Skills Are Cheap Passion is Priceless

I want to get very real with you and share my life’s story. I am going to take you on the journey from the very beginning of my childhood on up to the point of where I am today. The reason I am sharing the raw and honest details of my life is so that you can understand that success is not determined by your past.

Behind every successful person out there is a story filled with devastation, determination, pivotal moments and raw emotions. No matter who you are, where you’ve been, what you’ve done, it is your passion. Skills are cheap, anyone can learn how to do something, but it is your passion that is simply priceless.

Devastating Things Happened in My Life

In my book, Skills Are Cheap, Passion is Priceless, I show you snippets of the devastation and tragedy that I dealt with as a child. I talk about my drug addict father, my amazing mother, my caring grandparents, and the dad that raised me.

Later on in the book, I share about my struggle with bulimia and self-esteem. For many years, I allowed the way I looked to dictate every choice I made.

I’m not the only one that had devastating things happen in my life. Brian shares about the death of his father and how that put him on the path he took in life. He talks about the way his dad lived in his final years, made a lasting impact on him.

I’ve Always Been Determined

For me, I always had to be the best. I would never allow myself to be less than the best. So I put a lot of pressure on myself. Many people fall into this rut. They either stay in the bottom because they feel as though they can never achieve, so they don’t try. Or they are at the very top, and you can never go any lower, you have to work super hard to stay at the top all of the time because anything less would be like losing.

My Pivotal Moment

You might have heard my story of how the pivotal moment I experienced in my corporate job. The day I decided that I would never put my children in daycare. From that moment on, I knew my why. I made a vow never to put my child in daycare, all I have to do is look into her eyes and my commitment to the WHY is stronger than ever. What is your WHY?

I Became an Online Marketer

Back when I started in online marketing, we didn’t have half of the resources that we have today. Social media wasn’t even a thing, blogs were just beginning, and people were just starting to tap into the power of internet sales.

I Googled how to work from home and found so many resources. It was then that I knew I had found the way to do what I set out to do. Although…I had a lot of learning to do.

Grab your copy of my book now- Skills Are Cheap Passion is Priceless.

Learning The Hard Way

As with anything that you put your focus to, good or bad, you start to see examples and signs of it everywhere. One call back list in particular caught my eye and I decided to leave my name and phone number on it to get more information.

I put in my email address and a woman called me to tell me about the business. She asked me why I wanted it, but she was a really poor prospector, I just wanted her to get to the point. There I was, my ego was so big that I didn’t even want to listen to her, I just wanted to bypass her and get to the information. When in reality I needed that woman so badly, I needed the movement that she made, I needed her energy, and that is exactly what people do in business, they want to skip over the important stuff, which is what I did.

If only I had known that mentors play such a huge role in success. It’s not enough to just read and learn. You need someone that is 4-5 steps ahead of you to help guide you.

Business Deals Gone Bad and Finding Mentors

Sure, Brian and I were super successful in our online ventures for a while. We were bringing in unbelievable amounts of money. But then…we lost it all. Since we hadn’t brought mentors into our lives, we made really poor business decisions.

The fallout from that choice wrecked us. We were hurt and struggling. This one interview with Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer radically changed our lives.

Here’s what they said-

No one can make you upset, depressed, hurt, anxious, or fearful without your consent. The worst things in life turn out to be the most important steps that you need to take, in order to get to the next place in your life. The highest place you can get to with this individual is to practice forgiveness, instead of revenge & anger”

My Mantra

Their words meant so much to me. From that day forward, I decided to change my mindset. I developed regained my confidence and developed a manta.

Every single day, I wake up with a mantra, and I talk to myself. I either look in the mirror, or I sit and say, “Rhonda, you are an incredible leader. You inspire people to do great things in their life. You show them that everything is possible. You help more families be free. You must show more families how to get to building a life that they love.” This is the essence of belief. When you have a mantra that you tell yourself, you are teaching your brain to believe in the life you want to create for yourself.

Remembering My Why Has Made Me Unstoppable

When I started my job and said I’ll never put my child in daycare, that I was going to live out this day, perfect day, every single day, that I was going to quit my job and replace my income, I wasn’t going back. There was no plan B. That was my vow and my commitment, and she, Hanalei, became my WHY. Everything I did fueled me to get me to that next step. Everything I did I did because she was my WHY and it was robust enough to keep me motivated and disciplined. I became Unstoppable!

