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MLM Woman Issue 78 July 2003 This FREE monthly newsletter is made possible by our advertisers and customers. We thank them for their support! From the Desk of the Editor Welcome to the 78th issue of the MLM Woman Newsletter. This month we feature articles on creating a personal trademark that will help you and your business stand out, how leverage works in the networking business, how to keep your marketing efforts fresh and a step ahead of your competition and how to avoid information overload on the Internet. Enjoy! Linda Locke, Editor MLM Woman Your Personal Trademark by Marcia Yudkin For novelist Tom Wolfe, it's a dazzling white suit, regardless of the weather or season. For comedian George Burns, it was a cigar. For basketball bad-boy Dennis Rodman, it's crazy hair. For software developer Jackie Grubb, it's the color purple. "It": a personal trademark that anchors your identity in the minds of your market. "One day after I started my business a client introduced me by name and 'She is our computer consultant and her color is purple,'" says Grubb. "Soon afterwards, at business meetings, people began to chide me if I wasn't wearing purple. "Since people were already associating me with the color, I renamed my business Plum Suite Solutions and commissioned a logo with a plum shape and color. Items in my wardrobe that were other colors had a session with purple dye so that my personal appearance and all my paper materials tie together." Becoming memorable cuts the number of times people need to meet you before you become ensconced in their mental filing cabinet, and it increases the vividness of their recall. Your trademark needn't be visual. It can be a particular combination of words that functions as a slogan. Reporter Tim Russert has trained his NBC compatriots -- and undoubtedly his TV audience -- to complete the trademark sentence for his show, "Remember, if it's Sunday... it's 'Meet the Press.'" Other auditory trademarks might involve a particular kind of word, a tone of voice or a manner of speaking. During the last World Cup soccer championship, I loved hearing the way the Spanish sportscasters announced a goal, even though my Spanish comprehension is pretty terrible. A motivational speaker I once ran across called himself "Tom Terrific" and told audiences that if anyone asked how he was and he didn't say, "Terrific!" he'd hand over $100. For someone who spoke on having a positive attitude, this verbal trademark made perfect sense. (He claimed that he'd had to pay up only a few times in many years.) A kinesthetic personal trademark would stamp your identity in memory through a behavior or a gesture. I'm told that business guru Tom Peters is known for never standing still while on a speaking platform. Conductor Leonard Bernstein worked his way into the American consciousness through the vigor of his conducting and having to keep tossing his mane of hair out of his eyes. I understand he also carried a sharpened baton with him that he used to spear food instead of using a fork when eating in restaurants. Don't take this identity-building tool to such an extreme that it undermines your credibility or sets you off as bizarre. For instance, in the business world and in politics, people take handshaking seriously. Developing an idiosyncratic physical greeting or abstaining from handshakes, as real estate mogul turned Presidential candidate Donald Trump did for supposed hygienic reasons, can mark you as eccentric in a bad sense. Otherwise, creating a personal trademark is smart, cost-effective marketing! About the Author Marcia Yudkin marcia@yudkin.com is the author of the classic guide to comprehensive PR, "6 Steps to Free Publicity," now for sale in an updated edition at Amazon.com and in bookstores everywhere. She also spills the secrets on advanced tactics for today's publicity seekers in "Powerful, Painless Online Publicity," available from www.yudkin.com/powerpr.htm "GOT Leverage"? Copyright © 2003 by Sue Seward. All Rights Reserved. What is this thing called 'Leverage' anyway? You know when I started in this profession way back when, I didn't have much 'Leverage' to speak of. Geez, I didn't even know what that word meant. No one really even talked about it much. All they talked about was all this 'boo coos' of money you could make in MLM. You want to know the truth? It's taken me years to figure out what 'Leverage' really is and most importantly, to actually experience what it is! Experiencing it is the icing on the cake...the cat's meow, the ultimate sign of success! To teach it to others and see it happening for them too is even more rewarding than could ever be imagined! Everyone spends so much time talking about money and how much they're gonna make and unfortunately, people just don't take the time to really understand what this 'Leverage' really means and more importantly how everyone else can actually get it, too! Because really when you think about it, that's what leverage is supposed to be all about, 'everyone' getting it into their lives right? Here's what happens when you leverage yourself... You go away on a vacation to a beautiful island with crystal clear blue water and white sand, enjoying your family and friends for six days with no phones, no emails, no cell phones, no business whatsoever and when you come back... You have all these new business partners on your