Soar Above The Rest By Design

[Note – Please know that I am NOT against college or graduate level education. I have both a BA and an MBA myself. But if you do NOT, don’t let it hold you back!]

So you're thinking about joining the world of the self-employed but you're concerned because you don't have a college education. How can you compete against people who have gone to some of the best business schools in the country? In the world?

Relax.

Some of the world's most successful businesspeople grew their empires without the benefit of higher education.

Let These People Inspire You

When you think about it, one of the big things you've missed is paying 100 grand (or more) to have some professor tell you how to fit into a box. Perhaps for YOUR life, you're much better off being a free-thinker like the following movers and shakers:

Diana Spencer never attended college and wasn't a very good student, but there was something about her that grabbed the attention of the world.

Diana supported charities that brought attention to health matters such as AIDS and leprosy. She was a patron of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, and that work still goes on today in her name.

She was kind, beautiful, and empathetic, and when she died in the Paris tunnel, a little part of all of us died with her highness.

Peter Jennings, the urbane ABC news anchor, dropped out of a Canadian high school at the age of 17. That didn't prevent him from becoming one of the most famous foreign correspondents in the United States.

After over ten years abroad he returned stateside to act as the anchor of ABC Evening News. Who can forget his coverage of the World Trade Center collapse, or the night he announced lung cancer was forcing him to retire?

Wanna travel into space? Well, you might give Virgin Galactic a call. That's one of Richard Branson's companies. Sir Richard never went to college, but Virgin is one of the most recognizable and popular brands in the world.

And he's a Knight of the British Empire. Not bad for a high school dropout.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of our most celebrated novelists, dropped out of Princeton because he wasn't a very good student. That didn't stop him from writing The Great American Novel.

Although not very popular when first published, The Great Gatsby is number two on Modern Library's list of 100 Best Novels of the 20th century. Another of his books, Tender is the Night, is number 28 on the same list.

Another great American writer, William Faulkner, dropped out of high school in his sophomore year.

Faulkner, too, has two books on Modern Library's list: The Sound and The Fury at number 6, and As I Lay Dying at number 35. (By the way, number 1 on the list is ULYSSES by James Joyce.)

In 1949 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Pretty good for a man with no formal education.

When Henry Ford landed in Detroit, cars were built by hand, one-by-one. He figured out how to speed up the process using an assembly line and interchangeable parts.

He also advocated high wages for his employees, which lessened turnover and improved the workers' quality of life.

He received 161 patents, one for a car made from soy-based plastic. He had no education to speak of, just a belief in himself and the drive to make the world a better place.

Oh yeah, he also instituted the eight-hour work day so three shifts could build cars around the clock.

Patrick Stewart, Captain Picard of Star Trek, The Next Generation, and Professor Xavier of the X-Men franchises, has a voice like a university professor. When he talks, you're compelled to listen.

He dropped out of school at the age of 15 to pursue acting and never looked back.

Anna Wintour, the current editor of Vogue, quit school at 16 to enter a training program at Harrod's, London's famous department store.

Today, she's among the world's foremost fashion authorities, setting trends and mentoring young designers. This woman determines what you and I will be wearing in the years to come.

Dropping out of Harvard in his Junior year didn't stop Bill Gates from changing the world as we know it. He's Mr. Microsoft, inventor of the personal computer. Bet you've got at least one at home or know several people who do.

Mr. Gates is consistently ranked among the world's richest men. To date, his charitable organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has given away over $35 billion.

Steven Spielberg dropped out of CSU Long Beach to work in the movie industry. He's directed such classics as Shindler’s List, Jaws, the Indiana Jones series, and Munich, to name just a few.

Considered the most influential American director of all time, Spielberg has a natural talent for film making and passion that shows in every frame of his films.

Hard to believe, but Frank Lloyd Wright can be included in this illustrious group. It's doubtful he ever graduated high school, and he only attended two semesters of college.

One of the world's most famous architects had no degree, yet he was one of the founders of the Prairie School movement, and created beautiful, iconic buildings that still inspire us today.

And for the cherry on top, here's a list of U.S. Presidents who didn't attend college:

Grover Cleveland
Millard Fillmore
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Johnson
Abraham Lincoln
Zachary Taylor
Harry S Truman
Martin Van Buren
George Washington

You Become What You Envision And Work Hard For

Lack of an education didn't prevent any of these men and women from achieving big things in the world of business and politics. They all had ambition, the drive to succeed, and they always believed in themselves.

Success is not something learned in college, and it certainly isn't guaranteed with a degree. It's something you can develop by following certain tried and true steps.

To discover what those steps are, read my article “Successful Entrepreneur – Can I Make It As An Entrepreneur?”

And be sure to leave us a comment below – what OTHER great success stories do you know that were created by someone who hadn't finished college?

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad since 1983, succeeding in this economy

PS: You can find me here:

http://twitter.com/UltimateWAHDads

http://facebook.com/CharlesSeymourJr

http://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesseymourjr

To learn more, stay in touch with my blog – I'll keep you informed so that YOU won't have to do the heavy lifting. Charlie Seymour Jr's Blog – Click HERE To See More!

PPS: Do you have trouble writing? Turn Your Words Into Gold – Go Here To Learn More! NOW is the time to start.

Follow Charlie Seymour Jr On Twitter!

Keep this with this article, please:

Charlie Seymour Jr is an entrepreneurial evangelist and success-marketing coach helping individuals and companies (up to $100MM) explode their success through online and personal-touch marketing. He specializes in blogging, podcasting, photography, video, Facebook, and Twitter applications. Visit his blog at Charlie Seymour Jr's Blog to learn more about his successes.

Friends, if you like this post, please leave a comment, join our email list to get updates sent to you, and retweet it. And I've made it easy to retweet – just click on the icon below. Thanks!

Successful Entrepreneur – No, You Don't Need A College Education to be Successful

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Soar Above The Rest By Design

You're familiar with the myth of the phoenix, the legendary firebird that dies every 500 years only to be reborn from its ashes, more beautiful and resplendent than ever before?

That's what you're looking to do, isn't it? Rise from the ashes of your old life and be reborn as a successful businessperson?

Fortunately, the way has been traveled before. Many folks have had to start from scratch and grow a business from the ground up. I call them the Phoenix Entrepreneurs.

The Phoenix Entrepreneur Rising From The Ashes

Just like the bird, Phoenix Entrepreneurs rise from the ashes of an old life, a life that was no longer viable.

In the beginning, they felt just like you probably do now: scared, unsure, and probably pretty alone.

Yet they made it.

They created businesses that have withstood the test of time and nourished not only their own families, but the families of hundreds (if not thousands) of employees. If you don't believe me, just read No, You Don't Need a College Education to be Successful And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

There are Phoenix Entrepreneurs all over the place. It's an illustrious group and one you can join! All it takes is following a few simple steps and thinking a certain way.

If you need a point clarified, just ask. Leave a message on the blog and you'll get not only my years of experience, but the experience of all the others who respond to your question.

Ready?

Keep reading to find out how Phoenix businessmen and businesswomen think and act to grow a successful business.

Think Like The Phoenix Entrepreneur To Succeed

The Phoenix understands that his/her thoughts create reality. He uses his thoughts and feelings and the power of visualization to create the reality he wants.

The Phoenix knows that if she holds in her mind a picture of the end result she wants to create, the Universe will find a way to make it happen.

Quite a concept, isn't it?

What if life were really that simple? Just hold the thought of what you want to create in your mind, and viola. There it is.

When you think about it, you realize we do this hundreds of times a day, don’t we!

• You want a sandwich and either make one or go to the deli. You don't think twice about it.

• If you need fuel in the car, you drive to the local gas station, hand over the credit card, and fill'er up. No biggie.

• If you want some fresh flowers on the table, you go to the garden and cut some. Mission accomplished.

So why is creating a business any different from eating a sandwich, filling up the car, or picking flowers?

What are your thoughts on this? How have you intentionally manifested something in your life? Leave me a comment below.

The Phoenix realizes downtime is important. He knows a rested mind is a sharp mind. Days off are a chance to see things from a different perspective, to get a different slant on situations and life in general.

Downtime is also crucial to family time.

When you spend time with your family, be with your family. Don't think about business. (This is one of the BIGGEST challenges I have! I think about marketing and business ALL the time.)

Listen to your wife. How is her life going? She probably needs you as a sounding board, someone to bounce her problems off. Or listen to your husband and show interest in what he’s doing – to know you care is very important to him.

How's school going for your daughter? She needs her dad's shoulder to cry on sometimes. She needs her mom’s understanding. Be there for both of them. Completely. They are much more important than any business could ever be.

Do you do anything special to unwind? Have a special place to go with your family so you can just enjoy being together? Share your thoughts with us in a comment below!

The Phoenix learns at every opportunity. She knows that life moves fast, and if she isn't careful, an important development could pass her by.

Keep up on the latest tech news, on any developments that could impact your business and services. If you have kids, ask them to let you know about Bluetooth innovations, or new apps that could make your life a little easier and speed up your supply line. They'll feel good if they get to help their dad or mom and it will get you two a little more time together which is never a bad thing.

