It Is What It Is..Just Not What You Think It Is

“It is what it is.”

How many times have you heard that?  Or, how many times have you said that?

There is truth to the statement, but there are also some MAJOR flaws.

Typically you hear or say, “it is what it is,” right after you have received bad news, have been caught red handed or something along those lines.  And I agree, it is what it is, and you shouldn’t waste too much time energy or resources’ trying to make it seem like it isn’t.

On the other hand, it is FAR MORE than just a simple statement and moving on.

Whatever “it is” that has gotten you to the point of reference is a problem.  You need to be able to recognize the problem and CHANGE.

This is a huge disconnect that most of us have.  Especially entrepreneurs.

No longer do you get to sit around and simply accept what it is.  If you want there to be some sort of difference or change, that change needs to start with realization.

I know you may be chanting some mantra about the man in the mirror but it starts much sooner than that.

You’re never going to look in the mirror to change until you REALIZE that change needs to be made.

Here come some bold statements…If you’re broke, tired, unhealthy, unhappy, stressed or otherwise just miserable…it’s time to REALIZE that there is a deeper issue than your current circumstances.

This is typically the time when we hear, “It is what it is.”  And for most people that statement is like raising the white flag of surrender.  Congratulations, you just gave up on yourself.

It’s been said that EVERYTHING you want exists two steps outside of your comfort zone.  After nearly a decade of trials and tribulations I would most certainly agree.

So, the next time those ugly circumstances raise their gnarly heads and you say, “It is what it is.”  You’re right, but it’s not what you think it is…it’s not the circumstance, it’s YOU.

Every great master of ANYTHING is first a master of self.  I think it was Buddha who said, “Better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles.”

So, whatever it is for you, business success, relationships, health & fitness, etc…it’s out there for you.  Or, better yet it’s already inside of you.  You just need to REALIZE what it is.

Get rid of the distractions, unplug the TV and get really clear about what’s important.  Everything else will fall into place.

Then, when you have a HUGE commission month, meet the partner of your dreams and run a marathon, you can simply say…It is what it is.

How To Make Money In Direct Sales

How to make money in direct sales is actually far easier than you might think.  Actually, the Direct Sales industry is by far the most rewarding industry I can think of.  Let me explain…

As an entrepreneur there are certain aspects you should begin thinking about for the profitability of your business.

Rent, utilities, insurance, employees and inventory just to name a few.  All of that and we haven’t even mentioned the actual cost of operating your business, delivery or shipping costs.

Jeeze, it’s no wonder the vast majority of businesses are gone within a couple short years.

Let me help paint a better (more profitable) picture…

Your cost of getting started in the Direct Sales industry is simply the cost of your personal product.  Right off the bat, we’ve just cut a HUGE PORTION of your costs.

So now when you make sales and begin to recruit people into your business, you are putting 75%-80% of your revenue back into Hip National Bank (Your Pocket).

Now I’m just assuming you’re an entrepreneur and not trying to “supplement your income.”  I’ve never understood that philosophy.  That’s like showing up to some sort of competition and expecting to lose.  Anyway, that’s for another day.

I want you to imagine being affiliated with a product and opportunity you truly believe in.  You begin to build a business around this product and opportunity and start making sales.

I want you to think about what it feels like to make a $9,000 sale and be able to keep $4,500 of it!  Now if you’ve been in sales for any length of time, you know that keeping 50% of the sale is UNHEARD OF.

In Direct Sales, however, it’s normal.

Again, I’m just going to make an assumption that if you’re going to be in Direct Sales, you’re going to be in Top Tier Direct Sales.  This just simply means your product and opportunity is a high ticket item…anywhere from $2,000-$20,000.  If you’re gonna make sales, you may as well make BIG sales.

So, how many sales are you going to have to do before you are making A LOT of money?  Not many.

Okay, enough of the why, let’s get into How to make money in direct sales.

How To Make Money In Direct Sales Boils Down To 2 Things…

• Marketing/Advertising:  Remember when I said you get to keep 75%-80% of your revenue?  Well, the other 20%-25% of your revenue is going to your marketing and advertising budget.

This is so important in fact, most entrepreneurs in the direct sales industry don’t necessarily consider themselves Direct Sales people, they consider themselves GREAT MARKETERS.

Marketing is nothing more than providing valuable information to your market.  Most people think that Marketing is pitching and selling.

This couldn’t be further from the truth.  When you begin marketing, you need to GIVE to your market.

If you’re in the financial industry, GIVE advice about staying out of debt and increasing wealth.

If you’re in the health and wellness industry, GIVE advice about how to stay healthy and well.

