Most people associate prospering more with New Years than the 4th of July, but it makes perfect sense to me that “Independence Day” be extended from a historical celebration to a personal celebration of discovering wealth building techniques.

So enjoy it, find a business or method that works for you, and make it great.

Of course, if you need business help or a great business idea, drop me an email (brent@brentworley.c0m).

Brent

But with some new products coming up from my primary opportunity I am going to focus on a couple of niches that should be quite profitable.

I’m not starting quite yet as I’m gathering my thoughts on what all I’m going to do.

I’m going to give more emphasis to blogging, article marketing, and videos, but don’t rule out social networking sites quite yet.

And I have not written much recently, especially about Kris Allen on American Idol.  All I can say is he has done incredibly well and the entire state of Arkansas is proud of him.  He is the most overall talented individual on the show, although not the best “entertainer” (that belongs to Adam).

So good luck Kris in  the next few weeks.

As I noted earlier, I started a blog about my P90X workouts.

Yes, I’m using my typical WordPress techniques and on-page SEO techniques that I use.  But I never expected to see the amount of traffic to come in with so little off-page efforts, promotion, or anything else.  Just simply blogging…

But in one week I’ve had 128 visits, most of those in the last 3 days.  86 of those are from search engines (the only other places I’ve promoted were two forums and Facebook).

Now, I’m doing nothing to monetize this blog (yet), but simply keeping it as a daily journal of what I am doing with my P90X workouts, dieting, etc.

But my point is this…

If there is a popular activity in your life that you do regularly, blog about it.  Build a readers base, build a rapport, and then introduce a way to make money off of the blog (Adsense, affiliate sales, whatever).  You do not necessarily have to do a lot with the blog, just keep updating it regularly with something you do.

But the entire point of this journey is to prove to myself that I can be consistent and that I can grow.

On March 16, I start a new 90 day journey that will overlap with my Internet marketing journey.  This journey, as I’ve documented on here before, is my journey through transforming myself diet, exercise, and consistency.

I’ve dedicated this year to buiding a better me.  My family deserves it, my God deserves it, and honestly, I deserve it.

My goals are to transform myself.

-  Be better in business
-  Be better physically
-  Be a better husband
-  Be a better father
-  Be a better worshiper
-  Be a better person

So I continue my journey.  I just add a new path to it starting tomorrow.   Feel free to follow my status on my P90X Blog.

… the tough work harder!

I received some news today that an income source my family has will be going away in the next couple of weeks.  Now, at first the news is a bit stressful (after all, we have financial goals we are trying to meet).

But then it hit me:  I have nothing to worry about.  I just simply need to work harder.

I truly believe that in Internet marketing, network marketing, or any type of entrepreneurial endeavour that we take one we can either let minor setbacks destroy us or we can simply take the opportunity to make things better.  We can take the opportunity to get  completely stressed, or we can use it as motivation to work harder.

I’m simply choosing to work harder.

Not everything is going to go according to play 100% of the time.  I think we all realize that.  We cannot control everything, especially things outside of what we personally can make decision on.

But what we can control is how we choose to react and to circumstances.

If something comes up that is not perfect, make a decision to work harder.

Losing an income stream?  Work harder.

Niche becoming saturated?  Work harder.

Have someone quit your business?  Work harder.

But whatever you do, dictate how you will react to the circumstances instead of letting the circumstance dictate how you.

Can someone who appears to be “unsuccessful” still posture in their home business?  In particular, can they still command authority in dealing with potential customers or business partners?

The question on the forum was how to handle “call backs.”  In particular, how many times you call back, how to handle it if they are not there for a set appointment, and all of the other issues around dealing with prospects in this manner.

As I am sure you know, it is easy to feel “beaten down” if you are not a six figure earner or full-time with your company.  Or if you’ve been in a “slump” it can feel that you are unsuccessful.

When this happens, you can have a tendency to lose posture.  And when you lose posture, you give too much control of the conversations to the people you are talking to, you lose faith in your ability to talk confidently about what you do, and you will often come across as desperate.  In other words, you fail to present yourself as an authority and a valuable asset for the new potential business partner.  After all, they are choosing you as much as your company.

So what does it take to regain posture in dealing with potential business partners?

First, become the “successful” marketer.  To me, you do not have to be enrolling tons of people to be a successful markter.  Yes, that will be an eventual byproduct of successful marketing, but it takes time to build up to.

To become a successful marketer then means to do just that:  Market.

I had to take a break from my business in the fall to deal with a health issue with my wife.  Doing that really through me out of the loop in several aspects.  My opt-ins fell, phone conversations went down, and I lost momentum.  It appeared I was running on the path of being an “unsuccessful” marketer.  And I’m sure I am not alone in this happening….it happens all the time in the industry.

But I knew that I could be successful once again.  It took consistent action, dedication, and serious work ethic, but doing this put me back on the side of being a successful marketer.

Do you know what happened?

-  My traffic increased

-  My opt-ins increased

-  The phone started ringing again

-  I began to feel good about the process again

And when all of this started happening, I could posture quite well in my conversations.  I feel good about what I am talking about now to people contacting me.  With what I’ve learned and the actions I’m taking, I can confidently say that what I offer is valuable to them.  I do not come across as desperate, and I do not have to beg for call backs.

In short, the best way to regain posture is to make yourself busy with the work of the business.  Doing this will “fill the funnel” and give you more people to talk to.  When you have more people to talk to, you are not desperate to sign up everyone you talk to.  Your conversations become more meaningful and you come across as someone who can help a person get to where they want to go, even if you are working on going there yourself.

