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The Newsletter That Helps You Be Successful

(& Have Fun With The Process)

Dateline:  5/19/2010

Contents:

1.  Scams And Unethical Marketing Behavior

2.  Being A Mentor – How to Be An Expert When You Are Still A Novice

3.  Special offer               4.  Archives    

5.  About the Editor       6.  Member's Area (subscribers only)

Previous Issues: 

Scams And Unethical Marketing Behavior: 

(What to Look For And How to Protect Yourself)

By Dave Cleinman

One of the unfortunate aspects of doing business on the internet is that unlike traditional storefront community businesses, the internet is rife with individuals who prefer crime to honest business.  These individuals can be sorted into three general categories, with different intent, but employing similar methods and getting similar results.

1.  Malicious individuals.  These are the scum that pass viruses through e-mail, or send e-mails that try to scam you into giving out information.  Why anyone would send a virus is open to debate, but I believe the reasons are more akin to psychosis than anything else.  Phishing e-mails, the ones that claim you are a beneficiary to a stranger’s will, or you’ve won a contest you did not enter, or that you need to click a link to log in to a financial account to correct something, are designed to trick you into sharing your personal information.  The result of someone responding to these e-mails is invariably identity theft.

2.  Unethical marketers.  These are the individuals who pretend to be something or someone that they are not to try to trick you into doing something.  These are the individuals who send spam without using a real reply to address, they do not use their real name, and they often have disclaimers that are completely false.  These individuals also go into forums and online groups and post ads, without ever contributing to the discussions.  They sometimes go so far as to harvest your own e-mail address and use it to spam you so if you try to block them, or remove them, you are actually blocking your own e-mail address.

3.  Naïve newbies who are unfamiliar with proper marketing techniques and so engage in unethical and ineffective behavior.  These individuals do exactly what the individuals above do.  They simply do it because they don’t know any better.  Unfortunately, since they don’t take the time to learn proper marketing methods, such unethical behavior can permanently ruin their reputations before they even get a chance to get started.

Protecting yourself from the behavior of these individuals can be challenging, but it is essential if you are working on the internet.  Just one virus, or reply to a phishing e-mail can do immense damage to your computer and life.  Here are some ways to protect yourself.

1.  Make sure that you have top of the line anti-virus software installed and update it frequently.  I prefer Norton 360, but there are others available.  The best update automatically minute by minute and have active scanning going on without you noticing.

2.  Have separate e-mail accounts for personal, business, and pleasure and keep them separate.  When you get an e-mail that you don’t recognize it is safe to open it, but do NOT click on any links inside it.  If you cannot remember signing up for something, but think you might have, then type the domain into a Google search bar.  This will bring you to Google’s search page with information on the domain.  From there you can read about the site before visiting it.

3.  If you get a phishing e-mail (one that asks for personal information) do not reply and do not fill out the information.  Any communication from Paypal (a frequent phishing target), your bank (another common phishing target), or any other high value institution will direct you to their secure (https://) server.  They will never ask for your personal information or give you a link to click.  If you are in doubt call them and verify whether they actually did send you a communication.  If they tell you no, they will ask you to forward the e-mail to their anti-fraud department, something you should do anyway.  Also beware of fake disclaimers with links that do not seem legitimate.  Sometimes these links lead to a script that adds your e-mail address to another list.

4.  If your e-mail address has been harvested and is being used to spam you, try to find the actual source of the e-mails in the header information.  This will show the true identity of the sender by way of IP address, ISP, and location.  Contact the sender’s ISP and ask them to help you stop the spammer.  To deal with the e-mails themselves, since blocking the sender will block your own e-mail address, block the subject instead.  This will cut down on the spam and reduce some annoyance. 

Using these simple techniques to protect yourself can make a huge difference when doing business online.  Knowing how to prevent viruses, how to work with e-mails, and how to avoid identity theft can make the difference between being safe and suffering a horrible fate that can literally ruin your life and destroy your financial situation.  ◄

 Visit my blog:  Steps to Success

Being A Mentor – How to Be An Expert When You Are Still A Novice

by Dave Cleinman

Success as a business person, especially a network marketer requires a strong background in fundamental skills such as marketing and advertising, knowledge of people and their needs and desires, knowledge of the terms that are effective when conveying a message, as well as metacognitive skills that allow the marketer to be cognizant of problems and possible solutions to them.  Metacognition is a term that refers to a person thinking about how they think.  This term, common in education, has wide-ranging benefits when considering one’s thoughts as a business person and their impact on our actions.  Being supportive as a mentor often involves helping our team members reframe the way they think so that they can focus on positives and deal with negatives as challenges, rather than as reasons to quit.

Marketing skills must be taught, they do not come naturally to most novice businesspeople.  And, if properly taught and mastered, the learned techniques can be used with virtually any situation a marketer will ever face.  For example, once a marketer knows how to write good ad copy they can apply that skill when sending e-mails, writing articles, giving presentations, talking to others, making videos, and so on.  Accounting skills are useful when budgeting, calculating profits vs. expenditures, choosing best buys, and especially when dealing with taxes.  A varied skillset is one of the keys to successful marketing and maintaining a sound business.

Instruction in internet marketing, or small business practices, requires that mentors be properly instructed themselves in methods, techniques, and basic concepts that produce successful results.  This does not necessarily mean that a mentor has to be super successful, just that they need to be well versed in either marketing techniques and concepts, or skilled in areas that benefit others.  This can be as simple as having mastered one technique that works, or knowing that their own mentor has a successful system and plugging others into it, even if we have not yet mastered it ourselves.  This is the mark of a superior mentor:  finding answers when we do not readily know them, and being able to provide them to others.

Not all internet marketers or new businesspeople have the same needs, so differentiated instruction is key to successfully teaching business strategies, concepts, and methods.  Even more important is that our time as mentors be spent wisely and, as challenging a concept this is for many people, we must avoid wasting time with those that are too needy, and focus our time on those who can take action, follow direction, and are willing to take risks and adjust strategies as needed.  Once someone is willing to take action, we simply need to show them the path, get them going, and let them do the driving.  Our job is changed to giving directions instead of being the chauffeur. 

Being a mentor means being a guide.  If we don’t immediately have answers, or are not yet successful, we can still be mentors if we are willing to do research and find answers.  The key to this process is having an open mind and being willing to communicate and assist others.  In an industry that thrives on personal contact and support for our team, this is utterly vital.  Successful mentoring produces loyal and hardworking teams, and is the key to the mentor’s success.  ◄