldn’t supply as much hot water as the dishwasher required, so sales were limited to restaurants and hotels.
Cochrane died in 1913, but her dishwasher didn’t become popular for home use until the 1950s, with the advent of more hot water in the home, effective dishwashing detergent and a change in attitude toward housework.
Cochrane’s company became KitchenAid, and the first KitchenAid dishwasher–based on Cochrane’s design–was introduced to the public in 1949.
Disposable DiaperMarion DonovanPatented: 1951
Marion Donovan was born Marion O’Brien to a family of inventors in Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1917. Her father and uncle–who owned a manufacturing plant–invented the South Bend lathe, used for grinding automobile gears and gun barrels. After her mother died when she was 7, Marion spent a great deal of her free time at the factory.
She briefly worked for Vogue magazine before marrying James Donovan and raising a family. Like so many mothers, Donovan was frustrated by her baby’s exasperating habit of wetting her diapers as soon as they were changed, and soiling the sheets.
In 1946, she designed a waterproof diaper cover that she named the “boater,” using a series of shower curtains to create a reusable, leak-proof diaper cover that didn’t create diaper rash.
The final product, available in 1949, was made of nylon parachute cloth, and featured metal and plastic snaps instead of safety pins. Donovan later designed a composition of sturdy, absorbent paper. She received her patent in 1951.
Manufacturers initially laughed at her invention. Undeterred, Donovan went into business for herself and eventually sold her company for $1 million.
The diaper wasn’t Donovan’s only invention. She eventually received more than a dozen patents for items including the Big Hangup, a compact hanger that held 30 garments; the Zippity-Do, an elastic cord that attached to the zipper on the back of a dress to make it easier to zip up; and a soap dish designed to drain into a sink.
Liquid PaperBette Nesmith GrahamPatented: 1954
An executive secretary with a passion for art, Betty Nesmith combined her two avocations to develop Liquid Paper.
In 1951, Nesmith, a divorcee, was an executive secretary for W.W. Overton, chairman of the board of the Texas Bank & Trust in Dallas. Electric typewriters were becoming popular at the time, and mistakes were difficult to erase because of the carbon-film ribbons used in the devices.
Nesmith, who dabbled in painting and drawing, realized that artists painted over the mistakes they made and decided that typists should be able to do the same. She put white, water-based tempura paint in a bottle and took her watercolor brush to the office.
Nesmith secretly used her white correction paint for five years. But with co-workers clamoring for the paint, she eventually began marketing what she called “Mistake Out” in 1956. The name was later changed to Liquid Paper.
The company began in Nesmith’s kitchen, where she mixed the product with her electric mixer. Nesmith’s son Michael Nesmith (later of The Monkees fame) and his friends filled bottles for her customers.
Nesmith patented the product, renamed it Liquid Paper, and obtained a trademark. In 1957 a magazine called The Office mentioned the product, and soon business was booming. Nesmith married her second husband, Robert Graham, in 1962 and he joined the business as well. By 1967, it had grown into a million-dollar business.
In 1968, Graham moved into her own plant and corporate headquarters, automated operations, and had 19 employees. That year Liquid Paper sold a million bottles.
In 1975, Nesmith Graham divorced her husband and opened a 35,000-square-foot headquarters building in Dallas. A year later, the company’s net earnings were $1.5 million and the product was being sold in 31 countries around the world.
Graham used a portion of her fortune to set up two foundations to help women in need, the Gihon Foundation, established in 1976; and the Bette Clair McMurray Foundation, founded in 1978.
In 1979, Graham sold her company to the Gillette Corp. for $47.5 million. A year later she died at the age of 56.
Ladies, do not hold back of your dreams, desires, and financial independence. Grab hold of the opportunity you feel in your heart and then TAKE MASSIVE ACTION.
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Does a Positive Attitude Make a Difference?
Posted on 23. Oct, 2009 by Kelly Brown.
PASSION…stop for a minute and say the word out loud with feeling … Passion—how does that feel to you? Think about it for a few seconds, and now say it again…Passion. I would bet that if you are really in touch with your feelings, you might say it makes you feel squirmy, sexy, and alive. But why is that? It’s just a word, right? Well, Yes, no, sort of.
PASSION is a life force, and that force is life. When you let yourself be in touch with your feelings, you can feel that life force and the power that’s behind the feeling of PASSION, the most intoxicating of all. It’s the spark that can not only ignite the dynamite, blow it out of the water kind of power source, but an opening of the valve that can literally transform you everyday life into an extraordinary one, and a master of creation!
Now just so we are clear about this, I am not talking about sweaty hot Palpitating heart flashes or spastically bouncing off walls, nor hip, hip hurray cheerleading….even though it is true, passion does come in all forms and degrees. The passion I mean is a strong inner knowing, a quiet sureness that continuously reassures that you are the one in control of your destiny, and that “the tiger you are holding by the tail is actually you!”
“I want it, I got it, sign me up,” might be your thoughts of the moment… and I fully intend to give you that gift, but first let’s play a game. Starting with you thinking about something that you want to bring into creation—a relationship, a new career or bringing your career to another level, a healthy fit trim body, or a new lifestyle in a better area or home?
Pick just one to work on, any one, even if you would like to create all of the ones above. Now, ask yourself, what is the fuel behind this dream? Is it a desire for money, possessions or fame? Whatever the reason, if your creation is not powered by a PASSION for you to follow your joy, you not only are going to be working overtime, it will never be all it can be. Again, the question rises up…how do you activate a passion generated by joy and not a need that demands effort and often doesn’t produce the results you want? How?…by not resisting your natural instincts and birthright to have what you want come in an easier and more joyful way. The sooner that you can let go of the limiting voices in your head that have convinced you that there is only one right way to achieve, the sooner you will allow and feel the buzz of PASSION pushing you forward to your dream.
At www.amazon.com. Meister Eckhart book called The Passion for Creation, really brings this message home.
Start by sparking your passion by creating a space to feel, to examine what really excites you. What dream you have always had, that if it came true would be like WOW. Now in that safe space, ask yourself these questions: What do you repeatedly dream about having, what is your vision or goal that you may never have shared with anyone else? What do you read about, watch on TV, often times get into conversations with others? Ask these questions repeatedly until you can clearly feel what excites you, and then give yourself the time and chance to investigate your passion…and then take the risk. Take the risk of falling in love with your dream and your own personal power of creation.
Since I have played in this game of creation for quite a long time now, I can honestly say that one of the biggest roadblocks that often shows up around creation is fear; False Evidence Appearing Real. Fear that some- one might not like or approve of your ideas, fear of stepping out of your comfort zone, fear that you won’t have the steam to stay with your dream and keep moving forward, fear that you will succeed. So now you have the tools to recognize the devil in the blue dress, what do you do about it?
Begin by feeling the fear, and then let it go. Then put a voice to the fear, say it out loud and visualize it evaporating in the air …like a puff of smoke. When you can see that the line between fear and excitement is very thin, then very quickly fear can turn into excitement and passion, and what use to be fear, can now fuel your creation. Transforming fear into passion is no different than going from knowing that you can’t hike a mountain because it’s too hard and scary-to taking on the challenged, reaching the top and feeling totally empowered. We stop the flow of great amounts of PASSION that could fuel our visions when we allow our fears to take over.
Shifting from denying and fighting the fear to accepting it, helps you to release it and then use it to keep you in the game. Let passion fill you up and lead you to your true joy. Smell more roses, watch more sunsets, eat dessert first, walk barefoot in the morning grass, and do more. Laugh more, dance more, love more, explore more places, be more spontaneous, indulge in more hobbies, lunch with more friends, smile more and have more fun. Do whatever you can to create a vibration that attracts a continuous flow of PASSION into everything you do. PASSION begets PASSION, so start working on building up that PASSION muscle this very minute. PASSION fuels creation because it is creation in full bloom!
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Who Told You to Stop Dreaming…..
Posted on 22. Oct, 2009 by Kelly Brown.
We all have attitudes – good or bad. But how much does your attitude really have to do with whether you are successful or not? Robyn Simpson, author, international speaker, high performance attitude coach and inspirer is launching a highly motivational and inspirational book ‘Attitude, Aptitude, Altitude – Choose Your ‘Tude!’ to help people create better results in their work and life.
With the current economic climate, rising unemployment and global warming, all of these things impact us and are out of our control. So how does our attitude impact on us?
“We live in a world where outside influences can be beyond our control, however our responses to those things can make a huge difference to our general well being and happiness,” say Ms Simpson. “There are many things we do have control over, and it is our choice to take personal responsibility for those, although sometimes it feels easier to go with the flow. Successful people choose to take responsibility and make their own decisions rather than be at the effect of others.”
When asked; “If a person is made redundant, if they choose a positive attitude everything will be alright?” Ms Simpson responded “Some people are made redundant and choose to see it as a personal attack and allow their self esteem to be damaged, which can cause a downward spiral of depression. Others are made redundant and decide they will find another job and those who do so with a positive attitude are more likely to get re-employed. A small percentage of people who get made redundant see it as an opportunity to try something else like traveling, a new career or studying to up-skill. How you see this situation depends on your attitude towards it.”
“I would love to see attitudes and self responsibility was taught in schools. It would make such a difference to our communities,” states Ms Simpson. “My message is not new, however I see so many people missing it I decided to write this book to help people understand some things are really simple to change, and can make the difference between living an unhappy life or a happy one.”
More than simply a book, the 17 chapters of inspiring and practical lessons help every day people excel in everything they do. There is a 15-step ‘Structure of Goals’ process that provides readers with a logical and simple process to follow. Combined with a practical Work Book, readers learn valuable life enhancing habits that will serve them well in work and in life. No matter what the goal is, if every step of the 15-step Structure of Goals process is completed, you will progress and reach your goal. Having the right attitude is closely linked to the ability to achieve goals. Achieving goals builds self-esteem, which assists people to choose great attitudes.
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Setting Goals Like Tony Robbins…..
Posted on 21. Oct, 2009 by Kelly Brown.
