Read and Grow Rich

personal development, the law of attraction, , , , ,

Years ago when I was first learning about becoming an entrepreneur and leaving my corporate job back in 2007 for a one year adventure overseas, I heard the term, “leaders are readers.”  I wasn’t sure what to make of that, but I noticed that as I started to read more self-help books mainly from authors like Jim Rohn, Wayne Dyer, and Napolean Hill I noticed over time that I started to look at things differently.  In fact, I think the first time I read the book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki I thought differently about working, money, and just about everything to do with business.  I went from working for the past 10 years of my life to being self-employed again.  As for the past 10 years I have only been employed for 4 of them.  Before I started reading these books I had come to the conclusion that I had little control over my destiny and I pretty much had to give up on my dreams even though as a child and young adult I had many dreams.

Everyone is born a genius, but the process of living de-geniuses them. – Buckminster Fuller 1927, a

Luckily, in my mid-thirties I didn’t buy into the idea of settling for a life of mediocrity.  In fact, I felt like I was beginning to live again after reading those books.  I began to think differently and realized that my thoughts and actions were in correlation to my future.

I remember around the same time that I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad.  I had also watched the movie The Secret and shortly thereafter purchased the book.  The Secret was a best seller and based on the idea of The Law of Attraction.  The Law of Attraction was basically and idea that our thoughts become things, so if we are going to think we might as well think positive.  I kind of compared it to what the bible had to say over a thousand years ago, “As a man thinks so is he.” Proverbs 23:7

So my challenge to you over the next 30 days until it becomes a habit is to pick up an inspirational or educational book and challenge yourself to read 10 pages per day.  Do this for a period of 30 days and I will do it with you and lets see if our thoughts begin to change.

Below I have listed some of my favorite books to help get you started.

  • The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz
  • Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
  • The Richest Man in Babylon by Jim Rohn
  • As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
  • Harmonic Wealth by James Arthur Ray
  • The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
  • Multiple Streams of Income by Robert G. Allen
  • The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles
  • Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill
  • The Bible the inspired word of God

I have read all of the above and recommend any of them to you and guarantee that if you start reading any of them on a daily basis that your thoughts will begin to change for the better.

This article was retrieved from another article I wrote on 3/22/17 at medium.com

Top 10 Social Media Marketing Tips!

Branding, Online Marketing, social media marketing,

Top 10 Social Media Marketing Tips!

If you are on Social Media and are either promoting a business or thinking about it, you will want to be consistent in your activities. In this post I have posted 10 of my top 10 Social Media Marketing Tips to help promote your business on the different social media platforms.

  1. Don’t overwhelm yourself (pick 2 or 3 of your favorite Social Media Platforms)
  2. Be consistent (post daily or at least 2 to 3 times per week on each platform)
  3. 80/20 rule (80% of the time post personal or non-business related posts and 20% of the time post about your business)
  4. Connect often and engage (don’t just post — engage with your audience).
  5. Be creative (don’t post the same thing over and over. Try to come up with interesting content — pictures, quotes, things you enjoy)
  6. Be authentic — don’t be something you’re not. (If you don’t own a private jet — don’t pretend like you do, people need to relate to the real you.)
  7. Time management (don’t spend too much time on one platform. Get in and get out and engage with those that like and comment on your posts.)
  8. Know what you want to get in return for your efforts. (Figure out why you want to be on Social Media for Biz — is it for brand awareness, to get more followers, more customers, figure out why you are doing it. Don’t just being doing it because everyone else is.)
  9. Use 3rd party tools (important that you use 3rd party tools to streamline your social media marketing. A few to mention are http://socialoomph for twitter, http://hootsuite.com, and http://klout.com
  10. Have Fun! You wouldn’t go to a party and not have fun. Social Media is all about being at a party online — so make sure you have fun with it.

There are a few tips to get you going on social media. If you’d like to get more tips on Social Media Marketing make sure to pick up a free copy of my ebook on this site today.

This article was retrieved from another article I wrote on http://www.medium.com on 3/17/2017

Video Marketing on YouTube

Branding, Home Based Business, Online Marketing, social media marketing, Uncategorized, , , ,

Can you use YouTube to market your business online?  Yes, you can. In fact, I’ve got a few videos running right now that are getting me a steady flow of leads every day for my home based business. The thing I love about YouTube is that you can create a video once, put in a few search terms that people might use to find your video and then get up and walk away and never even touch the video ever again. I’ve done this time and time again and that is why out of all the popular ways there are to promote your business online this has to be my all-time favorite.

