By MaryEllen Tribby

It started out like any other school day morning. The organized chaos of brushing Delanie’s long locks, searching for Connor’s math book and trying to extract Mikaela (our teen ager) out of bed.

Once the morning was in full gear and the kids were ready to be taken to the bus stop, I gave them all their lunches and kisses and wished them a good day. I took a few moments to prepare for my day, thinking that hubby would be back in 10 minutes to do our morning briefing and to say our daily goodbyes before we both jumped into our workday.

But 10 minutes passed and hubby wasn’t back. Knowing that my first appointment at the office was an early one, I figured I would just pass him on the way out of our community.

The second I walked outside I instantly saw why he wasn’t back yet.  I could see the brilliant red and blue flashing lights from our hilltop and my heart sank.

I jumped in my car and raced down to the bus stop. Among rows of stopped cars I noticed our abandoned Escalade with the driver’s door wide open.

As I approached the scene, I could see my husband directing traffic, not letting anyone park by the bus or the police cars. Still searching for answers, I soon spotted a very small and frail body laying in the road, with her mom and several policemen attending to her.

I finally reached my traffic control husband and all he said was “Molly was hit by a car while running for the bus. The ambulance is on its way and I need to keep this area clear.”

He assured me our kids were safe and that he would call me later and sent me on my way.

As I drove away I could see the terrified look on all the kids faces that were safely looking out the bus windows.

The entire way to the office all I could think of were my husbands words “Molly was hit by a car while running for the bus.”

And suddenly with tears running down my face I thought, DAMN, why was she running for the bus . . .

Practice What We Preach

Teaching our kids certain skills and personal habits just isn’t good enough. We need to lead by example and live the skills and traits we teach.

Not only when it is convenient, but all the time.

Now before we go on, I can gladly report that Molly was taken to the best Children’s Hospital in Texas and released with bumps, bruises and a broken arm. She was sitting next to Connor in class the next day.

However, it could have been so much worse. Think about it, a moving two thousand pound car struck a little 65-pound girl. And the worst part, it was totally senseless and avoidable.

We teach our kids to look both ways and to take their time when crossing the street. Yet, when we are running late, we have them dash across a street to catch a bus.

According to the bus driver, this is an everyday occurrence and it just so happened that it was Molly who paid the price of continually bad decisions by parents.

So, in honor of Molly, I have created a list of what I believe to be the seven most important characteristics and skills we need to instill in our children and live ourselves every day.

I think of them as my core values for my family.

The 7 Most Important Characteristics to Teach Our Kids

1)    Street Smarts: This includes everything from teaching our kids to look both ways while crossing a street to understanding how to trust their intuition. We want them to know that if they feel uncomfortable with a stranger, or even someone they know, they need to seek help immediately.

2)    Respect: The best way to teach respectfulness is to treat your child respectfully. You should give your child the same courtesies you would give to anyone else, regardless if it is in business or pleasure. Children treat others the way their parents treat them. Your relationship with your child is the foundation for their relationships with others.

3)    Honesty: There is a direct correlation between honesty and trust. Trust is the foundation of any relationship. We instill this in our kids from birth. We have taught them that although they will make mistakes, as long as they are honest with us, we will be able to reward this.

4)    Kindness: When Delanie (my six year old) came home from school the day Molly was struck by the car, the first thing she said was that she wanted to bring Molly a teddy bear because that was her favorite kind of stuffed animal. The quality of kindness is one of the things that I am must proud of my kids for.

5)    Determination: This begins by setting a reasonable goal that is within an individual’s limit and that they want intensely.  Then they work conscientiously toward the achievement of that goal. We need to teach our kids that goals are important for personal confidence.

6)    Dependability: This begins by understanding that others rely on them to do what they say they will do. This mans they must act to be sure every commitment is met on time and in the most complete manner possible. By being a dependable parent and following through on promises and commitments, our kids will learn to do the same.

7)    Love: Studies have show that it is not possible to spoil a child with love. What we often think of as the product of spoiling a child is never the result of showing a child too much love. It is usually the consequence of giving a child material things in place of love. The beautiful thing about love is you can never give or accept too much!

Of course there are other personal characteristics and traits that are important; but these seven are foundational.

Once your child has truly mastered them – others follow pretty easily.

By Ori Bengal

In 1997, when I started making websites, things were a lot different.  You had to know a lot of code, spend months on each site, do everything yourself, and everything cost a bundle. Today, the world has dramatically changed.

Before I demonstrate that websites are basically free these days, and can be done in less than a day, let me tell you what spurred me on to true freedom.

I never liked having a boss. I’m stubborn, and I always thought I had a better way to do things.  So when Wara would complain that I’m not stacking the papers the way I’m supposed to, I was ready to leave.

It was 2005, and I was working at OneModelPlace.com – the world’s largest online community for models and photographers. Yours truly was handling all of the print and design, which took more than 90 hours a week, and (this is not a figure of speech) I had my own air mattress there.

Going solo sounded like the way to go.  I’d be able to work fewer hours, make more money, and be able to enjoy the outdoor activities that South Florida offered in the daytime.

After a year of being on my own, I realized that my freedom was actually kind of boring.  None of my friends were as entrepreneurial as I was, so they could not go to Disney or kayaking with me in the middle of the week. So, I have suggested them them to make websites in order to change your life.  It was in 2006, when my landlord called me up and said she’s raising the rent, that I decided it was time for a massive change.

