You finally realize that you need a good opt-in list. After reading countless articles and sought expert advices and have read many success stories of people creating a small fortune with opt-in lists you finally decide to have one of your own. Then it happens, you think you have known everything there is to know about opt-in lists and have followed their advices to the T and you still weren’t able to make a profit.

In fact, you may be losing money. You maybe hiring writers to help you out, or there are some expenses incurred, even if you have a big list, but only a very small percentage actually buys from you, your still losing profit. You’ll realize that after a few months when you see your statistics and sales figures.

So what could have gone wrong? Why have others succeeded where you have failed? The most common mistake is that you dived straight right in. You chose a topic where you think could be quite popular and would earn you money. This just not the case. Just because you wrote people from the list doesn’t mean they are going to buy instantly.

Here I will offer more advice, for those who have started an opt-in list and have failed, you can rejuvenate your failed venture. For those who are starting, here are three quick and easy ways to build a profitable opt-in list.
1) Get your customers to trust you and your products first. Just launching your opt-in list would not make you an expert and a believable seller. Put many articles first before you start an opt-in list. Write about the topic you know and have started and used for your site. Try to put forums first to gain knowledge about your customers about their wants and needs and target those wants and needs.

Join forums from other sites as well. Provide expert advices and recommendations. When you feel that people trust you already, you will be able to start your own opt-in list. You can build a base as well with other forum users. You can ask them to join your list. Friends are always good customers. Put up a link to your site so that they may be able to see what you're business is all about.

The certain truth is, the money will only come in when the consumers and subscribers believe and trust in you. They want a product or service that could be a good exchange for their money. People are not going to buy something out of your recommendation if they don’t know you.

2) Find a product or service that people want and need. Although it may not be your forte, if you provide a service and product that you have researched and learned about well, you can carry it on forward. Invest your time, effort and money that you could sell as well as the buyers or subscribers of your opt-in list can use.

While it is true that it is best to sell something that you have interest in, there are not many people who have the same interest as you if you decide to sell something that is not entirely popular or profitable. Do your research well and you would see the profits come in. Also provide your subscribers with promotional material that they could actually use and spread around.

3) Make friends with other opt-in list users. This is basically beneficial especially if it is someone who has already launched a successful opt-in list. These are people that have the experience in this venture and experience is still the best teacher. While there are many articles available for you in the internet to use, there is nothing like getting a first hand account from someone you trust.

Experienced opt-in list users will be able to tell you what to do and what not to do because they have gone through it. While different situations occur for different people, the general concept can still be very helpful. There are many things to avoid and these people will be able to tell you which ones.

Building a profitable opt-in list don’t just happen overnight. There are many preparations and effort to do. Opt-in lists are built from scratch, as your list grows, you should also maintain the quality of your list. Keep it organized and manageable. Get or hire help if need be, just make sure that your subscribers are happy and satisfied and they will be willing to buy from you.

Jim was sipping his champagne in Susan’s house warming party, when a familiar voice from behind sang: “Jimmy, Jimmy please don’t cry, you’ll forget me by and by.” He turned around :”Johny, long time no see. You are unforgettable, man. How are you?”

John :”I follow your footstep. I am also into net biz now.”
Jim :”Very good, now you know that it’s not as easy as what lots of sales letters on the net say. You gotta work hard and work smart.”

John :”Jim, can you tell me any other free ways to promote my biz-opps? For the moment I am doing traffic exchanges as well as link exchanges. The increase in traffic to my sites can certainly use a lot more boost.”
Jim :”What you do is already on the right track. Building traffic is a time consuming process. You are good at writing, you could write articles and submit them to article directories. Put a link to the site you wanna promote in the resource-box. This way you can get a 1 way link to your site, you also build your credibility at the same time.”

John :” I saw an article the other day saying that the more 1 way link a site has, the better it will be ranked by search engines. It will therefore get more free traffic from search engines too, something like that.”
Jim :”Yes, something like that. Some people use brand-able e-books and e-reports. They get some high circulation e-zines or heavy traffic sites to give away the ebooks and reports containing their promotional links. That will also generate traffic over time.”

John :”Jim, lots of people talk about joint venture. How does it actually work?”
Jim :”Joint venture is simply helping each other among marketers, pulling resources together for mutual benefit. This can increase traffic to your sites and promote your biz-opps for sure.”

John :”I see, it’s some kind of cross promoting. I promote your product to my list, you do mine to yours. We thus both reach wider audience without paying any advertising cost.”
Jim :”Yes, it can work that way or any other ways both parties agree upon. Those on top of what you are doing certainly will keep you busy for a while.”

Susan :”Jim, John, come over here, it’s photo time.”
John :”Coming. Jim, what do you say if we do joint venture, you and me?”
Jim :”Sure, why not.”

Jim was doing his routine jogging with Ray, his next door neighbour. He also got involved in net marketing.

