Welcome to Business Consultant Weekly

Vol. 2 Issue # 2 January 11, 1999

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In this issue:

1) Tip of the Week

2) FEATURE ARTICLE: A real life internet marketing success story - and what you can learn from it! by Marty Foley

3) CLASSIFIEDS

4) FREE Resources

5) MOTIVATIONAL MESSAGE: Blind Man's Bluff by William N Hodges

"Tip of the Week"

Creating Fun and Effective New Year's Resolutions

Like a lot of you out there, I am not that fond of hearing about New Year's resolutions. Through the years the entertainment and news media have mainly focused on things we enjoy doing but need to give up. Smoking, drinking and eating come to mind. While quitting something for health reasons is a good idea, let's face it, it's not fun to think about giving up what we are good at doing. So I'm not going to talk about quitting things. I am going to talk about doing more of the things you like to do.

First thing, let's rename resolutions into goals. Goals are just so much more fun than resolutions. I know of many people who think of football and hockey goals at the same time they think of life goals. Combining these thoughts helps give them happy, energetic feelings about goals. (Okay, I admit it, I am one of those people and I find it works for me.) The point is to try and put some happiness and energy into your goals, however you go about doing it.

With that done, lets look at some goals that are easy to get happy and energetic about. More than likely you did some things really well last year; well make at least some of them goals to continue doing next year. Just look back at last year and how you accomplished getting those things done. Try and figure out how you did them day by day, week by week or month by month. Now project what you did last year across the New Year and there you have it, goals you know you can accomplish because you did them last year. Now you may think I am joking, but think about it. Are there good things that you enjoyed doing in the past that you are sorry you gave up? Most of us have them. So setting a goal of keeping up one, two or more good things you did this year is a great goal for next year.

For example, maybe last year you spent more time with parents or your children. Why not make it a goal to do that again? Maybe last year you cut down on caffeine and started to sleep better. Again, that's a great thing to do again next year. Just think of something healthy, however small, and do it again next year.

Of course, like most people, you probably have some goals that you have never reached, but have dreamed about reaching. The first thing to do is to write those things down. Magic happens when you write things down. Of course it is not magic, it is simply that you are taking abstract thoughts from your brain and turning them into concrete objects you can see, touch and read.

After you have one or more major life goals written down, why not look at what you already do (remember those good things you did last year) that will help you achieve those goals? This time figure out how you can increase and/or improve doing them in a way that might help you reach your dreams.

Finally, set this simple goal: "I will schedule some time during every week of next year to think about how doing the things I enjoy can help me achieve my dreams." Go ahead and write the times in next year's schedule. You might just find your are a lot closer to your dreams by December 31, 1999.

Happy New Year!

Kevin L. Polk, Ph.D. is a goal and time management coach, writer and speaker. He can teach you the art of managing your time. For a FREE subscription to his monthly "Time Saving Tips & Tricks" put SUBSCRIBE in the BODY of an email to Mailto:timesavers@oaknetpub.com. Copyright Kevin L. Polk, Ph.D. (1998) All Rights Reserved.

FEATURE ARTICLE

A real life internet marketing success story - and what you can learn from it! by Marty Foley

Despite all the hype, online profits don't just pour into ones lap without any effort. Here Marty Foley interviews someone that truly is making online profits, Jim Daniels of JDD Publishing, in Smithfield, Rhode Island, USA.

This article should help others currently attempting to profit from the 'net - or thinking about doing so - to avoid some mistakes, get more out of their online marketing efforts, and to take heart, knowing that success is possible, if you do your homework.

[Marty]: Jim, how long have you been using the global network of computers called the Internet as a marketing tool?

[Jim]: About a year now. I first jumped online in February of 1996.

[Marty]: How did you get started using the Internet for business?

[Jim]: Actually, I hooked up to see if there may be an opportunity to make a little money. I had no idea at the time that it would become a full time venture in less than nine months.

[Marty]: Why did the Internet catch your interest?

[Jim]: When I couldn't watch television for more than fifteen minutes without hearing about the internet or the world wide web, I figured I'd better have a look!

[Marty]: Where did you learn how to use the Internet, especially for business?

[Jim]: This is the beauty of the internet. Anything and everything is available online. I actually trained myself on the net!

[Marty]: Did you start making a profit right away?

[Jim]: Well, actually it took about 4-6 months before I started seeing some profit. As it steadily increased and eventually surpassed my 9-5 income, I was able to trade my job and become a full time netrepreneur!

[Marty]: Excellent, Jim. You've accomplished what many people would like to achieve.

I've noticed that you're involved in various online ventures. I myself have also discovered that diversity can be a key to success, online or off (especially when all diverse activities relate to each other, thus synergistically reinforcing everything else). Would you mind telling us what types of things you have noticed that sell online, and what particular ones you are involved in?

