Learn Internet Marketing Strategies For Your Business

If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you likely spend as much if not more time with your business as you do with your actual Valentine.

The question to ask yourself is with all the love and devotion you give to your business, is it returning the feelings back?  Or is does it seem like a one-way street?

How can you improve that relationship?

Well, for one thing, you can’t go cheating on your business.

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Tomorrow is National Pie Day in the United States.

And although that brings to mind delicious slices of warm Apple pie, with a flaky crust and vanilla bean ice cream on top, there’s a business metaphor in here as well.

Sorry to ruin your taste buds fun :)

In business, you’ll often hear people talk about getting a bigger piece of “the pie”. In the traditional marketplace, this means your slice gets bigger when you take more away from the others, i.e., your competition.

Unfortunately, this is a win-lose situation that typically results in a rush to take away from your slice, too.

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I’m on the internet marketer’s cruise, and I thought I’d share a lesson I learned this week from the trip.

As a former history teacher, the one thing at the top of my to-do list during this trip was to see Mayan archaeology. So during our stop in Cozumel on Monday, we took a trip to Tulum in Mexico.

Tulum was a walled city on the coast of the Yucatan peninsula. Today’s site still shows ample evidence of the amazing astronomical knowledge of the Mayans, and the importance of this particular site to their civilization.

But to be honest, without any context or background, the site is a bunch of stone structures on a cliff overlooking the Caribbean. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think what you saw there were the remnants of builders who gave up in the middle of a project.

That’s where Manuel comes in.

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This week contains the final days of 2009. Like most people, you may be looking back at the past year and feeling a bit regretful about all the things you did poorly or failed to do. And so the next few days will include making some resolutions about what you will do better in 2010.

Making goals is a healthy thing.

But only focusing on what you did wrong (or not at all) in order to build up for 2010 is going to keep you from attaining the higher heights you truly aspire to.

And while it’s true we can learn a lot from our mistakes (and a lot more from the mistakes of others), it’s also instructive – and somewhat therapeutic – to learn from our successes, too.

Proclaim Your Accomplishments Over Regrets

So this week, I’d like to challenge you to spend some time thinking about the things you DID accomplish in 2009.

• If you started your business in the last 12 months, congratulations! You’ve stuck your neck out while other people are stuck in their routines. And if you’re still in business a year later – you’re way ahead of most entrepreneurs.
• If you made your first affiliate sale, or sold your first information product – congratulations!
• If you added even one more subscriber to your list this past year, it means you conquered the technical hurdles of creating your list – now you just need to build it up more.
• If you cut out wasteful expenses, unsubscribed from a handful of market molesters, or found a way too save $100 each month with a particular program – congratulations!
• If you created a website or blog that is now showing up in the search engines and giving people information and solutions – congratulations! You’re now helping people around the world, even while you sleep.

Take a few minutes and take stock of what you accomplished. This should help keep in perspective your successes as you consider what 2010 holds in store for you.

This positive reflection is important for me to do as well, so I’ll share what 2009 looked like for me.

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They say you should be ready when opportunity comes knocking, but I’d suggest you make sure you take a look out the peephole before you open that door.

The trouble I see many struggling business owners having is not a lack of opportunity.

Instead, it’s a lack of evaluating those opportunities and picking the one that’s right for them. Or worse, they have an “open door policy” so that all opportunities rush through the door and overstay their welcome like relatives a few days after Christmas.

Let’s Learn Some Latin: Ceteris Paribus

Let’s assume for a minute that all business opportunities (MLM included), affiliate programs, franchises, and other “gold mines” are 100% legitimate, none are scams, and in all respects are equal. (This is an example of ceteris paribus).

After you stop laughing at the ridiculous statement I just made, let’s address the real issue for the lesson today.

With all other things equal, the variable that must be examined more closely (maybe with a microscope more than a peephole) is you, and how much of a match you and this opportunity really are.

For you to succeed in your business, you need to find where these 3 questions meet:

• What do you love to do/share/teach?
• What do you know better than most?
• What solutions will people buy?

If an opportunity comes knocking and it can’t fit into ALL 3 of these questions, then it’s a doomed business opportunity for you. You may make some money with it, but in the long run, mediocrity will be the ultimate result.

