The business book I began reading over the weekend is, “5 Levels of Leadership – Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential by John C. Maxwell.  In his book, Mr. Maxwell dispels the theory that leadership is a position. “Leadership is a process, not a position, because it deals with
people and their dynamics, which constantly change,” states Mr. Maxwell. So leadership is really an action.

Having and managing your own business requires that you  take action to identify your
most productive times, your strengths and weaknesses so you can outsource what someone else can do for much less so that you can focus on what’s essential to your business. This self-knowledge is the foundation on which our business will be built.

Here is a direct quote from the book,

“Successful leaders work hard to know themselves.
They know their own strengths and weaknesses…
They know their work habits, their daily, monthly,
and seasonal rhythms…They have a sense of where
they’re going and how they want to get there.”

Authentic leaders know and show the way to productivity. They finish what they start and
deliver results. They know the value of prioritizing, doing the right thing at the right time for the right results.  Those are qualities that everyone of us who is a business owner want to incorporate in our business.

A couple of final points that Mr. Maxwell highlighted as part of good leadership and which
I believe are essential qualities for entrepreneurs are:  Live by the Golden Rule, and
always be willing to keep growing yourself.

Is leadership an essential quality for entrepreneurs?  I say a resounding, Yes! What do
you think?  I highly recommend this book to enhance your ability as a leader but also
as a tool for self-evaluation.

I’ve never considered myself a ‘pack-rat’ but I must admit I have a challenge with throwing things away – ‘just in case I’m going to need it.’ We are shaped, in part, by our childhood and I often wonder if I hold on to things because of my mother’s painful experience when I was a child. I grew up hearing about the unfortunate day she cleaned out drawers and destroyed some very important documents that were irreplaceable and were closely tied in to her family history. That may have created my reluctance to throw out papers.

Are you a hoarder or is your philosophy like my husband’s, “If you haven’t used it in six months, you don’t need it?”  What does this have to do with our business?  A lot!

What is your work environment like?  Is it cluttered? Even if there is a resemblance of order, are you surrounded by outdated and irrelevant materials that take up space but have no real value?   As I look at the shelves in my home office they are weighed down with three-ring binders of different sizes and colors, neatly arranged but packed with lots of files. I’ve finally come to grips with the reality that I need to go through those binders and get rid of files that are no longer relevant.  I have to make office decluttering a goal!

When I started my online business at the end of 2008 I basically stopped buying shoes and started buying programs, packages, and training manuals  of all kinds that I hoped would guide me on the path to  success with my online business.  I printed everything!

Unfortunately, with the passage of time and changes in technology, etc. some of these are no longer relevant. For example, there is a binder filled with an entire training series – free and paid – on Facebook.  Facebook has undergone so many changes in just the past year alone that there is very little value in those files anymore.  There are other binders that contain information I can refer to that can help with research, but will I ever take the time to do so?

In addition, before starting my online journey, I had offline businesses, and there again are several binders with information on prospects and customers, training materials, etc. Those will be on their way out!

Of course, my shelves are also filled with valuable eBooks and training like Dennis Becker’s $5 Bucks a Day Report, Willie Crawford’s 20 Ways to Make $100 and Denise Wakeman’s Online Visibility Secrets.

My paperback collection of business books include Connie Ragen Green’s Huge Profits With Affiliate Marketing, Michele Scism’s Makeover Your Business in 6 Weeks or Less and Bob Jenkins’ Take Action Revise Later among many others.

This decluttering project is one of my projects for the first quarter of this year. How about you?  What is your working environment like?  If you work from home, does it motivate you to produce your best or does it sap you of your energy.  Make decluttering a goal rather than  a ‘New Year’s resolution!’ Set a goal with a completion date. You will be glad you did.

Is decluttering a challenge for you? If not, what suggestions do you have to keep this recurring? Please share your experiences with us and leave your comments below.  We can support each other

“Success is just around the next corner…

You may have heard that statement many times, and if you’re a new online business owner you may have doubts about ever seeing that success because there seems to be so much to do.  And yes, it can be confusing and daunting unless you have someone to guide you.

I remember when I first started online, in one of the first classes I took we were told we could model the trainer’s optin page, which was great as it would have reduced a lot of planning and designing.  However, I had no idea how to get that site from my computer to the Internet.  I’d never heard of FTP and wouldn’t have known what to do with it. Have you faced any situation like that in your business to date?

