-Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.- Mark Twain

During the course of your business career you may build a team or many teams to help you to achieve your goals, but you will always be a solo performer. To alter that quote from the Godfather, it is personal and it is strictly business. You must look at your business as being all about you. Your drive, your dream, your determination to achieve you goals against what real does amount to the entire world. It may not be that way, but you have to look at it that way.

Running a business is a choice. This choice is made by a single person.
The type of business that it is was a choice made in the end by one person. Yes you may had asked others for input. you may have done a great deal of market research before coming to a decision, but in the end your business was a solo creation.
How you run your online business is also a series of day to day and moment by moment choices. Once you accept that it, for better or worst like a marriage, will always come down to your commitment to the business and the course that you have charted for it you will be well on your way be being a success business person.
Enjoy this time in your life. Going from building a business to having a successful one is where most of the fun occurs. Do not focus on the destination, focus on the good times that happen along the way. That is part of the reason why you wanted to be your own boss. Why you started your own online business.

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The Passion That Drives Your Business

“Nothing is as important as passion. No matter what you want to do with your life, be passionate.” -Jon Bon Jovi

Businesses are the world’s most hidden love stories. The ones that endure over the long term are those businesses, whether online or brick and mortal, that are the great loves of the owner’s lives.

How often has it been said that you are married to that business or that business is your baby?

This is why businesses fail for the same reason that marriages fail. They fail because the ones involved are just going through the motions. They are phoning it in rather than committing to doing their very best each and every day. This is the case of once you have him or her you start to take them for granted. They or in this case your business will always be there, but just like in any other type of relationship it is a thing that evolves over time. You have to adjust day by day. Adding new elements and removing those that hinder growth.

For the last few months I have taken my online business for granted. The websites like this one I have hardly touched. I allowed them to run on autopilot. That was part of the original design and I am proud to say that they were able to survive on their own and send money home each week, but they have not grown. Like any other relationship only with care and attention can growth continue.

Today I would like for you to take a few minutes to look at your business. Try to be honest with yourself. Answer the hard question and accept the answers that come back. Are you and your business in a thriving loving relationship or is the relationship on the rocks?

Your job as a business person begins and ends with the word competition.

You are competing with every other business in your chosen field. Sitting around and waiting for things to happen is the worst thing that you can do. You must always be engaged and proactive. Picture yourself in a row boat on a raging river. Would you sit back and trust the currents to take you where ever they were racing toward or would you hold fast to the oars and row with all that you had in you every time that you sensed trouble?

Have you been sitting back and hoping that things would come your way?

Have you been trusting to luck?

I got news for you. There is no such thing as luck. You make your own luck. The businesses that thrive do not do this because they are luckier than the rest. They thrive because they are run by men and women who constantly adjust and adapt to whatever situation that the new day presents.

You are going to have to learn how to out hustle the competition. To grow your business you are going to have to do try new things and be willing to fail. We grow and change by constantly trying new ways to approach the problems that confront us each and every day.

What I want you to do today is to examine your business. Figure out what you are doing well and what you could do better. Come up with a plan to correct your weakest areas and move as quickly as possible to make those corrections.
Does this sound hard?
Easy or difficult does not matter because in the end we do what we must do to not only survive, but to thrive. Good luck with your online business and take a moment to like this post on stumbleupon.

Today will be a quick talk about ebay.

Most, if not all of us, began life as an online seller at Amazon or Ebay. I learned a great deal there and I have to admit that if not for their business practices I might not have ever grown as an online business person. I might have stayed there, happily selling. Believing that I was actually in business for myself rather than being nothing more than an employee of the company.

So many of us who have moved on to build our own online businesses have done so because of ebay suspensions or restrictions. I wish I knew what I know known when I started. I am going to offer you guys a few pieces of advice and it your take this advance then you will be prepared for the day that ebay or Amazon changes the rules and you become a victim of these changes.

First thing that you need to do is learn to keep proper records. Keep the names addresses and emails of every single customer who purchases from you. This is list building.

Secondly you need to build yourself a website. A website that mirrors Amazon or Ebay. A website that features all the items or services that you have to offer. This website is your actual business and your job from that point on is to feed it new customers and to do everything possible to retain the existing customers.

The third thing that you must do is to grow your business through adding new products and services to your business. The best way to do this is to visit sites like liquidation.com, government auction.org and varies wholesale overseas sites such as lightinthebox.com.

Thank you for visiting this site. Please take a moment to like it on stumbleupon and to share this post with a friend.

People First, Good For Business

-“In business, sir, one has no friends, only correspondents. ” – Alexandre Dumas

People are the single most important factory in whether your business thrives or fails. If you are running your business all by yourself then the state of it is all down to you.