Faith And Focus

For the opportunity you welcome through the door, realize it’s going to take a lot of focus and faith to acheive success with it.

You’re going to need to eliminate other distractions and learn to say “nobody’s home” to new opportunities that try to crash your party. You’ll also need to lay out a specific road map over 30 days, 6 months, 2 years to turn what you’re pursuing into a sustainable, and lucrative business. And you’ll have to focus on following that plan while revising as you get feedback from your customers and your own inner voice.

You’ll also need faith in the potential of your business and the solutions you’re providing. This isn’t a blind faith, mind you. But once you discover what your Golden Triad is, you must have the confidence in it so you’ll have the kind of impact the world is expecting from you.

Apply This In Multiple Areas Of Your Business

Obviously, this opportunity/peephole metaphor is essential when you’re choosing what type of business you’re going to start.

But if you’re already knee deep in the process, maybe with years of experience at this point, it’s also applicable in other areas.

Think about this when you are…

• invited to speak on a teleseminar
• considering a joint venture proposal
• choosing an affiliate program to promote
• deciding what events to attend or mentoring programs to join
• thinking of adding products or services to your catalog

If you remember to check the peephole first, the right opportunities will be welcome when it suits you.

Bob Jenkins

p.s. I’d love to hear how today’s lesson applies to you and your business. Share your story below…

This week seems to be officially “Big Ticket” week – or “how many ways can you be tempted to invest substantially in your business.”

Among others, here are the choices that I know about (in no particular order):

• Alex Mandossian’s Teleseminar Secrets
• Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula 2.3
• Kevin Nations Prospect Seduction Blueprint
• Bob The Teacher’s Online Profit Academy Live Workshop

Obviously, I’ll be a bit biased about the fourth one, but this lesson today is more about deciding if investing in a “big ticket” program is a smart option. Feel free to evaluate the programs above for yourself after you’ve read through my criteria below.

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As part of my quest to help you see what it really takes to succeed online, I’ve asked Super Affiliate Marketer Lynn Terry to share her thoughts on 4 key areas of her profitable online business:

• Time management
• Focus
• Commitment, and
• How to go from start to profit

Enjoy the interview, and be sure to hang out with Lynn and I in her internet marketing forum.

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I can’t surf. At least not on the waves.

But there’s something about the mindset of a surfer that appeals to me as a business owner.

And during my recent speaking engagement in Huntington Beach, California, it was obvious that I needed to share this lesson with you as well. As is usually the case when I teach an audience of entrepreneurs about marketing their business online and with teleseminars, the idea that they like the most is my Take Action, Revise Later philosophy. It helps them move forward faster, and give themselves permission to make some mistakes.

Check out this monumental metaphor I recorded for you from Surf City, USA…

Enjoy!

Bob Jenkins

p.s. Share your comments below about a wave you are happy you missed or one that you’re still riding.

Every day, I get an email from somebody that promises to help me turn my email list into an ATM – something I can press a button and just get instant cash any time I want.

Usually, these wind up in the spam folder, where they belong.

Regardless, it’s important for you not to take this line of thinking with your online marketing.

If you’re like me (a former high school teacher with no professional training in sales or selling), you may feel funny asking people for money whether in person, on a website, or via email.

So when you’re taught by gurus that your list is an ATM, you get this knot in your stomach, but you figure that’s the way it is.

Well, it’s not.

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I’m publishing my first book soon, called “Take Action, Revise Later.”

This is one of the first chapters.  Please read and comment below!

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Setting goals is very important in both life and business, and today I begin a public documentation of my own goal setting.

Over the last month, I’ve been documenting my personal 30 Day Autoresponder Challenge, and it’s been a lot of fun (we wrap up this Thursday with a rockin’ teleseminar with an awesome guest).

Now I’m going to be turning my attention to setting and achieving goals in three key areas: business, fitness, and life.

Normally I would wait to start this process until after my current challenge is over. But I’m getting help from a group of motivated home business owners like me, and we’re all taking part in Scott Tousignant’s Fat Loss Quickie Home Office Transformation Contest. And that just so happens to have begun today (if you’re late, you can catch up!).

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