It’s important to believe that you can experience success in your online business.  Adopting the following five “attitudes” for success can play a significant role in  finding your success around the corner regardless of how deep the corner is:

Have a Positive Attitude:  It’s important to cultivate a positive attitude in how you approach your online business and in your life in general.  ‘Cultivate’ means that this attitude may not come naturally; you may have to work very hard to achieve it.  You may have to change your mindset and learn positive thinking, then nourish it as it grows.

Develop a Business Mentality:  While there are some internet marketers who had successful offline business and are now transferring those skills online, the majority of persons who start an online business had no previous business training.  Research indicates that people who succeed are people who approach their online business with a business mentality instead of treating it as if it were a hobby.  Allocate time to work in your business at the outset so eventually you can work on your business.  Identify what you need to do on a regular basis and set a schedule of when to do it.

Have Fun With Your Business:  This may sound like a contradiction to the previous point, but is not.  When you enjoy doing what you need to do, it will not feel like work.  Take time to find the fun in your business so you’ll enjoy doing the things that make for success.  Be excited about taking action to move forward.

Expect Success:  There is thin line between success and failure.  Persons the world over have sabotaged their success by thinking they could never achieve success like So and So.  Invariably we compare ourselves with someone who is doing very well forgetting that they likely were at the point new business owners are at right now.  Their success was as a result of identifying what to do, how to do it, getting help from a Mentor or a coach to provide guidance.

Be Realistic:  While success may be just around the corner, it does not come overnight.  You must be realistic about how quickly your business will grow.  There are no shortcuts and any thoughts of getting rich on the Internet in a short time will only lead to disappointment. Work is required and sticking to one thing and getting good at it before moving to the next thing will lay a foundation for success.

Starting an online business can be challenging, but working with someone who has been where you are and is willing to hold your hand and guide you forward can help to give you the momentum to move your business forward in 2012.  Celene Harrelson will do that in her new membership program as she covers more than 12 steps to increase your momentum and take you to profit.  Check out Celene’s program at http://yoursuccessbiz.com/celenepm.  By adopting these 5 attitudes for success, coupled with the training Celene provides, the new online business owner can experience success just around the corner.

Do you ever feel like the hamster? Your business isn’t growing at the pace you’d like and you seem to be just spinning your wheels?  I’ve felt that way from time to time.  In order to take your business to the next level, there are five areas of focus you should not neglect.

1.  Content: This is the only way people will get to know what you do and what you have to offer.  Your blog should be your home for your content, and should allow you readers to get to know you through informative topics where you share your knowledge.

2.  Traffic:  Traffic or readers are essential to our business.  We want to invite and encourage visitors to our website to read and comment on our posts.  At the same time we want to return the compliment by commenting on the blogs of fellow bloggers.

In the interest of growing our knowledge a strategy that was recommended to me quite some time ago, and which I’ve found beneficial is to take time to visit authority sites in my niche. This may not necessarily result in traffic from these blogs directly, but by leaving thoughtful comments, other readers of those posts may see my comments and decide to come over and check out my blog.

3.  List Building:  This takes traffic a step further because it’s a way to capture this traffic so that you can build a relationship with them and market to them.

4.  Product Creation: Every marketer should have the goal of creating your own product.  This is so even if your niche in internet marketing is affiliate marketing. This can be a lucrative form of marketing, however, you will experience a different sense of accomplishment when you’ve created your own product.

5.  Repurposing Content: You always want to seek ways to leverage your time and an effective way to do this is repurposing.  Once you’ve created content for your blog, you can repurpose that content by sending it in an email to your community of subscribers; you can use the content, along with other posts, to create an ebook.  You can also add to the post and make some changes to the content, which you can then submit to article directories.

Article writing is a great way to get more visibility and accomplish all four of the above points. Connie Ragen Green who’s written over 1,000 articles  is offering a free report on “How to Write A Keyword Targeted Article.”  Visit http://mysuccesscircleonline.com/crg-ampw to claim your free report today.

In order to successfully move forward in your goals for your business, you have to stay in constant learning mode. You can never stop learning.  This does not mean that you have to go back to school and take formal courses, but you can seek ways to increase your knowledge and take steps to sharpen your skills on a regular basis.

• Make use of your waiting time:  Always have material with you so that you make good use of time you spend waiting – for meetings to start, for a doctor’s appointment, at the beauty salon, at the barber’s, to pick up your children from school, waiting at the airport, to name a few.

