This is truly the age of the entrepreneur. (Part 1 of 2) Today there any number of businesses that can be launched with little or no capital. With high-speed Internet access available just about anywhere, more and more home and Internet businesses are springing up. We often hear about highly successful endeavors that spark our internal entrepreneurial spirit. But don’t be too anxious. Do you have skills indiginous to entrepreneurial endeavors. The first step is to make an assessment your skills to identify if you are truly an entrepreneur or better off being an employee!

Numerous studies have been conducted to show that there are crucial differences in the mindsets of entrepreneurs and employees and many claim to have identified a set of common traits and characteristics present in entrepreneurs. Others have focused entirely on characteristics found only in successful entrepreneurs, excluding those who have failed.

Regardless of success or failure, overall, there are common traits present that distinguish entrepreneurs in general from employees. In general these common traits are thought to predispose a person to taking on the challenge of launching their own business. Following are skills commonly accepted.

The Ability To Tell It Like It Is – Although very different in lifestyles, political and religious affiliations, and perspectives on life, those predisposed to entrepreneur-ism are very different in one particular area. Studies have consistently shown that these individuals are much more likely to possess strong opinions and and express those without hesitation. It is the ability that allows them to face challenges despite naysayers.

“I Need To Succeed!” – Channeling these feeling into something positive is a great asset. For instance, these individuals can use that strength to develop a healthy “Need for Achievement”. Psychologists use this term to represent motivation. This “Need for Achievement” is essential if you are to succeed. Starting a new business is always challenging and risky, but the “Need for Achievement” will get you past these initial obstacle and help you not obsess excessively. Instead you will be capable of visualizing ways to take advantage of the things you can control.

Creativity and Analytical Thinking Skills are imperative. All entrepreneurs need to recognize and take ownership of opportunities in their life. This requires creative thinking on your part. If you have very little experience, education or capital you won’t let these hinder you. You will see the possibilities. For instance, an individual will recognize and consider a variety of Internet-based or
Home-based business models. Or explore freelancing work or consulting services related to the profession they that possess experience in or that is related to a lifelong hobby.

Willingness To Take Responsibility is one of the most important skills. Entrepreneurs must be willing to face the fact that they must take responsibility for their life… not someone else. This means avoiding the “blame game” as if it were the plague.

All entrepreneurs need to possess Great Communications and Social Skills or emotional stability and the ability to communicate through verbal and written words. This is necessary if you are to thoroughly understand your clients or customers. You must be able to comfortably converse any variety of people since selling in any form requires little bit of psychology and a lot of personality. This goes hand-in-hand with developing and maintaining personal relationships through cooperation and tactfulness for great customer service.

Come back to see what Part 2 discusses, including  10 questions to evaluate your skills!

Until next time, J.

“Take control of your destiny or someone else will”

Last month in my newsletter I mentioned that spring is when I regroup, which includes looking at updating business plans and revising business models.  I also heard from some of my subscribers that are doing the same.  I heard from a few who want to start a new business of their own but are stuck on how to choose a good name.  If you fall in that category, here’s a couple of points to consider at this juncture:

• The name you choose should be meaningful
• Think of future placement and use
• Is the name you choose “protectable” and the domain available?
• Choose a name that has an optimistic feel to it
• Be thinking about your logo at the same time – does the company name lend itself to a graphic format?

This is just one small piece of starting a business of your own, but thinking of how you want to brand your company and/or yourself up front will minimize the backtracking, and costs associated with doing so.

Until next time, J.
“Take control of your destiny or someone else will”

Whether you have a brick and mortar business or do all of your business online – I bet you’re always looking for new and creative ways to generate leads.  Check out this video by Seth Stevenson.  He shows and explains how he tested a new lead generation method.

If you took the time to really focus on a target market, rather than doing a general ad like Seth did (of course it was just a test), you could be on to something really big!

Check it out and then leave a comment about what you thought about it…..

If every time you turn around there’s a new technology, a new sales tool, a new program ~ and you just don’t have time to take it all in and digest it ~ you don’t want to miss this!

Really ~ check out how to eliminate information overload once and for all by visiting:  EasyMarketingInfo.com

One of the industries best has outdone himself.  Save time and money by checking this out….you might find that time to play an extra round of golf, or go on a road trip!

