The Perfect stumbling block

Do you give your idea’s a chance?

I recently read an article about a project called Trust Your Crazy Idea’s Plan led by NFL player Drew Bree’s. Its an entrepreneurial project that involves rebuilding High Schools in New Orleans.

Students work together on developing one of their crazy idea’s to raise money for a cause within their school, they write up a Business Plan and the team with the best idea will receive double the funds they raised to put towards it. I found it inspiring because its going to help schools in a real way plus students get to do something fun and creative.

Nothing is too crazy of an idea if you have the vision and desire and work ethic to put it together ~ Drew Bree’s

Entrepreneurship is creative

The entrepreneurial mind-set has a lot to teach in the way of  believing in what you’re trying to put together. If someone tells you that your “out of your mind” because of an idea you have maybe that’s the perfect place to be because you have to be experimental to come up with original insights.

When I was in Art School I used to get really nervous when I talked  about my work, I was afraid of criticism but almost always the feed back I got was helpful and many times made my idea’s even better.

No one can ever know exactly where an idea might lead them, sometimes the best thing is to get out of your own way and have fun with them.

If your ever feeling uncreative here are a couple of ways that might help you get into the FLOW

* Write your idea down in 10 or 20 different ways quickly like an uncensored stream of thought

* Imagine yourself as someone else (your prospect): what are their needs? what do they want? like?

* Sketch a solution: Capture it without words. Stick drawing & scribbles are great and the longer you look and change your perspective more ideas have the potential to develop.

* Talk to a friend that you trust often after we explain things to someone we will see a new perspective. Its also good to hear other peoples angles because you can get a sense of how powerful your idea is by their reaction.

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There are allot of ways to have a business online. One really important thing that I learned after some trial and error and then getting into some great training was that being in the Business of You, Puts You in the Driver Seat

Feeling nervous about doing new things like making video’s happens to allot us. Taking a few minutes to relax and breathe can help calm your energy.

I remember what an advisor told me once when I felt discouraged about all the No’s I was getting in a job search. He told me to “buck up” they weren’t meant to be taken personally but just a necessary step toward finding what I was looking for.

I was focused on what wasn’t working instead of putting my attention where it matters, like tweaking my approach and staying plugged into things that motivate me.

Maybe your hearing allot of no’s too in growing your business online especially in the beginning stages allot of us do… stay focussed on what motivates you and gets you excited. I fell into judging myself and thought it was a reflection of who I was, it was really unproductive.

It wasn’t until I found a community of trainers that I felt connected to and started to learn what they were teaching me about how to market online in a natural authentic way that it started to feel better and I could see myself moving in the right direction. Since then I am allot more productive and the best part is that I have more time to make art, which is something I love doing!

I recently watched Love the Beast with Australian Race car driver Eric Bana and was really moved by his passion for cars and racing, I’ve never seen someone so in love with their car like that before :) here’s a little clip of him in his Beast!

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These are a few easy to use time saving & organizing tools

Wandering what your Online Brand will be about? One question I heard when I started and it got me thinking was “what is it about you that people would want to do business and join you?”

It felt like a big question at the time but instead of trying to find all the answers, I just got going and started developing my voice and brand as I went along.

Content is key to branding and building your presence online, I discovered its actually fun creating content that’s uniquely mine.

If your new to blogging, making video’s and writing you might feel a little out of your comfort zone but that’s actually a good sign… your right on track! Its about you, your name and face and getting it all over the place while providing valuable content and solutions for people.

Let your personality shine through your content and people will be more drawn to you and it will also help you gain credibility with others. What is your message? Make your content relevant to your target market and when it overlaps with other peoples content, say it in your own words and put your PERSONAL SPIN on it to make it yours.

There are ton of places to find ideas if your stuck

When your branding yourself through content:
* Teach something you have learned on your training platform or a webinar, most people are eager to learn new information and strategies that will help them get to where they want to go.
For example; How to set up a You Tube Channel or How to create a FaceBook Business Profile.

* Talk about relevant problems you have experienced and provide a solution

* The Library is a great resource for material as are Magazines & Google alerts

* Get out and about away from your computer to observe people and things and always carry a note pad and paper to write idea’s down.

*Check out these sites and see what’s HOT!
mashable.com
stumbleupon.com & video.stumbleupon.com
YouTube.com
search.twitter.com

When your promoting a Product:
* Look at some of the FAQ’s of customers and prospects and make a video or blog post about them providing them with some answers.
* Show the product; talk about it; what are its benefits?
* Make a before and after video or blog post

These are just a few tips and sources for getting going with creating content. If you would like more marketing tips go ahead and enter your name and email below.

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Whether your at Zero beginning or have thousands of people on your list the process of building it is the same.

I hopped on a training call the other week and learned some really valuable things about list building. HomeAndSmallBusinessWorld is hosting Super Simple Marketing calls every week this summer for Free!