• Turn travel time into productive time:  Use your car as your mobile university.  This is one of the reasons I don’t mind traveling long distances alone.  I can listen to whatever I want freely without having to be concerned about imposing on other persons in the car.  I keep CDs with motivational and training topics, as well as books on CDs.  How about you? Traveling on an airplane is another great time to increase your knowledge.

• Keep a notepad and pen close by.  As soon as you think of something you want to do more research on, write it down.  It’s easy to forget and when the opportunity arises for you to search for that information, you’ve long forgotten what it was you wanted to learn more about.

I read an article in which Chris Palmer, who teaches communication at American University in Washington, was quoted as saying that your daily interactions with people provide plenty of learning opportunities. He noted that friends and colleagues are a valuable source of coaching; and they provide feedback, which prevents you from becoming isolated and arrogant.

A learning tip that I especially appreciate as it can increase your knowledge exponentially and help you reach your goals, “Be an active listener when you seek advice.  Repeat what you’ve heard to make sure you got it right.”

Everyday, make an effort to do one thing to increase your knowledge, whether it’s searching the Internet  for specific information (otherwise you could waste hours), reading a book – your own or from the library, or calling a friend and discussing a topic that stimulates your mind and boost your learning at the same time.

Would you like to get more information on how to motivate yourself and move toward your goal by increasing your knowledge daily?  I invite you to read Tom Connellan’s “The 1% Solution for Work and Life“.

The headline reads, “Smiles Can Ease Stress at the Office.” The article was written by syndicated columnist, Michelle Singletary, and in it she mentioned the number of businesses that were laying off staff and closing locations leaving those employees who kept their jobs to shoulder more responsibility.  She noted that this added more stress to the employees who remained.

In the article Michelle also reviewed a book that focused on the the need for levity in the workplace. The book highlighted the need for employers to create a fun and light atmosphere on the job and incorporate these in emails, memos, voice mails, meetings, and training sessions.

As I read the article I thought of how this article could be applied to entrepreneurs and small business owners. Do you work from home full-time? Are you alone in your home office day after day? Do you take time to smile or even laugh? If you are a small business owner with a brick and mortar store, like a boutique, do you find ways to inject humor into your interactions with your clients and prospects?

There are many types of small businesses where there is a lot of interaction with the public. For example, hair salons, spas, auto supply stores, hardware stores, fabric stores, etc. Because of this interaction there is no shortage of communication and opportunities to inject humor into your day; but taking or making opportunities to smile or laugh when you’re alone may not be something many of us think about.

Most entrepreneurs, especially ones who are just getting started, find that they stay busy doing all the things necessary to create a profitable business, including marketing and product creation.

From this article, and in reviewing the book, “The Levity Effect: Why it Pays to Lighten Up” by Gostick and Christopher, it’s clear that it’s important to find things to laugh about during your day. It lightens your mood and relieves stress. Stress is something that can sap your energy and make you lose the fun rather than keep the fun in your business.

The fact is that small business owners are usually busy working on their business by planning, organizing, thinking of ways to increase cash-flow, marketing strategies, talk with mentors and other professionals. They’re often also working in their business – doing the actual work. But amidst all of this, it’s important to take time to smile, or even laugh during your work day.

Here are a few suggestions. You may think of many more:

• Your Daily Newspaper: Read the Business section and the local news, but savor the Comics as well. You may be surprised at the chuckle you can get from some of the characters. If your newspaper has a “Good for You” section, you may find it pleasant to read of the accomplishment of others.

• I love reading “Awake” magazine as there is always an article on an everyday topic that makes me smile, while providing benefit at the same time.  A current title is “A Bird’s-Eye View of Fishing,” which discusses the methods different types of bird use to fish for their prey. Some are quite amusing to read about.

• Call a friend during your lunch time or break time and exchange pleasantries. Do not call the friend who you know is going to complain about everything that’s going wrong in her life. Save that call for other times.

• Where possible, close the doors of your establishment, or if you’re at home, close the door to your office, get a sandwich and take a walk or a seat in a nearby park for even half an hour. You may find that simple act allowed you to exchange pleasantries or even just a smile with someone and you return to work with renewed vigor and a positive attitude.

The important thing is to take time to smile or laugh every day so you do not lose the fun or joy in your business.  How do you keep the fun in your business?  Please share in the comments.

I love sales!!! Did I always feel that way? I’m not sure, but it seemed to fit my entrepreneurial spirit, which started as a little bud in my early 20’s and blossomed later on.

