Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions

 Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions
#1: Lose Weight/Get in Shape
#2: Quit Smoking
#3: Spend More Time with Family
#4: Enjoy Life More/Relax More
#5: Get a Better Job/Pursue a New Career
#6: Get Out of Debt
#7: Upgrade Your Technology
#8: Organize and Optimize
#9: Take a Trip
#10: Start a New Hobby/Learn Something New

95% of New Year’s resolutions are never kept. I guess you can say that a New Year’s resolution goes in one year and out the other.

You need to ask yourself: Do you really want 2009 to be the year when you get a new start?

• Specific
• Measureable
• Atainable
• Realistic
• Timely

Timing is a critical element. You must set deadlines in order to keep yourself accountable.

Goals can be very intimidating. The key is to break it down into smaller, obtainable sections. Start with looking at the big picture and decide on the ultimate goal. Then decide how long it will realistically take you to reach your goal. Three years? Five years? Write it down.

Next you must decide how far you will be able to get this year. What do you need to accomplish in 2009?
Then you break the annual goal into quarters. Decide what you need to have done by the end of March and so on.  Next step is the monthly goals, the weekly goals and finally the daily goals.

After the end of each day write a list of what you need to accomplish the next day and prioritize the list. Tackle the top two or three items first. Everything else is less important and will not be as damaging if you are unable to get it done.

Stress self-discipline. Discipline is the bridge between your goals and accomplishment.

Have a productive and prosperous year in your home based business.

How Would You Build and Operate a Small Business?

Starting and running a small business is a great dream. It allows you to utilize your talents, it gives you an opportunity to achieve financial independence and allows you to fire you boss.
However, you will not succeed without detailed planning, a great deal of flexibility, lots of energy, accurate and complete financial records and sufficient cash to cover personal expenses for two to three years. Otherwise your dream is almost certain to become a financial disaster.

“I often see people commit to an idea for a business much too impulsively,” said Jeffrey R. Cornwall, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., and author of “From the Ground Up.” “Committing to a business is like falling in love — you get all excited and develop a blind romance for the idea. Think the business plan through with discipline and objectivity. If it’s not right, walk away and go on to the next — some people just can’t let go of a bad idea.”

A good business plan is the key to a successful start, because it is your road map for your future. The plan forces you to define your business and understand the competition. If you cannot define your niche and you don’t understand who you’re going to be up against, you will get crushed in the entrepreneurial world.

A good business plan must include:
• A detailed description of your business
• A marketing plan
• A financial plan
• Management

It is imperative to clearly define your niche in order to survive. If there is no demand for your business, or if your niche is better served by others, you have no chance of survival.
After you define the basics of your business, it’s time to think about daily operation and personnel. Employees mean training, taxes and insurance. It mans daily supervision and motivation. It takes work to retain good employees.

Without a comprehensive business plan, it is near impossible to secure financing. Banks or even sane relative will not lend you anything.

A good business plan isn’t carved in stone. There’s always need for flexibility. But it should be used to track the progress of your business and underscore the need to make necessary corrections as you go. It’s a planning tool more than anything else.

The business plan should be read and critiqued by anyone who will be involved  in getting your business off the ground. This means participation by your lawyer, banker, insurance agent, financial adviser and CPA. They will be more objective than you are yourself because they have no emotional stake in the business.

You should also plan to meet with this group of advisors on a regular basis – several times a year. Listen to their comments and make changes as needed. Be prepared to pay for their time; it’s worth the expenditure.

Make sure you get professional advice before you decide he the legal status of your business. A sole proprietorship or partnership may be right for you. More likely you will end up choosing  to set up as a corporation or a limited liability company for greater legal protection.

The attraction of running a small business is easy to understand: You get to be your own boss, and you can use your knowledge and talents to do things the way you think they should be done. Your business is your creation and building something from the ground up is a very satisfying feeling.