Ray :"Jim, I can see my website is getting more hits, but I am not getting more sales. I wonder if my site needs further improvements."
Jim :"Well Ray, hits simply means the number of information requests received by the server. A hit can simply equate to the number of graphics per page. Say your site has 15 graphics on it, the server records this as 15 hits, when in reality we are talking about a single visitor checking out a single page on your site. It's the average visitors to your site on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis that you should be examining."

Ray :"I see, so you must look at the behavior of your visitors once they come to your website to accurately gauge the effectiveness of your site."
Jim :"Precisely. The more visitors that come to your website, the more accurate your interpretation will become. The greater the traffic is to your website, the more precise your analysis will be of overall trends in visitor behavior. The smaller the number of visitors, the more a few anomalous visitors can distort the analysis."

Ray :"Besides the behavior, what other things should I look into to figure out how my site is working for my visitors?"
Jim :"One way to determine this is to find out how long on average your visitors spend on your site. If the time spent is relatively brief, it usually indicates an underlying problem. It could be that your keywords are directing the wrong type of visitors to your website, or that your graphics are confusing or intimidating, causing the visitor to exit rapidly. Pinpoint specific problems, and fix them, then continue to use time spent as a gauge of how effective your fix has been."

Ray :"I never knew web traffic stats could tell that much about a website."
Jim :"True. They can help you determine effective and ineffective areas of your website. If you have a page that you believe is important, but visitors are exiting it rapidly, that page needs attention. You could, for example, consider improving the link to this page by making the link more noticeable and enticing, or you could improve the look of the page or the ease that your visitors can access the necessary information on that page. If, on the other hand, you notice that visitors are spending a lot of time on pages that you think are less important, you might consider moving some of your sales copy and marketing focus to that particular page."

Ray :"Those things you mentioned are indeed essential information to any successful Internet marketing campaign."
Jim :"Does your website have exit pages, like a final order or contact form?"

Ray :"Yes, why?"
Jim :"This is a page you can expect your visitor to exit rapidly. This is normal unless you notice an exit trend on a particular page that is not intended as an exit page. In the case that a significant percentage of visitors are exiting your website on a page not designed for that purpose, you must closely examine that particular page to discern what the problem is. Once you pinpoint potential weaknesses on that page, minor modifications in content or graphic may have a significant impact on the keeping visitors moving through your site instead of exiting at the wrong page."

Ray :"You just brought to my attention the thing I never cared before."
Jim :"Most people don't care about it either. After you have analyzed your visitor statistics, it's time to turn to your keywords and phrases. Notice if particular keywords are directing a specific type of visitor to your site. The more targeted the visitor - meaning that they find what they are looking for on your site, and even better, fill out your contact form or make a purchase - the more valuable that keyword is."

Ray :"Right."
Jim :"Now if you find a large number of visitors are being directed - or should I say misdirected - to your site by a particular keyword or phrase, that keyword demands adjustment. Keywords are vital to bringing quality visitors to your site who are ready to do business with you. Close analysis of the keywords your visitors are using to find your site will give you a vital understanding of your visitor's needs and motivations."

Ray :"Some visitors type your company name directly to find you too, don't they? I mean they already know you by name instead of through keywords."
Jim :"True and it's a good sign. It means you have achieved a certain level of brand recognition. That's what we should keep working on to improve."

They had jogged back to their houses.
Ray :"See you same time tomorrow morning?"
Jim :"Yes, same time tomorrow morning."

Feel free to publish this article in your ezine.
Kindly include the following resource box, will you? ;-)
Author : Linggar Sentanu Japra
Blog : http://huge-traffic-marketing.blogspot.com

Jondo just finished his net marketing for the day. He sipped his black coffee. He liked it bitter. He ate sweet cakes. Sweet cakes and bitter coffee made a good taste mixture in his mouth. His mobile phone rang. He smiled. He knew who would call him around this time.

Jondo :"Hello, this is Jondo the internet marketer. If you have a marketing problem to ask me, please do so after you have deposited 50k bucks into my account. Otherwise no more talk and adios."
Jim :"LOL, 50k bucks huh? Jon, how do I reduce my biz costs? I have spent quite a lot of a bit here and a bit there. They all add up pretty fast and big too."

Jondo :"Jimmy buddy, that happens because you want everything to be of your own. You want to do a one-man-show biz. That does cost huge. Why not start networking and trading stuff with other businesses? You could trade leads or marketing lists and barter your goods and services. This will reduce your marketing cost and get more exposure to your biz at the same time."
Jim :"That sounds like a lot of emailing webmasters. I suppose I could give it a go, eh? At worst I get ignored. If they respond well, I have mutually beneficial marketing biz relationships."