[Jim]: Well put, Marty. Since I'm in the information business, most of my income revolves around my self-published manuals and books. Information is a top seller on the Internet. However, I've noticed that the best selling info is the stuff that has to do with the 'net itself. The newer and fresher the information is, the better it sells.

As far as diversifying, I am just now beginning to see that network marketing will be a very big hit on the web. The combination of technology and numbers (the high number of marketers) will make for a new age in network marketing. Those of us who choose the right programs stand to make a killing!

[Marty]: I definitely agree with you about network marketing on the internet, Jim. (I like to refer to it as Inter-Network Marketing.) I know that many people, like me, have understandably been skeptical about network marketing in the past. But the awesome marketing power of the Internet offers advantages uniquely suited to network marketing, and now I look at it in a whole new light.

[Marty]: Do you do all of your business online, or do your online marketing efforts supplement your off-line business efforts?

[Jim]: Virtually. The only offline stuff I do is writing and submitting articles and press releases to offline newsletters and magazines.

[Marty]: What specific types of online tools are you using successfully?

[Jim]: Here are my Big 3, in order of importance: Email (specifically autoresponders), my email newsletter - The BizWeb Gazette, and my web site http://www.BizWeb2000.com. The keys at my website are offering free help to other online marketers and also taking orders online via my secure server.

[Marty]: What mistakes have you made?

[Jim]: I made the mistake of waiting almost a year before getting my web site up and running. If I did it all over again would have gotten my site up within the first six months.

[Marty]: It was similar with me, Jim. Space for web pages on my ISP's server came with my internet access account at no extra cost. Like many people, at first I didn't take advantage of this, but after I found out how fairly simple HTML programming is and how to upload web pages to my ISP's server, it didn't take long before I had my Global Profit$ web site online.

Jim, what major mistakes do you see other Internet entrepreneurs make?

[Jim]: I see a lot of people looking for fast cash. There is plenty of money to be made online, but just like anywhere else, you have to pay your dues. Fortunately, the internet offers a very low start up cost and some very low cost marketing tools.

[Marty]: Are there any other tips or suggestions you would like to give others that want to profit from the 'net?

[Jim]: As Nike says, "JUST DO IT!"

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MOTIVATIONAL MESSAGE

Blind Man's Bluff Copyright 1998 William N Hodges, used by permission.

Can you imagine going through life playing one big game of Blind Man's Bluff, a game played where you are blindfolded? Many people do, you know. They find themselves reaching, groping, and feeling their way along. They have no clear direction. As a result, they are constantly bumping into things, going up blind alleys, and finding themselves confused and disoriented. Who are these Blind Man's Bluff players? They are the people who live their lives without a plan. They have no idea where they are going and, therefore, no plan to get there. They find that they are distracted easily, and are constantly responding rather than acting. For the most part, these people work very hard. They have to-to make up for their disorganization. You see, to be organized implies that you have a direction, and they have none.

A sense of direction-of having a goal-is important for our very well being. Without it, we have nothing on which to judge our progress. Can you imagine a quarterback who has been blindfolded, spun around four times, and then told to lead his team to the end zone? The odds against him getting the team there are phenomenal. Yet, every day, when we don't have a plan for our business and personal lives, we try to do just that. You may not like sports, but American football is one of the best analogies to life that one could conceive. If you will think of each yard line as a marker that measures your achievement as you pass them, you can see these markers as analogous to short-term goals. A mid-range goal is to achieve ten yards, so that you get to continue toward the long-range goal of scoring a touchdown. But the analogy doesn't end there. The real long-range goal of the game is to win. To do that, you must continue to score touchdowns until the game ends. That is the way life is-you have to continue to score as long as you have time.

You are the quarterback or leader of your team, and if you haven't already established short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals, it is time to do it-take off the blindfold. Quit playing Blind Man's Bluff and start making plans to achieve a win. Take a look at where you want to go. You may have to ask your team, i.e., family, company, etc., to help you decide what the goal should be. Divide the goal into achievable pieces, then focus your energies on one part at a time. Each time you are able to complete a section toward your goal, you will have a sense of success and of well being. That sense of success will spur you on toward greater efforts. Sit down tonight and begin planning what you want to do with the rest of your life. Although it is a cliche, it is also an undeniable truth that, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." It is up to you whether you achieve success, as you define it, or whether you continue to play Blind Man's Bluff. What ever you do I wish for you a happy and prosperous new year.

Bill Hodges is nationally recognized speaker, trainer, and columnist. If you enjoyed this article, you will enjoy his book Within Your Reach which contains 60 such articles on positive thinking available either in print or a three cassette audio tape. If ordering from your local bookstore, .reference ISBN #0-9622717-0-5, or you may order directly by sending your check for $4.95 USCurrency plus ($1.30 USA $3.00 Other)for the printed book or $20.00 plus ($3.00 USA $6.00 other) for shipping to Hodges Seminars International, P O Box 22 Fairborn OH 45324. Or order by Visa or Mastercharge at his Web site http://www.BillHodges.com

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