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Wednesday 29 July 2015

How To Find Potential Business Partners When You’re A “Nobody”

Most entrepreneurs with any experience will tell you that finding a business partner isn’t easy.
So, when you’re a “nobody”, that can present some additional challenges. You’re probably not going to be able to partner up with someone more known than you are. At the very least, it’s not going to prove easy.
But working alone is hard, and having a partner can add a lot of perspective to your business. You can share in your tasks, keep each other motivated, leverage your connections, and pool your ideas together.
So here are some steps you can follow to find the right partner.
Step #1: Begin Your Search
Everyone has to start somewhere, so even if you’re not sure where to begin, you just have to get started.
Even though you may have to do quite a bit of looking around, odds are you won’t have to go very far.
The reality of the situation is that the best candidates are right in your locality. Why? Because you’ll have a harder time communicating and working with someone who lives at a distance.
It is possible to find partners at various events, like local networking events or trade shows. If you’re still in school, you may be able to find someone at college or university. In addition to that, you could also talk to family and friends.
Now do keep in mind that friends and family members don’t always make for the best business partners. There are times when there’s a good fit, but just remember not to jump the gun with them.
If possible, find someone who is highly logical. Business partnership is a lot like marriage, and you may have arguments. If you can work things out without getting overly emotional, your partnership has a better chance of overcoming challenges along the way.
Step #2: Get To Know Your Prospects
So, you’ve met a bunch of people, and you’ve made a list of candidates. Now it’s time to really get to know your prospective partners.
However, you probably don’t have all the time in the world, and you can’t be sitting down with absolutely everybody.
If you haven’t narrowed down your list yet, that should come first. You need to spend your time on people that you think could be a good fit.
Also, if you aren’t sure whether or not you’ve actually found the right person yet, you need to go back to step one and continue your search.
But if you feel you’ve found a handful of worthy candidates, you need to “date” them for a while to get to know them and see if there’s chemistry there.
It’s also wise to get to know your prospective partner’s family. Since business partnership is a marriage of sorts, their family effectively becomes your family too. You have to make sure you can all get along and make things work.
Finally, don’t rush into anything. Really take the time to get to know your future partner. Six months is a good timeframe to aim for.
Step #3: Get Clear On Your Expectations
If you never voice your expectations, you are basically setting yourself up for resentment. You have to be honest and upfront with your partner, and help them to understand what you expect of them as well as yourself.
You need to be clear on responsibilities. What role will you play in your business, and what will your partner be in charge of?
If you want a partnership to work out, you can’t leave things to chance. You need to be able to help one another get back on track when you lose sight of your responsibilities and goals.
Also keep in mind that you and your partner’s duties can change over time. They won’t always remain the same. It would be wise to check in on a regular basis (preferably every week) to keep things in check.
This does help with accountability, but keep in mind that this isn’t about micromanaging. You don’t want to be on each other’s cases all the time.
But, there are times when you need to move out of the way to allow the other person to do their work, and there are also times when you need to support each other. Be flexible in your approach.
Step #4: Close The Deal
Once you’re certain you’ve found your perfect partner, it’s time to close the deal.
At this point, you should go through the proper legal channels to set your partnership in stone. This is a good opportunity to finalize all of the details, including who owns what percentage of the company. Both you and your partner will gain immense clarity from this process, which is foundational to a strong, long-lasting partnership.
Finding A Partner As A “Nobody”
So, you can follow the previous four steps to solidify a partnership, but what about being a “nobody”? Here are some thoughts on how to bring powerful allies to the fold even if you aren’t established in the business world:
  • Develop skills you know your partner is going to find complementary or even invaluable to the business. If you know someone that’s already in business and needs someone with a specific skill set, you could be the one to bring those skills to their aid.
  • Bring something of value to the table. Maybe you have connections that could prove worthwhile to the business. Maybe there’s a large client that’s already interested in working with you. By bringing your assets to the partnership, you may be able to work with people that are a cut above you.
  • Make valuable suggestions. Entrepreneurs tend to get tunnel-vision, and don’t always see the flaws or the opportunities in what they’re doing. If you can consistently bring valuable ideas to the attention of another business owner, they may even propose to you! James Altucher was known for doing this.
Final Thoughts
Finding potential business partners isn’t easy whether you’re known or not. You’ll probably pick a few duds along the way, no matter how good of a screening process you have.
It’s pretty much like anything else in business; you’ll probably make a few mistakes along the way. However, if you’re serious about finding a partner, then don’t give up. Keep trying until you find the right person.
There are a lot of benefits that can come from partnership, so keep your end goal in mind as you continue your search.