Rather than renew, or move back in with my parents, I decided that I’d travel around the USA completely based on “Who’s couch am I crashing on next?” Then I’d find out where I want to move.

It’s now 2012, and I just (last night) moved into a place.  It took me 6 years to decide that Austin, Texas is where I feel at home. I’ve had many adventures, and changed many lives (especially my own), and yet… the number one question I’m always asked is “How the heck do you pay for it all?”

Fox Business did an article on me, and called me “The Most Highly Skilled Hobo in History” – as I do photography, videography, business coaching, life coaching, PPC, SEO, web design, print design, copywriting, and a bunch of other things… But, creating websites has always been my bread and butter.

If hearing this makes your eyes glaze over and say “Forget this article… I’m not a techie… Websites are difficult to make!” then sip your coffee, and keep reading, because you can change countless lives, make great money, and have freedom… with websites…. All without being a certified geek.

The reason I even got into websites was because I wanted to promote my other skills–the things I wanted to be in my business (such as 3D Animation, later Photography).

When my friends realized that I do websites, they’d ask me for help.  Their designer locked them out of their site, or was taking too long to make a change, or… wanted an obscene amount of money for every single change.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that every person in the world needs a website.

I was making more money, and solving more problems for more people, with this website stuff… but it required a lot of learning.

In 2006, my web design life changed when I discovered WordPress.  It’s free, it’s beautiful, it’s easy for my clients to use, and now it has the largest developer base… so you can get custom looks and function for free to dirt cheap.

The days of spending $10,000 dollars for a simple site are over… unless you listen to designers that want to take their time, and charge you that much.

Before WordPress, you had to be a techie, now all you need is a hosting account to change your life. It costs less than $10 a month.

Want to add a new page? Press the “new page” button.

Want to add an image to your website?  Drag it onto your website.

Want to change the entire look and feel of a site?  Install a theme.

It’s as easy as that!

Websites Can Change Your Life!

You can get the word about your cause or business.  You can generate leads, clients, or branding.

I made my parents a website for their daytrading business.  I made a website to raise $2,600 for a year-old poodle that was going to die without an operation. I’ve blogged about my travels.  I’ve made sites to generate affiliate sales. I’ve made on-line stores.

Additionally, websites are extremely profitable, should you choose to do them for other people (plus my favorite perk: you can work from anywhere)! So what you are thinking of, just change your life.

Let’s Get You Making a Website

Not too long ago websites were much more difficult to put together.  If you decided to use WordPress, you’d have to install it manually which took about 10 minutes. But now, you just have to push a button to change your life.

The first thing you need is a domain (your website name), and hosting (where you keep your website).
You can get a domain at most hosting sites.  I change my mind as to who the best host is, and one that is always at the top of my list is http://GetGoodHosting.com.

You want to make sure that your host offers “Cpanel” – because through here you create email addresses, or install WordPress.

Rather than waste precious space in this fabulous publication with describing how to set up WordPress, I’ll just tell you to youtube search “How to install WordPress with Fantastico (or simple scripts)” your cpanel will have one of those two.

The Business Suit of Communication

Many people have a website, with a gmail account.  This is a wasted branding opportunity.

In your Cpanel, you can add yourname@yourdomain.com by clicking on “Email accounts” and then just choosing a username and password.

Don’t worry, there are tutorials in Cpanel.

The Showcase Secret

Want your site to look like you had a team of designers spend months slaving for you? It’s easier than you think, and might cost you $40.

Think about what your site is for. Let’s say it’s for a restaurant.  Google search “WordPress Restaurant Showcase” (without the quotation marks).

There’s two things you may find here: examples of amazing restaurant websites done in WordPress, and restaurant themes.

Think of a theme as your house’s exterior.  Is it vinyl siding?  Brick? Wood?  IS there a lawn? Lighting?

With WordPress, you can change everything with a push of a button.  Googling restaurant showcase (design showcase works great too) will find many amazing looks.

If you’re on a budget, you can search “WordPress free theme showcase”.

All you have to do is choose and install the theme you like.  Then, you can easily customize it.

Another place to type in “Restaurant” (or whatever you’re looking for) is http://ThemeForest.net – this is a my favorite place to buy themes. They’re cheap, high quality, and most have tutorials.

Many are complete applications, providing (in the theme) slideshows, easy to control menu, a booking system, a contact form (using our restaurant example) .

You could charge a restaurant owner $2,000 for that website, and it’d still be a bargain.

It’s All About Content

No matter what your business, copywriting is king.  Consider what the end result is… building trust?  New clients? New leads? Branding?

Who is your audience?

It is always wise to have a good market to message match.  Keep that in mind when you write the text that goes on any of the pages / posts or videos (which are also easy to add).

Secrets of Looking Like a Pro

Let’s be honest…. If your website has no images, or low-quality images, it’s pretty darn boring.   Let’s fix that.

What’s your article, page, or site about?  Consider that when adding pictures.  Every post can benefit from pictures.

Where to find awesome images?  http://istockphoto.com/  You can buy pictures for a dollar or two.  Don’t get the bigger sized images (which cost more), because those are for print.

Images on istockphoto are searchable, so you should easily be able to find something to match any post.