Jondo :"Right. It takes time, but well worth it. Make good use of internet thousands of sites offering freebies. There are free softwares, graphics, backgrounds, online business services etc. Why buy when you can get for free?"
Jim :"That I do often and will always do. I did find quality stuff in spite of the fact that they cost nothing."

Jondo :"For your biz equipments, don't buy those that you only need occasionally. Rent or borrow them, a lot cheaper that way. Only buy those that you practically use on daily basis. Do shop around and compare prices, check out online/offline auctions, quality second hand shops, shops having big sales. Those are things you could do to get yourself a good price for the things you buy."
Jim :"Good tips Jon. I bought my new laptop when on promotion. I saved something like 20% then. Jon, I can use some tips to make my websites attractive to visitors that hopefully become buyers. I often read about link exchange, how do I go about doing it?"

Jondo :"People don't just come to your sites because they look attractive. You have to do something to attract them to your sites. Link exchange is a form of cross promotion. You promote other's site by showing his site link on your site, he shows your site link on his site. Both of you benefit from getting more exposure the free way."
Jim :"That's a good win win. Cool."

Jondo :"One popular and effective way is to offer a freebie on your site. It could be an ebook, content, software etc. Give the freebie in exchange for people linking to your site. Over time the growing links will generate even more visitors to your site. Some of them will become buyers one day. Better still if you can get their names and email addresses to build your list."
Jim :"Yes, I give a free ebook in exchange for my visitor's name and email address. That's exactly how I am building my opt-in list. I think I will display links to websites with useful information and services for my visitors. Hopefully they find my site resourceful and make it their start page and become repeat visitors."

Jondo :"That's a good idea. Join affiliate programs that go with the theme of your web site. Display their links too. This way you provide relevant info and promoting your biz to your visitors at the same time."
Jim :"I am doing it already. Jon, I know that it's necessary to keep in touch and write to my list regularly. Often when I wanna do it, I don't know what to write. Do you have that kind of problem too?"

Jondo :"Keeping in touch with your list is good. It shows them that you are still around. I however only write them when I have something to write about. I don't have a fixed schedule. Sometimes I write them a few times in a week, sometimes once in 2 months. It's up to you really, do what suits you best."
Jim :"(Jim's daughter called :"Dad, time to go!") Oh Jon, I gotta drive Irene to her piano class now. Talk to you again later."

Jondo :"Ok, bye."

Author : Linggar Sentanu Japra
Blog : http://huge-traffic-marketing.blogspot.com

Feel free to publish my article in your ezine. Kindly include my name and blog address too, ok ;-) Thank you.

Jondo was paying for his shopping when someone tapped his back.
Jim :"Hey Jon, you are throwing a party or something?" looking at Jondo's things.
Jondo:"You are looking at my whole week meal. Aren't you buying anything?"
He pushed his shopping cart towards parking lot, Jim walked beside him.

Jim :"My wife is. Hey Jon, my web server got out of business, all my websites were also gone. I remember you said it happened to you."
Jondo :"Yes, a bad accident and a real pain it was. I literally had to re-do everything from scratch. That's why it's important to always have a back up. It will save you a lot of time to get things running again. You do have a back up, don't you?"

Jim :"That's the problem, I should have learned from your experience. I never thought it would happen to me, you see. It's almost a week now and I haven't finished reconstructing yet (sigh)."
Jondo :"Well, it may just take a bit longer but you will be alright. Always keep in mind that businesses do come and go, just make sure you have a back up this time to all your online stuff :-)."

Jim :"Now Jon, since I am doing things from scratch again, any tips to make websites more attractive? Anything at all for me to at least consider doing?"
Jondo :"One thing you could start doing is giving freebies from your sites. They can be whatever at all you find useful. Chances are if you yourself find them useful, others may do as well."

Jim :"(thinking) I am publishing my own ezine. I may just give a free ezine subscription to my visitors, do you think it's ok?"
Jondo :"Of course it's ok, you can also give your visitors permission to re-print your content with your sig-file on their sites or ezines. That will make your sites known to even more people and thus attract more visitors."

Jim :"Hey Jon, I often come across sites giving free ebooks and softwares. That would be good to include in my sites to give away as free gifts, don't you think?"
Jondo :"If you have the proper permission, do that too, why not? You will benefit a lot more people doing that. If you have an idea to hold a contest of some sort, reward the winner with something interesting, that too can attract visitors."

Jim :"O that I donno, but I am never interested in any contest at all. The idea of a contest just doesn't appeal to me, at least up to now. Probably providing free service like free search engine submission or something, that is relatively easy to set up."
Jondo :"That's right, you can also provide a free online directory full of useful ebooks, ezines, interesting websites etc. People will bookmark and keep coming back to your sites for reference. Well look at us and all these ideas popping up."
They both had come to Jondo's car.

Jim :"Wow, my wife is still inside. I gotta get back in. I'll call you some time."
Jondo :"You do that. I will do that too. Bye!"

Huge Traffic Marketing Happy New Year 2006 Wish

We are now in Year 2006. I wish you all well. We will keep moving on, improve the good, forget the bad and ugly. You are never too late or too early to do something good. You never know how fast wonders will come to you. The following story will show the point well :-)

Jondo was an old citizen of kingdom ABC. He planted seeds on a huge bare land near his home. He diligently watered and put fertiliser on them every morning. One morning King ABC on his hunting trip passed by. He saw Jondo doing his things.

King :"Old man, what are you doing?"
Jondo :"I am feeding my seeds o my King."

King :"Why don't you ask your children or grandchildren to do it for you?"
Jondo :"I have none o my King."

King :"(puzzled)..The seeds you feed, when they grow, what trees will they become?"
Jondo :"They will become huge and tall trees with lots of leaves and fruits o my King. Their leaves will give shade from the hot sun. Their fruits will feed empty stomachs o my King."

King :"You are already so old and have no family. You may not even live long enough to see them grow up. Why are you doing this? What good does it do you doing this?"
Jondo :"I am never too late or too early to do something good o my King. I read it on huge-traffic-marketing blog the other day. I only need to know what I am doing is good. Good deeds will bear good results. That's all I care about o my King. I feel good inside doing it and that's what matters most to me."

King :"You keep doing the good and worry nothing but the good. This way you will only get the good. Is that what you are saying, old man?"
Jondo :"You said it very well o my King."

King :"Old man, you are JUST the kind of wise man I need. You can help me bring more good to people in our kingdom. Come and live in my castle now. I will have men to continue what you are doing here. Be my advisor for the rest of your life, old man."
Jondo :"It's really good what you do o my King. You just got yourself an advisor."

Never worry about the bad and ugly, my friend. You will surely make them along the way. Don't let them stop you. Keep working on the good and only the good. You will find that you get more and more of the good over time. You will eventually get to a stage where practically whatever you do is good. This will be what most people will call a "perfect" situation. This is the stage where all of us should be heading.

See you again soon :-)

Christmas And A Story Of Three Angels

It's Christmas and New Year is coming soon! Wow! One whole year is almost done. Time for reflection. What good have I done? What bad have I done? What ugly have I done? Each and everyone of us have different experience to share. I can only say keep improving on the good, my friend. You will always make the bad and ugly along the way (to achieve your goal) for sure. Understand them well, this is bad, that is ugly, take action to make them good and keep going. You may need others' help. Seek help. Do what you need to do to keep making progress. If you need to talk to somebody, I am a good listener :-) and only an email away, OK?

Where is this story of three angels? What three angels? Did you ask? Here we go :

There was a family of three, a father, a mother and their son. On Christmas eve, they were decorating their christmas tree when they heard someone knock. The father answered the door and there were three angels standing in front. The father was pleasantly surprised and called the mother and son to come out.

Father : "What can we do for you, angels?"
Angel 1 : "I am angel of RICHES, my friends here are angel of LONG LIFE and angel of LOVE. You asked for us in your prayers and Santa sent us here to grant ONE AND ONLY ONE wish you want."

Mother : "We are confused (happily) to choose from so many wishes we have. Please help us make easy to decide."
Angel 2 : "So Santa told us would happen :-) It's only human. You can invite only one of us to be your guardian angel. You can discuss it first and tell us your decision."

Father : "I want long life. With long life I have all the time I need to achieve any goals in life."
Mother : "I want riches. With riches I can buy whatever I want."
Son : "What good is long life and riches if there is no love? Love is the one that makes life worth living. Love brings life into riches, so we can make good use of riches for helping others. Mom, Dad, I want love."

The father and mother looked at each other, then to their son lovingly. They finally came to an agreement.

Angel 3 : "So what say you?"
Father : "We actually want all of you. Since we can only choose one, we have decided to invite angel of LOVE to be our guardian angel."

Angel of LOVE came into their house. Before the father closed the door, to their pleasant surprise the angel of RICHES and LONG LIFE also stepped in following LOVE. The family was speechless not knowing what was going on but wonderfully happy beyond words. The angels looked at them smilingly and understandingly.

Angel 3 : "You have chosen right, my son. Angel of RICHES and LONG LIFE always follow wherever I (angel of LOVE) go. By having me, you in fact have the three of us by default. I am three in one, so to speak."

Linggar : "Angel, does it apply to everything we do in life? I mean, if I love my marketing biz and keep working on it then my biz will have long life and eventually bring me riches?"
Angel 3 : "You said it well, my son." She answered me inspite of the fact that I didn't belong to the story :-) I was forever grateful.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
See you again soon.

Top Priority Marketing Is To Your Family With Love and Care

Getting unpopular with family members by sweet-talking them to buy whatever you are selling, that's what you are thinking, right? You may do that if you like, however I didn't mean that. I was actually referring to the following :

Remember them!

