October 23rd 2008
You start a business to find fulfilment and greater peace of mind.
It gives you the freedom to become wealthy and famous.
Why would you want to start a business, what would fulfil you? Are you being forced to do it? Have you been fired or don’t you enjoy your job? What would make you happy, what would give you peace of mind? Some of the following may be applicable to you: Continue Reading »
August 22nd 2008
The biggest mistake of all is believing you can do anything.
Success in business doesn’t just show up on the bottom line of the profit-and-loss column; it also goes to the top. Success in business inflates the egos of top management.
Supremely successful companies believe they can do anything. They can launch any product into any market. They can make any merger work. It’s just a question of having the willpower and the resources to throw into the task. “What is it that we want to do?” is the question that management usually asks itself. Continue Reading »
July 13th 2008
One of the unique characteristics of doing business online is the ability it gives you to measure and track the success of your marketing programs. Yet success, as we have seen, can be difficult to define. At the center is the continuous-feedback loop of tracking, measuring, seeking insight, and informing the program— a process based on both science and art. Science because we apply analytic techniques to the huge amounts of data and information in order to structure it and understand our customers‘ responses and behaviors. Art because lasting program success also depends on creative, out-of-the-box program design and interpretation inspired by the insight that we gather from the data. Continue Reading »
June 7th 2008
“We’re alive, partner!” This exclamation is the theme of a movie called One Good Cop. It was Michael Keaton’s victory cry each time he and one of his partners would narrowly avoid death or worse. During the next three to five years, maybe even longer, you may want to keep that phrase in mind as your business experiences itsown close calls.
Keaton’s character had the right attitude. Every time he was knocked down, he got up and kept going. Your attitude will have more to do with your ultimate success than any other single thing. I believe you should develop the following attitudes. Continue Reading »
June 5th 2008
To the uninitiated, business looks pretty easy. Maybe that’s why so many try it. Those who have taken the leap know that there is much more to this game than a good idea and some seed money. Henry Ford bankrupted two car companies before his third effort clicked. He is far from alone.
Fortunately, through this and others like it, you can improve your chances for success. What follows are six very specific ingredients. I believe that if you keep these six elements at the forefront of your thinking, you will succeed. Prior to listing the six ingredients to business success, though, allow me to define the “success” that I’m referring to. Continue Reading »
March 11th 2008
The first use of network marketing is generally credited to Nutrilite, a direct sales company in the United States selling food supplementation products which, in 1943, instituted a marketing and compensation programme that encouraged each of its sales people to build up an independent team which sold and distributed products.
In terms of this programme, the original sales person not only earned a commission on every product she sold, but Nutrilite also gave the sales person a two per cent bonus commission on the sales of every new distributor (sales person) she had introduced. Therefore, the more distributors the sales person introduced, the more money she made.
From this early beginning, the growth of network marketing (sometimes called multi-level marketing or MLM) has been explosive. In 1959 two sales people in the Nutrilite stable, Richard de Vos and Jay van Andel, split with their parent company to form Amway, now the largest network marketing company in the world. They focused on household cleaning products. Another exNutrilite distributor, Dr Forrest C. Shaklee, formed Shaklee which was also a tremendous success in the food supplementation business. Continue Reading »
March 5th 2008
As with the birth of a child, the first few months are extremely important to a new business. To ensure your business is a thundering success, you need to work at it in a disciplined way. And you need results early on to keep you motivated.
A number of different ’starter’ programmes of various lengths are suggested by network marketing companies. The programme below covers the first four weeks only. In each week we suggest that you do 10 things. Of course you can do more, but don’t do less!
What follows is just a guide to the sort of things you should map out for yourself. The key ingredients have already been mentioned but are so important that they are repeated here. They are:
March 1st 2008
Once in a while do something really different. Have a weekend seminar for your top distributors. At the weekend — which should be fun as well as work — discuss strategies to find business, ways of improving your network, sort out any problems and propose recommendations to your supplying company for new products.
Everyone wants to be part of a success story. If you have a distributor who is doing well in your downline, publicise that fact. Introduce new recruits to him or her. If a new distributor meets a successful distributor he or she can say: ‘Wow! Look at Joe. He has 300 distributors in his down- line.’ The new recruit realises that success is possible. Continue Reading »
March 1st 2008
Especially in the beginning, the new distributor needs motivation. So you need to ensure, wherever possible, that the new distributor has an initial early success, no matter how small. The big train of network marketing takes some time to pick up speed. Progress may seem slow at first. And it is this lack of forward movement — of progress — that will discourage many networkers. As a result, they lose interest.
If a networker does lose interest, there is little you can do unless she asks for help. Network marketing is not for everyone. It is far more productive to spend your time with the enthusiasts than to use that time trying to convert someone who has lost interest. Continue Reading »
February 24th 2008
Every Company is driven by an underlying philosophy and logic. These may never have been articulated by the founders, either verbally or in writing. But they are there, whether the owners and employees realize it. The philosophy and logic may be expressed in your efforts to decentralize decision making in the company. They may be expressed in your decision to finance the company entirely from earnings rather than seek outside money. The section on the company is where you spell out your company’s philosophy and logic—its reason for being, its identity. This section of the business plan should cover four principal issues:
