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MLM Woman Online This free monthly newsletter is made possible by our advertisers. We thank them for their support! From the Desk of the Editor Welcome to this month's issue of MLM Woman Newsletter hot off our virtual press. First, a personal note. As many of you know, the MLM Woman website was recently voted one of the 10 Best MLM Help Sites in the world. I want to thank those of you who have voted for my website. And if you haven't placed your vote yet for MLM Woman, I would appreciate your help in moving us up from the #4 position. I think that with your help maybe we could move it up a few positions, maybe even to #1. If you would like to help by casting your vote for MLM Woman, here is the link: http://www.profitclinic.com/MLM/top10.html I recently found a great poem and liked it so much that I immediately posted it on my MLM Talk Bulletin Board and I have also included it for you in our issue this month for those of you who may have missed it. Happy Reading! Linda Locke, Editor MLM Woman COMFORT ZONE I used to have a comfort zone where I thought I could not fail, same four walls and busy work were really more like jail.  I longed so much to do the things I had never done before, but I stayed inside my comfort zone and paced the same old floor. I said it didn't matter that I wasn't doing much, I said I didn't care for things like diamonds, furs and such. I claimed to be so busy with things inside my zone, but deep inside I longed for something special of my own. I could not let life go by just watching others win, I held my breath and stepped outside and let the change begin. I took a step and with new strength I had never felt before, I kissed my comfort zone goodbye and closed and locked the door. If you are in a comfort zone afraid to venture out, remember that all winners were at one time filled with doubt. A step or two and words of praise can make your dreams come true. Greet your future with a smile SUCCESS is there for you!   -- Anonymous Advice from A-Z Employ the 3-5 Rule to Succeed in Sales and Business By Azriela Jaffe, Copyright 1999 An expression became popular in sales called the "three-foot" rule - anyone within three feet of you is a prospect until proven otherwise. For a short while, I was involved in network marketing, selling an herbal supplement that had provided me outstanding health benefits. Anyone in the world could benefit from using this product so the "three-foot" rule applied. But very quickly, it destroyed my love for the business and the product. When, in my mind, the whole world became a prospect, I couldn't relax and converse with a friend, neighbor, family member or stranger without looking for a way to bring my product or business opportunity into the conversation. If someone I cared about was suffering from ill health, I became obsessed with finding a way to convince them to try my product. I was so drawn to manipulate every personal encounter into a sale, I became an obnoxious self-centered person. The "three-foot rule" is a good reminder that a prospect may show up in the most unlikely of places - standing behind you at the supermarket, or at your kid's friend's birthday party - so keep an open mind and respond to opportunities. But don't turn the entire universe into a gigantic rolodex for your business. I've developed my own strategy for business success that I call the Jaffe 3-5 rule. Its purpose is the direct opposite of the three-foot rule. The 3-5 rule helps you narrow your focus, target your market, and be more successful as a result. In doing so, you will experience less rejection because you will be approaching those customers and prospects most likely to buy from you, and you will be making the best use of your time. The 3-5 rule is as follows: To prosper in your business, focus your efforts on no more than 3-5 major target markets, using no more than 3-5 primary marketing tools, and making the most of your 3-5 greatest business skills. Be sure that you spend your time in 3-5 major business responsibilities, and if possible, delegate the rest. As a successful business professional, you probably employ the 3-5 rule without even knowing it. Even if your business forces you to broaden your duties, you are probably exceptionally good at 3-5 major responsibilities. One or two more responsibilities you will learn to do if you have to, but they are not your natural gift. The rest of your daily tasks you should delegate to a business partner, employees or contracted help. If you don't, you'll spend a great deal of energy trying to do things you aren't well suited for, at the expense of not getting to the activities in which you shine. Eighty percent of your time is probably spent doing three major business activities. Twenty percent of your time may be spent on one or two minor business activities that spin off from the first three. If that isn't the case for you, you are probably spread too thin to be effective. Eighty percent of your revenue probably comes from one to three major business markets. Twenty percent of your revenue probably comes from smaller