Here is a secret that may be difficult for you to believe,
so prepare yourself. It is an extremely important secret
that can have a most profound impact on your business
success or failure.

Let’s start by asking a simple question… Do you enjoy
sales?

The truth of the matter is that when many small business
owners are asked this question, they respond with answers
like, “No way” or “I can’t stand sales, let someone else do
it.”

Why is your answer to the above question so important? No
doubt you have seen headlines like the following, which
glorify how easy and simple it is to succeed in business:

“The Ultimate Lazy Way To Start Your Own Business”

“Cash In On A Multi-Billion Dollar Industry In Your
Underwear”

“Easily Generate A Lucrative Income While Sleeping”

We are constantly being bombarded with these “easy ways”
to make a million bucks. Does success in business actually
work this way? Not in reality! Is it realistic? Not even
close!

The bottom line in operating a successful long-term
business comes down to your ability to sell your
product… period. It doesn’t get any simpler than that. You
can either sell your own product or resell somebody’s
else’s product.

Either way, your success or failure will ultimately depend
on your ability to market it. If you don’t enjoy sales, you
have very little chance to succeed in business for
yourself.

The most prevalent attitude of many new business owners is
that their product, once launched, will miraculously sell
itself. After all, the product is awesome and everybody
will absolutely, positively want one. People should be
lining up to buy it, right?

Here is another truth about sales - It will take 5-7 sales
attempts to close 80% of your sales. Yes, you read that
correctly. That’s 5-7 attempts before people will say “Yes,
I want to buy your product.”

Running an advertisement one-time or making a sales pitch
to a potential customer once in a while does not qualify as
effort. Hearing that first “no” and subsequently giving up
means the demise of your business and gives someone else an
opportunity to turn that NO into a YES.

What most people don’t realize or fail to accept is that
it may take weeks, months or even years to get a product to
sell according to your expectations. You may have to
frequently change your sales pitch, web site, advertisement
or even the product until you get it right.

This dedication and determination is what separates the
very few successful business owners from the many
“wannabes” and fly-by-night hopefuls.

The bottom line is that to be successful in ANY business
you will need talent and the ability to sell, sell, sell.

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Make sure you checked the *Free Ebooks* section of this blog.

Many new freebies have been added this month. Don’t miss
them!

*Free Ebooks*

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For your enjoyment (and information), here is this week’s
quick trivia question…

What does the phrase “walk the cat back” mean?

As usual the answer can be found later in the newsletter.

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Featured Article
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If Only I Had Known…

Hindsight, we all know only too well, is a wonderful
thing. For example, if we had only known that the ceiling
on membership at a popular site was going to be subscribed
so quickly - we would have joined up the minute we heard
about it.

If we had only known that niche marketing was going to be
so wildly popular we would have focused on that instead of
MLM.

If we had only known that Google was going to change its
algorithm and the rules of AdWords were going to change we
would have…

Stop.

Stop, stop, stop.

In the world of Internet marketing, you can safely bet
that the only constant is the rate of change!

There’s always news of the latest product dropping into
your email inbox. There’s always another promise of quick
and easy money. Google will keep changing its algorithm,
and new search engines are quite likely to pop up to
challenge Google.

What can you do about this? Four main things:

1 - Continue to Educate Yourself!

Understand that those who rise to the top of any field -
whether it’s internet marketing or something else - are
good at what they do. This means that they never stop
learning. There are always new materials, new techniques
and probably new ‘experts’ showing the way.

Most of us learn in three main ways: (a) from experts who
specialize in a certain niche related to our field; (b)
from others who are following the same path as we are, and
(c) by trial and error, from our own results.

You will find that the more you immerse yourself in the
world of internet marketing, the more you will be able to
analyze which products, services and opportunities are
right for you.

2 - Focus. Pick One System and Give It a Fair Go!

Countless people who start out on the internet with high
hopes follow the same pattern. They get excited about a new
product or system. They throw themselves into it and invest
long hours (and potentially quite a bit of money) in
getting it up and running.

It might be e-books sold from mini-sites; it might be
setting up an eBay business; it might be directory-type
sites with text manipulators; it might be AdWords or
content sites optimized for AdSense.

Then one day they get wind of another new system (probably
one created by someone who claims “the gurus are angry with
me for giving away all their secrets…”). Discouraged by
the lack of results with the first “opportunity”, they
decide to let it rest for a while and try the new one.

Back they go into the cycle of try-the-new-product, get-
discouraged, discard-it-and-try-the-next-thing.

And so it goes on. Months pass. Perhaps years pass. They
struggle to pay the credit card bills mounting from buying
into every new system that comes along… with very little
money coming in to offset their ‘investment’.

As they look back, they start muttering “If I had only
known then what I know now…”

If you can recognize yourself in this scenario, the good
news is this: Now you DO know better. You don’t know what
the next new product will be that’s going to set the
internet world abuzz, but you do know enough to choose a
system that’s right for you and stick to it.

3 - Take the Time to Plan!

Give yourself from two to four weeks to regroup. Go
through all the products you have on your shelves or on
your computer. Make a list. Decide which products you know
(so wise with hindsight!) to be worth keeping. Then analyze
the ‘keepers’ and pick on the best system for YOU to use at
this time.