But don’t ignore the smallest detail: If you think running a small business will free you from ordinary tasks and paperwork, you will fail.

What’s Wrong With The Information Industry Today?

The Internet is filled with blogs and forums where “guru bashing” and complaints about all the misleading information and fraud that seems to dominate online marketing.

From my own experiences I certainly do not disagree with much of what’s being said. However, we’ve all got to take ownership and accept the responsibility for many of the problems. Our own attitude will result in smart marketers adjusting their messages to what we want.

A smart copywriter will create a sales letter around what we, the prospects, want. That’s very basic! But, even more importantly, the copywriter must avoid writing about what we don’t want. 

We don’t want to hear that something is going to be hard work. Who wants work? So you never see hard work mentioned in a sales letter.

We don’t hear that something is going to take time, be filled with challenges and obstacles and result in a very large percentage of failures. We definitely don’t see any of that in the sales letters.

We don’t want to hear that something is going to require an investment of money. We want everything for nothing. Therefore we rarely see what everything will actually cost us in a sales letter. What we’ll find is free reports that are pretty much useless unless we buy an overpriced ebook or course. By then we have become emotionally involved and it much more difficult to turn down this “unbelievable offer.”

Consequently the Internet marketing industry has reacted to what we’ve told them and together we’ve created this culture of gurus who basically need to bend the truth in more than one way in order to get us to respond.

Then we spend our time complaining about how the products we buy suck. Why don’t the instructions we get work like they told us they would? Why don’t we make the money we were told we would make?

Most of us are lazy and want a quick fix that will make it all painless. But is that realistic?

To start a business and to be successful in that business takes work, dedication, (at least some) capital investment and usually involves sacrifices.

Yet very few treat Internet marketing as a business. Why is that? It’s a fact that those who do are many times more likely to have success.

A Place to Save Your Net Snippets

Thanks to my friend Dan Foley for this tip:

Have you ever sat down to write an article, opened up your web browser, opened Google do your research and wished that you could have saved webpages in a file somewhere? Have you also wanted to save some your Word documents there also? How about a couple of e-books and reports?

It’s nice to be able to save everything in one folder. What if you could save them all on-line for no charge?

There is a Web 2.0 service called esnips.com. I’ve been using it for about two years now and it works perfectly. While you can use it to share all kinds of things with others, I’ve been using it is a private place to save my research.

They even provide 5 GB of free storage.

You can use it to:

• Save webpages
• save Word documents
• save PDF files
• save spreadsheets
• save graphics
• save text documents
• save pictures same video
• same links

Because you save everything in different folders you can save as a project, you can build swipe files, you can just save your thoughts if you want to.

Since this is a free service you might want to go to esnips.com set up a new account.

How About Some Free Trade Magazines

Here’s the best way to keep on top of what’s new in your business, industry, or trade. As a business professional, you probably qualify for complimentary subscriptions to a large number of popular and informative business and trade magazines that will help you keep up with all the new developments and products in your field. Below you will find a link to over 150 different trade magazines to choose from. Just complete a short online form to apply for your free subscriptions today.

For a list of the categories available:
http://mailservices.inforefinery.com/CampaignRedirect.ashx?CMPID=2632&CLKID=45040574
Choose magazines from a category that interests you, and subscribe online today!

You may want to provide this message to your friends and business associates - they may wish to apply to receive a complimentary publication in their industry as well.

How to Get Free Advertising and Make Money with AdPacs

Search Engine Marketing the Fast and Easy Way! Perfect for a home based business!
 
A revolutionary new advertising concept allows you to advertise your web site to thousands of viewers on the AdPacs Network. You can get thousands of hits each day guaranteed!

Ebay Sellers: Drive buyers to your listings and increase your sales dramatically!

Affiliate Marketers: Drive traffic to your merchants and increase commissions!

Home Based Business: Attract buyers and other distributors to your business!
 