Until next time, J.
“Take control of your destiny or someone else will”

So your new business is starting to take off and you are ready to tell the world about it!  You may already market your business with online avenues such as articles, blogs, social media, and even banners or pay per click.  But have you thought about the kind of exposure you can get with a well written press release?  Done properly you can increase exposure on multiple levels.  Not only could you gain a better search engine position providing your business with potentially more exposure, but provided your press release is a solid news story you can also secure media attention.

What’s entailed in writing a good press release?
Most of the sites you can distribute your releases to (I’ll provide the names of a few below) will have helpful tutorials to follow.  However, here are a few quick tips:

• Start with choosing a few good keywords specific to your business, personal name, and/or industry and build your press release around those
• Your release needs to be considered “newsworthy”.  You should try to answer the Big 5 – What, Why, Where, Who, and When
• The release needs to be written in the third person, as a journalist is reporting on the news event, and you can provide a quote or testimonial
• The release cannot be a disguised advertisement, if it even gets approved to post, it likely won’t be picked up by “the wires” and distributed
• Although this may seem obvious, the release must be truthful and not misleading.  It must also include accurate information such as an active phone number, and email account

Here are a few of the press release sites I like to use: Note – some are free, and some you must pay for their service

• www.webwire.com
• www.live-pr.com
• www.24-7pressrelease.com
• www.free-press-release.com
• www.prweb.com
• www.prlog.com
• www.1888pressrelease.com
• www.pressreleasepoint.com

Good luck ~
Until next time, J
“Take control of your destiny or someone else will”

This weeks ABC is Q for Questions (and Answers) ~ Where do you ask your questions when they come up?  Well, Yahoo! Answers has started gaining importance on the search results and a good way to implement organic SEO for a web site or keyword is to answer relevant questions on Yahoo! Answers. In fact, some businesses spend significant resources answering responses on the site as a way to connect to their customer. A peer review system of answers results in high quality output and encourages users to rely on Yahoo! Answers.

What are your thoughts about it?  Can you see this as a useful strategy for your business?

Come back again for more ABC’s of Online Marketing!

I was glad to read this post from Mark Hayward regarding the steep learning curve he had in becoming familiar with Twitter.  I experienced a slow start at the beginning too.  In his article Mark outlines the top 10 ways to drive traffic to your business blog, all from using Twitter. They are:

• Change the Default Logo
• Show Up
• Complete the Bio Profile
• Brand Your Small Business Twitter Background
• Social Proof Matters
• Be Sincere
• Use Twitter Search
• Collaborative Relationships
• Useful Links and Hash tags
• Power of the Picture

Mark was very thorough in his descriptions and posted examples as well.  It is definitely worth visiting www.ProBlogger.net to read the entire post!

Until next time, J.
“Take control of your destiny or someone else will”

One of the best blogs around that’s dedicated to Affiliate Marketing is written by Geno Prussakov.  He discusses a variety of issues related to affiliates, keeping them apprised of news and events in the industry, plus he has made some predictions for 2010.  The 6 predictions that Geno has made are in these categories:

• Social Media
• Mobile Marketing
• Transparency
• Conversion Rate Optimization
• Online Video
• Legislative Fights

To find out more detail of what trends he expects during the next year, visit: www.amnavigator.com

Until next time, J.
“Take control of your destiny or someone else will”

This is an older post by Brian Clark, but I just recently came across it and thought it explained 5 major points of Blogging quite well.  He addresses the business reasons to blog (not just the social ones) and hits these areas succinctly:

• The Law of Value
• The Law of Headlines and Hooks
• The Law of “How To”
• The Law of The List
• The Law of the Story

Take a look at the entire article here ~ www.CopyBlogger.com.  There is a plethora of other valuable information there as well! Enjoy…

Until next time, J.

“Take control of your destiny or someone else will”

Pay-Per-Click or PPC is the backbone for all paid-for advertising options and helps target specific audiences. You can buy advertising space from Google, Yahoo, and Bing, as well as other sites such as Leapfish.  Usually you post 3 line ads, that are very specific to your service or product you offer – the more interesting and relevant, the more click throughs and conversions you will experience.  PPC requires regular monitoring, high quality campaigns, a decent budget, as well as attention grabbing landing pages and a way to track effectiveness.

Come back next week for more ABC’s of Online Marketing!