Having spent over 25 hours on airplanes and in airports this past weekend I really need to share with you why it could have been many more hours and still been well worth the time and money.

I had the Privilege, to be with Ross Goldberg in Florida this past weekend. Now as I said in my previous post he is a real dynamo and over deliver is not his middle name, but his first.

The line up of speakers was outstanding and included Art (Ross’ new partner), Robin and Lee Collins, Simon Leung, Dr. Ben Mac, and Eric Farewell.

So, what did we learn?

1. Social media tactics.
2. Taking your online business off line in conjunction with your online business.
3. Everything and anything you ever wanted to know about SEO.
4. Branding your self and your product.
5. The plan behind product launches.
6. And exactly how to use circular references to drive quality traffic to your sales page.

And Ross managed to pack that all into 3 amazing days, with ample time for Q and A.

So, was it worth the time and money? You bet! This is just the kind of event that delivers stellar content, and helps shorten your learning curve to almost nothing.

Great job Ross!

Posted: May 15th, 2008 under Mentoring.
Comments: none

So now you have heard the story or how coaching can go wrong let’s talk about how it can go RIGHT!
Over the past several months I have been blessed with having hired some of the cream of the crop. This wasn’t an accident it was by design.
And when I say design I mean I did the do diligence I spoke about in my previous posts.

So let me just get to the nuts and bolts and introduce just some of the people you want to have in your corner when it comes to learning the ins and outs of internet marketing.

First on the list is Tahir Shah:

This man is dynamite! He is the creator of ‘Dreams Not For Sale’, ‘Traffic Stopper Supreme’ and ‘The Marketing Nightmare’, just to name three of his extraordinary works. He is the no hype, no fluff, go to guy, and ‘telling it like it is’ defines this man’s integrity.

I have learned more in one conversation with him then in hours of listening to any teleconference or webinar I have ever attended.

Even though he is fairly new to internet marketing by guru standards, (having worked online for about 4 years), he is raising the bar each and everyday with his dynamic style, vicious honesty, and his sheer tenacity to not only improve, but surpass current standards for client service with each and every project he does.

He will, rock, your world and have you working at and above levels you never thought you could achieve.

You can learn more about this dynamo at :  Tahir Shah.name!

Next up Ross Goldberg:

Uniquely his own man. His style a bit rough, but ignore that, and hear the message.

Ross will astound you with all the valuable content he packs into each and every call, video, and, seminar he does.

Despite health issues, Ross demonstrates his zealousness, to move forward by helping anyone smart enough to listen.

The thing I admire most about Ross, is his honesty. If he doesn’t have first hand experience, in a subject, he has no trouble admitting it, and then provides you with an excellent reference to guide you to an answer to your question.

You can learn more about this dynamo at : Ross Goldberg.com

These are just two coaches I would have NO, qualms in recommending and I suggest at a minimum go to their sites and do your do diligence and check them out. You won’t be sorry you did.

Each has their own unique style, but both, have your best interest at heart. Their mission is to help you, not to see how much of your hard earned cash they can transfer to their bank accounts. So go and check out the links above and see how you, too, can hire the best for your success.

Tomorrow I will be reviewing two more excellent coaches, so, I will see you here then.

Posted: May 6th, 2008 under Mentoring.
Comments: none

I have been ranting lately about mentors and coaches. Now don’t get me wrong there are good ones out there, but there are some out there that just look at you as an opportunity to line their pockets.

Here is an example: You hire a Mentor / Coach ‘X’ to train you to do a specific task. You pay big bucks for the opportunity to have this one on one training and the day finally arrives, you are just thrilled to death, now you are going to know all the ins and outs of software program ‘A’.

The training begins.

Day1, is spent talking about what you want to do with your business, and how you see it in the future. Not a bad day, could have been a shorter one, but there were lessons learned.

Day 2:
The Software disaster.
I am already to get started. The mentor / coaches agreement with me was to provide the software, install in on their server and give me all the support I needed to get this up and running.