These are just some of the ideas. Internet marketers can market their blogs, websites, sales pages, or squeeze pages, while building their own optin mailing list.

The best part is that you also make money with AdPacs simply by surfing other members’ websites in the AdPacs Network and by referring other AdPacs advertisers. It’s fast and easy to get started, just choose the AdPacs program that’s right for you.

Online advertising revenues soared to a record $21 billion in 2007. That’s up 26% from $16.9 Billion in 2006.

Search engine advertising leads the way with 41% of revenues, closely followed by display 34%, classified 16%, and lead generation 7% of the total online advertising money spent.

Now YOU can tap into those multi billion dollar online advertising revenues with the AdPacs Network Referral Program.

This is how it works: AdPacs is an online advertising company, providing a revolutionary advertising platform for for individuals and businesses that allows you to generate high quality traffic to your web site at a low cost or even no cost.

AdPacs members’ websites can be viewed by thousands of potential customers on an ongoing daily basis.

It is possible to join for free and advertise your site. Your site will be display frequency will based on the number of credits you have earned by surfing other sites on the AdPacs Network.

You can also join the AdPacs Network as a Subscriber and you can purchase AdPacs at wholesale prices. Your ads go into rotation throughout the AdPacs Network, where other AdPacs members will see your ads. Subscribers can get paid to view other member sites each day.

Subscribers can get Fast Start Bonuses by referring other Subscribers. Subscribers can get Monthly Residuals based on the ongoing  monthly subscription fees and are paid on a 2-tier compensation plan. And subscribers can earn commissions on the AdPacs purchased by their personally referred subscribers and also on the the purchases of subscribers referred by your personally referred subscribers.

Advertisers can share in the total advertising revenue generated by the company and can earn up to 125% of their AdPac purchases in the form of Cash Rebates.

For more information visit www.joecongo.adpacs.com. 

Joe Congo’s iNetGlobal Internet Services Designed For Internet Marketers

We are proud to offer our members an exciting opportunity to add internet marketing training, web hosting, domain registration, auto-responders, linking services, blog services, webcasting and shopping cart services. iNetGlobal has everything you need to get set up on the Internet. With these tools you can have your business up in running in no time. On top of that, you can earn fast start bonuses and residual income simply by referring others to iNetGlobal. For more information visit www.JoeCongo.iNetGlobal.com

YTB - The Cure For Idea Diarrhea!

Personally, I love great ideas. When I see unique and unusual business ideas, my mind goes into overdrive and I immediately start thinking about all kinds of new possibilities.
Can you relate to that?

Well, recently I had a conversation with Stu, a Canadian business associate, that dramatically changed my perspective regarding the true value of an idea.

And this came from a guy who markets himself “The Idea Guy.”

I asked Stu for his opinion on a new idea that I would like to implement. He wanted to hear about it so we went to a coffee shop and I started up my laptop in order to show him my “impressive idea.” He listened to my “master plan” as I went through all the details and explained how this idea was going to be my salvation. You know, the million dollar idea.

After I finished my explanation, he immediately asked me a question. “Would you like me to show you how to triple the amount of money you will make during the next 12 months?” Of course I wanted to.

I didn’t expect what came next. He grabbed my computer, closed it and said. “Kaare, you don’t need any more ideas. You just need to take action on the ones that you already have. Choose one or more of the programs that you already have joined. Do something with that. Take action!”

That’s not what I wanted to hear, but soon afterwards, it started to sink in.

An Idea By Itself Is Worthless.

Only when someone has taken some kind of action on an idea does it then gain value.
So many would-be entrepreneurs suffer from “Idea Diarrhea.” It’s a disease that stops more entrepreneurs from making the kind of progress they’ve always dreamed of than anything else.

It’s inevitable that ideas breed new ideas. You’ll have a million dollar idea on Monday and as you start working on it, Monday’s idea stimulates another. So on Tuesday you stop working on Monday’s idea and start taking action on Tuesday’s. Then Wednesday comes along, and guess what? You’ve got “another” million dollar idea.