team... TEAM! Yes, I said TEAM! Now that's more like it! It's the TEAM that makes the 'LEVERAGE' possible! Without a TEAM you're working by yourself....you're doing ALL the work....just like you would be if you were self-employed right? If you've read any of Robert Kiosyaki's books you'll remember the 'E quadrant' , (employee), the 'S quadrant' , (Self Employed), and the 'I quadrant' (Investor)... When you're in the 'S quadrant', yes, you are a business owner right? But you're usually doing all the business yourself or you have employees you must supervise, right? You can't just go away from it and leave it. If you shut the door of your store or your service what happens? No business...no income...NO 'LEVERAGE', huh? BUT... when you put together a TEAM of like-minded business people all with the same goal of getting leverage into their lives, something wonderful starts to happen...the team starts to duplicate... It starts to take on a life of it's own...everyone knows what to do because the team member that you showed how, then showed them HOW, it is then passed down to the next team member... and so on an so forth...as the TEAM grows together! Then when you decide to take your family on a much needed vacation to wherever... Your team keeps on duplicating while you are away...you're leveraging your time even while you're away having a fun relaxing time with your family! And we've all heard that saying..."time is money" right? <smile> So the big question is...HOW do you get a team like this and will it happen for me really really quickly? Well, it certainly won't happen overnight, but it could happen much sooner than later if you find the right team of people that know all about 'LEVERAGE' and how to get it! That means finding EXPERIENCE. Now does that mean finding the BIG dawg networker that makes the most money? I bet you think the answer is yes... and that's very understandable because that's what most people think... On the contrary ...the answer is no. Most of these very successful big dawg networkers just don't have much time to spend with the little guys and gals...that's just the truth of the matter. They'll most likely plug you into the company training. Look for people that know what LEVERAGE is...they've experienced it themselves, they know HOW to get it and they are willing to TEACH you how to get it too! You must be coachable of course and willing to follow a duplicatable system. Sometimes that means letting go of control... and thinking you have to re-invent the wheel...and do it all by yourself... Doing it all by yourself ain't gonna get you any LEVERAGE my friends. Hey, my grandma always used to say... "if it ain't broke don't fix it"! Most grandma's are pretty wise too aren't they? I bet if you had a few grandma's on your team you'd be gettin some pretty darn good leverage! It's important to be patient, consistent, motivated, determined, willing to learn and grow and most of all be a TEAM player...to get this wonderful thing called 'LEVERAGE'. About the Author Ms. Seward is an entrepreneur, wife and mom, and has been earning an income for over six years from home on the Internet. She is also a published writer, speaker, Internet Marketing trainer, and publishes a weekly Internet Marketing Business Resource newsletter. For a copy send a blank email to: 11910-2@inforeply.com You can find out more about Sue at www.WithTheClickOfAMouse.com Change Is Threatening Your Business Copyright 2003 By Bob Leduc You cannot grow a business today by simply repeating what you did successfully in the past ...or even recently. Clever competitors and new technology are producing changes that will reduce the effectiveness of your current marketing efforts. These 3 strategies enable you to overcome this threat - and continue to grow your business. 1. Keep Testing New Advertising Methods The first impact of change is often a shrinking return on your response from proven advertising methods ...followed by a decline in the sales they produce. Don't wait for this to happen before taking action. Continually test and evaluate the effectiveness of everything you use or do to promote your business. Test new marketing methods - and old ones you never tried before. Replace less effective marketing methods with the more effective ones you discover with your testing. Tip: Invest 80 percent of your advertising budget and effort in proven promotions and 20 percent in testing new variations. Most businesses using this system continue growing - even in highly competitive markets. 2. Keep Opening New Markets Never stop looking for new markets you can serve. Every new market you open increases your sales ...and helps insulate you from the impact of change. Changing market conditions or an aggressive competitor may cause your sales to drop in one market. But the impact will not be devastating if you have a variety of other markets producing results for you. Tip: One quick and easy way to find profitable new markets is to sub-divide your current market into several narrowly defined niche markets. Then customize your advertising so it offers specific solutions to the unique needs of prospects in each niche market. For example, the owner of a company selling sales leads to small businesses noticed that many of her clients were network marketers or real estate agents. She created a customized web site for each of these 2 niche markets. The two sites looked similar. But their content was different. A visitor to either site could assume the lead service applied exclusively to their industry. She claims her sales increased by almost 20 percent when she targeted these 2 niche markets. 