If you’re using your own images (pictures of the staff for example), please make sure they are well lit, and decent quality.  Webcam pictures tend to suck.  Hire a photographer, or find a friend with a Digital SLR if you have to.

Go get started now! Every day you don’t have a website, or have an ugly website is a day of negative branding!

About the Author:

Ori Bengal is a creative problem solver with an emphasis on keeping things fun.  He’s been traveling for the last 6 years based on who’s couch he’s crashing on next… which has connected him with many leaders in the marketing and business world.  He is a public speaker, business consultant, and teaches people how to easily create their own websites.

By MaryEllen Tribby

“I can’t believe she just gave up,” commented my doubles partner Fran.

All I could say at the time was, “It is so incredibly sad.”

You see, it went down like this…

We were at three-all in the first set of our tennis match. We broke our opponents and took the lead at 4 – 3.  I served and we won another game for a score of 5 – 3. They served and edged closer; 5 – 4. Fran served and we won the first set, 6 – 4.

First game in the second set, we broke their serve and BAM! Our opponents’ body language screamed, “There is no way we can win – we may as well give up now and get this over with.”

And that’s what happened. Fran and I went on to win the second set 6 – 1 and took the match easily. Not because we were technically better players, but because we cared about the outcome more.

You see, little did they know that just last week Fran and I were in a similar position. We were losing the first three games, at one point down 5 – 2, only to fight back and win the first set 7 – 5. We ultimately went on to win the match.

How?

By never giving up.

Why?

Because regardless of whether it’s sports, business, or family life, when I do something, I give it my all. I figure if I am going to invest my time and attention in something, then that something must be important. Otherwise, why do it at all? And I make it a point to surround myself with people who feel and live the same way.

Seems so obvious… Yet 90% of people walk through life like zombies just hoping to make it through the day with as little effort as possible.
Always hoping for a different outcome while maintaining the mindset that they deserve better.

These are the people who, when left in any position within an organization, can single-handedly destroy morale, consume mounds of energy, and obliterate profits!

They are called Complacency Campaigners or CCs. Many business owners and managers underestimate their power to ruin a business. They are full of excuses. And the drama is endless.

Complacency Campaigners can be anyone. They have no requirements or application policy; they come in all shapes and sizes. They are disguised as CEOs, Marketing Managers, Mail-room Clerks, and Sales Representatives. And they thrive on recruitment more than James Jones and the most sophisticated MLMers.

So why are they so prevalent?

Although complacency is pervasive, smart, experienced, and refined people do not always see it. They may mistake activity for productivity and franticness for urgency. And because CCs are skilled at shuffling papers and drumming up “emergencies,” it’s easy to overlook the fact that they are actually doing nothing.

But when you as a business owner, entrepreneur, or manager recognize this business cancer and do not take a stand against these CCs, you are as guilty as they are.

Door Number One or Door Number Two

When you decide to take a stand you have two choices. You can either let the CC go… or you can coach him and turn him into a valuable team member.

Truth be told, option number two is tough. Tough because very often the CC had a supervisor who let the problem go on way too long – either at your organization or at a prior company. The CC’s complacency may be too thoroughly ingrained for her to change.

However, it is possible to turn a CC into a valued member of your team. And I will admit, I always try that first even though there is only about a 25% chance that the infamous CC stays on board.

But when their “ah ha” moment strikes, you know the effort was worth it.  You can see the transformation from hypnotic complacency into a true sense of urgency.

You can recognize those who really get it. They have the following traits:

7 Ways to Spot a True Sense of Urgency

1) A Winning Team: With a strong sense of urgency, people quickly identify critical issues and form strong teams that are committed to ambitious change even when those members are already working hard.

2) Vision and Strategies: Strong and committed teams organize the effort to find smart strategies and envision long-term outcomes when dealing with essential issues, even when the best strategies are hard to pin down.

3) Communication: High urgency teams inherently feel a need to persistently communicate the vision and strategies to the appropriate people to get them on board and generate still more urgency.

4) Empowerment: Those with a strong sense of urgency empower others who are dedicated to making a vision a reality by removing obstruction in their path.

5) Short-Term Wins: High urgency teams celebrate short-term victories and make them visible to the entire organization.

6) Never Give Up: After minor and/or great success, teams with a true sense of urgency never let their team slip back to complacent inertia. Instead they expand the effort and strive for improvement.

7) Making It Stick: Teams with a true sense of urgency feel duty-bound to find ways to make sure any change sticks by incorporating that change into the structure, the systems, and – most importantly – the culture.

Here is the truly amazing thing: Working with a sense of urgency actually requires less energy than complacency. And the rewards are ten-fold.

By Ryan Deiss

Designing the perfect persuasive email campaign is a fine art. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise…

BUT even if your emails were so incredibly powerful, so intensely persuasive, that they literally made prospects faint with an overwhelming desire to buy your products…

None of that would matter if your emails were never opened.

If they got buried in a ­­­­flood of junk mail, or were simply deleted before ever being clicked on, it wouldn’t matter how amazing your content was.

It would simply be wasted… having never got the opportunity to put all those buying objections in a sleeper hold.

That’s precisely why you need a spellbinding, lapel-grabbing subject line that virtually guarantees that your emails will hit their mark.

Writing subject lines can be tough, and it’s nearly impossible to know which variations are going to get the best click-through-rates…

Unless you test those headlines using our old friend: The scientific method.

