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New Year’s resolutions are launched with good intentions by the tens of millions every December. And somewhere along the way – usually in January – most of them become an afterthought. The mere topic of New Year’s resolutions only gets pulled up again in December, when planning (yet again) for the next year.

But a business goal is a horse of a different color.

Because business goals directly tie-in to one’s finances – which in turn affects how we live – we pursue them more aggressively. That’s the good news.

However in that pursuit lies several pitfalls. Pitfalls that are well hidden from the naked eye. Pitfalls that only reveal themselves once we begin our business goal achievement quest.

What are those pitfalls exactly? Here are three that strike most entrepreneurs at the least favorable moments:

1) You fell for the infamous “You are LIMITLESS” mantra.
Bestselling spiritual/self-help author Wayne Dyer often reminds his followers, “We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

And even though the soul may be free as vast as the universe – we are still confined to an overcoat of skin and bones and gravity. And it is this temporary overcoat that causes very real limitations.

I mean let’s face it, there can only be one American Idol in 2008 (or Canadian Idol or whatever Idol for the part of the world you live in). There’s one President, one Queen, one gold medalist slalom skier, one winner of the Best Actor on Academy Awards night.

And even though you may deeply yearn, affirm and visualize holding one these positions, you might not ever end up there.

A good friend of mine had an uncle who owned a horse ranch. He was a masterful rider and dreamt of becoming a famous jockey. But at the age of 16 he was almost 6 feet tall. Which is apparently too tall to become a jockey.

We – as human beings – all have limits. Limits caused by financial circumstances, family obligations, time constraints, lack of knowledge, lack of skill, age restrictions, height restrictions, and so on.

The thing is, limitations should never be viewed as stop signs. On the contrary, they allow us to confidently move in directions that work with our natural talents, abilities and lifestyles. Limitations allow us to see how we can improve ourselves.

So acknowledge your limitations. (It’s okay!) And if you can’t beat ‘em, be confident and wise enough to work around ‘em.

2) You didn’t anticipate the potential problems along the way – or the residuals of success.
As I write this article the jackpot for the New York state lottery is at $115 million dollars. Manhattan office workers file into the deli’s during their lunch hour to stand on those lottery lines, and fantasize amongst each other about winning.

From the middle class viewpoint, a big lottery win looks absolutely delicious. But Dr. Steven J. Danish, professor of psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, paints a very different picture.

According to “Windfall not always a blessing, psychologists say,”
“Danish has counseled lottery winners for more than 12 years, and almost all his patients have had serious problems after collecting their winnings. After the initial shock passes, a sense of guilt often arrives, along with the hoards of people asking for money. Giving or leaving money to family — including mysterious, long-lost relatives — is often the biggest source of stress, he said.”

But this phenomena isn’t limited to lottery winners. It happens to entrepreneurs as well.

Yes, your eyes always have to be peeled for the potholes in the road. But you must also consider the problems that come with extreme success.

For example, will you have enough inventory if a positive review of your product generates a flood of 10,000 orders? How will you manage your time fulfilling orders? Do you have a babysitter lined up for business emergencies?

Don’t focus on failure. Do create a mindset of preparedness.

3) You focus a lot of energy on past mistakes, instead of learning from them and moving on.
A very dear friend whom I’ve known for 15 years has been wanting to start his own business for as long as I’ve known him. Early in our friendship he and his sister-in-law decided to do some kind of venture together. The venture flopped. He lost $4K, while she lost almost nothing.

Over a decade later, he still talks about how much he wants to go into business for himself. But the memory of losing that $4K re-plays itself over and over in his mind. It’s the reason why he commutes to a government job every day, instead of taking the plunge and starting his own business.

Sadly enough, he rationalizes his inability to move forward by saying that he’d rather be 100% sure that he’s doing the right thing, instead of going in with a half-baked idea.

My outlook as a seasoned entrepreneur is a little different. Nothing in life is 100% guaranteed. The best-laid plans can be thwarted in the blink of an eye. The best you can do is learn from the past (not LIVE in the past) and move on.

“If your ships doesn’t come in, swim out to meet it” – Johnathan Winters

One thing potential entrepreneurs continuously ask me is what should I be doing to get started? Should I be researching business ideas? Should I be writing a business plan? Where can I go to get inspiration on a business?

Where I would start is by asking yourself three questions. Now, If I were to ask you these three questions in person, I would ONLY share them with you if you promised to take action. Because if there was any ONE thing that I see lacking with most people who think they want to become wealthy and those who know that they are going to be and that is ACTION.

Here are the three questions you MUST ask yourself in order to make independence your own reality.