Understand that these people, whether they are customers or employees, are not your friends. Take it a step further. If you are the only employee you cannot afford to be friends with you during business hours. Be harder on yourself than you ever would on someone who you are writing a check to each week. People are your problem and the solution to that problem. Understanding people and the rolls that they are to play in your business is part one of building a great business.

Becoming a people person is good for business. Understanding the part that people play in your business is great for business.

How do you become a people person? Two things you must do. Tell the truth. Expect the truth. Always tell your customers and your employees the truth. Truth builds trust and trust builds loyalty. Loyalty both from those who work for you and those who do business with you. Expecting the truth is the first step to always receiving the truth. Once people understand that truth is the number one currency in your existence they will begin to deal in it. If they see your business, your products or services as valuable they will have no real choice. Consider people and their importance to you and your business both in the short term and the long term.

That will be it for today. Please take a moment to bookmark this post and to add me to your google plus.

Online Business Is A Marathon

If you are familiar with marathons then you know that no one has ever gotten out of bed one morning decided that they were going to be a marathon runner and a day later they are not only running in one, but completing it.

Twenty six miles.

Think about that.

It takes months if not years to build your body up to the point where you can run one of these events from start to finish.

Running a successful business is no different. You have to build your endurance levels. When learning to run you expect that pain and set backs will be part of the territory. Why would it be any different for those of you who wish to run a business?

The day will come, after weeks or even months, when you are running your business smoothly. You are now one amongst many racing toward the finish line. You are a member of the pack and you will finish the races sooner or later. Winning it is of course something that you have never taken seriously. People from all over the world are competing with you. How could you ever hope to beat them.

You can, because you must.

Winning is why races are run. You are here now because you want to improve. You want a bit of inspiration. You want to hear that the finish line is the property of no one. The trophy does not have a name on it before the race is won.

Your online business can be the biggest and the best on earth. The size of your business and the impact that it will have on your life is up to you. The winner of this race is largely a choice that you will make with the decisions you make and the daily effort that you are willing to put forth.

Good luck and please take a moment to share this post and to check out my new ebook. You will find an image link below.

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Business, Changing Your ways

Business, Changing Your Ways

-You can’t do today’s job with yesterday’s methods and be in business tomorrow.-

We must change and constantly alter the way that we do business to stay ahead of the competition. While always being aware that the competition is not just those who we are aware of, but those who are just starting out. They have probably looked at business such as yours and have entered the marketplace with new ideas and a willingness to exploit all the new business technologies that are available.

The problem with running a business that has been around for a while is that the greatest obstacle to change is success. If you have enjoyed a little success then you will be the one most reluctant to change.

I understand, why change something that is working for something that may or may not work better? Why employ the use of new marketing tools?

The answer to this is obvious. They work. Marketing techniques like social marketing and email marketing work. Email marketing returns over twenty-five to one on every dollar invested. Social marketing is a fantastic way of growing your business and building a brand name. Getting to know a customer on a one to one basis can really help your business over the long-term. When you really know a customer and stay in constant contact with a customer they become yours. Your customer, a customer who will advertise your business by telling others about your business. Telling about the qualities of your goods and services.

If this is not happening with your business then you need to make some changes. Go back to the beginning. Look at the business that you wanted to run and then examine how close you have come to building that business. What changed? Where did your go off course and why?

What good choices did you make and what wrong turns did you take?

Business, where it is brick and mortar or an online business, is about growth and change. Look at your business as a living thing and if a living thing is not constantly growing and changing then it is dying.

Business Success, The Measure

“I never fail. It’s just that the people around me succeed more than I.” – Carroll Bryant

You only have to live up to your standards of success. Others will spend time comparing you and your business to those around you, but this does not mean that you have to. Yes you are competing with other businesses, but you do not have to measure up to their standards. This is your business. You started it for a reason. You had a goal in mind for how much you wanted it to grow and how quickly. You had financial goals. You had targets in the area of sales and traffic. Your online business is your baby and no one else should be allowed to dictate how you are going to raise this baby.

I am not telling you to have no standards. I am telling you to have your own standards. I was once in a relationship with someone who constantly compared my progress as a businessman to others. I was pleased with my slow, but steady progress. My business was growing at the rate that I had expected. There were good days and bad days. I had expected this, but they had not. They had expected my business to be booming. For it to be a finish product in a matter of a few weeks when I knew when I started my online business was going to take more than a year to reach the level that I had envisioned. That relationship ended because of expectations. The good news is that I was right and now am very pleased with the level at which my online business has reached.