THE POWER OF VISUALIZATION
A lot of people set a goal or several goals and try to achieve these before a certain date. Needless to say a lot of people do not reach their goals. The broken New Year’s resolution is so common that it is scary. Usually the target date is first renewed and then the goal is forgotten completely.
Most people are not able to reach their goals, although some very few are. What is is that makes some people successful while others stay failures?
Most people have goals but not all have a good reason for the goal. This is perhaps the main reason why people fail. They either do not know WHY they want to reach their goal, or the reason is not important enough.
For example say if you have a goal of losing 20 pounds because your spouse would like you to. If you are happy with that little extra fat on your tummy, you will never reach the goal of losing those pounds, and if you do lose them one way or another they will not stay off.
A good reason would instead give you the motivational support you need to stay on track and get you closer towards your goal. Tony Robbins tells us that “All we do is to avoid pain and to achieve pleasure.” We can get the compelling motivational reason if we magnify the pain when not achieving the goal, and magnify the joy of achieving it.
The technique of magnifying the effects is very powerful. Imagine the consequence of achieving your goals, magnify the effect, feel it deep inside. Do the same thing with the pain you will feel if you do not achieve your goals. Visualize the pain that you will be suffering if you do not achieve the goal, and then visualize the tremendous success you will feel when you achieve it!
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101 Online Resources…..
Posted on 20. Oct, 2009 by Kelly Brown.
Communications / VoIP
The internet brings great opportunities to do business all with people from all around the world, and fortunately there are also a number of resources to help with the communication that is necessary. The resources here will allow you to communicate inexpensively with others:
1. Skype – Free calls over the internet to other people on Skype for as long as you like.
2. Vonage – Leading provider of VoIP internet broadband telephone services.
3. Gizmo – Low cost international calling and free calls to users on Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, Windows Live users and SIP networks.
4. Vonics Digital – Plans start at $12.99 per month.
5. VoipBuster – Free program that uses the latest technology to bring free and high-quality voice communications to people all over the world.
6. SunISP – VoIP Plans
Data Backup
Anyone that has important of sensitive information on their computer needs to have a system in place for backing up the data. For online entrepreneurs a loss of data could be tragic. These resources will give you a number of options from which you can choose the one that is best for you. Backing up your hard drive can be done quickly, easily, and automatically:
1. Mozy – Industry-leading solution for online backup.
2. Intronis – Online backup solution with remote computer data backup software.
3. Carbonite – Unlimited online backup for one flat fee.
4. Data Deposit Box – Your source for online backup, and secure online data backup.
5. Athena Backup – Automatically backup your home computer files with Athena Backup.
6. Data Protection Services – Secure online backup services, free trial!
Invoicing
If you are sending and tracking invoices to customers, you may be able to save some time and make the process more efficient by using a program that is specifically designed for this purpose. These resources can help the organization of your invoicing and they can allow you to have more time to spend on what you do best:
1. Bamboo Invoice – Simple, Open Source, Online Invoicing.
2. FreshBooks – Online invoicing and time tracking service.
3. Transcepta – Electronic invoicing solution.
4. Blinksale – The easiest way to send invoices online.
5. InterlinQ Solutions – Providing a daily job report, time sheets, job tracking, construction reports and mobile billing.
6. Bill My Clients – Easy way to create and send invoices and bills to your clients.
7. Billing Orchard – Online electronic billing software application.
8. 2nd Site – Secure invoicing service w/ online invoice payment & online employee timesheets.
Financial Management and Accounting
Many online entrepreneurs and small businesses do not have the need to use an accounting system that is as complex as that of a larger business, but every business needs to have organized and accurate financial records. These resources will provide you with everything you need and can easily be used by anyone:
1. Intacct – Delivers ERP software as a service to small and midsize companies.
2. QuickBooks Online – Accounting Solutions for professionals and businesses.
3. Xero – Slash the hours you spend every week on accounting administration.
Time Management and Project Management
Time management is critical to achieving maximum productivity. In order to improve that time management of your business, try some of these resources. I think you will see that the resulting organization and efficiency will have a noticeable impact on the results of your work:
1. Google Calendar – Free online shareable calendar service.
2. Vitalist – Web based task manager designed to work with Getting Things Done (GTD).
3. Backpack – Personal and small business information management, intranet, and to do list organizer.
4. Basecamp – Web-based tool that lets you manage and track projects.
5. Goplan – Online project management app.
6. Copper Project – Project Management Software.
7. Side Job Track – Web-based job tracking, invoicing, reporting & project management software.
8. ActiTime – Free Time Tracking Software.
Contact Manager
Online entrepreneurs typically have a very large number of contacts that they need to keep track of. These programs are specifically created to help you effectively manage your contacts. If you could use some improvement in this area, try some of these resources:
1. Big Contacts – Web Based Contact Manager for 2 to 2000 People.
2. Highrise – Shared contact manager.
3. BatchBook – Easy-to-use contact management system.
4. Relenta CRM – Small business CRM software.
5. Oprius – Sales and Contact Management Software for Independent Sales Consultants.
6. PipelineDeals – CRM made simple – $15/User/Month.
7. Zoho – Customer Relationship Management, on demand CRM.
8. Simple Sales Tracking – Web-based hosted CRM.
9. SugarCRM – Commercial Open Source CRM.
Hiring Freelancers
At some point you may have a need to hire freelancers of some type. Fortunately, there are plenty of resources online to help you find freelancers and identify the right one for your project. All of the websites listed here will allow you to search for freelancers according to your needs:
1. Elance – Outsourcing to Freelancers.
2. Guru – Free service helps you find freelancers, get free quotes, and get your project done.
3. SmarterWork – Top small business services marketplace.
4. Contracted Work – Work Jobs Freelance Search.
5. oDesk – Global service marketplace for small and medium sized businesses.