But as I am working through my personal 90 day Internet marketing challenge, I’m realizing how much fun network marketing can actually be.  Some background…

My “old” background with the industry was always the make the list or buy leads.  Boy, did I have some HORRIBLE experience purchasing leads.  Even leads that were supposedly “exclusive” or “not incentivized” were never what they were sold as.  Wrong numbers, disconnects, and, of course, the cursing and screaming as people claim they never filled out the form.

Man, those days were painful…

But with my Internet marketing and system we have established, it completely has changed the game.  People are seeking me out.  They are trying to learn about me, often times before they call, which is cool with me.  But the system is bringing people to me…instead of me pounding the phones.

And its working.

Let me explain, if you are struggling with a business, what the system does:

It empowers you!

You know, if you have any “decent” cold call training, you are told to control the conversation.  And while that is true, its hard to establish that when you are calling them out of the blue.

But when people call you, that is because they want to know what you are up to.  That gives you authority.  Now, I’m not talking about an egotistical sense of authority, but a confident sense of the word.

I’ve had more positive phone conversations in the last week than I did in months of “smiling and dialing.”

And I fully expect it to only get better.

But during this conversation, he started talking about how bad the economy is, how hardly anyone has any money, and how things simply do not look good.

And I politely disagreed.

I believe there are plenty of buyers out there.  And as network marketers and home based business entrepreneurs, there is a greater opportunity as people attempt to figure out how to survive the mess.

There Are Buyers

Earlier this month, Frank Kern grossed around $4,000,000 in one day.  He was selling a product that people wanted.  In fact, people where chomping at the bit to get their hands on one of the limited amounts of the nearly $2,000 product.

His product met a need that people had, and people bought.

There are plenty of products that meet needs or fill desires.  And people will pay for these products.  If you have one, sell it.  There are buyers out there.  It might take some work to find them.  I’ll say it again:  It might take some WORK to find them.  But once you find them, it will pay off.

Just like it paid off for Frank Kern.

The Opportunity Exists

As a network marketer, I work on finding the balance between being excited and seeming “hype”-ish.  Yes, I’m excited about what I do but, at the same time, I realize that I am meeting a need or filling a desire, just as I would when I sell a product.

People are hurting.  Corporate America is failing more people each day.  And having a business is one way people can either stabalize their situation or correct it altogether.

If someone had just an extra $500 or $1,000 coming in each month, there would be opportunity to survive or plan for survival in case a layoff happens at their job (notice I’m talking about job workers here, or part-time network marketers).  Yes, $500 – $1,000 does not go far but it helps.

It is about meeting their needs or filling their desire.  They have a need to build financial stability into their lives and, through a home business, they can do it.  They may desire more out of life, and your home business is the key to their desires.

So I don’t buy into “doom and gloom.”  Buyers exist and the ability to build a successful network marekting business exist in the current “economic problems.”  If you know how to handle the situation, and do things the right way, you can make the most of the opportunity.

Well, I believe Art said it well before Nike.

What did he say?

“Just do it”.

Now, this probably is a bit confusing to you at this point, so let me give some background as to why I’m comparing Art William’s to Nike.

There are days where things are overwhelming.  There are days when things just don’t click like you would like them to.  Its frustrating, its tough, and it can lead to almost depression-like thoughts and actions.

I was having one of those days.

I made a comment about it on Facebook.  I didn’t do it for attention but I did it to seek help for what I was feeling.  I had no reason to feel this way, but I did.  Yes, I am a bit overwhelmed at times, and as I described to my wife, was almost feeling “stressed out” for an unknown reason.

And I’m glad I did, as a business acquaintence sent me a link to a video by Art Williams.

In case you do not know who Art Williams is, he is the founder of A.L. Williams, one of the great insurance business stories ever created.

In this video, he is addresses a national convention of religious broadcasters (i.e. television evangelist) on what it takes to succeed in business.  He used such a simple phrase to describe what makes the super successful who they are as opposed to the ordinary individual:

They just do it.  They work it a bit harder.

Here I am, around 36 days into my personal 90 day Internet marketing challenge feeling overwhelmed by the task at hand and I get this video.  What a blessing it was!

Williams pointed out several things that I believe apply to both Internet marketers and network marketers and something I am going to improve on:  Being excited about what they do.  As Williams puts it, no one wants to follow someone who is not exciting.  To grow a business, you have to have a following.  To grow a network marketing business, you have to have people who will follow you.

But more than anything, you have to work hard to be a leader and get to where you want to go, you just have to “do it.”

You have to work harder.

You have to push harder.

You have to have, as he calls it, a “unique mental toughness.”

This video was an inspiration to me, and it got me to thinking about something I’m missing from my business and my life:  Personal devleopment time.  No, I’m not talking about learning more marketing techniques, but rather making me a better leader, a better person, and a better communicator.

To sum it up, he said early on in the speech:

“… in order to win, you have to feel good about yourself.”

Just do it.  Feel better about yourself.  Just do it.  Work harder.  Just do it.  Don’t quit!  Just “do it.”

If you want to watch the video, I’ve embedded it below.  I hope you get something out of it.

But, all is going well.

Traffic is consistent but not as much as I thought it would be.  I’m attributing some of this to my video marketing strategy that I am changing in the next 30 days of the challenge.

I’m also learning a lot more about how to enhance traffing through blogging.  There are a lot of things that I’m doing with my blogs to generate more traffic, get more backlinks, increase keywords, etc.

Plus, some of what I’m learning about blogging applies to videos as well.

I’ll write some details later on what I’m doing…but still a lot of work left to do tonight.