Archive for the ‘Entrepreneurship’ Category

Three Growth Strategies You MUST Apply…

By: Dave Dee on: May 24th, 2013 No Comments

Are you tired of settling for merely “getting by” in today’s economy?… Honestly, many business owners look around them and determine that just keeping the doors open and the lights on is good enough for now… and figure that by doing so and hanging on through the tough times eventually better days lie ahead.

Unfortunately, that’s not how business works.

Like the ocean predator that must constantly move forward aggressively or sink to the bottom a business also must continually advance in
order to thrive.

Consider this list of once-mighty brands who are now a mere memory:  Borders Books, Tower Records, Amoco, Woolworth, TWA, Oldsmobile, and EF Hutton…

Gone.

If you look at businesses and entrepreneurs who remain vibrant and successful, you’ll notice that there are three things they consistently seek out to achieve consistent growth and profit:

1) The BEST Information & Knowledge

Great entrepreneurs know the value of having the highest quality information and knowledge about how to grow a business.

In fact, more secrets to business growth are now being discovered in ONE year than were found out in the previous CENTURY!

How is this possible?

Because NETWORKS have emerged – where everyone is connected and sharing their methods  – and then tryingwhat they learn in new business environments – and reporting back what’s working.

Therefore it’s critical that you “plug in” to these emerging information networks, meetings and seminars where today’s most successful entrepreneurs are hanging out, and learn what’s working from them.

2) Proven, Successful Teachers & Mentors

Interview the top entrepreneurs – the most successful and who’ve made the most money – you’ll notice they ALL have teachers and mentors who were instrumental in helping them grow their businesses.

If you want to get to the next level in your business,then you have to know people already AT that level – so you can learn from them.

But you can’t stop there.

You must KEEP adding teachers and mentors as you grow your company, so you can keep that high-value knowledge coming into your mind,
generating new insights and new opportunities.

3) Off-Site Strategic Planning Meetings

You’ve probably heard the Einstein quote:

“You can’t solve a problem from the same level of thinking that created it.”

Well, you also can’t plan the next level of your business growth when you’re INSIDE of your business.

You have to get outside of your business, and take some time away specifically to plan your next steps for big growth.

Knowing these three strategies is great.

Applying these strategies even better.

But to truly experience transformational growth in your business quickly… WELL …

THAT was never before possible… until now.

FINALLY You Can Experience The Best Information, The Best Teachers, And The Best Strategic Planning Program…

My friend Eben Pagan is doing a live 5-day program called “Accelerate” – and it’s designed to be the ultimate environment to both learn and plan to shift your business into high-growth mode.

If you’re committed to growing your business, then watch this video – it’s full of lessons about what you need to focus on – and it also explains
how you can even get in (if you’re accepted) for 50% off:

“CLICK HERE To Accelerate Your Business Growth”

Watch it, and then apply NOW if you want to learn how to accelerate your business’s growth and profits to a whole new level of success.

NOTE:  Getting away completely to an experience like Eben is offering is the EXACT strategy that Bill Gates … the world’s richest man and founder of Microsoft … took every year in a strategy he called “Think Week.”

He would hole up far away from the office, immerse himself in the BEST advice from a variety of sources and come back refreshed and loaded to bear with a wealth of new ideas for business and operations.

This is a crucial step that most business owners don’t take – a step that costs them massively as they struggle to discover the right approaches, the right insights, the right strategies to grow their businesses.

At Accelerate, it’s ALL there.  And more.

Don’t delay – save 50% and apply NOW:  “CLICK HERE To Accelerate Your Business Growth”

Are you an ‘indentured servant’ to what you’ve been conditioned to believe?

By: Dan Kennedy on: April 30th, 2013 1 Comment

“Indentured Servants Who Broke Free”

That’s the headline of a small section in Forbes May issue.

Highlighting entrepreneurs who served as apprentices before striking out on their own, the choice of the words, “indentured” and “broke free” is a reminder why you own your own business…

To not have anyone tell you how to do things, to be independent and in total control.

To be able to do business on your own terms.

That’s what you want, right?

The dentist that closes at 3:00pm on Tuesdays so he can go watch his kid’s baseball games. Or the info-marketer who does what he does so he can travel and do business from anywhere in the world. Or the mompreneur who likes her two-minute commute to her home office and works her schedule around her kids.

Personally, a close rival to the fascination I get from turning the words I write into money is the autonomy I have.

Having the freedom and independence to work where I want, when I want, how I want and with whom I want is one of the main perks for doing what I do.

As an entrepreneur and GKIC member, it’s an important idea for you and one of the biggest reasons for doing all the stuff we teach here.

Of course, doing business on your own terms is a marketing strategy in and of itself. (This strategy and the 19 autonomy factors are discussed further in Absolute Autonomy Blueprint.)

I do things in my business that others say would be “impossible” for them to do. For example, I only answer my mail once a week and if you miss that window, well you might have to wait a week or more to get a response from me.

I don’t do email or carry a cell phone. I use a fax machine to communicate.

I require clients to come to my office to meet with me. If they want me to come to them, I require a private plane and won’t fly on commercial airlines.

People give me all kinds of reasons why that “can’t” or “won’t” work for them. But let’s be clear about one thing. You’ve been conditioned to believe that you should be available to your clients or customers or patients 24/7. And the idea of not being readily and immediately available to them is in deep conflict with what you have been taught.

You’ve likely received pushback too…with people saying things like, “What makes you think you can close your shop early?” or “Do you really think the world is supposed to revolve around you?”