6. Get A Freelancer – Freelance programmers and web designers.
7. BizReef – Online Services platform.
Online Reputation Management Tools
Reputation management is a very hot topic online right now. As an entrepreneur, your reputation can have a serious impact on your success and you have a need to monitor your reputation and to make sure that what is being published is true. There are a variety of resources that can help in different ways:
1. claimID – Free, easy way to manage your online identity.
2. Google Alerts – Email updates of the latest relevant Google results.
3. Yahoo Alerts – Free, personalized notification service.
4. Technorati – Real-time search for user-generated media.
5. FindMeOn – Manage your circles of friends, family, colleagues and others.
6. myOpenID – Secure OpenID provider.
Accepting Payment
If you are taking online payments from customers or clients, you will need a way to make that happen. There are a number of different options, and the details of each can vary a good bit. Take a look at these options and see which is best for your situation:
1. PayPal – World renowned.
2. Google Checkout – Google’s way to send and receive money.
3. Neteller – Online payment solutions.
4. Moneybookers – Cheaper way to send and receive money worldwide.
5. iKobo – Pick up your money at over 1000000 Visa ATMs.
6. CheckFree – Provides financial electronic commerce services.
Shopping Carts
E-Commerce sites that are selling products to customers will need some type of shopping cart. There are a number of open source options listed below, as well as a number of other options. Hopefully you will find one that is well-suited to your needs:
1. Zen Cart – Free, user-friendly, open source shopping cart system.
2. osCommerce – Free online shop program.
3. AgoraCart – Free shopping cart.
4. OpenCart – Open source PHP-based online shopping cart system.
5. Ubercart – Open source e-commerce suite.
6. X-Cart – Shopping cart software & PHP ecommerce solutions.
7. NetSuite – Integrated web-based business software suite.
8. ZNode – ASP.NET shopping cart.
9. Fortune3 – Ecommerce Shopping cart software.
10. Network Solutions – Robust, customizable Ecommerce online shopping cart software.
11. Kick Start Cart – Business professionally over the Internet.
12. Secure Delivery – The best digital download management site on the net!
13. Magento – Open Source eCommerce Evolved!
Social Networking
Social networking sites can help entrepreneurs to find potential partners, get advice from other entrepreneurs, network with others around the world, and to simply get some exposure for their profile. Each networking site is a little bit different. You’ll never have the time to use all of them effectively, so find a few that have potential to help you the most and be actively involved:
1. Cofoundr – Cofoundr is a private community for entrepreneurs.
2. Fast Pitch Networking – Business Networking Social Network for Business Professionals.
3. Killer Startups – Reviewing new startups.
4. Konnects – Business technology focus groups and networking events.
5. LinkedIn – Strengthens and extends your existing network of trusted contacts.
6. Ryze – Business Networking.
7. YoungEntrepreneur – Largest social networking community for Entrepreneurs
8. Ziggs – White pages and free people search for professionals.
Finding Funding
Many entrepreneurs will need some type of funding for their ventures. If this is the case for you, these resources may be helpful. Locating potential funding sources can be a bit easier be taking advantage of the resources that are available:
1. GoBigNetwork – Angel investor network/venture capital.
2. Fundability – Puts your company in front of qualified and interested investors.
3. Find That Money – Formidable presence in consumer finance.
4. Venture Deal – Venture capital database.
5. American Capital Advance – Fast Business Loans.
6. Financing: Where to Find It
CPC Revenue
One of the most common ways to make money with a website is through cost per click programs like Google AdSense. While these programs are not a good fit for some sites and for some audiences, they have proven to effective for many:
1. Google AdSense – Google’s CPC Network.
2. Yahoo! Publisher Network – Yahoo’s CPC Network.
3. ABC Search – Get paid per click by ABC.
4. AdBrite – Webmasters can buy and sell text ads based on their site’s topic area.
5. Chitika – The leading merchandising network for bloggers.
6. Bidvertiser – Pay per click advertising.
7. Kanoodle – Distributes results to a large network of other search engines and search box providers.
8. Clicksor – Effective online advertising technology.
9. Kontera – Advertiser and Publisher Solutions.
CPM Revenue
CPC isn’t the only option for monetizing a website through advertisements. By choosing a CPM program you will be compensated for impressions rather than clicks. Here are some of the choices that are available:
1. ADSDAQ – A new advertising exchange.
2. ValueClick Media – One of the largest and most effective online advertising networks.
3. AdDynamix – Full-spectrum interactive provider delivering ad management.
4. Morning Falls – Online advertising solutions to advertisers and publishers worldwide.
5. CPX Interactive – Online ad network.
6. BurstMedia – Internet advertising network.
7. Casale Media – World’s fastest growing provider of online media solutions.
8. Tribal Fusion – Focused on high quality sites with targeted content and significant reach.
9. BrightRoll – Video advertising.
10. Adtegrity – Internet Advertising Solutions.
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It’s More than Money…..