And find a few blogs (like this one) and people on Facebook who clue you in on new technology changes – learning from others saves you SO much time.

What's your favorite way to keep up on current events? Do you subscribe to a favorite blog (like this one!) or news feed? Do clients help you keep up-to-date? Are you using Facebook to learn from an expert?

The Phoenix knows herself and doesn't oversell her products, services, or abilities. She is well aware of her strengths and weaknesses and represents herself honestly.

If there's a possibility she can't deliver on the client's needs, she's upfront about it. She will never agree to assignments just to get a sale if there's even the slightest possibility that his client could be inconvenienced.

The Phoenix knows that this brutal honesty will always benefit him and his business.

Do you have any special tips or tricks for hiding your weak points? Do you have an assistant that files or delivers product for you? Let us know how you're operating!

The Phoenix prepares for the workday. He never waits until the day of the meeting to gather paperwork, brochures, and presentations. He is always prepared well ahead of time so he can calmly walk into the meeting and sell himself and his business.

Being prepared speaks well of the Phoenix and his business.

The Phoenix commits to her work and her life. That commitment is obvious and contagious. She's totally passionate about her service and her clients and sees them as two sides of the same coin. She can't have one without the other.

How about you? What are you passionate about? Your family, a community cause, a baseball team? Let us know how you feel. Leave a message and let's talk about it.

The Phoenix works hard and knows that all the effort he puts into his work will pay off in the end. He knows that getting a business off the ground is difficult and will require many of hours of work per week. Probably more hours than he ever worked at XYZ Company.

Just like buying a home, the Phoenix knows that each hour he puts into his business builds equity and is really money in the bank.

How many hours do you work in a week? Have the hours lessened as your business becomes more established? Let us know how you're doing and how you’ve been able to cut back on hours.

The Phoenix embraces change. She knows that nothing is written in stone and that life is in a constant state of flux.

She sees herself as a leaf floating along a wide river. Always moving, twisting, and turning, but always on top of the situation, never inundated by the flood.

How about you? What self-talk do you have that helps you handle the changes in your life? Any thoughts and techniques you can share with the rest of us?

The Phoenix thinks positive thoughts. He only thinks about the best that can happen, the reality he wants to create. He doesn't allow negative thoughts and doubts to linger. When they do appear, he knows it's just a reminder to think positive!

Thinking positive thoughts also helps him feel happy. When he's thinking about all the good things that can happen, his mind is filled with happy thoughts and he SEES happy things (that can then be passed on to others). And happy thoughts generate more happy thoughts.

Always focus on what you're grateful for and happy about. These thoughts make you feel good, and when you feel good, you're ready to conquer the world.

Do you have a favorite saying or mantra that you rely on when times are tough? Something that gets you in a good mood immediately? Share it with us.

The Phoenix remembers that the client is king. The Phoenix knows that happy clients are the key to success. Happy clients mean good word-of-mouth advertising. Happy clients mean referrals. Happy clients make the world a better place.

The Phoenix always visualizes smiling clients shaking her hand, placing more orders, and telling their friends how great her business is.

Do you have a great client story to share? Tell us about the last client who left your office with a smile on his/her face.

The Phoenix honors himself and others. He knows that his word is his reputation. He honors others' time by being punctual to meetings. He honors his business by being professional and reliable. He honors his clients by timely payments and timely delivery of goods or services. By honoring himself and others in this way, he makes his little corner of the world a better place.

You, Too, Can Become The Phoenix Entrepreneur

Some of these habits will be hard to learn. It's challenging to teach yourself to think differently.

But it gets easier the more you do it. And it's really the key to becoming a Phoenix Entrepreneur.

Always think about the best that can happen, the perfect business, the perfect life. Take steps every day to make your dreams reality.

By remembering these few behaviors, you'll be well on your way to soaring above the crowd and truly creating the life of a Phoenix Entrepreneur.

And be sure to leave us some comments. Thanks.

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad since 1983, succeeding in this economy

PS: You can find me here:

http://twitter.com/UltimateWAHDads

http://facebook.com/CharlesSeymourJr

http://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesseymourjr

To learn more, stay in touch with my blog – I'll keep you informed so that YOU won't have to do the heavy lifting. Charlie Seymour Jr's Blog – Click HERE To See More!

PPS: Do you have trouble writing? Turn Your Words Into Gold – Go Here To Learn More! NOW is the time to start.

Follow Charlie Seymour Jr On Twitter!

Keep this with this article, please:

Charlie Seymour Jr is an entrepreneurial evangelist and success-marketing coach helping individuals and companies (up to $100MM) explode their success through online and personal-touch marketing. He specializes in blogging, podcasting, photography, video, Facebook, and Twitter applications. Visit his blog at Charlie Seymour Jr's Blog to learn more about his successes.

Friends, if you like this post, please leave a comment, join our email list to get updates sent to you, and retweet it. And I've made it easy to retweet – just click on the icon below. Thanks!

Successful Entrepreneur – The Phoenix Way to Unlimited Success And Happiness

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How Can You Make Your Business Successful When Working By Yourself?

These are uncertain times, and it can cause even the bravest soul to think twice before launching a new business.

• Will I be able to pay the mortgage?
• Can I put food on the table?
• Will my kids have clothes and shoes?
• Can I do this on my own?
• Is there any way to know I will succeed before I begin?

I can hear you now: "I want some assurances!"

Unfortunately, there is no blueprint for success, no surefire way to tell if a person can make it in the land of the self-employed. However, most successful entrepreneurs have a few traits in common, a few habits and ways of thinking that push them toward success.

Here As Some Traits I Think Are Most Important

They believe in themselves. The most important trait successful entrepreneurs have in common is an unswerving faith in themselves and their ability to get the job done.

They know they are capable of completing any task, no matter how daunting. Even if they don't know exactly how it will get done, they know they can figure it out and make it work. Even just this attitude sets them apart from 99% of the rest of the world.

Successful entrepreneurs know they can go head-to-head with anyone and come out on top. They thrive on competition and improving themselves through battle in the business arena.

They don’t shy from competition, they see it as part of the fun they have in this game.

“It's kind of fun to do the impossible.” Walt Disney

They visualize success. Successful entrepreneurs keep what they want to manifest forefront in their thoughts.

Successful entrepreneurs SEE the business they want to create and keep a picture of it in their heads all the time. And visualization isn’t all they do: they write down their goals and strategies to be sure they stay focused.

• They see themselves acquiring product and moving it out to distribution centers.
• They see the product moving off shelves and reorders flowing in.
• They see the service they provide helping their clients succeed.
• They see themselves shaking hands with business partners, closing deals, and the deal working out smoothly to the benefit of all parties involved.

Entrepreneurs have an unswerving belief in themselves and their ability to get the job done. They may not know exactly how they will accomplish a given task, but they know they can figure it out because they see the success they will achieve even before they start.

They don't think about what could go wrong.

They never, never, never worry about what could happen.

Believe me, if you're worrying about all the things that can go wrong, you're not keeping the success-vision of your business at the forefront of your thoughts. You're not visualizing success. In fact, you're visualizing the bad stuff that can happen and all your energy is going into creating it!

And since what you think about most EXPANDS, be sure to think of all the success and goals you have to achieve and let them be utmost in your thinking.

Here’s something I learned from a good friend who happens to love to ride his motorcycle when the weather is good.

We’re taught to look ahead, down the road, see where we are going. If we focus on the pothole ahead, invariably we drive right into it. Stay focused ahead!

Great advice for those of us in business, too.

Don’t get me wrong: it's completely different to see possible pitfalls in the road ahead and plan accordingly. That's just good business sense. Steer clear of the problems and don’t obsess or fret about what might go wrong.

Visualize success and you won't create a mess.

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” Henry Ford

They commit. Successful businesspeople are committed wholeheartedly to what they are doing and the line of work they are in. They have an inner drive to succeed and their ambition carries them forward no matter what obstacles confront them.

Okay, I heard a plumber friend say once, “I sell low-flow toilets, Charlie. I have to visit worksites and torn up bathroom, the smell of sawdust makes me sneeze, and I hate getting my shoes filthy."

I completely understood. Sometimes necessity puts us in places we'd rather not be. But I asked, “can you find something about the job to love? Low-flow toilets save water, which cuts down on the energy needed to pump that water, which saves trees, which cuts down on pollution.

“Think about all the good you're doing. Think up 100 reasons to be enthusiastic about your product, and sell the heck out of those toilets.”

Walt Disney once said he loved Mickey Mouse more than any woman he had ever known. While I'm sure this news didn't thrill his wife, it showed his devotion and commitment to his “product.”

Commit, commit, and commit some more to your product or service. Believe in it and people will believe in you.

They concentrate on their strong points. Too many people worry about their shortcomings and lose the power of what they do best.

• Maybe you're a great writer and can really get your passion down on paper.
• Maybe your words stir people into action and give them the extra boost they need to succeed.
• Maybe your thoughts open people’s minds to new possibilities, new ways to see their lives.