Do not allow others or the world at large to put undo pressure on you. Business is difficult enough without the added voices constantly whispering you are not moving fast enough. You are not making enough money. Block out these voices and keep moving forward. No matter what you have to keep your eye on your prize and not theirs.

Good luck with your business and please take a moment to share this post with others. I have a traffic goal for this month and I can not reach it without you guys telling others about my site.

Advertise To Existing Customers First

-“Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise” – Ted Turner

Who knows about your business?

Are you getting the word out?

Do the right people know that you exist?

The right people meaning those who could be potential customers. Unless you are independently wealthy your business will not be able to exist long without them. Sure there are those customers who find you and the best thing that you can do is to treat them so well that they will tell others about your business and how it was to deal with. In other words the best way to advertise your business is to get others to do it for you.

This site is a business and the best way to grow it is to have you as a visitor to share my post and to tell others about this site. Then have that process repeat itself until this site is getting a flood of visitors. Those visitors sign up for the services that I promote or click on the google ads at google displays here and in my idea world I am a millionaire in no time. It sounds too easy, but it has actually worked that way for some who have started information based websites. What every your online business is you need to first do a great job at it so that your customers will advertise it.

Next you must advertise to these customers. I know that it seems strange to advertise to people who have already purchased something from you. Just look at it this way, imagine that you are running a restaurant instead the online business. The best customer for any restaurant is someone who has already eaten there. They know the quality of the food, drink and service provided. This customer will welcome hearing about something new that their favorite restaurant has to offer. A new menu item or a great upcoming sale.

The same holds true for your online business. Advertise to the existing customer first. Tell them about something new that your online business has to offer. Go out there and make them a returning customer through deals and email marketing.

Then after you have perfected this you will go out and get more customers through things such as social marketing. In the new world of online business social marketing is a great way to introduce yourself to new customers.
I know that you have a number of questions about what I have suggested. The most important one is why should you do this.

The answer is the only one that matters in the world of business whether it is brick and mortar or online business. You will do this things because you want to make more money. Because money matters. We want to grow our online businesses because we want to increase our cash flow. The only reason to increase our work load is to increase our bottom line.

I encourage you to do what it takes to generate more money. It is not being greedy and even if it was I believe that a great man named Gordon said that Greed is good. Let them call you greedy as long as they end that sentence with millionaire.

Let’s advertise and grow that customer base. Okay, could you take a moment to stumble us on Stumbleupon and to share this post with a friend.

Business, Chance and Choices

Your Business, Chance and Choices

-There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.-John F. Kennedy

You will always find yourself faced with the simple fact that to move forward you must adapt and change. Take a few moments and list all the great and wonderful things that have happened during your life time from sitting around and waiting for things to happens.

It this a short list or a non-existent one?

Most, if not all great movements during your life time have happened do to the fact that you made bold moves. You took grand chances. What I recommend for you is that you find a risk worth taking and go for it. There will be a thousand possible moves that will come up during the life of your business. Should you go it alone? Should you hire help? Should you market in a different way? Should you reinvent your business? Should you stick with that supplier? Should you go out and find new suppliers? Should you try new things to expand your business or stand still?

So many questions will come up. Some many great opportunities will be presented to you. I cannot tell you what to do. No one can tell you what to do. You will have to make your own choices and yes each choice will be a chance that can represent success and or failure. That is the funny part about life. Nothing we do that is worth doing comes with a promises of success. Politicians promise you that if you vote for them they will make everything all right and of course the other guy will make everything all wrong. They are professional liars. I am just a professional business man and the only promise that I can make you is that if you do not take chances with your online business then you will not grow it. It will never become that business that supports your life style, that supports you family and allows you to live a better a richer life.

This is the part where I am supposed to ask you to go out a buy my book and or sign up for my course. I have a book, but I am not here to sell it. I will only suggest that you review all the good ideas that you have been sitting on. Find the one that is the lowest risk and try it. If it involves free trials and the chance to opt out all the better. Just try something new and take the time to pat yourself on the back for how far you have come.
Sometimes we forget to be thankful for the small improvements that we have made along the way. Be thankful for the small growth in our businesses.

Catch your breath. See a movie. Read a book. Spend time with a friend or a family member that you have not seen in a while. To quote Charles Dickens at this time of year “Mankind should be our business.”

Over the coming days, weeks, months and years you will make choices and even if you choose to do nothing you will be taking a chance. Be always aware of this and good luck with your business. Please take a moment to stumble us on stumbleupon and to add us to your google plus.

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BUSINESS IS STRICTLY PERSONAL