Unfortunately, this cycle continues and before you know it, you’ve got a whole bunch of half-baked ideas not making you any money.

I realize now that the idea itself wasn’t as important as the speed of taking action on the idea. Everyone has ideas but the people who succeed in this world are the ones who take action on their ideas.

People join programs because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Then other things, other ideas, other programs enter our lives and all of a sudden good ideas aren’t such good ideas anymore. The reason was that they failed to take action.

Successful people have something in common; they took action!

All of us have joined YTB, a leader in the largest industry in the world. We have something that has made other people millionaires. Are they smarter than you? Probably not! Do they have better education than you? Probably not!

For most people speed is important. If you don’t do it quickly, it will never get done. The longer you drag your feet the less likely you are to complete it. If you don’t complete the steps necessary to make your travel business a reality quickly, chances are you won’t do it later and you won’t make any money with YTB. Just as you wouldn’t make any money with any other opportunity or any other idea. It’s that simple.

Stu’s lecture made me think and it made me re-commit to YTB. I know now that I want to become a director within two years and I will do what it takes to get there.

And the first step is to take action.

Is A Home-Based Business In Your Future?

Today more and more people have taken a look at a home-based business as their primary business. It’s people disillusioned with the corporate world, baby boomers who don’t want to or can’t afford to retire, housewives in need of extra family income, as well a the unemployed who cannot find anything other than working as McDonald clerks or Wal-Mart greeters. And people are looking at their home-based business as their primary business and not just the multi-level marketing that is usually done off the kitchen table.
Everybody talks about some of the extremely successful entrepreneurs who got their start in garages or basements, i.e. Bill Gates & Paul Allen (Microsoft), Ted Waitt & Mike Hammond (Gateway), Larry Page & Sergio Brin ( Google), Pierre Omidyar (eBay), Michael Dell (Dell Computers) and Jerry Yang & David Filo (Yahoo). These entrepreneurs eventually moved away from their garages and into the corporate world where they operate billion dollar empires.
Today’s entrepreneurs who are starting businesses out of their homes are usually staying there, even as their businesses are taking off.
The latest U.S. Census statistics on non-employer firms, defined to include home-based businesses and those run by one or more individuals, show that the number of self-employed reached 20.4 million in 2005, an increase of 4.4 percent from the previous year. According to NASE home-based businesses constitute 53 percent of all small businesses in the United States.
The declining economy is bound to drive even more frustrated people into home-based businesses over the next few years. The majority of Americans believe we are heading into a period of recession. Traditionally, during a recession, more people turn to self-employment because traditional jobs are difficult to come by.
It is common today for young people, raised on computers and the Internet, to want to avoid working for somebody else. Instead they are creating opportunities for themselves outside of the traditional workplace.
So, if 2008 is the year you’re planning to finally break free of the office and start your own home-based business, may it be a consulting business, online retail, eBay business, information marketing or any other plans you may have, you would be well advised not to rush into your dream. Take your time to learn some of the basics about the business model that you want to follow. Don’t quit your day job and start your home-based business the next day.
Fortunately, the Joe Congo Marketing Academy has a program designed just for you that allows you to do exactly that, while gradually building residual income that will continue to increase while you are learning your new home-based business.
For more information, visit http://joecongoattraction.com.

Is YTB A Household Necessity?

There are over 400 “Legal Tax Deductions” when you own a home based business. Don’t take my word for it, I strongly encourage you to call your tax advisor and validate it! 

Just think about it for a minute!  $449.95 for two e-commerce (money making) websites, Red Carpet Treatment on all your travel, the ability to own and operate your own business within a business, fully hosted websites with full YTB customer support, full YTB travel support, training classes, and weekly presentations in most areas of the country.

Best of all it can be made into an “Absolutely Free Business For Life” if you bring 6 people into your team.
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