When you were thinking of starting your online venture, you probably consulted with a group of people we all take for granted. When you started you were probably part time online, and full time working to pay the bills. That same group of people are now sitting waiting for you to get home from work, do your "online stuff" and all the other things you cram in before they get a look in. Those people are your family.

If you're married, you probably told your partner of the wonderful future you would have, and how you would have more time to spend with the family. Then you asked for their blessing, and backing before you started in earnest, telling them just a few weeks, a few months max working like a dog when you got home and it was all going to be great. Your family stuck by you when it didn't work first time, they encouraged you and backed you up with their love.

We all want to succeed, but without someone to love, will success and wealth mean anything at all?

Think about it today, It's time to give something back to them now. Make some time for them, and make it quality time. Take time away from the computer, time away from the internet, and really move away from it. Your family love you, and they are making sacrifices too, so you can follow your dreams, but even family has limits, so don't forget them.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Written by Doug Titchmarsh when he spent too much time on his
new website at http://www.cashinonline.info
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Now here are 10 Awesome Ways To Attract More Orders

1. Create a free ebook directory on a specific topic at your web site. People will visit your web site to read the free ebooks and may see your product ad.

2. Turn part of your web site into a members only web site. Instead of charging for access, use it as a free bonus for one of your products.

3. Add a free classified ad section to your web site. You could then trade banner ads with other web sites that have free classified ad sections.

4. Create two versions of your e-zine so people can choose if they want ads included with it or not. This'll attract the people who hate ads to subscribe.

5. Publish your e-zine only on your web site. Have people subscribe to a "new issue" e-mail reminder. This could really increase your traffic and sales.

6. Sell advertising space in your product package. You could sell inserts, flyers, brochures, booklets, and digital ads for electronic products.

7. Offer daily or weekly visitor bonuses. This will increase your repeat traffic and sales because your visitors will visit regularly to get the visitor bonuses.

8. Allow people to download software or e-books from your web site at no cost. Just ask your visitors in return if they'll refer their friends to your web site.

9. Build up the number of people that join your free affiliate program quickly by temporally offering your product for free to the people that sign up.

10. Negotiate with e-zine publishers to get free or discounted ads by letting them join your affiliate program and earn commissions on the ad you run.

See you again soon :-)

Market Your Business By Thinking Out Loud

Jondo, an insurance agent, spoke in front of a crowd of 20.
"Ladies and gents, thanks for coming. I insured myself and my family with XYZ. The agent also told me XYZ paid good commission to their agents. He made me want to find out more about XYZ the company, their credibility, their products and everything there is to know. I found out that XYZ has been around for a while with excellent track records. They live up to their promises. They have great products and compensation plans. I am now not only their client, but also their agent. I want you to be my clients and later agents like myself. Our product range is huge. You will benefit as a client from the product that suits you. You will make good money as an agent from the commissions that you earn."

A guy in the front row, David, raised his hand.
"How many clients have you got so far? Have you made good money as an agent yet?"

Jondo :"I have just been an agent for 1 month. This is my 1st prospecting presentation." A dry smile on his face.

David :"So you don't really know what you are talking about, do you? You don't have any 1st hand experience about the product benefit you talk about, nor the money making thing by becoming an agent like yourself, right?"

Jondo, a bit shocked being attacked that way, said :"I don't have 1st hand experience yet. What I do have is the research I have done on XYZ and the great potential that I see. I think I can benefit from it and so can others. I am just thinking out loud sharing my thoughts to all of you. I advise that you check out for yourself. If you think it's good, then I am your man to further talk to."

2 years later, same place, same occasion, same speaker, same number of crowd, during coffee time Jondo was approached by a guest. "Hi Jon, remember me?" Jondo turned to see a very familiar face "Hi David! you are David, right? How are you doing?" David never thought Jondo would remember his name and greet him so warmly.

David :"My friend told me that a successful XYZ insurance agent would talk about a great business opportunity. I came when he mentioned your name. I can see that you are successful. 2 short years and man, look at you now. How did you do it so fast?"

Jondo :"I have been thinking out loud this kinda 2 hour presentation twice a week for 2 LONG years, Dave. That's how I did and will always do it."

David :"I owe you an apology for what I did 2 years ago, Jon. I shouldn't have said what I said." A dry smile on his face.

Jondo :"You owe me nothing, Dave. I was exactly what you said I was then (a newbie). You shouldn't apologise to say things the way they are. You gave me the boost that I needed to get better and better. I thank you for that."

That's the magic of thinking out loud marketing. You let your thoughts show. If they are stupid, your stupidity will show. You will get 3 kind of responses. They are no response, bad response or good response. Bad response is the kind that adds insult upon injury. You can ignore no and bad responses. Good response is the kind that tells you how to get better. This is what you need and should work on diligently.