But the software the mentor / coach was suppose to provide is not only out of date, a beta version (? Possible ?), but is buggy as all hell. And what is worst it appears that the mentor / coach is not familiar with this particular piece of software.

The mentor / coach has done a lot of these classes and has proclaimed themselves the guru of “X”, but you soon find out that they have been using different software and this is a new and improved program they are just starting to use.

Also if they had been using it they would have known about the bugs and had them fixed on their time not on my dime.

End result: to be able to get your lessons, you now have to purchase the software, yes, that is the software that was to be provided by the mentor / coach.

Caching! (and it is from their affiliate link that the purchase is made, another $ 100.00 in their pocket)

Obviously, there is something really wrong here.  You have just made a $5,300.00 BLUNDER.

Now that you have wasted an entire day, buying the software that was to be provided, and having to install it, it is on to day 3 – 5.

Days 3 – 5:
The next three days where more then entertaining. I freely admit copy writing is not my strong suit. And I did tell the mentor / coach this on day one. So…
Now I am only trying to figure out this software with the mentor / coach, but I am trying to write copy for the site we are creating with this software.

As we work along we start to find problems. The program doesn’t like certain symbols / characters, great. We need to be able to put in ‘$’ but when we do the first 3 characters are not displayed. Time for a patch.  Wait for the patch.

We found 2 more bugs and had them fixed and installed the patches that were sent only to have them over write each other. Tons of fun. Back to redoing some of what we had already done.

After 5 days the site is still not complete, but we are getting close. May be we might even be done in time for the launch which has been pushed 5 days further into the month.

But that is a whole other story.

Lesson learned:
When you go to hire a mentor / coach, be very careful. Make sure you have a written agreement and hold them to it. Listen to what others are saying about them. Make sure that they are really the experts with the software they are providing not just the concept.

Posted: May 4th, 2008 under Mentoring.
Comments: none

Finding a good mentor is hard enough, but finding the right one for you, who is extraordinary takes do diligence, patients, and a willingness to put a little money upfront to see if you’ve got a good match.

As internet marketers, we are exposed to other marketers at a myriad of different skill levels, and different areas of expertise. So weeding out ones that you know, like, and trust is the first step.  Saying it is easy, it’s the finding that can be more difficult.

Then you need to:

• Go to their blogs.
• Visit their home pages.
• See what they are offering in the way of classes and mentoring.
• See if they are speakers at any events.
• If they are doing any teleseminars that you can attend.
• If you have purchased product from them was it quality and how was their service?
• Do you see them coming up with new ideas, or are they pushing the same old crap?

I ‘m sure you’ve got the idea. Do your do diligence.

Once you have narrowed the list a bit more then you want to test the waters. See if those on your list are doing any 30 day coaching, and secure yourself a spot.

Don’t order a “coach-in-a-box.” The material can be useful, but it more then likely will not reflect the true nature of the beast. A lot of mentors / coaches today are just starting to embrace the new media and just starting to use more live coaching rather then the old technique of “coach-in-a-box.” See what you can find.

If you can afford it spend the $100 to $200 to try their program out. Ask questions and listen carefully to their answers.

If their personal business style and philosophy doesn’t match yours move on. 

I hope you have found this helpful  and reinforced that you need to take time, ask questions and do a bit of investigation in order to find a mentor that can and will help you reach the next level in your own business.

Posted: April 29th, 2008 under Mentoring.
Comments: none

I’m going to take a quick break today form discussing Internet Marketing Myths and let you in on what I have been up to for the last 5 days and why you should consider hiring a coach / mentor.

I get tons of questions about giveaways; how they work and who they benefit, and up until now I really haven’t had a real clear answer to those questions, so I had sometime to have a coach / mentor come and not only show me how to set one up ( http://cooltoolsgiveaway.com ), but learn the inner workings of a giveaway and who really does benefit. 

So am I glad that I had someone help me set this up? You bet! The software that is on the market now is still buggy and the learning curve is still a bit steep for a neophyte. But I have gained a lot of knowledge. I’m using Giveaway Manager  and as far as software currently available to run a giveaway, this is as good as it gets.