Great. Stick with the writing.

Maybe you are a natural networker. You love to meet new people and pick their brain about topics near and dear to your heart. Fantastic. This is a crucial skill to have for any businessperson.

So you're great at writing and networking, but maybe you have no idea how to go about getting your words online. Maybe the thought of organizing all those contacts makes your head spin. Just because that comes naturally to ME doesn’t mean it is easy for YOU.

Okay, get some help organizing all those business cards and getting your work online. It doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg.

Maybe you can trade the work for a service you provide. Or you could look into getting an online assistant. Online assistants can be found on Elance.com and Guru.com and Craigslist.com.

You'll be amazed at how inexpensively you can find help when you know where to look.

Stick to your strong points and get help for the other stuff and you’ll find life so much more enjoyable!

“We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.” Kahlil Gibran

They make goals. How can you know if you’re succeeding if you don’t have written guideposts against which you can judge your progress?

For example, you need to have certain ingredients and to take precise steps to bake a loaf of banana bread. You need bananas, of course, sugar, flour, eggs, buttermilk, baking soda, and baking powder.

Sift the dry ingredients together. Blend the bananas, eggs, and buttermilk until it's a nice, homogeneous mixture. Add the dry into the wet and stir until just incorporated. Add some chopped nuts, pour into a buttered pan and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

In the end, you'll have a golden loaf of delicious goodness.

It's the same with an entrepreneurial business.

You take certain ingredients and mix them together in just the right ratio. The end result will be a successful business. (See my other blog post, Successful Entrepreneur – Recipe For Success here on this blog!)

The only trick is you have to know what you're making in order for it to come out the way you want. To bake bread, use a bread recipe, not one for a fruit salad.

As the fathers in the musical, The Fantasticks (by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones), sing:

Plant a radish
Get a radish
Never any doubt
That’s why I love vegetables
You know what you’re about!

You have to know WHAT you want before you can get it.

If you know you want to have a successful wine distributing company: good. But, if you can be more precise, it's even better.

You want a wine distribution company that services all the counties in northern Iowa, and you want to be the sole agent for Leaping Polecat Vineyards. Within six months, you want to be moving 500 cases of wine a week. In a year, you want to be moving 1,000 cases.

Now THAT’S a precise recipe.

With that recipe, you can see what needs to be done. Right off the bat, you see that you don't have the retailers in line to handle 500 cases. So you need to make some more connections, find more stores that are willing to sell Leaping Polecat.

You also see that you'll need to have wine to deliver once the orders start coming in. You'll need to call your contacts at the vineyard to see if they are willing and able to handle the increased volume.

With a precise vision of the business you want to create, seeing the steps you need to take to make that happen becomes easier and easier.

“Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.” Henry Ford

They connect with people. No matter what type of business you have or want to start, it's all about people.

• People buy your product
• People talk about your product
• People sell your product.

Connect with as many people as possible to keep them buying, talking, and selling. Make a goal of connecting with all of your contacts every 30 days. Make an additional goal of acquiring ten new contacts every week.

The more people you know, the more others will seek you out for your contacts.

Connecting with people should be on your core goals list no matter how big or small your business. Talking to your contacts is a wonderful way to learn.

Maybe you've just discovered a new way of doing something that could really make a contact's life a lot easier. To paraphrase JFK, always ask yourself what you can do for your contact rather than what your contact can do for you – you’ll be MUCH more successful when you do.

This website, UltimateWorkAtHomeDads.com, is great for connecting with people. You'll make many valuable contacts here and get a lot of help and support. We're glad you're here.

Be sure to leave comments. Agreeing with something (and expanding on it) OR disagreeing with something (and saying why) will get people to know you.

Then be sure to leave some of your contact information below your name so people know WHO you are and WHERE they can connect with you.

These entrepreneurs learn.

I'm not talking about going back to school and getting a degree. You certainly don't need that to be a successful entrepreneur (though I certainly don’t scoff at those of us who do).

What you do need is an open mind and a willingness to learn new things and new ways of doing old things.

Stay on the cutting edge of technology or before you know it, your competition will be using the newest, latest and greatest whatever and you're left in the dust.

Subscribing to a few relevant blogs (like this one!) should keep you up-to-date. Find more at one of my favorite websites: AllTop.com

“My biggest motivation? Just to keep challenging myself. I see life almost like one long University education that I never had – every day I'm learning something new.’ Richard Branson

They work. Forget all the get-rich-quit proposals and know that you have LOTS of work ahead of you.

“Wow, Charlie, this self-employment gig sounds like a lot of work."

Yes, it is. That's the last trait all self-made businesspeople have in common.

They work. A lot.

Channel your energy, passion, and drive-to-succeed into your business and you will be unstoppable.

Launching a successful business is a tall order. Only the cream of the crop can make it work. But you know what? I have every faith that YOU are the cream of the crop and can make it work.

You have what it takes and you search out articles like this one to learn new ways to think. If you didn't have what it takes, you wouldn't still be reading this article.

Successful people are willing to do what unsuccessful people don’t or won’t. Never give up and keep searching for a better way.

Like riding a bike or playing the piano, these traits can be learned. Read this article every day for ten days and make these actions and attitudes part of your life.

Remember: successful entrepreneurs are self-made men and women. They mold themselves into the people they want to be. They set goals, build strategies to accomplish them, and keep moving toward the goal line.

They know that NO ONE needs to crown them the victor or call them a success – they just make their own way once they have studied what they want to do and have set their goals in writing.

They know they have the right stuff. I know that YOU have the right stuff.

Now get out there and make it happen!

“Success is a matter of understanding and religiously practicing specific, simple habits that always lead to success.” Robert J. Ringer

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad since 1983, succeeding in this economy

PS: You can find me here:

http://twitter.com/UltimateWAHDads

http://facebook.com/CharlesSeymourJr

http://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesseymourjr

To learn more, stay in touch with my blog – I'll keep you informed so that YOU won't have to do the heavy lifting. Charlie Seymour Jr's Blog – Click HERE To See More!

PPS: Do you have trouble writing? Turn Your Words Into Gold – Go Here To Learn More! NOW is the time to start.

Follow Charlie Seymour Jr On Twitter!

Keep this with this article, please:

Charlie Seymour Jr is an entrepreneurial evangelist and success-marketing coach helping individuals and companies (up to $100MM) explode their success through online and personal-touch marketing. He specializes in blogging, podcasting, photography, video, Facebook, and Twitter applications. Visit his blog at Charlie Seymour Jr's Blog to learn more about his successes.

Friends, if you like this post, please leave a comment, join our email list to get updates sent to you, and retweet it. And I've made it easy to retweet – just click on the icon below. Thanks!

Successful Entrepreneur – Can I Make It As An Entrepreneur?

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How To Set Up Your Business From Home

So you're thinking of leaving the security and comfort of your day job and voyaging into the world of the self-employed OR you recently started working at home and aren’t sure what steps to take first.

Congratulations! Nothing beats the feeling of accomplishment you get from growing your own business from scratch, from taking on the world with nothing but wits and a lot of hard work. I've been working at home since 1983 and haven't regretted it for a moment.

Here are ten tips I've learned along the way to help make your journey a little easier.

Tip Number One: Set a schedule.

Time management can be problematic when you're self-employed.

It's easy to get sidetracked when you're working from home and before you know it, the morning is gone. You probably had to be at your old job at a certain time so do the same thing with your business. Resolve to be at the computer, on the jobsite, or with a client by 7:30 AM (or earlier) and stick to it.

For me, no matter what time I go to sleep the night before, I’m “at it” by 7:30 the next day. Some days I’m walking with my voice recorder creating WalkAbout Marketing podcasts and some days I’m at my desk. But it’s important to get started as soon as you can.

And turn off your email: don’t let it beep every time you get a new message. I literally average 837 emails every day. Most should never see the light of day, though some are important. But nothing is so important that I have to be interrupted twelve times an hour to reply to it. In fact, I only download emails to my computer ever half hour and only look at them a few times each day (when I can reply to several emails in one short stretch of time, and then back to finishing my goals for the day).

Tip Number Two: Tailor your workspace to your personality.

How do you work best? Do you like to work with music in the background or do you like it perfectly quiet? Do you like pictures of family to remind you of your goals (and the reasons you work so hard), or do you prefer motivational posters and superhero action figures to spur you on to greatness? Find out how you work best and set up your space around your preferences.

And speaking of space, I use a spare bedroom for my home office. When we bought this house in 1998, I picked out this space for my office. I can see the driveway when FedEx and UPS show up and it’s at the other end of the hallway from our bedroom. OK, so a 20-foot walk to work isn’t bad, I admit it!

However, when the door is closed, the office is closed and I don't think about work (well, usually – I admit that I work at the kitchen table when Pam and I “watch” TV together. I can always look up for the replay or when a news report catches my ear).

