Building relationships is a key component to building your business. Why?  People do business with people they know, like, and trust.    

The internet is a great tool and gives us a tremendous opportunity to network with people in various industries, with a higher level of experience, not as much experience, different skill sets, different values, different cultures, and the list goes on and on.  That’s the power of the internet.  I have found many mentors and colleagues from other cities, states, countries, and even continents that I often enjoy sharing business building strategies and tips with.  Incorporating some of the things I have learned from them has helped me be a better business professional and business partner.

When you start your business remember you build your business by first building relationships. The relationships you build in your business are no different than any other relationship.  The relationship needs to be cultivated and grown.

Today I want to share a few tips you can use to develop relationships

1. Don’t be afraid to reach out and connect with people.  When you are doing marketing whether it’s online or offline, it starts with a simple introduction.  I bet you have someone you may be connected to that you have not introduced yourself to.  Start with your Facebook friends, twitter followers, whoever, but introduce yourself to someone you don’t know.  If you are not sure how to do this grab the free social media mastery series on this blog (It’s free ).

**** Action for today:  Go through your list of contacts and personally introduce yourself to a few people.  If you have already introduced yourself to everyone, take a second to find out what they’re up to.

2.   No relationship is successful if it is one sided.  No matter your experience level every one has something to share.  Be willing to share what you know.  Don’t just consider what someone can do for you; instead ask what you can do for them.  Be sincere and offer what you have, because you never know how much that may benefit someone else.    It can be a lesson you learned dealing with a prospect or an online tip that helped you generate a lead.    It doesn’t have to be earth shattering.

****Action for today:  Share a least one tip you have learned!

3.  Avoid being negative.  Normal people are not attracted to negativity.  Have you ever had a relationship with someone who is always negative?  Exactly!!!!  It’s draining, limiting, and usually very short term.

4.  When someone takes the time to share with you, be a good listener.  Don’t be so quick to start thinking of what you what to say next or be so ready to move on to what you have to say.

5.   Last but certainly not least.  Lose the “I’m just in this for me syndrome.”  Yes, I mentioned it earlier but it’s definitely worth mentioning it again.  When you have the “what’s in it for me syndrome” people know, and at times you can even seem insincere.    The people that I have been most attracted to and have done business with (spent my hard earned money with) are not the ones full of hype, putting down the next company, putting down the one they term a “newbie”, but the ones that are sincere and willing to share what they know to help someone else  be successful.

Yes, I do understand that your goal is to build your business and make money online.  If you focus on building relationships, being sincere, being willing to learn and willing to share, your business will build itself.

My motto is the one who shares the most wins!  Look around ….you’ll see it over and over again!

Build it Big!

There are great lead generation methods that can be used offline to build your business.  As a business builder you have to be willing to continually expand your marketing efforts to maintain success.  Believe it or not, there are leads right under your nose that you are probably ignoring. 

How many people right in your own neighborhood know about your business?  If you are working a job as you are building your business, how many people in your work location know about your business?  What about the local business owners in the area you live?  Hopefully by now you get the point.  Trust me there are people in those places that can benefit from the products and services you offer through your company.

Here’s the challenge….  Map out an area within a few blocks or few miles from your home and your work location.  Over the next few weeks take a few hours each day and market to those areas.  For your neighboring homes you can leave door hangers, flyers, or just hand out business cards.  If your company offers samples, take a few samples with you and allow people to experience what you have to offer.  You can do the same for the local businesses in your area.  Ask the business owner if you can leave brochures in the lobby area. These actions are great lead generation methods that anyone can use.

Just by introducing yourself and your business you can begin to build relationships.  Building relationships is the key to building your business.  To be in business, people have to know you are in business.  Spread the word.

P.S.  Hopefully you will take the challenge and share your success with us here!

• How many times have you put off those important business tasks until “later“?
• How many times did “later” never come?

Last week right before it was time to renew my current ….. To Webinar account I stumbled upon a web conferencing service that offers one low monthly price and pays affiliate commissions. With team members as far as Africa, I couldn’t help but to sign up right away. Think about the possibilities:

• One on One Presentations to anyone in the world. How many times has someone asked you to visit a link to get information about their business? In the words of my four year old….”boring”! You can now have an affordable option to do live one on one presentations (not to all), but with those that have genuine interest in your business.