markets outside of your major three. Take a look at your current revenue stream, does this hold true for you? Your comfort zone, type of business and skill level will lead you to select 3-5 primary ways to market and sell your services and products to prospective buyers. Because you tend to use the same sales approach repetitively, you'll gain proficiency in whatever method you choose. Though you'll consider experimenting with new approaches from time to time, you are unlikely to depart too often from what generally works for you. I see the 3-5 rule in operation in every successful business I encounter. Recently, I offered one of my clients, "WebCards" a job, and the President, Joe Haedrich, was smart enough to turn it down. WebCards <www.printing.com> is a printing company located in Plainfield, New Jersey which is capable of handling just about any printing needs. But they specialize in turning your website into an inexpensive brochure by creating a postcard with an image of your website on the front and details about your company on the back. I write a bimonthly email newsletter for Webcards on Internet marketing and my mailbox fills up with testimonials from happy Webcards customers. In fact, their business has been doubling every month, with no sign of slowing down. Why? Superior customer service and sticking with their niche. They are the best at what they do, hands down, they price their product affordably, and delighted customers make great word-of-mouth advertisers. So when I recently asked Joe if they wanted to publish a book that I am writing and self publishing, he could have had the business just by saying "yes." Because I have a trusted relationship with him, he was my first choice. Although Joe was willing to do it for me as a favor, we both agreed that it didn't make sense. It would remove his focus from the business activities WebCards does best. It lay outside of the 3-5 business activities that drive the WebCards engine. WebCards has all the equipment we would have needed to get the job done, but Joe didn't want to distract himself, or his personnel in a direction that is no longer consistent with WebCard's primary, and very profitable business - producing WebCards. That made a great deal of sense. I'm giving my business to a printing firm that specializes in book printing. Before you jump at the next customer order that comes your way, ask yourself: Does this fit with my niche, and will it use my 3-5 strongest business skills? Turning down business, so that you can stay focused on what you do well, is often a smart business decision. Azriela Jaffe is a syndicated columnist and author of the New book "Starting from No: Ten Strategies to Overcome Your Fear of Rejection and Succeed in Business" and several other self-help books. She welcomes reader response and questions to PO Box 209, Bausman, PA 17504 or az@azriela.com. For free online newsletters for entrepreneurs, visit her Anchored Dreams website at: http://www.isquare.com/crlink.htm How To Succeed Working at Home When you have kids climbing all over you. By Dr. Kevin Nunley I get a BIG chuckle out of experts who preach the joys of working from home. Magazines often feature a photo of a nicely dressed model with her full attention focused on a client on the phone. Her equally nicely-dressed child quietly explores an educational toy on the floor beside her. That's never the way it works at my house. As I write this from home, my 15 year-old is bouncing a basketball off the outside of my office, my 12 year-old is blaring her new Back Street Boys CD, the kindergartner has just let the neighbor's dog into the living room, and my toddler is trying to climb onto my shoulders while attempting to shut the computer off. Experts advise this isn't the way a successful work-at-home business is supposed to operate. The professional home-worker is told to make clients think she is in a big, plush office in a mirror-covered professional building. "Never allow noise from kids and pets and never answer the phone 'hello.' Clients won't take you seriously," they write. Uh oh, I'm in trouble. Let's be realistic for a second. Of the six million North Americans who work from their houses, I'll bet more than half have noisy kids, dogs, and unfolded laundry competing for their attention. Yet, studies routinely show work-at-homers often get as much or more done than those in the office. Here are a few ideas to help you succeed with a home business when you have lots of family responsibilities to deal with at the same time: 1. Don't worry about kids interrupting a phone call. Being there for family is cool these days. The vast majority of business people wish THEY were at home with their kids. More often than not, when a small voice starts demanding a popsicle in the middle of an important negotiation, the client on the other end will be delighted. "Are you working at home? How neat! Isn't it wonderful that you can be there for your kids," your client will say. 2. Working non-stop with full concentration is only for people locked in a corporate office. Get used to working in a start-and-stop fashion. When you see your work is about to be interrupted, don't stop at a natural place. Stop in the middle. It will help you get re-started when time allows. The feeling you MUST be constantly productive at all times is a recent invention of our industrial societies. The majority of the world's people are much more laid back. Take a little more time to get a project finished. Oddly, your productivity will increase. 