7 Tips For Writing A Start-Up Business Plan

Please raise your hand if you've ever been frustrated about what to put in a business plan? What will convince an investor to give you money? We've all been there. And it seems like the answer keeps changing depending on who you talk to.

The problem, or rather the truth, is that there is no "one fit all" solution. So the bad news is: even a step by step guide to writing a business plan won't really make your plan "good". The good news is, you really don't need a step by step guide to make your plan compelling enough to close investment.

There are many different formats and there really isn't a "universal" length for a perfect business plan. Depending on your product or industry, it can range anywhere between 10-100, and sometimes more, pages.

The question you should ask yourself is: what stage is my company at? If you are already generating revenue and are looking for a second or third round of financing to expand, the business plan can get much more elaborate and detailed, especially on the financial analysis and projections side of things.

But if you are just starting a business, don't have established revenue yet and are simply looking to attract investors to get started making money with your products or services, keep on reading.
Most important to understand in this case is that it all comes down to one simple thing:
telling a great story!

This does not mean you shouldn't present accurate facts, be transparent, and most importantly tell the truth; but it means that you need to package all those facts into an interesting, exciting, and fascinating story so your readers (potential investors) keep on reading and don't get bored by page 25. It's a lot to ask someone to read an entire business plan, so the least you can do is make it fun and interesting.

I have had the pleasure to be on both sides of the table (both writing and reading business plans), and here are the 7 things that are often forgotten or done wrong:

1. Get To The Point Quickly
We all get excited at the prospect of starting a new business... so going on and on about one or more aspects that really cause you to be enthusiastic is great when you sit over a cup of coffee with your friends or colleagues.

But when it comes to reading something on a digital device or piece of paper, without your enthusiastic voice, endless chatter can get old very quickly.

Think of your potential readers as the most impatient individuals you will ever meet. How would you structure your sentences when talking or writing an e-mail to them? Now add just a hint of enthusiasm and relevant information to that, and you should be close to getting their attention.

2. Move Most Compelling Facts To The Top

In addition to keeping things "snappy", prioritizing information and structuring the business plan around the importance of each element can help move the reader along.
The format that I have found to be effective is:

1- Brief Executive Summary
2- Company Description
3- Market Analysis
4- Product and/or Services
5- Marketing Strategy
6- Sales Strategy
7- Company Goals & Objectives
8- Management and Operations
9- Competitive Analysis
10- Financial Projections

Some entrepreneurs include a request for funding at the end, and some create a separate document (mostly with their attorneys) called "Private Placement Memorandum" (PPM). The advantage of not including a funding request in the business plan, is that you can stay flexible in terms of who you are sharing this business plan with and how much money you end up asking for. It's easier to change the short PPM rather than going back into the business plan every time you talk to a different investor.

The main thought behind the structure I suggested above is that every section sets the stage and builds up to the section right after. Again, there are many different formats, and you can really change this format up to whatever suits the story you are telling. You might for example have a big name on your team that has significant weight in your industry, so moving the "management" section up (maybe even to the top) can make sense in some cases. It's all about getting the reader excited, and the prospect of working with a celebrity might just get that job done for you.

3. Create Transitions

This is a mistake I see happening time and time again. Creating transitions between the different sections of the business plan is a really simple trick that makes the overall experience more pleasant, while "tricking" the reader into continuing to read.

Many business plan authors think it's enough to just "compile" all the information relevant to their business in form of one continuous document - no matter how.

The problem, however, becomes that sometimes jumping thoughts can be jarring and confusing.
Go back to thinking about your business plan as a story you would tell around a campfire. You wouldn't reveal the big twist right in your first sentence, would you? And the way that you would go from one character and plot-point to the next, is how you should think of every segment in your business plan.
Don't shy away from creating cliff-hangers at the end of some sections. For example, if your market analysis concludes that one specific age group and gender has an urgent need that no product in the market is currently satisfying, you can end this section with a question like: So how doesaddress this urgent need and turn it into profit? And then go right into your products and services presentation.

4. Don't Be Too Flashy

In my experience, there is a huge difference between sounding professionally enthusiastic and self-promotional. Using too many flashy buzz-words and too much promotional language throughout the business plan can get irritating to read and mostly comes across as insincere. It also raises the question if the authors of the plan are hiding the fact that they might not have figured "it" out yet.
Trying to be flashy simply distracts from the real, hard facts and dilutes the value of your presentation. The old saying, "when in doubt, keep it simple", truly applies here.

5. Use images And Graphic Examples

This speaks to the "making it fun to read" - part. No, no... making it fun doesn't mean making it flashy. It simply means you should also not try to achieve the opposite of flashy - which I believe to be "boring".
Images and graphic examples should be relevant to the information you are presenting. The goal is to give the reader's eyes a break here and there to keep the flow going. Think of it like visual potato chips... but the good, organic kind that is fun to eat, while still staying relevant to your healthy diet. This can include images of your product(s), website screenshots, industry statistics, charts, etc.

6. Attachments

Sometimes there are amazing articles or entire studies on specific industry developments that support your case. Instead of copy-pasting and quoting the entire article, though, attach it to your business plan as a separate document labeled "Exhibit a)", b), c), etc. (one for each document) and reference the exhibit with a short quote or summary inside the business plan. That way you are giving the reader the choice to check out the attachment or to continue going through your presentation.

The goal here is to avoid unnecessary "inflation". More pages is not always better! Sometimes 10 pages that knock it out of the park are better than 100 pages that are overwhelming with too many industry stats and lengthy paragraphs that you didn't even write yourself.