 • Stay connected with your team on a regular basis. You can train, motivate, and share with any member or all of you team anytime, anywhere.

• Create an additional revenue stream for yourself by earning affiliate commissions. One of my online mentors shared what he learned when he asked his mentor; “What is the best way to reach $10,000 a month online? His mentor replied have 10 sites that produce $1000 a month. Learn to earn on the internet! You can grab this tool for as low as $8.97 a month. Just click here:   http://webconferencingpays.com

To Your Success,

There is only one way to find and maintain success in any business for the long haul and the secret sauce to that recipe is to continually expand your network, and build relationships within the network.　Most business owners begin their business by first approaching their warm market. That is a great place to begin because most people prefer, and are likely to do business with someone they have a relationship with.

Have you ever done business with someone, and they asked you for referrals? The business owner is attempting to expand his or her market, and they recognize their chances are better if they have a familiar lead in when approaching the referral.

What happens when your warm market is exhausted? If you haven’t been expanding your network, you lose.

Businesses have turned to social media as a avenue to expand their network. The same principle still holds when expanding your market online, people are likely to do business with people they have a relationship with. That means if you are building your business on the internet you still have to build relationships to have success. So what if you have 5,000 friends on Facebook. That does not mean automatic success.

　Below are tips for expanding your network and building relationships

• Dig a little deeper and strengthen and deepen the relationships you already have
• Give a little, reach out to others abandon the “I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch mine” philosophy
• Make the first move, don’t wait for others to reach out and include you. Initiate interactions and take initial steps to get to know others.
• Open up and connect genuinely with others. Build trust and be willing to reveal and share what you know.
• Stay in Touch with the individuals in your network
• Be a good listener to hear what others need and determine how you can help.

You must expand your network and cultivate relationships within your network to have long term success in your business.

Happy Networking,

 Did Muhammad Ali Have A Formula That Can Lead to business success?

I ran across this Muhammad Ali post fight interview after the Rumble in the Jungle against George Forman. I immediately posted this video to my Facebook wall. All I could think to myself was there are some key components to  business success in that he gave in that interview

 Key to Success-Develop a Strategy

First of all at the time of this fight, George Forman was highly favored to win because he was younger, stronger, and the current Heavy Weight Boxing Champion in the world. The odds were against Ali. When you start any business the odds are statistically against you. You all know the statistic that 97% of all network marketers fail. That’s really ugly huh? Actually just like Ali beating Forman, business success is a challenge.

When you watch the video you will hear that Ali knowing the odds were against him developed a strategy. His strategy was to stay on the ropes until his stronger opponent was worn out. That strategy, the Rope-A-Dope is still being used today. The tip is developing a strategy is very important for success.

Key to Success-Stick to the Strategy

During the boxing match can you imagine how disappointed the fans were that Ali was not “performing” as expected. I’m sure Ali could hear the yells of instructions that were being screamed at him from the spectators that just sat on the sidelines. However, he stuck to the strategy that he had developed long before he stepped in the ring.  Success will come when you stay focused and stick to the strategy that is developed.

Success- You Must Endure

Ali took a lot of blows during that match, but he endured. Most people watching the match at the time probably thought he would lose for sure, but Ali endured no matter what it looked like. In order to have success you have to endure the obstacles that you will face. You have to push past success blocks.

Success- Emerge as the Champion

Overcome the odds by developing a strategy, staying the course, and enduring through the obstacles. When you obtain Success you emerge as the champion.

Enjoy the video!

I hope you will enjoy this as much as I did……An Excerpt from “Building Your Network Marketing Business “CD by Jim Rohn

“I learned the law of sowing and reaping. And in the law of sowing and reaping is also the story of the law of averages. Jot this down…the story of the sower. It comes from the Bible. I am an amateur on the Bible, but this is such a useful story. Here’s what the story says, and take notes, because the drama’s in the details. The sower was ambitious. Evidently, he was ambitious. When you read the whole story you’ll conclude yes, this was an ambitious sower. Here was number two. He had excellent seed. The sower who sowed the seed had excellent seed. And the excellent seed could be an excellent opportunity, an excellent product, an excellent story. So we’ve got an ambitious sower with excellent seed. But now here are the rest of the details of the story. For your information, for the drama of your life, so you can understand things better, learning some of this is how I got rich by age 31.