How available you are to clients, customers and patients is just one example of where you may be doing business on someone else’s terms instead of your own. I could of course list dozens more. But the truth I want you to get to is that the pushback you receive when you decide to do business on your own terms comes from people who have a problem with you having that kind of freedom.

In fact, if you are successful at all, if you are in control at all, everybody else who isn’t successful or isn’t in control or who doesn’t have the freedom to set their own schedule will have a problem with that. But that is their problem.

When you have worked hard, been responsible and smart about things. When you have invested in yourself and your business and created good marketing, you are entitled to independence and control. If you go to the lengths required to deliver exceptional service and quality, you deserve to be able to set up your business the way you want.

Examine all the beliefs you have about why your business is designed the way it is.  By constantly exploring all the options you have, you might be surprised to find that what you’ve been conditioned to believe is the only way to do things is not really the only way.

Think about why you do things the way you do. Whether it’s the hours you operate or how much you charge or who you sell to or how you deliver your products or services…be open to all the options you have—and realize you’ve earned the right to make the choice.

NOTE: If you’re like most business owners, you’re perhaps a bit frustrated with how fast time flies and how long it takes to lay down even the simplest foundations of business success.

A bright and prosperous future beckon… if only you could make the time to put in place a few key systems that would enable you:

* To create positive choices for you and your family…

* To provide the autonomy to work when you want, with the customers you want, and enjoy the income and time you want…

* To create the business and the lifestyle you desire and deserve…

If that sounds good to you, then I have some GREAT news!

This coming Saturday, May 4th at 2:55PM Eastern time, we’re opening the “virtual doors” of the SuperConference to give you LIVE access to a very special presentation by Dave Dee entitled:

“The No B.S., High-Intensity 12 Week Market Domination Blueprint: The PRECISE Steps You Need To Experience A Radical Business and Life Transformation”

Best of all, this is totally FREE and our gift to you.

All you need to do is click the link below to let us know you’ll be attending and we’ll save your spot and

get you all the information necessary.

“Yes, I’ll Be There!”

Don’t miss out on this one-time-only chance to catch  Dave’s presentation at SuperConference LIVE!

Dwindling customers? How to make more money FAST

By: Dan Kennedy on: March 28th, 2013 12 Comments

A recent article about one of the world’s largest ferry boat systems says they are swiping money from one program to keep another program afloat.

Why are they forced to do this?

Increased  costs coupled with a dwindling customer base.

A cry all too familiar to many businesses these days.

Swiping money from Peter to pay Paul may keep them afloat – but only temporarily.  It’s a stop-gap method that eventually catches up to every business.

Did your business lose customers last year?

If “yes,” my guess is you can’t say for sure how many you lost, who you lost, why you lost them or where they went.

But one thing is for certain…

If you do nothing different, I can send you this same message next year too.

In stormy economic seas, investors turn more attention to preservation of capital vs. growth or yield.

The next four years provide tremendous opportunity, but also are filled with tremendous risk.

Business owners must give more attention to preservation of their business’ equity—which actually lies almost entirely in their relationship with their customers, and, of course, their personal capital: their time and energy.

Regrettably, many do not pay nearly enough attention to these things until forced to by adverse circumstances.

Most businesses get this wrong. They think it is easier to just keep trying to attract new customers. Aside from the fact that there is a finite pool of new customers, in truth, a great way to make more money is to stop losing customers.

This will require accurately determining what a customer is worth and what the cost of replacing a customer really is…so you can decide how much you are willing to invest to NOT lose a customer.

Next taking that investment and deciding how to apportion it, between programs for customer retention and winning back customers. Then designing, re-designing, beefing up and actually implementing both programs. Then testing, evaluating, improving, again and again.

In my own work and you’ll find in GKIC’s strategy, that a lot of time, money and work is spent in doing exactly this, even though we already have low loss/high retention and sophisticated multi-step, multi-faceted “stick” programs for new customers, and “keep” programs for continuing customers, and “rescue and recovery” for lost customers.

Do you?

But we continue and will continue to add to, experiment with, refine and hopefully improve all three.

Will you?

Often we will implement twenty or more different adjustments in a ninety day period. Some minor, some simple, some painfully complex.

How many are you testing in your three programs by June 30?

Every year, I’m somebody’s lost customer. Many don’t even realize I’m lost. I guess they think “gee, he hasn’t been in, in a while,” or perhaps they don’t even know I’m gone. Every year, national companies and local shops lose me as a customer. I can’t recall even one, ever, doing anything proactive and significant about their loss.

That is just one very practical suggestion for making a lot more money fast. Here’s another: upgrade customers before you lose them. You’ll then lose less automatically. This idea alone is worth giving a lot of thought.

You ought to HATE and I mean HATE—losing customers.

The athletes and teams who win a lot hate losing, even more than they like winning. To win races, you’ve got to hate losing. Winning is not sufficient motivation. You NEED to understand the true economics of losing customers.

You NEED to get yourself highly motivated and passionately committed to invest aggressively in not losing customers.

No business exists solely on its owners’ ability to get customers. Successful businesses sustain themselves only keep them.

NOTE: Over the past week you’ve heard me talk about truly becoming an authority in your field.  Well my good friend Ryan Deiss’ AuthorityROI is live but only for a VERY short time.

Here is your personal link:
Click Here Now To Watch Now!

Watch it now!

There is a LIVE event coming up too, details are inside on the same page.

Begging For Change To Millionaire In One Year. His Secret Revealed…

By: Darcy Juarez on: March 26th, 2013 1 Comment

He was abused and started drinking as a teenager.

Ending up homeless, he begged on the streets for change in order to survive.

Today Toronto Canada native Francis O’Dea is a multi-millionaire.

O’Dea says, “One year I was broke, the next year I was a millionaire.”

What is his secret?

He says for six months he lived on the streets with no clue as to what he wanted or how to get out of his current situation.

He changed his circumstance by changing his focus. 

He got a job and focused on turning his life around.  Later, with a friend, he opened a little coffee shop naming it, “Second Cup.”

Today, Second Cup is Canada’s largest Canadian-based specialty coffee retailer with more than 360 cafes across Canada.  Although, O’Dea sold his shares in Second Cup in 1988 when they had 150 locations, he went on to enjoy an extremely successful business career, receiving the Order of Canada in 2004.

While sometimes it’s a lack of focus on what we want that causes us to stay stuck, other times it’s caused by getting too comfortable in our routine and not knowing how to change our situation.

By just shifting your focus, even slightly, you can create big wins.

Here are some simple ideas for where you can shift your focus to improve your business and your income:

Sharpen your marketing. If your marketing isn’t working the way the way it used to, a quick way to correct the problem is to consider hiring a professional copywriter to audit your copy. While it may make more sense to start fresh, sometimes an audit of an existing piece of copy or funnel can identify slight changes and quick fixes that will make your marketing fresh and profitable again.

Before you hire a copywriter, be sure to read our FREE report:  The 7 Key Questions Every Copywriter You Hire MUST Be Able to Answer To Write Killer Direct Response Copy and Create Marketing Campaigns That Will Outsell The Pants Off Your Competition.

Check your client-attraction system. If you aren’t earning the income you desire, focus on doing one thing every day towards getting more and better clients.  Fine-tune your approach, learn how to identify and attract clients who can pay you big money right now. (Dan Kennedy will introduce and present his new “Specific –Customer-Focus Process® at SuperConference May 2nd –May 4th)

Specialize in a niche. Narrowing your focus in your industry can quickly increase your income.  If you’ve already picked a niche, see if there are courses or certifications which can further qualify you as an expert in your chosen specialty.

Identify a gap. Look for an area which is not being covered well or is in big demand.  For example, Mike Capuzzi of CopyDoodles saw a need in the copy cosmetics field as there were no real options other than to hire a graphic artist or to individually mark up your copy and try to photo copy it. By creating a product to fill that gap, he quickly rose to the expert in his field. Concentrate your effort on identifying and filling a need.

Focusing on the most important activities which keep your business growing is what separates the most successful businesses in the world from the businesses that spend their entire shelf life wondering why nothing they do seems to work.

So if you’re wondering how to bring your business up a notch, look at how you’re spending your time—you might just need a slight focus adjustment.

NOTE: Just a quick reminder that Dan Kennedy will be presenting a very special and rare Internet Webinar with Infusionsoft TODAY – Tuesday March 26th – at 2 pm EST. It’s on the crucial topic commonly referred to as “Lifecycle Marketing”… the real-world “Survive and Thrive” principles Dan has identified based on the many years of research he’s spent looking at the “what works/what doesn’t” marketing efforts of over 10,000 small businesses. When you attend this webinar, you’ll discover:

  • How to fix “follow-up failure”… the devastating death spiral a business experiences when leads wander off into the weeds to disappear forever… without wasting endless hours of your valuable time!
  • Discovering your company’s own unique WOW – the powerful, emotional experience that only YOU bring to the table – and the easiest way imaginable to deliver it to the surprise and delight of your satisfied customers
  • A ferociously simple trick that you can do RIGHT NOW that will enable you to quickly and easily attract, capture and nurture WAY more leads!
  • The crippling disease of multiple system madness… how it’s killing your profits without you even knowing it… and clear steps to take NOW to put you on the vital path to thrive in your business.

And MUCH MORE Besides! Dan doesn’t do these kinds of presentations very often and this one is particularly near and dear to how he thinks about running a successful business. Register for this FREE, rare webinar here.

Four Ways Shark Tank Entrepreneurs Grew Their Business Without Spending Money

By: Darcy Juarez on: March 5th, 2013 4 Comments

Last year I met Barbara Corcoran at GKIC’s women’s event.

Her credentials include straight D’s in high school and college and being unsuccessful at twenty jobs by the time she turned twenty-three.

But it was her next move that made her one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the U.S.

Turning a loan of $1000 from an ex-boyfriend into a five-billion dollar business.

An investor/shark on the hit reality show, Shark Tank, she has invested in multiple businesses and is also a bestselling author offering tips to small business entrepreneurs.

The thing is… it isn’t just Barbara’s investment that helped make the companies she invested in successful.

Find out four ways Barbara’s entrepreneurs found business success and grew their business using something other than cash, brain capital or investments.

Find out who your target market really is. Cyclists Erin Whalen and Tim Stansbury created a patented formula to clean cyclist’ dirty hands on the road called Grease Monkey Wipes.

The problem was that sales were only trickling in. What they discovered the night they presented their product to the sharks was that cyclists weren’t their only market.  In fact, it turned out that the automotive, gun and farming industries were hugely interested. Their newfound target audience turned their product into a booming business literally overnight.

Are there other markets you can test to see if your product or service will sell better to a different target audience?

Use celebrity. Brett Thompson got cash from Barbara to expand his BBQ Sauce business. But it wasn’t just the cash that helped. The notoriety he got from being associated to Barbara gave his business what it needed to go from selling sauce in 5 small stores to selling it in 500 large grocery stores within only months.