3. If you are a firm of one, promote your one-ness to the world. Every customer wants to feel like they can talk to the person in charge. That's never a problem for people who do business with you. Think of all the big corporations that strive to be identified with their founder. Microsoft has Bill Gates, KFC has the Colonel, and Wendy's has Dave. They spend millions to insure you identify their mammoth corporation with a single individual in charge. 4. Get over the idea that TV is bad for kids. It is a popular, healthy, worthwhile activity when used wisely in moderate doses. Most of TV's criticism is perpetrated by people who sell books. There are a lot of terrifically educational TV programs and videos that kids love to watch. Plan to get a project underway while the kids (we'll include spouses, too) engage in some quality TV consumption. A few hundred years ago people ALWAYS worked with their kids under foot. It was only when business became dominated by factories that workers were forced to leave their children at home (and even then, it took at least 100 years to make workers change). You certainly CAN be a success working at home while taking care of children--even if your children are rowdy, noisy, and demanding. The articles I've written (which are read by 1 million people each week) were all written with various children sleeping on my lap, pulling my hair, or trying to delete the file. I earn a good living working at home and YOU CAN TOO! Just don't expect me to always pick up the phone when you call. It's not that I don't want to talk with you, but probably that my 2 year-old has just swiped my keys and is heading for the garage. Kevin Nunley provides marketing advice and copy writing fast and at low cost. Before beginning his work-at-home business in 1996, he spent 20 years enjoying office politics at major radio and TV stations. Read all his FREE marketing tips at http://DrNunley.com/. Reach Kevin at kevin@drnunley.com. 7 Keys That Helped Me Leave The "Rat Race" For Cyberspace (C) 1998-1999, Marty Foley I'll never forget that fateful day, not far short of a year ago, when I finally achieved what I had dreamed about and worked toward for some time. No, cashing that week's paycheck wasn't what I had been keenly anticipating.... Leaving a job I hated in order to work for myself full-time in cyberspace was the dream goal I had finally achieved! The goal of leaving the "rat race" and calling the shots in one's own profitable business - online and off - is common to many people; I'm sure a significant percentage of those reading this article. At times it even reaches the point of desperation. Some spend thousands of dollars in an elusive search for it. If running your own business is also a goal of yours, I empathize with your situation. I thought I'd share some tips in this article that helped me leave the "rat race" for my own online business. Even if you've already achieved self-employment, maybe some tips I share in this article can help increase the profitability of your existing business, online or off. Keys to Leaving the Rat Race 1) Being a doer, not just a dreamer. There's a saying: "When all is said than done, more is said than done." It's easy to dream and talk about our goals, but we won't get anywhere until we take decisive action. At first, I did much more dreaming and telling others about my goal of self-employment than I took action toward it. Combining my dreams with action, however, was the only thing that worked. Note: Don't confuse taking action with making rash decisions. Temper your readiness to act with sound reasoning and knowledgeable decisions, based on research. 2) Effective Time Management Time certainly means money in the business world. The ability to manage your time effectively is certainly an asset that can repay you many times over, both in your business and personal life. Getting maximum productivity from your time is even more crucial if you're working a full-time job at the same time you're trying to build a business in your spare time. When I worked for someone else, time usually dragged by. Now I find when working for myself that time just breezes by and I often wonder where the time went - and even wish I had more work hours in the day! NOTE: At one point, I was in between a rock and a hard place. I was making money in my own business while holding down my full-time regular job, but not enough to live on. Moreover, I needed more time than I had available in my spare hours to pursue things I felt would increase profits. I decided to cut back on the hours at my regular job, which my employer agreed to (he didn't want me to quit). This allowed time to expand my business faster and made the transition to running my own full-time business easier. If you can't or don't want to quit your job "cold turkey," you might consider a similar strategy. 