Monday 27 July 2015

Is This The New Lazy Man's Way To Make Money?...... Get the FREE Book!

I started my career like most other people; School, College, 9-5 job, 'Move up the corporate ladder and save for retirement' is what society tells us. Gladly I realised sooner rather than later, that investing in yourself rather than the stereotypical way of life is the best thing you can do. That positive attitude and change in mindset has got me to where I am today, meeting the like's of Brian Koz, Andrew Reynolds, Shawn Casey, Simon Coulson and more.


Now, what brought about this change? Something as simple as reading a book! But this wasn't just any book. This is a truly inspiring story of one man's journey from dead broke to multimillionaire in a few short years, but that's not the best bit. He lays out his step-by-step process and becomes the mentor that he never had, starting you off on your own personal path to Financial Freedom.

Briefly put, this is a truly inspiring story of one man's journey from dead broke to multimillionaire in a few short years, but that's not the best bit. He lays out his step-by-step process and becomes the mentor that he never had, starting you off on your own personal path to Financial Freedom.

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Monday 20 July 2015

7 Tips to Make Your Email Marketing More Mobile-Friendly

Unless you've been burying your head in the sand the past few years, you may have missed the news about mobile. The "mobile first" revolution has arrived. And it's here to stay.
To boot, some 145 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (a 60.8 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in August, up 3 percent since May, according to the August 2013 comScore report. Translation: Nearly two out of every three Americans own a smartphone.
Now consider that email is the top activity on smartphones -- ahead of browsing and even Facebook -- and you have a huge opportunity to reach people with your email marketing messages via the devices they are using most often.
However, email marketing hasn't totally caught up with the mobile revolution. The majority of emails are still not optimized for mobile viewing and interaction. Buttons are small. Subscribers are forced to enlarge the screen and move things around to see the email. It's just clunky.
But there is hope. The future is now for mobile-friendly email marketing. Here are seven tips to ensure your next email campaign is optimized for a mobile device.
1. Earn subscribers' trust. 
When it comes to mobile, who the email is from becomes that much more important. What's the first thing you see when scanning your inbox? Yup. The "From Name." If subscribers don't recognize who the email is from or don't trust the sender, they are less likely to open the message.
If they don't open your email, the rest of these tips don't even matter. Earning that trust starts well before the first email. It also is not limited to email. Trust can be earned or lost on social media, offline and through other more traditional channels.
2. Really think about the subject line.
Along with the From Name, the subject line is critical. While your audience may not know who you are, a compelling and creative -- or a direct and descriptive -- subject line can be the difference between an open and a delete or ignore.
3. Don't forget about the preheader. 
Sometimes called the snippet text, the preheader is the text that's above the header image. On smartphones especially, it's the first bit of text that's viewable.
Instead of something boring like, "To view this email in you browser …" try putting some unique text there. Test clickable calls to action. Maybe even try using some humor.
4. Ensure your call to action is big and obvious. 
This is an important step, and not just for mobile-optimized emails. Make sure your call to action is big, bold and obvious.
When it comes to smartphones, real estate is at a premium. Subscribers will not search for your call to action. And sometimes smaller links are more difficult to click on, especially depending on the size of a person's fingers.
Your call to action has to be in their faces. Make it clear, big and simple to click.
5. Consider responsive email design (RED). 
Ensuring the user experience is optimized regardless of platform and device is not a new concept on the web. But creating responsive-designed emails is something that is just starting to pick up steam.
This is becoming more important as more people own smartphones and use email as their main "app." Creating a responsive-designed email template is not technically easy to do, but it's something your email service provider or marketing automation vendor should be able to assist you with.
6. Include images. 
The majority of email clients on a smart phone -- including the iPhone's native Mail app -- have images enabled by default. Sure, a person can go into the settings and turn them off, but most people don't take this extra step.
So with images on by default, it's important that you think about what imagery you're using in your email marketing messages. Whether your audience is B2B or B2C is irrelevant. Images matter.
So instead of just dropping a random image into your email, consider using something that's linked to the content. Put in a fun image, a different image and an eye-catching image.
7. Be aware of unsubscribe placement. 
I believe strongly marketers should learn the love the unsubscribe button. But with mobile devices, it's important to consider where your unsubscribe link is in relation to other links in your email. Too often I've seen the unsubscribe link placed dangerously close to the main call to action. One wrong move and a loyal subscriber has opted out.
Above all, the best advice when it comes to ensuring your emails get opened on a smartphone is to test -- test all of the tips mentioned above. After all, your audience is not my audience. Best practices are those that are best for your subscribers.

