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Multiplying Your Mind Power by 1200% in Less Than a Week
I can hear you all now reading that headline and saying, “Hey Hype-Boy, let’s get real here.” The answer is quick and simple, but not easy. It is the power of 12 people focusing on helping each other. The number 12 isn’t a magic number. It could be 3 of you or 30 of you.
The secret is to get a group of like-minded people together that all want to grow their businesses. I have a friend that runs a franchise that uses 12 as the upper limit for their group which acts as a Board of Directors for each person in the group. I like 12 based on the biblical idea that The 12 Disciples from the Bible changed the world, and I know Jesus knew what he was doing when he chose 12 of them.
Disciples, hmmm, similar to the word discipline huh? Let’s get out the dictionary.
Definition: Discipline from http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/discipline.html
1. training to ensure proper behavior: the practice or methods of teaching and enforcing acceptable patterns of behavior
2. order and control: a controlled orderly state, especially in a class of schoolchildren
3. calm controlled behavior: the ability to behave in a controlled and calm way even in a difficult or stressful situation
4. conscious control over lifestyle: mental self-control used in directing or changing behavior, learning something, or training for something
Now remember, I’m writing this based on the Impatient Entrepreneur in all of us. In the above definition you see words like: order, control, and self-control. My self-confession, I ain’t good at none of that!
My secret for gettin’ good fast with this discipline thing is Mastermind groups. That is being accountable to about11 or 12 other people that want to see me succeed as well as the fact that they are driven to succeed also. Lots of talk about Mastermind group exists in courses, books, and seminars, but few people are able to put one together with any consistency. Meaning, several people get together with good intentions meet once or maybe even twice, but too many business owners and professionals feel they’re too busy to meet regularly. (Regularly as in one time per month and for some maybe even up to one time per week).
Huge mistake! You are not in the business of working in your business; you are “supposed” to be in the business of running your company, not letting it run you. Look to Michael Gerber’s book, “The E-Myth” for more on that idea. Taking time out to meet with people that want to grow your company and brainstorming with other successful Impatient Entrepreneurs allows you to discover ways to innovate, get creative, and skyrocket your income from the communication within your mastermind group.
I have done a great deal of hands on consulting with companies and I always try to interview the employees of every company I’m going to work with, and I often do it in a way that they don’t realize I’m testing them. It is very conversational and sounds like I have an agenda to cover, but I “Let them” get me off track and start expressing their “real feelings” about the owner, managers, other sales people, ideas they have, and what their goals for their family are.
I have yet to hear an employee tell me they want to turn the company into the greatest possible company it could be. The employee is often not very entrepreneurial minded and rarely has ever thought about how they could improve the company and their status within the business. They are focused on four major areas regarding their careers:
1. The paycheck (which is never high enough),
2. Getting their “chores done”,
3. Getting away with doing just enough not to get fired,
4. And a surprising amount of them tell me they are “actively pursuing” the never-ending job search (which is like running on a treadmill) on a regular basis.
That being said, getting away from these employees as an owner, a top producing sales rep or a manager is always a good thing. Taking 2 hours of your life to be around a group of people really desire to help you grow is vitally important. Not just important for your business success, but for your mental and emotional well being too.
The last words on Masterminding, if you can’t find one to join start one yourself. It isn’t easy because many people still have a “let’s go and network/socialize” mentality. However, if you stick with it, set clear guidelines to which kind of people you want in your group and have bulldog tenacity about you masterminding will pay off many times more than any effort you put out to create a group.
Napoleon Hill is credited more than anybody in modern history with the importance of Mastermind groups. In one of his writings he discusses the Mastermind group consisting of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone and the collective wealth they accumulated. Not just financial wealth either, but the networking, the brain trust, and the support to achieve history altering results with their lives.
Look I could go on for 30 more pages telling you stories about how wonderful Mastermind groups are and preach that you should be in one or maybe even two of them. I won’t do that though. I’ll just give you a quick action step to help you start in the right direction.