Why You Need Proven Subject Line Tactics?

Simply put, the best indication of future success is past performance.

And when you’ve run as many email campaigns as we have at Digital Marketer, you have boatloads of DATA.

That’s basically a fancy way of saying I’ve run a TON of email campaigns and learned a thing or two about what works… and what doesn’t.

Each one of these had its role in developing the following best practices for creating killer subject lines.

By studying these best practices and implementing them in your email marketing, you can bypass all the rookie mistakes that I’ve gone through in my career.

Trust me, learning the “hard way” is WAY overrated.

Best Practices

As I hinted at before, in order for your copywriting magic to actually work, your emails must first get opened.

In fact, that’s the ENTIRE purpose of your subject line. Let that sink in for a moment…

Nothing happens until the email gets opened — your message is pretty much DOA.

Here are a few of my most powerful, battle-tested subject line tricks. These tactics have given me the highest open rates of any that we’ve tested:

1. Use Odd Numbers: Not “odd” numbers as in odd or even — odd as in unnecessarily specific. Don’t just go with some nice, round number like 8,000. Go with 8,213. The closer to the front of the subject line, the better it will work.

Example: Why He Paid Google $524,838.71…

2. Question Marks: This one’s pretty simple. An email subject line that ends in a question mark usually gets a higher open rate than one without this valuable piece of punctuation.

Example: Google Made Me Slap Proof?

3. Percentages (%): These work in much the same way as odd numbers work, because of the curiosity factor. People just love percentages and, more importantly, they are super curious to learn where they come from.

Example: 99% of People Dieting NEED to Do This

4. [New Video], [Video]: Having a “[Video]” in your subject line is a great way to add interest. It’s basically a pattern-interrupt as someone’s scrolling through their inbox; it causes them to pause. Overusing this trick, however, doesn’t help.

Example: [Video Blog Post] 89 pip gap open

5. (Free Report): If you’re giving something away of value in your email, like a lead magnet or an mp3, mention it in the subject line. Once again, this piques curiosity and let’s recipients know that there’s someone of a higher value in the email. Higher value equals higher conversions.

Example: 7 Deadly SEO Mistakes (Free Report)

6. Personal Pronouns: Personal pronouns (You, Your, etc…) help create the sense that you’re talking directly to the recipient. It’s a way of being conversational, specific, and engaging.

Example: Why YOU need to update your profile

7. Confusing, shocking, or just plain weird subject lines can boost open rates as well.

Here are a few examples of random subject lines that, for whatever reason.

By MaryEllen Tribby

“You do what?” I asked Cathy, a young lady who had just informed me that her occupation was teaching people how to be authentic on Facebook and Twitter.

“That’s right, I teach people – more specifically, women – how to be themselves on social networking sites. That way they can connect and really bond with their customers… which of course helps them make more money.”

Still not grasping the concept, I replied, “Isn’t that a bit of an oxymoron? I mean, I just don’t understand how YOU can teach someone ELSE to be THEMSELVES. Because wouldn’t THEY in fact know how to be THEMSELVES better than YOU would?”

Her obvious frustration showed as she replied huffily, “You clearly don’t understand what’s happening with Facebook today. What I really do is teach women how to portray themselves in their best light.”

Okay, my turn again. “Then, in fact, you are not really teaching people how to be authentic. You are teaching them how to act so they can make more money.”

“Exactly,” she said.

“Faker,” I said.

Kiss, Kiss or KaChing, KaChing

Are you as sick and tired as I am of the fakeness on Facebook?

Now, don’t get me wrong. A lot of wonderful people use Facebook. Generous, giving people who want to connect with friends and help anyone they can.

And then there are the fakers!

You know who I mean. The ones who constantly preach how much money they make and how happy they are. And of course they just love everyone.

Unfortunately, many of these people really lead miserable lives… do not have successful careers… and talk smack about their “friends” behind their backs.

These are the same people who complain about others promoting themselves… only to do it 10 times more often!

And every time I see a post like this one, I want to scream!

“Be happy!! Irritate the heck out of negative people around you!”

But instead of screaming, I simply hit that little “x” that removes this person from my life and think, “Another faker.”

You see, a really happy person would not want to go out of her way to irritate people. As a matter of fact, a truly happy person would go out of her way to help a negative person.

Sadly enough, my opinion of Facebook seems to be a growing trend among women in general. Especially working moms, who simply do not have the time to live in the land of unicorns.

The Shocking Truth About Social Networks Like Facebook

Here are the shocking facts that you as a marketer need to embrace.

Shocking Fact #1: In a recent study from Burke Research, women find niche communities more valuable than sites like Facebook.

The study found that women can still socialize with friends and family, share information, and give advice on these niche community sites in the same way they can on Facebook… But they have the added value of having more in common with other members of community-based sites.

Shocking Fact #2: The same study also found that women trusted the niche sites most, especially for information on brands and products, and they felt the people on women’s sites were most qualified to understand their needs.

Shocking Fact #3: This study went on to say that social networks like Facebook, by contrast, were seen as less useful, less trustworthy, and more of a waste of time.

You can see from the graph below that even some large portal sites are seen as more useful and trustworthy than Facebook.

This study clearly states that Facebook is most valuable to consumers as a means of keeping in touch with friends and family; it’s also a source of entertainment.