When you wear the word unstoppable, you hold an armor that tells you that you can. It reminds you every day to be unstoppable. Being unstoppable needs a strong ‘WHY.’ Once you have worked out your WHY everything is possible.

If you want to hear more about Brian’s and my journey, snag a copy of my book, Skills Are Cheap, Passion is Priceless. I will take you through our life and share with you the practical tips you need to develop a successful business while you live out your perfect life. Read more

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12 Traits That Separate Entrepreneurs from Everyone Else

12 Traits That Separate Entrepreneurs from Everyone Else

Building a company from the ground up requires a tremendous amount of confidence, creativity, innovation, motivation, self-awareness, focus and persistence. It’s the reason why everyone can’t make it as an entrepreneur.
Here are some of the ways entrepreneurs see the world differently from the average person:

1. They See Money as a Way to Make More Money

When entrepreneurs receive an influx of money, they search for a smart way to invest it in a business opportunity that can yield an even higher return. They make plans and never think of wasting the money somewhere else.

2. They Have an Ability to Become Intensely Focused

Time and attention are the only truly finite constraints. Successful entrepreneurs are absurdly conscious of that fact and tend to become highly organized and intolerant of inefficiencies. They’re laser focused and try to maximize their time in the best way possible.

3. They Manage to Be Positive Realists

To make smart gambles– and that’s what becoming rich entails– you need an honest appreciation of odds that few possess. Successful entrepreneurs tend not to be too optimistic or too pessimistic. They know that downs and ups are a part of their journey to success and, hence, always proceed with a backup plan.

They’re able to understand that, for a large number of reasons, their venture can collapse entirely. They adequately prepare for difficulties, but have enough idealism to take on big risks.

4. They See Obstacles as Opportunities

Average people see difficulty as a chance to give up, but entrepreneurs see unexpected challenges as a way to make their companies even stronger.

Thomas Edison perfectly illustrated this when he used the accidental destruction of his production plant in 1914 as a way to rebuild his business in a streamlined way and get his team to work harder and more efficiently. Within a year, his company had not only recovered, but was bringing in more revenue than ever before.

5. They Focus on Opportunity Cost

Entrepreneurs make every decision by comparing options and seeing which one will yield the most value. Whatever they do, they make sure the value created is larger than the cost of resources used.

6. They Understand the Business World and Current Scenario Better

This quality, if not understood better, can prove fatal for a young entrepreneur and the startup world. It hurts to see bright engineers, who have an amazing product but have no idea how a business model works, how they will raise money, or how to market and position themselves in the competitive landscape to succeed.

7. They Think of Ideas beyond Their Capabilities

True entrepreneurs are always thinking about growth opportunities. Rather than act practically and work within their comfort zones, they push themselves into situations that will require them to stretch their skills or force them to recruit more talent to turn their aspirations into reality.

8. They Have Vision

Entrepreneurs are driven by the idea that they have the solution to a certain problem, and they need to implement it. And they do it without fear of being mocked or rejected for trying things differently.

Entrepreneurs see something that needs to get done; a product that must be offered, a problem that must be solved, and they feel so deeply about these things that they can face the opposition when starting a business.

9. They Have Something to Prove

They have high levels of self-confidence, a sense of inner self-belief that drives them and keeps them motivated; it’s extremely important for them to believe they are special. They work hard to prove it and realize their dreams.

10. They Are Self-Aware and Optimistic

A young entrepreneur needs to have a bulletproof mindset and be able to influence others even during the worst times. There are ups and downs in business, and that has to be tackled with confidence. They need to be well aware of their strengths and weaknesses and constantly build up areas where they are lacking.

11. They Are Paranoid, but with Perfect Vision

I believe the best entrepreneurs develop a healthy balance of paranoia and confidence. They’re realistic and vigilant while, at the same time, never lacking the gumption to believe their vision is.

12. They Are Intuitive, Creative, Productive, Persistent, Innovative and Patient

To sum up all the above points, I think the above traits listed are enough for someone to become a successful and good entrepreneur and these traits do make them stand way ahead of other people.