If you aren't able to have a separate space for an office, a room divider or curtains could do the trick. Just find some way to separate your space from the rest of the house and family and to hide your workspace from view so you don't have to look at it all the time (and be reminded of all the work you should be doing).

And let your phone go to messages rather than letting every caller interrupt your work when they have the whim to call you. Batch the messages together, find time twice a day to return calls and make all of them then. AND, better yet, if someone wants to chat with you by phone, SET AN APPOINTMENT – I don’t take phone calls that aren’t prearranged – believe me, your clients will get used to it when you help them see the importance.

Tip Number Three: Market yourself.

Now I don't mean paying for advertising, creating glossy brochures, or doing weekly direct-mail piece.

This website is FILLED with ideas for you so read my blog!

Also, do you have a Facebook account? Keep it up to date and post often. (You can friend me at http://facebook.com/CharlesSeymourJr – be sure to send a note when you friend me: you should ALWAYS send a note, and this way I’ll know why you are asking to friend me.)

Start a blog and use it like a diary. Think of all the things you are doing that clients and customers might be interested in. I post lots of videos to my blog (and to my Facebook profile, which acts like a mini blog for me).

Keep friends and family informed of what you're doing. Word of mouth can be the best advertising and it's free (but you have to give them something to talk about!).

Tip Number Four: Show that professionalism counts.

Present yourself with a businesslike demeanor. That doesn’t mean that you can’t have fun and enjoy life when you are with other people, but what people think about you is built on MANY little interactions – what’s the saying, it takes A THOUSAND “atta-boys” or “atta-girls” to equal ONE “uh oh, I screwed up.”

Show your clients that you take your work seriously and they will do the same. You don’t have to take YOURSELF too seriously (laugh, enjoy life, laugh at your mistakes – you’ll make LOTS of them, so enjoy them as they race by every day).

If you have a website or Facebook page for your business, make sure it is professional. It’s great to share your personality and family activities when they help to round-you-out as a whole person but as you look at other people’s websites and Facebook pages, see what feels right to you and what stands out as inappropriate – learn from what others are doing.

Tip Number Five: Talk to your clients.

Communication is a two-way adventure. Keep your clients updated on your progress, any changes or snags, and let them know that things are going smoothly and right on schedule.

For example, consider that you're building a house for someone: you'll want to update them frequently. They will need to know when the foundation is poured, when the electrical panel is installed, or when the roof is on. You can do this by email, a phone call, or a face-to-face. The most important thing is keeping your client in the loop and aware of the job's status.

AND, be sure to ask your customers and clients what they WANT from you. There’s a great story about a Printer creating a company’s business cards. For years he did a great job. One day the office manager walked in to pick up the latest batch of cards and told the Printer that they just had some great stationery printed at another shop. The Printer was dismayed to learn that he had never asked his client about other needs: the client didn’t know that the Printer printed letterhead – the Printer was only thought of as the “card printer.”

I communicate a lot through email. I don’t trust my memory for all the details when a job is ongoing. And it’s always best to be sure I CLEARLY understand what my client wants. And I keep all correspondence in separate folders in my email server so I can quickly access all email from each of my clients.

If the client wants to make a change, get it in writing. It's important to get the original Agreement in writing, but it's equally important to get any changes documented and approved. This way, any project overruns or questions about the final project can be verified and justified.

Some people like Project Management software such as Basecamp, activeCollab, and Projecturf to keep their jobs organized. Most of mine aren’t that complicated, so emails work fine.

Tip Number Six: Keep your financial accounts separate.

Don't mix business and personal accounts. Get a separate bank account for your business.

Get a credit card for your business (preferably the cash-back type) and use it for all business expenses. We get a few hundred dollars back each year because we charge everything possible and pay it off each month.

And since I have a proprietorship for my Photography business and an LLC for my Online business, I have TWO business accounts and TWO credit cards, in addition to my personal account.

Once you get used to them, it’s easy to work with this way.

Tip Number Seven: Work hard after setting your goals.

Sometimes you'll take a job because you need the money. You won't always be able to pick and choose your clients because you believe in what they're doing, or the job intrigues you on some level. Some months you'll just need to make the rent, or payroll, or quarterly taxes and you'll take whatever work presents itself.

This isn't selling out. It's just a fact of life. You can still take on those projects close to your heart when the money isn't so tight and your business is running smoothly.

Look for ways to augment your income. When you're self-employed, there may be times when there's no money coming in. Investigate passive income sources, such as ebooks and affiliate marketing, to see if one is right for you.

But don’t fall into the trap of taking just anything that comes along: people will get really confused WHO you are and WHAT you are doing. Set your goals and stay as close to them as you can.

Tip Number Eight: File everything.

Keep a job's agreements, invoices, and notes in one place, preferably a folder in a filing cabinet (electronically and physically). When in doubt, file it. You can always toss it later, but you can't get something back after it's gone. (And electronic storage is cheap – I recently purchased one terabyte for under $200.)

For each project, I have file folders in my cabinet with all signed papers and agreements and on my computer I keep a folder for all email. Be sure to back up your computer to protect what you have there. And while I’m very supportive of “green” living, make physical copies when the information is crucial – even if you used recycled paper OR the back of something you printed before.

Tip Number Nine: Talk with a CPA about your business finances.

Some businesses can run on a “cash basis” right from one or more checkbooks. Some need one of the popular computer-accounting packages. And some need the services of a bookkeeper plus an accountant to handle the monthly P&L and to reconcile the checkbook, file sales tax and employee taxes, and complete the quarterlies.

Be sure to think ahead to see what YOU will need. And at least find a CPA you trust and go talk about how your business will be set up so you know you’re doing it correctly. And at tax time, s/he will be worth her/his weight in gold.

Tip Number Ten: Take the weekend off.

I’m not very good at this one, I’ll admit right up front. Sundays are for church and family (and my well-deserved nap and a chance to watch some sports on TV). But I often work a full schedule on Saturday – but that doesn’t mean YOU should do that!

When you're self-employed, you can't get away from the office very easily. It's both a blessing and a curse to work from home. Yes, it's convenient and the commute is probably under thirty seconds, but it's awfully hard to get away from the job.

You'll be tempted to work after dinner or on Saturday or miss your daughter’s hockey game or your son’s theater performance but DON’T.

One thing we learn very quickly: work is NEVER finish, so sometimes you just need to STOP – it will be there for you when you come back.

You need down time to keep fresh and you need to spend time with family and friends. What is that old story: that on someone’s deathbed, seldom does the person say, “I just wish I had worked longer every day.”

If you need to understand why your family is important, perhaps you need to see one of my other blogs: http://RaisingGreatFamilies.com. Trust me on this one: set your schedule and CROSS OUT Sundays and leave Saturdays blank for whatever you really need to work on. (Or do the reverse – Cross out Saturdays from work and leave Sundays blank to help with the left-over work).

You and your family deserve to spend time together.

Wrap-Up

The Work at Home lifestyle can be the MOST ENJOYABLE you’ve ever known, if you follow these ten tips. Keep it all in perspective, keep your goals in front of you, and know WHY you work so hard.

Hey, life’s to be enjoyed – and let it start at home!

And – Please leave me a comment: what ELSE do you feel this article should cover? Was it helpful to you? What do you disagree with?

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad since 1983, succeeding in this economy

PS: You can find me here:

http://twitter.com/UltimateWAHDads

http://facebook.com/CharlesSeymourJr

http://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesseymourjr

To learn more, stay in touch with my blog – I'll keep you informed so that YOU won't have to do the heavy lifting. Charlie Seymour Jr's Blog – Click HERE To See More!

PPS: Do you have trouble writing? Turn Your Words Into Gold – Go Here To Learn More! NOW is the time to start.

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Keep this with this article, please:

Charlie Seymour Jr is an entrepreneurial evangelist and marketing-success coach helping individuals and companies (up to $100MM) explode their success through online and direct-response marketing. He specializes in blogging, podcasting, photography, video, and Facebook applications. Visit his blog at Charlie Seymour Jr's Blog to learn more about his successes.

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Work At Home: 10 Tips To Create Your Business and Save Your Sanity!

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Dave Dee – Marketer Extraordinaire – Knows How To Attract Free Giveaway Bonus Gifts For You

I'm a marketer.

I have years of experience, hundreds of millions of dollars of personal sales and a billion dollars of product I've marketed, and an MBA on the wall. I belong to business groups where I take leadership and presentation positions, sharing my knowledge, and I study great marketers like Dan Kennedy, Bill Glazer, Gary Halbert, and so many more.

Yet I step back when I see other marketers who have their own huge success: I admire them, learn from them, and steal every idea I can (which most freely give away) and put them to work in my business.

Dave Dee is such a marketer.

I have purchased many of his products over the years. This magician turned marketer-to-magicians turned marketer-for-businesses understands clearly what he needs to do.

Yet I also admire him for the way he helps his kids, takes time out for them, and shares his love unabashedly. He's often blogging about his kids, sharing his intimate emotions.

Here's his most recent email to the tens of thousands of us on his list:

I just flew into Los Angeles to be with the love of my life and to have two days of meetings with Dave & Alexis Platinum coaching members.