I continue to hear people speak of sales in a negative way and many online marketers literally cringe at the mention of sales. I’ve seen the comment where someone said she started her online business so she would not have to go into sales. Hmmm…

As an online marketer, are you in sales? If you say no, because you do not sell a product, then the question begs to be asked: What is you business? To experience success online every one of us has to sell products or service – that’s the bottom line to sales success.

Just as a young lady who’s interested in finding Mr. Right puts herself together – keeps herself well-dressed, practices good communication skills so she can carry on an intelligent conversation, associates with the kind of people she hopes to find her soul mate among, if you offer a service you have to market or sell yourself first.

You do this through blogging, article marketing, social media. You then allow people to get another dimension of your personality – your voice – and so you hold teleseminars and webinars, create cinches, podcasts, etc. You join groups where your target market can be found and you participate in forums. You could further add another dimension by creating videos. Together, these are you selling tools so people first get to know you, like you and trust.

Hopefully you have a goal to provide your community with information in the form of ebooks, audio, affiliate products etc. In my next post we’ll talk about how the mindset is involved in creating sales success.

What are your thoughts?  Do you believe that all marketers are involved in some kind of sales?  Not that this should not be confused with Direct Sales, which is a category of sales in general.

There are many tools available to internet users, and Adsense can be a powerful tool to increase revenue, if it is done properly. I recently read where one marketer said that ‘Adsense is for lazy people.’ Nothing could be farther from the truth! Work is involved in setting up these sites. Your site must have good content, your title and content must be keyword rich, and you must position your ads correctly.

1.  Good Content : There is a plethora of information available on the internet and people have no time or need to read useless information. If you want to keep your readers reading through to the end of the post or article, it’s important that you provide them with content on the topic of your choice that they can use to solve a problem or bring them the desired results.

You may already have a wealth of knowledge on the topic; share that information without holding back. This increases your credibility and establishes you as an expert in your niche. People will want to read your posts. If your information is limited, do research so that you can meet this criterion.

Keyword Rich Title and Content: Keyword research is extremely important for your posts to be found by the search engines. A keyword-rich title is the first step in this direction, but it must also be a title that attracts your readers.

Your content must also be keyword-rich, so it’s important to do keyword research. It’s also important to remember that you’re basically writing for both humans and robots. Humans to enjoy and benefit from your information, and robots to crawl and find the keywords they’re looking for so that your posts can rank highly in the search engines.

3. Ads Positioning: The recommended area for positioning ads is upper left. I have not done any research to see if this is scientifically correct, but research indicates that this is the preferred location to achieve maximum results. On a base level it makes sense as we read from left to right, and so our eyes go to the top of the page and to the left first. Regardless of the reasoning behind it, this is the location that has proven to be most effective for Google Adsense positioning.

Conclusion : You are hardly likely to get rich in a short time from Adsense sites, but as one of my favorite marketers said, they create ‘popcorn money.’ Money pops up from different places without your having to do consistent work, and it’s a way to increase revenue. Think of your online business as a huge farm where the farmer plants different types of crops that bear fruit or mature at different times. Your Adsense sites will be another type of ‘plant’ that will produce fruit in your online business.

To see an example of a niche site to which Adsense ads have been added, visit http://makemoneyonlinewithreports.com. To learn more about a training that will allow you to have dozens of these sites making passive income, go to http://budurl.com/jmccb for more information.

This is a Guest Blog Post by Nicole Dean

More and more moms are getting into the blogging scene. Some for fun, some for profit, and some for both. Why not make money while you’re blogging about your favorite stuff, right?

It’s easier than ever to get started blogging. But the first thing you need before you begin is an idea for your domain name.

What is a domain name?

It’s the “www (dot) SOMETHING (dot) com” that people will type in to get to your blog. It’s like your address.

How do you Know What is a Good Domain Name?

There are some standards for what is a “great” domain name verses one that makes you wonder what on earth that person was thinking!

In order to help you to come up with a great web name that you’ll love for years, here are my unbreakable rules for choosing a domain.

1. No hyphens. Avoid dashes and hyphens. I’ve been there. Done that. Regret it to this day.

2. No numbers. Do I spell it out “seven” or is it the number “7??

3. Avoid words that are difficult to spell. Although I once was really excited about using a domain with the word “catalyst” in it — I found that no one could spell the darned thing.