Most people don't want to look stupid, amateur, rookie (and you-name-it similar quality) even when they are exactly that. It's of course a personal choice that has to be respected. From experience, however, you will make progress a lot faster when your exact quality shows. Why so? You asked :-) Because only that way can you get targeted good responses that solve your exact handicap.

Take your time to check out the links on the right column. Who knows you may find just what you have been looking for. The links will keep growing, so make sure you come by often. See you again soon :-)

Marketing Your Business Your Way - NOT His Way NOR Her Way

What's wrong with his or her way? Is it because it's a me too way? Did you ask? Well, it is your business you are marketing. There is nothing wrong with his, her and me too way. You just need to adjust things to suit your situation. In other words, your business simply should be done your way.

Mr X is a successful marketer. His way of marketing has brought him good business. He has screenshots of big commissions and a long list of testimonials. If you want to earn big money as a net marketer, then follow his way. You are a newbie, you simply don't have your way. His way is time-tested and proven to give awesome results. Almost all web rockstars' advertisements show powerful wordings like that. You will also find earnings disclaimer somewhere on their site. It basically says that you may or may not achieve as good as those described in there. Your success can only be guaranteed by you and only you, NOT him NOR his products. That is certainly the ultimate truth. What works for others may not necessarily work for you. Do, however, learn from successful people like him. They are indeed your good references.

Success comes through a long and winding road, bumpy too :-) So people say. The now successful people have gone through that. They too started a newbie. They kept going even when the going got tough. Some of them even got to the bottom where things just couldn't get any worse. They just kept going. That's the spirit worth having. That's the attitude worth following. Never let any bad thing or any handicap by human standard prevent you from making progress and achieving good results. What is this handicap by human standard thing you are talking about? I hear you asked :-) The following story gives a good description of it. You may have read it. let's get to it.

******

How did he do it? He couldn't even.....
The question arises whenever we see a handicap can do as good as or better than normal people. My friend told this "true" story. He must have got it from his reading somewhere. Never mind the source, it's the content that I am interested in. Here we go.

There was a businessman selling encyclopedias. His bookshop was in a shopping mall. He wanted to increase his sales by recruiting sales-people. So he did. 20 people showed up, 1 of them had a speaking disability. Normal people can simply pronounce "butterfly", he goes "bu..but...butte..r..but..ter...fly". His name is Jondo (not his real name :-)). The businessman only paid commission on sales done. Deep inside his heart, he knew Jondo had come to the wrong place, certainly NOT selling his EXPENSIVE encyclopedia. He didn't show his feelings. He gave everybody the same toolkit and 2 books in a bag to get started. After a short briefing, everyone went their way to sell. Office hours are 10am-5pm. It was 9:50am.

10:30am came Jondo with money for the 2 books, grabbed another 2 and took off.
11:30am came Jondo with money for the 2 books, this time took 4 and off he went. The other NORMAL guys hadn't sold the original 2 yet. The businessman got puzzled. How did he do it? He asked his shop assistant to take over for him. He decided to follow and see Jondo in action.

Jondo stopped at the hall where traffic was heavy. He approached the passing by person that took a glance at him. His bag on his shoulder, one hand holding a book, another pointing at it. He said :"Sir, goo...d bo..ok." As the person stopped for a while, that very moment Jondo opened the book and went :"I...I re..ad fo..for you."
That's how Jondo did it. That's NOT in the toolkit. That's NOT what he taught his sales people to do or would do himself. His eyes got wet with tears beyond control.

At the end of office hour, the BEST normal sales person sold 4 books. Majority didn't sell any. Jondo sold 10 by marketing his way. End of story.

******

Even though the story is about selling, but the idea applies to anything you do in life. You already HAVE what it takes to succeed. You already HAVE your way within you. You just need to make the best out of whatever you have NOW. Start from where you are and make progress after progress....never ending. Your way will show only by your doing NOT just reading, thinking, dreaming or you-name-it non action.

Start putting practice whatever know-how you have now, if you haven't done it already. Practice makes perfect, so people say. Never forget to check out the links in the hypermarket on the right. You may just find what you need there to get you going even further.

A Baby Is Your Excellent Biz-Mentor, Unless She Is Born Dead

Everything in this world is ever changing. Survivors are those on top of the changing waves. Those under are simply dead or left dying.

Yeah sure, but what has it gotta do with a baby? A baby business mentor? I hear you ask. We were babies once. From what I can recall, I can recall nothing. None of us can recall what went on when we were babies. Our earliest memory about ourselves probably when we went to kindergarten and later. Those happening earlier were told to us by our parents or grandparents. It is this very particular period of time that is of my interest. This is where natural development plays a very important role. This is also where the natural mentorship shows (to those that happen to notice :-)).