3) Knowledge of your field. Now you don't have to be an expert in your business field when you first start out. You can grow as you go, but plan on keeping abreast of developments in your field. Do so long enough and you'll become an expert. You can also team up with others that have needed expertise you may be lacking. Fortunately, there is a "shortcut" to gaining success know-how in your business field. Tips are in an article at: http://ProfitInfo.com/copycat.htm 4) Persistence. Despite all the hype, business success rarely comes easily or overnight; it takes persistent effort and plain old work. Be wary of those that tell you otherwise. I empathize with those that must commute 5 or more days a week to a job they don't like. That was one strong motivation for me to persist at my own business until I went full-time. Whatever your motivations to persist may be, they will prove useful. NOTE: It will be easier to persist if you select a field of business that you like, as opposed to pursuing something just for the money. 5) Focusing on presenting solutions, not on selling products and services. I'm a firm believer in the business philosophy of "succeeding by helping others succeed." Focusing on helping people solve their problems or achieve their goals works better than just "selling" them products and services. 6) Self-Discipline. Now that my "office" is just a few steps away when I wake up in the morning, it's easy to sleep in. With no boss "cracking a whip" over those that work for themselves, self-discipline is definitely needed. Usually no one will see that things get done but yourself. 7) Marketing skills. Regardless of what business you're in, marketing is the tool used to present the solutions that your products and services offer to the rest of the world. As the saying goes "Everything is marketing." Marketing is a skill. Like any other skill, it can be developed through knowledge and practice.   You, Too, Can Leave the Rat Race As many employees of large corporations have been discovering to their dismay, even seniority doesn't always guarantee job security. Of course, there's more involved in leaving the rat race than following the above tips, which I can't cover in detail within the scope of this article, but I've shared seven keys I consider important. No, leaving the rat race for cyberspace didn't come overnight, but it's certainly possible - as more and more savvy entrepreneurs are discovering - and well worth the effort. If followed, these keys can help you leave the rat race, too. Article by Marty Foley of <http://ProfitInfo.com>. His ProfitInfo Newsletter reveals tips, resources and strategies for building Internet profits now: <Subscribe@ProfitInfo.com>. Marty's highly-praised new handbook, "Internet Marketing Goldmine," reveals success strategies and tactics you haven't seen before - Guaranteed! Click here for details. Get More Business from Your Business Cards! By Diana Ratliff What has your business card done for you lately? The humble business card has evolved considerably since its beginning as a convenient way to leave your name and contact information with a business associate. Today, business cards can and should be an integral part of your marketing arsenal. They should be designed to complement your other promotional materials and reflect your unique business identity and purpose. Very often, your business card will determine what your prospect remembers about you after your initial meeting ... or if your prospect remembers you at all! Maximizing the functionality of your business card begins at the design stage, and any reputable printer you contact should be able to guide you about the "basics" (card stock, style, type size, color, fonts). Your business card, first and foremost, must be legible, with easy-to-read fonts in a size large enough for the "bifocal crowd" to read. When designating your contact information, include your fax number, email address and web URL, if appropriate. Many of the other attention-getting ways to put your business card to work, too, begin at the design stage. This is where you can add color, modify the shape, print on the back of the card and use humor to make your cards more memorable. Designing a completely new and improved business card, however, is not always possible. Many business people are restricted to the use of company-designed cards, or simply cannot afford to replace their existing card supply. Fortunately, the way you present your business card has far more to do with the sales you generate than the card design itself. The following business card tips are among the most popular and most creative of those I’ve collected during my years as an advertising specialist for home-based business owners. Some of the tips I gathered completely contradict each other, yet all have been proven effective. Consider your own unique clientele, your industry, your business identity and your own personal characteristics as you decide which ideas to implement. MAGNETS