Wednesday 15 July 2015

2 Ways To Unite Social Media and Email Marketing and Double Conversions

There’s nothing more disappointing as a marketer than slaving over a great piece of content, then not getting the downloads, registrations, or views you were hoping for.
Smart marketers know that whether you’re marketing for a B2B or B2C company, providing value in your marketing content is one of the best ways to entice prospects to take action and become a lead in your marketing automation system.
So, assuming your free eBooks, educational webinars, blog posts, and newsletters do just that, why are your new lead numbers plateauing?
Two of the most popular ways of promoting your company’s marketing content are social media and email marketing. Most likely you’re utilizing both of these already - but, are they intertwined? 
In this post, I won’t discuss email and social media marketing on their own, but I’ll show you two ways you can unite your social media promotion and email marketing efforts to double the views, conversions, and ultimately new customers from your marketing content.

1. Ask For The Share Via Email

Are the people who are registering for your webinar sharing it with their friends and colleagues? Have you made it easy for them to do so?
As the old saying goes, “birds of a feather flock together.”
Likely the people who are engaging with your content have friends and colleagues who would like your webinar too - if you can effectively extend your reach through sharing calls-to-action, you can easily double your audience.
Here are two ways to ask for the share in your email marketing.

1. Share Links in Email Blasts

If you are using an email marketing system, there should be an option to include share links for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and email within your blast.
First create a “web page version” of your email blast and use that URL as the link to the share icons.
For the best results, don’t leave these valuable share icons hiding in the corners of your email; call attention to them. Try using a header or footer banner image with an arrow that points to them, or literally writing out in the email a call to action to use the share link.
It’s not a big ask; people love to share valuable and helpful tools with others because it makes them look good.
2 Ways To Unite Social Media and Email Marketing and Double Conversions | Social Media Today

2. Post Form-Fill Sharing Shout-Out

Don’t forget about the people who already downloaded your eBook or registered for your webinar, they have more value beyond just their own conversion. Include in your follow-up email or follow-up workflow messaging a call to action to share the fact that they just registered for your webinar or downloaded a piece of your content. 
One great tool is Click To Tweet, which allows your prospects to literally tweet in one click a message that you’ve pre-created for them. For example, at Likeable Local, we craft share messaging like, “I just downloaded this free #socialmedia eBook for #SMBs from @likeablelocal. Check it out!”
The key to post-form-fill sharing calls to action is making them as simple as possible. Anything that allows people to share in under 15 seconds will render the greatest results.

2. Socially Retarget Prospects with “Cold Feet”

The conversion rate of your landing pages and campaigns is an important metric. How many people viewed that webinar registration page, but didn’t sign-up? How many people clicked the link in your email to go to that page, but didn’t sign-up?
Clearly the click and the view indicate interest, but why didn’t they take the plunge and convert?
Sometimes, these “cold feet” prospects just need a little reminder to come back to your content dangled in front of their noses (repeated exposures to your messaging can have a nurturing effect, helping them progress toward that "Yes".) 
Facebook retargeting ads are a super effective new way to do this. Here’s how you can retarget your “cold feet” leads on Facebook in three steps following your initial marketing email.
1) Make sure your marketing campaign has both an initial form fill page and also a “thank you” page  that is triggered when they convert.
2) Create a custom audience in Facebook Ads Manager based on “website visits.” Include people who have viewed the first form fill page and exclude those who have viewed the “thank you” page. This will isolate only those who have not yet converted.
3) Run a Facebook Ad campaign towards this custom audience to this particular piece of content.
2 Ways To Unite Social Media and Email Marketing and Double Conversions | Social Media Today
Now, as you continue to push people towards your content, those who have expressed interest but have not converted will continue to be reminded when they're on Facebook. The good news is, Americans spend an average of 37 minutes per day dedicated to social media so you’re bound to get some good air time!
To summarize: email marketing and social media marketing are both powerful tools for lead generation, but together they have twice the potential. You can extract double the value from an email marketing blast by incorporating social sharing and social retargeting.
By the way, if you want some great tips on social advertising, Likeable Local's eBook "Driving Success Through Social Ads" might hit the spot. 
How do you plan on incorporating social media marketing into your next email campaign? Please leave a comment below.

Sunday 12 July 2015

37 SUPREME Habits to Live by for a Life of HIGHEST QUALITY!

Morning37 SUPREME Habits to Live by for a Life of HIGHEST QUALITY! - The Mornings

  1. Wake up earlier than 8 AM but later than 5 AM.
  2. When you wake up, even before you wash your face, open your windows and breathe a fresh morning air.
  3. Do a morning stretch, Yoga or just shake your body so you will kick start a better blood flow. You can even play music and dance as you prepare your breakfast.
  4. Eat a breakfast and eat a healthy one. Try these 3 breakfast recipes for CHAMPIONS!
  5. Before you have your breakfast, in fact, as soon as you wake up drink a glass of water.
  6. Read something you are interested in.
  7. Set a positive intention for the day and tune your focus.