7. Try Putting Yourself Into The investor's Shoes

It's hard, but when reading through your finished business plan, try to distance yourself and read it from the perspective of an investor. Ask yourself very honestly and harshly: would I put money into this? Imagine putting everything on the line; your car, your house, your life's savings.
You would be surprised how many times you will cringe and realize that it's simply not good enough yet; that some of the language you don't even buy into yourself; that you might have to do a lot more research and planning before taking it to an investor. In the end of the day, you are not just putting their money on the line, but also your own time and resources, which could be devastating.

Online Business Secret - How to Succeed

The basic tenet and secret of succeeding with an online business is one's knowledge of internet marketing. No matter how good the products you sell, or the opportunity you offer, you will not sell if you do not have the knowledge to market online effectively. Those who have succeeded acquired the knowledge of internet marketing first then looked for opportunities afterwards. For people who have failed the reason is lack of internet marketing knowledge.

The key to succeed online is in driving traffic to your website. There are various methods of driving traffic to your website to succeed online. Some of these are article marketing, pay per click ads, banner ads and search engine optimization.

Article Marketing

Article marketing has the power to drive tons of high quality traffic to you website. The key is first of to identify your niche market, and discover the keyword phrase for your target market. This keyword phrase should be included in the title and several times within the content of the article. One of the things to consider when you want your online business t succeed through article marketing is writing relevant articles. This will result in optimizing the article so that it can be picked by the search engines and ranked high.

Pay Per Click Ads

Pay per click ads are ads you pay the clicks that accrue to your ads. These are ads shown on the right hand side and sometimes at the top of search engine results pages. The good thing about these ads is that you only pay when you have visitors to your website. And also the ability to use targeted keywords enables targeting the ads to the interested people.

Banner Ads

It can be seen that a lot of innovation has been experienced in banner ads creation. These are becoming important tools in effective online marketing for one to succeed. The whole objective is to grab attention of visitors within the first few seconds they visit the website.

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization produces greater online business success results as compared to pay per click ads. It has been discovered that more traffic is generated by high rankings on the page than from an ad. Optimization is to do with the density of keyword phrases. These are the keywords people type when they are searching in the search engines. The trick is to place a reasonable number of the keyword phrase within the content of the website. What is the reasonable number? It has been said that about 7% of the content is the reasonable number. More than the 7% you get penalized by the search engines.

Business Strategies to Preserve Wealth

Preserving wealth is one of the most important business strategies for any investor. Whether you are risk averse or a risk taker, the bottom line is the same. You want to produce positive cash flow with your investments. There are several business strategies to preserve wealth. These include, but are not limited to, real estate, small business ownership, stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.

Real estate can be a key business strategy to preserve wealth. Not only does real estate increase in value over the years, but it builds equity and can produce a positive cash flow-for not only you but your children as well. So how does this work, and is there significant risk involved?

The answer to this is simple. Real estate has a proven track record over the years. Although, like any investment, there are lows and highs, real estate will increase in value if the property is held for a long-enough period of time. Unless you practice the business strategy of "flipping properties," then you should plan to be in this for the long term.

Purchasing a property for the sole purpose of renting it out is a great business strategy to mitigate market exposure-meaning that no matter what the market fluctuations are, you and your investment will remain safe. Remember there are always going to be individuals looking for rental properties. The key is to find an area that you yourself would be comfortable living in. Being in a safe environment with a good school district will appeal to almost any family. The proper marketing and having a good product-two key business strategies-will ensure success.

Owning and operating a small business is another way to preserve wealth. Many individuals dream of owning their own business, so why not make this a reality. Of course, this does not come without its own set of risks. Being properly educated in all aspects of running a business is a must. Opening a franchise can be a good alternative for someone with little knowledge in business operations and strategies. This, of course, will limit the owner's opportunities for business creativity, and some of the profits will be handed over the franchisor. The benefits of a Franchise are a proven business strategy, existing business model, recognized brand name, and consistent product quality.

Whatever it is, if you do decide to open your own business, make sure it is something you have a great passion for. Findings show having a passion for something generally leads to success. An individual will work harder for something he or she enjoys.

Make sure you employ trust-worthy individuals who have your best interest at heart. This is why so many small businesses employ family members. Most businesses do not turn a profit in their first year or two so make sure you have enough capital to sustain the life you are accustomed to. Do not over extend yourself-and most of all, enjoy your business.

So where do stocks, bonds, and mutual funds fall in a business strategy? The answer to this is simple. Keeping the profits from your income-producing business in a non-interest bank account is like keeping your money in your sock drawer. Investing your profits in mutual funds, stocks, and bonds can be a great way to produce more wealth and portfolio diversification. If you are risk averse and do not want to lose money, a mutual fund is a great way to create a diverse portfolio for those with little market knowledge. Remember the key is letting your money work for you, it's a business strategy that's worked for years!

Keys to a Successful Viral Marketing Campaign

Viral Marketing, there's no doubt that this is the buzz phrase being thrown around by internet marketers and businesses and is only going to become more sought after as a service.

But what exactly is Viral Marketing? Why is everyone looking to make their business go viral? And more importantly, how do you go viral?

Basically, Viral Marketing or making something go viral will see a huge increase in traffic. Whether that traffic is for a business or individual, the essence of something going viral is to have it explode online and have millions of people see it within a short period of time.

So what makes something go viral? The real power behind making something go Viral is with the everyday people surfing the net. They are the ones that are going to decide whether or not something is worth "liking" or "sharing" on Facebook or YouTube. They are the ones that will be tweeting about you and telling all their friends.

An effective Viral Campaign will use this to its advantage and take into consideration what are the types of things that people are most likely to pass on when planning their campaign. History shows that comedy works really well with an Online Marketing campaign, as do things with some sort of charitable "cause" that pulls at the heart strings. If you own a business, providing some type of crazy deal could do wonders in helping you go viral and attract 10,000's more visitors.