ATTRACT Are there any magnets on your refrigerator door? On mine, there’s a Band-Aid-shaped magnet with the phone number of a local walk-in medical clinic . . . a maroon business card magnet with the phone number for "Ziggy’s Home Repair" . . . and a magnet with a table of weights and measures from a kitchenware consultant. Your business card could be on hundreds of refrigerator doors just like mine. You can buy sets of adhesive-backed magnets that have been pre-cut to the shape of a standard business card. You simply "peel and stick" your existing paper card to the magnet. These are available from office supply stores and copy centers. A more attractive (and economical, in large numbers) way to transform your card into a magnet is to have it screen-printed directly on magnetic backing. Talk to your printer or advertising specialty representative. This idea is especially appropriate for those business people who rely on "impulse" or "as needed" purchases. WRITE ON YOUR CARDS Get over the idea that your card is a work of art and start seeing it as a means of conveying information. Your card has two sides, right? Many of the things that could be jotted on a sticky note can also be jotted on the back of your business card. Use your cards when you send notes to friends and relatives, as well as business contacts. IDENTIFY YOURSELF FOR APPOINTMENTS Whenever you’re asked to give your name, give your card instead. This is a great way to go "fishing" for business. Standing in line to be seated at a restaurant, and the hostess wants your name? Give her your card. Checking in for an appointment with your doctor or dentist? Give the receptionist your card. Leaving your car at the auto-repair shop for a tune-up? Give the mechanic your card. Waiting for your turn at a parent-teacher conference? Give the teacher your card. You get the idea. EXCHANGE CARDS One of the smartest things you can do with your cards is to trade them with other business owners, so that you can refer business to each other. A fun and inexpensive way to find such business owners is to organize a breakfast club. Members in different professions gather for breakfast, trade business cards and promotional materials, and share stories, tips and ideas about what works (and what doesn’t) in marketing their businesses. The only cost to members is the cost of their breakfast. A policy of "only one business per category" keeps competition to a minimum. Best of all, these other business owners know you and how you conduct business. When they hand someone your card, it comes along with their personal recommendation. GRAB A BOWL-FULL If your business depends on a steady stream of new contacts (particularly other business people), and you have a broad market base, remember the "business card in a bowl" approach. You can ask your favorite restaurant to set out a goldfish bowl, in which patrons can drop their business cards to win a prize (perhaps supplied by you). Alternatively, seek out restaurants that already have such bowls, and find out what they do with the cards after the drawing is held. Usually, they’re going to toss them anyway, so make arrangements to pick up the "dis"-cards on a periodic basis.  VARY THE TITLES One terrific approach is to become more creative in the titles you assign on your cards. This may or may not involve humor. For example, the people who teach software classes to faculty, staff and students at a nearby university are officially called "Technology Training Specialists." A more user-friendly title might be "Software Instructor." For those of you who can get away with humorous cards, why call yourself the "Executive Secretary" when everyone knows you’re "The One Who REALLY Runs the Place"? If you can afford it, try printing two sets of cards, and have both handy when you meet someone. If you sense that a funny card may be well received, go for it! A good laugh is a great ice-breaker. FOLD-OVER CARDS Many business card variations have to do with card shape and card size. One of the simplest and most effective approaches is to design a card that folds over at the top . . . in effect, a double card. Use the front for your standard contact information and the back for something useful such as directions to your store, your store hours or your guarantee. You still have room to list your products and/or primary product benefits on the inside of your card. PERSONAL ORGANIZER Probably the most unusual (although expensive) "card" I’ve encountered is a personal electronic organizer. The organizer was pre-programmed with the contact information of the business owner who presented it, as well as other numbers and addresses the prospect would find useful. If you’d like MORE tips on creating business cards that are kept, remembered, and USED by your prospects, order my new tips booklet, “How To Get More Business from your Business Cards!” Send a message to: bizcardbooklet@sendfree.com for more details. Go back to the top of the page Back to the MLMWoman Newsletter Index We want your feedback! Send e-mail comments to Linda at: regent@west.net Copyright 1999, Regent Press http://www.mlmwoman.com