Posted on 19. Oct, 2009 by Kelly Brown.
Do you want to know what really separates successful, wealthy internet entrepreneurs from the masses of other internet wealth seekers who do not ever make a dime? I can tell you in one single word… PASSION. I am about to show you why passion is the deciding factor between unlimited wealth and success as an entrepreneur, or a long road of disappointment, frustration, and broken dreams.
I can almost guarantee that if you took a look behind the scenes of any highly successful entrepreneur, you will without question find a person who is passionate about their business, their goals, and their future. Entrepreneurs are usually doing what they do for more reasons than to simply earn a paycheck. Money is often just a great side effect of motivated people following their passions.
For instance, take a look at some of the most successful internet entrepreneurs like the billion dollar Google guys, you will see that it was a passion, an enthusiasm about their ideas that drove them to success. And while the billion dollar banks accounts were definitely a great bonus, money was not the sole intention behind the business.
There are so many different internet business models, and so many diverse ways that they can be built, that anyone should be able to find a business that they are passionate about. This obviously requires a little planning, but isn’t it worth it to build your business on a rock solid foundation rather than getting started without a base? Of course it is, and with a little planning anyone can choose the right business, opportunity, or idea that best suites their needs.
I know that from personal experience that when you are truly passionate about your business, when it transcends from the realm of work to the realm of pleasure, that success is guaranteed. It has been said many times that persistence is the most essential trait of entrepreneurs and self made millionaires, and I wholeheartedly agree. But I also know that it is their passion for what they do that gave them what it takes to persist past the point where the majority of people decide to give up and throw in the towel.
Its kind of funny really, that most people assume that they cannot do something that they love and still make a decent living. They think that to get by they need to work a job they hate. But in all reality it is the people who do love what they do who succeed both in business and financially. I mean, just about all really successful entrepreneurs are very wealthy.
But maybe your only motivation is money, and that can be used to create a real passion as well. When I first decided to start my own online business, you better believe that my meager financial situation was my biggest source of motivation. It was all about making money at that point, and it was definitely motivating enough for me to find the right business opportunities, do a little planning, and get into action.
But I think what helped me was getting very clear and precise about the things that I wanted to have more money for. Just thinking about money is not necessarily very motivating, but when you attach real images of things that you really desire, your motivation for success will skyrocket.
Get very clear about your financial goals, and create a vision in your mind as if you have already achieved them all. Keep this picture with you, and use it to motivate you and drive you. And if you are anything like me, after a little while you will be very passionate, excited, and enthusiastic about your business, and that passion will enable you to reach all new heights with it.
So before getting started as an internet entrepreneur, first find your biggest sources of motivation. Motivation is what separates highly successful entrepreneurs with those that barely get by.
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Benefits…..
Posted on 18. Oct, 2009 by Kelly Brown.
The process to which is often referred as “institutional” or image-based marketing can be extremely seductive, particularly to the small businessperson since it is intoxicatingly flattering to the ego. Small businesses often attempt to copy their larger corporate nemeses in an effort to create strong brands through relatively smaller marketing budgets. Such a tactic unfortunately requires a long period of time and repetitive advertising in order for it to work.
On the other hand, when a business brags itself as being a better company with a better product at a better price, it usually winds up with very poor, long term results. If a statement is made wherein the author proclaims that his company or product is number one in the marketplace, such a statement will all but make that information more suspect. Even though there is evidence to substantiate that claim, there will no doubt be a clear lack of credibility.
In this day and age where consumers are more educated and more sophisticated than ever before, claims of any kind can never be made without them somehow being criticized or at least questioned. Therefore, a better approach is through positioning — the concept of effectively anchoring a product or service, in the mind of prospects, above the competition.
Implication, Not Specification
Any claim, even if backed up with statistics or surveys, is seldom believable. An old mentor of mine once said, “Implication is remarkably more powerful than specification.” In other words, if you specify that you’re the best, you’ll be questioned. But if your marketing implies that you are, without stating it outright, you will not only get the message across but you will also anchor that message (and position it) more effectively in the minds of your target market.
For instance, when Pepsi doing their famous taste tests in the 80’s, Coke thought that a newer, better-tasting Coke would beat Pepsi — hence, the introduction of the “New Coke.” But where is the New Coke today? Not only did Coke reintroduce the older version under the banner “Classic Coke,” but the New Coke has also disappeared from the grocery store isles.
Specify Benefits to Imply Superiority
Coke wasn’t the only culprit. Pepsi made a similar mistake with its clear brand in the early 90’s. Of course, during the last decade there was a fad with clear consumables. Clear soaps, clear deodorants, clear dishwashing liquids, clear sodas, and of course clear foods were stocking up shelves. At first, they were selling quite well. “But what Pepsi didn’t count on was the ‘curiosity factor’ in its research,” says Jack Trout in his book “The New Positioning.”