Throughout The Day37 SUPREME Habits to Live by for a Life of HIGHEST QUALITY! - Throughout The Day

  1. Use your bike more often than your car. Even walking is A LOT better solution.
  2. For every 20 minutes on the computer look away for 20 seconds. For every hour on the computer, stand up and have a 10 min break.
  3. Be kind to people, your co-workers, your boss, your employees, the barista at your coffee place. Kindness is a gift to the world you can give no matter if you are the poorest person on the planet.
  4. Smile more. It makes you happier.
  5. Always do your important tasks first, then your semi-important, and then, instead of doing the least important which you probably burdened yourself with deciliter yourself of everything unnecessary and do what fills your heart with joy. Maybe a passion project or learning a new skill you always wanted to learn.
  6. Eat your lunch before 3PM.
  7. Never work constantly for more than 6 hours in a row. Without additional supplements a normal human being can effectively work for only 5 hours per day. Everything more than that will be work with less of a quality.

Evening37 SUPREME Habits to Live by for a Life of HIGHEST QUALITY! - The Evenings

  1. The best time to workout is after 5 PM and before 9 PM.
  2. After your workout meditate for at least 15 minutes.
  3. Watch the sunset or just observe the Nature around you.
  4. Eat your breakfast alone, share your lunch with friends and give more than half of your dinner to your enemy. That’s just something people say but the amount of calories you consume throughout the day should fit this statement.
  5. Watch less than 30 minutes of TV. There is nothing positive on TV anyway so why poison yourself with negativity. In total you should watch 3 hours of TV per week.
  6. Read a book.
  7. Spend time with people closest to you and who elevate your positive being. Or, do something that makes you happy, something you enjoy doing and feel pleasure doing it. Reward yourself.

Before You Go to Sleep37 SUPREME Habits to Live by for a Life of HIGHEST QUALITY! - Before You Go to Sleep

  1. Write in your gratitude journal 3 things you are grateful which happened today.
  2. Plan and organize what you need to do tomorrow.
  3. Do not go out after 12 AM it’s too late to get in the mood and too early to be in the mood.
  4. Sleep for at least 6 hours.
  5. Have sex if you can afford it. If not, you can always give to yourself what you need.
  6. Drink green tea.
  7. Think about something you like to think. Forget about everything else and think about something that you truly want to think about. Even thinking about what you truly want to think about will work. This gives you more control over your mind to use it on things you want.

General Tips of Life37 SUPREME Habits to Live by for a Life of HIGHEST QUALITY! - Life in General

  1. There is Family, there are close friends, and there is everyone else. Treat everyone else equally and just, with kindness. Treat family and close friends like all of you are the same person and you want to make it the best version.
  2. Drink 8 glasses of water per day. If you work out, and you should, drink 4 more.
  3. Run at least 5 miles per week.
  4. Spend at least 1 day per week in Nature just wandering. Spend at least 1 day per week completely vegan. Spend at least 1 day per week trying something new and interesting.
  5. Help at least 1 person per day without expecting anything back in return.
  6. Live an eco friendly lifestyle.
  7. Always improve these 6 aspects Moral, Raising your frequency, Spirituality, Physical strength, Lifelong learning, and Self discovery.
  8. Value your values. They are more important than your thoughts and feelings.
  9. Listen to your heart. No one knows the truth really. We all observe the truth from a different angle. No one can tell you how to live your life better than your own truth deep inside your heart. Listen to it and be brave enough to act on it.

Conclusion

You don’t have to implement all of these habits. I don’t even do all of them, but I try to do as many as I can without making things too complicated.