Copy Brett by creating your own celebrity marketing with Barbara Corcoran.  You can not only get your picture taken with her at SuperConference 2013 to use in your own marketing, but you’ll also have a chance to get up to $50,000 from her when you pitch your business to Barbara and the other GKIC sharks for the chance to gain cash, financing, partnership or contribution of “brain capital to your business.

How else can you use celebrity in your business to boost sales?

Tell your story.  Jack Barringer couldn’t lose his beer belly which caused him to have high blood pressure. His doctor told him he needed to do push-ups but he wasn’t physically strong enough. So he invented a simple push-up device to drop the pounds. The sharks said they would invest if he lost 30 pounds using his device. Jack lost over 36 pounds using his fitness product and is now featured in his infomercial, giving it a story and more credibility.

You can strengthen your business position and inspire people with your own business story. Knowing how to tell effective stories is one of the most powerful ways to influence consumers and motivate them to buy. Plus they are great for attracting media attention.

How can you use or create a story in your business?

Use personality. Using personality in your advertising, marketing and communications can add instant results without having to spend an extra penny. Kim Daisy is the founder of Daisy Cakes. Part of Kim’s unique character that shows through is her southern charm, passion for her cakes, using only all natural and preservative free ingredients, and that she is hard working.

She sold $100,000 worth of cakes within three weeks of her appearance on Shark Tank and is now a regular top selling brand and personality on QVC. (Learn the 7 elements of a personality-driven business and how to develop your character in How to Create Personality in Copy.)

How can you bring your character to life in your marketing?

It’s common to think you need money to start a business or expand a business. But often all it takes is one good idea or one new strategy to create a breakthrough.

What one GKIC strategy has created a breakthrough for you? Share in the comments below.

NOTE: LIVE FREE TRAINING!  How To Write a $5,000 E-mail for ANY Business!

On Friday, March 8th at 9:30AM Eastern GKIC Chief Marketing Officer Dave Dee is doing a live VIDEO Training entitled:

“E-Mail Marketing Made Easy.  How One Quick E-mail Strategy Brought In $5,000 From Dead Leads”

During this live broadcast Dave is going to give you:

  • His proven e-mail templates that not only get your e-mails read…but also move dead leads to buy
  • The recipe to his “Secret Sauce” on exactly what to do and what to say to achieve maximum engagement with
    your list
  • A powerhouse follow-up system that will triple your profits from using these types of e-mails.
  • And lots more besides!

You Don’t Need To Sign Up Or Register, just Click Here Now and bookmark the page…then join Dave for the most profitable breakfast you may ever have this Friday, at 9:30 am Eastern.

Do you have an idea, are a start-up, or are already operating successfully and looking to expand? If you feel you have a lucrative business idea and could use some backing whether financially or a joint venture, GKIC SuperConference is the place to be.

This year you will have a once in a lifetime opportunity to pitch your business to Barbara Corcoran, Dan Kennedy, and the GKIC Sharks to receive up to $50,000 cash, financing, partnership, or brain capital.

Plus, millionaire and multi-millionaire business owners attend SuperConference. This is your chance to network with them, get ideas and feedback on your business, and perhaps find someone to joint venture with. And it’s not uncommon for people attending our events to pick up the one strategy they’ve been searching for that causes them to have a breakthrough year.

Are you ready to join them?

This is your last chance to save up to 68% off your registration. You can register here, or learn more about our upcoming SuperConference at www.dankennedy.com/sc2013.

Small Things That Provide BIG Impact

By: Dave Dee on: January 31st, 2013 No Comments

In this month’s issue of Success Magazine, best-selling author and keynote speaker Jason Dorsey says people fail because they set too big of goals.

Not that you shouldn’t set big goals…

Dorsey says,

“Most people never reach their biggest goals because they can’t stick to them in the beginning.”

He says the “all-important first 30 or 60 days” is when the “magic” happens.

So what stops people from experiencing “the magic?”

A major success obstacle is people simply can’t break their bad habits and replace them with new habits.

The simplest way to understand this is to think about losing weight. You may have to break bad eating habits and/or start exercising. That means you need to not only get rid of an old habit (eating fully loaded hamburgers at lunch) but form a new, better habit (eating salad for lunch instead.)

This happens in business too. Say you want to increase your income. You may have a set way of doing business that you need to change. Fears you have to overcome. Or organization and productivity habits that need to be re-aligned.

The solution?

Dorsey suggests that you set smaller goals. He says that way you can “achieve goals on your list right away, “see yourself making progress every day,” and “gain the courage necessary to pursue bigger goals.”

Great suggestion. But that’s not all you can do.

Here’s some other “small things” that can provide a BIG impact on your business this year:

Focus on one instead of many. Sometimes it’s not that you have too big of a goal, it’s that you have too many goals. Choose one thing that you are going to succeed at and put all your energy into that.

For example, if you want to double your business, maybe it’s that you should focus all your energy into getting more clients, customers or patients.  Once you achieve that goal then move on to your second most pressing issue.

Realize small changes can equal big gains. Last year, we started offering copy critiques from our professional GKIC copywriters to those who subscribe to Copy Confidential. Often times a suggestion from our copywriters to make a small change to the language or to use one copywriting strategy meant a huge change in results of a campaign.

I also remember Dan Kennedy telling a story about getting paid I believe it was $100,000 to add just a few words to a sales letter. The letter had worked well for a long time, but sales had slowed. The company hired Dan to get the sales letter to work again. By adding a few words to the headline, the sales letter began selling like gangbusters again.

Think about what small changes you can make that will have a big impact. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

  • Adding copy cosmetics to guide your reader, making your copy easier to read as discussed in  Chapter 8 in the Ultimate Sales Letter Book.
  • Unlocking The Secrets of Direct Mail is full of small changes that make a big impact. For instance, instead of sending the same message to everyone, segment your audience and customize your message to consumers. This is easier than you think. Using software like Infusionsoft, you can tag and segment your audience automatically. Sometimes it’s just a matter  of changing a few words, an offer, or a headline to match each specific audience.  It heightens the connection between you and your prospects which can make a big difference in bottom line sales.
  • Shift your focus in selling. Instead of focusing on how many sales presentations you can make or how many sales you can close, shift your thinking to focus on making yourself into the authority on whatever it is you are selling.

 

Think of it this way. If you go to the dentist and she tells you that you need to get a filling, you’re going to get your tooth filled, right? You don’t question it or think about it, you just do it because she says you need to.

By becoming the authority in your market, when it comes time to close a sale, the customer will buy from you because you are the expert and they are going to do what the experts tell them.  (For more on how to become an authority, check out Sales & Persuasion Strategies.)

Dedicate a small, focused time each day. Dan Kennedy’s “an hour a day” success tip Tuesday was “Take an hour a day, every day, and invest it in any one thing: writing, physical fitness, creating publicity, becoming an expert at something, whatever, and you’ll be “world class” in that very fast.”

Time and time again, I’ve witnessed people shift to focusing on just one thing and as a result, rise quickly in their chosen field.

Small but mighty. There’s an old quote, “The mighty Oak was once a little nut that stood its ground.”

Whether it’s setting smaller goals, focusing on one goal instead of many, or carefully choosing the small changes you will make, don’t be afraid to think small. Often “small” makes a BIG and lasting impact that can turn your business into the “giant oak” you’ve been dreaming of.

NOTE: Want something that can dramatically improve your earning power with a lot less stress and strain? Want to stop floundering? Devote just 2 days at our next Fast Implementation Bootcamp. You’ll complete a fully loaded marketing campaign, ready to launch the minute you get home. This is NOT about giving you more knowledge and more information. It’s about making a change in your business today so you can start getting results tomorrow.

Find out why people are raving about this FREE bootcamp. Discover what people are saying and how you can register for our next bootcamp now.

How To Build Your Own “Million Dollar Rolodex”

By: Dan Kennedy on: January 24th, 2013 4 Comments

This month, in the No B.S. Marketing Letter I talked about the only two ways to think about the 1% and 99%.

If you read it, you got a big lesson in how certain thinking and complaints can virtually guarantee you will never be rich—and what to do if you want to change your circumstance and become a member of the 1% club.

Another complaint that comes from the unsuccessful is that success or wealth has more to do with WHO you know than WHAT you know.

Some people may think this is unfair. When they see someone getting ahead because of who they know, they think it’s not right.

But why they feel that’s bad or unfair is beyond me. Like it or don’t, it’s the way the game is.

For as long as people have been conducting business, one of the ways to win at it is to surround yourself with successful people.

In NFL football, it takes 10 yards to get a 1st down. Maybe it should be 8 or 12 yards instead, but it’s 10.

So the coach and his team need to figure out how to get 10 yards in three plays.

It’s the same with your business. Determine your goals and put a plan together to achieve them. For example, if you know you need to get some “who’s” on board, you’ve got to figure out how to get to know the people who can contribute to your success.

My “Million Dollar Rolodex” is called that because I value it that highly. Case in point, a specialty printer I use came from my rolodex. At the time, we had called and gotten three quotes from local printers and one from a little-known, specialty printer, out of state, who did the kind of printing we needed. We saved 55% by knowing about the existence of this printer.

In preparation for February 3rd’s Superbowl, next week, the NFL’s annual traveling NFL Experience will be underway in New Orleans.

The “interactive theme park” spans more than 850,000 square feet and costs $25 for adults and $20 for children 12 and under.

If you’ve ever been to one of these things, there is plenty to do. Interactive stations where you can test your football skills such as punting and throwing. Obstacle courses and chances to try on actual pro football gear. There is a Pro Football Hall of Fame. Food vendors and, of course, an NFL shop.

This is also a good place to meet one of your favorite pro football players, celebrities or some of the major players in business as they are known to be there for the big game and will wander near or around the “Experience”.

There’s a lesson here if you look for it. First of all, if you want “who’s” that can help you be successful, you need to do your homework to figure out who those people are or what type of people they are. If you don’t know who would be helpful to you, how can you expect to recognize them should the opportunity arise let alone find anyone to introduce you to them? It’s worth mentioning that while you may not always have specific names of “who’s”  that can help you, identifying a specific industry or company will help you quickly recognize a successful “who” for you to connect with.

Second, once you’ve identified some “who’s” you should do a little research to figure out what they are interested in, something about their company, etc. This way if you happen to get the opportunity to talk to them, you can establish immediate rapport by discussing something you know they will be interested in.

Third, determine if you know someone who might be able to make an introduction for you.  Remember it’s a small world. You may already know someone who is friends with, works with or plays golf with your “target who.” Usually they are more than willing  to make an introduction for you.  You just have to ask.  (Hint your GKIC membership might be a good place to start. Use your online Success Club, GKIC Chapter meetings, and GKIC events as place to meet “who’s”. Not a member yet? You can take a test drive FREE here.)