Successful entrepreneurs are absurdly conscious of that fact and tend to become highly organized and intolerant of inefficiencies. Successful entrepreneurs tend not to be too optimistic or too pessimistic. Entrepreneurs make every decision by comparing options and seeing which one will yield the most value. A young entrepreneur needs to have a bulletproof mindset and be able to influence others even during the worst times.

Source: Character Traits Entrepreneurs

Results Are Your Best Source of Credibility

Results Are Your Best Source of Credibility

In most of business promotions for affiliate programs, they show their highest earners’ results and tell their stories because these are the people who demonstrate the potential of the program. Are their results typical? No, they are not and they are upfront about that: not everyone is going to be as successful as those super-earners. Never tell people how great your offer is. In most of our promotions for our affiliate program, we show our highest earners’ results and tell their stories because these are the people who demonstrate the potential of the program.

Nothing Fails Like …
Hiring manager: “So, Mr. Smith, why should I hire you for this position?”

Mr. Smith: “Because I am the best person for the job.”

I probably don’t have to go any further with this scenario, do I? In your mind, you can see the hiring manager rolling his eyes?

To be fair, no one is really “average.” Regular people– those who are just starting in online marketing– can still achieve remarkable results.It’s sad to say, but the “average” person doesn’t exert a lot of effort. Obviously, to make five, six, and seven-figure commissions, you would have to stick with it and exert significant effort.

This holds true even with pointing to your credibility, as in, “See? So-and-so agency has given us their highest rating.” Those kinds of things certainly won’t hurt a company, but even an “A” rating with the Better Business Bureau (” BBB,” a U.S. non-profit organization which collects reviews of businesses for the purpose of promoting consumer trust) won’t stop a business’ detractors, if they have any.

Show the Best Results.

Some business opportunities offering programs are solution for people who want to have more money and more financial freedom. It’s a solution for people who want to stop working a job, stop commuting, and stop selling away their lives by the hour.

Final Thought.

We don’t go “soft” on the results that are possible, in the hopes of reducing skepticism. And we don’t focus much on, “Hey, look: we’re credible.” At the end of the day, what gets people interested are the big successes, the startling before-and-afters, and the major transformations.

For most offers out there, there is a percentage of people who will insist that it’s too good to be true. Rather than trying to assert an offer or company’s credibility, show its potential, in the form of the best results achieved. Luckily, for marketers throughout history, there is also a percentage that can look at an offer and see its potential.

Again, never tell people how great your offer is. Show them the results that it gets.

Source: Source Credibility in Persuasion

4 Steps to Rebuilding Your Motivation

4 Steps to Rebuilding Your Motivation

How do you defeat the self-inflicted agony that each one of us as humans have felt at some point or another? How do you work through the pain that hurts so much to the point that we don’t want to deal with it anymore? How do you not give up?

Here’s how:

Step 1– Understand that you are not alone.

I read about people who have been successful in life; people who seemingly have infinite motivation within them to do everything they set out to do. You and I are no different and we can take lessons from successful, motivated people and implement those strategies in our own lives.

Step 2– Start believing in yourself.

The point of feeling like you want to give up comes from becoming the victim of the negativity of your own internal dialogue. You want to give up because the conversation that takes place in your head tells you aren’t good enough, you’re not competent, you don’t have it in you, and that maybe what you’re doing isn’t worth the reward you’re expecting.

When you believe your negative thoughts and identify with them, you have no power, you feel horrible about yourself and you will lack motivation. Start to understand your own negativity by meditating for just a few minutes a day and you will find that your motivation levels rise instantly.

Step 3– Start changing your life in ways that will reflect a change in your attitude

For me, the way I stay motivated when I’m feeling down is by starting to do daily habits that are difficult, that challenge me and help me grow my willpower. Not only do you feel accomplished when you take on challenging habits, but you are literally strengthening your willpower.

What are these habits?

Waking up early helps me take time to enjoy my life, and focus on the actions I know are necessary to accomplish my goals. When you become a morning person, you begin to feel empowered, accomplished, and you create time for yourself while the rest of the world is still asleep and there are no distractions.

In order to start believing in yourself, you have to stop believing what your mind says. Stop believing the negativity that plays out in your mind and start to laugh at it. You have the power to let go of negative beliefs, and at the same time create positive beliefs that are self-empowering.

It really is about keeping your energy levels high, and challenging yourself with difficult habits. Developing these habits will help you deal with the negativity that drains you physically, mentally and emotionally.

Step 4– Surround yourself with people who exhibit qualities that you want to possess.

The most important thing you need to do in order to keep yourself motivated and positive is surround yourself with people who you want to be like rather than surrounding yourself with people who are just like you. We become the people we hang out with, and I like to say that we’re an average of the 5 people we spend the most time with.

Conclusion

Don’t give up. When you’re about to give up is the point where its most important to show up with strength and not give into the difficulty you’re facing. Just remember, this is temporary, you’re not alone, change is possible, and you have the strength in you to live the life you want.

Source: Steps to Rebuilding Credit

Create The Hub For Your Business On Facebook

Create The Hub For Your Business On Facebook

Whether you want to sell products, gain subscribers, persuade followers to a point or sway the hearts and minds of readers to your cause- they’ve got to know who you are in the first place. Your ability to encourage any of these actions comes from your brand’s authority. One of the best ways to build that is through the savvy use of social media.

Facebook Competition is Rising

In fact, recent research from Econsultancy shows that 71 percent of brands plan to invest more heavily in social media in the coming year to reach new followers and build brand reputation.

Want to join their ranks and become known in your industry?

Use Social Media!

Facebook is by the far the best platform for promoting brand awareness, as nearly three quarters of Americans adults use the site.

Where to Put Your Social Media Efforts

Each of the social media platforms can be used for different purposes. I’ve found that Facebook is my best bet for reaching my audience. That is not to say that the other platforms are not valuable.

Not sure which social media platform you need to invest your time in? Here’s a few good rules to follow when using a platform to create the hub for your business.

Facebook is a great platform for promoting virtually any brand, due to its very heterogeneous user base.

Instagram is a great option for brands that rely heavily on images, such as clothing companies and retailers. It’s also particularly effective for reaching young adults, Hispanics and African Americans.

Pinterest is an excellent social network to reach women, especially for brands selling jewelry or clothing.

Twitter is perfect if you are trying to spread news and articles. It is also a good way to network with other professionals. While you may not get someone through their email, you can tweet at them to start a relationship.

Finally, if you operate a business-to-business company, LinkedIn is a stronger choice for promoting business-related content and connecting with other corporate influencers.

Learn the Best Times to Post

There are certain times of the day that you should be posting for each social media platform. If you have an internet business, then it is best to post according to the EST time zone. For those that have brick and mortar businesses, you will want to go with the times that your audience is on.

Here are some suggestions to stick with when it comes to posting for best engagement.

Use the Value, Value, Offer Method

When you post, be sure to use the value, value, offer method. This is where you will post at least two value based posts for every offer based post that you share. If you bombard people with your offers, you will turn them off.

Source: Business on Facebook Tips

You Are a Brand- It’s Time to Share Your Personal Brand With Others

You Are a Brand- It’s Time to Share Your Personal Brand With Others

What is a perfect example of a brand? You, my friend, are a brand.

An artist. A photographer. Life coach. Presentation expert. Alternative energy entrepreneur. Website developer. Skin care clinician.

This is not a trend. This is social media, publishing, marketing, sales, work, play, passion and everything you read about all rolled into one.

1. Define your audience.

Tell yourself this: The focus of your blog—and all of your content—must be your readers. What do they need? What are their pains? How can you help them?

Of course, doing guesswork is possible, but chances are, you’ll run the risk of being wrong. One ideal way to removing the guesswork is to conduct a survey. You can ask a few specific questions to uncover demographic and psychographic information.

From the results of your survey, you’ll be able to profile your audience and work toward developing a more focused content with a higher probability of connecting with your readers.

2. Create a clear value proposition.

What is the unique thing that you can offer to your audience? Are they going to get something from investing their time in your content? What resources do you offer? Do you offer resources to help people work smarter? Leadership insights? These are just some examples of questions you should be asking yourself before proceeding.

What you need to do is to create a succinct and simple answer and you have your value proposition. However, you may have to experiment with your value proposition and revise it from time to time.

What will serve as the framework for all your efforts is your clear value proposition .

3. Write a compelling brand slogan.

Always be aware of the level of noise in media today and then recognize how critical it will be to make a strong impression quickly.

A great way to address this challenge is to put your value proposition into a slogan.