Your Viral Marketing Campaign needs to make sense to you, your business and what you represent. If you're not too sure about how to get started with a Viral Marketing Campaign, then you can always take on the help of a professional team.

One of the beautiful things of about something going viral is, nobody really knows exactly what will and what won't go viral. There is a certain mystery that no one will ever understand about viral marketing.

Why some songs/film clips explode online, why some funny videos get passed on more than other videos that are just as funny, why some businesses ad campaigns get better results than others. There certainly is an aspect of randomness and luck when it comes to going viral. But if you take a look at what has been successful in going viral previously and think about how you can manipulate human emotion into your favor, then you could quite possibly be sitting on the next big viral marketing campaign.

Tips to Boost Your Visual Marketing Strategy

The majority of marketers would admit that creating visual images is not a strong suit for them.

The good news? Creativity is learned, so you do not have to struggle with visual marketing ever again.

Do you want to improve your social media strategy by including more visual content? Visual marketing is much more than finding an inspirational quote on Google and re-posting.

But, you might be asking yourself, how do you go about creating an attractive and shareable image? Something that people want to interact with and then share with their audience?

There is a ton of reports and information on how to create visual marketing images. But this information can take weeks to get through, then put into practice for your business.

That is why we have done the work for you. This article presents tips on how to create visual content that gets more engagement.

The Science Behind Visual Marketing

The Content Marketing Institute reported that 70% of marketers are producing more visual content.
Ask yourself, are you producing enough visual content? If you are not, it may be because you're intimidated at the word 'design'. Do not fear, these tips can help you.
In this article, we present many tips to support your goal of creating more visual content. Mastering these tips will make your visual message stick with web searchers.
Creating visual content is the #1 goal on marketer's lists for skills to learn and it should be yours too.

Your Audience Responds to Visual Cues

Video and infographic responsiveness is at an all-time high. Are you using these strategies to interact with your audience?

In 2014, the use of video marketing increased by 8% and the use of infographics increased 9%. (Source: DemandGenReport)

As a home business owner you must dedicate more time and resources to creating visual content. Facebook posts that contain photos or videos account for 87% of increased interactions. (Source: EMarketer.com)
What does this mean? Facebook users are looking for so much more than just blatant calls to action to buy products. They want posts that share ideas, make connections, and avoid using too much text. Now is the time to switch to visual marketing if your posts have been heavy with text. You can start today adding photos or images to your posts.

What makes a shareable social media image? Why should we care about people sharing our images? Good questions. Every time a person shares your image, you just received free marketing. They are opening up your message to their audience. This helps you achieve more with less!
Let's look at what makes a shareable social media image:

1. Emotion: When your readers feel it, they'll share it.
2. Relevance: Your image should fit your audience, and their audience too.
3. Colors: Use the right colors to fit your audience's personality and you will get more shares.
4. Typography: Choose fonts that look good and pair well with each other. Choose fonts your audience can read.
5. Hashtags and Text: Choose the right words to encourage your audience to interact.
The most important way to optimize social media content is with images and photos leading the way. Focus on creating great visual content to engage your audience and put them into a sales funnel. On the back end, you will have detailed information to separate the lookers from the buyers.

Serious buyers will always be looking for more information to use in their life. These types of information include webinars, case studies, and reports (or white papers). Visual content opens the 'door' for serious buyers to access your back-end detailed information.

Tip # 1
Creating a Title for your Visual Image

Titles are a feature element of your visual content. You want them to stand out!
Let's go through a couple factors that will help you choose the best titles for your visual marketing.

1. We live in the age of people scrolling through a social media feed at record speed. An amazing title helps your visual content stand out among the "noise" in a news feed.

2. Your image has a split second to grab the attention of your audience. But your title (or main goal in the image) must speak to them as well.

3. If your audience finds the image to be pause worthy, make sure your title keeps them even longer. If you fall short in any aspect, they will not click on your call to action and will keep scrolling to the next thing.
4. Your back end offer will be the ultimate information that solves their problem. But the title should be crystal clear and provide a front line answer to their question.

Your image title appears everywhere. So, choosing a visual image with a strong title is critical, it will be visible in many different places. Every time you make a piece of text content, be aware that the different versions of it will show up as "title only". This is visual marketing, it is the only chance you have to grab your audience's fast paced attention.

Tip #2
Color: The Psychology of Colors in Visual Marketing
For decades there has been a debate about color and how it relates to persuading your audience to buy.
A great example in today's color marketing is a well known, high end, coffee retailer. They use the color green as their primary visual marketing color. When you look at a color chart you see that customer's associate green with wealth and relaxation.

Would you agree or disagree that this coffee shop got their marketing correct? They encourage people to stop in and relax with a $5-$8 cup of coffee. In fact, many people will tell you they cannot start their morning without a trip to this coffee house. Pretty ingenious, right?

Color studies show that different colors have an impact on a customer's purchasing decisions. Marketing departments have been using this knowledge for generations. Recognize the power behind color and make conscious choices for your visual marketing.

According to a B2B study, 85% of customer's claim that the color of an ad was what made them buy.
Please note, color alone does not induce someone to buy or not buy. But, when done correct, color influences your products and branding. And how long a customer stays around to learn about your products.
So how can you use this for your visual marketing strategy?

Start with a specific color theme. The right color theme depends on your niche audience's demographics and your ultimate message. Next choose the right text, font, shapes, and photos for your social media pages.
How do colors affect purchases?

There are many factors that influence what consumers buy. Yet a large amount of their decisions rely on visual cues, such as color. It is vital that your color choices support the theme of your message. Continue to refer to a color chart to double check that your color choice supports your message. Plus the call to action you want your customers to act on.

Tip #3
Choosing the Right Font
It's easy to think that your font is a simple design choice. But the truth is that font is the body language of your image. It says a lot to your reader without you even realizing it. Different fonts you choose dictate how long someone reads your article.