Unlike Google AdWords or Social Media you constantly have to stay on top of it and monitor it regularly until you get it right. It can take awhile to get it all on auto drive. Not so with YouTube, in fact if you make a handful of videos in your first few months on Youtube you should have a few that do well right away.

It’s pretty simple to get going, you just need a camera and a mic (most smart phones and computers already have). Make a short video 5 t0 10 minutes in length if possible. I find that videos over 15 minutes don’t get near the hits are engagement as the shorter ones. Don’t ask me why just what I have found the case to be.

Once you record your video and upload it add a good description and make sure to put your website in your description so people can get back to you. I get lots of comments and likes on my video’s but my goal is to get people to get on my email list, so I can build a long term relationship with them, but many will probably just subscribe to your video channel.

Not every video will be a hit, but I can promise you that if you stay consistent with it, you will make money from it.

If you’d like to learn more about how to benefit from using YouTube for your business make sure to pick up a copy of my new book “The Social Media Puzzle & How To Profit From It” on Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com

This blog was retrieved from an article I posted on http://medium.com on 3/13/17

Valentus Review

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Valentus Review

A few years ago I came across a start-up company within the direct selling industry called Valentus.  They appeared to be selling healthy beverages online or through word of mouth marketing and they had a very interesting product that caught my attention “Slim Roast” Weight Loss Coffee.  I had seen another company called Javita marketing the same thing years ago, but was intrigued enough to try the product.  Not that I needed to lose weight, but a friend had offered to send me a free sample and I thought – why not.  As a marketer who’s been a part of the health & wellness industry for many years I’ve always been fascinated with the different products that companies come out with.  I guess the ones that really grab my attention are the ones that people would understand without a long science report with a cherry on top.  Heck, 70% of all people drink coffee on a daily basis and many people I know over 30 are trying to lose weight.  This was like Jenny Craig meets Starbucks – I was intrigued to say the least.

I didn’t join Valentus after that first sample, not because I didn’t like the taste, but because I didn’t want to put my time and energy into a start-up company knowing that most fail within the first few years (been there done that).

Fast forward a few years later (7 months ago).  The same friend who shared Valentus with me a few years prior contacted me again.  My first thought was wow – they are still in business.  My second thought was I might have to do some due-diligence on this company and find out what they are all about.  Below I made a list of what I found out and why you may want to consider Valentus if you are looking for a product/service to market for a home based business or another way to create income or wealth in your spare-time.

My Top 10 Reasons for Why Valentus is a Great Company for Network Marketing.

  1. 3 years old and debt free (past the point of collapse and entering momentum).
  2.  Went from 10 million in gross sales in 2015 to 30 million in 2016.
  3.  Consumable products that most people already consume (coffee & energy drinks).
  4.  Company owner who has been a distributor in the past (very important).
  5.  International opportunity (available in over 100 countries).
  6.  Plans to expand internationally
  7.  Outstanding training provided by leaders who have earned millions within the industry. (many already earning 6 & 7 figures or more annually).
  8.  Exceptional compensation plan that pays weekly & monthly.
  9.  Free Online Marketing System for everyone (most companies charge a fee for that).
  10.  Free Training (The team that I joined has free training on how to become a marketing pro).  The company also provides daily and weekly training.

Well there are my top reasons for why Valentus is one of the best opportunities within the network marketing – direct selling industry today.  If you’d like to get more information on Valentus please visit Valentus today and check it out for yourself.

 

Top Success Tips for Pinterest

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Pinterest is a catalog social media site of pictures and ideas from travel to business to the latest & greatest recipes to stir up your belly or even your love life.

Pinterest has been around since 2012 and currently has around 150 million active monthly users (mostly women). I’ve been on Pinterest for a few years now and find it to be one of the most interesting social media sites.  Not unlike Instagram as you just post pictures (pin it).  In the

I’ve been on Pinterest for a few years now and find it to be one of the most interesting social media sites and most fun too.  Not unlike Instagram as you just post pictures (pin it), but more informative.  In the pictures (you upload or share)  you must describe your picture so it shows up in The Pinterest Searches.  I’ve personally used Pinterest for recipes when cooking, making travel plans, and I personally love all the funny pictures, jokes, and quotes (great way to start your day with a big smile).  Here are some tips I have found useful for using Pinterest as a valuable tool to promote my businesses, blog, and brand over the past few years.