The sower goes out to sow the seed, but the first part of the seed falls by the wayside and the birds get it. So jot this down. The birds are going to get some of the seed. The birds are going to get some of the seed. Now you say, “Mr. Rohn, what does that mean?” Well, I invite John to come to a meeting. He said he’d be there Tuesday night. Tuesday night I show up. John isn’t there. I say, “I wonder why John didn’t make it.” Now I know the answer. The birds! The birds! John had this great idea of coming to the meeting to look at an opportunity, and somebody stole it and said, “You’re not going to go see network marketing.” And he says, “Well, maybe not.” So have you jotted that down now? The birds are going to get some. Now when the birds get some, you’ve got two options. Number one is to chase birds. You say, “Well, let me get hold of the person who talked him out of coming to the meeting. I’ll tear him a new page.” I wouldn’t do this. Here’s what happens if you go chasing birds. You leave the field. If you go chasing birds now, you leave the field. Which is going to distract from your future, not add? So you can’t chase birds and try to straighten this stuff out. Here’s what it is. It’s just one of those things, and here’s the best comment when things are a little disappointing. “Isn’t that interesting?” You just have to say, “I thought sure he would be there. He promised me. He promised me! But I know it was the birds.” And you just have to say, “Isn’t that interesting?” Now here’s the rest of the story. The sower kept on sowing. See, that was the secret to his success. He kept on sowing. And if you keep sowing, you can sow more than the birds can get because there aren’t enough birds. If you keep sowing, there are some birds but there’s not enough, because the Law of Averages will work for you. My mentor taught me, “You know, Mr. Rohn, there are only nine or ten real nasty miserable people in the whole world. Now you know they move around a lot and you’re liable to bump into one once in awhile, but when you bump into one you say ‘There’s only 9 more like you–I can handle that–in the whole world?’”

 Now here’s what else it says. The sower now keeps sowing the seed. Now the seed falls, the story says, on rocky ground where the soil is shallow. And the rocky ground where the soil is shallow is not of your making, because you had excellent seed and you were an ambitious sower. So the rocky ground where the soil is shallow is not of your making. But here what it says happened. This time, the little seed that falls in the ground starts to grow and the little plant starts to grow. But the first hot day, it withers and dies. Not an easy thing to watch. I finally get John started. Sure enough, three or four days later somebody says “Boo!” and he’s gone–doesn’t show up at the second meeting. And I say, “I thought sure John would last a week.” What happened? Jot this down. The hot weather is going to get some. And this is not of your making. Here’s what you must say when that happens. “Isn’t that interesting?” What can you do? The answer is nothing. You say, “Well, I’m going to try to change this!” I wouldn’t take that class. You know, the sun comes up in the east and somebody says, “Why is that?” I wouldn’t spend much time on that. Just let that happen. Don’t go for this why, why, why stuff. I’m giving you the answers here. The answer is in the structure and in the consequences and is in the deal. The answer is in the deal. Anything beyond that is not worth studying. You say, “Well, how come some just last a little while?” I wouldn’t sign up for that class. Here’s the answer: Some don’t stay. You just have to jot that down. And when some leave you say, “That’s one of those that don’t stay.” Now, you know what category to put them in, and you can’t solve this now. It’s like rearranging the seasons. You can’t fool with that. All you can do is cooperate with the way things are set up. I didn’t set it up. You say, “Well, it shouldn’t be this way.” Well, when you get your own planet you can rearrange this whole deal, but on this planet you’re a guest. You’ve got to take it as it comes.

 Now, here is the secret to the ambitious sower with good seed. It said he kept on sowing. Now, here’s what he had to do to keep on sowing. He had to discipline his disappointment. This is a key phrase now to use for the rest of your life. You must learn to discipline your disappointment. Because you didn’t set up the set up, and some are not going to stay, and that is not of your making. Now, if you made gross errors and you ran them off, see that’d be different. Now you’re responsible for that. But if it’s in the normal course of things, this is the way things are. Now, here’s what it says.