Last night, back in Atlanta, I had a date with my daughter, Gina. She is an amazing ten year old girl. As we were munching on pizza, she brought up the subject of spirituality. She told me her thoughts about heaven, hell, God, good, evil and more. I was blown away.

Then we went to the supermarket to buy, as we say in the South, the "fixins" for ice cream sundaes. We also stopped
off at Blockbuster video to rent one of my favorite comedy movies, "Planes, Trains And Automobiles."

Back at my place, we sat on the coach, ate our sundaes and laughed together at the movie.

During the movie, Gina put her arm around me and said, "Daddy, I hope I remember how much fun we had together when
I am grown up."

Yep, I'm not ashamed to admit that tears welled up in my eyes. (Heck, sometimes when I just look at my kids, I get
misty.)

And it hit me that the real reason I chose the business I did is not about the dee-nero. It's not about not having to answer to the "man." It's not about doing something I love. Nope.

It's all about the lifestyle.

I am FREE to work when I want to. (Now, don't get me wrong, I work hard…but I don't have to have "office hours".)

I'm FREE to fly across the country every other week to be with Alexis. (Our relationship would not be possible if I
had a brick and mortar business.)

I'm FREE to take time off, whenever I want, to be with my kids and truly be 100% present with them.

The list goes on and on, but I think you get the point.

Tomorrow, I am going to be sending you the most important email I have sent you in a long time. It is about a free
call Alexis and I are doing on July 3rd.

If you have a business that you've been successful at but long for more freedom, then this call is not something you
can afford to miss.

Be on the lookout for my email tomorrow. Open it up and then register for the teleseminar.

You will thank me. I promise you that.

Kick butt, make mucho dee-nero!

Do you see THE MAN and not just the Marketer? Do you envy the freedom that we get when we market and sell what we want to? Would you like to learn more?

You can imagine how pleased I was when asked if I would contribute one of my marketing specialties to Dave's upcoming product release.

Dave is combining his efforts with Alexis Martin Neely, the former attorney turned marketer who had such huge success helping others do what she used to do (market her law firm) that she no longer had time to work as an attorney.

Now they are offering 5 Step Formula to Add 6 Figures to Your Business THIS YEAR & Re-Ignite Your Passion While You Do It and I'm giving you a big head start because I know that you understand marketing.

Read carefully what I'm about to tell you…

On July 3rd at NOON ET (9:00 AM PT), Dave and Alexis are conducting a live, FREE teleclasss during which they will share their 5-Step Formula to Add 6 Figures to Your Business THIS YEAR & Re-Ignite Your Passion While You Do It.

Registration for this exciting call does not officially open until Monday, but I got permission to let my friends and associates (and those who come to my blog) know before everyone else. Believe me, if it's like anything else these two have done, the registration will close very quickly.

Dave's magic is not just with a hat and a rabbit – his marketing ideas are terrific and once people learn about this call, all the phone lines will be gone (and that's why people need to register NOW).

I believe so much in these two that I have created an information product for them to GIVE AWAY FREE just so people will get TONS of bonuses to join this call. You'll see my photo on their information page where you'll learn about my information as well as information from MANY others.

NOTE – You have to purchase NOTHING to get ALL these bonuses FREE… just be sure you register for the call NOW and then listen to it. Complete details about the call are on their site and to get a head start on registering, go to:

Dave Dee and Alexis Martin Neely's Teleseminar Signup – Click Here NOW!

Please jump into this before all the reservations for the phone line are taken. If you don't want all the great information on the call, at least see all the free giveaway items that you will get just for being ON the call.

TONS of free materials from today's exciting internet marketers. And if it's all as good as my MP3 series, you are in for a HUGE treat.

Tons of Free Marketing Materials By Some Of The Internet's BEST and Most Creative Minds – Click Here To Learn More

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad since 1983, succeeding in this economy

P.S. Listening to this teleclass could be a life-changing moment for you. I have used several of Dave's products and paid him for them and get referral fees when I help sell any of his: he's quick, sharp, insightful. And Alexis, who recently sold her law practice just to concentrate on her internet businesses (because she was earning over 7 figures), is a real winner. Seriously – Register for the call now.

Register For Dave and Alexis's Call NOW – Click Here Now

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Dave Dee, Alexis Martin Neely, 5-Step Formula to Add 6 Figures to Your Business THIS YEAR & Re-Ignite Your Passion While You Do It

Work At Home – Get Some Help And Your Dream Can STILL Come True

Successful Entrepreneur – It's been your dream for SO long.

Remember your parents saying, “If you work hard enough, you can have anything in this life.”

As you were graduated from high school, then college, and pursued that six-figure job, “work hard, play hard” became your mantra.

Nothing ever got in your way as you pursued the American Dream.

Until now.

And with the World-wide Economic Meltdown of 2008 – 2009, it's gotten pretty tight around your place.

That pink slips in your friends' paychecks were like an electric shock to your heart. People down the street. Those you see in church. One of your grown children.

And fewer people are now on the golf course and tennis courts as they've stopped paying the fees to belong.

Sure, you knew the economy was lousy. You knew thousands of other people were losing their jobs.

But it wasn’t supposed to happen to you or people you care about.

What do they say: It's a recession when someone else is out of a job; it's a depression when YOU are out of a job.

And you know exactly what they mean as you see the scared look deep in the eyes of your friends.

Your life was all planned out! Get an education, get a great job, marry a wonderful woman, and raise a terrific family. Take memorable vacations to exotic locations. Send your kids to top colleges, and enjoy all the sentimental, inspiring moments of your childrens’ budding lives while simultaneously saving for your retirement, where you and your wife would slow dance off into the sunset of old age, reflecting on the deep meaning of your lives together.

SPLAT@*#+! Dream over! Vanished. Where did it go and what went wrong?

That trickle down economics you heard about for years was finally trickling down… and it was blood of vanquished employees and businesses heading your direction.

And this is personal.

What do you tell your wife and family? What about your mortgage, your health insurance, your retirement fund? How can an entire lifetime of blood, sweat, and tears be destroyed by outside forces like this?

Where did the dream go? Worse yet, how can you recover in this difficult economy?

Did you see the CNN.com report, “Employers slashed another 598,000 jobs off of U.S. payrolls in January, taking the unemployment rate up to 7.6%… The latest job loss is the worst since December 1974, and brings job losses to 1.8 million in just the last three months… the biggest 3-month drop since immediately after the end of World War II. The unemployment rate is now at its highest level since September, 1992.”

CNN went on to say, “The report also showed that 2.6 million people have now been out of work for more than six months, the most long-term unemployed since 1983.”

And they're talking over 10% unemployment in the West until deep into 2010 – and who knows if California will completely implode and fall off the Left Coast.

And that number only counts those unemployed who are still looking for work! All those discouraged sitting at home aren't even counted.

Like so many other successful, capable, hardworking men thrown callously onto the heaping human landfill of unemployed Americans, nothing could be more frightening. And though you have your own business, you can feel the wolves nipping at your heels.

You have no answer for your wife when she looks at you with fear and panic in her eyes.

The thought of not-making-it-on-your-own almost makes you sick to your stomach. You can't turn back and work for "the man" with that long commute, doing things "the way they've always been done" simply because someone with a pencil behind his ear tells you to.

What can you do to pick up the pieces created by so many others?

Experts suggest those who have the innate ability to recalibrate their goals and dreams have a better chance for survival. Think about it. You have incredible skills and a lifetime of achievements! Maybe you simply need to rethink how to use your talents.

Working from home is the right answer for millions. According to the New York Times, “Democratic pollster Mark Penn’s book, Microtrends, notes that 4.2 million Americans now work exclusively from home (a nearly 100 percent increase from 1990).”

But as we know from the rapid evaporation of the American Dream, you need a realistic plan.

If you’re ready to think about a new journey toward personal and financial freedom, look here: http://TurboChargeMyWorkAtHome.com.

Help is out there. Refocus. Get some outside help to have you see how you can succeed. Let me know how we can help.

And then let NOTHING stand in your way.

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad since 1983, succeeding in this economy

PS: Do you have trouble writing? Maybe you just simply haven't learn the tips, tricks, and secrets that others have kept from you. Turn Your Words Into Gold – Go Here To Learn More! NOW is the time to start.

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Successful Entrepreneur – Work At Home

Sales Prevention: Do You Allow Poor Sales Techniques to "Unsell" your customer?

Let me give you an example where the sales person UNSOLD something and then didn’t follow-up:

A woman went to buy tires. Her husband had asked her to get 4 Michelins for the Explorer and when she went to the chain tire store, she was told that 4 tires would cost approximately $1200.

“1200?” she exclaimed, never having bought tires for this large vehicle before. TRUCK tires, I might add.

“Well, let me show you some different tires for $800,” the salesman said.

“Wow, I’m still confused. That’s a lot of money.”

“Well,” the salesman said, doing the best he knew how, “I do have some OTHER tires for $600.”