1. Are you serious about REALLY living your dream?

2. Are you on the right track to get where you want to be?

3. What can you do today get yourself closer to your dream?

That’s it? You mean that’s all you’re going to give me Benny? C’mon – there has got to be some super-secret recipe that you can tell me that will start me on my way, some ONE thing that will lead me on my path to millions?

One thing that I’ve also learned is that my path is completely different than anybody else’s. I tried to do things exactly as others before had done, and it just doesn’t work. Now, there are some similar things that have been done before and will surely work. But what you want and what somebody else wants are two completely different things. That is why you won’t hear me telling you how to do things.

I learned some time ago that this thing called your “Why” is what gets you going NOT the “How”. There are a ton of books by these so-called gurus that will tell you how to trade stocks, or show you how they made millions by doing an infomercial. I love learning how they did it, but it might not necessarily be for me.

Alright, I hear you out there. Please show me something! Do you really want to make a million dollars or more? Do you want to know a business that will, if you are serious, take time to educate yourself and make smart business moves, you can become successful? Okay, it’s Real Estate. It is time-tested and proven and I have several friends who are worth millions because of real estate.

Tell me , what’s your HONEST reaction? Was it something like “No kidding, I’m doing that already.” , “Oh, I could never fix toilets at 2:00 AM”, “Should I flip houses, buy and rent?” or was is “Real Estate – nah too hard.” The truth is real estate has created thousands of millonaires especially over the last 30 years, and personally, I’ve dipped my toe in it, but it doesn’t excite me. So for many people who are interested in real estate as their passion – this works! For me, I’ll probably buy some more real estate, because I know how to, but it won’t be my primary focus. How about you?

Now go back to the three questions above, it is so easy to glance over the questions, but here’s how you do it. Read question number one. “Are you serious about REALLY living your dream?” What is your life like today? Comfortable? Easy? Predictable? For many, the corporate culture creates an environment of “Just below acceptable”. You do a job that isn’t too hard. You make enough to enjoy life. You have a house, a car or two, take a vacation or two a year and that works. After all, everybody else is in the same boat right? So if you ask the question, are you serious? Many people will just say – NO. Because their lives are fine right now. Because of that fact, you can’t move forward – you’re not ready to go on. So while question number one may seem simplistic, it is the hardest question for MOST people to HONESTLY answer yes to.

Three simple questions. Three honest answers. That’s all it takes to get you started.

Bogs have proven to be an effective tool for building a network marketing business. The key to generating mlm blog traffic is to post useful content frequently and submit your blog to directories, search engines and social bookmarking sites.This article discusses how to generate ongoing mlm blog traffic.

Blogs are excellent for online network marketing.. In network marketing, the key to success is to build and maintain relationships with people who you can help.. The informal nature of blogs makes them easy to read and so the response is also more than what is generated by a normal website. Blogs are easy to produce and their heavy content makes them perfect for getting business. Also, adding new content to a blog is very easy. Network marketers need to communicate with customers and prospects on a regular basis and reviewing and adding new material to a website is often difficult and time-consuming.

Blogs appeal to many people due to their simplicity and dynamic nature. Building relationships with prospects and customers and informing them about tools, solutions and products can be done easily through postings on a blog. It is a great way to educate and motivate existing team members

The subject of your MLM blog can be anything that will benefit and educate network marketers and business opportunity seekers.. Posting original articles will increase your MLM blog traffic because you will be adding fresh unique content, that search engines use to deliver higher rankings. Submit your articles to the article directories as soon after posting them to your blog as you can. The search engines will spider your blog first and still credit you for being the original publisher.

If you do not want to post articles to your blog, you could personalize it by talking about your own unique experiences of the product or program that you are promoting, on an ongoing basis. You could also write your own unique review of the program, mentioning both the major benefits and features of the program, and any slight faults inherent in the program for added credibility readers will appreciate your honesty as most so-called reviews are nothing more than hyped-up sales pitches. This will give your blog more credibility, which is an excellent way to increase mlm blog traffic.

Also make sure that you include prominent links to your own unique affiliate links and your other websites and blogs. You could also use a simple resource box with a link to your website at the end of each post.. Talking of which, after every post be sure to notify the various search engines by using ‘ping’ services such as Feedburner, Bolgflux or Pingomatic.

Writing and finding unique content for your blog is critical. It is not all that difficult and when posted frequently and pinged correctly, will result in steady and increase mlm blog traffic. More mlm blog traffic means more people are getting to know and trust you and looking at your websites and primary network marketing business.