In essence, there is no clear benefit in a clear product over its darker version. People are astonishingly attracted to benefits, whether consciously or subconsciously. And clear colas were hip because the initial perception was that “clearer” meant “better,” “safer,” or “healthier.” It was this perception of more benefits that drove their initial success.
However, once the market realized that this was not true in that clear sodas have just as many calories as their darker counterparts, they were dropped. The only clear consumable that stood the test of time was the clear deodorant. Why? The clear deodorant prospered because people can’t stand white, powdery residue on their clothes (and it is terribly inconvenient to wait for the deodorant to dry). Thus, clear deodorant has a clear benefit.
Position with Benefits
Having an impressive portfolio, including a slick ad campaign, a superior product or service, or a number one company, will not work for you in the long run — unless you have a million dollar ad budget with money to invest in repetitious commercials. If you run a business or sell a product or service, make sure that when you position it in the marketplace you do so by marketing its main, core benefit or benefits — not its features, superiority, or image.
A benefit that is clear, practical, and direct will, in your promotional efforts, naturally convey a sense of superiority — without having to state it outright. In short, make your benefits clear.
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Your Critical Emotions….
Posted on 17. Oct, 2009 by Kelly Brown.
To a great degree, civilization itself can be defined as the intelligent channeling of human emotion. Emotions are fuel and the mind is the pilot, which together propel the ship of civilized progress.
Which emotions cause people to act? There are four basic ones. Each, or a combination of several, can trigger the most incredible activity. The day that you allow these emotions to fuel your desire is the day you’ll turn your life around.
1) DISGUST: One does not usually equate the word “disgust” with positive action. And yet properly channeled, disgust can change a person’s life.
The person who feels disgusted has reached a point of no return. He or she is ready to throw down the gauntlet at life and say, “I’ve had it!” That’s what I said after many humiliating experiences at age 25.
I said, “I don’t want to live like this anymore. I’ve had it with being broke. I’ve had it with being embarrassed, and I’ve had it with lying.
“Yes, productive feelings of disgust come when a person says, “Enough is enough.”The “guy” has finally had it with mediocrity. He’s had it with those awful sick feelings of fear, pain and humiliation. He then decides he is not going to live like this anymore. Look out! This could be the day that turns a life around.
Call it what you will, the “I’ve had it” day, the “never again” day, the “enough is enough” day. Whatever you call it, it’s powerful! There is nothing so life-changing as gut-wrenching disgust!
2) DECISION: Most of us need to be pushed to the wall to make decisions. And once we reach this point, we have to deal with the conflicting emotions that come with making them. We have reached a fork in the road.
Now this fork can be a two- prong, three-prong, or even a four-prong fork. No wonder that decision-making can create knots in stomachs, keep us awake in the middle of the night, or make us break out in a cold sweat.
Making life-changing decisions can be likened to internal civil war. Conflicting armies of emotions, each with its own arsenal of reasons, battle each other for supremacy of our minds. And our resulting decisions, whether bold or timid, well thought out or impulsive, can either set the course of action or blind it.
I don’t have much advice to give you about decision-making except this:
Whatever you do, don’t camp at the fork in the road. Decide. It’s far better to make a wrong decision than to not make one at all. Each of us must confront our emotional turmoil and sort out our feelings.
3) DESIRE: How does one gain desire? I don’t think I can answer this directly because there are many ways. But I do know two things about desire:
a. It comes from the inside not the outside.
b. It can be triggered by outside forces.
Almost anything can trigger desire. It’s a matter of timing as much as preparation. It might be a song that tugs at the heart. It might be a memorable sermon. It might be a movie, a conversation with a friend, a confrontation with the enemy, or a bitter experience.
Even a book or an article such as this one can trigger the inner mechanism that will make some people say, “I want it now!
“Therefore, while searching for your “hot button” of pure, raw desire, welcome into your life each positive experience. Don’t erect a wall to protect you from experiencing life.
The same wall that keeps out your disappointment also keeps out the sunlight of enriching experiences. So let life touch you. The next touch could be the one that turns your life around.
4) RESOLVE: Resolve says, “I will.” These two words are among the most potent in the English language. I WILL. Benjamin Disraeli, the great British statesman, once said, “Nothing can resist a human will that will stake even its existence on the extent of its purpose.
“In other words, when someone resolves to “do or die,” nothing can stop him.
The mountain climber says, “I will climb the mountain. They’ve told me it’s too high, it’s too far, it’s too steep, it’s too rocky, it’s too difficult. But it’s my mountain. I will climb it. You’ll soon see me waving from the top or you’ll never see me, because unless I reach the peak, I’m not coming back.
“Who can argue with such resolve?When confronted with such iron-will determination, I can see Time, Fate and Circumstance calling a hasty conference and deciding, “We might as well let him have his dream. He’s said he’s going to get there or die trying.
“The best definition for “resolve” I’ve ever heard came from a schoolgirl in Foster City, California. I was lecturing about success to a group of bright kids at a junior high school.I asked, “Who can tell me what “resolve” means?” Several hands went up, and I did get some pretty good definitions. But the last was the best.