  • Pin Often (at least 1 time per day)  Post your own pics or find pics that are relevant to your brand or business.
  • Create Boards that grab people’s interests (a few of mine are: Cool Photos, The Truth Shall Set You Free, Places I’d Like To See, Social Media Tips & Tricks, Funny, and Get Healthy)
  • #Hashtags don’t matter on PInterest, but you must describe your picture in detail or know one will ever find it.
  • Boards & lots of them – pin to your boards regularly or they will get lost in SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
  • Set Up a Business Page on Pinterest (not personal) especially if you’re going to be using Pinterest for Brand Awareness.
  • Once you’re using Pinterest on a regular basis you’ll want to use Pinterest Analytics to see how you’re doing.
  • Engage with Others.  If someone reaches out to you or makes a comment don’t ignore.  You never know who your next customer might be.

If you’d like to get up to speed on Social Media Marketing make sure to download a free copy of my ebook on this website “Social Media Tips & Tricks for Business” and absolutely make sure to follow me on Pinterest.

How To Get More Twitter Followers

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How To Get More Twitter Followers

Having been pretty active on Twitter since 2008 and now up to over 150,000 followers, I think I know a thing or two about how to get more followers on Twitter. Here are some of my top tips on how you can get alot more followers on Twitter.

• Share news articles or blog posts that capture your attention.

• Tweet about something that is funny or makes you laugh.

• Share your feedback on a movie or TV show you just watched.

• Tweet about a sporting event.

• Tweet about something funny (love to tweet jokes).

• Ask for feedback before you make a major purchase (also do the same on your Facebook Personal Page)

• Ask questions.

• Definitely participate in Follow Friday #FF and recommend your favorite people to follow.

• Tweet about a company milestone.

• Recognize an employee who has done a good job.

• Tweet about a good book you’ve just read.

• Tweet about a Youtube video you like.

• Always Retweet others and share the love.

• Thank someone for following you.

• Thank someone for mentioning you or Retweeting you.

• Tweet about something you just learned.

• Tweet your favorite quotesUse #Hashtags whenever possible

• Use #Hashtags whenever possible

If you’d like to learn more about Social Media Marketing and how to monetize it for profitable financial gain, please pick up my latest book The Social Media Puzzle & How To Profit From It on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

How Much Time Should I Devote To Social Media Daily?

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How much time should I devote to social media daily?

It all depends on what your goals are and what you want to accomplish.  I know professionals who work from home who spend hours on Social Media for business and people like myself who spend maybe an hour or less per day on average.  But here is what I do know.

If you are not consistently posting on any of the major social media sites – you will not have a lot of success on Social Media if you are trying to promote yourself or your business.

Having made quite a bit of money in the past by using Social Media for my business endeavors here are a  few things I recommend to get the biggest bang for your buck.

  1. Don’t waste time too much time looking around.  Just like shopping know what you’re going in for and get out as quickly as possible.
  2. Post at least 1 to 2 times daily on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest and up to 6 times daily on Twitter.
  3. Like and retweet what others have to say (don’t just promote you).
  4. If you’re on a tight schedule – set a timer for 15 or 30 minutes (repeat daily)
  5. Have applications on your smart phone that allow you to post or engage at slow times throughout the day (standing in line at the grocery store, post office, on work break, etc.)
  6. Just like anything else to be successful, you must put some time and energy into it to get anything in return.

I think the 3 most important questions to ask yourself as it pertains to Social Media for your business is – What do I want to accomplish from it? How much time am I willing to put into it?  How much am I willing to spend?

If you’d like to get more information on how to be successful on Social Media.  You can pick up my new book “The Social Media Puzzle & How To Profit From it” on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

3 Things you must do to succeed in Network Marketing!

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I have been involved in the network marketing profession part-time and full-time since 2007 as both a distributor and a sales trainer. I have always wondered why some succeed and so many more fail. I have found that the ones that do succeed aren’t really more talented than anyone else just more motivated. In fact, most anyone with a little bit of persistence who is willing to take action can make money in network marketing.

With that being said I am a firm believer in consistent daily repeatable actions. In other words, these repeatable actions must become habits and be easy enough to do that you can repeat them over and over without thinking about them. I personally have been mentored and coached by some of the top income earners in the network marketing profession and they always told me to take massive action. I personally always felt that was kind of crazy in a way as I never felt that others would follow my footsteps. So, this morning when I caught myself reading a blog by a 20 million dollar income earner Nathan Ricks, I thought it was such great advice that I would share with you what he does and has been teaching for the past 20 years with his team.

Here is what he had to say.