As a marketer, you would exude more credibility advertising your eBook on alternative health, for example, on a site like iVilliage than on Facebook. And more credibility leads to better results.

As you continue your marketing efforts this year, don’t put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to advertising dollars. Branch out and test other kinds of websites to find the right customers for your community. This is the best way to find the customers who embrace your values and who will benefit from your products.

By Kate Buck, Jr.

One of the biggest complaints I hear most often from the business owners that I consult with is that they STILL haven’t seen any results from social media. They are wondering, is it everything they say it is? Am I just wasting my time? When is this finally going to pay off?

You see, these business owners are already using social media (or trying to, anyway). Most have read blogs or news articles, they have some fans or followers and they spend some time on a regular basis tweeting and posting on Facebook.

All of this is great – I’ve made a lot of connections, I’ve learned a lot, but HOW exactly do I use this to grow my business?

Does that sound about right to you?

I’m sure it does.

“But, Kate, social media marketing people say I’m not supposed to sell… it’s all about the relationships.  They say a sales pitch is like social media marketing suicide. But now I have all these relationships, but no sales. So now what?”

The truth is while social media marketing IS all about the relationships you must also find creative ways to sell your products and services.

Most people do one of two things: they either ONLY sell and are spammers, or they don’t sell so they aren’t a spammer. A good

social media marketing mix has BOTH.

When you develop relationships with your potential customers using social media marketing  channels, doing business with you naturally becomes an opportunity, or the next step.

Today, I’m going to share with you my system for developing relationships AND how to sell your products or services in social media marketing to maximize your results.

Steps Involved in Social Media Marketing

STEP ONE: FIND & LISTEN

Listen is a buzzword you hear thrown around a lot lately – but what does it actually mean?

Listening is about using social media marketing as a tool to research what people are saying about a topic, right now.

Let’s say you want to open a toy store in your city and you want to know what people are saying about different brands of toys. Or let’s say you own a landscaping company and you want to know what difficulties people are having with lawn care. You can find out the answers to these and just about anything you can think of in social media marketing.

You do this by:

-searching keywords on twitter

-reading consumer blogs

-monitoring google alerts on the topic

-participating in online forums

The idea here is to participate in social media  marketing as if you were your customer, not the business owner to find out exactly:

-Where do your customers ‘hang out’ online?

-What do they talk about?

-What do they need instead of what you are selling?

-What are their problems and how can you help solve them?

Now that you’ve found your customer and you’ve listened to them, it’s time to connect with them.

STEP TWO: CONNECT

Connecting is either directly following or sending a connection request to literally connect your profile with the profile of your target customers.

Some types of people you might follow in addition to your target customer might be:

-experts in your industry

-colleagues

-people in your geographic area

-related business, professional services

These are all people you can do business with in various ways, like:

-affiliate marketing

-cross-sales & upsells

-joint ventures

-referrals

I suggest you be selective to a degree, but don’t get hung up on this!

STEP THREE:  ORGANIZE

It’s true, there is a lot of noise and garbage out there, and if you aren’t organizing your connections in social media marketing, you’ll quickly get swept into it, and social media marketing will become a time-management nightmare.

As SOON as you connect with someone, you must organize that connection, using lists on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Typical ways I organize people:

-Influencer, expert

-Type of lead

-Current customer

-Potential partner

-Geographic

The key here is to categorize the person you’ve connected with by their relationship to your business.

This doesn’t just apply when you connect with others, remember it also applies when someone follows you or sends you a request. You should assess both whether or not to connect, and what the potential relationship that person has to your business and then organize them on the appropriate list.

Now, you have some context when you are spending time in social media marketing: WHO are you talking to and WHY are you talking to them.

In my opinion, this is the MOST CRITICAL step in social media marketing that most people overlook.

STEP FOUR: SHARE & ENGAGE

When you’ve done the leg work to know who you are engaging with to and why you are engaging with them, the time you spend in social media marketing will be much more productive and useful.

This part is the most natural part for people  – the talking part – which is why we tend to skip all the other steps and jump straight to it.

People still ask me, what do I talk about?

-Share about yourself (you don’t have to share “private” things to share “personal” things)

-What are you doing right now? What inspires you? Makes you laugh?

-Ask thought provoking questions

-Share your best tips, tricks, and strategies

-Answer questions and be helpful

-Movies, music, and other interests

-News and current events

The most important thing is find your unique voice and not just broadcast but also converse. Remember this and you’ll be golden, “Be interesting AND interested.”

STEP FIVE: INVITE

Let’s recap a minute. You have:

-Found your target audience and listened to what they really want

-Connected with them and organized them accordingly

-Engaged with them – both by sharing about yourself and getting to know them

Now this is where the rubber meets the road! It’s time to sell, or extend the opportunity to take a committed action (beyond the social channel you’re engaged in) or the opportunity to do business with you.

I call these social “invitations”. Things you can invite people to:

-Read, comment or subscribe to your blog. (When you do this, ensure your blog has compelling   links to your products and services   prominently displayed for readers to see and click on.)

-Subscribe to your Email Newsletter or SMS list for exclusive content and discounts you don’t share in social media marketing.

-Free information on teleseminars, webinars, e-books, etc

-Speaking Events, meet ups, and offline events like community or social events

-Links to connect with you on other social media marketing platforms

-Enter a contest or sweepstakes

-Links to product reviews or affiliate product offers

-And, gasp! Links to new products and services that you think would be of interest and benefit to them.