Not that I’m suggesting stalking, but if you see that a “who” is an active member of an organization or club or you find out from scanning the paper that they will be speaking at an event, attend the meeting or, if it makes sense, become an active member of that club.

Fourth, know what you are going to say ahead of time.  Make a great first impression and good things are bound to happen. Almost every event I speak at, people want to ask me about their business. Unfortunately, what I often hear are vague generalities. Be specific about what it is you are looking for. No one can help if they don’t know what you want.

Fifth, you should have a follow up plan in place.  Just like a sales letter that is sent out with no follow up, not following up on a potential hot lead will have a similar result.

Start to build your “Million Dollar Rolodex” by putting yourself in situations where you will be surrounded by quality people and then taking action to build rapport and relationships with them.

NOTE: Leeza Gibbons may be best known for her role as one of the original hosts of Entertainment Tonight, but for almost a decade, Leeza has been the force and face behind one of the most successful direct response products ever. She is a made from scratch entrepreneur, a brilliant marketer, a savvy media insider, and a dynamic and exciting speaker. Wouldn’t she be a powerful “who” to meet and have in your corner? Everyone who attends the GKIC Women’s Next Level Summit will have a meet ‘n greet photo opportunity with Leeza.

Of course this is only one of the many “who’s” that will be featured speakers at this event. And it has been my experience that events with this caliber of speakers tends to draw the best, brightest and most successful entrepreneurs as they understand the value of being there. That means chances are good you’ll be sitting among some pretty successful people who might just be able to help you out.

Even better, you’d expect to pay for an event like this. But we’re giving it to members FREE, with a refundable seat deposit. That means you pay $97 to reserve your seat and once you show up at the event, we’ll give you your money back. www.gkicwomen.com

P.P.S. Last I checked, this event was pretty close to being filled to capacity. And of course, this is going out to over 100,000 people who receive our content emails. So if you want to attend, you’d be wise to hurry and register now.

The Top Five Behaviors To Avoid If You Want To Be Successful…

By: Dave Dee on: January 22nd, 2013 4 Comments

The other day, something Dan Kennedy wrote triggered a memory of a profound statement a multi-millionaire once told me …

Dan talked about how we all have certain “self-sabotage” behaviors.

This made me remember a conversation I had at one of Dan’s seminars…

The seminar was packed with “players” who had spent their money, and more importantly, their time to continue learning how to market their business better. It was a great opportunity to meet, network and talk with mega-successful people who are so open to sharing their wisdom and secrets to success.

Anyway, after the seminar, the owner of a multi-million dollar franchising company said the following to me…

“I give all of my people a blueprint for how they can be successful, but when I get back home, I’m going to create a blueprint for how people can fail at their business as well. This way, they can check both blueprints and see if their behaviors are leading them down the road to success or the road to failure.”

Isn’t that a great idea?

We are always talking about what to do to be successful, but we don’t always talk about the behaviors that lead to failure. And part of becoming successful is eliminating the bad behaviors. Of course, if you don’t know what those are, it’s hard to get rid of them, right?

Here are some of the top behaviors that lead people to frustration, struggle and even failure:

1) Not investing in lead generation. Dan Kennedy says, “A business without a mailing list isn’t a business.” EVERY business should have a strategy for capturing names—not just from people who have purchased your products or services, but for prospects as well. Each new name acquired is a “gateway” to new business, repeat business, and referrals you wouldn’t otherwise have. You can create the greatest marketing campaign in the world, but if you don’t have a list of prospects to send it to or are unwilling to spend money to build a list, you are dead in the water.

2) Investing too heavily in one strategy. Too often I see business owners use only the Internet for all of their advertising. Even worse, is using just one Internet strategy—like only sending emails, or only using Pay Per Click to drive traffic to their site. This is an error of EPIC proportions. I admit I’ve even fallen into only using the Internet myself, but I guarantee you it’s not a trap I will fall into again.

In Dan Kennedy’s book, No B.S. Business Success In The New Economy, he says, “One is a very bad number, anywhere you find it…if one media produces a disproportionate percentage of your customers, you are subject to being summarily put out of business.” Even the biggest Internet marketers on the planet know they must integrate online and offline strategies…and that the marriage of these two is where their riches lie.

3) Not knowing who your ideal target market is. At Dan Kennedy’s Mailbox Millionaire seminar, Dan said, “At least half of the battle is won via selection, not ‘creative’ message, copy, offer, etc.” Mediocre marketing aimed at a very well selected target market will get superior results. However the best marketing message in the world aimed at a poorly selected target market will get you mediocre results at best. You can’t expect to effectively craft a powerful marketing message to attract your ideal customer, client or patient, if you don’t first have a very clear picture of who that person is. Clearly define who it is you are catering to, first. Then craft your message.

4) Not knowing how to sell. The most successful people I know are also master salespeople. If you don’t know how to sell, you are going to continue to struggle. In fact, in Sales and Persuasion Strategies, Dan discusses the ONE thing you must never do that incredibly 99% of all business owners do that creates a huge obstacle to selling. Once people remove their selling obstacles, not only do they see their profits soar, but they speed up the sale and stop competing for business too.

5) Not taking action. The one thing you will hear over and over and over again from our most successful members—and members who have transformed their business in what seems like overnight is to take “massive action.” You can think about getting rich all day long, but unless you DO something, customers are not going to magically appear and start giving you money. Worry less about failure and just get moving. The reality is the men and women of ACTION are the ones who are the wealthiest.

How many of these behaviors are you exhibiting? Focus on eliminating them this year and you will go a long way towards removing much of your frustration and struggle in your business.