But what was the advantage to having a coach / mentor help me get this task accomplished? Well the learning curve was much shorter despite the problems we ran into, and along the way I learn a lot of strategies I might not have thought of on my own.

In future articles I will be sharing those strategies and hope they will benefit you and your business as much as they did and do mine.

Coaching can be expensive, but the money is well spent when you get the right help.

Until next time when we’ll talk more about how coaches / mentors can help you create strategies to increase your business and take it to the next level… Have a great weekend!

Posted: April 25th, 2008 under Mentoring.
Comments: none

Now seriously, everyone has free time. There are 24 hours in each of our days and it is ridicules to say that you don’t choose to spend some of those hours out indulging in fun activities or just loafing. It is a matter of “choice” how you spend your time.

Sure there are things we all must do with our time; eat, sleep, personal hygiene, go to work, pay bills, take care of the kids, etc., but we all have free time to spend time with family and friends, exercise, indulge in our favorite sport, be a coach potato, read a book, go out to dinner, and this list could go on forever. So how can you say you don’t have any time? I say it is just how you choose to spend your time.

As internet marketers we must make a conscious choose to incorporate our marketing efforts into the time we have. You need to make your business a part of your daily life. Setting aside time to work the business each day and without being obnoxious, take it with you wherever you go.

Here’s what I mean about taking it with you. The other night I was in a restaurant, and just before I left to go to dinner I had been writing an article for my blog on reasons people need to consider running an online business. This restaurant is close to home, has great food and so I frequent it often and have gotten to know the waitress well enough to ask them semi personal questions during casual conversation.

Yes I was doing some real life research for my article. This is what I mean about incorporating your business into your everyday life.

It’s so much better for me then reading the rags at the news stands. These are real people with real challenges and so you get the no holds barred version on their frustrations. There is no greater research then that.

And for those of you who say,” But Kathy I can’t get done in a day the things I need to now”, I say it is time to get organized and prioritized.

Believe me I can understand this frustration. I work at home and there can be hundreds of distractions in my day, the phone, the door bell, the cats, the dog, the bird, email, Skype, all the temptations to surf the internet, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, clean the house, do the dishes, wash the car, go to Wal-Mart, do the banking, pay the bills, make dinner, work in the yard, need I go on?

But I “choose” to spend a minimum of six hours each and everyday, except Sunday, to work my business. And I choose to incorporate my business into my daily life. I am always being asked what I do because of the questions I ask people in the casual conversations I have with them.

Communication, organization, prioritization are the keys to generating wealth. Oprah Winfrey, Donald Trump, Martha Stewart, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helú, all have the same 24 hours you do. They simple choose to spend their time differently.

Sure they have tons of money so they can direct others to do the day to day things, but it wasn’t that way from the time they popped out of the womb. They have come as far as they have because they have made good solid choices about how they want to spend their time, gotten themselves organized and prioritized their lives.

That is not to say that there aren’t also other factors in each of their lives that have propelled them to great wealth, but I could make a case for each of their unique circumstances and show how it fits into the over all time choice category.

I am not suggesting that you will be the next Donald Trump or Oprah Winfrey, but I am suggesting that you make the choice how to spend your time. You make the choice if you are going to organize your life and sort out your priorities. You make the choice on how to spend your 24 hours of time.

You make the choice to believe or not, the Internet Marketing Myth 3 - Choose to Have Time to Work Your Business .

Posted: April 16th, 2008 under Unraveling the Myths.
Comments: none

My grandmother use to always tell us that God doesn’t make junk, that each and everyone of use has special talents and abilities and it is our job to figure out what they are and put them to good use. So it just frosts me when I hear people say they can’t run an online line business and make any money at it.

The simple facts are that you don’t have to know how to code in HTML, you don’t have to be a graphic artist, you don’t have t o be a world class copy writer, and you don’t have to have millions of dollars to invest in your business to get started. But you do have to have the winning mindset, about $1000.00 (depends on what you are willing and able to do), a computer with DSL or cable connection to the internet, tenacity, and enthusiasm to learn what it takes to build your business.