The previous tips discussed the importance of your visual content being inviting and shareable. Did you know that the font choice you make will impact the number of shares (attention) that it receives? How? Let's take a look.

Different fonts create different emotions.
· Font's will encourage readers to complete your desired action
· Drive decision making
· Encourage them to share with their audience

What is the take away? Consider the message you're putting out and the emotions that you want your audience to feel from it.

There are 3 steps to selecting your ideal font, your choice will support or detract from your message.
When creating your visual images, make sure that you think beyond the words that you have written. A good example here is a quote. Your goal is to select a font that matches the meaning behind the message. The goal is to think beyond the words you've written. While this sound complicated, it isn't.

3 Steps:
1. Decide on your emotion: Are you a fun loving brand? Or are you more serious, like an institution? You can be artsy and easy going or you can be serious and stoic. But mixing the two together rarely results in a unified message.

2. Choose 3 variations: Decide on 3 font you feel fit your brand's message. Design your visual image 3 times using a different font each time. Walk away from the project and come back later. When you have 'fresh' eyes you will be able to immediately see what font best suites your message.

3. Nothing is worse than a font you cannot read: You have been a victim yourself right? You see a visual marketing attempt, but you cannot read the words because the font was a wrong choice. Just because you feel a font is 'pretty' does not mean the audience can digest it. As we learned in the past 2 tips, if your audience does not digest the message fast, they move on.

Tip #4
Choosing Appropriate Images
A study performed by Trend Reports found that 65- 85% of people say they are visual learners. Visual learners prefer to look and study as opposed to read and comprehend. Marketers need to optimize images to accommodate the majority of visual learners.

Accommodate visual learners and you stand apart from competitors who only use text. When you are choosing images to tie in with your colors, titles, and fonts, you must keep relevancy in mind. Does the image you're choosing fit the audience you're choosing it for?

Visual learners process information using the part of the brain associated with vision. Which is 60,000x faster than the part of the brain that processes written information.

Visual learners look at your image and decide if what they are seeing matches up with what they like, etc. They use the part of the brain that tells them to stop and investigate or keep moving because it is not the right fit.

When you choose images ask yourself these 3 questions "does this image fit my":
· Brand
· Audience Niche
· Important News Feed Update
If they answer is yes, your next goal is to transition your audience from the image to your call to action. Getting your audience members to complete a specific action is your main goal.
With each image you create moving forward you must ask yourself:

"Does this make sense for my audience to act it?"
Not sure about the best interaction from your audience? Start looking at the leader's in your industry. What does their visual marketing strategy look like? Find posts getting a ton of interaction and you have found a winning combination for yourself.

Capture the Audience's Attention
Most people are completely overwhelmed in this information age. When we talk to the majority of people around us, we hear that all this data has become overwhelming. This is why the majority of people on social media skim and scan at rapid speed. The key to visual marketing, is to cause skimmers and scanners to look at your post while avoiding the rest. Most visitors have lost the patience to read through consuming social media posts. They want images that grab their precious attention.

Tip #5
Use Filters to Get More Likes
Instagram gives more than a dozen filters to customize your photos. Gone are the days when you chose a filter because it made your picture look better. Now you choose a filter based on scientific research to make your image perform better. Again, the whole reason we are studying visual marketing, right?
Once you take a photo, you can edit it by applying filters using the steps below.

1. Tap the filter you'd like to apply.
2. Tap the filter again if you want to adjust filter strength up or down using the slider. Tap the check to save your change.
3. Tap Next to add a caption and location and to share your photo.
Filters make your photos feel more refined. Studies show filters plus editing results in more views, comments, and shares.
We used to use filters because they made us look better. Now we understand that filters enhance our content. So what can you choose if you want to work with filters off of Instagram? There are 2 options to enhance your images without going through Instagram.

1. The Wix Image Editor
If you use Wix, you can also use their image editor to enhance your pictures.
Wix's image editor allows you to enhance your images while working on your site. Wix's image editor rivals Instagram in ease and options.

2. Online Photo Editing Tools
Looking online you will notice that there is a good variety of image editors. These tools give you complete control over your final image feel and look.
Some of the online editing tools are:
· Befunky
· Canva
· Ribbet
These are reliable photo editors, all available online and for the most part, with no or small cost.

Tip #6
Graphics
1. How to Use Quotes (the creative way) for Visual Marketing

Where do you fall on the social media timeline? Do you prefer the days of using social media to make friendships and build relationships?
Or, are you the newer generation who loves quotes and not so funny memes of babies with grouchy faces?
There is nothing wrong with whatever group you fall into. When you are surfing social media for your personal time.

But, there is something missing if you want to build your business only using memes or cat videos.
As a visual marketer you cannot afford to miss your goal 100% of the time posting to social media. If your images are not supporting your branding message then you are failing in business.

Sure you can build up likes, shares, and comments on your latest baby meme. But ask yourself, "Does this make my audience want my product"?

Let's look at graphics and how to make them resonate with your message to hit your visual marketing goal.
· You have spent the better part of an hour creating an image. It is quirky, it is sarcastic and you think witty!
· You post to social media and expect an outpouring of comments and questions about your business. But the quote had nothing to do with your home business. So, you hear crickets, not a single follow up question. Sure maybe a 'like' or two. But not a single sale. So what went wrong?

The question you should be asking yourself is: did my effort investment fit in my sales strategy?
If your quotes do not support a larger goal on the back end (to take your call to action), then your effort failed. Be careful of creating and posting visual content without knowing why you're doing it. And how every single post fits in your sales strategy.

2. Infographics: Explain Complex Topics by Using Infographics
Do you remember Tip # 4 about choosing the right image? And how we discussed your audience is 65% - 85% visual learners? This is the exact reason why infographics are so popular. And so effective!
You might be dealing with an industry that has complex topics (or even boring topics). When you try and explain them in text form to your visual audience, it is not received well.

