The interesting thing about life is that lessons are everywhere. You never know when you might learn something. My recent life lesson at Disneyland had far-reaching implications. I’d like to share them with you.

We gave a conference in California. After the work was over, we took the kids to Disneyland. Now, we’ve all heard those horror stories of long lineups. We were warned that a family could spend more time in line than enjoying themselves. That didn’t sound fun; nobody likes waiting in line.

My wife checked the Internet to see if there was a solution to the problem of long lineups. We found an amazing software program developed to help us avoid those lines. Using that information, we reduced most wait times to only 10 to 15 minutes, and we rode all of the major rides. In fact, we rode them more than once.

Before I give you the name of the software program, let me explain the lesson I learned. It helped me build my business, and it can help your home or online business too.

First, let me tell you how the software program works. You tell the program which rides you want to ride, and it searches all of the estimated traffic patterns for the people in the park that day and gives you a print out detailing what order you should ride those rides. Now, this also works in conjunction with a really cool system that Disneyland has in place. It is called “Fast Pass” and it works like this:

If you want to ride a very popular ride, then you go to to that ride and find the special machines that offer a “Fast Pass” ticket. These tickets tell you a time later in the day when you can come back and enter the “Fast Pass” line.

Disneyland has two separate systems; the regular, slower, line and the speedier Fast Pass lineup. By planning ahead and getting your ticket early, you can avoid long lineups. Even better, you go right to the front of the line.

So what is Disneyland teaching us? If you are willing to delay gratification AND you have a plan, you can avoid competition and be successful in your online business (or any business for that matter).

There may be a long line of competition in front of you. You want to enjoy a ride, and they do too. If you want to get to the front of the line, you have to make a plan. By understanding that rewards may not come immediately, you can build a plan for long-term success. This will help your home-based business grow and thrive.

Meaning, by using the proper online tools you can research your niche, find what they want, do a little keyword research and rank high in the search engines for keyword terms that are not as competitive. But realize there are differences of internet search tools.

By delaying gratification (not trying to replace your day job income in two months!) AND having a well thought-out plan (preferably with some help from someone who knows a little about online marketing), in the long run, you will make more money in less time!

So take some time to plan ahead and research your niche. That knowledge will take you past the competition, right to the head of the line. You can make $2000 a day in an Internet business. Fasten your seatbelt and enjoy the ride!

Oh, that software program I mentioned? Avoid the rides and live your vacation dream at Disneyland by visiting www.Ride.com. Enjoy!

Posted: December 19th, 2007 under Online Marketing.
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As a regular internet user, it is all too easy to forget that not everyone in the world is necessarily the same as you. There are, in fact, many millions of people all over the world who do not necessarily use the internet as their primary source of information or products and services.

This is not to say that all of these people are necessarily totally unaware of the internet effect. For example, they may be forced to us it as part of their job, or to send email to other offices of the company that they work for. But, in order to market to these people, you must go offline to stand any chance of being effective.

This should not, however, necessarily be so difficult to do, although some methods will undoubtedly work better than others.

However, as I am just about to demonstrate, if you have online marketing skills and can combine these with well-established offline techniques, then this can be especially effective n local level marketing.

All offline marketing and promotional techniques share common features with one another, and many of these are also replicated in the world of online marketing as well. In both situations, all of your efforts will be aimed at getting your name and promotional message seen by as many people as you can as many times as you can.

Marketing experts will tell you that getting the message out there most efficiently is a numbers game.

What this means, in its most simplistic form, is that the more people who see your message, then the more able will take time to look at your web site, and consequently more of them will become customers or clients.

And, to a large extent, the product or service that you are selling ease fairly irrelevant in this respect. A quick glance at the advertising in any high street or maul will show you that all types of products and services are now advertised everywhere.

In fact, many large organizations have managed to create such a famous brand that people actually pay to where it. M&M’s is one example that immediately springs to mind.

It is not, however, only multinational corporations like this who can achieve such strong brand recognition.

For example, in my home town, there is a small sports shop that prints up and gives away hundreds of it’s own branded t-shirts every year. Almost anyone who is even remotely interested or involved in local sports has a shirt or two from this store.

So, it should be no surprise that everyone in the town takes their car for any necessary repair work to this particular car shop. And any newcomer to town will also all be told that there is only one place to get their vehicle repaired.

It shouldn’t therefore come as a great surprise to note that this particular restaurant chain is the number one local choice, and where you to ask a local where you should eat ,no doubt they would point you in the direction of this particular restaurant.

What I am saying, therefore, is that branding and creating an image for your business can work extremely effectively, even at a local level. You do, of course, have to choose the right product to use in your promotional efforts, but given the huge choice of suppliers that you can access online, the should not be so difficult.

And you will know that all of these sites are fighting for your business, so you should be able to find something somewhere to suit all quality requirements and budgets.

Posted: December 19th, 2007 under Marketing.
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The three things you should never do are exactly what you’re told to do, so this may be shocking to you or comforting. When you do these three things you’re setting yourself up for a painful path to failure. It explains why over 90% of the people entering the insurance and financial services industries fail in less than three years. The first thing you never want to do is cold call. If you’ve tried it you already no it’s a low failure ego eroding waste of time activity.

When you cold call you immediately put yourself in a bad position. You wouldn’t be calling absolute strangers begging for an appointment if you weren’t desperate and the people you’re calling realize this. People aren’t going to buy so they can help you out. They’ll only buy if they’re the ones with the need.

How much time does it take you to make those 100 cold calls you’re supposed to make? It takes hours. And at the end of the day you’re lucky if you’ve talked to 3 people and scheduled an appointment with one person who may or may not keep their appointment. Then when you meet with that person you find they aren’t likely to do business with you because they’re defensive and don’t trust you. But you keep wasting your time and theirs chasing after them anyway. And how much time do you have invested in all this activity without any results to show for it?

Another thing you never want to do is hang out at the wrong networking events. The reason is obvious. The people who hang out at those events are other starving sales people desperate for a sale.

The third thing you never want to do is pitch someone. And your “presentation” is nothing more than a pitch designed to produce a manipulative sales conversation. People hate to be sold and your presentation further reinforces their belief that they can’t trust you.

But you have to get business, so how are you supposed to do that? Instead of spinning your wheels wasting your time on all the things you should never do learn how to do the things you should do and do them. That means you need to learn how to: identify with a specific group of people in a way that gets them to reach out to you, interact with your ideal prospects on their turf, start and build a connection based on mutual respect and trust, hold a conversation with a prospect that helps them to buy.

Posted: December 19th, 2007 under Marketing.
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