The myth that only people who have the above skills and cash can make money on the internet is garbage. God gave you talents and you need to use them.

So if you have money and no internet related skills hire it done. If you have some skills and some money, do what you can and hire the rest done. No money that is after paying for hosting domain name, and autoresponder, do it yourself.

Now, I know I just lost about half or more of the people who are reading this so let me explain how with little money you can get start making big money on the internet.

Here is a break down of the elements to any online business and about what they will cost to prove you can get started with little of anything.

The Must Have:

1. Internet Hosting as little as $5.00 per month

2. Internet Domain Name as little as $6.00 per year

3. Autoresponder account $20.00 per month, the first month is free.

4. Internet connection, $45.00. (But if you are reading this you all ready have the account, why not make it a business write off?)

5. Computer $400.00 and up (But if you are reading this you all ready have the one, why not make it a business write off ?)

6. The ability to set aside 2 to 4 hours a day to work on your business.

Here are the really should haves:

1. A product, either one you buy or even better yet one you create. (Get one from a giveaway, with PLR, revamp it, make it your own, and add in extras.)

2. Some coaching on how to run an online business, or the willingness, time and tenacity to research it on the internet. (Could be free or not)

3. The ability to express your opinion. (Zero dollars)

Good to have:

1. A basic knowledge of math. (You need to be able to see what you are spending not only cash wise but time wise so you can evaluate your efforts. Hopefully you learned to at least add, subtract, multiply and divide in elementary school, but if not hire it done.)

2. A coach or mentor who can help you understand some the nuance’s of marketing online. (Can be free, but good 30 programs can start at $195.00)

Ok, so you have little or no skills, but you are will to have the tenacity of a bulldog on steroids so it’s going to cost you to get start with all of the above approximately $ 500.00 per year on the leanest of budgets. That breaks down to a measly $ 45.00 per month.

So if you have been telling yourself, God does make junk because ‘I don’t have any skills in the internet marketing arena then you are wrong.’ You can hire done what you can’t do and do the rest till you can afford to hire it all done.

And I doubt seriously that you do not know anything about any the internet. You are reading this article, express you opinion about it on Crushimmyths and start you writing and learning experience there.

Posted: April 14th, 2008 under Unraveling the Myths.
Comments: none

I was cruising the internet and came upon this article ‘Cash Gifting verses Multi Level Marketing. ‘ Cash Gifting wasn’t a new term to me as I am well aware that at least here in the United States are tax law allows, as an example, a parent to gift a child a certain amount of money each year and write it off their taxes, but I wasn’t aware that other then donations to charitable organizations that you could gift anyone, anywhere, so I did some research and here is what I found about gifting.

There are limits, but it is legal. You can find out what the IRS has to say at http://www.irs.gov/publications/p950/ar02.html, it is in the IRS Tax Code, Title 26, Sections 2501-2504, and 2511. I certainly would consult my account and tax advisor before doing anything.’

So once I established that within the guidelines established by the United States tax code ‘Cash Gifting’ is legal, I wanted to understand how such a program could work and how they are considered by some to be the new Multi Level Marketing.

So let’s compare the basics:
Multi Level Marketing
1. You sign up and agree to purchase a certain amount of product each month and pay the initial fees.
2. You sign up others under you, your down line, and help and encourage them to do the same.
3. You all sell your products to others who just want to buy the product and not be a part of the MLM plan.
4. You write off your activities and all legitimate expenses on your taxes.

Cash Gifting
1. You sign up and agree to pay the initial fee and set your gifting amount.
2. You sign up others as ‘partners’ in the ‘group’ and encourage them to gift at your same level.
3. Then at first glance it appears there are agreements made by the ‘members’ to gift each other.
4. You write off the gifts per the IRS code (linked above).
Ok, Multi Level Marketing I understand, but Cash Gifting appears to me to be a big loop hole in the gifting tax laws, and a huge benefit to the rich.