As a newly born baby, she knows nothing but crying. In fact she has to be directed to cry, if she hasn't done that already. The medical argument is to make her lungs and cardiac (?) work for the very 1st time, and thus her whole inner organs. I am no doctor, so please forgive me if the above underlying argument is not accurate. You got the idea, that's the important thing :-) It's the 1st sign of living.

Doing business for a newbie is similar to the process above.A newbie knows nothing to start with. In order to get into business she has to be directed as well. To what? You ask. To get started doing (not crying) whatever is needed to make it happen. Reading business books, talking to business friends and other business researching will be among the appropriate things to do.

A baby DOES ONLY what she can do. She keeps DOING JUST that. She makes progress over time that way. Re-read those three sentences, let them echo in your head, body and soul :-)

Once she can say "a..a", she keeps saying that. Over time she can then say "mama papa". Once she can lift her head, she keeps doing it. The same also true when she can turn her body slightly. Over time she can turn her body to lie on her stomach. And on the baby story goes with her progress after progress after progress...:-)

NOTICE that once she knows a "how-to", she puts it into practice again and again. Her knowledge of "how-to" grows over time, and so does her achievements. She won't make any progress if she doesn't put into action her know-how.

A good mentor is the one that shows how things should be done. A baby walks her talks. She is an excellent mentor indeed.

That's the way a business should be done. In order to succeed, you have to put into practice the theory you know at any given time. Make your mistakes. Keep learning from them. Our mentor has shown us that she can achieve a lot that way. The same will apply to us as well. Knowing and talking alone will get us nowhere. Only Action will get us somewhere more advanced.

ALSO NOTICE our mentor never does things she can not yet do. She never tries to run when she only knows to crawl (she is yet to learn how to walk first). Why doesn't she? Because she can't, she hasn't reached that level yet. What would happen if she insisted? She would get injured very seriously, did you say? I agree :-)

So is the case with business. You gotta know your limitations. Never push yourself to do things beyond your current ability. It will do more harm than good if you insist. Go set your goal high. Just make sure to make your solid baby steps to get closer and closer and eventually reach it.

One thing our baby mentor always does. She keeps on learning new stuff. She keeps up with the way the world around her changes. She rides the wave of change, so to speak. Business world is ever changing indeed. To succeed in it, keeping up is the least we should do. To do better, innovation and creativity will have to come in. This is another topic altogether :-)

Never thought a baby could teach us so much, eh?
In fact she can teach us a whole lot more.

How did he do it? He couldn't even.....
The question arises whenever we see a handicap can do as good as or better than normal people. My friend told this "true" story. He must have got it from his reading somewhere. Never mind the source, it's the content that I am interested in. Here we go.

There was a businessman selling encyclopedias. His bookshop was in a shopping mall. He wanted to increase his sales by recruiting sales-people. So he did. 20 people showed up, 1 of them had a speaking disability. Normal people can simply pronounce "butterfly", he goes "bu..but...butte..r..but..ter...fly". His name is Jondo (not his real name :-)). The businessman only paid commission on sales done. Deep inside his heart, he knew Jondo had come to the wrong place, certainly NOT selling his EXPENSIVE encyclopedia. He didn't show his feelings. He gave everybody the same toolkit and 2 books in a bag to get started. After a short briefing, everyone went their way to sell. Office hours are 10am-5pm. It was 9:50am.

10:30am came Jondo with money for the 2 books, grabbed another 2 and took off.
11:30am came Jondo with money for the 2 books, this time took 4 and off he went. The other NORMAL guys hadn't sold the original 2 yet. The businessman got puzzled. How did he do it? He asked his shop assistant to take over for him. He decided to follow and see Jondo in action.

Jondo stopped at the hall where traffic was heavy. He approached the passing by person that took a glance at him. His bag on his shoulder, one hand holding a book, another pointing at it. He said :"Sir, goo...d bo..ok." As the person stopped for a while, that very moment Jondo opened the book and went :"I...I re..ad fo..for you."
That's how Jondo did it. That's NOT in the toolkit. That's NOT what he taught his sales people to do or would do himself. His eyes got wet with tears. It was just out of his control.

At the end of office hour, the BEST normal sales person sold 4 books. Majority didn't sell any. Jondo sold 10. End of story.

Even though the story is about selling, but the idea applies to anything you do in life. You HAVE what it takes to succeed in life. You just need to make the best out of whatever you got NOW. Start from there and make progress after progress....never ending. See you again soon :-)

Linggar Sentanu Japra
http://workfromhomebiz.tk

Huge traffic marketing is always one of the topics of our (my friends and I) business talk. "I did my survey for a few months. The building is right in CBD (Central Business District). It can be easily reached from everywhere. In fact all public transports to downtown will pass it. The daily traffic is very heavy, even on weekends. That's why I bought one unit." "Lucky you, I heard the price has gone up now." "Yes, but the guy I rented it to went bankrupt." "Howcome? It is a strategic place with good traffic, ain't it?" "The place is good for office, not for selling shoes."