 The sower keeps on sowing. Now it says the seed falls on thorny ground. And somebody says, “Well, how much of this do you have to go through?” Well, hang on. It’s not the end of the story now. Now the little seed falls on thorny ground and now the little plant starts to grow again but as the little plant starts to grow, the thorns choke it to death and it dies. So jot this down. The thorns are going to get some. And that’s not of your making. And what are these thorns? The story even called these little thorns little cares, little distractions, little something’s. Who knows what all they are. I said, “John, we had a meeting last night. You weren’t here.” And John says, “Well, I can’t make every meeting.” I say, “Why not? You’re part-time.” He said, “Well, the screen door came off the hinges and you can’t just let your house fall apart. You’ve got to take some time and fix things up.” And I can hear the thorns growing. He said, “Some extra trash had piled up in the garage. You can’t let mountains of trash take over. You’ve got to keep your trash hauled out.” People who let little things cheat them out of big opportunities. People who let little things cheat them out of big opportunities, and you feel almost helpless. What could I do about that? And that’s nothing. And you say, “Well, why is this?” I’m asking you not to sign up for that class. Don’t sign up for these, “Why is this?” classes. It’s just the way it is–like winter following fall and spring following winter. So have you got that? The thorns are going to get some. But now here’s the good news.

 Let’s read the rest of the story now quickly. The sower now keeps on sowing the seed. Keeps on sharing the story. Keeps on giving an invitation. Yes the invitation can be more powerful for me as it was one year later than it was the first month, because now I’m saying I’m making twice as much money part time as I’m making on my full-time job. Yes, the story can be more powerful, but the Law of Averages is still going to work. But now here’s what the story says. Finally the seed falls on good ground. Finally the seed falls on good ground. Now put this in parentheses. It always will, if you keep sowing. If you share a good idea long enough, it will fall on good people.

But now here’s the rest of that story. Some of the good ground did 30%. And some of the good ground did 60%. And some of the good ground did 100%. You say, “Well, why the difference in numbers?” I wouldn’t sign up for that class! Have I said that often enough now? Don’t register for that class. It’s just the way it is. Now I tried to get the 30’s to do 60. Found out it was more than I could handle. I used to say, “I’ll make them successful if it kills me.” I almost died. No, you can’t do that. Here’s what you do. Let the 30’s do 30 to the best of their ability and keep doing 30, because that’s how they build their lifestyle and get what they want out of life. And let the 60’s do 60. And let the 100’s do 100. Now how can you get some to do 100%? You’ve got to go through all these experiences and you’ve got to talk to all these people.”

To Your Success,

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To Your Success,

***Note:  This is for more advanced users  that want to take their Internet Marketing to the next level…

A coach will design the play, but it’s up to the players to get out there and win! Plug In and Take Massive Action !

“For me, goals are my road map to the life I want. They have helped me accomplish things I once thought were impossible.” – Catherine Pulsifer

As the upcoming year is quickly approaching , hopefully if you haven’t already, you are setting your Goals for 2011. The reality is we have been encouraged to set goals all throughout our lives. I can remember being a young student and being encouraged by my teachers and my parents to always set goals. Goals give your efforts direction and will also help you manage your time.

At the being of every NFL season you will hear a member on every NFL team talk about their desire to win the Super Bowl Championship. That’s the goal. In order to achieve that team goal, each individual has to make sacrifices in every aspect of their life. They have to plan out their diet, make sure they are getting plenty of rest, they have to condition their bodies, prepare mentally, practice regularly and the list goes on and on. The point is there is a focused goal they are continually working toward and the steps to get there are mapped out.

The team understands in order to reach the Super Bowl, there first has to be a series of preceding wins. One game at a time win or lose…. keep moving forward.

I want to encourage you to write out your specific goals for 2011, pray that God helps you, focus your efforts and your time to reach one goal at a time.

Once you write those goals share them with someone that will hold you accountable. Find a good accountability partner, not just a close friend that will let you off the hook just because you have an excuse !

Keeping it real…..If you don’t set any goals, most of your efforts are random shots in the dark, and you are simply hoping that you make.