What are some of the self-sabotaging behaviors you’ve eliminated that you feel helped you move forward? Why not share them in the comment section below.

NOTE: Another one of the top behaviors that lead to failure is not investing in continuing education and coaching. The most successful people I know are constantly investing both time and money in learning. I’ve heard people say, “Well he is rich so he can afford to go to seminars, hire coaches and buy products.”

The truth is that a person is successful because they invested time and money in training, coaching and education BEFORE they had the money to invest. Can you imagine someone wanting to get hired and paid as a doctor without investing in the education and training necessary first? I remember struggling to buy Dan Kennedy’s “Magnetic Marketing” program for $279 about 13 years ago. I can’t imagine where my life would be today if I had not invested in that.

You have an opportunity to get some amazing coaching and education FREE at the GKIC Women’s Next Level Summit Event. You just need to register and make the $97 refundable seat deposit and get yourself there. Find out more or register now.

The Best Thing You Can Do To Improve The Lives Of Your Children…

By: Darcy Juarez on: January 17th, 2013 3 Comments

“One of the biggest gifts that you can give your daughter is to show her that you love what you do.”
—Maggie Wilderotter, Frontier CEO and one of the 21 female Fortune 500 CEOs

When Brittany Lynch was 15 or 16 years old, she remembered her dad getting a lot of “junk mail.”

Curious about it, she asked him, “Dad what is all this junk mail you keep getting from Dan Kennedy? And more importantly, why do you seem to be reading it every month?”

Her dad kind of laughed and said, “One of the best things you could do to improve your life and your future is to read this “junk mail” every day.”

So she started reading the GKIC newsletter and Dan Kennedy right then and there. Now, at the age of 23, Lynch owns and operates a million dollar a year information marketing business.

2013 marks the 20th anniversary of the “Take our daughters and sons to work” program.

The program was started as a way of creating “an enriching educational experience for our nation’s daughters and sons” and offering expanding opportunities that can transform the lives of girls and boys both nationally and internationally.

With the budget war and talk about how the debt will affect the well-being of future generations, today, in honor of the “Take our daughters and sons to work” anniversary, I want to talk about how you can positively influence your children’s future so that, no matter the state of the economy, they can be prosperous and escape the burden of worrying about money.

Speaker and author Tom Maxwell says,

“Transformation must happen in the life of a leader before it can happen in the life of a company or nation.”

In order to do this, he says you need to “create a growth environment.”

Growth thrives in favorable surroundings. It follows that if you make your environment conducive to learning about success, marketing and business, you can help transform the life of your child so they will be ready to lead their own company. Here are four ways you can create a growth environment:

Get them in the habit of reading.  In his blog post READ THIS If You Want More For Your Life, Dan Kennedy discusses books to transform your life and how a common exchange among the uber-successful is to discuss what they are reading. He says, “Earnest acquisition of electric knowledge is the “secret” of the successful. Not having time for it is a choice of the poor” (if you missed this article you can read it here.)

Brittany Lynch credits a lot of her success to reading what turned out NOT to be “junk mail” from Dan Kennedy.  Give your No B.S. Newsletters and No B.S. books to your kids to read and discuss them at dinner. You might even see what ideas your kids have for your business after reading them and reward them if they come up with an idea you use. (If you aren’t currently receiving the No B.S. Newsletters, you can sign up to receive them along with your free gift of $633.91 worth of money making information here.)

Can’t get them to read the material? Author John Maxwell says that when he was growing up his parents paid him to read books off a list instead of paying him to do chores.

Give them space to think. Dan says you should give yourself time to think. And you should give your kids time to think too. Between school, studying, social networking, sports, music and other activities, kids are tightly scheduled. Give your kids space and make sure they have free time to devote to doing kid things and an atmosphere that will inspire and promote kid creativity and self-discovery.

Make discussing business at the dinner table the norm. Much-discussed sister act of the corporate world, are Denise M. Morrison, CEO of Campbell Soup, and her sister, Frontier CEO Maggie Wilderotter. They are the first sisters to make Fortune‘s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business. They are also only two of the family’s super-achievers as they have two other sisters who have also risen to the top in business, one as a regional vice president for a tech company and the other a former senior vice president of sales at AT & T. They credit their parents for their confidence and business savvy.

Wilderotter says it was normal for them to discuss business, set high standards and great goals at the dinner table. She never thought it was boring or out of the ordinary because that was all they knew.

They learned about profit-margin goals, marketing plans and customer sampling. They learned to work hard, be independent and not give up.

Have them write business plans for what they want. Wilderotter and Morrison talk about how they picked jobs out of a jar every Saturday.  In order for them to receive an allowance, they had to complete the tasks they drew out of the jar.  They could also barter to do a different job.  Wilderotter also says, “We did business plans on anything we wanted. Like getting our ears pierced.”  The sisters had to wear screw back earrings for a year to prove to their dad that it wasn’t a fad. In their plan they also showed that getting their ears pierced wasn’t a big alteration to their appearance and that they could save money by taking advantage of a two for one special to get their ears pierced and share earrings.

The sisters say the attention to detail, being thorough, and being innovative at a young age helped them with future business plans.

Help your kids unlock their greatness by creating an environment that helps them develop and grow into the most successful people they can be. When you do, you’ll help ensure their successful and profitable future, no matter what the leaders of today do to affect the economy.

NOTE:  One more way to create an environment conducive to growth?  “The challenge”, Wilderotter says, is for girls and young women to find the people and networks that will support their aspirations.”