So how does it work? A group of like minded people all get together and agree to pay each other say $ 5,000 each. This is below the gift limit. There are 10 people in the group, and you give the others $ 5,000.00 each making your ‘gift’ total $ 50,000. Now in return all 10 members give you $5,000, so you now have your $50,000 back in your pocket tax free as they are gifts to you. You can now write of the gifts you made and decreased your taxable income by $50,000, while keeping the $50,000 in your pocket.
Sounds great? Well only if you have the cash to start with, if you can trust the people who are suppose to be giving you the ‘gift’, and then only after you pay a fee to the group to get started.

Will it replace MLM as we know today? I don’t believe that the people who really could benefit from ‘cash gifting’ can afford to join one of these groups. With the price of gas and the housing market what it is those who need this loophole the most can’t afford to take the risk of loosing their hard earned cash.

So in conclusion I do have to say that I am not a fan of MLM plans, the product in most cases is very expensive, and the programs are very hard to duplicate. And I would be very leery of Cash Gifting programs as there might be some real pitfalls to this loophole in the tax law here in the U.S., as well as legal ramifications if you did your gift giving, but one or more of the others in your ‘group’ did not.

Posted: April 13th, 2008 under Cash Gifting.
Comments: none

A myth is something that is widely thought to be false, but there are many myths that have been handed down generation after generation as truisms’ and more are created by each successive generation. Myths are simply half truths.

Myth 1. A shot of whiskey, lemon, and honey makes an effective cold medicine.

This is a classic folk lore cure for the common cold. It may make you feel better temporarily, but what it won’t do is help your cold.

Myth 2. Video games deteriorate your brain.

First off I think it depends on the game and more importantly how many hours one spends playing. Video gamers who play on a regular bases can have health issues like, being under or over weight, but there are games on the market today that actually increase short-term memory, and improve coordination.

Myth #3. “Make thousands of dollars daily working less then four hours a day.”

Yes, there are people out there who do make that kind of money, BUT do you really think they woke up one day and all this money started flooding into their bank accounts? Of course not.

These people spent years working hard to amass the knowledge and skills to structure their lives, their business, and their finances so that they could afford to follow their dreams while their business, almost on autopilot, continued to make them richer.

So my point is that myths can be and are in part true. But it is the “are not true” part that we must force ourselves to see.

It’s human nature to take the path of least resistance, but to believe that you can make your fortune marketing online or off, just by putting up a website or renting a store front is ludicrous.

Tomorrows myth: Build it and they will come.

Posted: April 9th, 2008 under Unraveling the Myths.
Comments: none

This arrived in my inbox just a few hours ago. “Transform Your Computer Into An A T M Machine NOW! Life can turn 360 degrees for you - I know it will, as I’ve experienced it firsthand. Take the first step absolutely risk free, and watch the magic happen. Sit Back, Do Nothing, And Still Find Your Inbox Flooded With Cash, Every Single Day With The Most Simple And Fascinating Business You Can Imagine…
You could be making truckloads of money working as little as an hour a day, right from your kitchen table in just minutes from now! “

Wait just one minute. If I could be making “truckloads of money working as little as an hour a day” don’t you think after 2 years I’d be doing it?

And the best part of this mail I left out. Sorry but I was laughing so hard I hit the close button instead of the copy button. It said it only cost $47 and I would get almost $2000.00 worth of free software, 2 hours of mentoring, 7 audio interviews with some internet gurus, a couple of web templates and the sales page I was reading, but the kicker was they were waiving the “franchise fees”.

Franchise Fees?

What Franchise? They were giving me the site, the sales page, and the resale rights to the product, so what do I need a franchise for?

I’ve heard some good ones, but I really had to share this one with you. This is just the kind of stuff I have been ranting about. Do nothing… Earn Cash? Not in this life time.

Raise your hand and send me an email if you have ever set up a site with resale rights products and then sat back, did nothing and had your inbox flooded with cash.

I’d really like to hear about that plan.