The woman was confused, called home to her husband who just murmured, “Come home, dear.”

Marketing Follow-Up – Did The Salesman Follow-Up?

It’s been weeks since that day, but do you think the salesman even once called the man and woman about the tires? He received her phone number and email address, but made no attempt to follow-up.

So… not only did he immediately lower the value from $1200 to $800 (and then again to $600), he never followed up with the people because he THOUGHT they wouldn’t buy. But their VERY strong buying signal (actually SHOWING UP at the store to BUY the tires – being in the store to buy is ALWAYS the number one buying signal!) was wasted.

And the woman wasn’t objecting to the $1200, she was really asking a question: if he had only taken that as an opportunity to chat with her about the quality, safety, durability, the you-don’t-have-to-worry-with-Michelins. But no….

And that company continues to have meetings that the economy stinks, NO ONE IS BUYING, and their marketing and advertising campaigns aren’t working.

Things Aren't As Bad As You Think IF You Use Good Marketing And Sales Techniques

Unfortunately this salesman was good at Sales PREVENTION, but not good at selling or following up.

And I’ll bet his store manager spends more time on getting inventory and looking over people’s time cards than he does helping to assure that proper marketing, sales, and follow-up are used.

And you…

• Are YOU "unselling" people by not helping them get what they want?
• Do you “down sell” them any time an objection is raised?
• Are you falling down with follow-up either in direct follow-up as was needed in the tire situation or general follow-up needed when someone joins one of your lists.

If a football team is great from the 20 yard line to the other 20 but can't score, what good are they?

And if YOU attract all kinds of people to your bricks and mortar store or your online location but then use poor techniques once they know about you, you're not doing well either.

Think about it. The time you spend thinking will pay off greatly if you straighten yourself out and sell correctly.

And remember: follow-up, follow-up, follow-up!

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad, succeeding in this economy

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Do you want your website to be beautiful or successful for your business – don't let the design rule you

Ahhhh, beautiful design: it's pleasing to our eye, it's fun to look at, it often inspires us to higher levels of thinking and creating.

But is it good for business?

Believe me, I have NOTHING against art, photography, theater, and great website design. As a pro photographer (as ONE of the things I do) for high end family portraits, weddings, and bar mitzvahs, I always create the most emotional, beautiful work I can.

I'm creating the heirlooms of tomorrow today.

• The bride and groom just after their wedding but before her diagnosis of MS.
• The mother and son two days before his Bar Mitzvah (the last time he rested his head on his mom's shoulder, she says).
• Three children on a common summer chaise in their backyard, but "painted" in the computer to enhance its beauty and make it a lasting memory before they grew up and moved away.

Website Design – Beauty or Business?

What is the purpose of YOUR website?

• Are you attracting art lovers to see how great your site looks OR are you creating a business?
• Do you use lots of images and flash or do you focus on guiding the visitor to leave his or her name and email address so that you can build your business?
• Are you so creative in the look of the site that people forget why they found you and what they are doing on your site?

Is your site lost in Google's shuffle or does the coding of your site enhance the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) automatically?

Are you asking the viewer to do several things while visiting your site and then they get confused (A confused mind always says NO) or do you have ONE purpose for your site?

What Is The Difference – How Can I Tell If My Site Is Set Up For Business?

Here are a few websites that are GORGEOUS. Look how creative they are. Look how up-to-date they look. Look how clever the designers have been. See A Beautiful Showcase of Popular Web Design Trends, Click Here!

So, what is missing?

Ask yourself these questions:

1. What is the purpose of each site?
2. Are they capturing names and email addresses right up front so that they can build a list to build their business?
3. Are they asking the viewer to do too many things, confusing him or her?
4. Are you so fascinated by the design that you forget what you are doing there?
5. Can you imagine selling a product from this site?

How Can You Learn More About What Your Site Needs To Do?

Perhaps my earlier blog post can help you learn about your business and how you need to set things up. To Learn More, Click Here!

And soon I'll be releasing Say It So They Buy It: 15 Direct Marketing Musts When Your Salesmanship Is In Print^TM. If you sign up for my Ezine here on this site, I'll be sure to tell you when this is released.

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad, succeeding in this economy

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Circle The Chairs In One Of Charlie Seymour Jr's Campfire Meetings At BDR (Business Development Resources)

It wasn't your typical business meeting.

I've been a member of Business Development Resources (BDR) in Media, PA USA for many years. It was my turn to lead the group's educational program, so I decided to start off with something I'm "famous" for: A Campfire.

And Jerry Rafter said after the meeting: “Marshmallows are sweet….but nothing is better than the morsels of marketing knowledge you share for FREE”

As you can see in the photographs, we convert the regular meeting space by bringing our chairs around a paper "campfire" that my younger daughter, Liz (LizSeymour.com), created for me so I could use it in meetings like this.

Pulling our chairs to the center of the room changes how we approach the topic and each other, and let's us get into creative thinking mode, not simply analyze mode.

Today's topic: Improving Your Marketing.

And as you'll hear, we covered quite a few items, encouraging each other to talk, think, come up with new ideas. (Some of the very quiet parts were edited out – only I was wearing a microphone… but I believe you'll follow everything done here.)

Everyone was a great sport and we shared many ideas. Please listen to the MP3 to hear what went on!

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad, succeeding in this economy

Those participating in the meeting included:

Lin Schrack, USHGInsurance.com/linschrack
Virgie M. Vakil, KGPV.com
Carol Mack Warner, Visual-Marketing.com
Richard McCloskey, Simply The Best Move
Cliff R. Silver, InterfaceFinancial.com/silver
Pat Scarano, PatScarano.com and MyNikken.net/lifestrokes
Sara Dobbins, Sara's Sweet Sensations
Jerry Rafter, AllAboardCruisesTravel.com
Marc Kossmann, BlueFireCards.com
Mike Smith, MDSCarpets.com
Dennis D. D'Andrea, 3DFinancialGroup.com
Mike D'Alessandro, SourceCorpTax.com

Thanks to Marc Kossmann for help with some of the photographs.

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When Preparing For A Consulting Meeting With An International Foundation, The Following Questions Were Asked

The following questions are modified for this post. But they are very similar to what I'm asking my consulting client.

Each of us needs to look at our business with fresh eyes (I guess that's why consultants like me get paid and why so many of us use Mastermind Groups to challenge our thinking and assumptions).

See how many of these can help YOUR business:

1. If someone is looking for you, what are they looking for? (Dig deep on this… if for photography, for instance, are they looking for pretty pictures OR are they looking to preserve memories. Are my marketing success clients looking for more leads OR are they looking to serve a specific market while producing 20% higher profits. See what I mean?)

2. How do you spread the word about what you do? What methods do you use to get the word out. Are you limiting yourself to ONE way of getting new business? Many of us feel that ONE is the worst number in business (one person inside your business knowing how to update your website, for example. Or one printer or one mail house – when they get busy or go out of business, THEN what do you do?)

3. How do you find “new” people? What do these “new” people primarily want from you? Are you attracting people to you OR are you hunting them down and trapping them like in the old wild wild west? You need information working for you 24/7 and if you don't have it, let's chat about how you can GET it.

4. What words do you use to describe what you do or what you are looking for? Are you narrowly focused with your "keywords" or are you attracting people who use "long-tail search terms"? (Examples: Marketing Consultant is a HUGE term with lots of results. But if you provide services to Work at Home Dads, that is more specific. OR are you looking for companies with sales under $100million? The more specific you can get with your terms, the more likely you will find people looking for YOU… not someone similar to you.

5. What are the top 3 questions you get asked by people you work with? If you have general questions asked of you a lot, it's time to create an eBook, an FAQ page on your website, or some other means to answer the general question. You don't need to spend all of your sales time informing people about what you do… they should know that BEFORE you chat. If they don't, you have a marketing problem (not a sales problem) and need to address it.

6. Has anyone indicated that they looked online for you? Has anyone you interact with been to your present website? Hey, as much time as I spend online, it's still clear that not EVERYONE searches online (though a great many people do!). So be sure you provide information where people are looking for you.

7. How comfortable are you with a computer, searching online? The more comfortable YOU are, the easier it will be to respond to people electronically. If you are NOT comfortable, you can purchase those services. But having someone else put up your website and then leaving it unattended will only lead to missed opportunities when it comes to your online marketing. You need to know enough to be able to direct others and to know that they are doing a great job for you.

8. What articles have you personally written to help attract more people to you? People venture online for INFORMATION. If you have blogs on your website, articles on Hubpages, articles for others to use on EzineArticles.com, you are making it easier for people to find YOU… instead of your continuing to hunt for THEM.

9. When you visit a face to face with a client or prospect, what do you talk about most often? Are you able to answer questions easily? Do you have information products or physical products that can answer the most-asked questions? If not, that's a great place to focus right now.
10. How often do you recontact them your present customers and clients? For what reason? What do you chat about? What additional services do they request? Once you can answer that and provide products (physical products or electronic ones) that can help MANY of your clients and customers… so always think about how you can multiply your efforts through others and use something you created to help additional people. (You DO notice that I prepared these questions for my consulting client and now I'm using them here to help you too, right?)