Spend your time creating an infographic that delivers your complex message through an infographic. Now you have made it easy for your audience to understand. Successful parts of infographics are the 'visual pathways' that lead your audience. The end of the infographic will stop right at the invitation to learn more, or any other call to action.

The call to action gives the reader somewhere else to go, ideal is your own website. Your infographic goal is to create a visual pathway to lead the reader to your call to action.

Distribution Map Infographics are another great example of making a boring topic fun.
Here is an example: global economic productivity landscapes. Pretty boring topic right? Unless you are an economist, and in that case, my apologies!

Yet, you could create a distribution map infographic using a great palette of colors. With gradations of light to dark, you can produce an effective way to display a boring topic. Another way to standout is to present the statistics in an organized, 3-D form. Looking from a distance, the viewer engages with this arrangement because of its uniqueness.

Conclusion:
Visual marketing is a 'must-have' to attract your target audience and grow brand awareness. As you move forward, put into place these elements for your visual marketing strategy. Remember to follow up your designs with an examination of results. Make correct conclusions and then make the right modifications.

5 Easy Steps To Become A Millionaire

Ever thought about you being a Millionaire? Ever thought about what it would take to become a Millionaire? Anyone ever shared with you how you can become a Millionaire? Interesting questions right?
I'm not sure about you, but no one ever sat me down and said, "this is what you need to do if you want to be a Millionaire." I've had to struggle through my life just like everyone else. The only difference is I've made many sacrifices in my life to learn from the correct people, I've read lots of books to expand my knowledge and value to the world and now I would like to take a few minutes to share with you 5 Steps to get you started so you can become a Millionaire.

1) See Yourself already As A Millionaire

Long before you can ever become a Millionaire, you need to start visualizing yourself as a Millionaire. Who will benefit from you being a Millionaire besides you? How will you help people? What will you do with the money?

These are important questions. You can't just want to be a Millionaire and poof you are one. Sit down and create a vision that you can see in your own mind of you as a Millionaire. Think about is so much that you can see what you are wearing, what you drive for a car, who you are surrounded with and what house you are in.
The more details you can clearly see in your vision the more your mind will be able to help you start making it your reality.

2) Change Your Friends

This one may be really tough for a lot of you who are reading this. I don't want you to suddenly tell your existing friends they're not worthy of your time. But you do have to understand that you will stay at a success level of your closest friends.
If your closest friends make minimum wage, pick apart your dream and have none of their own, how likely do you think that you will become a Millionaire? If you start hanging around with people who want success, who strive for their goals in life and make a ton of money, you'll be forced to change. This will really help change your mindset and help you to start thinking like a Millionaire.

3) Stop Concerning Yourself With What People Think About You

Many people never take action because they are afraid that their closest friends and family will find out what they are doing. They are afraid they may even make fun of them. When they find out you actually have dreams and are working towards them, some of your friends may slam your dreams and be jealous.
Stop concerning yourself with what they think. You and only you know what you want, what you desire in life, that you want to be a Millionaire. Just because they are not willing to put in the time and effort to become a Millionaire, doesn't mean that you can't go for it.
You have to look out for yourself. Besides, when you become a Millionaire, think about how you'll be able to help inspire others to do the same as you did. How would that feel?

4) Believe In Yourself 

OK, so you now have a vision for yourself of you being a Millionaire. You've reached out to some new friends who are more successful than you and never give up on their goals. You have stopped concerning yourself with what others think. Now, you need to start believing in yourself.
One good way to start believing in yourself is to use affirmations. Think about the steps you need to go through to become a Millionaire. Write down the first few that will be easiest to accomplish on a piece of paper. Then re-write them every night before you go to bed and again when you first wake up. This is when your brain will best use the information. Write them as a question and form the question as you have already accomplished them.

This will start training your sub-conscious that you already have accomplished these affirmations and your mind will help you start making them your reality.

The sooner you believe you can really become a Millionaire, the sooner it will really happen. The only person who can make you a Millionaire is you. Start believing in yourself today!!!

5) Take Massive Action

Once you have your vision of you becoming a Millionaire, it's time to take Massive Action. It's not time to tip toe around and think about how to become a Millionaire. It's time to get started and really go for it.
Remember though, this will not happen overnight. This is a marathon, not a sprint. So please pace yourself. Do you think Tiger Woods became the world's best golfer by hitting 1,000,000 balls in a month. No! He hits thousands of balls every single week. He took massive action every single day to get to where he wanted to be. You can do the same.

Imagine working less than an hour per day and growing an online business that will enable you to become a millionaire. Imagine attracting 10-20 brand new leads every day. Imagine sponsoring 5-10 new team members per month, without ever bothering your family and friends or making an cold calls to an unmotivated generic business opportunity leads. Imagine finally utilizing a proven attraction marketing system literally guaranteed to produce result after result once you have it set up.

Benefits Of Online Marketing

Marketing has always been an important part of every business strategy. It is a medium to keep the target audience informed about a company's product or services. The methods of marketing have changed considerably over time. As more and more consumers are turning to internet for their buying decisions, marketers are realizing the importance of marketing their goods and services online. Online marketing involves making use of techniques like social media marketing, SEO, content marketing, email and mobile marketing to reach a target audience.

Online marketing allows businesses to build direct relationship with their customers around the world. Developing an effective campaign can help your business attract more customers and achieve unprecedented growth. Here are some of the benefits of using online marketing techniques to promote your business:

-Global Reach- There are no geographical constraints in this type of marketing. It offers you a wider reach by allowing you to overcome barriers of distance. You can sell your product and service to your targeted audience residing in any part of the world at any time of the day.