I’ve heard this a hundred times and probably said it another hundred times…people love to buy, but they hate to be sold.  Give your market enough information to buy from you, and they will buy from you.

Advertising, on the other hand, is more geared towards selling.  However, you are again providing just enough information to your market to let them buy.

Give your market just enough to know how much they don’t know.

You can start to think about it like this…your marketing is like the customer service department that provides information and brochures.  Your advertising, on the other hand, is like sending your sales rep out to an appointment with an order form in hand!

The two of them, your marketing and your advertising, work in harmony like a beautiful symphony…a symphony whose music is money!

• Leadership:  Making money in the direct sales industry is more than just putting out good marketing and advertising.

Remember, the direct sales business is a people business.  Direct Sales IS NOT just a transaction based business.

Your marketing and advertising has put you in front of the right people.  It is now your job as a Leader to be the PERSON your prospects want to join in business.

Well, how do you do that?  Good question and here are just a couple ways…

Training your team is immensely important to your long term success.  You will still make money if you don’t have a trained team, but you will make EXPONENTIALLY more money if you have training in place for your team.

Be accessible.  Now before you start rolling your eyes and cringing from the thought of all the random phone calls, let me explain.

You can be accessible without actually being present.  Having a dedicated blog or site for your team is a great way from them to always have access to you.

You can regularly update information on your site or blog that keeps you in front of your entire team and your entire team up to speed with what’s new and exciting…more important, what’s working.

This SHOULD NOT be overlooked.  Your team has already come to you because they consider you the leader.  Make sure to continue to provide valuable leadership by ongoing training and being accessible.

I truly can’t think of another industry that will allow you the Freedom you are looking for.  ALL of your Marketing and Advertising can be done FOR you, allowing you to actually work ON your business and not IN your business.  Your leadership allows for your team to go out and duplicate your results.  All of this virtually leaves you working the 4 Hour Work Week and living your life by YOUR design.

So get out there you entrepreneur and live the life of your dreams.  Now you know how to make money in direct sales, the only thing left to do is GO!

To check out my direct sales opportunity, go here.

Online Marketing Strategies For Small Businesses: Part 2 How To

Get back out your pen and paper you used to take notes from Part 1 of online marketing strategies for small businesses.  Today we’re going to cover the same Basics of Getting Clear, Inform & Educate and Follow up.

Today, however, we’re going to jump into the How-To of each of these topics and how it relates to your business.

So shut the door, turn the TV off and let’s get started…online marketing strategies for small businesses that you can begin to use TODAY

• Getting Clear:  You now understand that not everyone with a pulse is your target market.  To make it even clearer, I’m going to help you determine who your market is and how to effectively reach them.

Let’s use Dentistry as an example.  And even more specific, let’s use implant dentistry.  While we’re at it, let’s use implant dentistry in Boise, ID.

The first thing you’re going to want to do is Keyword Research.  Keywords are the words or phrases your potential customer is going to type into the search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing).

You’re going to use Google’s free keyword tool to determine what gets searched and where you need to spend your marketing time.

After some basic research, we find that the term “implant dentistry Boise, ID” is WIDE open.

There is virtually NO competition for that specific Keyword Phrase.  Not only did we learn that there is no competition, but Google has given an additional 199 relevant keywords.

This means, according to Google, there are an additional 199 keywords that are relevant to “implant dentistry Boise, ID”

Looks like you would have PLENTY of material for your marketing efforts.

• Inform & Educate:  Now remember from Part 1, we’re not trying to sell your prospects yet.  We just want to make sure your prospect is informed.

So, how are you supposed to inform your prospect?

That’s the easy part.  You’ve already found 200 relevant keywords to talk about.  Let’s choose one and go with it…”Dental Implants vs Bridges”

After your research you have found that “Dental Implants vs Bridges” is searched almost 2,000 times every month.  And, of the nearly 600,000 search results, there are less than 5,000 of those search results that are optimized for this keyword.

All of that equals AWESOME.

So where to from here?  Write an article that is specifically about “Dental Implants vs Bridges”

Considering if you are a dentist, you should have a GREAT understanding of this topic.  Remember, this is an informative article.  And, it’s best to keep your article to around 500 words.

Make sure you use your keyword 3-5 times throughout your article.

Insert a link into your article that takes your prospect DIRECTLY to a page of your website that talks about “Dental Implants & Bridges”

You are going to take that article and distribute it to multiple different Article Directories such as Ezinearticles.com and Articlesbase.com.

To further saturate that particular keyword, you can also do a video with the exact same content from your article.  You can also turn the content into a blog post.