Once again, you shouldn’t be ONLY doing this, but you should be peppering these marketing messages creatively into your social media marketing  strategy while continuing to implement all the other steps.

Of course, if you haven’t built relationships by with steps one through four, offering a product or service is like a tree falling in the forest, and there’s no one there to hear it.

On the flip side, relationship building without ever selling anything, makes social media marketing  a “social activity” rather than a “business building” one.

So once again, the formula for building a successful and profitable business in social media is:

1.  FIND & LISTEN

2.  CONNECT

3.  ORGANIZE

4.  SHARE & ENGAGE

5.  INVITE

About the Author:

Kate is passionate about helping individuals and businesses get started marketing themselves online.  Her mission is to bridge the gap for those that are apprehensive or overwhelmed by all the “hype”. Her approach makes social marketing manageable, affordable and effective for her clients.

Since launching KBJ Online, Kate has consulted for dozens of individuals and businesses around the country. She frequently live tweets/blogs events she attends, as well as leads strategic social marketing campaigns for the independent films Let Him Be and EXIT.

Kate lives in Austin, Texas (the Social Media Capitol of the World!) with her husband, Chef Morris Buck, and her 2 step-kids. She enjoys watching sports, dancing  and spending time out on the lake.

Click here to hear more about Kate: http://www.workingmomsonly.com/kate

By MaryEllen Tribby

“Delanie, this is not funny. I don’t understand why you have that grin on your face,” I said to my six-year-old daughter while reprimanding her for being the class clown.

Her response shocked me: “I’m sorry Mommy, it’s just hard to take you seriously when you have boogers smeared all over your face.”

I excused myself and hurried off to find the nearest mirror. Delanie was indeed right. Now I understood why she had difficulty taking our conversation seriously!

I quickly cleaned myself up, picked my dignity up off the floor, and went back to her room to finish my original conversation regarding her behavior in school.

As I entered the room – booger free and with a stern demeanor – the change in Delanie’s disposition was instantaneous.  She sat up straighter, her eyes grew wider, and her mischievous grin was gone. Before I could get a single word out she said, “I’m sorry Mommy, it won’t happen again.”

This is just one example of how your appearance can dictate the entire tone of a conversation.

And if a simple booger can affect a conversation with a six-year-old, just imagine how important your appearance is in business situations!

Why?

Because our success depends on our ability to communicate effectively in business.

She's A Great Communicator

Truth be told, writing isn’t speaking and speaking isn’t writing. So if your business relies on you speaking in either large or small group settings or making deals face-to–face, you’ll want to listen up.

Written communication is linear, a single channel input. Written communication is much more effective than speaking for the exchange of facts, data, and details. You can read five times faster than a person can speak. With the written word, you can concentrate on, skim, or altogether ignore a certain section of material.

However, if your goal is to influence or persuade, to really get your point across, you have to say it with impact. You have to use action. All great effective business communicators know this.

Speaking is a multi-channel surround sound action experience in which dozens of channels concurrently feed information to our brains.

And right or wrong, good or bad, the first thing people notice when watching you give a presentation or lead a meeting is how you look.

In fact, studies show that others are influenced most by how you look, then by how you sound, and lastly by what you say. The breakdown looks like this:

Just like the example above with Delanie, your message will not be heard if aspects of your appearance are distracting your audience. And let me be clear… When I say “appearance,” I’m not just talking about having a freshly-ironed suit or nicely-styled hair. It encompasses so many more channels. It’s truly effective business communication.

If you are planning on making some face-to-face business deals in 2011… Especially if you are banking on those deals to improve your business’s bottom line… Be sure to go through my checklist below.

Top 7 Appearance Tips for Surefire Success in 2012

1)  Posture: Never sit through a meeting all hunched over. And don’t cross your arms once seated. Doing either of these things will make you look either sloppy or defensive. Instead, sit back in your seat with your arms and hands lying loosely on your lap.

2)  Facial Expression: Lose any kind of frown or sad expression. Walk into all business situations with a smile on your face that says, “I am ready, willing, and able!”

3)  Energy Level:  Be sure to get a good night’s sleep before an important meeting and eat a meal made up of foods that provide energy rather than drain it. For example, don’t eat bagels or donuts before a big meeting.  They will only set you up to crash later. Instead, have some protein and fruit.

4)  Eye contact: Some people are just flat out uncomfortable making eye contact. If this is you – get over it. Practice with a colleague or friend. If you avoid it, you will find that people think you are hiding something… and your deal is likely to fall through the cracks.

5) Voice inflection and volume: Did you ever see the episode of Seinfeld with the “low talker”? It’s one of my favorites. In a nutshell, Kramer’s girlfriend talks so softly that Jerry agrees to a ridiculous request because he simply can’t hear what she is saying. Funny on a television program. But in the real world, people will simply cut the meeting short and your big opportunity will be lost forever. So make sure you speak clearly and loudly enough for everyone around you to hear. And don’t speak in a monotone voice. You’ll want to convey confidence at all times and excitement when appropriate.

6) Gestures and other physical actions: There is nothing wrong with moving your hands when you speak. But do learn to keep them in the “zone.” The “zone” is the width of your seat and the height of your torso. Anything outside of that range is just too big for a first-time business meeting, and it risks diverting the focus from your words to your gestures.

