The Newsletter That Helps You Be Successful 

(& Have Fun With The Process)

Dateline:  4/21/2010

Contents:

1.  Home Office Organization: Seven Strategies

2.  Internet Advertising - Keeping Cost Down

3.  Special offer          4.  Archives            5.  About the Editor

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Please note:  Some of the articles in this newsletter are reprinted from free article sites.  If you wish to have an article published in Step by Step, please join my TE Rocket Hits and put in a support ticket, or leave a comment on my blog on the most recent post.  

Previous Issues:

Issue 1

Issue 2

Issue 3

Issue 4

Issue 5

 

 

Home Office Organization: Seven Strategies to Keep Chaos Away

by Dave Cleinman

If you are an experienced business person you probably have a system of organization and maybe even a paid staff to keep you organized.  If you are new to working a business, despite your drive and abilities, you may still be struggling with organization and keeping information straight, maintaining and executing an action plan, and preventing information overload.  Here are some fool-proof strategies and methods you can use to get organized, stay on top of everything, and move your business forward.  

 1.  File your papers:  A filing cabinet, labeled hanging folders, and regular manila folders are still the best way to organize printed papers, bills, invoices, and  household and business information.  Use the top drawer of a two drawer cabinet for household and the bottom for business.  As you get a new paper to file, deal with the contents, mark it as done and date it, then file it appropriately.  This is especially important when considering taxes.  Make sure to keep good records and to file a schedule C every year.

 2.  E-mail.  This is the biggest pain in the computer for most people and the reasons come often from carelessness or lack of experience, and a good deal more comes from unscrupulous marketers who spam you after finding your e-mail in another spammers list.  Here is the complete solution to your e-mail issues:

A)  Make sure to have many e-mail accounts.  One for personal (friends and family) e-mails only.  One for business communications from your affiliate programs/mlm/business opportunity and partners.  If you are using free advertising resources you need three or more, and organize them by the type of free service you are using.

B)  If you are using bulk e-mail, make sure you have a From: e-mail that people can respond to, and make sure to keep that mailbox for that purpose only.  It will get spammed, due to the nature of e-mail, but blacklist the spammers or create spam rules, and this will greatly cut down on spam. 

C)  When replying to a lead, use Facebook or a messenger program to get in touch with them.  Don’t rely on e-mail alone.  It is very unreliable.

 Having organized your papers and your e-mail situation, you can now focus on the main thing:  building your business, and your list.

 3.  Set achievement goals:  short term (week) mid-term (month) longer term (six months), and long term (one year).  These are not goals as in goals and dreams, they are specific, action-oriented achievement goals.  “This week I will to master article writing and blogging.”  “This month I will build a list of 500, gain 300 friends on Facebook, post 15 articles, recruit five new members…”  “Within six months I will…” “by the end of one year I will…”  Your action plan should begin with mastery of knowledge and marketing systems, advance to getting traffic to your blog or website, then generating leads, and building your list.  Then you can promote to the list and make sales, and also bring some of these people into your organization.  People are always looking to join active and successful people. 

 4.  Daily action plans (To Do list):  Essential once you have your goals and methods set up,  daily action plan will keep you on task every day.  Prioritize your list by one rule:  IGAs come first.  Income Generating Activities are the number one priority.  Do any activities that are related to organization and planning after the IGAs are completed for the day.  Your daily action plan will necessarily be based on your weekly goals and what you are trying to accomplish, and IGAs are the first and most important activities on any list and in any business plan.

 5.  Do the things that you fear doing the most first.  This is for two reasons.  If you save them for later you may never for them at all.  It’s just easier to find other things to do that are less uncomfortable.  The second reason is more fun:  Marshall Sylver says this: “To conquer a fear, you must experience it fully.”  There’s no better way to conquer a fear then by exposing yourself to it first thing every day.  Very soon the fear will dissipate and your confidence will skyrocket.

 6.  When completing your daily checklist prioritize.  If you don’t get everything done on your list for that day, make those things the first items to be done the next day.  If something doesn’t get done for several days in a row, reevaluate it.  Will it ever get done?  If that seems unlikely get it off the list and come back to it at a later time if it becomes important.

 7.  Some basic priorities will help you achieve maximum growth at maximum speed.

A) If you are building an organization, personal contact with others should be your first priority.  Get to know people, start a dialogue.  Always seek to partner with motivated and friendly people.  Articles on your blog should be Tweeted, post the url to your Facebook friends and ask for feedback.  Do the same in LinkedIn.  Use the Onlywire posting service.

B)  For affiliate sales, master CPA and PPC systems.  Monetize your blog.  Look into list exchanges.

C)  Make sure to double check your daily activities and make sure they are getting you results.  If they are not, research what others are doing and follow our lead. 

D)  Make sure you are having fun.  This is key to the whole process and is the reason why internet marketing can be so freeing.  It can be tremendous fun once you know how to play the game. 

Use these strategies to get and stay organized, prioritize activities, and move your business forward.  Adjust these activities and tweak as needed for your personal projects and you will conquer the information overload and chaos that plagues so many internet marketers. ◄

 Note: my blog can be found here: http://www.davecleinman.com 

Internet Advertising - Keeping Cost Down 

By Ilya Bodner 

In the past 5 years, we have seen a dramatic shift in the American media from print to online programming. With print ad sales shrinking dramatically in the last decade, the internet has seen a surge of new marketing money from all sectors of the economy. For example, in 1996, real estate agents, brokers and developers spent $755 on newspaper advertising for every home sold. This year, they are spending $605 per home. For the same period, online ad spending per home went from $14 to $148.

A virtual ad or website can exponentially increase your business's sales while offering a global audience. There is no limit to the amount of exposure your products or services could receive. With companies like Google and Yahoo leading the way in search engine advertising and other cutting-edge strategies, even the smallest business can reach a worldwide audience with little overhead.

For a small business looking to expand, creating a web presence, or upgrading the features of an existing site, can have a major effect on revenues. It's easy to find a turn-key internet commerce (or e-commerce) package. There are low-cost website packages designed specifically to meet the needs of small businesses, such as handling online payments.

KEEPING THE COST DOWN 
The internet has, without question, changed the way business is done, virtually eliminating deterrents to starting your own business. The internet acts as the great equalizer. "There are no barriers to entry anymore," says Marc Andreesen, co-founder of Netscape Communications Corporation. Virtual offices and internet marketing are some examples of how the internet has slashed costs for small businesses and made it incredibly easy for anyone with a great idea to enter any market and bring their products or services to the public.

According to a recent study conducted by the Small Business Administration, the emergence of the internet has enhanced opportunity for small business owners in every market, especially for specialized, or niche, markets. The costs of starting a business online are lower than ever, making it easy for many people to start a business, with little start-up capital. Also, with the infinite amount of information available on the internet, consumers have more choices than ever, making a web presence indispensable.

Despite the internet goldmine that business owners have discovered, not all barriers have been eliminated. Marketing costs continue to rise and it's increasingly challenging for any business owner to keep up with rapidly evolving technology. The internet also increases the importance of branding. By allowing smaller businesses to wage worldwide competition with larger businesses, branding, or the personality you give your products or services, has never been more important. However, these barriers are small indeed compared to the barriers overcome by the emergence of the online business.

  Sincerely,

  Ilya Bodner
  Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ilya_Bodner  ◄

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