Once your prospect is on your website, you will offer them more detailed information about what they are looking for.  This is done by them “opting in” to receive more information.

As soon as your prospect has opted in, Congratulations, you just generated your own lead!

But wait a second, we don’t stop there….

• Follow Up:  Face it; more than 90% of your business is going to be done through follow up.

It’s a good thing for you that you have your prospects name, email address and possibly a phone number.

With services like Aweber and Constant Contact, you can always be in touch with your list of prospects.

In fact, you can have your follow up messages set up to go out on specific dates and times that say your specific message.

So, everyone who is on your prospects list will receive the right MESSAGE at the right TIME.

It’s like you being able to do multiple consultations all at once.  This, my friend, is true leverage!

I’m sure your beginning to see the power available to you.  This is just a quick taste of some basic online marketing strategies for small businesses.  Make it a point for you to develop and distribute 2-3 new pieces of content each week.  After you’ve done this for 60 days, you will dramatically increase the amount of views your business gets.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention something…THIS IS ALL FREE!!

Sure, you may have spent some time to create the content.  And heck, you could even have an assistant produce the content.  But other than that, articles, videos, blogs and such cost NO money.

So get out there you small business owner.  Today is the day and NOW is the time.  Don’t bunker down and do nothing, stand up and be heard.

Make sure you check out the rest of this site for more online marketing strategies for small businesses.

Online Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses:  Part 1 The Basics

Online marketing strategies for small businesses have never been as important as it is now.  Businesses, towns, states and even countries are on the verge of Bankruptcy.

What are you supposed to do?

It seems like the catch phrase has become, “Well, in this economy, we just have to make some cuts.”

Sound familiar?

As a business owner myself, I understand and appreciate the value of making cuts.  However, let’s make some of the cuts in the right places and make sure that your efforts (and dollars) are quantifiable and measurable.

So how do you, the small business owner, remain not only in business, but competitive in your Market Place?

This is actually easier than you think.  In fact, after learning what you’re about to read, you will not only remain in business, but will in fact be able to catapult yourself to the head of the pack.

So grab a pen and a piece of paper as we cover 3 basics of online marketing strategies for small businesses.  As the old saying goes, you can either make dust or eat dust…I’ve done both and I’d like to save you from that dry gritty taste.

• Get Clear:  If you’re going to begin to dominate your market, you first must understand WHO your market is.

I know, this almost sounds too simple.  However, you’d be surprised how many small businesses WASTE a ton of time, energy and money marketing to the WRONG people.

Without getting too deep into human psychology (which I am not an expert) I think most small business owners get caught in the IMPRESSIONS of an idea rather than its’ effectiveness.

Let me explain…have you ever been approached to be a sponsor of a local Golf Tournament?

Sounds great doesn’t it?  A few hundred people will see your logo and promotional material on certain Tee boxes.  You’ll get mentioned in the Golf Tournaments advertising and you can put your material in the welcome Gift Bag to all players!

Man, who wouldn’t want to be a part of THAT!?!

You! And any other small business owner who demands to see an effective return on your Marketing/Advertising dollar.

As a small business owner, it is VERY important for you to NOT take the shotgun approach to your Marketing.  You know, a big wide spread blast to a huge area.

If you are an Insurance business owner you need to drill down to YOUR specific niche…and no, your specific niche is NOT the entire Insurance market.

Get Clear, Get Specific.

• Information & Education:  One piece of Marketing is NOT enough.

Today’s buyer is MUCH savvier than ever before.  Part of this is the fact that there is an unlimited amount of information for your customers.

People hate to be sold but they LOVE to buy.  So how do you make sure you do as much sales as possible without selling your customer?

That’s actually pretty easy, you inform.

I know you’ve heard the term, “If you sell shovels, teach someone how to dig a hole.”  The premise being that when that person decides to buy a shovel, they will buy from you.

A perfect example is of my local Home Depot.  I am NOT a handy person.  You know who is…

My main man Clark.  I had gone in to Home Depot trying to figure out a project I was working on.  I had no clue what I was doing.  When I ran into Clark, he obviously knew I was out of my league.

Instead of him taking the “sell him everything we’ve got” approach, he showed me step by step how to complete my project and gave me multiple options of getting it done.

I have done two other projects since then and Clark has helped me with both.

Where do you think I go if I’m going to do a Home project?  Who do you think I ask for?

The best part for your small business is that you can do this very same thing for your potential customer without ever leaving your office or having to do it face to face.

Trust me, whatever your business/industry is; your potential customer IS looking to get educated.  Do yourself a favor and make sure you are the teacher.