7) Dress: So many people stress out about what to wear for a business meeting. When in doubt, formal is better than casual for a first-time business meeting. You can never lose with a skirt, blouse, and jacket.  If the person you are meeting with shows up in jeans, you can always remove the jacket. But if you are in jeans and the other person shows up in a suit, your options are limited.

Start your business out right for the New Year. By adhering to the checklist above, you will assure yourself that you are doing everything possible to make every business meeting count and set yourself apart as an effective business communicator.

By Dan Kennedy

We’re going to talk about the inner game of building your own business. I believe that the inner game is simply all-important. “The inner game” is a new term for a classic idea explained many different times, many different ways by virtually every success educator, and even philosophers.

In the book Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill reveals the secret using the words, “thoughts are things.” Dennis Waitley has worked with U.S. astronauts and Olympic athletes on their inner games. Author Tim Galloway explores the ideas of his books, The Inner Game of Golf, The Inner Game of Tennis and The Inner Game of Selling.

Interestingly, there is a never-ending connection between the inner game in sport and the inner game in business, allowing experts like Waitley, Galloway, ex-quarterback Fran Tarkenton and golfer Arnold Palmer, among others, to step back and forth between expounding on success techniques in the athletic and business worlds.

In all cases, these people speak much more about attitudes than aptitudes for a good reason. Surveys, studies and research consistently reaffirm that 85% of your success will depend on attitudinal factors, 15% on aptitude. Yet in your formal education and in most continuing education, the emphasis is on the opposite – 15% on attitude, 85% on aptitude.

Certainly technical knowledge and skills are important. In your profession, you must deliver excellence based on your staying up to date in techniques, products, materials and ideas.

However, such excellence alone will never build a successful, growing, profitable business. The excellence that will is an excellence created and sustained in your own mind. This is the most difficult, least tangible aspect of building your business that we’ll ever talk about, but it is also probably the most important.

Major components of Building Your Own Business

Yeah, but what is it? So what is the inner game of building your own business? The way I see it, the inner game can be broken down into four major components:
•    Self esteem
•    Self image
•    Self confidence
•    Self discipline

Quality in these four areas is a necessary foundation to personal and professional success.

Self Esteem

Self Esteem is essentially your feelings of worth. How much success do you deserve? How much money should you make? How much is your time worth? Here, briefly, are seven ideas for strengthening self-esteem:

1.    Establish worthwhile, meaningful goals and values.
2.    Take massive action to get your own financial house in order if it isn’t now. Reduce debt, bring expenses under income, and invest every single month.
3.    Give yourself recognition for each and every accomplishment.
4.    Manage your time productively. Procrastination and disorganization rob many people of their self-esteem.
5.    Associate with positive-minded, happy people who encourage and motivate you. Don’t hang out with folks who are negative, unhappy, critical or jealous.
6.    Continually acquire new know-how in your profession and in the areas of business, sales and communication.
7.    Regularly invest in improving your office and home environments, tools and equipment, wardrobe and other external things that impact on your attitudes.

Self Image

Self-image is how you see yourself; it’s who you think you are. Your self-image is controlled mostly by self-imposed limits. Very few people ever perform beyond those self-imposed limits. Remember that it is very important from building your own business perspective.

A salesman whose father never earned more than $25,000 a year in his life may well see himself as a $25,000 a year guy. And he will subconsciously screw up the opportunities to earn more that come his way.

In the financial area, the controversial Reverend Ike calls this a money rejection syndrome, and I am convinced that such a thing definitely exists. One man I know, who made over $100 million in his business in its first three years from scratch, had gone broke in business several times before. After the three years of remarkable success, he said, “Making $100 million is about the easiest thing I’ve ever done. Believing it could happen to me was the hard part that took 20 years.”

Your self-image was created and is sustained through self talk, the use of affirmations – and that is also the method you can use to alter and modify your self image, literally as you wish.

I call the process self image goal setting, because most people who set goals set only “to get” and “to have” goals; they fail to set “to be” goals. I encourage you to balance your approach to goal setting by including some self-image modification.

Self Discipline

Self-Discipline, the fourth component of the inner game, is quite possibly the most important.

Success lecturer Jim Rohn says that most people do not associate lack of discipline with lack of success.

Most people think of failure as one earth-shattering event, such as a company going out of business or a home being foreclosed on. This, however, Jim Rohn says, is how failure happens.

Failure is rarely the result of some isolated event; rather, it is a consequence of a long list of accumulated little failures, which happen as a result of too little discipline. I agree. I find that most people understandably tend to look everywhere but in the mirror for the sources of their failures as well as the victories.

I’m here to tell you it’s not the town you’re in, not your location, not the economy, not the weather, not your competitors – it’s your own discipline that makes the difference between excellence or mediocrity, between getting by or getting rich.

It’s interesting to observe professionals. I often say to my associates, “Let me watch the professional’s behavior before, during and after the seminar, and I’ll guess his annual income within a few thousand dollars.” It’s actually pretty easy to do.

Jim Rohn says that discipline is the bridge between thought and accomplishment.
I’d encourage you to take the self-discipline challenge very seriously.