ACTION STEP: Start making a list and the call that list. The list should consist of people that would be at or above your level of business or income. Why? Because there is some subconscious desire in many people that are not achieving great things in their lives to want to hold you back. You want people to not push you from behind but also to pull you from in front.
You want people that are willing to share and maybe a little competitive. You want a mastermind group that will expand your mind and your wallet with ideas, connections, and creativity. Truth be told, family are usually the worst people to have in this kind of group. (Come on do I really have to explain that to you? If I do then please close this book and give it to someone that grew up in a dysfunctional family like 96% of us did!)
Discipline yourself to take action now, not when you “get in the mood” or you ain’t gonna ever do it. (See the last Chapter about that pesky “D-Word”)
I’m biased, but if you can get into a group that has a good coach or someone that mentors you even better. They know how to hold you accountable and how to push you and the group to the next level. That’s what you’re there for, to get to the next level, not to socialize. Speaking of Mentors and Coaches, check out the next chapter/blog post.
Website Traffic Simplified…Not Always Easy, But Simplified
Business owners get phone calls from sales reps claiming to be Internet marketing consultants on an almost daily basis, and each one claims to have the best, almost magical method to increase website traffic. (As a marketing director for a multitude of clients I sit in on countless sales pitches and I get to ask a lot of questions. The one answer that cracks me up is when the Internet marketing consultant for some directory and advertising company reveals that they were waiting tables or selling hair care products 2 months ago…and now claims to be expert on website traffic!)
The Impatient Entrepreneur wants to give you the edge over those sales reps by providing you with some simple solutions to drive massive amounts of traffic to your website(s).
Let me start of with some startling statistics.
According to WorldWideWebSize.com, as of July 5, 2011, there are 19.1 billion web pages that were indexed online. Your website’s pages are probably included in that number.
InternetWorldStats.com states that almost 2.1 billion people Internet users are looking at those 19.1 billion web pages. How many of those Internet users have visited your site?
Everyone has an opinion about gaining eyeballs to your website. The following 6 strategies have been the most effective and consistent ways to generate traffic for business owners in over 250 different industries over the last 5-7 years. The following is written from real life, result producing experiences as a marketing coach and as a consultant for a $300 million, full service digital marketing company.
Search Engine Marketing or Pay-Per-Click Advertising
For the fastest way to get highly targeted leads to your business you need to invest some money. Not necessarily a lot, but if you want to get visitors to your site that are pre-screened and pre-qualified then using search engine marketing is the smartest, quickest way to attract them. More often referred to as pay per click advertising, search marketing allows you to place a sponsored ad on search engines or content websites that allow for text ads.
Google AdWords dominates this advertising tactic while Yahoo, Bing, 7Search, and many other paid search engines offer affordable alternatives. Be cautious when listening to ad reps about this subject. Here are the top quotes I’ve heard which lead you to believe something that isn’t exactly true.
• “We can get you onto the first page of Google for only $150/month.” Business owners are often under the impression that they are getting organic SEO, or positioning on the first page of Google, as an example, and will be able to receive unlimited clicks to their site. They are often just being placed in an online directory and the company that owns the directory is actually putting their ad in the sponsored areas, then the prospect has to find you in the directory’s list.
• “When you buy this ‘bucket of clicks’ and you will get business.” In reality, you don’t just want clicks. You have to get more than a click; you need to get the conversion. So don’t fall into the cheap clicks trap, place ads that are written intelligently and worry more about the click to conversion ratio.
Blogging
Write a blog article that is keyword dense and provides great information about your industry and it may bring search engine traffic. Also with great content you can increase the number of subscribers to your RSS feed which can lead to repeat visitors and more traffic. Many blog articles have also lead to others sharing on social media sites and creating a viral distribution and republishing on others sites (which leads people back to your site).
Social Media
This could be a 2 day workshop all by itself, but I’ll simplify the necessities for you here.
Create accounts on the following social sites and try to post content about once a week at a minimum.
• Facebook: with an active user list bigger than most countries Facebook is leading many corporations to give up on traditional websites and just promote their fan pages on Facebook. Start paying attention to some T.V. commercials and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
• YouTube: Considered the 2nd largest search engine, people are watching more videos on this site then they are watching television. They are also searching for information they can watch. You don’t have to be the star of the video, just show some images and maybe a PowerPoint slide show while describing some interesting part of your business.
• Twitter: I hated this site for months when I first set up my accounts and then I saw what was really happening. This also can be used as a search engine and is…by the media! Producers for shows such as local news stations, Oprah, and Ellen have all claimed that they found guests by searching Twitter for content that they wanted to do a story on. Twitter is the new P.R.
• LinkedIn: My personal favorite for business to business relationships. I spend time reaching out to connections and develop relationships that are mutually beneficial. Over the last 3-4 years I’ve built a list of over 11,000 people I am personally connected to and have made sales as high as $55,000 from those connections by adding value and taking my time to meet others.
Article Marketing
This is where you are probably saying that I’m just asking for too much here! Writing may not be easy for you, so get a college journalism student to help you create a great article and place it in top article directories like ezinearticles.com, articlesbase.com, and knol.google.com.
But I bet if you set 30 minutes aside twice a month you could easily write 1 or 2, 400 word articles. That’s right, 400 words is all you need, not the 2,000 word story you read in the local newspaper (if one still exists in your town).
Do this even once per month and you will build incredible authority and credibility in just a few short months. (Yes this is a longer term strategy, but possible one of the most influential for your prospects to see and decide that they want to do business that has been published across the Internet.
Video Marketing
I mentioned YouTube as a social media account to set up, and now I’m going to tell you that it is also a great tool for video marketing. I know, I know, it sounds obvious right?
Well, what you may not have realized is that Google owns YouTube which gets 85% of all video traffic. Using YouTube for video marketing is a smart way to show up in the search engines and create website visitors. I’ve used video sharing sites like YouTube, MetaCafe, and Revver, along with article directories as mentioned above, to take over 7 of the top 10 search results for a landscaper and a plumber in a local market.
How would that improve your traffic if your content was dominating 70% of the “shelf space” available on a search engine’s first page? Simple, yes…easy, no…It took time to create the articles and the videos and then distribute them, but the results were worth it.
Go Offline
Yep, the original ways you learned to market, if you are older than 40. Use the old fashion way including flyers, business cards, print advertising, word of mouth, and radio. Many times this is dependent upon what your actual budget is, but you can still drive traffic to your website with these methods.
Online or offline, you have to participate in the world, create relationships, and find ways to attract the attention of your prospective clients, customers, or patients. The Internet isn’t going away anytime soon, and people are now using their phones to surf the net as much as they use their computers.
So being visible should be a top priority for any business. Follow the simple steps outlined in this article, be consistent, and you can become an industry celebrity online.
Become a Celebrity Online and Offline
Look at celebrities in any industry and even on reality T.V. and you start to understand that many of these people don’t have any special talent (Kim Kardashian, Snooki, or Paris Hilton as examples), at least compared to you! You, as an Impatient Entrepreneur with a little discipline, which I often lack, and a little consistent effort to work on the above strategies, can lead you to becoming a celebrity in your industy.
That means higher paydays and easier sales usually.
When I helped businesses in the past, my main goal was to get them in front of people and put out great content for those people to realize that these business owners were credible and authorities in their field.
One company I taught went from a no name to $105,000/month in sales consistently and did it in less than 7 months.
The had to learn how to raise their prices, attract and sell to a very exclusive client, and learn how to communicate just how powerful their service was. Content and persistence paid off with a million dollar business.
The idea of website traffic should actually be any traffic to any webpage that you are visible on. Think Facebook and YouTube and not just your website. Done right, you Impatient Entrepreneurs can often earn more from Social Media, video and article sites than from your own company website.
Social Media Results on Google
Ever hear of a company called Google?
In case you haven’t…yea, I know you have, just go along with me for a minute here. In case you haven’t heard of this company I’ll tell you why you need to pay attention to them.
It isn’t their high flying stock price, or their attempt to take over everything tech and data related that makes them so worthy of your attention. It is the fact that the company name has become a verb. To “Google” someone or something means to look it up on Google’s search engine.
A recent report from NetMarketShare.com has Google listed as delivering 82.8% of the search engine market.
What does that mean to business owners? If 8 out of 10 people are using Google to search for products, services, or information, and you aren’t focused on getting those searcher’s eyeballs looking at what you offer, then you are missing a large portion of the potential profits your company should be receiving.
The other way to look at this is that 17.2% of the rest of the world is looking on the other search engines and competition may be much easier to compete with over there.
Either way, you have heard enough about SEO, link building, and all the wonderful secrets to get your website ranked on the first page of Google, Bing, and the other search engines. What you have never heard me talk about is how very narrow-minded that challenge actually is.
Oh I’m all for great SEO. I’m an Internet Evangelist when it comes to article writing, video creation, fresh content and link building. But only so many businesses can take a position on the coveted “First Page of Google”. However, the rules have changed and it is actually easier to be seen…if you focus on what Google has changed in 2011.
Go Local
With over 22% of all search using geo-targeting in the keywords (like “Chicago Plumber” or “broken windshield repair in Las Vegas”) being typed into searches for people looking for a business, a great deal of emphasis has been place on local results, social media profiles, and review site contributor’s opinions.
Google Places has a prominent place in local search, and opens the door for a not so optimized website to be visible by the consumer looking for your product or service. (As of this writing it a free to claim your business) Very few of your competitors understand how to do much more than that, but the ones that do are claiming their business on Google Places are showing up above you if you haven’t staked your claim yet.
Get Social
Next consider, and I know I’ve been yelling this from the rooftops for 3 years now, social media and review sites (social due to the interactivity a review site offers). Google is looking at businesses and owners from the point of view that the public knows best.
- If you have a Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn presence then you have more Web Presencethan the business that doesn’t have these social media profiles.
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
- If on those profiles you have a good number of followers, friends, fans, connections or subscribers then you must deserve of a higher rank on the search engines.
- If you have reviews on sites like Insiderpages.com, Citysearch.com, Local.Yahoo.com, Local.com, Yelp, and Merchant Circle, that means people are talking about you and not your competitors, so in Google’s eyes you must be worthy of a higher page placement.
Shelf Space, It Isn’t Just About Your Website Anymore!
Let’s go to the grocery store for a minute to explain what is now possible with Google and your business.
If you go to a store that sells Pepsi and Coke and 24 feet of shelf space is displaying Pepsi products, but only 4 feet of shelf space is displaying Coke products, which product do you think gets more sales? (For you fanatics about Coke flip the analogy if you have to, and for those beer drinkers in the crowd use your 2 favorite beverages, but you get my point).
Shelf space matters! With Google Places, local review sites, social media results, pay-per-click opportunities, and SEO you have the opportunity to take up more shelf space on the first page of Google than ever before!
I have helped a landscaper, a plumber, a real estate company, and a business consultant take over as many as 7 of the first page results. That’s a lot of shelf space…and from the consumer’s point of view, you must be a great business if Google has you showing up that many times under a specific keyword or phrase.
With a focused effort and some time you could be ranking higher than ever before with Google’s new rules of looking at your business’ complete web presence. Instead of just links to a website and fresh content on that site as the only way to determine how much shelf space you should control, they are taking a more complex and well rounded approach. This allows us a chance to ‘fill in’ all of the most valuable shelf space in the search engine market.
In summary, here are the steps you need to take immediately:
- Update your website with a fresh, modern look, not the 2002 looking sites that people in a small and medium size business often still have.
- Update your site with fresh, keyword specific content
- Build you social media presence by creating Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube profile as a bare minimum
- Claim your business on Google Places http://www.google.com/places
- Pay attention to review sites and what people are saying about you
- Use Google Alerts http://www.google.com/alerts to keep your finger on the pulse of your name and your company being mentioned online
- Use the quick and powerful lead generation of pay-per-click advertising to drive traffic to you site now while your building your web presence
Jump Start Jim is recognized as “The World’s Only Marketing Resultant For The Impatient Entrepreneur” and the author of a series of books being released called “The Impatient Entrepreneur”. He is offering a free strategy session to any member that wants to use the Internet to attract leads, growing profits, and stop wasting money on “junk media”. You can reach him by phone at 702-979-4JIM (4546) or by emailing jim at jumpstartjim.com
Related articles
- How This Month’s Google Search Changes Affect Local Businesses (readwriteweb.com)
- Location: A Ranking Factor in Organic SERPs (seomoz.org)
- Local SEO…Is there such a thing and can it benefit businesses? (marketing.yell.com)
- Google Places 101 (ereleases.com)
- Are you making the most of your Google Places business listing? (marketing.yell.com)
7 Business Ideas You Should Be Using
As a Las Vegas Based Marketing Coach, I get to talk to some of the brightest minds in business that either live here or visit Las Vegas for conventions and seminars. We still see business owners not doing these 7 great business ideas!
Do you still hear about business owners that haven’t even heard of the following 7 ideas to help grow and improve their business? I’ll get straight to the point for all of you Impatient Entrepreneurs.
1. Start collecting the names and at least email addresses of every one of your prospects and customers. Then contact regularly to build a relationship with them. It keeps you top of mind, and gives them a chance to learn about, and trust you. Plus, every once in awhile you can make an offer to them
2. Focus on High Profit areas of your business. Promote those daily. Even if that means giving away something to help a prospect discover the bigger, more profitable product or service
3. Who is your top competitor? Are they worth copying? If so, become a student of how and what they do. You have to know the competition anyways, why not learn from the best…and beat them.
4. Use Direct Response Marketing, not expensive branding and advertising that institutions with mega-budgets do. Direct response is trackable, which is why ad adgencies won’t do it. They’d be held responsible for ineffective marketing (Heaven Forbid!)
5. Be consistent as a sales person and a marketer. You must keep putting you message in front of prospects. They, like you, are distracted and busy. That isn’t branding, I mean offering something of value to the prospect and keep giving consistently. Like my site www.JumpStartJim.com , that offers regular educational seminars and events.
6. Over-deliver beyond your client’s expectations. Sure, you hear it at every industry convention, but people go back home and deliver the bare minimum. Just staying in touch is more than most business owners do, and if you are really over-delivering, that is how you’ll get referrals.
7. Learn to use the Internet to your advantage. It is a 24/7 sales team for every business. An amazing amount of people still don’t have a website for their business, so just having that would put you above 30-40% of all of your competitors. Then there is Internet marketing and Social media…contact Cookee for more on how to dominate your marketplace.
8. Improve your marketing now. Every month (or week for that matter) business owners “intend” to improve their marketing, but budget concerns and being “too busy” hinders us from really learning how and what works. Again, there are plenty of ways to market your business for free or at a very low investment. You just have to commit to your own success. Commit to creating your content and getting it out into the world!
Well, there you have it. 7 (+1) (yea, that was my attempt at over-delivering right in front of your eyes) ideas that people still just aren’t using to help their own personal economies.
Places to find me:
www.gplus.to/JumpStartJim is my Google Plus Profile
www.LinkedIn.com/in/jumpstartjim is my favorite networking site (12,000+ contacts and I’ve done big business deaals from reaching out to these contacts)
www.JumpStartJim.com and www.TheImpatientEntrepreneur.com are the 2 sites I’m going to start promoting for my book launch and seminars.