• Follow Up:  Tell me if you can relate to this…

You have so much going on and you deal with so many customers and clients that you drop the ball on something.

It may be something as simple as a phone call or email, but it may be something as important as a shipment or re-order.

You know these crazy new online marketing strategies for small businesses can ensure you never miss another follow up anything.

Automation and delegation are the two biggest assets to a small business owner.

How much more effective will your business be when you can do ONE piece of marketing, put it in digital format, hit send and have your entire existing customer base be informed.

This is just the tip of the Ice Berg.  Not only do you inform your existing customer base, but also your potential customers and completely new prospects also get a taste of your business.

I know you’re just like most small business owners…BUSY.

You don’t have time to sit and write Newsletters and individual emails to your entire Customer list.

You need to be able to inform as many people as possible to make sure your TIME is as effective as possible.

When you have implemented the first two basics, not only is your time effective, but so is your message because it is going to the RIGHT person, saying the RIGHT message.

Implementing the correct online marketing strategies for small businesses can be the difference between success and failure.  Start with these basics of Getting Clear, Informing and Follow Up.

Be on the lookout for part 2 of Online Marketing Strategies For Small Businesses, where we are going to cover HOW to Get Clear…HOW to inform and HOW to correctly Follow Up.

Until then, keep reading around this site to get more Insider Info.  We’ll talk again soon.

Best Top Tier Direct Sales Opportunity:  Things To Look For

Choosing the best top tier direct sales opportunity can almost be like choosing your next car.  You have an idea of what you’re looking for.  You know things like the options, trim, power seats & windows, and all of the other fun stuff.

However, when choosing the best top tier direct sales opportunity, you must look a little deeper than just the fun stuff.

Now we’re talking about things like reliability, gas mileage, service, warranty and maintenance.

Here are 3 things to look for when choosing the best top tier direct sales opportunity for you:

• Value To The Market Place:  There is no shortage of opportunities out there.

You can find yourself distributing Travel & Leisure, legal advice, lotions, juice and anything else that people WANT to buy.

What you need to start thinking about are products and services that actually provide VALUE to the people you will be in business with.

What’s the #1 reason most people start a business….MONEY

What’s the #1 problem most people have trouble understanding and managing…MONEY

It’s fantastic for you to get involved with a product and opportunity that allows you to make a considerable amount of money, but do you have any idea what to do with it once you’ve made it?

You’re not alone in this area.  Google any sort of Financial Services, planning, strategies, etc. and look at the amount of results you get.

Obviously, those who are “in the know” know you don’t know (say that 10 times fast).

• Support and Training:  I mean REAL Support and Training.  Not the rah, rah get you hyped up and motivated to stay with the company.

I’m talking about the real deal McGilicuty Support and Training to have you not only an expert in your specific Niche but also an expert in building your business.  (There is a difference)

Every reputable company and industry requires it’s professionals to not only be trained on information, but to also CONTINUE to be trained on the information…that’s what makes you an expert.

Think about it like this:  A qualified prospect is SERIOUSLY looking for the best top tier direct sales opportunity.

This prospect begins their research and has narrowed it to 2 different opportunities.  One of the opportunities is the newest, hottest most fan dangled widget the market has ever seen.

The other opportunity is yours; tried and tested with a phenomenal management team and a product and opportunity that have VALUE for everyone.

Your prospect begins to dig a little deeper (because that’s what they do) and decides to listen in on a team training provided by both of the opportunities.

While your prospect did feel overwhelmed by all of the Hype and Lights of the other opportunity, ultimately your prospect couldn’t say no to the outstanding FREE training and VALUE provided by your opportunity.

Any REAL business builder worth their salt will ALWAYS choose VALUE over hype…congratulations; you just gained a valuable team asset!

• History & Management:  Who runs this thing anyway…and what is their background?

What does the track record of the management look like?  Did they come from this specific niche and industry?

History does a couple things…it leaves clues and has a tendency to repeat itself.

Don’t overlook this.  You are building a business.

As the old saying goes, are you going to build your business on a solid foundation or are you setting yourself up for failure by building your business on a shaky foundation.

I can’t make the decision for you.  Only you can decide the best top tier direct sales opportunity for you.  What I can tell you is to look for Value To The Market Place, Support & Training and do your homework when it comes to the History and Management of the company.

Top Tier Direct Sales is one of the most profitable business models on the planet.  Choose the best top tier direct sales opportunity and you’ll only have to do it once.

Go here to take a look at what I consider to be the best top tier direct sales opportunity.