Why not celebrate the 20th anniversary of the “Take our daughters and sons to work” program by bringing your daughters to a place where they can tap into a network of some of the most successful women (and men) on the planet?

Imagine how inspiring that would be and what an opportunity you would give her—an opportunity that could truly transform her life. Not to mention getting the chance to expose her to Dan Kennedy live for the first time.

Whether you are a father bringing your daughter or a mother bringing your daughter, this is a great opportunity to bond with her in a new way and give her tools to make her future better and brighter. Best of all you can register for FREE and bring a guest for a low fee. But you’ll have to hurry, the GKIC Women’s Next Level Business Summit, which takes place February 8-10th   only has 49 spots left. Click here for more information or to register now.

For Ladies Only? You Can’t Be Serious…

By: Dan Kennedy on: January 15th, 2013 5 Comments

Over the years I’ve become known as “the professor of harsh reality.”

I was dubbed this because I was the only one in a chorus of yes-men who would ever point out the flaws in a proposed idea.

Not everyone always likes to hear about flaws. In fact, I learned early in life that most people prefer delusion to reality. Dislodging people from their delusions often winds up making you the brunt of their anger—the “shoot the messenger syndrome.”

However, you and I need to relentlessly seek out reality in our own businesses and our own lives, even when unpleasant or uncomfortable as real success is based on truth.

I suppose that sounds elementary, but in actuality,  people  often avoid hearing unpleasant truths.

Next month I’ll be speaking at GKIC’s Women Entrepreneur’s Next Level Summit where I’ll be delivering some straight facts. I’ve decided to toss caution and tact aside and deliver a very ungentle collection of reality and advice that comes from my experience and dealings with the most successful women entrepreneurs, thought leaders and celebrities I’ve worked with over 38 years—and there have been many.

Last year we began this event which is exclusively for women entrepreneurs leading or engaged as partners in business, not as an exercise in segregation, but as what Walt Disney called a “plus-ing.” A plus-ing is an additional opportunity for exploration of shared interests, exchange of knowledge, networking and inspiration. To simplify: more knowledge is better than less knowledge.

I’ve heard from some of what I –affectionately and respectfully—call the “women with balls” in GKIC that they were not happy about this event. They wanted to know why they were being singled out. They felt they were being asked to sit at the kids table. Admittedly I can see their point. A lot of what I see merchandised to women in business by women coaches and gurus doesn’t have much substance.

But I don’t see this event that way…

To me, it’s another means of expanding and providing additional opportunity to a group with special interests—similar to what we’ve done with Info-SUMMITs just for info-marketers.  Or what we’ve done within our mastermind groups like Lee Milteer’s Peak Performers/Implementation Coaching Group, or our Platinum and Titanium groups.

Members helping members, encouraging, networking, entering joint ventures and creating another productive community within GKIC.

It’s also been my experience over 30 years that women do have a different mindset about business than men.

After working with both women-owned and men-owned businesses, some of the broad observations I’ve made between men and women are as follows.  You will find some of these observations truer than others because everyone is unique. And you may find that you don’t want to hear some of them.

I’ve noticed that men tend to be more short-term, immediate outcome, and any-means-to-an-end thinkers, while women entrepreneurs are interested in a more complex collection of issues.

Both are double-sided coins. For instance, men tend to be less concerned than they should be with how customers or clients feel after a sale is made, and with sustaining relationships over time. Women tend to be overly concerned with how customers feel, which can foster timidity and inhibition.

Overall, I think men are less wealth-inhibited, but women are smarter about money, or at least inherently capable of being smarter about money – and there is factual evidence to support the latter conclusion, from long-term studies of male and female investors.

Women, statistically, are paid less than men inside hierarchies, but also tend to price lower than men, charge lower fees than men, and avoid negotiation and confrontation more than men – although that has not always been my experience—Joan Rivers, comes to mind.

I don’t see anything wrong with airing these matters, facts from research about them, opinions that may or may not be accurate, considering and discussing the differences.

Ultimately, I don’t believe there’s anything I would advise or say to a man in business I wouldn’t to a woman in that same or similar business, but there is advice I would give the woman that I wouldn’t give the man.

There is different conditioning, and there is bias. To deny either is, I think, delusional. To deny it in the interest of political correctness or to avoid risking offending women is, I think, counter-productive.

Exploring reality like this isn’t for everyone. But it can be useful to entrepreneurs who are will to open up to find out what may be holding YOU back…What is getting in YOUR way, what conditioning or belief is getting in YOUR way, what conditioning or belief systems or barriers do YOU have, what business, marketing or selling strategies might best fit YOU?

I invite you to be relentless in your pursuit to seek out reality in your own business and life…and be willing to develop the habits of being brutally honest with yourself and insisting that others you rely on give it to you straight.

NOTE: I’ll be presenting at the GKIC’s Women Entrepreneur’s Next Level Summit on February 8-10 along with some brilliant and savvy entrepreneurs and marketers. I’ll talk about some of the ways that women get in their own way. Some of these are universal, shared by men. But men also have certain self-sabotage attitudes and behaviors that are uniquely theirs. Women have a Dolce & Gabbana bag full that are uniquely theirs too. There are some strategies and tactics worth borrowing from men. There are some very male ideas that should be avoided as if explosive toxic waste.

I think you’ll find my thoughts about this provocative and it may just liberate you from a lot of limiting B.S., and empower you to achieve faster and with less struggle than you ever imagined. I hope I’ll see you there. [www.gkicwomen.com]