Conversation like that may also be common to you. To succeed in business, you have to know your way. To know your way, you need to learn, learn and learn. You just keep learning both the easy and hard way. The easy way is to imitate what others have done. If you are doing something new, then the hard way is the only way. The HARDEST way, however, is GETTING STARTED. Strange isn't it? You read all the how-to's you can find. You somehow still find GOOD EXCUSES not to start DOING.

Babies just do what they are capable of doing. They progress over time doing just that. When they only know to cry, they cry. Talk, they talk. Walk, they walk. It goes on .. the step by step learning process and progress ....till they die. Get over this "getting started" problem by Just Do It. Check out the links on this blog. Who knows you can find useful stuff there. See you again soon.

A gem from a terminally ill friend.

I went to a wedding party of a friend the other day. Gathering like this usually is also a reunion place for old friends. This was no different. A friend that last talked to me almost 10 years ago showed up. 10 years..WOW..how time flies. We talked and laughed at the silly things we did. All flashbacks seemed so light and funny :-)

"I went to see a client the other day." His tone got slightly serious. Me: "Don't you always? :-)" Him: "His doctor told him he only has 3 months the longest." A dry smile on his face. Me: "???" Him: "He got complications of lever cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure..all his inner organs got affected." Me: "There is nothing you can do about it, man." Him: "You know what? He is just around 50, and he is very rich..lying there in bed completely helpless." Me: "Illness attacks just anybody, man." Silence...

"He told me the things he regrets most." He said. Me: "???" Him: "He pushed himself too hard. He became the slave of money. He only made friends with those having money. He only did things because of money. He only talked, walked, breathed money." He was like talking to himself this time. "Now he can't even turn around in bed without help." Me: "Well we have to take care of our health really good, I guess." Him: "Yeah, also remember money ain't everything." Me: "Absolutely." Him: "Don't judge people using money as your only standard. It's very deadly bad for your health, man :-)." Me: "You know I never do, that's why my health is goood :-)." Him: "That client of mine, no relative or friend wants to be around even now." Again his dry smile. Me: "That bad huh?" Him: "He was, he sorta admitted that to me."

"What do you think he would have done if he had a chance to start all over again?" I asked. "He would do what you always do, I guess." He smiled. Me: "Which is?" Him: "Make friends with people NOT their money. Isn't that one of your trademarks?" Me: "Well said amigo, well said LOL." Him: "LOL."

Hi friends,

I have announced my blog to the world :-) I want you to help me do it more widely. This blog is new and I don't see anything so good to boast about to my friends and relatives. Can you tell me just 1 good reason why? You ask. The reason is exactly the statement above. I am still finding my ways with this blogging. I am still familiarising my way with the features. I am a blog-newbie taking that 1st step of action needed to get better and better at blogging. That, my friend, is my point with this exercise :-) Hey, you fellow newbies, why not do like I do? With all the inexperience, so little knowledge, all the non-techie shortcomings...(whatever newbie handicap you can think of) I begin doing it. Learning by doing is the most effective way to become really good, so I was told :-)

What is this, a joke? You ask again. Maybe :-)
You have been surfing the net for sometime, I am sure. All sites that you see are already beautifully done. You don't see the making process from bad and ugly to the good. Here not only will you see my progress, in fact I can use your help. Your comments (encouragement, discouragement, suggestion, offer of any kind, just drop a line or two) are the help I need for improvement. You will see the changes for the better, if you visit this blog often. Why don't you do just that? :-) Post your comment too.

Sharing our thoughts is the name of the game here.
Everyone of now successful people was once a newbie.
They were a newbie that took action, beginning with that crucial 1st step.
I have done mine. What are you waiting for?
Do yours now, ok? I am watching :-)

See you again soon.

Hi friends,

The idea of sharing information is always exciting to me. I always do it locally. Thanks to internet, now I can do it globally. No one knows everything. You may know something that I don't, vice versa. By sharing, we both end up more knowledgeable. Ain't it wonderful? Ain't it what we all like?

Nothing is new under the sun. Whatever people now do, you will find similar things having been done in the past. The basic things don't change, the perspectives and names do. The same applies to achieving success. Actually you only have successes in life, my friend. In fact success is the only thing you can have in this world. What on earth is this? you ask.

You were non-existant ( So was I :-)). Everything else (other than non-existence) is a success. There is nothing new in what I said above. It's just looking things at a very broad angle. Now you know, you can only make progress in life. So what? again you ask. So do make progress after progress after progress....till you again become non-existant. Think and do positive after positive after positive...life is too precious to waste on negative things.

Feel free to comment or drop a line or two, anything you want to share. No abusive stuff please.