  1. Talk to 3 people daily about your business.
  2. Do 3 – 3 way calls daily with your team (probably won’t happen until your team grows past at least 20 people, but good advice for people with larger teams).
  3. Sponsor 3 new distributors/customers per month.

Now I personally haven’t tried this on for size as I haven’t been full-time in the network marketing industry since 2013, but I would say that even if I were part-time I would try to create a recipe like the above to simplify my activities and give me something to work towards on a daily and monthly basis. If you’d like to learn more about network marketing feel free to reach out to me as I have built large organizations of several thousand people in multiple companies in the past and have been a top income earner in more than a few companies.  If you’d like to take advantage of my free coaching feel free to fill out the online form by clicking here.

The Importance of #Hashtags

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If you’re using Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn or Instagram these days for business, you might want to consider using #Hashtags as much as possible in your posts to get recognized in the searches on those sites. What are hashtags? Hashtags are those symbols that look something like this (#) and are usually followed by whatever the user wants to show up in the searches like #quotes, #blog, or #weightloss. Whatever your status updates pertain to, make sure to use (#) as often as possible, especially on Instagram and Twitter. This will not only get you more followers but will also get you more activity on your latest posts. Of course, nothing beats a large marketing budget to advertise your posts (upcoming chapter), but if you are on a limited budget, or just starting out, this is a great way to build up your presence on Social Media. If you’re like me and use Twitter a lot, make sure to Retweet posts with hashtags as this will help you get more followers as well. Just like in most everything – the more eyeballs that follow your business, the more biz you will get.

Also, it’s important that your hashtags are relevant to your status updates. If you’re posting something about weight loss, you probably don’t want to put #ladygaga in there. The whole thing with Social Media is engagement into your posts – connecting and building a relationship with your following.

Make your hashtags short and understandable. In other words, don’t use hashtags for things like #thisiswaytoolongforanyonetoread. go with things like #happy #funny #quotes #weightloss #gym #fitness.

Make a habit of putting hashtags in your status updates, especially on Twitter and watch your following begin to grow.  It’s also important to only #hashtag keywords in your post or relevance.  For example, if you post a quote, I always end my post with #quotes even though I didn’t mention anything about quotes per say in my message, but it is relevant being that what I posted was a quote.  If I post something like “Watching The Seattle Seahawks destroy the Detroit lions”, I would probably hashtag #SeattleSeahawks #DetroitLions and something of relevance like #NFL or if it’s a primetime game #mondaynightfootball.

If you’re using picture based sites like Pinterest and Instagram it’s important that you not only use hashtags in your posts, but also include a detailed description describing your picture.  This is the only way you picture will ever appear in the search engines of Pinterest or Instagram (since these sites are for posting images).  If you just post a picture with no description or hashtags you’re pretty much guaranteed that nobody will ever find your post.  There is still a debate out there on whether this is as important for Facebook, but I do it anyways.

So get in the habit of putting as many #hashtags into your posts as possible and this will help you get more likes and followers on Social Media especially on Instagram and Twitter.

If you’d like to get better at Social Media and begin to profit from it.  Please pick up a copy of my latest book “The Social Media Puzzle & How to Profit From It” at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

The Social Media Puzzle

Branding, Online Marketing, social media marketing, , , , , ,

I’ve been involved in Social Media and Online Marketing in some way shape or form since 2008 and have trained people and consulted with business owners on how to effectively market their message in a noisy online world. With so many business owners using social media nowadays to market but not getting the results that they want, I felt it was time to shed some light on the subject.

I recently met with the owner of a Digital Marketing Agency and he shared with me that the highest spend on all advertising in 2017 for Small Business Owners was going to be on Social Media Advertising. I was down at The Bagel Shop the other day and on the cash register, there was a sign to follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook. If a bagel shop is using social media to help their business, then chances are that you should be too.

The social media landscape is opening up like we have never seen before and it is becoming more important than ever for business owners, celebrities, and just about everyone with a message to ensure they are effectively using Social Media. For the first time in 8 years of being on Social Media, I felt that it was time to share my experiences and provide a how-to guide that can help others with their business.

Businesses and professionals that embrace social media and use it well, will not only benefit from it on a brand awareness level but will profit from it. The most important thing you can learn from The Social Media Puzzle & How To Profit From It is how to be more successful in your social media marketing, how to be more consistent with it, and how over time you will profit from it. It has been said that facts tell and stories sell – and social media gives everyone the opportunity to tell a new story every single day.

To learn more about The Social Media Puzzle & How To Profit From It download a preview or order direct from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.