http://www.lifecoachcode.com/2015/07/11/37-supreme-habits/

Tuesday 7 July 2015

7.1 Steps to Create Multiple Streams of Income

“Don't let the opinions of the average man sway you. Dream, and he thinks you're crazy. Succeed, and he thinks you're lucky. Acquire wealth, and he thinks you're greedy. Pay no attention. He simply doesn't understand."
-- Robert G. Allen 
At age 25, I began planning my exit strategy to leave a lucrative career in sales to become an entrepreneur and pursue my passion: empowering people to maximize their potential and make significant improvements to their results.
While still in my sales position, I started my first business -- and my first additional stream of income -- serving as a life and business success coach. In the past nine years, using the exact formula below, I’ve been able to add nine additional streams of income. These have involved authoring books, speaking, private and group coaching and staging live events. 
For anyone who values financial security and ultimately desires financial freedom, creating at least one additional stream of income is no longer a luxury. It has become a necessity.
Diversifying your income stream is crucial to protect yourself and your family against the unavoidable ups and downs of economic and industry cycles. Because of the financial risks that come from relying on one source of income, such as a job or a business, consider creating at least one or more additional streams to generate cash flow.
Your additional income streams can be active, passive or a combination of the two. Some may pay you for doing something that you love (active), while others can provide income for you without your having to do much of anything at all (passive). You can diversify your income streams among different industries to protect you against major losses during downturns in one market and allow you to financially benefit from the upswings in another.
This truly is one of the not-so-obvious secrets of how the wealthy become -- and stay -- wealthy, which unfortunately isn’t taught to the masses. The good news is that it’s not magic. It’s not even complicated. Creating your next stream of income is a simple, step-by-step process, which you can arrange to start bringing you monthly income faster than you might realize is possible. 

1. Establish financial security. 

Now, this idea isn’t sexy, but it’s imperative: Don’t focus your time and energy into building a second stream of income until your primary source is secure. Whether you have a day job or own your own business, focus on establishing and securing a primary monthly income that will support your expenses before you pursue other steps. 

2. Clarify your unique value.

Every person on this planet has unique gifts, abilities, life experiences and value to offer -- and be highly compensated for. Figure out the knowledge, experience, ability or solution you have that others will value and might pay you for. Remember, what might be common knowledge to you isn’t for other people.
You and your personality differentiate your value from that of every other person on earth. Many people will resonate with you (and your style) better than they will with someone else offering value that's similar or even the same.
Packaging is how you can differentiate your value. When I wrote my book The Miracle Morning, I had to overcome my insecurity that waking up early wasn’t exactly something I invented. Would there really be a market for the book? But readers shared that the book was life-changing in the way the information was presented. It was written focusing on how to significantly improve any area of life by simply altering how a person starts the day.
Knowledge is the one thing you can increase very quickly. As Tony Robbins wrote in Money: Master the Game, "One reason people succeed is that they have knowledge other people don't have. You pay your lawyer or your doctor for the knowledge and skills" you lack.
Increase your knowledge in a specific area, and you'll simultaneously increase the value that others will pay you for, either to teach them what you know or apply your knowledge on their behalf.

3. Identify your market.

Determine whom you are best qualified to serve. Based on the value you can add for others or the problems you can help people solve, who will pay you for the value or solution you can provide?

4. Build a community.

A turning point in my financial life came when I heard author and self-made multimillionaire Dan Kennedy say, "The most valuable asset you have is your email list, so focus on growing it."
I don't like to think of my email community as merely a list of names but rather as a group of individuals, each with their own hopes and dreams.
Here's how you can build your community:
Acquire an email-marketing program (good: AWeber, better: Infusionsoft).
Get a program to create an opt-in page (good: LeadPages.com, better: Kajabi).
Create an added-value deliverable such as a free report, an ebook, an audio or a video training so that people will happily provide their email address in exchange for the value you provide.

5. Ask your community about their desires.

You can either guess or assume what people desire and need, invest valuable time in creating it and then hope your guess was correct. But remember: Hope is rarely the best strategy.
Or send an email to members of your community with the link to a survey (using a free service like SurveyMonkey), asking what they want or need help with in your area of value that you've identified. Ask open-ended questions to help you later brainstorm or offer multiple choices if you've already thought about what you can provide.

6. Create a solution.  

After your community members tell you what they need, it's your golden opportunity to get to work and create it. This could be a physical or digital product (a book, an audio, a video, a written training program or software) or a service (dog grooming, babysitting, coaching, consulting, speaking or training).

7. Plan the launch.

Think about how Apple rolls out its products. The company doesn’t just throw a product on the shelf or its website. No, the company makes it into an event. Apple builds anticipation months in advance, so much so that people are willing to camp out in front of stores for weeks to be the first in line.
Do that. To learn how, read the definitive book on the topic, Launch by Jeff Walker. 

7.1. Find a mentor.

The best way to cut your learning curve and achieve a specific result is to find people who’ve already achieved what you want and then model their behavior. Rather than try to figure it all out on your own, find someone who has already achieved what you want, determine how this person did it, model this behavior and make it your own.
While you might seek a relationship with a face-to-face human mentor, you could also hire a coach, read a book or articles by an expert or do web research. After some consideration, you may decide to make this your first step.
Schedule time to begin implementing these 7.1 steps, one at a time, and within months you can be enjoying the benefits, the perks and the financial security and freedom that comes from having multiple streams of income.