4. Domain should end in .com. I don’t bother with other endings like .info or .biz. People tend to type in .com at the end of everything, so it’s usually best to stick with a .com ending.

5. Domain must NOT have any copyright names in it. I would not recommend using “Starbucks”, “Disney”, or any other company name in your URL or you may get a “cease and desist” email. Yes, even though you’re starting as a little mom blogger, eventually you might get huge. So, it’s best to plan for success in advance and avoid using trademarks in your URL.

6. If I’m looking to sell your blog down the road, it must be generic enough. For instance, I wouldn’t buy “NicoleKnowsFootball.com” to talk about my favorite football team if I planned to sell the site ever, because I’d have to find someone named Nicole to buy it.

And my big, bad unbreakable rule.

7. It must pass the Oprah test.

What exactly is the Oprah test? Well, I picture Oprah saying it out loud. “Today I have with me, Nicole Dean, author of Blah blah blah and owner of NicoleontheNet.com”. Is it memorable? Easy to spell?

You can’t do that with MyNumber1-BestHome-Remedy-Treatments4New-Mothers.net.

Why is this Important?

A difficult domain is actually wasted opportunity and wasted traffic slipping through your fingers. If you’re promoting via audio or video (maybe on podcasts or on YouTube) – you need a domain that is EASY to remember. It has to make it into the person’s ears and to his brain and stick. Heck, even if you run into an old college friend and say “Stop by my site www (dot) somethingcool (dot) com” – you’ll want her to remember long enough to actually come to your blog, right? So, make it simple. Make it memorable. And you’ll be glad.

Plus, honestly, it’s a credibility issue. Would you really buy something from MyNumber1-BestHome-Remedy-Treatments4New-Mothers.net? I hope you wouldn’t even think of getting out your credit card for a site like that. SCARY. And would you feel comfortable referring it to your friends? Not a chance.

How do you get a domain name of your very own?

You can get a domain at www.MomWebs.com which is also my recommendation for Web Hosting. As you sign up for your domain, you can get hosting at the same time. And… they’ll even set up your blog for you for only $10. Plus, there’s a phone number that you can call if you have any questions.

With all of that help, there’s nothing stopping you from setting up your first blog.

I hope this has been helpful. And, I really look forward to seeing YOU on Oprah!

Nicole Dean is co-owner of Mom Webs Hosting – www.MomWebs.com where you’ll find the host with the most. It offers everything a mom blogger needs – reliability, unlimited hosting, and customer service that never makes you feel intimidated — all at a price you can afford. MomWebs.com was created to help overcome the technical hurdles that may be preventing moms from sharing themselves with the online world. Check out the free training at MomWebs.com

One acronym for F.O.C.U.S is Follow One Course Until Successful.  Focused action can also mean turning your back on the audience so you can guide the orchestra to produce beautiful, melodious, well-coordinated music.

Last week I attended the 8^th Grade Graduation Ceremony of one of my young friends and a segment of the ceremony was a musical piece by the 8^th grade band…and what a beautiful selection it was! As I watched and listened my eyes were captured by the movements of the teacher who was conducting the band.

Her back was to the audience and her attention was focused on guiding, by the movement of her hands and the baton, the orchestra so that each member of the band knew exactly when to come in, and when to play louder or softer. This ensured that we, the audience, derived the best enjoyment from the musical piece.

As entrepreneurs we are the band leaders or conductors of our orchestra – our business. Just like a band with several different instruments, there are many parts to our business and we have to decide when to give each part our undivided attention so we can create music – profits – for online business success.

Focused action is an ongoing challenge for many of you as it is for me because of the distractions, online and offline, in running a business. The decision has to be: Will I turn my back on those distractions and focus on my business for specific time periods?

One of the things that has helped me to get better results and accomplish more online business success is to set aside time- blocks where I give focused action to my business for 90 minutes to 3 hours, without interruption. I take a break for 15 minutes then go for another 90 minutes or more.

This is one of the strategies taught by Helen Raptoplous in the 30 Day Productivity Challenge membership. If you’d like to learn more productivity strategies to renew your focus, you’re invited to join Helen for a FREE actionable teleseminar on Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 4:00 p.m. EST. Go ahead and register at http://budurl.com/HRprod.

In the meantime, why not set aside 90 minutes when you turn off everything except your computer or whatever you need for your specific online business and spend some focused time working  for your online business success? The last time I did this I had incredible results in moving forward. I’d love to hear your incredible results.