Avoid These Design Mistakes That Will Shy Viewers Away

When creating your Website there are many things to think about, but lets not forget the basics. This includes your primary design plan or rather the first colors, background and words the visitor sees. Discussed below are ways to successfully execute those three components.

Color Scheme

If you already have a company logo with designated colors, use those and continue the theme. Otherwise choose two to three colors for use on your Website. Stick with these colors and use them on every page. Once you assign a pattern to those colors stay consistent on each page. Example: White background, blue writing and orange bordering. Pull out or download a color wheel. This will help you choose colors that naturally accent one another. You want to catch your viewers’ eye so shy away from dark colors on top of dark colors.

Most commonly used color schemes:

~Red, yellow and white
~Blue and white
~Red, grey and white
~Blue, orange and white
~Yellow, grey and white
~Onion shade, Tan, white

Page Background

The most common mistake here is having a dark background with dark writing or white background with yellow or light pink writing. This is very strenuous to the viewers’ eyes. White backgrounds are used most often and are safe with darker writing. If you have a pattern as your page background, make sure the colors stand out from all the background patterns colors, if not done in black and white. Be sure that your hyperlink doesn’t blend before or after it has been clicked. Links most commonly appear blue before clicked and burgundy after.

Grammar and Spelling

We’re all aware of the spelling and grammar tool on our computers, but sometimes they don’t catch everything. It’s helpful to print the page out and review it from a hard copy. The eye sometimes catches mistakes it may not have seen on the computer screen. Have a peer look over your work – this will help in finding mistakes. Watch out for grammatical and punctuation mistakes your computer may not pick up on. Ex: your, you’re, there, their, its, it’s, viewers’, viewer’s and some time, sometimes.

Think simple with these three components. Complex colors, backgrounds, or words will lead your viewer away. Be inviting to your audience by making your site ‘easy on the eyes.’ Don’t forget to proofread – and remember that two heads are better than one.

affiliate marketing, affiliate programs, affiliate management, tools, commission, alice seba

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People have all kinds of questions about starting their own affiliate program and it’s always a good idea to be prepared. Starting and managing your own affiliate program isn’t something that can be done on the fly. It takes carefully preparation and planning, but the results are well worth it. Here are 3 commonly asked questions:

Question 1: How much commission should I offer in my affiliate program?

How much you offer will depend on the amount you can afford, taking into consideration the lifetime value of a customer, what your competition is doing and how attractive you can make your offer.

As a general statement, information products usually have a higher commission rate – often between 25-50% with the higher end being more common. Consumer products with smaller profit margins can be as low as 5%, but don’t often go above 20%.

But what you charge should be based on your own unique business. Here are some more things to help you come to a decision:

Sometimes it’s okay to pay a bit more for a first-time customer who will buy from you over and over again.

Always see what your competition is offering. You don’t have to get into a commission war, just be sure to make your program very attractive through good conversion rates, unique and useful promotional tools and other attractive features.

Question 2: What kind of affiliate tools should I provide to my affiliates?

The simplest answer is: Give them what they want.

Talk to your affiliates and see what they need to serve their unique audience needs, and where possible, provide it to them.

For hard-hitting promotions, you can craft email copy, conduct live teleseminars with content and sales pitch, special reports, etc.

For the content-starved webmaster (and there are plenty out there), give them things like articles, free ebooks and other informational content.

The important thing is to listen to your affiliates and watch which tools convert best.

Question 3: Q: Can I have an affiliate program with a service-based business?

Sure you can. If you have a profit margin or a lifetime customer value that allows you to pay commissions, certainly.

If you have services available that are at a set price, it’s easy to automate everything and run your program, just like a product-based one.

If you charge by the hour or have to give project estimates, it’s a little tougher to automate completely.

Here are a few options:

- Have a script that can track who referred your potential client to you. Ex. Affiliate recommends your service through a tracking link. Potential client clicks the link, checks out your website and fills out a form for more information. Your system tells you who referred the client and if they purchase your services, you can give the affiliate a commission.

- You could do it as a pay-per-lead opportunity where the affiliate is paid a smaller fee for every person that fills out the form for more information. This would be easy to automate in most affiliate systems that can handle pay-per-lead transactions.

- Don’t want to go with a full-blown affiliate program? You can institute a client referral program where you simply allow your clients to recommend your service, in return for credit for services. When a new client comes to you, you ask where they heard about you and you add a credit to your referring client’s account

An affiliate force is an incredibly powerful thing and when you consider you don’t have to pay affiliates anything until they produce results for you, it’s one of the best deals going in Internet marketing today. Plan your program well and you’ll soon have your own active force of affiliates bringing you new customers every day.