A shy girl from the back of the room got up and said with quiet intensity, “I think resolve means promising yourself you will never give up.” That’s it! That’s the best definition I’ve ever heard: PROMISE YOURSELF YOU’LL NEVER GIVE UP.
Think about it! How long should a baby try to learn how to walk? How long would you give the average baby before you say, “That’s it, you’ve had your chance”?
You say that’s crazy? Of course it is. Any mother would say, “My baby is going to keep trying until he learns how to walk!” No wonder everyone walks.
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Monster 7 SEO Tips…..
Posted on 16. Oct, 2009 by Kelly Brown.
We are going to look at 7 Basics of SEO below. These aren’t the only things you want to know about SEO, but are the areas you should learn first. Some topics will only take you a minute, some will take a little longer, and others will become an ongoing process. But after reading through this list you should have a good handle on where to start and where to proceed next.
SEO Basic 1: Let’s start off with a definition. SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization” and is the process by which you Optimize your web site so that it is positioned well in the search engines. This is not the same thing as designing a site so that it attracts customers and entices them to buy.
SEO is what you do specifically on your site to improve your Search Engine Position. If you do a search on Google for any search term you will be presented with a list of links. At the top of the page and along the right side will be PPC links where someone pays an amount per click to get positioned. With PPC the more you pay the better your position. Most people only glance at these listings. You don’t need SEO to get one of these positions, just lots of money.
The body of the page contains “organic” listings. These links are listed in the order that Google determined best fit your search, with the best match first. There are only 10 listings per page, most people will only look at the 1st page, maybe the 2nd. So your site needs to be listed within the top 10 and at the worst within the top 20 for any useful exposure. With SEO you will be adjusting your site code so that your site will rank highly. This can be a daunting process as there may be thousands of sites competing for the same top listing. A trick is to aim your pages at less popular search terms to get higher placement. It is better to be on page one for a term that gets 1,000 searches per month than to be on page three for a search term that gets millions of visits.
SEO Basic 2: Your web site must be search engine friendly. The search engines send out “spiders” or “bots” cataloging web pages they come across. If the search engine has trouble getting through to your pages it will either rank your page poorly, or skip your site all together. Making your site Search Engine Friendly means having the code easily accessible, no errors in the code, and guiding the search engine through your site.
Try to steer away from complicated coding when possible. Check your site for coding errors. This is fairly easy to do with web programs like Dreamweaver which do this for you automatically. Plan on having text based navigation on every page. This is usually placed at the bottom of the pages. You may also want to have a “Site Map” page with easy to follow text based links to all of your important pages. Search Engines will look for a Site Map and will use that to navigate a site if available.
SEO Basic 3: The Most Important SEO Aspect is Keywords. Keywords are the terms you type into a search engine to find interesting web sites. You need to know what search terms people are likely to use to find your site, then use those terms as your Keywords. Make a list of the keyword combinations you can think of that you would use to find your site. Try them all on a search engine and see the results.
You need to see how these search terms perform on the web and what other search terms could be used. A great free tool to help with this research is available at Google:
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
You type in a search term, then you are given a list of similar search terms, how often they were searched and some advertiser comparison figures. You can quickly find additional keywords and to see how well they perform. A good idea is to optimize your site for a less frequently used keyword combinations so that you can achieve a higher placement. The Google Keyword Tool will help you figure this out.
Focus on keyword groups with 3 or 4 keywords. Many times keywords will overlap, so you can focus on a longer keyword combination and cover many other combinations at the same time. For instance, if you are designing a page to sell Photoshop Training, you can optimize for this keyword phrase “Adobe Photoshop Training Video”. This will not only give you optimized performance for this keyword combination but also for these other keywords and combinations as well:
Adobe
Photoshop
Training
Adobe Photoshop
Photoshop Training
Adobe Photoshop Training
Photoshop Training Video
So try to come up with a multiple keyword combination that will contain several other keyword combinations as well.
Once you know what keywords you want to use you are ready to place those keywords on your page. The main places you want to use the keywords are:
In the meta title of the page
In the meta description of the page
In the first sentence on the page
In all of the image alt tags
In links to and from the page
Well represented in the body text of the page
Make sure you Pick the right keywords, and make sure they cover more than 5% of the word usage on the page. An easy way to get more keywords onto a page is by using lists such as:
We carry:
Adobe Photoshop Training Video Sets for Educators
Adobe Photoshop Training Video Sets for Students
Adobe Photoshop Training Video Sets for Business
Keep in mind that your page text should still be user friendly. If you use your keywords too frequently or in strange ways on your page, it may rank better in the search engines, but it will drive away visitors. Who wants to read a poorly written page?
SEO Basic 4: Don’t try anything funny. There are lots of “tricky” things you can do to cram more keywords into a page without annoying your visitors. The problem is that the search engines know about these tricks and will penalize your site if you use them. So don’t do any of the following or you may find your web site disappear completely from the search engine listings.
White letters on white background, or any other similar text coloring trick. Even using a very light gray text on a white background, or very dark gray text on a black background can get you bumped from the search engines.