3. Keep Adding New Products And Services A decline in the sales of one product can devastate your business if you only offer one or two products. But it will not have much impact on you if you are still getting sales for a selection of other products. Keep increasing the number of products and services you offer to customers. These additional products and services should be closely related to those you already sell. For example, if you sell health products, find additional health products or services you can offer. If you offer residential lawn care, look for a way to offer additional services that help homeowners maintain their property. Clever competitors and new technology cause constantly changing marketing conditions that will reduce the effectiveness of your current marketing efforts. Use these 3 strategies to overcome this threat - and continue growing your business. About the Author Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses just like yours find new customers and increase sales. He just released a New Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards and several other publications to help small businesses grow and prosper. For more information: Email: BobLeduc@aol.com Subject: "Postcards" Phone: 702-658-1707 after 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV Are You Suffering from Information Overload? © 2003 Terri Seymour I have had several emails lately with people asking what to do about Information Overload. They spend all their time downloading free ebooks, subscribing and then deleting ezines, visiting websites and so on. Well, let me tell you, I think we all go through that when we first come online. I know I had about 100 ebooks on my desktop along with reports, ecourses, and anything else that was offered for free. I had also subscribed to just about every ezine I could find and didn't have time to read any of them. I finally realized that I was never going to read the ebooks, or all the ezines or any of the other freebies I had so carefully saved and foldered on my desktop. So what I did was come to the point where I got rid of all but one or two of the ebooks, unsubbed from most of the ezines and got rid of all the reports, etc. What you need to do is focus and get in control by cleaning out the clutter. Concentrate on you and your business and stay focused and in control. You DO NOT need every ebook/program/report that comes down the pike to learn how to build an online business! 1. Go through all the ebooks and just throw them in the recycle bin. You will never be able to read or use all of them. If you happen to find a free ebook that actually has useful and helpful info, then by all means hang onto it and read it when you can. 2. Next go through all the ezines you are subbed to. Pick out a few that you really enjoy and actually find useful information and resources in. 3. Reports, ecourses, and such are generally nothing but lead-ins for you to buy their product. There are, of course, some good ones out there, but get rid of the sales pitches. 4. Try not to go through every website on the net. Find a few that really are useful and that have a webmaster who actually responds to your questions and earns your trust. 5. Find a few good discussion groups and message boards and learn from others who have been through the same thing. This is a good way to start networking and making new contacts. Here are a few to get you started: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WomansNetworkingCommunity http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hbj_chat http://www.ebusinesshelpsite.com/wwwboard/index.htm 6. Talk to some more experienced online business owners and stick with the ones who actually show an interest in you and your questions and do their best to help you. 7. Don't think you have to order every ebook, ecourse, program, etc from all the self-proclaimed Gurus out there. Most of the "Secret of Success" type products are nothing but a lot of well disguised hype. I have talked to some people who have purchased just about every "make money fast" product out there and have done nothing but "spend money fast". I have been online for several years and have found that most free information is really nothing more than a big sales pitch. You will find that the best way to learn online is by doing and learning through your experiences and yes, mistakes. Don't get me wrong. There are plenty of very helpful and dependable people out there that produce quality ezines, ebooks and programs. I know plenty of them. The trick is to learn to sift through all the "crap" to get to the Gold! And you will. How do I know, you say? I know because I did plenty of sifting and learning through experience and by getting help from some very wonderful folks out there and you will too. ;-) About the Author Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com Learn to publish and promote your own ezine. subscribe@myownezine.com Sign-up for the FREE MOE Ezine Publishing Ecourse moe-mini-course@getresponse.com You can contact Terri at ter02@newnorth.net Back to the MLM Woman Newsletter Index We want your feedback! Send e-mail comments to Linda at: regent@west.net Copyright 2003, Regent Press