-Cost-Effective- Marketing a product online costs less than marketing them through other means. It does not involve any travel cost, printing cost and cost to employ people to set up direct relation with customers. The cost of starting an online marketing campaign does not cost much but gives you a wider audience reach and quick results.

-Track real-time Results- There are various tools available online which allows you to track the real-time performance of an online marketing campaign. They help you in continuing with the campaigns which are yielding good results and shut down those which are not able to make an impact on the customers.

-Social Media- Social media plays a very important role in the promotion of goods and services. Customers pay a lot of attention to reviews and comments posted online before buying any product or service. You can easily take advantage of the growing reliance of customers on social media by incorporating platforms like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn in your online marketing campaigns.

-Relationship Building- This type of marketing is a good way to establish relationship with your customers. It also allows you to get quick feedback for your product or service and help build a sense of community. You can stay in touch of your customers y sending them follow up mails and informing them regularly about deals, discounts and new product launches.

A well developed online marketing campaign can open a world of whole new opportunities for your business. Hire the services of a professional online marketing company to get the best out of your marketing campaigns.

Earning Money With Affiliate Marketing

The positive aspects of earning money with affiliate marketing far out weigh it's downside. Not only can you test a market in just a few weeks or even days, to find out its potential. You also have the flexibility to start over if you hit a dud without much invested. It really is the best way to start if you're looking to earn money online.

It is very tough to do that if you start off trying to earn money online by creating a product from scratch. You would also need to create winning sales material, do a lot of marketing and testing. Then you have to deal with support and refunds. Your investment in time and money will be too high. One you can't afford, if you want to make relatively quick money online.

That is why it is highly recommended to earn money online by being an affiliate for popular products that you can promote when you are starting out.

As your skill and experience increase. You will be able to set systems in place to make the work load fast and effective. And as your cash flow income starts to grow steadily, it would then give you an opportunity to create your own products to sell if you choose to do so. At this point you can afford the risk of putting some time and money into the project as you have money coming in. You will also have more confidence and experience in the marketing process.

How do you earn money as an affiliate? Here's the best way to start earning money with affiliate marketing.

Here are a few general guidelines to start you off:

1. Pick a product that interests you.
2. The product must convert well and is a proven seller.
3. The commission should be high enough to justify all your effort. Above $20 is good.
4. You must have a system that will enable you to convert a visitor to a lead and then to a buyer.
5. If you have no budget, then you must know how to drive free traffic to your sales funnel.

OK, the first 3 guidelines above is fairly easy to determine. You can review the details page of any affiliate program directory and find out what is selling well and how much commission they pay out. Some products offer 70% commission. A few even offer 100% commission because they just want the quality lead to sell their backend products.

So here's a sales system that has worked very well for affiliate marketers.

1. Have a strong landing page.
2. Lead your visitors to a free high value product through your video squeeze page.
3. Collect leads by having your visitors opt-in in exchange for the free give away.
4. Have a pre-set sales message, that soft sells your products in case they don't buy right away.

The sales system is where most affiliate marketers trip off.

It is simpler to just build a page with some articles that is related to the affiliate product and have an affiliate links that forwards to the offer. The problem is that you will miss out on a big opportunity to actually build a sustainable business.

Building a good sales system is not as hard as you may think. If you've noticed some of your favorite digital products online will have this same system in place. Because it works! And it works very well. Take a clue from these hot selling products and copy their method of selling. Yes, copy it. It's a winning formula and it will increase your results.

If your visitor doesn't buy, their gone for good and you have to start over with the next prospect.

But by building a list, you have the opportunity to:

1. Build trust and credibility which will make it easier for leads to buy from you.
2. Have the opportunity to keep selling with future communication.
3. Have the opportunity to sell related products down the road.
4. Have the opportunity to have an existing audience ready to buy when you launch your own product.
5. Have the opportunity to survey your list on what their biggest problems are within the niche topic you've chosen, so you can develop a product that will solve that problem.
6. Build your name and your brand as an expert in your niche, which will come in handy when you try to network and JV with other marketers as well as having credibility when you recommend products.

You can earn a lot of money as an affiliate way before you start creating your own products, so go ahead and start as an affiliate marketer as a way to earn quick money online.

Earn Money With Internet Marketing

I'm guessing that you are currently in the same position that I was in a few months ago. I used to wake up early in the morning, struggle to the bathroom and take a shower, downstairs for a strong black coffee just in time for the breakfast news. Then onto work in a car, stuck in traffic jams for what should have been a relatively short journey.

Eight hours at an office sitting around punching in useless data, filing paperwork, endless photocopying and answering inane calls. Then back home by 6pm, and finally settled down by 7pm. That would give me approximately four hours to spend with friends, family and partners. Then back to bed ready to wake the next morning to go through the same routine.

All this for a wage packet just large enough to cover most bills and a little left over for savings and, perhaps, a few luxuries over the month. Like me, you probably realize by now that there is far more to life than this. I was sick of working my tail off and giving up around 11 hours of my waking day to make someone else some money...someone who could easily fire me at any time of their choosing.

This is why I decided to look into self-employment and stumbled across the idea of internet marketing. If you spend long enough browsing internet marketing forums, you'll see some sensational thread titles such as 'My first $20,000 day'. It's obvious that there is a terrific sum of cash to be made online, so there are only two questions you need to ask yourself if you wish to make money with internet marketing:

1. How do you make money with internet marketing?
2. Are you prepared to do what it takes to succeed?

There is a famous learning curve when it comes to internet marketing. You need to realise that it is easy to make money online and, yes, you can make big money very quickly online. The real secret is knowing how to do this. And it is this secret that represents the learning curve. This brings us to point two, namely you will need to resolve to learn everything you need to in order to succeed with online marketing.

It may take you a few weeks, even a few months, to develop a general overview of the entire internet marketing scene. You'll need to know the difference between PPC and affiliate marketing, between product launches and joint ventures. Once you have an overview and have an idea of how everything works, then by all means launch yourself into things.

There are many routes to go, but the best is almost certainly by using free methods, such as affiliate marketing or making cash through blogs. If you can make four figures a month using either of those methods, then you know you're made for internet marketing and, eventually, you will be able to quit your job and go into this full-time.

Ultimately, if you wish to make money with internet marketing, you need to be prepared to learn before you earn. Be persistent and diligent. An established internet marketer with a high six-figure income once told me that he estimated 95% of would-be marketers drop out before ever earning a cent, simply because they are too impatient to master the basics. If you're toying with the idea of online marketing just because you wish to raise $2000 in 24 hours, then look elsewhere. Eventually you may well be able to raise that kind of money in that kind of time period, but first you must learn how to do it. Always bear this in mind, and you will go far.

Making Investment Plans

Step 1: Meeting Investment Prerequisites-Before one even thinks of investing, they should make sure they have adequately provided for the necessities, like housing, food, transportation, clothing, etc. Also, there should be an additional amount of money that could be used as emergency cash, and protection against other various risks. This protection could be through life, health, property, and liability insurance.

Step 2: Establishing Investing Goals-Once the prerequisites are taken care of, an investor will then want to establish their investing goals, which is laying out financial objectives they wish to achieve. The goals chosen will determine what types of investments they will make. The most common investing goals are accumulating retirement funds, increasing current income, saving for major expenditures, and sheltering income from taxes.

Step 3: Adopting an Investment Plan-Once someone has their general goals, they will need to adopt an investment plan. This will include specifying a target date for achieving a goal and the amount of tolerable risk involved.

Step 4: Evaluating Investment Vehicles-Next up is evaluating investment vehicles by looking at each vehicle's potential return and risk.

Step 5: Selecting Suitable Investments-With all the information gathered so far, a person will use it to select the investment vehicles that will compliment their goals the most. One should take into consideration expected return, risk, and tax considerations. Careful selection is important.

Step 6: Constructing a Diversified Portfolio-In order to achieve their investment goals, investors will need to pull together an investment portfolio of suitable investments. Investors should diversify their portfolio by including a number of different investment vehicles to earn higher returns and/or to be exposed to less risk as opposed to just limiting themselves to one or two investments. Investing in mutual funds can help achieve diversification and also have the benefit of it being professionally managed.

Step 7: Managing the Portfolio-Once a portfolio is put together, an investor should measure the behavior in relation to expected performance, and make adjustments as needed.

Considering Personal Taxes
Knowing current tax laws can help an investor reduce the taxes and increase the amount of after-tax dollars available for investing.
Basic Sources of Taxation-There are two main types of taxes to know about which are those levied by the federal government, and those levied by state and local governments. The federal income tax is the main form of personal taxation, while state and local taxes can vary from area to area. In addition to the income taxes, the state and local governments also receive revenue from sales and property taxes. These income taxes have the greatest impact on security investments, which the returns are in the form of dividends, interest, and increases in value. Property taxes can also have a significant impact on real estate and other forms of property investment.

Types of Income-Income for individuals can be classified into three basic categories:
1. Active Income-This can be made up of wages, salaries, bonuses, tips, pension, and alimony. It is made up of income earned on the job as well as through other forms of noninvestment income.
2. Portfolio Income-This income is from earnings produced from various investments which could be made up of savings accounts, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options, and futures, and consists of interest, dividends, and capital gains.
3. Passive Income-Income gained through real estate, limited partnerships, and other forms of tax-advantaged investments.

Investments and Taxes-Taking into tax laws is an important part of the investment process. Tax planning involves examining both current and projected earnings, and developing strategies to help defer and minimize the level of taxes. Planning for these taxes will help assist investment activities over time so that an investor can achieve maximum after-tax returns.

Tax-Advantaged Retirement Vehicles-Over the years the federal government has established several types of retirement vehicles. Employer-sponsored plans can include 401(k) plans, savings plans, and profit-sharing plans. These plans are usually voluntary and allow employees to increase the amount of money for retirement and tax advantage of tax-deferral benefits. Individuals can also setup tax-sheltered retirement programs like Keogh plans and SEP-IRAs for the self-employed. IRAs and Roth IRAs can be setup by almost anyone, subject to certain qualifications. These plans generally allow people to defer taxes on both the contributions and earnings until retirement.

Investing Over the Life Cycle
As investors age, their investment strategies tend to change as well. They tend to be more aggressive when they're young and transition to more conservative investments as they grow older. Younger investors usually go for growth-oriented investments that focus on capital gains as opposed to current income. This is because they don't usually have much for investable funds, so capital gains are often viewed as the quickest way to build up capital. These investments are usually through high-risk common stocks, options, and futures.
As the investors become more middle-aged, other things like educational expenses and retirement become more important. As this happens, the typical investor moves towards more higher quality securities which are low-risk growth and income stocks, high-grade bonds, preferred stocks, and mutual funds.

As the investors get closer to retirement, their focus is usually on the preservation of capital and income. Their investment portfolio is now usually very conservative at this point. It would typically consist of low-risk income stocks and mutual funds, high-yield government bonds, quality corporate bonds, CDs, and other short-term investment vehicles.

Investing In Different Economic Conditions
Even though the government has different tools or strategies for moderating economic swings, investors will still endure numerous changes in the economy while investing. An investment program must allow the investor to recognize and react to changing conditions in the economy. It is important to know where to put your money and when to make your moves.
Knowing where to put your money is the easiest part to deal with. This involves matching the risk and return objectives of an investor's plan with the investment vehicles. For example, if there is an experienced investor that can tolerate more risk, then speculative stocks may be right for them. A novice investor that wants a decent return on their capital may decide to invest in a growth-oriented mutual fund. Although stocks and growth funds may do well in an expanding economy, they can turn out to be failures at other times. Because of this, it is important to know when to make your moves.