Here are some good examples:

• Lifehacker’s slogan is “Tips, tricks, and downloads for getting things done.”
• Social Media Examiner claims to be “Your guide to the social media jungle.”
• Ramit Sethi promises, “I will teach you to be rich.”
• Feldman Creative promises to “Turn on the power of online marketing.”

Now, how can you summarize your brand promise in a concise slogan?

4. Show yourself.

Of course, the best thing you should remember is that people want to connect with people, not merely brands.

One way is presenting a great photo of yourself which helps establish credibility and build trust. It also helps you connect via social media.

You can do this by simply getting a great headshot that captures the real, authentic you. You can invest in a professional photo shoot or if you prefer not to part with the money, hit up a friend with a quality camera and a command of portrait photography.

Always go into the session with a plan. You have to tell the photographer the impression that you aim to create, the you you’re looking to capture.

After reviewing the photos, pick one headshot to use on your website and across all your social media networks.

• Working at your computer
• Analyzing your client’s data
• Coaching one-on-one
• Facilitating a small group meeting
• Recording a podcast
• Shooting a video
• Speaking before a large crowd
• Autographing your book at an event
• For the photo that will serve you best is simply you looking into the lens smiling, looking friendly and approachable—with no distractions.

5. Establish a look.

Any brand that is memorable, your personal brand included, should present itself consistently. Using a variety of logos, colors, and fonts will confuse your audience.

Develop a look for your personal brand with simply the following:

A professionally designed logo

A pleasing color palette

A limited menu of fonts

Then you can now apply the standards you created to everything—your website, business cards, advertising, etc.

For now, you’re off to a good start….

‪#‎BEUNSTOPPABLEwhileBRANDING‬

Source: Personal Brand Statement

TIPS on Customer Service That Make Your Business BOOM

Customer service is the key to keeping your business bubbling along, without this important element supporting your business you will lose customers as quick as your attracting them.

CUSTOMER SERVICE USES

There are many ways that customer service grows your business its the human element of just wanting acceptance and become part of the community in which could be as simple as welcoming the new member, or having the virtual assistant watching your new Facebook group that you have formed and being there to answer simple questions and comments.

AMAZON - SHOPIFY - EBAY STORES

These stores rely heavily on you the owner to have the best customer support possible to help keep people with quick response times to questions, to give login information and be responsive to reviews that they write to know that they are being heard.

These simple steps are the way to have repeat customers that turn into raving fans that bring you more business. Doesn't it make sense to spend advertising dollars once and then to keep them for repeat customers they're after all then costing you absolutely nothing to retain.

Many customers just want to have their questions answered or follow up their orders or how to apply a code to give them the discount off the full price you are offering. To keep the customer happy it all comes down to quick response time to questions in order to avoid frustrations, which leads to refunds and buyers remorse.

Research reveals that customers want human interaction not something that frustrates them like a recorded message or phone prompts they want to speak to a human voice to answer questions quickly.

It may be something as simple as logging on people get stumped and annoyed when they can't get access to products that they have just purchased. This delay in getting back to them with a solution to their problem gets them upset and writes reviews that are sometimes unpleasant and will hurt your future business.

With all the hard work that goes behind a launch of a new product or service with advertising and webinars I have seen personally the numbers of new sign ups drop off dramatically between 25-30% due to no customer service. This is leaving money on the table.

WEBINARS

What about shopping cart abandonment this happens a lot and many businesses just send an email to get lost amongst the many emails that people get sent wouldn't your company stand out from others to pick up the phone and ask them "was there a problem - how can we help you?"

WELCOME CALL

There are some clients who will say nothing and will never take the next step because they are unsure of the next step in your program or service. A follow up call warms the person and shows warmth of your company.

This only takes a few minutes and something like "Hi Mary this is Dan from ABC Company, just giving you a courtesy call to first to welcome you to our company and to see if I can help you with and questions."

How good does that customer feel now, first they are acknowledged and secondly they have an opportunity to say if there is a problem and have someone help them.

We at Need a VA have known the human touch is so important in growing your business we personally help variety of businesses, product launches and services increase their bottom line just by being there to help their customers.

Contact us through the website http://needava.com or email us at info@needava.com today to see how we can help you.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jenny_H_Jordan/299899