Don’t repeat your keyword over and over again. People used to do things like this at the top or bottom of their pages: Photoshop Photoshop Photoshop. This worked in the early days of search engine optimization, but no longer. You should also not try this trick in alt tags, image names, links or other places in your code. The search engines will spot this and you will be penalized.
Don’t put keywords into comment tags. Also don’t put keywords in hidden form fields. The search engines will spot these and mark you down accordingly.
Even though putting keywords into image names and alt tags is a great idea, don’t think that you can just create a bunch of clear gif images sized at 1×1 and fill those with keywords. The search engines are very good at spotting tricks like this as well.
So use your keywords appropriately, don’t try to sneak one past the search engines and you should do just fine. Just keep in mind, if you think that you need to hide the keywords to trick the search engine you can rest assured that they have already thought of that and will do their best to devalue your site accordingly if you use these “black hat” tricks.
SEO Basic 5: All pages should have links to other pages. The main search engines like links. They like outside sites linking into yours, but they also like links within your site going to other pages. So in this case having more pages can be useful. Also since you now have all these pages that you are linking to it gives you a great place to use some more keywords. Make sure that your links include your keywords.
But, and this could have been in section 4 above, don’t create “doorway pages” that redirect you to another page. It used to be common SEO practice to create lots of doorway pages, each one stuffed with specific keywords, all of which would redirect the visitor to the actual page they were looking for. This would give your site lots of pages, with lots of internal links and would allow you to tightly optimize these doorway pages for specific keywords, but the search engines have gotten wise to this trick and now penalize the use of redirect pages. So don’t use redirects unless you absolutely need to and never use doorway pages.
SEO Basic 6: Only optimize a page for one or two keyword groups. More than that just dilutes your keyword ratio. The search engines will analyze your web page to determine which words are used as keywords. They do this by looking at the title, the description, the page heading and the words used on the page. They then determine how relevant your keywords are to your page. So, if you try to use too many different keywords on a page, it will only bring down the percentage of any individual keyword or group for that page. It is better to optimize for a larger keyword group as discussed above than to try to optimize a page for a lot of individual keywords that can’t be easily used in one sentence. If you need to have a page optimized for several different, unrelated keywords you are better off creating several different pages and re-writing the body text on each page to match the keywords you are optimizing for. This will make each page relevant for the specific keyword and will get a better placement in the search engines.
SEO Basic 7: Be patient. Even with a perfectly optimized web site it can take several months for it to rise in the search engine standings. I usually recommend waiting at least 90 days and up to 6 months to see how well a web page is doing in the search engines. Also, even though you have gone to great lengths to target a specific keyword or keyword combination keep in mind that the search engines aren’t required to agree with you. So when checking your standings look at several different search terms that you discovered in your research and see how well your page is placing. Hopefully you will find that your chosen keywords are getting your page listed the way you want, showing that your SEO has worked properly.
If you find that your page is ranking better for a different keyword, you should examine your page code to see why and make adjustments as needed. Maybe your page is placing higher for a keyword combination you weren’t focusing on, but it is still a good combination for your goals. This gives you an ideal opportunity to go with that new combination to achieve even higher placing.
So, get started right now on your SEO. The longer you wait, the longer it will be before your web site is showing well up in the search engines.
In Closing
There is a lot more to SEO than just these 7 quick points, but this will get you started on the right path. Go through these steps and your web pages will be well positioned for any other SEO you may want to perform on your site in the future.
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How to Take Inspired Action…..
Posted on 15. Oct, 2009 by Kelly Brown.
I often write about the role of focus and vision in manifesting your dreams of effortless success. I know that folks are so often anxious to take action – and I’m all for taking action, even MASSIVE action – BUT (and I know all my clients know I usually forbid the use of the word “but”) BUT, action ONLY works when it comes from a place of focus and vision.
That’s why you have to start with the inner stuff before you take action. Otherwise, you will most likely be taking action from the place of seeing what’s missing. It can be a challenge to allow the action to take a temporary back seat. I promise you that it is well worth it when it comes to the level and type of results you will get from taking inspired action. What do I mean by inspired action versus the action that comes from a place of scarcity, doubt and frustration? Inspired action comes from the higher level of creativity, trust and wisdom that you arrive at when you take the time to focus and vision.
Inspired action often seems to come out of nowhere; you get an inkling to try a particular action. It may not even make sense to you at the time. Yet, what happens is that the inspired action leads to a positive result. For example, you know you want to attract more business and you want to work with people that you love to work with. You sit with this vision for a while because you just don’t know how to make this happen. At some point a name pops into your head. Maybe it’s someone you haven’t thought about in a long time, or someone you don’t know very well, if at all – perhaps a Facebook friend. Your thought says get in touch with this person. So you take the leap and give him or her a call and, lo and behold, that is the exact person that can show you how to attract more ideal clients. Perhaps it even turns out that they just opened a new program on the very topic you need and you get the early bird rate. That’s an inspired action and it’s so much better than getting frustrated with not knowing HOW to make your dream a reality and calling someone in the same boat with whom you spend half an hour complaining about your lack of ideal clients.