The four area’s that I’m going to write about Collecting, Capturing, Communicating and Closing. These area’s are different for everyone depending your personal preferences and what your doing, but the cool thing is that none of it has to be complicated. If you already have allot of people on your list maybe there is a marketing area you would like to improve on or learn how to bring your off line business online.

Collecting

How are people finding you? or how are you attracting people to you?

If you work off line you might have a store front, advertise in the paper, post flyers, business cards or word of mouth through friends and family. If your online its social media, mail advertising, pay per click, banners, videos, article marketing etc,.

Choose  3-5 different methods of collecting people and focus on connecting with your target market.

Capture

There are allot of different ways to capture people’s email & phone number. You can use Capture pages, squeeze pages, blog forms, voice mail, talk to people & ask your prospects if they would like to be added to your email list to receive free training.

Tip 1. Use your circle of influence, its a great resource and others will promote you if you approach it the right way (ask people to help you not buy from you)

Tip 2. When your in conversation with people about what you do ask if you can put them on your email list to help them know what you do better.

Give them your Auto Responder email or add them manually. All Auto Responders like Aweber have a function that responds to incoming messages, so when a message (or blank email) is sent to your Auto Responder email address the sender will receive a confirmation link and all they have to do is click on it to start receiving your messages.

Communicate

Talk to the people on your list via email, auto-responders, post cards, and news letters to inform them about whats going on. Let them know about announcements & training. Share what you know, what you learned and what you love about your opportunity.

Tip 3. Make the headlines of your content relevant because more people will click open and read or watch your content.

Tip 4. Join a Group or Twibe to help promote and syndicate your content this way you will be in front of hundreds of more people.

The great thing about using the internet is that it allows you to talk to people again and again.

Closing

You can’t rush to the close first or put it in the middle because people will rush away from you and it doesn’t help in building relationships or your business.

The best is to be YOU and in service of helping others.

In Network Marketing people want to work with people they trust and believe and that’s something you can’t buy.

If your just getting started on FaceBook or you’ve gotten off on the wrong Foot because you didn’t know the right way to promote yourself and your business, its not too late to start a “fresh fire” and change how your doing things. Understanding that people are coming to Face Book to hang out and be Social is key, their not coming to buy stuff.

It will take a bit of time for people to get to know and trust you, so remember to be consistently social, thats what its about.

Here are a few tips and tricks that I’ve learned from my mentors and other successful Facebook members.

Setting up your Profile should represent You & Your Business

* Fill in your “mini Bio” under the main profile picture with clear information; what you do & what your about. Include a call to action & a link. Be creative :)

* Use a picture of yourself, people want to see your Face, not a logo. Include picture albums of your interests, friends, family, fun stuff in your profile so people can get to know you better.

* Use a combination of your blog, website, online brochure, photo album etc,. to build your profile. Stay away from all the frivolous applications that can clutter it up.

* If you have a blog you can import it into the Facebook feed by using the Notes application go to http://www.facebook.com/notes.php every time you make a post it will go on the Home wall and you will have more exposure.

Communicating & Connecting

* Wall Posts: Start commenting on other peoples content and complimenting them, share your content as well as others, I like the 80% – 20% rule that I heard the other day, you don’t always want it to be about yourself.

* Treat others how you would in real life, be yourself. If you post on other peoples walls make it friendly, add value, don’t spam or pitch your business.

* Your Status Updates: Can be entertaining, educational, fun & personable, share things that you think will be helpful and valuable to others.

* Join Groups in your niche and start adding friends from those and other Groups. When you send a friend invite add a little introductory note along with it to make it more personable – say why would you like to be their friend.

* Add only 20 friends per day, Face Book doesn’t like too many Add’s in one day. Its better to play on the safe side anyway. Also add friends from other sources like Twitter and You Tube. I like using a “Hello Welcome” Video to greet my new friends.

These are just a few tips on how you can use FaceBook to network and meet other people in your niche, its a good start in the right direction. Be sure to connect with me there if were not already friends!

The Secret has been out for quite awhile now and I thought I’d have the Law of Attraction working in my favor a little more often, but what seemed simple to me at first started to feel difficult. I was stuck in effort and resistance trying too hard

Maybe you’ve experienced this too where you have put in some serious time trying to think more positive but you still felt stressed out and doubtful. What has helped me put more positive thoughts together with better feelings is letting go of RESISTANCE.

When ever I don’t feel good about something I know there’s something I’m resisting.

If your feeling bad about something, work toward thoughts that make you feel better about what ever it is, even a slight shift in awareness can make a difference. When everything feels bad pick one thing to work on and try to find a couple of things a little more positive from what your currently thinking.

One thing I had a hard time letting go of was “trying hard” I didn’t think I would get anything done but when I loosened up and had more fun I actually accomplished allot more! When your being more gentle in your mind toward yourself and others the resistance you’ve been holding onto seems to start to break down and you feel more at ease.

Listening to your body when your feeling stressed and practicing to find thoughts and things that make you feel better can have a very positive affect on your life.

In the movie the secret they say to pretend that your already living the life you want and to Tell the story your way to suspend reality, its really like being a kid again.

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