10.5. What do YOU feel could be MOST HELPFUL to you when considering getting MORE people to use your services? Focus on what you need to do to get MORE people to work with you. You'll be glad you did.

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad, succeeding in this economy

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If Oprah was angry when an author lied to her about his credentials, imagine how she'll feel when a major company promises to feed people for FREE and then turns down the coupons it distributed

Do you remember "New Coke" and the marketing fiasco it created.

Welcome to KFC's attempt at retraining our taste buds to like GRILLED Chicken instead of deep fried.

There's a marketing lesson here, so please pay attention!

Lesson 1. The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

Lesson 2. The way to get a man angry is to promise him food, let him smell it, and then tell him it's not for him!

Lesson 3. It's much more difficult to recover AFTER a problem than it is to CAUSE the problem.

KFC Blows It – Simply Put: They Weren't Ready For This

I never saw the Oprah show when KFC offered its coupons for a free GRILLED chicken meal. I did see, however, that you had a short window to download the coupon and then about 10 days to redeem them. (Mothers Day was clearly marked as NOT one of these days.)

But when I went today to a suburban Philadelphia, PA USA KFC (the Friday BEFORE Mothers Day), I waited in line with lots of people. Sure looked like the marketing campaign worked! Lots of people were standing there, printed coupon in hand.

Wow! Very successful, it seemed.

The chatter was hushed (I guess people were hungry by 1:12 PM) though I did hear a bit of grumbling that it always takes so long to be served.

Looking behind the counter I saw why: one person cooking, one person at the service counter, and one person at the drive-through window serving the 11 cars in line.

Oh… and one person sitting out front on the sidewalk (I guess that was for a break, even though the line was long) and another slowly clearing off tables in the restaurant. (Bad enough when people take a break when the crush of the business's traffic arrives, but then don't do it so all of us can SEE that you are present but not waiting on us.)

Why is the sign so small when the news isn't good?

After waiting in line for 27 minutes and finally working my way up close to the counter, I happened to see a note that said something like:

We can't honor your coupons – please turn them in for a rain check.

WHAT?

They HAVE to know that a large number of people in the restaurant came to use the coupons. Oprah had hawked them and the Internet was jumping (I know Twitter was jumping) with the news.

The best they can do is a sign that is taped to the flat horizontal surface of the counter?

Did they think we'd just proceed to the front of the line and order something else and pay them for it?

Did they think that we didn't make a special trip just to try their new product (which was slowing becoming that "evil product" because of the way this was handled)?

I just left and drove to a KFC / Taco Bell near my home. THEY would serve me.

Trouble strikes again at a different KFC

Several of us standing in line at this KFC / Taco Bell were talking about how poorly KFC had handled this situation. I mostly listened because I was studying the marketing effort and wasn't getting angry the way some of these folks were.

Business people; teachers; mothers with small children; blue collar workers on a break: all wanting to try the new product in what was one of the largest and most successful "get out the news" marketing efforts I have ever seen.

"Excuse me," I asked the young man cleaning up in the restaurant – asking him because the line was too long for me to ask the woman at the counter, "are you taking these coupons here?"

"Yes, sir… just step up to the counter."

Except they weren't.

Two minutes later a woman in a loud voice became quite agitated. The woman right in front of me had been turned away from a KFC yesterday. And I had come from one only a few minutes earlier.

The woman behind the counter at THIS store (and it's not HER fault – seems like this is what is happening nationally) started to tell one person what to do… but someone spoke up and said, "We're all here for this, you might as well tell all of us."

It seems that KFC, in a stroke of marketing suicide, decided to tell everyone to fill out ANOTHER piece of paper and either WE could mail it in for a rain-check coupon or the STORE would mail it in for us.

"Can we eat here today, try the Grilled Chicken, and not pay for it?" someone asked.

"No, you must fill this in, send it in, and they'll send you a coupon."

Three of us left, and the other two were really squabbling about KFC, Oprah, anyone connected to this promotion.

How could such a Web 2.0 way of marketing go so wrong for KFC?

How could KFC blow this so badly?

• You KNOW they had marketing meetings about this.
• You KNOW that they took the idea to Oprah and got her to wave her magic wand.
• And you KNOW that SOMEONE must have thought about the consequences of giving out hundreds of thousands of coupons.

Did they think they were only in the coupon-distribution business and would never actually have to fulfill the meals?

Last I checked, they were in the restaurant business… a business that has been lack-luster at best.

They had everything going for them: Twitter, emails, Oprah, news reports telling about Twitter, emails, and Oprah. It was the "perfect storm" of marketing genius and it was magnetically attracting thousands into their restaurants.

Especially during this economic meltdown when people are stretching their budgets as far as they can: this was a perfect message (come eat free at our restaurants) to market (people having a tough economic time) match.

Now will people go back to try the Grilled Chicken? KFC better home so – this has already cost them millions is negative publicity.

And now it all came crashing down on them.

They'll wonder what hit them when all these hungry people bare their fangs and get nasty.

Kind of makes you long for the good ol' New Coke Days!

Marketing Lesson To Learn

Could this ever happen to you?

Perhaps not on this SCALE, but if you have ever placed an ad in a newspaper and NOT told the people working in your store, sent out an email and not have the website ready, or used Twitter to send a notice but your sales page hadn't been updated, then YOU have committed the same marketing suicide as KFC.

Communication. Left Hand knowing and Right Hand knowing.

And then follow what the Boy Scouts have taught for years: Be Prepared.

Clearly KFC wasn't prepared for the crush of people. And it may take them a long time to recover.

How am I feeling after today's experiences?

I sure don't see a reason to rush back to a KFC, and still I think of it as fried chicken, honey-barbecue wings (hey, love them!), and sides.

Wonder if I'll ever get back to try the Grilled Chicken.

Hey, give me credit: I tried twice today!

Good luck to KFC. You'll need it to recover from these blunders.

Oh, and Oprah: thanks for helping with the marketing. KFC sure let you (and us) down.

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad, succeeding in this economy

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Twitter, When Used Correctly, Is A Great Part Of Your Marketing System

Too many people don’t understand how to use Twitter for business, but that hasn’t stopped them from blogging about it.

Twitter, the micro-blog that lets you send 140 characters across the Internet to anyone who has followed you (and then be resent (ReTweeted) by others), is a highly-targeted tool for marketers – and it works well with other social media marketing tools.

For those of us old enough to remember party-line telephones, it’s like listening into the conversations of your neighbors and then adding to their chat only when you have something that applies to them. No need to send messages about photography to people interested in politics or television. So in THIS way, Twitter lets you laser-target your messages.

For me (and I admit there are other ways to approach this), I have 10 Twitter accounts, each based around specific keywords. For some of my accounts I’m building a list of followers who are interested in businesses I already have operating. For others, I’m building lists around topics that interest me and will figure out later how I will monetize them.

After all, having a LIST of interested prospects is the most important part of marketing and running our businesses.

So, with that as prologue, here are my top 37 steps you should take immediately to use Twitter for your business.

Twitter: Get Set Up

1. Set up an account at Twitter.com, using a keyword phrase as your username. You have 14 characters, so be succinct. (Two of mine are UltimateWAHDads and PhotoCharlie)

2. Add some personal information to it – people like to do business with people they like and they like people who are like them.

3. Add a photo – not one of you and you cat, not one that twirls around (I guess those folks are trying to attract more attention, but most people find them distracting), but one of YOU that shows you clearly.

4. Add your business’s website URL (you DO have a website, right? If not, stop this, find another blog about setting up your own website that includes a lead generation name capture form, and come back to this one!).

5. Step away from your computer, grab a pad of paper, and write down at least FIFTY keywords someone might use to describe what you do and use when they search for someone like you in Google. Most people skip this step and never come back to it… and then wonder why they aren’t successful.

6. Purchase this very inexpensive but VERY helpful product so that you can speed up the growth of your list. Bill’s Twitter Traffic Machine http://budurl.com/fnhm You’re reading a post about using Twitter for Business, so you must have interest in it. Why take the next three weeks to begin to build a list when Bill shows you how to do it mostly on autopilot. I use it, I recommend it, and I’ve gotten to know Bill. Do this now. OK, so it will cost you a little bit: get over it. I just upgraded my screen capture video software today and it was $149 (and it’s the 6th version I’ve used!). Bill’s is WAY less than that: check here: http://budurl.com/fnhm

Twitter On Steroids: Once Bill’s Twitter Magic Is Setup, Now What?

7. Bill shows you how to find people who share your interests – and it’s all done on autopilot. Oh, sure… you can use Twitter Search if you want to find a few people and manually follow each one, but Bill’s system will do that for you. So… use the system, input your keywords so that potentially you have 50 or more keywords working for you to increase the size of your list.

8. Now that you’ve found people who share your interests and you follow them, you need to set up your system (SYSTEM, it the key to all of this) for it to automatically follow those who follow you. And can still manually add more and you can manually UNfollow those you find out you don’t want to connect with, but set up the autofollow so that you add as many people who share your keywords.