(This will depend upon your level of knowledge and which
one you would enjoy most. Work with your strengths.)

Finally, devise a game plan. You are going to focus on
this ONE method and devise a practical time-line to achieve
results. Don’t be in a rush. Make sure you give yourself
enough time to see it ‘take hold’ so the money starts
flowing in. That will give you the motivation to continue.

Clear the decks, physically as well as mentally. Put all
the products that don’t fit in with your plan in boxes or
on disk for safekeeping. You may return to them one day,
but if you’ve chosen the system that’s right for you, you
probably won’t.

4 - Don’t Get Distracted by New Products!

Resolve to buy ONLY products or services that will save
you time or money in implementing the system you have
chosen.

Never buy anything on impulse. Print out the sales letter,
read it through, then put it aside. Read it through again
the next day. Does it still seem so appealing? Check out a
few forums to listen to the buzz.

If a product doesn’t deliver, you’ll soon hear about it.
If it is exceptional value, you’ll hear about that, too.

Some questions to ask: “Will this help me to streamline
the business I have chosen? Is it worth the money? Will it
make a significant difference?” And above all, “Do I need
this, or is it just another distraction?”

Resolve to make this the year you will succeed. No more
pocket change. No more “If I had only known…”

You DO know.

So make it work!

About the Author:

David Isaacs is the co-owner of a site where you can get
over $17,286 worth of quality products, services and
training programs you can use to begin generating an
online income for less than a candy bar a day.
Find out more at Infinite Revenue.

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This Week’s Trivia Answer
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Here’s the answer to the trivia question I asked earlier…

What does the phrase “walk the cat back” mean?

Walk the cat back: To attempt to understand the true
nature of a situation by reconstructing events
chronologically from the present to the past.

The forward-looking effort to spot trouble on the horizon
has a counterpart in the backward-looking effort to figure
out what went wrong after trouble has in fact arrived.

Intelligence analysts, who often have to second-guess
themselves after defections and other failures, have a
phrase to describe this kind of diagnostic deconstruction:
‘walking back the cat.’

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Healthy Body… Healthy Mind
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Setting and achieving your goals can be one of the most
stressful and sometimes futile things you ever do in your
life.

Each new year brings new resolutions. People make
unrealistic promises to themselves knowing that many of
them are sure to be broken. But we do it anyway, because it
is a tradition that has been passed down through many
generations.

There are several ways to plan for reaching your goals
that can greatly increases your chances for success and
reduce the amount of stress involved.

First, you must understand that while goals should be
written down, they need not be etched in stone. For
instance, say that you want to lose 20 pounds in the next
two months, and two months later, you have only lost 15
pounds.

Many people would see this as a failure, get depressed,
and go back to their unhealthy habits. The results are
predictable. They gain back the weight they lost (or more)
and end up back at square one.

Achieving a goal is like driving to a different city. You
never travel in a straight line. You make turns, take
detours, and sometimes get lost (although most men would
never admit to this). Do you go back home and start over?
Of course not. You just make adjustments from your current
location.

Taking the above example once again, losing 15 pounds
instead of 20 is not failure! Absolutely not. You simply
need to make the necessary adjustments in your goal and
continue on.

Instead of dwelling on your inability to lose 20 pounds,
consider that you now only need to lose five pounds. Since
you just lost 15 pounds in two months, losing five more in
the next month should be a snap. But if you do not, you
simply make the necessary adjusts once again from that
point. Each goal gets easier and easier.

You should also make reasonably achievable goals. If you
need to lose 100 pounds, do not plan to lose it in the next
six months. That is not only unreasonable, it can be
dangerous to your health. However, losing 100 pounds in 12
months breaks down to slightly less that two pounds per
week. That is certainly within reason.

If your goal is to earn a million dollars in the next
year, that is admirable. But have you thought about how you
are going to do that? If you are starting from scratch,
that may not be a reasonable goal. Perhaps you should start
by building a foundation first and shooting for your first
million dollars next year.

Of course, if you plan on making a million dollars next
year and only make 20 bucks, you only have $999,980 to go.

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Have You Got Any Comments?
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This is your chance to speak out.

Comment on articles I’ve run in the newsletter, give me
your thoughts on changes or your ad testing results or
questions relating to your business, etc.

In other words, just talk to me about what you think I
need to do to improve the newsletter.

Be sure to include your website address too, because if
I use your comments in a future issue of the newsletter,
I’ll thank you by posting your address so that you can get
additional free traffic to your site!

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That’s a Wrap for this Week
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That wraps up another week’s newsletter and I hope you
enjoyed this issue.

Don’t forget to send me any comments or questions you
may have to the Feedback Loop. I would be only too happy to
help you in any way that I can.

From time to time I’ll send you important updates
that will provide information that has the potential to
greatly improve your online business… and of course
your profits!

However, you can rest assured that I will only ever
recommend products that are considered to be of HIGH value
and will provide indisputably benefits to help you grow
your business… that’s my guarantee!

Your friend,

Gilles Rais

Categories: Newsletter Issues