Select those areas that you know are your weakest links – timely paperwork, punctuality, daily self-improvement study, being happy and enthusiastic first thing in the morning, whatever your personal stumbling blocks are – and apply new, tough, demanding disciplines to yourself in those areas.

You’ll find that success in these particular areas of your day-to-day life will roll over into greater success in all parts of your life.

For example, let’s look at the ultimate game players – professional football players.
A pro ball player knows that every single moment of his on-the-job performance is recorded on film, to be replayed and reviewed later in stop-action slow motion, for critique by his superiors and co-workers.

If your day was filmed and reviewed, how would you feel during the replay?
Of course, the professional football players who have to put up with this sort of thing are highly paid.

Yes, the inner game stuff is tough. If being a big success were easy, everybody would be one. You’ve got to decide what you really want to be, do, have, accomplish – and decide whether or not you’re willing to adhere to the disciplines necessary to get it.

In order to have the opportunity to accomplish virtually any goals you honestly desire, you must accept the related responsibility for everything you get.

About the Author:

DAN S. KENNEDY is a serial, multi-millionaire entrepreneur; highly paid and sought after marketing and business strategist; advisor to countless first-generation, from-scratch multi-millionaire and 7-figure income entrepreneurs and professionals; and, in his personal practice, one of the very highest paid direct-response copywriters in America. As a speaker, he has delivered over 2,000 compensated presentations, appearing repeatedly on programs with the likes of Donald Trump, Gene Simmons (KISS), Debbi Fields (Mrs. Fields Cookies), and many other celebrity-entrepreneurs, for former U.S. Presidents and other world leaders, and other leading business speakers like Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy and Tom Hopkins, often addressing audiences of 1,000 to 10,000 and up.  His popular books have been favorably recognized by Forbes, Business Week, Inc. and Entrepreneur Magazine. His NO B.S. MARKETING LETTER, one of the business newsletters published for Members of Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle, is the largest paid subscription newsletter in its genre in the world.

By MaryEllen Tribby

Thank you for taking time to give us your input in last month’s survey. The two to three minutes you took to give us your feedback helped make a difference for a tremendous amount people all over the world.

The information you shared not only shed light on the common occurrence of sexual harassment at office holiday parties but it also shed light on an even a bigger issue – the excessive amount of gender diversity problems that are still happening in the workforce today.

The results of the survey were picked up by over 60 news sources all over the world including: Newsday, CBS MoneyWatch, Yahoo! News, The Denver Post, Miami Herald, Houston Chronicle, The San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Tribune just to name a few.

As many of you know, I believe working moms are one of the most influential groups of people in the world.   As a community, we can make a difference by sharing our knowledge, opinions and input.  And, by doing so, we help shape the world for our sons and for our daughters, who will one day become working moms as well.

This is why I would like to continue to use our voice to make a difference on other important topics as well.  So, today I ask for your input on a different topic.

Now, admittedly, I don’t speak much about politics and this drives my husband crazy.  He loves to talk about politics.  He has very strong opinions about the subject and likes to let everyone know them. But, I feel a little differently about the upcoming presidential election.

Even though I don’t usually talk about politics, I believe this election is one of the most important elections of our lifetime.  More than ever, the candidate we choose to run our country won’t just determine our future… it will determine the future of our sons, our daughter and many generations to come.

The New Hampshire Primaries take place tomorrow, which is why I’d like to hear from you today.  If we get your input fast enough, we have a huge opportunity to share our voice on the election and where working moms, as a community, stand.

So please, stop what you are doing now and take just a moment to give us your input.  It will take no more than a few minutes of your time, but the information will benefit people all across America.

The results of the survey will be shared, but all names will be kept completely confidential.

Just click here to give your input:

http://www.workingmomsonly.com/Election-Survey

Thank you in advance for helping us better understand what’s important to you.

By Craig Ballantyne

Three times each year men and women from all over the world take part in a 12-week fat loss transformation program as part of my online business. These everyday people take their dreaded before photos, renew their commitment to diet and exercise, and less than ninety days later they take amazing after photos. Just a few short months literally changes their lives.

We’ve had winners from Norway, Australia, Mexico, Spain, Canada, and all over America. In some cases, like Catherine Gordon, the winner of our 2nd ever contest, it wasn’t just about losing weight. For her, it was more about regaining her energy, youthfulness, and confidence. Since winning that contest she’s returned to starring in plays in her local community theater. For many participants, their transformation reignites passions long forgotten. It’s a reawakening for many to see that they control what they are capable of doing with their remaining years.

Bodies are changed, health is improved, confidence is built, friendships are gained, and new lives are born. All of these powerful benefits come from making a few lifestyle changes and committing just 0.3% of their life to healthy living.

I call it, “The 0.3% solution”. Divide 12 weeks into a 75-year life span and that’s what you get. A third of a percent. That’s all that it requires for these men and women to turn their lives around – physically and mentally.

Could you dedicate less than half a percent of your life to making life-changing improvements in your behaviors and situation?

In my experience, I’ve found that people can change their financial situation in even less time. Dedicating just an hour a day for thirty days can help you build a strong foundation for a online  business. You can get your website working online, make your first sale, and build unstoppable momentum – all in just one month – and that’s less than 0.01% of your life.

I know it’s possible because I’ve done it myself (back in 2003), and I’ve coached dozens of entrepreneurs in my Mastermind groups to do it, as well as hundreds more through my online business courses, newsletters, and emails.