Knowing when to invest is difficult because it deals with market timing. Even most professional money managers, economists, and investors can't consistently predict the market and economic movements. It's easier to understand the current state of the market or economy. That is, knowing whether the market/economy is expanding or declining is easier to understand than trying to predict upcoming changes.

The market or economy can have three different conditions: (1) recovery or expansion, (2) decline or recession, (3) a change in the general direction of its movement. It's fairly easy to observe when the economy is in a state of expansion or recession. The difficult part is knowing whether the existing state of the economy will continue on the course it's on, or change direction. How an investor responds to these market conditions will depend on the types of investment vehicles they hold. No matter what the state of the economy is, an investor's willingness to enter the capital market depends on a basic trust in fair and accurate financial reporting.

Stocks and the Business Cycle
Conditions in the economy are highly influential on common stocks and other equity-related securities. Economic conditions is also referred to as the business cycle. The business cycle mirrors the current status of a variety of economic variables which includes GDP, industrial production, personal disposable income, the unemployment rate, and more.
An expanding business cycle will be reflected in a strong economy. When business is thriving and profits are up, stock prices react by increasing in value and returns. Speculative and growth-oriented stocks tend to do especially well in strong markets. On the flip side, when economic activity is diminishing, the values and returns on common stocks tend to follow the same pattern.

Bonds and Interest Rates
Bonds and other forms of fixed-income securities are highly sensitive to movements in interest rates. The single most important variable that determines bond price behavior and returns is the interest rate. Bond prices and interest rates move in opposite directions. Lower interest rates are favorable for bonds for an investor. However, high interest rates increase the attractiveness of new bonds because they must offer high returns to attract investors.

Best Small Business To Start At

What do you love doing during your leisure time? Which are your hobbies? Did you know that you can turn those hobbies into a business idea? There is nothing nicer than venturing into a business which is related to something that you love and you have passion for. It does not matter what your hobbies are. All you need is a good financial plan, hard work and patience.

According to Rachna D. Jain, the founder of business coaching firm "Excel with Ease Coaching" in Columbia, most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who have a passion for the work they do. Off course starting a business of your own has its own benefits. For instance, you are the ultimate authority in the business meaning you drive all business processes including marketing, pricing and production. You are also in a position to take financial risks hence turning every day's challenges into new opportunities.
Listed below is a list of business ideas which can be related to your hobby and which you can start a business with.

1. Consultant. Consulting services have a wide range depending on what your passion is. If you have a passion for beauty and cosmetics, hair styling you can make a good beauty consultant. If you love traveling you know of the best places to travel for holidays, honeymoons and many other events making you a travel consultant.

2. Electronics repair. Some people have a passion for learning how machines and alliances work. This makes them conversant with most machines like televisions, computers and many others. You can turn such a passion into a business by repairing machines.

3. Pet breeder. Many people are fond of being around domestic animals like dogs, cats or horses. They know how to feed and train them making that a good business start up.

4. Planning events. If you love having fun, you know what it takes to make an engaging event like a wedding or a birthday party.

5. Coaching. Football or golf fanatics can make good coaches of such games.

6. Home inspection. Most women love furnishing their homes with the latest items in the market hence they know of every new house item in the market. Real estate owners can grant you contracts of inspecting their homes.

7. Interior design. If painting and drawing are your hobbies you already have a good start. Make good drawings and market yourself on the social media outlets like You tube.

8. Jewellery making. You only need your hands to make nice and attractive jewels and you earn yourself a living.

9. Marketing. Some people are good at their word of mouth making them good influences and brand advocates.

10. Music lessons. Playing guitar, keyboard and singing are some people's hobbies. You can train people on such music related lessons and make a good business.

Remember, turning your hobby into a business requires some research. Beware of the principles of business before venturing into one. Once you turn your hobby into business be cautious! You are no longer doing the hobby for enjoyment but to earn a living. Make it a habit of learning new things about your hobby-turned-business to avoid burn outs.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9321707

5 Effective Invest Tips

If you are aiming to succeed in the world of investment, you must first have the right list of strategies to give high consideration. In addition to that, if you are new in the investment field, I will personally review for you five (5) effective and working investing tips that will lay the starting path to your dream success.

1. Set out a simple investment plan. You should not rush with big plans when you are new in the world of investing. Work with relevant points that will surely get you to understand your entire plan. You should not work on predictions, or you might get a rude awakening at the end. Make sure you always pick the right channel that offers long-term safety and security.

2. Invest in established companies only. Apparently, these companies have high yearly returns. Investing your money in these companies will guarantee you high and massive profits. Apart from the profits, you can be sure that your money is safe as these companies normally have honesty and ethical policies that they continuously follow.

3. Long term investing is the key. The time and your patience are of an essence when investing. So make sure that the companies that you are trusting your investment have a guaranteed future to offer. A good example is those companies that increase their share value in times. They are those worth for your investments.

4. Make sure you protect your future. Sadly, nobody can predict the future, but you can prepare for it. The future can bring positive or negative results, so to avoid facing unnecessary problems, always invest in stocks that are stable and won't make you run at a loss.

5. Invest in something you are only sure about. Do not experiment in something that might put your money at a high risk. Before investing your money, do a bit of research and if needs, consult a professional financial coach. Having the right information and knowledge on whatever you are investing in, then there is a less chance of losing your money or property. The right investment can bring a huge success and guarantee you a stable future.

Armed with these five investing tips, you can get the assurance that success will follow you all the way to the bank. There is nothing that makes you happy than seeing your money, make you more money. Good luck to your successful investing!