9. Now that you found people who share your interests and have auto-followed those who choose to follow you, it’s time to set up your system to send out messages for you automatically. Yep, Bill’s system does that too. He shows you how to find great blog posts that fit with your keywords and send them out to Twitterville automatically. This is key to letting people know what your interest are.

10. You can set up messages in advance when you have specific messages you want to send that contain links to products you have. Do NOT do this often. People use Twitter to get information, not be bombarded with advertising messages. But when you have products that people on your list will like (because you share common interests), sent out Tweets to tell them (and set those up to go out now or some time in the future). By the way, Bill’s videos show you how to set all of this up. OK, so it may take you two hours to set it up initially, but it will pay dividends over and over.

Twitter Zooming: Once Bill’s Twitter Magic Is Bringing In Followers, Now What?

11. Watch your @(yourname) section on Twitter… when someone tweets your name (for example, one of mine would say @UltimateWAHDads and you say that “At UltimateWAHDads), reply back. It’s pretty clear how to do that… you’ll see where the @ message came to you a way to click a little arrow that will put the other person’s “@name” in the tweet box so you can reply to that person. Know that EVERYONE on your list of followers can see that message (which is one of the HUGE powers of Twitter – you hold conversations with someone like ME and others pick up on it… when THEY are interested, they will tweet “@” you and me!

12. Look at your DM location (the location of the Direct Messages that are seen JUST by you). You can reply directly back to the sender from there OR copy the person’s @name and use the regular tweet box so that everyone on your list sees your reply. (Keep private things private, but tell others when it helps you).

13. Find a few people who look interesting (from the information you read on their Twitter home page – just click their little photo and you’ll go to their home page) and start to @chat – chat with them, but so everyone can read it. This is a great way to strike up some friendships with people who share your interest in the keywords you’ve chosen. After all, this IS supposed to be Social Networking, so now that you have some people on your list, get social with them!

14. Remember, you don’t have to chat just about business topics either… maybe one of your followers is a songwriter and you want to chat about that, even though YOUR keywords are about Internet Marketing (for example). None of us is unidirectional – we each have MANY interests, and it’s great to share them here.

15. Be sure to share links of things you find interesting. OK, so Bill’s Magic will do this too, but you can add other off-topic things like photography, cooking, singing, vacations, etc. Knowing you as a more-complete person will attract people to you.

16. When you blog, be sure to include a reference to it in a tweet. I certainly will send Tweets about THIS post, attracting more people who are interested in using Twitter for Business.

17. Ask lots of questions, take polls, get people to reply to you off of Twitter. Money isn’t made ON Twitter, it’s only made when people are interested in you, like you, trust that what you tell them is correct, and then you send them to other links including your website.

18. When you see someone sending tweets and you go to their homepage to learn more about them, remember that you can manually follow more people from anywhere in TwitterWorld. And it’s usually as easy as clicking one button: Follow. And if those people happen to have LOTS of followers, you’ll gain from them whatever system or information they use to stay in touch with their followers.

19. Often you’ll find a ReTweet button (as I have on this blog post): USE them! USE Mine! Let people who follow you know the type material you focus on and they will become drawn to you as an expert.

20. Use @Tweets to people you don’t even know! That’s right… if you see someone who shares your keyword interest and he or she has LOTS of followers, send an @Tweet (using their name after the @-sign, of course). Like sending one to me if you didn’t know me – “@UltimateWAHDads – I read your blog post at http://bit.ly/qA32s and agree that Bil.ly is powerful” People will just assume that you know me, and that gives a mystique about you because they THINK you know people will lots of followers.

21. You can manually resend tweets several times a day. It seems that MOST people are on Twitter around the same time every day. So if you send a tweet at 8:00 AM, a person who only is on Twitter from 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM will miss it (unless you send it as an @message directly to him or her). So… retweet your OWN messages 2 – 3 times a day to attract more attention to them.

22. Though there is no way you will be able to read EVERY tweet that comes your way (once your list grows through Bill’s system), but work hard to reply to every @Tweet so that you can build a relationship with people AND so people will see you replying to others in your TwitterWorld.

23. Be sure to pay attention when Bill shows you how to grow quickly and get past the 2000 follower hurdle. So many people do this wrong, but Bill pointed out to me how to avoid the pitfalls of this artificial limit placed by Twitter. And sometimes that means UNfollowing people you have been following, and Bill’s clear about how to do that. I’ve had to do it several times, but it’s like pruning a bush – trim away those who aren’t productive for you so new growth can occur.

Twitter For Business: Pros And Cons About

24. People will say it takes up a LOT of time. (Just chuckle to yourself – those are the people that are doing it by hand or using one or two of the free tools out there. Bill’s system will get you just nodding your head in agreement, because you won’t want to give away your money-making secret!)

25. Twitter takes so much time that you won’t have time for other productive work. (Chuckle again – and you know why). But when I posted a tweet about a new product, I watched the metrics that Bit.ly was giving me IN REAL TIME and I saw 37 people click on my link within 3 minutes. They were going to see this video about generating leads online: http://bit.ly/72nFU I was a bit giddy to see how quickly people saw my tweet and clicked on the link. Fabulous and instantaneous!

26. If you don’t have a great strategy, it’s just a waste of time. Definitely AGREE with them, even if you don’t give away the strategy you’ve learned here!

27. Those Twitter builds big lists, it doesn’t replace your Opt-in Email List. AGREE AGAIN. That is SO right. It’s not meant to. Do your blog posts replace your sales pages? Do you direct-mail campaigns replace your email campaigns. Each has its place and as part of a SYSTEM, it’s very powerful.

28. Twitter, while only using 140 characters, is meant only for computer nerds. HUH? I represent that statement! Well, I mean, OK… so I know how to use computers, the Internet, direct response marketing, etc, but that doesn’t mean that others can’t be taught how to use Twitter for Business correctly. Once you set up Bill’s Magic Machine and follow my directions here, YOU will be marketing in a system and using Twitter as a part of it.

29. Twitter, especially when connect to Facebook (and it’s easy to post a tweet in Twitter and have it get added to your status in Facebook – Facebook has an App that lets you do that once you get Twitter set up), is a very powerful way to communicate around the world (which is especially useful for people like me whose products aren’t restricted by geography). And I remember on the evening of the US National Elections that I was sending tweets (also to my Facebook profile) and hearing from people around the world who were excited for the USA. The news travels VERY fast this way.

30. Did you see what happened to Twitter once Oprah had a show about it? It seemed that EVERYONE was trying it… but not too many were taking the time to learn how to use it correctly. At least YOU have take THOSE steps already and are MILES ahead of others who are just plodding along PLAYING with Twitter.

31. Here’s a suggestion now that you have your main system working – set up ANOTHER Twitter account for your personal use. You can use the same photo and information, actually. But only follow those people you really want to learn from. I have such an account with under 1000 following me but I only follow about 53… that way I can track better what they are tweeting. These are important information marketers and I want to stay on top of what they do and say. They are also following me (and I follow them) on my UltimateWAHDads account, but I can’t follow their every move the way I can with my personal account.

32. Remember who you are and why you are here. Don’t lower your standards about WHAT you say and HOW you say it. If you’re short and abrupt with people in your business, OK, that can work on Twitter. But don’t get that way if that’s now the person you want to project on Twitter.

33. Those who LIKE and those who do NOT Like your products and services will chat on Twitter – great way for you to learn BOTH sides without being obvious about it.

34. Even if your present clients and customers aren’t online or even if you have a very local business (say, perhaps, as a bricks and mortar store), you should use Twitter to learn what others are saying about your industry. Best to be forearmed and forewarned, right?

35. Use what’s called Hash Tags. Here’s an example: #ttm. See, it’s a number sign (called a Hash Tag) plus whatever you follow up with – in this case I selected 3 letters to represent Bill’s Twitter Magic product. I also set up a URL for that: http://UltimateWorkAtHomeDads.com/ttm which also works the same way as http://budurl.com/fnhm But with several free tools dealing with Twitter, you can search for anything that starts with a #, so those wanting to find out all the messages about #ttm search for that Hash Tag and will find any tweet – from me, you, or anyone else. Can be a powerful way to use it.

36. Spent at least 15 minutes every day on your Twitter account. I can’t tell you why because it’s something you have to experience yourself. By watching tweets fly by (hit your F5 key to refresh you Twitter home page to see how the tweets keep coming), you’ll get a sense of what is happening in your market, what you should tweet about, and even what products people want. And when you create a product that people want, you’re able to sell it MUCH more quickly than one YOU want that you are working to convince people they should have interest in.

37. Have fun. This isn’t drudgery. It isn’t brain surgery. Loosen up, show your personality, and let people in to see who you really are. And then go make money!

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad, succeeding in this economy

Friends, if you like this post, please leave a comment, join our email list to get updates sent to you, and retweet it. And I've made it easy to retweet – just click on the icon below. Thanks!